First of all thanks to everyone asking me to write this post, I appreciate that my posts are catching on and people are liking them enough to suggest me topics and such. On my blog's 1 year anniversary, this post is for everyone that reads my blog religiously and makes it worth while. Thank you very much.
Jose Mourinho has been the Real Madrid for 3 years, despite it feeling like a life time for some. Along with having the best coach in the planet comes drama, drama and eh, a little bit of more drama. People recognize who is on top and will do anything to bring him down. Hello Spanish press. From day 1, they declared war on Mourinho and they have so far succeeded. Real Madrid fans have been brainwashed into hating Mourinho, some even going as far as wanting Real Madrid to loose to see Mourinho fail. Sickening and sad. Here is how Jose Mourinho has performed in the past 3 years.
Spanish La Liga
Year 1: Real Madrid ended in second place, 4 points short from Barcelona and 21 points clear from third place Valencia. Mourinho arrived at Madrid with a big tag on his forehead saying "defensive" yet his Real Madrid managed to be the only team in La Liga to score over 100 goals that season. Cristiano ended as the pichichi and he scored 4 goals in two games during that season. Furthermore, the biggest victories at home of that season were by Real Madrid, against Malaga 7-0 and Almeria 8-1.
Year 2: Well what a year this was. Here, Jose Mourinho showed why he was special. Despite how badly this must have hurt our friend Xavi, in the 2011-12 season, Jose Mourinho printed his name all over Spanish football (or fupbol)'s history.
Most points ever: 100, most goals scored: 121, biggest goal difference: +89, most victories in a season: 32 , most away wins in a season: 16, most away goals in a season: 51, first team to ever score 110 goals in a season and 120. RIP Fupbol.
Year 3: Of course it isn't over yet but the chances of lifting the 33rd Liga title seem very small. This season, at home, Real Madrid has been unbeatable. Actually, Real Madrid hasn't lost in the last 42 games at home. The highlights of this season in Liga would be how Real Madrid beat both Barcelona and Atleti at home, without the usual starting XI. Not just that, they were both beaten in times where the pressure was bigger than ever. Oh and for those loving Real Madrid's cantera, Nacho has started 4 games straight now. I do not remember the last coach who started a canterano (who wasn't Iker, Raul or Guti) for 4 games straight. Maybe someone can refresh my memory….
In these three years Mourinho has achieved a winning rate of 77% games won in Liga. The coach that comes after him is Beehakker with 64%…. there is a 13% difference between Mourinho and the second. Also in 3 years, he is the second RM coach with the most goals scored at home – 188. The number one is Mister Miguel Muñoz. Mourinho could never compete with him as Miguel has about 300 more games coached at RM than him.
Three years, one Liga. Enough? Not for Real Madrid. An improvement from the years prior? Most definitely.
Copa del Rey
A title that hadn't been won by Real Madrid in 18 years. Perhaps because the coaches did not take it as seriously as it should have. From day one Mourinho said that the Copa was not going to be thrown away and his Real Madrid won it in the first year thanks to that amazing header by CR7 against Barcelona. On the second year Real Madrid lost 3-4 in quarterfinals to Barcelona in a game plagued with controversy. This year, the third, Real Madrid will look to win it for the second time in three years against Atleti.
Champions League
When Mourinho arrived at Real Madrid, the Champions was no longer Madrid's competition. Real Madrid tends to win Champions in years consecutively. I think these years should have been the ones when we lifted the tenth, eleventh and twelve… In the first year with Mourinho, Real Madrid had done so poorly in the previous years that for the first time in history, it did not lead the group. It surely hurt my pride as a Real Madrid fan. Luckily, that only lasted one year. In 2010-11, Real Madrid won 5/6 games in group stage and tied one. The group was made out of Milan, Auxerre and Ajax. No other team had such a high number of points achieved in group stage. In the round of 16, we beat Lyon 4-1 on aggregate and then Tottentham 5-0. Then in semifinals, we lost 1-3 to Barcelona in a tie that has been called many things but I will stick with the word "controversial".
Second year, second try. Real Madrid landed in a group with Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb and again Ajax. For the second time consecutively, Real Madrid achieved the highest number of points out of anyone, a perfect 18 points. Round of 16 was a success as Real Madrid beat CSKA 5-2 and then APOEL 8-2 in quarterfinals. Then semifinals came and Real Madrid lost in a devastating tie against Bayern Munich. This was perhaps the most painful defeat suffered in the last years because we did not deserve to lose. Our players gave it their all and even when it seemed as if everything was lost, Iker appeared in the penalty shoot out and gave us one last hope. That defeat, personally, hurt me more than the one against Dortmund.
This year we encountered the group of death with City, Dortmund and Ajax. With 11 points we moved onto the next round and beat United and Galatasaray. Then we were defeated by Dortmund 4-3 in a game that almost was the most historical comeback ever, but almost is never enough in football and football can be cruel.
If you only care about titles, sure, call it complete fail. Before these three years under Mourinho, I had forgotten what it was to suffer believing in my team. The last time we won the Champions it was 11 year ago, I was 10. Feelings work a bit differently when you are 10. I grew up seeing my beloved team get humiliated in Champions. Now the years come of pride, because I see them giving it their all and we leave the pitch in tears, yes, but with our head held up high, not defeated 7-0. We may not have one a single champions under Mourinho but La Decima will arrive and those who have taken it from us in these past three years have sweat blood to kick us out because it hasn't been easy… because this Real Madrid deserved better but again, football is cruel.
"21 years and 18 coaches reached 5 semifinals, the bad Mourinho has reached 3 in 3?
Barcelona Dominance
These past years journalists from all over have talked about a Barcelona hegemony. I think the talks are over. Yes, Bayern was the one to put the last nail on the coffin but if you look at the titles Barcelona has lost in their "golden years" the coffin was MadeinMou but don't take my word for it, here are the statistics. I think the "golden years" started in 2008 for them.
Since then, they have won two Champions. The one they didn't win, in 2009-10 was because Mourinho's Inter defeated them.
They lost a Copa del Rey, Supercopa and Liga to Madrid. The only other team to have stolen a Cup off of them prior to Bayern was Chelsea last year. In the last 7 clásicos, Real Madrid has won 4, 2 have ended in a draw and only 1 has been a defeat which was back in August.
Barcelona better than Real Madrid? I don't think anyone dares to say that right now.
The Spanish Press
Is Mourinho the problem or is the press the problem? There are never issues when Mourinho gives a press conference outside of Spain. If you saw the presser prior to the game against United, you know what I am talking about. It was all laughs and smiles. The questions were centered on the game. The issue is the Spanish press. They declared war on Mourinho the second he stepped on Madrid. It is extremely unreasonable for journalists to spend an hour asking questions unrelated to the upcoming game. It is unreasonable for the journalists to expect serious answers to dumb questions. It is unreasonable for journalists to go on tv, bash Mourinho and then show up to his press conference and ask a question and expect him to happily answer them. It is unreasonable for journalists to stalk Mourinho into his son's football practice. It is unreasonable for them to stalk his family. When have you seen a U12 football practice with journalists everywhere?! Why is it news worthy to write up an article about Mourinho taking his son to the game in Germany? Why are those things being questioned? Why are family matters being brought to the table?
How can they expect good, nice answers when all they do is bash him, stalk his family and give him a treatment never seen before?
Thanks to the international press for posting good things about Mourinho, like the story of Abel Rodriguez. Mourinho has unfairly been demonized by the Spanish media who seeks to split up the fans and has achieved it.
Iker Casillas
Speaking of journalism, the Casillas topic has been one that feels never ending. If I knew nothing about Real Madrid or football and were to open a spanish newspaper and read up on the topic, my first thought would certainly be "wow, this Mourinho person really hates this Casillas guy". Is it true?
Look back at tweets from anyone from September-October 2012… you will find a common pattern "FUCKING LEARN HOW TO DEFEND SET PIECES" "WHY DO WE CONCEDE SO MUCH" "OH MY GADDDDD, MOURINHO TEACH THEM SOMETHING". Not one person was happy with the aerial defending. Both Iker and Diego are magnificent under the three posts. I don't know who is better. Iker is definitely better if you take into account his whole career, or else it would have been him who left the team when Diego did back in the early 2000s. Now though, things are different. Just like Pepe, Iker was benched following his injury and just like Varane, Diego stepped it up and has saved our asses repeatedly.
The coach's job is to pick the best XI to come out. There would have been no semifinals had it not been for Varane and Diego. They have been outstanding. Like Rafa Nadal, I think this decision is logical.
Diego's height is really helping the team and his reflexes are fantastic. Could it be, maybe, that Mourinho is making the right choice by picking the goalkeeper who he thinks is better fit to play? Could it be? Could it be maybe that the press will always criticize his every move? The fans' focus should be to want the best for the team and to support the XI Juanitos that come out. I don't believe this issue is about Iker being our captain because even on the bench, he is it. When Raul, our captain of 7 years, was benched, no attacks were made towards the coach. This is beyond the coach benching the captain.
I am not a Mourinhista. I am a Madridista and as such I want the best for the team. My humble opinion is that I think that there is no better coach for Real Madrid than Jose Mourinho right now. He has started a project that should not be cut short. I think like Don Alfredo Di Stefano, that Mourinho should stay. Results back him up, unfortunately trophies don't. For the reasons aforementioned I would respect his decision to leave, I would thank him endlessly for his time at our institution and for teaching me, personally, valuable lessons. You may disagree and that is okay. It is good to disagree but it is also good to know how to disagree. Respect should always be present and one must remember that there is never one right way.
I hope I didn't miss any of the points people wanted me to talk about. I think I have touched on all of them but if I haven't do not hesitate to leave a comment.