Chapter 185 Stabilizing Morale
The crushing defeat in El Clásico, and the ensuing media storm, plunged the Real Madrid dressing room into a somber atmosphere.
The players seemed to have lost their confidence after being defeated by Barcelona, and they appeared somewhat listless during training for several days in a row.
Fino could sense that trust in Mourinho was decreasing significantly in the locker room.
During Pellegrini's era, Real Madrid never lost by such a large margin. Why did the scoreline widen even further after Mourinho, the so-called anti-Barcelona expert, took over as manager?
This is exactly what the Meringers are thinking.
Fino's ideas were completely different from those of the Merlingers. After carefully reviewing and analyzing the game, Fino was even more convinced that Mourinho was the most suitable person to lead Real Madrid against Barcelona, provided that he could withstand the pressure and stick to his defensive philosophy.
The best way to counter Barcelona's possession-based tactics is to play a defensive counter-attacking style. Whether it was AC Milan in the 2009 Champions League final or Inter Milan in the two legs of the 2010 Champions League semi-final, they all defeated Barcelona by playing a defensive counter-attacking style, even though Barcelona was not as strong as they are this season.
Mourinho is the coach who understands counter-attacking best.
Real Madrid's crushing defeat was a chain reaction triggered by tactical failures, but the blame for these tactical failures cannot be placed entirely on Mourinho.
The club and fans' pursuit of a "flashy attack" put Mourinho under immense pressure, forcing him to compromise tactically. The 4-2-3-1 formation that Mourinho meticulously designed after taking over Real Madrid was all about total football, hoping to combine the defensive solidity he desired with the dazzling attacking style favored by the club and fans.
After a brief period of adjustment following the start of the season, Real Madrid, playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation, was indeed unstoppable. However, when facing the extremely sharp attacking Barcelona, this formation struggled defensively.
With the two full-backs focusing a significant amount of their energy on attack, the four defenders failed to effectively block the penalty area. The double pivot of Alonso and Khedira also failed to provide an effective barrier in front of the penalty area, allowing Barcelona to easily breach Real Madrid's defense.
Counter-attack, counter-attack, how can you talk about counter-attack if you can't even defend well?
Having conceded two goals in the first 20 minutes, Real Madrid players were under immense psychological pressure. Cristiano Ronaldo was tricked by Guardiola while receiving a throw-in, and subsequently pushed Guardiola, sparking the first conflict between the two sides on the field. From that point on, the situation began to spiral out of control.
At this point, the drawbacks of having a goalkeeper as captain became apparent. Casillas rarely left the penalty area during the match, making it difficult for him to calm and guide his teammates in the midfield and attack. Meanwhile, vice-captain Ramos was prone to losing his temper. This made Fino reflect on his performance and realize that he needed to take on more responsibility. In the future, he would need to step up and stabilize the team's morale in such situations, just like he did in the national team.
Tactical failure, the pressure of falling behind, and emotional outbursts combined to lead to Real Madrid's crushing defeat.
If Mourinho could withstand the pressure and stick to the three defensive midfielders he used at Inter Milan, the outcome of the match might have been different.
Having sorted out the logic, Fino had a general idea of what to do next.
On the one hand, we must boost morale and not let the team be defeated after such a blow. This season is still long, and we must stabilize the situation at this stage.
On the other hand, the dressing room must trust Mourinho, obey and execute his tactics, resolutely defend, and launch sharp counterattacks. When speaking publicly, they must also unify their rhetoric in support of Mourinho and absolutely prevent it from escalating into internal strife.
The first aspect is easy to handle; just give him a pep talk. Fino is exceptionally good at that. Even without the captaincy, as Real Madrid's star player, his words carry enough weight. Yes, after his scathing rebuke of Casillas last time, he no longer has any expectations for Casillas' leadership role. Rather than relying on Casillas, he'd rather take matters into his own hands.
Then, the other side becomes a bit difficult to handle.
The interpersonal relationships in Real Madrid's dressing room are complex and complicated, and it is not easy to unite them, especially for players who cannot secure a starting position, it is difficult for them to genuinely support Mourinho.
For example, Ras Diarra and Mohammed Diarra.
After Khedira's arrival, the former gradually lost his starting defensive midfield position and harbored a lot of resentment towards Mourinho.
The latter is just waiting to transfer on a free transfer after the season ends. He is not working or putting in any effort now. In the recently concluded El Clásico, he even refused to be substituted on when the team was far behind.
Before that, Fino needs to discuss tactics with Mourinho when facing Barcelona.
He needs to think carefully about how to start the conversation. Mourinho's personality is very different from the famous coaches he has worked with before. Ancelotti is a person who is very willing to communicate with players, and Lippi does not mind to take in reasonable suggestions from players. However, Mourinho's personality is somewhat extreme, and Fino is worried about touching a nerve with him. After all, it takes courage to admit that you have failed tactically.
Soon, Fino knew he didn't need to worry about Mourinho anymore, because Real Madrid began practicing the three-defensive-midfielder tactic in their intra-squad training sessions. This greatly changed Fino's opinion of Mourinho; he had been narrow-minded. Mourinho was much more open-minded and decisive than he had imagined, and Fino developed a genuine respect for him.
On December 3, the day before Real Madrid's home game against Valencia in the 14th round of the league, the players were required to stay overnight at the Real Madrid Sports City as usual.
After training that afternoon, Mourinho announced the starting lineup for the next day in advance.
Mourinho deployed a 4-3-1-2 formation, with Khedira, Lass Diarra, and Alonso as the three defensive midfielders in front of the four defenders, Fino connecting the midfield and the forward line, removing the main center forward, and Di Maria and Ronaldo partnering as the two strikers.
Mourinho is already eager to experiment with a three-defensive-midfielder formation in official matches.
After the coaches left the training field, Fino kept his teammates behind.
He politely asked Cassie for her opinion: "Igor, I have something I'd like to say to everyone."
Cassie dared not voice any objections.
It's a little embarrassing to admit, but ever since Fino's conversation with him, he's had this kind of fear of Fino that's like a primary school student facing their homeroom teacher. Whenever Fino's expression is serious, Fino's line, "Captain's armband, huh? You think you deserve it?" automatically plays in his head.
This is practically becoming his inner demon.
But he couldn't tell any of his friends, not even Sarah. His fear of his usually friendly teammate, seven years his junior, was utterly baffling. As for the reason for his fear, that was even more unspeakable. Fino was already being considerate of his pride by not letting his teammates hear; was he really going to willingly throw that pride to the ground and trample on it?
Fino patted Cassie on the shoulder, relaxed his arms behind his head, and began to speak as if chatting casually.
"I went online for a while while having breakfast this morning, and then I saw online that Cristiano and I got into a fight."
This opening piqued everyone's interest. Even though they knew the rumors online were false, who wouldn't want to hear some gossip?
"This made my pupils dizzy. How dare someone like Cristiano, who's a complete weakling, fight me?" Fino said, giving Ronaldo a disdainful look. Ronaldo walked up and gently punched his shoulder.
“Then I quickly continued reading to see why Cristiano was so brave. It turned out that Pepe had helped him; the two of them teamed up to beat me up.” Fino turned to Pepe meaningfully. “So, Pepe, why did you help Cristiano and not me?”
Pepe scratched his head with an innocent look on his face: "I'm sorry, Finney, it won't happen again next time."
After apologizing, he realized something was wrong. Why was he apologizing? He didn't play against Fino with Ronaldo at all! The internet is full of nonsense!
Pepe's instinctive apology sparked a burst of laughter on the training field.
Ramos walked over, hooked his arm around Fino's shoulder, and said loudly, "Don't be afraid, Fino, I'll help you next time!"
Fino glanced at him with a smile and continued, "I'm sure everyone has seen how outrageous the fake news has been these past few days. I'm absolutely in awe of the Spanish media; their ability to distort the truth is truly astounding."
His teammates wholeheartedly agreed and began to recount the rumors that had been spread against them, with Ronaldo being particularly indignant.
"Ultimately, it's because we lost the El Clásico; everyone's kicking us when we're down," Fino said, getting to the point.
The players were reminded of the crushing defeat a few days earlier, and the lively atmosphere instantly fell silent.
"I know everyone has been in a bad mood these past few days, but we can actually look at it from a different perspective. This defeat actually proves that Mr. Mourinho was right."
Upon hearing this, Ramos immediately removed his hand from Ramos's shoulder, looking at him with a puzzled expression, as if to say, "Are you out of your mind?" His teammates shared the same look.
“This season we mainly play 4-2-3-1, a total football formation that suits Real Madrid very well at this stage, which is why we have achieved good results in both the league and the Champions League. But the world is constantly changing, and no single formation can deal with all opponents. Even AC Milan, known for their Christmas tree formation, often has to change formations to deal with specific opponents. For example, in the 2009 Champions League final, we switched to a 4-4-1-1 formation to face Barcelona, and we won,” Fino began to explain his point.
"Barcelona is a special kind of opponent. In last season's Champions League semi-final, Mr. Mourinho used a three-defensive-midfielder tactic, just like Milan, to solidify the defense, let Barcelona control the ball, and then launch counter-attacks. As a result, Inter Milan also won. Also, in last season's Champions League group stage, Rubin Kazan defeated Barcelona 2-1 at home. What kind of team is Rubin Kazan? Before this match, had any of you even heard of this team? Such a small club still managed to defeat the then-dominant Barcelona, relying on extreme defense and then quick counter-attacks."
“You see? Counter-attacking is a natural counter to Barcelona’s passing and possession style, which is why I said Mr. Mourinho’s approach is correct.” Fino crossed his arms and continued, “So why didn’t we use three defensive midfielders or play counter-attacking football in the last league match? Because both the club and the fans have fallen into a misconception: Real Madrid must play beautiful attacking football, and defense is ugly. So Mr. Mourinho made some tactical compromises, but it was these compromises that put us at a tactical disadvantage.”
The training ground was completely silent; the players were all deep in thought.
"These past two days, Mr. Mourinho has been practicing the three-defensive-midfielder tactic in training, and he has also included three defensive midfielders in tomorrow's starting lineup. What does this mean? It means that Mr. Mourinho has realized that he can no longer compromise and must stick to the tactic that best counters Barcelona. Now that the optimal solution has been found tactically, do you still think it will be difficult to beat Barcelona?"
Fino's words were like a ray of sunshine, giving the players, who had been feeling down for the past few days, hope for revenge.
Yes, as long as the right tactics are found, Milan can win, Inter can win, even a small club like Rubin Kazan can be beaten, so of course Real Madrid can win too.
Seeing his teammates getting excited, Fino pressed his advantage.
"Besides tactically countering Barcelona, we also need to enforce strict tactical discipline and execution. After all, even the most suitable tactics are useless if they aren't executed properly. I know some people don't like defense, which brings us back to the initial question: against ordinary teams, we can certainly play beautiful attacking football, but against a special team like Barcelona, we need to choose the tactics that best counter them. We must ingrain a solid defense into our very bones. Remember, it's all about winning. No matter how beautifully the Netherlands plays, they are still uncrowned kings. Winning is the most important thing. Do you want to be uncrowned kings, or do you want a real championship?"
"Of course we want the championship! Is there even a question?" Ramos replied. "We've had a lot of fun playing most of the games. So what if we park the bus occasionally to secure a victory? We're determined to avenge Barcelona!"
His teammates agreed, and Casillas looked at Ramos with satisfaction. Sergio had finally said something sensible.
Fino nodded and continued, "It's just a loss. We'll win it back. We not only want to avenge our defeat against Barcelona, but we also want to strive for titles on three fronts and shut up those media outlets that are kicking us when we're down!"
"Shut up the media!"
"You only lost one game, do you really think we've collapsed?"
"Win and show them!"
...
The teammates started chattering away.
After his teammates had vented their emotions, Fino continued, "We are the closest of comrades-in-arms, together with the coaching staff. We share the same fate, we rise and fall together. We are not only fighting for Real Madrid, but also for ourselves. No matter where we go, the championship is our foundation. For this foundation, we must unite and move towards a common goal. Especially when the whole world is waiting to find fault with us, unity must be shown not only in the game, but also when we stand together against external forces..."
Fino didn't use harsh words, but his meaning was clear and unambiguous.
Whether you're a starter or a substitute, we're all in the same boat. If the team performs well, it'll be easier to negotiate salaries when you transfer. Don't do anything underhanded, don't drag the team down, and don't say things you shouldn't to the media.
Few players who can play for top clubs are fools, so Fino stopped there.
Cassie felt a little uneasy. Was Fino targeting her again?
He immediately began to express his opinion: "Finnie is right. We absolutely cannot fight amongst ourselves at this time. We must unite and stand together against external forces..."
After the captain expressed his opinion and his teammates nodded in agreement, Fino changed the subject to something lighter.
"Valencia is a good opponent. Tomorrow will be the perfect opportunity to prove those media outlets that are pessimistic about us wrong! I'll treat you to a meal after we win, so you can start thinking about what you want to eat now."
"Yoho~ Long live Finney!"
The atmosphere on the training field became lively again.
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Author's note: Thank you everyone for your support! [cheering emoji]
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