Mourinho: "In the face of difficulty, this team reacts and wins"

José Mourinho spoke to the media in the press room of the Martínez Valero stadium after Real Madrid's victory against Elche: "The problem seems obvious to me. It’s harder to know why, but it’s easy to understand that there are matches that seem over and, in the end, aren’t. Matches where we have three, four, five chances to finish them and don’t. After failing to do so, it feels like we go from ease, because it seemed easy, to losing control. It’s like we fall into a dynamic of ‘okay, we didn’t score, we didn’t finish with a three or four-nil, but it’s over.’ It feels like when everything seems easy, and you let things slide."

"This kind of Spanish stadium, full and with fantastic supporters, in a game against Real Madrid, they fight until the last moment. A goal and the match is wide open. The good thing is that, in the face of difficulty and the pressure of dropping points, the team reacts and wins, which is ultimately the most important thing. Another good thing is that in Real Madrid matches, no one gets bored because they are very entertaining."

Carlos Espí
"He’s doing well and making an important contribution to the team. He’s a guy with great motivation, but he has a player ahead of him who isn’t just any player. Playing with both together isn’t easy because we lack wide players typical of a 4-4-2, and the team loses balance. With the changes I made in the end, I took all the risks. We won, but I could’ve lost. Still, I had to do it because a draw wasn’t enough."

Diomande
"He’s improving. Physically, you can already see he has minutes in his legs. The understanding with his teammates is also growing. The pass Valverde made for the second goal, perhaps he wouldn’t have made it a month ago. Now the understanding is better. He has a very good work ethic and intelligence. It’s not easy to play ninety minutes with a yellow card. He managed himself very well and did great work for the team. I’m happy."

Are you concerned about the goals conceded?
"Not just for Sunday’s match, but for every match. I like my team to score goals. I like scoring all the time, except against Betis, but scoring four, scoring three... it’s something I enjoy a lot. But I also like controlling matches; I don’t like gifting control. It’s not about the goals; it’s about giving away control of the match because sometimes they can score a goal out of context. But when they scored their goals, we handed them control of the game. The Elche coach played well. Anselmi made changes that altered their structure. They could have lost by four or five. He wasn’t afraid, he was brave, and he made things difficult for us. Then, we have a bench with many solutions, and in ten minutes we had very dangerous approaches to their area. We scored, we won, three points, and that’s it."

Player disconnection
"There’s no explanation. The only one I find is that it was a ‘so-called’ easy match. You don’t finish it, you don’t score three, four, or five goals. Then you drop off, you give away control. Maybe you misinterpret the ease with which you create chances. You might interpret it the wrong way. You’re on the field, you have one chance, then another, then another. You might think: ‘This is easy.’ And it’s not easy. They score a goal, and everything changes."

Is Arda Güler indispensable?
"No, he’s not indispensable. No one is indispensable. When I made the first two changes, with Bellingham and Brahim, it was exactly because we were losing control. That was the moment when we were losing control. Vini did a very good job in defensive organization, always positioning himself well. Then he got tired. And Arda Güler, who played today in this position, which can be called a ‘10,’ but in the end, the position covers the whole field, was also losing intensity. When I put Bellingham in fresh, and Brahim also fresh, I made those changes at 2-0 but already sensing we were losing control. In fact, they went to 2-2, and then we brought out the heavy artillery and saved ourselves."

Tchouameni and Valverde
"When the team was doing well, they were doing very well. We got out of their pressure with ease, and they worked well pressing; they are well-organized in high pressing. We always got out with a lot of quality. But then our match had two faces, in this case, three: one at 2-0, another at 2-2, and another of either we kill or we die. It was a match of three faces. But while we were in control and when the score could have been three or four, Tchouameni and Valverde did very good work there."

What reaction do the players need?
"They need rest. Tomorrow is a day off. I won’t say anything in the locker room, practically nothing. Tomorrow’s off, and we’ll be back on Thursday. If we played poorly from the 1st to the 90th minute, the concern would be enormous. When we have top periods, with great quality and so many goal opportunities, and then we have a period that’s not proactive, passive, expectant, where we lower intensity, obviously it’s concerning. But we won, and credit goes to them."

 

Disclaimer: Translation generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain inaccuracies.