Mourinho and Khedira review Real Madrid’s worst game and identify three key failures

Mourinho and Khedira review Real Madrid’s worst game and identify three key failures Jose Mourinho and Sami Khedira have gone back over Real Madrid’s derby defeat against Atletico in detail, reviewing the match three times to identify what went wrong, reports Defensa Central ,  Notably, the derby was arguably Real Madrid’s worst performance of the season so far, prompting Mourinho and his assistant to conduct a detailed review of the game. Their focus has centred on three problems: defensive lapses, a lack of intensity and Real Madrid’s struggles to maintain possession.  The coaching staff believe those weaknesses must be corrected now that there is an important month ahead . Mourinho and Khedira scrutinise Real Madrid’s defensive errors The defensive issues have received particular attention from Mourinho and Khedira. One sequence that stood out came during Atletico Madrid’s second goal.  As such, Giuliano Simeone was able to get past Marc Cucurella before delivering a cross into the area, with Antonio Rudiger moving across to deal with the danger. The problem came with the movement inside the penalty area. Jonathan David moved into the box, while Ibrahima Konate positioned himself behind Rudiger.  Denzel Dumfries also failed to pick up the Canadian striker, leaving David completely unmarked when the decisive finish arrived. Mourinho and Khedira were particularly puzzled by the situation because Real Madrid had several defenders involved in the play, yet none ultimately took responsibility for David. The incident is just the type of collective defensive breakdown the coaching staff wants to eliminate. Real Madrid’s intensity also comes under scrutiny The second major concern is the level of intensity shown by the team. Commitment and work rate are central to Mourinho’s demands, and the derby exposed moments when Real Madrid failed to maintain the necessary intensity both defensively and during their pressing. That affected their ability to recover possession and also allowed Atletico to impose themselves on the match. Real Madrid had previously shown a much higher level of energy, but that intensity was missing at crucial stages of the derby.  The result was a performance in which Atletico were able to dictate more of the game than Mourinho would have wanted. Jose Mourinho wants more intensity from Real Madrid players. (Picture credit: Real Madrid official website) The coaching staff now want the players to understand that technical quality alone cannot compensate for a lack of running and commitment. Mourinho wants his players to control games better Lastly, possession was another major issue identified during the review. Real Madrid repeatedly struggled to complete more than three consecutive passes, making it difficult to control the tempo or establish sustained attacks. Atletico applied pressure without completely suffocating Real Madrid, yet the visitors still found it difficult to play through the press.  Long balls increasingly became the team’s main route forward, rather than controlled possession from the back, which was not the type of football Mourinho wanted to see. The coaching staff believes Real Madrid had enough technical quality to keep the ball for longer, as players such as Dean Huijsen, Arda Guler and Jude Bellingham could have helped the team establish greater control. Bernardo Silva’s introduction offered a glimpse of what was missing, but overall, Real Madrid failed to assert their authority.