What does the arrival of Nuri Sahin and Raphael Varane mean for Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho?
The signings of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nuri-Sahin-c28251 and Raphael Varane have been met with criticism by Real Madrid’s fans who expected another star studded summer transfer window at Santiago Bernabéu under their Galacticos obsessed president, Florentino
Perez. However hidden under the camera flashes as the contract talks is Jose Mourinho’s plan for the 2011-2012 La Liga season.
The 2010-2011 La Liga season was a particularly hurtful one for Mourinho’s king size ego, Real Madrid did defeat Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey final but Los Blancos failed to capture their tenth UEFA Champions League title as they
failed to make it to the pen-ultimate match of the competition at Wembley courtesy of their semi-final defeat to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604. It was a humbling moment for Jose who watched his team lose out to Barcelona on aggregate from his hotel room as he was banned from
the pitch following the Portuguese manager’s inflammatory remarks in his post-match press conference.
It was evident to Mourinho that he had failed to perform the task that he had appointed to do so. He had failed to overhaul Barcelona in the league as Real Madrid lost to Barcelona at Nou Camp by a humiliating 5-0 score line and
drew the second El Classico at Santiago Bernabéu after netting a late goal thanks to a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Real-c30728 Madrid has been followed up by the signature of Ralph Varane. These two
buys complimented by the arrival of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786.
At Real Madrid, Jose used a 4-2-3-1 formation last year as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Xabi-Alonso-c37045 played as Los Blancos’ two defensive midfielders. Up front, Mesut Ozil played as a trequartista whilst Ronaldo and Di Maria played on the wings.
Gonzalo Higuain played http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Karim-Benzema-c20350. Now Varane’s arrival seems to have opened up the possibility of utilizing
a 4-3-3 system.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Iker-Casillas-c16815
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ricardo-Carvalho-c30973 – Arbeloa
Sami Khedira/Nuri Sahin – Pepe – Xabi Alonso
Ozil/Hamit Altintop – Higuain – Cristiano http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ronaldo-c31734
Against Barcelona, Jose showed that he was willing to play Pepe in a defensive midfielder’s position but that left a void at the back as Sergio Ramos and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Raul-c30652 Albiol are not as good in their defensive duties as the Portuguese centre
back. Varane’s signature gives Real Madrid’s manager a sure shot option for the centre back position as he is known to be an excellent defender both in the air and on the ground. Sahin also fits into this formation as he can play alongside http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pepe-c29670 and Xabi Alonso
in the midfield “three”. Up front, Hamit Altintop gives Mourinho a choice to field a “Park Ji Sung” type defensive winger which can be useful in stifling the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-c9879 Alves’ forward runs.
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