Five takeaways from Real Madrid’s pre-season under Jose Mourinho | OneFootball

Jose Mourinho’s pre-season at Real Madrid has been ongoing for a long time, but the manager will really count his pre-season only from when the internationals began to return to his dynamics.

The core of the team rolled back in instalments, the latest of which arrived last week, and Mourinho has thus had just over a week with some of the big names of his project including Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and others.

All in all, Los Blancos played five pre-season friendlies of which they won four and drew only the game against Fiorentina. They scored 12 goals in that duration and kept two clean sheets.

Over the past month, Mourinho’s ideas have begun to take shape, and the world has got a sneak peek of what to expect from the new manager through his training ideas and on-field dynamics.

Madrid Universal brings you five takeaways from Real Madrid’s pre-season under Jose Mourinho.

Heavy importance on physical preparation

The new manager’s training sessions have been described as gruelling, unforgiving and harsh on players, for Mourinho prioritises improving the team from a fitness and physical preparation standpoint. 

Over the past two seasons, Los Blancos’ fitness and physical status took a turn for the worse and the result was visible on the field as the team was often outrun by inferior opposition. It is now a matter of paramount importance under the new coach.

Mourinho aims to make Real Madrid a unit who are physically imposing and capable of outlasting opponents in late-game scenarios.

It will not only help prevent injuries but also form a clear tactical identity that the manager stands for.

Carlos Espi: The surprise package making an instant impact

Making early impact. (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

Kylian Mbappe may well be one of the best centre-forwards in world football, but Mourinho always had it clear that he required a physical box presence lending profile in attack. Carlos Espi has stepped exactly into that void.

As a player with a dominant physique, good aerial presence and serving as a classical focal point centre-forward, the player has come off the bench to make some useful cameos that suggest Mourinho will love him.

In the four pre-season friendlies he participated in, the youngster scored two goals and his 45 minutes against Schalke were particularly impressive as he showed great movement in the box and a killer instinct.

Further, Mourinho’s system is known as one which rewards strikers who hold up the ball and can compete physically with defenders, making Espi the perfect fit for the dynamic. 

He may not be a starter, but he will have a massive role in the coming campaign – much like Joselu did during his time at the club.

Bernardo Silva will be key in midfield

Bernardo Silva spent the prime years of his career playing as an attacking midfielder and a presence who directly contributed to the final third. His role at Real Madrid, however, is set to be very different.

Mourinho has used the Portuguese star in a central orchestration role, utilising his press resistance, ball retention and tactical discipline to instil the two components Real Madrid are lacking through the middle – creativity and control.

Silva is thus poised to play in a deeper midfield role than he is accustomed to, and will likely play as a holding midfielder alongside Aurelien Tchouameni or Federico Valverde.

Given his experience, comfort on the ball and superior ability to dictate play, however, he will be one of the non-negotiables in the department and is set for a massive role in the season ahead. 

His ability to integrate with his teammates and control games from the middle of the park will eventually be what drives Real Madrid’s dominance over the ninety minutes.

Mourinho’s midfield orchestrator. (Photo by David Balogh/Getty Images)

A long way to go from last season’s troubles

A lot of Real Madrid’s issues from last season directly had to do with the superstar culture and lack of a level playing ground within the dressing room. The idea of bringing in Mourinho was to ensure players stay grounded and work for the team

The pre-season, however, has shown that the problems are far more deep-rooted than appears to the eye and that changing old habits is anything but easy.

In the game against Schalke where the big names returned, Kylian Mbappe was often seen losing possession and making no effort whatsoever to track back and help in defence. His lack of defensive commitment, thus, does not appear to have changed.

Concurrently, Jude Bellingham, was once again seen to cut out a frustrated figure just as he has so often in recent times. He has got into trouble repeatedly for his on-field frustrations, but the discipline does not seem to have been instilled in him yet.

The same stands for Vinicius Jr. who has always been one to get involved with the fans, and he again did the same in the recent friendly. 

One aspect that Mourinho must understand, thus, is that there is still a long way to go on certain fronts. Old habits, after all, die hard.

A full new-look defence

Last but not least, the biggest upgrade in the squad under Mourinho is undoubtedly the restructuring of the defence through new summer signings, and all the new arrivals have shown their class so far.

Denzel Dumfries has stood out as a defensively superior option to Trent Alexander-Arnold and the manager is already said to be considering starting the new signing as his starting right-back for the league opener.

Ibrahime Konate and Marc Cucurella, meanwhile, made their debuts for the club against Schalke and both dished out strong performances that make them contenders to be starters.

As the start of the season approaches, Real Madrid have a new-look defence which even kept a clean sheet last night in the final pre-season friendly. There is, thus, reason to be optimistic about the defensive upgrade.