Hala Madrid 1.5: Magisterial Madrid

A month ago, Real Madrid supporters were complaining that José Mourinho´s style for Madrid was too defensive and that they were in short, boring, and then all of a sudden something has clicked and you have Cristiano Ronaldo regaining the form he had playing at Manchester United, the form that made him Ballon D´or winner. They are playing with each other, Higuain and Ronaldo are getting along and Mesut Ozil is imposing his class on the middle of the pitch. Pedro León has slowly come back to the first team, Angel diMaria is clicking with his compatriots and in typical feast or famine fashion, the madridistas are besides themselves in praise for the manner in which El Real have played.

José has gotten his allotted time in training with them and it shows not just in their level of fitness, which had been definitely lacking over the last few years when the squad would lose focus at the end of matches, but also in their link-up-play. They circulate the ball well, this is still the same team that Pellegrini coached on ball possession last year, but Mou has them firing out quicker on the counter-attack, which suits many of these modern European players better. They are also much more compact on defense. It´s not that they pile eight in the box and absorb the pressure. They really play a much better brand of cohesive, team defense under Mourinho. It´s shocking considering how poor they were and even more shocking that under this system players not known for their ability to track back and defend are actually doing just that. That- is all man-management.

It´s a great time to be a Real Madrid supporter I would assume, but let me put a damper on the treble festivities just yet. They have played some dire teams over the last few weeks and they have yet to play teams vying for the Spanish Champions League slots. Granted, most of them will be at the Bernabeu where Real Madrid were so tough to defeat last year, and considering José´s stellar home record over the last ten years, it will be tough for visiting teams to take full points, but we will see if this rampaging Madrid can continue to show itself over the next few weeks. The defining moment will come, not at the Santiago Bernabeu against Atléti where the colchoneros haven´t won in over a decade, by what either club do in el clásico.

Two bits of information to go by before I close this: the anniversary of the Alcorconazo of last year is upon us, or at least the equivalent point of contention in the Copa del Rey is coming mid-week. This will be the first time really that José opens up his bench. Can he trust some of the players on the end of that bench to continue the gains that the first team have made? He´ll be playing a few starters, but we´ll see how quickly he brings in reinforcements if needed. If that´s the case and he can´t count on the subs, then has anyone noticed how few players Mourinho has actually used? Only 12 have actually featured so far. That may be a conscious choice to brand that small group to play well together, but over-time it will wear thin when the fixture congestion hits after the first of the year. Everything looks smooth sailing ahead, but rough waters will appear sooner rather than later.

Until next time: Halah Madrid.