REAL MADRID: COACH PELLEGRINI DAYS ARE COUNTED?

The President of Real Madrid Florentino Perez wants him out, or
that is the unsaid rumour circulating through the Sports media.
Real Madrid Director General Jorge Valdano insists that he stays,
naturally was Valdano who recommended & brought the man to the
Club. Coach Manuel Pellegrini has lost the authority & control of
the dressing room, the catalyst being a series of bad decisions that
he is paying for now & their ramifications are spilling onto the field
& in the Clubs play.

President Florentino would have been pleased if Coach Pellegrini
had announced that he would resign last Wednesday after Real
Madrid most humiliating defeat in its History to a 2ºB Division team
(equivalent of 3ºrd Division elsewhere), but he didn’t. The front
page of Sports daily “Marca” today puts how Guti told Coach
Pellegrini “Go F*ck Yourself” at halftime of that same match.

Here is a translation of what was said ( on the front page ):
Guti - "Come on guys, we need to show some balls"
Pellegrini - "Perhaps you also could do more, if you don´t wish to
play tell me so"
Guti - "If I am the problem take me off"
Pellegrini - "Get dressed"
Guti - "Go F*ck Yourself"
























But there are more problems:

1. Rumours coming out from the dressing room suggest that the players
have no real idea of what they are playing at, that is, there is no
system, no strategy. One day its 4-2-2-2, another it’s 4-3-3 & then it’s
4-2-3-1 …etc. The team plays without wingers & as Benzema has
commented they run-over each other upfront because everyone goes
through the centre. In last Wednesday defeat the defensive flanks
were a real mess & a hole where the opposition team goes right
through.

2. At the start of the season, Coach Pellegrini was given orders to
begin “retiring”, or putting onto a second level”, current Captain Raúl.
The idea was to begin a “changing of the Guard” & transferring the
authority to Casillas & more specifically Kaká. The new project called
for the Brazilian to become the field “leader” & thus the Director of
the Orchestra. Instead Coach Pellegrini has succumbed to the influence
of Raúl & has favoured him over others, giving the Captain more time
& play than originally planned. Many believe that Raúl eclipses his
team-mates on the field as they all attempt to adhere to his play & not
to the collective. As a player – no name given – said; Raúl “disturbs”
upfront the play of the team. Now it’s too late for Pellegrini to go
back.

3. Coach Pellegrini has badly handed the psychological states of his
newer & younger players. Benzema has been taken off four games
straight in favour of Raul, this has created doubts in the young mans
mind which leads to frustration in his play as he wishes to score at
all costs when he does get a chance, he doesn’t & he get nervous
with more doubts. Young Granero has not escaped the confusion as
he has been the sacrificed player every time things go wrong on the
field with substitution. This can only ruin the confidence of the
player & do no good in the mid-term. Lastly, Higuaín has had little
play after scoring more than 20 goals last season. Here again the
youngster has been put into second-place in favour of the more
favoured veteran Raúl. Higuaín is another player whose confidence
has been affected & lowered by the Coaches decision.

4. Continual problems in defence that do not get solved. Real
Madrid is a “swiss – cheese” with big problems on their defensive
flanks. Every time the defensive wingers go forward they leave
huge holes that are not covered by the midfielders. Real Madrid
is at the mercy of counter-attacks & the opposition team knows
this perfectly. However, there are no solutions, the problems
reappear game after game. Lastly, Drenthe is not a player for this
Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos is in a real mess form wise & a worry,

plus Marcelo is not reliable in his defensive duties.Yes, you may say,
that injuries have not helped Pellegrini at all; Ronaldo, Arbeloa,
Xabi, Nistelrooy, Metzelder , Huguían, Lass Diarra…etc, but its no
real excuse if you take last Wednesday’s defeat in the Spanish
Cup.

The latest news is that Coach Pellegrini has two games to solve
things. This weekends “Liga” game against Getafe & next weeks
Champions League game against AC Milan. His future will depend
on these games, while the Club is already working on possible
substitutes, just in case. Names sounding are Italian Mancini,
Brazilian Scolari, Spaniard Victor Fernandez, Danish ex- Real Madrid
player Laudrup, surprisingly ex-Spanish National Team Coach Luis
Aragones & current actual Director General Jorge Valdano.
The latter has already said that this will not happen, but he may
have to swallow his words to “save the Club” even if it only
means a temporary & passing solution.

What is clear is that Coach Pellegrini will have to do miracles &
get some luck over to his side. Independently of what will happen
SFS feels his days are numbered & that the problems are now so
deeply embedded that they will keep on surfacing above any
band-aid solutions. The fact off the matter is that Coach Pellegrini
came to do fundamental changes, put aside a living legend & stamp
his authority. What has in fact occurred is that there are no
changes, the living legend has become stronger than Pellegrini, he
has lost credibility & Pellegrini has lost confidence & the authority
over the players. Some "bad tongues" have suggested that “key”
players may have already begun to set the path for the exit door of
their Coach, now that is a REAL problem, no Club should have does

sort of personalities in a dressing room.

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