The fact that this is the liveliest thread is amazing and nothing short of spectacular, everyone has Mourinho fever. I have yet to come across anyone in the world of football that has attracted more attention. Simply, wow.
Anyway, the pretext of the arguments that are pro Mourinho unfortunately are not true no matter how solid Mourinho's arguments may sound like, but simply, they are fabricated because the problem isn't being discussed properly. Mourinho's failure do not stop at his dealing with Casillas and his issue extends way beyond that. Mourinho and Casillas didn't have an issue, until Mourinho felt betrayed by Spain's National Team Captain for calling Xavi and settling the score.
A gesture from Casillas that was widely accepted and appreciated from all corners of Spain. Mourinho tried to strain a social and sporting sporting issue that has plagued Spain for years and have been able to over come in the past decade thanks for Aragones and the willingness of the Spanish people.
Mourinho's success largely depends on raising tension for his tactics to work, and it took him a while to raise to the tension in Real Madrid because the players were relectant and were not at ease with it. What was competitive became personal, what was tense became ugly and what was cheeky became dirty. The whole mood in Madrid was darkened. He complained and got his way, Madrid budged in and cleared the way for him by removing Valdano from the spot.
At this point Mourinho didn't have any problems with players and by the end of the 2011 season he was campaigning for Casillas to be ballon d'or winner. So his first season ended behind Barcelona, behind Pellegrinis Madrid but in the semi finals. Controversial calls in favor of Barcelona and the lack of initiative from Madrid saw his team finish with a Copa del Rey. At this point one was being sympathetic, one was being hopeful, that Mourinho's second seasons were always better.
Now for second season, he has gotten his way and he removed the slick suit and put on his track suit, a new approach and a new style. Mourinho formulated a team that did anything possible to win over Barcelona and succeeded, as well as registering the mightiest league campaign with a win over Barcelona away. That was epic but tensions were high, blood was boiling and relationships damaged, and with it some players as well. Details aside, had Mourinho been tactically less predictable and been slightly more adventurous he would have probably beaten Bayern but it wasn't meant to. He drove away Pep, he had the league all to himself. He still didn't have any issue with anyone but by that point he had alianted the entire media and has treated them like trash.
While his treatment of the media in many cases based on actual facts, he was completely in wrong for not being diplomatic, and he had no need to pick a fight with them. His handling of the media was piss poor and that resulted in a massive war against him and which drained him and his team. The strain on the team was all but evident and the players had enough.
The way the season started no body understood what was going on, his throw away of the league to Tito was absolutely shambolic and an absolute failure and to protect himself, he half sarcastically claimed responsibility and this is where it started to go downhill very quickly. His comments such as 'when the team wins, it is the players, when the team loses it is my fault', 'I claim all responsibility for not motivating the team' were not very well respected in Spain and most certainly in the capital because no one believed him. He quickly denounced the league for the sake of the '10th' and his problems which he had kept a lid on all along where surfacing faster than he can manage and the biggest problem was that the media was anxiously waiting because of the prior two years, on which they capitalized on mercilessly.
His behavior was that less than adequate for Madrid's stature and that Ramos and Casillas were saving face and their refusal to join the circus show was the second time Mourinho felt betrayed. His jealousy towards the World champions were evident by his comments towards Casillas saying he is far too protected. Sure, he was protected but why pick a fight with Casillas? A fight that he was always going to lose? The club saved his ass by acting promptly and purchasing Diego Lopez, and please do not forget his total melt down mid season and his flirting with other clubs but Perez check mated him. He never allowed him an excuse and kept him in his position to claim all responsibility for everything and even though Mourinho wanted out, and the club forced him to stay because they know better, they backed him in a corner and the only way for him forward was actually forward he drove the club to the semis. Had Mourinho gotten his way, he wouldn't be bragging about a 3rd year 3 CL semi finals. Along the way he piicked a fight with Torill for a strange reason and if he had an issue with the club's set up vertically, as in the club did not properly set the youth team directly as a feeder club to the first team he did nothing to solve the issue but to address it in public, a massive blow to the youth team's moral and whatever harmony the club was enjoying.
So while many thing that he has broken the hegemony that Barcelona enjoyed, and while that many feel he has succeeded in bringing Madrid to proper European heights, one must understand that he has failed where others did as well, and his contribution to the club was exaggerated by him because of the unfortunate case of Madrid fans being divided right now. His fans want him out because they don't want him dealing with Madrid and those who either hate him or dislike him want him out because they cannot stand him and this is the only thing that unites the fans around Mourinho, that they both want him out, and so does he.
While the players shoulder the blame for not being fit and for being lazy, and Casillas having his form drop, he most certainly didn't create a long lasting powerful team because right after his win, he has failed. He gambled on the CL and he lost. And this wraps up his tenure at Madrid. Missed opportunities and a ton of drama, Mourinho lost the war on both fronts, on the pitch and the mic wars. Both wars he started.
But to wrap all this up and in very short...the problem isn't Casillas, nor is it Pepe, or Ramos, or Ronaldo, or Benzema or Higuain or who ever, the problem is simple, has Mourinho delivered? No? k, thanks bye, move on. He doesn't want to be on board, and we won't stand in his way. He has nothing to worry about, he is 45 million richer anyway, that should be enough to cover the ikea boxes.
