Jose Mourinho calls out ‘RIDICULOUS’ Mbappe criticism 😳 Real Madrid vs. Villarreal preview | ESPN FC
Real Madrid's poor start and the Mbappe storm: Mourinho defends his players as Clasico pressure builds
ESPN FC turns to Real Madrid after the international break: the criticism of Mbappe, Mourinho's defence of his players and a preview of Madrid vs Villarreal. The panel sees the storm as partly media-driven but also points to real issues: Mbappe's disconnect with the fans, Vinicius's poor form, dressing-room balance and results pressure, with Barcelona's perfect start and unity providing a contrast.
- The Mbappe storm is partly a real story and partly media filler and exaggeration — People are genuinely talking about it and Madrid's players, especially Mbappe, are expected to face a tense atmosphere; Mourinho rebutted the individual accusations and the media needs stories to fill space
- Mbappe's disconnect with Real Madrid fans is more troubling than his form — Madrid have gone two seasons without a trophy with him, and his Ballon d'Or campaign has not won over the club's fans, even rubbing some the wrong way
- Real Madrid have started poorly and Mourinho cannot hide behind other stories — Mbappe has scored but is in negative headlines, Vinicius has signed a new deal without performing, and Barcelona are flying; if the next Champions League and La Liga games go wrong, a gap of around a dozen points before the Clasico is not unthinkable
- For Real Madrid to turn it around, the key is finding balance, keeping clean sheets again, getting Vinicius back in form and making others contribute — Mbappe and Bellingham have carried too much, perhaps Guler too, and the team cannot keep relying on just those players
- Mourinho's handling of Vinicius was honest: poor form does not automatically mean dropping him, and he wants to use opportunities and guidance to bring the player back — Vinicius is indeed playing badly, but a manager must help good players through a slump, although eventually he may still have to leave him out
- The Mbappe controversy has actually shielded Vinicius by taking the spotlight off his poor form — When a team expected to win is not winning, the underperforming player usually gets criticised; only three or four games into the season, Mourinho can afford patience for now, but a decision will eventually have to be made
- Barcelona's dressing room is more united, with the big names pulling in the same direction; Real Madrid's is fragmented, with several stars wanting to be the main man, and the off-field problems are showing on the pitch — Madrid look excellent on paper but are not delivering, precisely because of off-field disunity, which is why Mourinho was brought in to sort it out; without fixing that, tactics will struggle to work
Sid Lowe, Craig Burley and Steve Nicol join Dan Thomas on ESPN FC to discuss Jose Mourinho’s comments on the criticism of Kylian Mbappe and preview Real Madrid’s LALIGA match against Villarreal. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: https://plus.espn.com/ ESPN ESPNFC
Transcript
Welcome in to the latest edition of ESPNFC. We have survived. We have done it. It was the longest international break ever. That's official. But it is over now. And I'll tell you what, domestic football in Europe is back with a bang. Later on, we'll be looking ahead to Manchester United against Spurs. Plus, it's Liverpool against City. But we will kick things off with La Liga, of course. So, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Very different starts to the season. Barca are perfect. Seven wins out of seven for Real Madrid already they find themselves six points off top spot. The classicalico in a couple of weeks can't come quickly enough for Barca. But for Real Madrid, all the talk during the international break is about [music] killing Mbappe being a naughty boy or is has he? Here's Jose Mourinho. sufficient football. Um, Christian Ronald Madrid Madrid. for transform. Hotel Absolut. Sid low with us. I'll tell you, it's a great last sentence, isn't it? It wasn't like he was cycling the tour to Switzerland. Jose Mourinho very much on the front foot today defending his players. This is where Mourinho is at his best and what expect from him. So, how much has it really been a big story or how much is this just filling time which we know very well about? uh over the last few weeks to just fill a newspaper. >> Yeah, I mean the answer to that question in a way, Dan, is it's a little bit of both things. Um it's been a real story in the sense that it has occupied people. It's been a real story in the sense that people are talking about it and in the sense that I think most of us anticipate there being a fairly tense response to Real Madrid's players tomorrow and Zillian Mbappe in particular. It is also true of course though that there is a degree of space filling. That said, Mourinho's and I actually really like the final part of Mourinho's discourse there where he went through the individual accusations and basically explained why they weren't particularly serious accusations and explain why it wasn't the way that they looked. But but of course, Rour is someone who's used the media to his advantage many times in the past. He's someone who knows probably better than any manager the the role that the media plays and knows how to use that to his advantage at times. Uh it is also true that when he says, you know, I thought you might have other stories to talk about that were bigger than this. Well, yeah, everyone's been talking about Manchester City as well, including in Spain. And actually, the parallel that's been drawn in Spain to Manchester City has been to the Negada case, which is the one that he says this is the thing that none of you want to talk about, which has been talked about as well. But I think it is it is important up to a point and I think it's important what's happened with Mbappe because of a the feeling that that there's still a disconnect between him and the Real Madrid fans, which is problematic. It genuinely is. that B of course the context of this is that it comes off the back of two seasons in which Real Madrid haven't won anything with him and in the context as well of a Ballandor campaign from him which I actually think hasn't really worked with Real Madrid fans. I think it may work with some voters which of course is what he's looking for first and foremost but I don't think it's one of Real Madrid fans. I think if anything that's actually rubbed quite a lot of Real Madrid fans up the wrong way. So there will be some tension tomorrow, but he's kind of right in that a lot of this has been time filling, space filling, and just a wey bit exaggerated. >> Even Jose Mourinho should know that Real Madrid, even with all the other stories with Ronaldo and and how childish all that was and and the Man City stuff which has rumbled and rumbled that even all those can't take away from the fact that they've been pretty bad at the start of the season. He's got Mbappe who has performed but now he's been supposedly in the headlines for the wrong reasons. He's got a Venites Jr. who who has signed this new deal who just hasn't performed. >> He's got this Barcelona team that that are flying high. He has the classical coming up in a couple of weeks or so. He's got three or four games to fill including Champions League and a couple of the Liga games in between which could go wrong for him. >> Yeah. And if it goes wrong for those games v starting with Val tomorrow, if those games go wrong for him, that gap potentially going into that classical on the is it 25th of October it the chasm between the two teams at that point. It's not unthinkable to be a dozen points >> and that I think is a great pressure for him. All these stories are are stories but at the end of the day it's going to come down to one thing. He's got to find he's got to find the the right team. He's got to find the balance. They got to start keeping clean sheets. They got to he's got to get Fenitio Jr. playing well. Uh Mbappy and Bellingham have carried a lot. Maybe add the Guler a little bit. You can't always rely on these players. Others are going to have to chip in. So yeah, Mbappy doing what he's doing. The Real Madrid fans may be uh frustrated with it, but it's going to come down to them winning football games starting off again this weekend. Yeah, it's interesting that that Craig brought up Venicious Junior there. S because in theory, if there was going to be a target for why Real Madrid haven't started the season well, it's not necessarily Killian Mbappe. It is Venicious who just hasn't hasn't got started whatsoever. We saw Mourinho coming out today and defending the Brazilian saying, "Look, he's trying." >> Yeah. And I think actually that that response from Mourinho was really really interesting. And one of the reasons by the way I think why there's a different reaction to Mbappe and to Venicious and why Mbappe who scored seven goals is maybe in the focus in the spotlight in terms of criticism more than Venicious is because as I said before the the question really is about a disconnect rather than necessarily about a poor performance level although the context is two years of not winning anything with Kiliane in the team. In terms of Venicious, that that answer from Mourinho, as you pointed out, is a really interesting one because he was essentially asked a question that wasn't directly about Venicious. The question was about meritocracy and whether you always play the players who are in the best form and the players who deserve to play no matter what and no matter if that means that you leave a big name out. And Mourinho began to answer this in in kind of conceptual terms rather than in concrete terms. But then at one point he slowed and he said, "I assume that what you're really asking about here is Venicious." And then that led to what I thought was a very honest and also very interesting response from Mourinho, which was basically to say, look, he's not very good at the moment. No, he's not. And meritocracy might well be that you leave him on the on the bench. But there's another thing here, and it's not about the names. It's not about the status that a player has, but it's about the the the process that you undertake to get your good players playing well again. And it may well be that the best way to get your good players playing well again is not to put them on the bench. It's not to drop them for the team, but it's to guide them through. It's to give them opportunities. And maybe there comes a point where you have to leave them out, but you also want to see them through it. And essentially what he was saying was, I want to play Venicious back into form rather than basically shrug my shoulders and say, well, he's not very good. I'm going to put someone else in the team. >> The opposite to what we saw obviously Chavy Alonzo, do you think? >> Yeah. >> Do you know some some things never change? >> I mean, when was the last time we talked negatively about Barcelona? >> Mhm. >> And I wonder why that is. Cuz they're winning. It's it's always been the same. And the one thing you have to remember when you're in a team that's supposed to win and is not winning, you have to keep your nose clean. And Mbappe is absolutely done Vinnie a huge favor because had Mbappe not been up to his usual stuff, it would have been about Vinnie's poor form. And the fact that is only what, three, four games into the season, it's easy for Mourinho to see, look, I want to play him into form. But like everybody, eventually there comes a time when the manager has to make a decision. I'm sure for Vinnie, it's a long way down the road probably. >> Yeah. >> But at the end of the day, there comes a time when the decision has to be made. >> Well, I mean, you you mentioned Alonzo was slightly different with Venites Jr., but Alonzo was getting uh I think the the narrative is a little different there. Alonzo was getting pressure or certainly headlines from Venitz camp. Alonzo was was getting uh some disrespect from the player when either he wasn't on the field or he was leaving the field. So then he had he was sort of pressured into making a decision because the player was the player was throwing it back in his face. You know, Venicious hasn't done anything with with Mourinho because I think a respects him more and b he's playing him. He's just not playing well. I think the question is is is how long how long that can last, sixyear contract uh or not. I think the Barcelona thing is interesting in terms of their winning. The makeup of the Barcelona squad is different. Yeah, they have some huge players and I suppose big egos, but they all seem to be pulling in the one direction and that makes it not easy, but easy air for Hansy Fleck. Whoever goes into this Real Madrid dressing room at this moment in time, it's it's it's fragmented. You know, they all want to be the big star. You get the feeling that Barcelona to be fair they want to be the key man but if it's Rafinia it's fine. If it's if it's Lamin that's okay. If it's Ferine Lopez if it's Rod that's okay. You get the feeling at Real [clears throat] Madrid they want to win but but there's three or four of them all wanting to be the big stars at the top of that tree and that's slightly different. We're definitely seeing, you'll hear us talking about, you know, if the dressing room is not getting on, then it affects what happens on the field. And if ever there's a great example of that, it's Real Madrid because man for man on paper, they're fantastic. >> But on the field, it's not happening because it's not happening off the field. And the only reason Josie Mourinho is in there is because of that. because they needed somebody to try and sort this out. Because without that, don't matter if you know your tactics or anything else, on the field, it's going to show its ugly face. And right now, well, they've got plenty of ugly faces right now.