Mourinho Challenges Football’s 90-Minute Pressing Obsession

MADRID — Ahead of Tuesday’s La Liga fixture against Elche, Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho said Monday that elite modern football is placing physical, tactical, administrative, and mental demands on coaches and squads. He discussed high-intensity tactics, squad harmony during congested schedules, and the relentless media calendar.

The modern game has increasingly prioritized high-intensity pressing systems, a style popularized by various modern coaches seeking to disrupt opponents deep in their own halves. Mourinho does not believe teams can sustain that output throughout an entire match.

“I don’t think it’s possible to press high for 90 minutes,” Mourinho stated. “I don’t think so, and it’s not our profile, nor are there many teams in the world capable of doing it for 90 minutes.”

His tactical identity has historically relied on defensive organization and rapid transition play. During his highly successful career, including Real Madrid’s record-breaking 2011–12 La Liga campaign, his team collected a historic 100 points and scored 121 goals by frequently baiting opponents forward before striking on the counter-attack.

With elite clubs competing in domestic leagues, domestic cups, and continental tournaments, physical burnout has become a primary concern for technical staffs. Mourinho used summer signing Yan Diomande, who has seen limited starting opportunities, to explain why squad rotation is necessary.

“He’s not missing anything,” Mourinho said of Diomande. “If he were in another team with fewer high-potential players instead of being at Madrid with this squad, he would probably be a starter playing 90 minutes every game.”

Rejecting the traditional concept of an “undisputed starter,” Mourinho said squad depth is critical to surviving a full season and warned that concentrating only on a core group of 11 players eventually damages a team’s competitiveness.

“But when I say this about Diomande, I say it about everyone,” Mourinho added. “A coach who only focuses on 10 players and forgets the rest runs out of fuel in the engine over the season and also loses motivation and internal competitiveness. This idea of an undisputed starter, as you all love to use that term, is difficult.”

Mourinho also said his preferred approach must fit the players available to him. He does not favor a passive defensive posture, but he avoids imposing systems that contradict his squad’s natural profiles.

“If you ask me if I like a low block, I don’t,” Mourinho said. “But what I don’t want are contradictions between what I like most and the qualities of my players. For me, that something is this ability to press high, this ability to kill in three or four seconds of transition. But I also don’t want to suffer in the sense that when we are deep, the opponent gets two or three shots that force the goalkeeper to make big saves and endure three, four or five corners.”

The administrative workload has added another pressure. Under current broadcasting and league agreements, managers must attend a dense schedule of mandatory media appearances. Mourinho, whose career has long been defined by a complex and often adversarial relationship with the press, said he was tired of the volume.

“Six press conferences in one week. In other countries, they allowed me to skip one,” Mourinho said. “But six press conferences in one week – I’m tired of you, and you’re tired of me. I always say the same thing and you don’t have any more questions to ask me, but here we are because it’s our job, mine and yours. If you tell me next week that we can skip one of these six, I’ll bring some snacks here and we’ll have some fun.”

As Real Madrid prepares to host Elche, Mourinho said tactical cohesion needs time, even though the modern football calendar rarely provides much of it. “I’d like to win, I’d like to play well and win, nothing more,” Mourinho said. “I hope that in three months we are better than we are today, but I have nothing magical to say that in three months we will be at an incredible level. In every match and training session, the goal is always to improve. The more time a coach has to work with a team, the greater the chances of becoming stronger.”