🚨 Jose Mourinho on Arda Guler and the changes at Real Madrid: “I remember one of our first training sessions. Arda received the ball in a good position, but instead of turning and attacking the space, he passed it to another player. I stopped the session and asked him, ‘Arda, why did you pass?’ He said, ‘Mister, he was asking for the ball.’ I told him, ‘Yes, I heard him. But I didn’t ask you who was shouting the loudest. I asked you to play football.’ He looked at me, a little confused. I said, ‘You saw the space. You had the quality to attack it. So why are you waiting for somebody else to decide what happens?’ This is something I wanted to change at Real Madrid. When you have a dressing room full of big personalities, sometimes the younger players begin to think their responsibility is simply to give the ball to the important players. They stop making decisions because they’re afraid of making the wrong one. But I don’t want players who are afraid of responsibility. Look at Arda now. He wants the ball in difficult situations. Against Leipzig, he was everywhere. Even when Mbappe headed towards goal, Arda was already thinking about what would happen if the ball didn’t cross the line. That’s a high offensive awareness. You cannot teach every part of that. Then you have Yan (Diomande). I tell him to attack the defender, and sometimes I think he understands this instruction a little too well. The defender has just survived one attack, and Yan is already coming back for him. Endrick is another one. He’s always looking for space behind defenders. And Espi? When he starts warming up, suddenly the opposition defenders are looking towards our bench. I like this. One of my assistants told me recently, ‘Mister, the supporters are saying Espi should start.’ I said, ‘Good.’ He asked, ‘You think he should?’ I said, ‘I think the player starting ahead of him should hear what they’re saying.’ Because competition is important. Nobody should believe his place belongs to him forever. And nobody sitting on my bench should believe he is only there to watch the famous players. I don’t care whether you cost €140 million or came through the academy. When the referee blows the whistle, your price doesn’t play football for you. Of course we have superstars. Mbappe is Mbappe. Vinicius is Vinicius. Jude is Jude. But their quality should make the team stronger, not make everybody else feel smaller. Before, perhaps people looked at Real Madrid and thought, ‘If we stop these two or three players, we stop the team.’ Now they have to worry about Arda, Diomande, Endrick, Espi and whoever else I decide to use. I prefer this problem. I don’t want 3 kings and 8 servants. I want 11 footballers who believe they can win the match. Because when everybody takes responsibility, nobody has to carry Real Madrid alone.” [ This is the source @ChinoUTD ]#realmadrid #realmadridfc #halamadrid #creatorsearchinsights #capcut - @anyi.manchester.u