We are at Fault and We lacked Maturity

Arbeloa blames Madrid players for Mourinho exit

The right-back has launched an attack on the squad for not putting the club ahead of their own interests this season
Alvaro Arbeloa has slammed his Real Madrid team-mates and says they are responsible for Jose Mourinho's exit.

The Portuguese won La Liga last season but has endured a turbulent campaign marred by alleged feuds with several of his squad.

Barcelona coasted to the league title and Madrid were knocked out of the semi-finals of the Champions League, before losing to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey final, all of which culminated in the announcement this would be Mourinho's last season in charge of the club.

And after he ended his tenure at the Santiago Bernabeu with a 4-2 win over Osasuna, Arbeloa hit out at the Blancos squad for contributing to his departure.

"The responsibility is everyone's," the 30-year-old told reporters. "We lacked maturity in difficult situations.

"Mourinho has always put Real Madrid ahead of him. He often damaged his image for the sake of this club, but the players cannot say the same. Starting with me, I look first for myself, then the club, like many others.

"It's a shame we could not have won more titles. Mourinho has won wherever he has been and with perhaps the best squad he has lead, won the fewest things.

"We lost hope of catching Barcelona after the set-backs of the first month. By September we never believed we could win, with the gap being so many points. It was a shame not to have fought till the end.

"I think it has been a turbulent season, especially at the end. There were many who did not agree with the coach and while that was respectable, we should have put the fans first in these three years."

Mourinho leaves Madrid having lifted La Liga, the Copa del Rey and Supercopa in his three years at the club

He's right

First he promised benz playing time. Then he broke that promise. But why?

We know benzema became fatzema again this season. Obviously he wasn't working hard in training yet again. That's easily the reason. Benzema right now is one of my least liked players after this season when it comes to his professionalism. Damn fuking fat baby. Now higuain is gone too

Soon more and more players started rebelling

The ramos and mou bust up made it even worse. Luckily ramos worked hard and improved his performances. His relationship with mou improved

Casillas was the one at fault the most though. Honestly, he has to be the biggest baby on planet earth. Honestly on form his ability is unquestionable but he still is a huge baby and what he did to mou to get him out was disgraceful.

Other then his shit hoof the ball tactics mou wasn't too bad in hindsight.. the players were

Mou is a dick and only cares about himslef and Arbeloa should stop licking his balls.

Stop being so naive. There are reasons for everything. From what I can see its iker being a douche
He wants to win. like wtf do you mean he only cares about himself? sure, he only cares about wininng and not some knuckleheads ruining it for him

whats done is done. looking forward to next season

Iker being a douche? really? from what i see Mou is and was the biggest douche. from interviews, behaviors, etc...

Arbeloa is completely wrong. what was the reason of losing point after point in first half of the league? according to Mou it was Ronaldo, then casillas, then some other person.....

but i agree whats done is done. tell that to the Biggest plastic fan aka Huntsman who is a Chelsea fan atm it seems.

Glad Arbeloa is telling it like it is.

Mourinhio went about the process of trying to win in the most cancerous method I personally have ever seen.

At any club.

Le Samourai wrote:Mourinhio went about the process of trying to win in the most cancerous method I personally have ever seen.

At any club.

The very same process that worked in Porto, Chelsea and Inter? You know, Mou was never loved by the press, by fans of other clubs or even coaches of other clubs, but he was always loved by the presidents of the clubs, every clubs' Ultras and a huge majority of all his former players (except at Real Madrid, obviously).

Now I do have to say I didn't agree with his methods and most of his actions, but I can't understand why all the blame is pointed only at him. Isn't it a bit funny or odd when something works so well in three different cultures but "fails" in the fourth? Because to describe this season as a complete and utter failure ("a fracaso") is to have a very poor memory. Barca was toying with us for years, won everything and won all their games against us with absolutely no sweat. Look at our recent record against them - who made it possible? We've been the laughing stock of CL for 5 seasons before he came and now we're among the Top 4 clubs regularly - and being competitive, not just getting there by accident. Before Mou we've made Copa a headline factory for newspapers to gloat over our failings.

Sure, there were many bad things that are well recorded so I won't go over them again, but anyone who takes the word of the media (Spanish media, to make things worst) over the words of the dozens of players that actually worked with the guy is a moron.
Like I said, I am also glad he is leaving, but give credit where credit is due and stop thinking a lot of our players aren't primadonnas that wouldn't screw over anyone just to have it their way.

Agree with Clandestino

It's during the tough times where you really get a chance to see the character of players. Ramos proved to be a real leader by putting the team first. Other players didn't do that.

Casillas shouldn't be blamed for anything. He hasn't done anything wrong.

Sorry but Mou polarized the locker room, not the players. Blame the manager for creating a bad situation...

Mou tried to polarize the locker room and you guys are blaming players? He made locker room a hell.

btw Ronaldo also is clearly mad at Mourinho so is he also fault at not putting his team ahead of him?

Mourinho made many players his enemy not just one or two..how do you expect to lead a dressing room after making them enemies ?

I dont understand,players are not slaves to put up with every mourinho antics,they arent robots.

players deserve some blame as well, it's never one way. it's true he antagonized the players but if you have a CL game in which CR is not working to cover his fullback for example, that's a professional fault, dont care what people say about his scoring. same with other attacking players not performing as well as they could. Marcelo getting fat, Benzema getting fat, players racing at night in madrid, that kind of mindset translates on the pitch. Ramos was not focused for a long while and he was playing like crap, same with Casillas and he played very poorly. Pepe switching sides only to guarantee his survival post mourinho (disgusting move btw). Mourinho deserves to be blamed but so do the players.

It's not a mistake if the teams that end up winning the most are always the most experienced because you reach a point at which you realize that you must be giving your 100% forward and back so that the team can win. I was watching a Sacchi interview yesterday and he was talking about how Ronaldo9 was the most impressive footballer he had seen, but he added that he would have never took him in his team because he played with no discipline and wasnt a great professional, which is true like Ronaldinho. His milan side was so great because they reached that sweet spot where they were all working as one selflessly, no one slacking off. all the great sides have that in common, Bayern this season, barca before they stopped defending together, even carlo's milan, united with fergie, etc... us? not the case.

I see fans here who believe that if we sign Jupp then in 2 months he will get us to where Bayern are but no, it takes so much work and discipline and commitment. if players arent pulling the same way as the manager and giving it 100%, it wont work. It's also the manager responsibility to know his group and to convince them.

Convincing is the most difficult part because you want to transmit an idea to players and you need to make sure that you make it in a way that they agree with you and will follow you. that's where mou failed. And that's where the challenge is for the next coach. Heynckes did an amazing job but if he cant get in tune with our players, nothing good will come out of it. Carlo will be in the same predicament if he arrives here. As shocking as it sounds, Carlo might actually be the "right" choice just for that reason, for his ability to sweet talk players into believing in his idea. if we dont get there, the reputation of the coach will not count for much.

Yeah... Benz got fat this year.... right CR7 stopped tracking back because he was well known to do it in his entire career

A manager should never, ever be the cause for division for the locker room. That is a cardinal sin for the position. Most managers get fired in the middle of the season for letting that happen. You have to understand what you can and can't get away with as a leader. Mou was so arrogant that he though he could do whatever he wanted and it backfired. His manipulative bs stopped working too as he lost almost all support.

There's two arguments people seem to be using:

1. The manager has full authority
2. Mourinhio's tactics have worked everywhere else.

I'll address them individually.

1. The manager has full authority - yes - he has full authority to manage the team effectively in a way that promotes winning and harmony (which go together with us). People conveniently ignore the latter. If you use your authority to engage in personal battles with key members of the squad, to attempt petty grasps at political power, to publicly attack key figures within the club and even with that authority demonstrate a tangible inertia to the adaptation of new methods of playing that will garner results....then you're using that authority wrong. You are not doing your job. You have the right to be a coach - not an idiot.

2. He's won elsewhere - Two things

Firstly, he's won here....last year was a great year - we played great.

Secondly, Mourinhio's tactics have also failed everywhere else. People got tired of his nonsense and we imploded. That was on the verge of happening at Chelsea - and even at Inter there were signs that this may occur. Motta effectively came out and said half the dressing room at Inter hated him - that's unsustainable and will emerge at some point. Particularly in Madrid.

Thirdly, who is he dealing with? A bunch of losers? Nope. He's managing champions coming off championships, at the most successful club in the history of football. Any argument can that can be made for him can be made him can be made for the players and the institution.

All in all he's had some very tangible successes here - more in terms of providing players with a model for beating Barca than anything else. Ronaldo has undergone a great deal of personal growth under his tenure, if you want to give him credit for that - fine (I don't).

However this year was a mistake. This is where I disagree with you Cladestino - to me having the club dragged through the mud, players dragged through the mud, alienated and even more painful residual impacts made it a disaster. Beating Barca - a hump we got over last year - was certainly not worth it.

I meant Higuain, and that could apply to Benzema as well as he used to. but he is also guilty of Racing at nights in madrid. i can mention things that have happened before this season as well, but the idea is that its a process that didnt function for many reasons.

I understand how mourinho was wrong, and arbeloa is there acting like he was a saint but if as much as we can blame him, we have to be wondering if our players are doing all they can themselves to put the team in the conditions to win and it's not always the case.

Mr Nick09 wrote:I meant Higuain, and that could apply to Benzema as well as he used to. but he is also guilty of Racing at nights in madrid. i can mention things that have happened before this season as well, but the idea is that its a process that didnt function for many reasons.

I understand how mourinho was wrong, and arbeloa is there acting like he was a saint but if as much as we can blame him, we have to be wondering if our players are doing all they can themselves to put the team in the conditions to win and it's not always the case.

The players need to grow up. A coach needs to help them do that.

Le Samourai wrote:There's two arguments people seem to be using:

1. The manager has full authority
2. Mourinhio's tactics have worked everywhere else.

I'll address them individually.

1. The manager has full authority - yes - he has full authority to manage the team effectively in a way that promotes winning and harmony (which go together with us). People conveniently ignore the latter. If you use your authority to engage in personal battles with key members of the squad, to attempt petty grasps at political power, to publicly attack key figures within the club and even with that authority demonstrate a tangible inertia to the adaptation of new methods of playing that will garner results....then you're using that authority wrong. You are not doing your job. You have the right to be a coach - not an idiot.

2. He's won elsewhere - Two things

Firstly, he's won here....last year was a great year - we played great.

Secondly, Mourinhio's tactics have also failed everywhere else. People got tired of his nonsense and we imploded. That was on the verge of happening at Chelsea - and even at Inter there were signs that this may occur. Motta effectively came out and said half the dressing room at Inter hated him - that's unsustainable and will emerge at some point. Particularly in Madrid.

Thirdly, who is he dealing with? A bunch of losers? Nope. He's managing champions coming off championships, at the most successful club in the history of football. Any argument can that can be made for him can be made him can be made for the players and the institution.

All in all he's had some very tangible successes here - more in terms of providing players with a model for beating Barca than anything else. Ronaldo has undergone a great deal of personal growth under his tenure, if you want to give him credit for that - fine (I don't).

However this year was a mistake. This is where I disagree with you Cladestino - to me having the club dragged through the mud, players dragged through the mud, alienated and even more painful residual impacts made it a disaster. Beating Barca - a hump we got over last year - was certainly not worth it.

excellent post

What i highlighted there, outside of all the nonsense about philosophy and style of football, is the single most important thing about coaching in football. If you reach perfect harmony with your players, then they will do anything for you. of course if on top of that you have genius ideas like Sacchi and Pep (i know i know), something very special happens.

When i see PSG players and among which Ibra crying to tears about Carlo leaving, it makes me second guess my initial stance on him. the fact that the players themselves showed no love to mourinho in his last game with us tell you just how much things are broken up in the locker room.

You know what started it all? Mou accusing players in the media of things and throwing them under the bus. Iker and Ramos called him out for it and the war between Mou and Iker/Ramos started. Mou just couldn't accept that he wasn't the biggest name in the room... instead of calming things down and letting it go, Mou kept escalating it. Now Ramos/Iker didn't really back down either... but Mou is the one who started the whole nonsense and he could have easily ended it.

sportsczy wrote:You know what started it all? Mou accusing players in the media of things and throwing them under the bus. Iker and Ramos called him out for it and the war between Mou and Iker/Ramos started. Mou just couldn't accept that he wasn't the biggest name in the room... instead of calming things down and letting it go, Mou kept escalating it. Now Ramos/Iker didn't really back down either... but Mou is the one who started the whole nonsense and he could have easily ended it.

Mou should have been the number one. After all he was the coach .

Obviously mou wants to be number one. Hellooo, he is the coach

The only guy who was in the dressing room this season between us and Arbeloa was Arbeloa lol

He is more qualified to make comments about this. All we have are rumours of what happened.

Le Samourai wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:I meant Higuain, and that could apply to Benzema as well as he used to. but he is also guilty of Racing at nights in madrid. i can mention things that have happened before this season as well, but the idea is that its a process that didnt function for many reasons.

I understand how mourinho was wrong, and arbeloa is there acting like he was a saint but if as much as we can blame him, we have to be wondering if our players are doing all they can themselves to put the team in the conditions to win and it's not always the case.

The players need to grow up. A coach needs to help them do that.

WTF bro?

The players are adults, not kids, and they're getting paid bucketloads. My ass they need help to grow up They already should be grown up