Real Madrid barely survived the match against Roma after a 4-3 win in Italy on Wednesday night. It looked like Real Madrid were in for a massive beating against a very impressive Roma team who have looked really good this season.
Fortunately for the away side, as well as José Mourinho, the substitutes that the Portuguese manager made changed the entire game for Real Madrid. They walked away with three points after scoring three goals in the last seven minutes of regulation time.
To be absolutely fair, this Roma team absolutely crumbled when it mattered most against Los Blancos, which is exactly why they ended up losing. They should have won by three goals. However, there is no taking away from the amount of heart that some of these Real Madrid players showed. We would be lying to ourselves if we call this performance a really good one from a team that is expected to be winning these games day in, day out.
Jose Mourinho is not making the big decisions fans hoped he would
Everything begins with the lineup Mourinho picked. It was a lineup that everybody expected to see, but no one wanted to see. Once again, Real Madrid were starting Aurelien Tchouameni, Fede Valverde, Denzel Dumfries, and Vinícius Junior. They have shown countless times that some of these players just do not work together, while Tchouameni and Valverde are not a good defensive pivot. The game changed when Arda Guler and Bernardo Silva were brought in to replace these two in the lineup.
Vinícius Junior was having another really bad game, and when Endrick came on, it looked like Real Madrid’s attack had a different spark. Dumfries went off, and Valverde started playing as right back. This showed Mourinho the amount of quality you can have in that full-back position on both ends of the pitch. This is something that Dumfries has not shown all season long for the club.
It just keeps begging the question: when will José Mourinho start making the big decisions? He has not really benched any of the nailed-on starters from last season despite poor showings one after the other. He sometimes makes these late decisions to bring on hungry players like Endrick and Carlos Espí, but in many games, even that has not happened.
All of this is just to say that for Real Madrid to be successful this season, they need the best version of Mourinho as well as the players. If Real Madrid want the best version of Mourinho, the club would have to give him the license to bench anyone he wants in these games. Isn't that what fans were hoping for?
The truth is, Real Madrid did not need another yes man for stroking the egos of these players. They needed a disciplinarian who will not stop until the best team available from the squad is playing. He wouldn't be scared of making the big decisions, regardless of the names of the players that are in front of him.
That is what every Real Madrid fan thought they were getting from Mourinho, and it is now time that this Mourinho starts showing up, because otherwise fans are in for a very, very long season.
Some of these players who are starting do not deserve to be in the XI for every game that they're in because they have not played well in quite some time. Choosing to play these players when you have better options simply doesn't make sense, and Mourinho needs to fix that before it is too late.
Add us as a preferred source on Google