Real Madrid: Jorge Picón describes simmering anger and danger for Mourinho

Simmering anger behind the scenes at Real Madrid and a danger facing José Mourinho: that is the picture painted by Spanish journalist Jorge Picón as the club approaches an important league fixture. Real Madrid, fourth on 18 points, are due to face Sevilla, fifth on 14, on matchday nine of the Spanish league. Mourinho’s team can take advantage of Real Betis’s setback, with Betis on 19 points, to target third place and build confidence before the Clásico.

Picón describes a shift in the mood surrounding José Mourinho’s return to Real Madrid. The initial wave of support is gradually giving way to greater expectation and caution in the club’s administrative circles, he says, although the coach continues to have his players’ backing. The gap between the hopes raised and the current reality is feeding concern.

“October has been a cold month for Mourinho,” Picón says. He explains that the coach’s return led many to expect a Real Madrid different from the team of last season. Expectations were particularly high, he adds, because Mourinho was given freedom to make decisions, his views were considered in recruitment, and money was invested to strengthen the squad. “That support fuelled expectations that are now beginning to fade,” he says.

The journalist locates the doubts among the club’s senior leadership, not in the dressing room, where Mourinho still has his players’ support. He also says influential voices at Real Madrid are unconvinced by what they have seen. They reportedly objected in particular to Diomande’s absence from the starting line-up and to a change involving Arda Güler, which they considered inappropriate.

According to Picón, the decision-makers expected the freedom given to Mourinho to produce a more obvious transformation. Instead, he says, the style of play and some decisions remain markedly similar to last season. The enthusiasm surrounding the coach’s return has therefore, in the view of some club officials, given way to closer scrutiny of results; in the most severe cases, that scrutiny has turned into sharp criticism.

The match against Sevilla now offers Real Madrid an immediate chance to close the gap on the teams above them and move toward third place. For Mourinho, the stakes extend beyond the points: the fixture comes as, in Picón’s account, the board’s expectations and the continued backing in the dressing room are moving at different speeds.