This Real Madrid team is still not invincible. Sometimes they are unstoppable, but at other times they appear tired. For example, they can play brilliant football for 45 minutes against Rayo Vallecano, but in the other 25 minutes of that match they play more passively and seem to lack energy. Yes, this team has two faces, but they always carry an extremely sharp cutting edge. They proved this against Rayo Vallecano. Despite the attack being intermittent, it was sufficiently clinical, and perfectly reflected the two realities the team faces.

This is the consistent firepower Real Madrid has shown in La Liga home matches. They secured a 4-1 victory against Real Sociedad and a 4-0 win against Málaga, recording 16 goals in six matches. In the past 10 seasons, this record has appeared only three times. To find a better start, you need to go back to the 2016-17 season, when they scored 17 goals in their first six matches.

When was the last time Real Madrid had a similar home start? The 2011-12 season. How many goals did they score in the first six matches back then? 15 goals. That was the start of a "record-breaking league" season: 100 points, 121 goals. Mourinho's new Real Madrid is on track at the same pace as that historic Real Madrid.

No matter how good a start is, in the end it means nothing without trophies. But this is the current reality. Before the future arrives, the start has already been better than back then. That season eventually became a historic one, but in the early stages they stumbled in the Spanish Super Cup against Barcelona. They lost 2-2 at the Bernabéu and 2-3 at Camp Nou, and also suffered a 0-1 defeat to Levante in the league.

So far, Real Madrid has recorded five wins and one loss, with their only setback a 0-1 defeat to Real Betis. In that match, they saw Betis goalkeeper Rui Silva make heroic saves while Real Madrid, especially Mbappé, repeatedly squandered chances. There was a penalty in extra time that could have helped the team equalize, and then came another series of missed opportunities that amounted to nothing.

This feeling is backed by data. Against Real Betis, Real Madrid's expected goals (xG) reached 3.16, yet they failed to score a single goal. This statistic is precisely what satisfies Mourinho most, showing that the team still has room for improvement. Real Madrid may be scoring many goals, but they are wasting far too many chances. In fact, they waste more opportunities than any other team.

According to data provided by BeSoccer Pro to AS, Real Madrid has the worst expected goals difference in La Liga, and the gap is quite significant. The "white team" has already scored 14 goals in the league, but according to advanced data they should have scored 5.92 more. They are followed by Osasuna (-4.69), Valencia (-3.59), and Málaga (-3.4). If their shooting accuracy had been better, Real Madrid would by now have close to 20 goals.

The contrast becomes even clearer when compared to Barcelona. Flick's team attempted 96 shots, converting 42 into on-target efforts to score 21 goals. Mourinho's team attempted 104 shots, converting 46 into on-target efforts, but scored 7 fewer goals than their rivals. Real Madrid's shot conversion rate is 13.5%, while Barcelona's is 21.9%.

"We scored many goals, but we wasted too many chances," Mourinho said after his team's 4-1 victory over Rayo Vallecano. He was not concerned about the team's scattered shooting accuracy; in fact, quite the opposite.

"I also told the team that one day some team will pay the price for the chances we've wasted, and one day we will score six, seven goals," he replied with a smile.

This comment was half a joke, but not entirely a joke. He then added an explanation: "We are a team that can process many situations at high speed, that can recover possession and accelerate quickly. Obviously, the faster you go, the harder it is to hit the target."

In summary: stay calm, pause for a moment, and stay calm again.

According to AS, since the matches against Betis and Inter Milan, Mourinho has been conveying this message to his players almost daily. The reason he repeatedly emphasizes this is that he views this issue, which he considers temporary, as not needing to be blown out of proportion. In those two matches, shooting accuracy was the most glaring "elephant in the room."

Later, the Portuguese coach also publicly defended his players: "Inter Milan could have scored four goals against us, but we could have scored eight. Some people understand football as well as I do, but they don't say such things. Why is that? Are we unhappy even when we win?"

This is still the familiar Mourinho style.

Today's Real Madrid is still a work in progress. The performances are sometimes intermittent and sometimes not quite bright, but always threatening. Mbappé has already scored 7 goals and missed a penalty. Vinícius Júnior, accustomed to double-digit scoring seasons, currently has just 1 goal. Besides Kilian, only Bellingham has scored twice. Diomande has yet to roar.

Mourinho's Real Madrid is scoring at the pace of that "record-breaking league" season, with the potential to score even more goals.

AI 번역.

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