Mourinho: "Against Elche, I’d like to play well and win"
“In every match and every training session, the goal is always to improve,” said the coach.
José Mourinho appeared in the press room at the Ciudad Real Madrid ahead of the match against Elche, corresponding to Matchday 6 of LaLiga (Tuesday, 9:30 pm CEST; Orange TV and Movistar LaLiga): “I’d like to win, I’d like to play well and win, nothing more. I hope that in three months we are better than we are today, but I have nothing magical to say that in three months we will be at an incredible level. In every match and training session, the goal is always to improve. The more time a coach has to work with a team, the greater the chances of becoming stronger.”
On Vini Jr.
“The best version is scoring. Obviously, assisting is important, very important to work for the team, the commitment, the solidarity, the collective work, the day-to-day effort, which is also important, and he does that very well. But there’s another Vinicius, the Vinicius who eliminated Benfica last season and who, in close matches, especially in the two knockout stage games, had one opportunity, one goal, and sealed the game. He’s missing that top-level performance, but I’m happy with him.”
Güler’s development
“Regarding his evolution, there are people more qualified than me to speak about it. There are people down here who have worked more with him since he arrived, who also give me information at a physical level about how he has grown, how he has transformed physically. But for me, his playing quality is incredible—his vision, decision-making, game organization, the stability he brings to the team, the creativity… He’s a player with fantastic potential who already has very interesting numbers. These numbers aren’t just about assists and goals; they come from a deeper analysis. He’s a boy who has a big influence. I don’t want to go too far and say top, top, top three times, but certainly top, top, yes.”
Team Development
“If I gave the impression that I was talking about three months, no. Do I ask for three months and then another 10 years? Maybe I miscommunicated. I hope that in three months we are better than we are today. When we play a match, we analyze it and work on the good things and the not-so-good things. I always think that the longer a team is together, the more time it has with this work stability under a coach, the stronger it can become.”
“I don’t think it’s possible to press high for 90 minutes. I don’t think so, and it’s not our profile, nor are there many teams in the world capable of doing it for 90 minutes. What we need to know is how to act accordingly when we are playing high. When we are deeper, we have to work differently to be a more complete team defensively because the team needs to be able to do both. If you ask me if I like a low block, I don’t. But there are player profiles and teams better suited to that, and what I don’t want are contradictions between what I like most and the qualities of my players, trying to find something that defines us as a team.” “For me, that something is this ability to press high, this ability to recover high, this ability to kill in 3 or 4 seconds of transition, which we’ve already done in several matches. But when the opponent has quality and the ability to develop their game, and so far, I’ve seen all teams have this ability. We have players up front who can finish on the counterattack, and we are solid in a low block. I don’t want this kind of mentality, but I also don’t want to suffer in the sense that when we are deep, the opponent gets 2 or 3 shots that force the goalkeeper to make 2 or 3 big saves and endure 3, 4, or 5 corners.” Tchouameni
“With national teams, I don’t know what Zidane’s idea is; I don’t know his plan, and we have to respect his vision. I can’t tell you what would be better for him. Whether staying here working with four or five players, plus four or five from Castilla, or going to the national team and getting minutes there. Probably the best would be a controlled national team involvement, with controlled minutes, progression without overloading with effort, avoiding issues in areas where muscle problems from the World Cup period could worsen. I haven’t spoken with Zidane, but I think he’s also a man with common sense and will know what’s best for him. If he goes to the national team, let it be to help them without harming the player’s future. I have a lot of confidence that Zidane will handle things well.” Injuries and Measures to Improve the Situation
“Measures? I know the numbers from the past, but not the process. Here, we are involved in a global, normal, professional plan, which is a very good interaction among everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean the players, who are the most important, the technical department with people skilled in sports science, prevention, strengthening, individual training, small signals that might appear before problems, and a very committed medical department working in this collective effort with a lot of unseen work. In the sense that the things you don’t see are the work being done behind the scenes. When they start training on the pitch today, you’ll see them come in, but they’ve already done 35 minutes of work inside if there’s a gym session. We’re working well and so far, we have positive numbers, also common sense. Confidence in the players is important. For example, the other day when Valverde left the pitch, it was for precaution, because he had a small problem. If you ask me, with the score at zero, would Valverde continue? Yes, he would. We push the limits of risk, but with a 3-0 score, we protect a player who’s almost there. It’s a bit like that, but you also need a bit of luck, especially with traumatic injuries. Many times, a team has a very high number of injuries, and their staff is working very well, but they have bad luck with knees or traumatic injuries, and that’s something uncontrollable.” Possible Start for Tchouameni This Week
“I think more minutes, yes. Without a doubt, more minutes than with Inter, which were 10-15, and we were all hesitant; we could have gone to 20-25. I’d say in the next matches, there will surely be more. He’s getting better, stronger, and more confident every time. I’d say tomorrow, for sure he’ll play at some point, but I can’t say how long.” Lamine Yamal’s Comments on the Ballon d’Or
“I don’t comment on a player’s statements. I respect everyone’s opinions, but I don’t comment.” Double Pivot
“You’ve understood a bit how I’m working overall. It’s not defensive, no. Cucurella and Carreras, Trent and Dumfries, the center-backs, none of them have played all the matches. The way we’re working is to try to keep the entire squad engaged, feeling useful, and able to get minutes. This, for me, is important because it has a big impact on the day-to-day motivation of each day’s work. The two midfielders, yes, I can rotate, but 1+2 doesn’t always mean it’s 2+1; it can be 1+2 instead of playing Jude as a 10, playing with a 6 and two 8s. We’re prepared for this; we do it, we know how to do it. And then, regardless of the player, the balance, movements, and dynamics don’t change much in our game plan. It can change based on the profile. The players are different. One thing is Camavinga, Tchouameni, another is Bernardo. A different thing from both profiles is Valverde and Jude. We always try to find balance without ever losing our identity, but also considering the problems our opponents can create.”
Team Development
“If I gave the impression that I was talking about three months, no. Do I ask for three months and then another 10 years? Maybe I miscommunicated. I hope that in three months we are better than we are today. When we play a match, we analyze it and work on the good things and the not-so-good things. I always think that the longer a team is together, the more time it has with this work stability under a coach, the stronger it can become.”
“I don’t think it’s possible to press high for 90 minutes. I don’t think so, and it’s not our profile, nor are there many teams in the world capable of doing it for 90 minutes. What we need to know is how to act accordingly when we are playing high. When we are deeper, we have to work differently to be a more complete team defensively because the team needs to be able to do both. If you ask me if I like a low block, I don’t. But there are player profiles and teams better suited to that, and what I don’t want are contradictions between what I like most and the qualities of my players, trying to find something that defines us as a team.” “For me, that something is this ability to press high, this ability to recover high, this ability to kill in 3 or 4 seconds of transition, which we’ve already done in several matches. But when the opponent has quality and the ability to develop their game, and so far, I’ve seen all teams have this ability. We have players up front who can finish on the counterattack, and we are solid in a low block. I don’t want this kind of mentality, but I also don’t want to suffer in the sense that when we are deep, the opponent gets 2 or 3 shots that force the goalkeeper to make 2 or 3 big saves and endure 3, 4, or 5 corners.” Tchouameni
“With national teams, I don’t know what Zidane’s idea is; I don’t know his plan, and we have to respect his vision. I can’t tell you what would be better for him. Whether staying here working with four or five players, plus four or five from Castilla, or going to the national team and getting minutes there. Probably the best would be a controlled national team involvement, with controlled minutes, progression without overloading with effort, avoiding issues in areas where muscle problems from the World Cup period could worsen. I haven’t spoken with Zidane, but I think he’s also a man with common sense and will know what’s best for him. If he goes to the national team, let it be to help them without harming the player’s future. I have a lot of confidence that Zidane will handle things well.” Injuries and Measures to Improve the Situation
“Measures? I know the numbers from the past, but not the process. Here, we are involved in a global, normal, professional plan, which is a very good interaction among everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean the players, who are the most important, the technical department with people skilled in sports science, prevention, strengthening, individual training, small signals that might appear before problems, and a very committed medical department working in this collective effort with a lot of unseen work. In the sense that the things you don’t see are the work being done behind the scenes. When they start training on the pitch today, you’ll see them come in, but they’ve already done 35 minutes of work inside if there’s a gym session. We’re working well and so far, we have positive numbers, also common sense. Confidence in the players is important. For example, the other day when Valverde left the pitch, it was for precaution, because he had a small problem. If you ask me, with the score at zero, would Valverde continue? Yes, he would. We push the limits of risk, but with a 3-0 score, we protect a player who’s almost there. It’s a bit like that, but you also need a bit of luck, especially with traumatic injuries. Many times, a team has a very high number of injuries, and their staff is working very well, but they have bad luck with knees or traumatic injuries, and that’s something uncontrollable.” Possible Start for Tchouameni This Week
“I think more minutes, yes. Without a doubt, more minutes than with Inter, which were 10-15, and we were all hesitant; we could have gone to 20-25. I’d say in the next matches, there will surely be more. He’s getting better, stronger, and more confident every time. I’d say tomorrow, for sure he’ll play at some point, but I can’t say how long.” Lamine Yamal’s Comments on the Ballon d’Or
“I don’t comment on a player’s statements. I respect everyone’s opinions, but I don’t comment.” Double Pivot
“You’ve understood a bit how I’m working overall. It’s not defensive, no. Cucurella and Carreras, Trent and Dumfries, the center-backs, none of them have played all the matches. The way we’re working is to try to keep the entire squad engaged, feeling useful, and able to get minutes. This, for me, is important because it has a big impact on the day-to-day motivation of each day’s work. The two midfielders, yes, I can rotate, but 1+2 doesn’t always mean it’s 2+1; it can be 1+2 instead of playing Jude as a 10, playing with a 6 and two 8s. We’re prepared for this; we do it, we know how to do it. And then, regardless of the player, the balance, movements, and dynamics don’t change much in our game plan. It can change based on the profile. The players are different. One thing is Camavinga, Tchouameni, another is Bernardo. A different thing from both profiles is Valverde and Jude. We always try to find balance without ever losing our identity, but also considering the problems our opponents can create.” What is Diomande missing?
“He’s not missing anything. If he were in another team with fewer high-potential players instead of being at Madrid with this squad, he would probably be a starter playing 90 minutes every game. But when I say this about Diomande, I say it about everyone. The squad is strong, it has many options. A coach who only focuses on 10 players and forgets the rest runs out of fuel in the engine over the season and also loses motivation and internal competitiveness. If you want to talk about Diomande, then we’re talking about Diomande, Vinicius, Arda, Brahim, and in January, Rodrygo. This idea of an undisputed starter, as you all love to use that term, is difficult.” Week of three matches
“How do I approach it? Six press conferences in one week. In other countries, they allowed me to skip one; for example, they’d let me not be here today or not be here tomorrow after the match. But six press conferences in one week… I’m tired of you, and you’re tired of me. I always say the same thing, and you don’t have any more questions to ask me, but here we are because it’s our job, mine and yours. And here we are, six in one week. Elche and Atlético de Madrid are in the same situation because we have the same number of matches. Elche also played on Saturday, just like us. And Atlético has one more day to rest, but then they have one day less between the Osasuna match and the Sunday match. If you tell me next week that we can skip one of these six, I’ll bring some snacks here, and we’ll have some fun.” Rotations up front
“I trust a lot in the player’s knowledge of themselves. Today is an important day, only the second day. Normally, if it’s the third day between matches, today it’s only two. It’s important to understand sensations and listen to the medical department, important to read the data we might receive after training to decide between today and tomorrow. I’ll meet with them again tomorrow.” "No questions about the penalties?"
Disclaimer: Translation generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain inaccuracies.