Underwhelming is the only way to describe Jose Mourinho's Spanish League debut. Sure Mallorca and Madrid played end-to-end football sure to leave the starters tired, but neither side could break the goalless stalemate.
Given Madrid's stature and bank account, it was a bitter disappointment for the team from the capital. Their star signing this year was super-coach Jose Mourinho, the Special One, winner of the European cup with 2 teams. Yet for all his star power, Mou couldn't come up with a win in his first game.
Some claimed that Madrid had dominated the game, that they had an enormous amount of opportunities, that they were just lacking a little luck. That wasn't the way the game looked to me.
Mallorca gave as good as they took, repeatedly pushing the ball upfield quickly after Madrid's unimaginative opportunities sputtered. In fact, Mallorca had nearly as many good chances on goal as Madrid.
Mallorca's new coach, Brian Laudrup was clear, "Madrid didn't demonstrate its superiority." And, he wasn't the only one who thought so, over 60% of fans on the Madrid-favorable Marca poll thought that Madrid didn't deserve to win.
The Madrid faithful will tell you that it's too early to worry. They're right - but the pressure is on nonetheless.
This is what Madrid does, they take talented coaches, ignore their best decisions and slowly grind them into bloodied meat as the press, the president and the fans take their best shots at the coach. The backbiting has yet to reach fever pitch but you've got to imagine that the atmosphere is tense behind closed doors.
With Christiano Ronaldo (the legendary CR79er), Benzema (it remains to be seen if this is serious) and Lass Diarra all suffering injuries, it's not going to be any easier in the next few weeks.
So, Mou goals are needed. Mourinho somehow has to get los Merengues to play attractive, prolific soccer. Here's to seeing him do that so we can all see the Real Madrid - Barcelona matchup of the century.
If there's anybody who can stand up to la prensa madrileña, it's got to be Mourinho. The man famously takes no shit from anybody. I think he's going to do just fine there. (You have to find that video of Matarazzi and Mourinho crying after the coaching change.) His team didn't have the luxury of playing all summer together like Barça. Have to wonder if Barça's away games are going to feel like home games to them because of the large selección contingent in blaugrana. I mean, how can the crowd NOT stand up and cheer for Iniesta? Very excited to see the season starting.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited for the start of the season, too. (Get back from the friendlies already!) And I agree, if anyone can take the shit that the Spanish capital loves to dish, it's Mourinho.
ReplyDeleteStill, for all the guy's genius, he's regularly a bit of a slow starter. Last year, he tied the first league game, got off to a slow start and almost got booted from the Champions League phase. If he does that again, he'll be 8 or 9 points behind Super-Barca and have the Madrid press calling for his head.
It seems like the madridistas like to decide that someone could do a better job before the first round is finished.
So, it will be interesting to see the iron will battle the tidal wave of mob paranoia.
The Spaniards I've spoken too love Iniesta. I'm sure the team will get a lot of the love on the road.