We have to defend with 11 players, Mourinho tells Real Madrid stars
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has sent a note of warning to the star players that every member of the team must defend ahead of the clash against Espanyol on Saturday.
The club will race Espanyol in their first match of the season on Saturday at the RCDE Stadium.
It would be recalled Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior clash with the former coach, Xabi Alonso because of their inability to track back.
The Portuguese manager is expecting all the players to defend as a team in the new season while insisting that the trio of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham can play together in the same team.
Mourinho said: “They are incredible players and incredible players want to play with incredible players.
“Tactically, it could be tricky. Ancelotti has found a set-up with Brazil perfect for Vini, (Didier) Deschamps has found one with France perfect for Kylian, (Thomas) Tuchel one perfect for Jude, it’s harder for Mourinho to do it for the three of them.
“We’re on it. I want the three, when all three play, to feel comfortable on the pitch… they are three players of great quality.
“They don’t play in incompatible positions. We will have a great season with them.”
“We have to defend with 11 players. If a team is pushing us back and giving us problems in our final third, we all have to defend.”
Read Also: FIFA slams 10 match ban on Argentina’s Paredes
The former Benfica manager is expecting the players to make life difficult for him in terms of selection in his second spell.
Mourinho added: “There will be moments of frustration, because of results — or personal frustration.
“I told the players tomorrow there will come a moment of frustration for many of them because it will be the first time that I have to pick one as a starter and the other goes to the bench and feels frustrated, they have to digest that individually and as a group.
“I’m here to help them, but I can’t start a game with 15 players, only 11 can play. I hope each game is difficult for me, because they keep working in the way they are working.
“The day that one lowers his level because of frustration, decisions will be easy for me. I want hard decisions… the team needs to know how to navigate moments of frustration.”
Mourinho also assured the club’s fans that there is no bad blood between the players despite the widely publicised clashes towards the end of last season.
He concluded: “I’ve decided to start from zero… there was no need to speak to Tchouameni… seeing how they’re getting on, you can’t even imagine what happened last season.
“They practically told me there was no need to speak about it, that I didn’t have to try and have an influence to bring peace.
“From what I’ve seen it’s not even about peace, it’s normality, friendship, and it’s like nothing happened.”
Mourinho won three trophies in his first spell at Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013, while also recording 128 wins, 28 draws and 23 defeats.
