Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!
Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.
Writer’s Prelude. This DT title is far too long but welcome to the Jose Juninho Era of MM. Named after now our current manager Jose Mourinho, this era of DTs will be unapologetically blunt and direct. This will call past to the old
occasional Jose Juninho DTs which were often of the same ilk and provided witty analysis but at times unpopular opinions (e.g., Fede’s technically duplicative and should be sold, Kai Havertz wouldn’t actually be the worst ST profile to link play upfront, etc.).
JOSE MOURINHO! JOSE MOURINHO!
Mourinho Arrives. I feel like this should’ve been a momentous time period that was stifled by the complete circus that is Real Madrid (as well as just news coverage so we knew this moment was coming nearly 3 weeks ago) but Jose Mourinho is finally the manager of Real Madrid. I’ll admit that I’m unsure of whether this is the appropriate time to do an entire breakdown of the upcoming Mourinho era and what it will mean for our club / players but we’ll at least take a quick preview stroll of what we are likely to expect. Disclaimer: I’m a proud Mourinho fan…but I’m still a bit objective.
Outdated? First, before we actually dive into what should we expect from Jose Mourinho — let’s tackle this notion that he’s washed and his tactics are outdated. I guess my first reply is this question actually doesn’t matter. Mourinho isn’t being brought to Real Madrid to modernize the club and establish “sexy” tactics or a brand of football that is entertaining. Florentino Perez through his desperation is turning towards Mourinho to change an unwieldily dressing room’s culture. We’ll touch on the irony of this when last year’s quotes were Xabi was being brought to change culture but he wasn’t empowered to do so on a later date…but at the very least with Mourinho let’s just settle the fact that Flo wants a heavy-handed manager that he can trust. Someone who has an established presence (achievements and ego) to outshine many of the players so that this manager can establish true authority over the locker room. That is singlehandedly Mourinho’s first priority and job. He will either unify these players or clearer them out so that the next manager can start fresh. Mourinho is the consultant that is hired to layoff underutilized departments. So let’s get that out of the way.
Now is he outdated? Maybe. TBH I dont think he’s any more outdated than Ancelotti was at Everton. At Benfica, Mourinho didn’t win any trophies nor qualify for the CL but funny enough the team went undefeated in the league, finished with the same amount of points as the prior year, and advanced to the Round of 16 (again but last season they lost to Barcelona). So in some ways that’s pretty much just maintaining the status quo. I’m going to skip his stint at Fenerbache because of the massive Turkish football betting scandal (this involves over 371 referees and over 100 players) lol. At Roma, Mourinho won the European Conference League (Roma’s first trophy in 11 years) and lost in the Europa League final (after a transfer summer where Roma only spent 7M) to the inevitable Sevilla. At Tottenham, yes he didn’t win any trophies (like most Tottenham managers) but did guide them to the Carabao Cup Final where he was sacked before the team could compete. To me these aren’t great results, but they’re acceptable given where each team exists in the football ecosystem. I think I could actually argue that Mourinho would still get more top flight jobs if he was enjoyable to work with lol.
What To NOT Expect. This part will actually be more fun. I’m not going to tell you to expect successful transfers because Mourinho has a way of buying players that are perfect for his identity of football and then saddling said club with the contracts of aging non-technical players (great example is Manchester United). I’m not going to tell you to expect positive attacking football like that of Kompany, Enrique or Flick. I’m not going to tell you to expect the development of youth players (although Mourinho is actually better at this than he’s given credit. I actually think he’s better at this than Carlo. Mourinho is just super picky on what player ends up being his “kid” (his words not mine). I’m not going to tell you to expect wins — his recent stints have been somewhat successful given each club’s place in world football but not overachieving nor close to the accomplishments we expect at Real. And I’m not going to tell you to expect any semblance of harmony or a finally united locker room dominated by the good vibes of Friend FC or Carlo’s warm embracing spirit.
What To Expect. Three words: A f—ing rollercoaster. That is all that we can expect for the next year or maybe more depending on whether the team is successful. Expect red cards (not necessarily for the players as much as Mourinho). Expect fines. Expect your favorite player to get benched or potentially exiled to Siberia. Expect your least favorite player to either have the best season of his career and then suddenly be exiled to Siberia. Expect a renewed rivalry in El Clasico as Mourinho will surely piss off Flick at some point or mention the Negreira case during a press conference. Expect tension. Expect theatre. Expect absolute cinema.
Ok truly — assuming the players buy-in, expect tactically some semblance of a 4231 or 433. It’s important to note how focused the team has been in supplying defensive depth. Yes, we’ve needed this depth for years but also note that this depth is going to be the foundation upon Mourinho’s system. More than anything Mourinho is a pragmatist. He’s results oriented and winning is the only result he actually cares about. And to win — this Real Madrid team needs to concede less goals especially during transition. Similar to Xabi but in a different manner, I very much expect Mourinho to spend at the very least the first half of our season working on our player’s defensive structure. I don’t actually expect us to fully park the bus but wouldn’t be surprised to see a medium-low block that is just waiting for Vini / Mbappe to spring to action on a counter.
The Players. Now the real question and one that I will breakdown much closer to the actual season start (and potentially after departures) is what players do we envision succeeding during the Mourinho era and who will potentially struggle. Let’s just go through some real quick first impressions given what I know about Mourinho:
- Players who will likely benefit or be great: Tchouameni, Rudiger, Dumfries, Dean (based off history), Militao (if healthy), Arda (seems to be a relationship ting), and Thibaut Courtois. Oh and oddly Endrick idk why.
- Players who may be great but also may be ass: Fede Valverde (concerns about issues with personality and maturity), Jude Bellingham (could see him being Mourinho’s Paul Pogba or amazing), Kylian Mbappe (obvious defensive reasons and personality), and Vinicius Jr. (defensive reasons, Prestianni comments which are really really bad, and contract renewal)
- Important to note that most of these issues are likely going to be personality issues rather than ability or pure adoption of Mourinho mantra. For example, I think Fede / Jude would be prime Mourinho double pivot type players BUT I’m not sure that Jude is willing to commit himself to this role (unless his mom who loves Mourinho yells at him). And with Fede, I’m extremely skeptical on whether Mourinho is going to want a captain that a fair share of the locker room wants gone and thinks is immature…
- Players who I think may at first struggle: Trent, Carreras (I actually think he’ll be fine but I’m not sure if he’ll take benching positively), Camavinga (news seems to be that Mourinho is already trying to push him out so that the club can sign other midfielders) and Vini
- Yes, I’m adding him here too because Vini is a super emotional player and I can see one blow-up with Mourinho going TOTALLY WRONG. If Vini signs his renewal before the season starts and seems completely tapped in, then I actually think he’ll have a great individual season (tho I’m skeptical about him and Mbappe as a collective). But there are just too many unfavorable factors for me to believe this will be smooth sailing. Again the Prestianni comments are a massive issue
Anyway, we’re just getting started on this movie…I can’t wait to dive in to every decision and press conference as the season rolls on.
RM World Cup Update(s)
Today’s Matches:
- Qatar v. Switzerland (zero RM Players)
- Prediction: Switzerland win
- Brazil v Morocco
- Brazil – Vini, Rodrygo & Militao (in spirit), ENDRICKKY AKA BOBBY CHARLTONNNN
- Morocco — Brahim Diaz, Former Castilla Yute Hakimi
- Prediction: 2-2 draw. Man its gonna be 1-1.
- Haiti v. Scotland
- Prediction: Scotland win
Cheers,
J
The World Cup Daily Threads are written in memory of the World Cup Dreams of Rodrygo Goes. Brazil’s #10 and Neymar’s Heir. Rest and get well soon! Que Deus nos abençoe e nos proteja.
