Arda Güler and Carlos Espí stake a claim in Mourinho drama at Elche | OneFootball

There are days when you really don’t feel like writing about football, but it is what it is. Even if we don’t put on the shirt, in this little corner we’re all from Ceuta. But I’m not going to waste another second talking about that, because then some people start whining because they get called out. Real Madrid won in Elche (2-3) after a good spell driven by an Arda Güler who brings brains and quality to Madrid’s play, but they vanished as soon as he was substituted. Saint Carlos Espí had to step up, like in Cornellà, to seal in the Sergio Ramos Zone Madrid’s win in the Martínez Valero thriller. What agony!

Madrid still look like an ’80s diesel team that starts spewing smoke everywhere the moment it hits an uphill stretch, no matter how much Mourinho sells in press conferences the virtues of a high press where two players, two shirtless warriors, press a couple of times for appearances’ sake and then go right back to the habits of the last two seasons. Mbappé has an excuse: he remains unique in the world when it comes to creating chances all by himself, regardless of whether his finishing is better or worse depending on the streak he’s on: in the second half he didn’t even show up. One valid goal and one disallowed goal at the Martínez Valero. Vinicius, however, is starting to cry out to heaven.

It’s already been too many months, almost two years, in which his level has fallen off a cliff. This season he came back from the holidays with obvious excess weight but also with the club’s and the coach’s overprotection. However much they shield him, a player earning 30 million euros a season has to be asked for a bit more. Right now he looks like a filly that deserves to be benched. Mourinho didn’t even wait until the 80-something minute to take him off anymore, he did it before the 70th.

At least Real Madrid got the good news of Tchouameni returning to the starting lineup. The Frenchman is what he is, and among the things he is, his ID says “profession: holding midfielder”. So the team is a bit more compact in defense and a little more organized in attack. That’s no small thing. Yan Diomandé also showed a few interesting flashes, along with commendable defensive work, although shyness still weighs on him and he perhaps takes people on too little for what fans expect.

Mourinho has a lot to improve. Just like against Betis, just like against Espanyol, against Elche he lost control of the ball and Madrid are a sugar lump. His management of the bench we’ll generously leave at so-so. Abel Osorio, Elche’s striker, at times moved around like he owned the place, at moments he looked like a demon, and Madrid seemed incapable of stopping the flood of crosses from the hosts, with Konaté and Huijsen looking like cotton candy in the face of them.

Fer Niño’s goal wiped out Madrid’s two-goal lead and the whole thing became a choking fit. Madrid had disappeared in the second half and Mourinho had to turn to Carlos Espí, the number nine this team is crying out for. The kid didn’t miss: just like against Espanyol, almost like against Betis (ruled out for a previous offside by the skin of a sausage). He gave warning with a first effort and buried the second. Carlos Espí has a gift. His teammates looked like cotton wool.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.