What has suddenly gone wrong with Jose Mourinho's strategies at Real Madrid?

tl;dr Where do I begin? There are a lot of factors, but if I had to break them down, they would be the following: Mourinho's managerial philosophy Mourinho's style of play Form of key players Other teams adapting to Madrid's style and Real not being able to adjust Explanations: 1. Mourinho's managerial philosophy - Mourinho has ONE way in which he manages (or atleast till date, has managed) all his clubs. He creates a siege mentality with an US vs THEM scenario in every club he goes to. With Porto, he was the underdog fighting against the big dogs, with Chelsea, it was the FA and referees and media being biased towards Manchester United, with Inter again it was the same, where he ticked off the media and other managers to get bad press and then generate this siege mentality.  Real Madrid, on the other hand, is a club with enormous prestige and honor. While the Barcelona hegemony was going on domestically, the Madrid faithful persisted with Mourinho's attempts at creating "this world is unfair mentality". Once the hegemony was broken last year, the downswing in reputation of one of the greatest and most storied club in world football is beginning to test the patience of the faithful. Also, considering that Mourinho never stays at a club for more than a few years, this is obviously not the way forward for Real Madrid. Dissenting voices are coming up. Another very important reason is the factions in the club. Mourinho's siege mentality is compromised by the close relations that Casillas, Alonso et al have with their Spanish teammates from Barcelona. And one thing you do not do at Madrid is tick off their legends who have been there for a decade and will be there long after Mourinho is gone, especially one who is called San Iker (Saint Iker) throughout Spain (not just Madrid)! 2. Mourinho's style of play -  Mourinho employs a very high tempo, high pressing and fast counter attacking game at Madrid which puts insane amounts of pressure (workload-wise) on each and every player. This usually works with the siege mentality that he imparts (see above). However, this is problematic on two fronts. Mourinho usually leaves after a short term leaving behind a group of players who are out of gas from the high intensity of play. This happened at Chelsea, this happened at Inter. I believe that the players are tanked out from last season, which was perhaps one of the most demanding seasons for every individual in that team. Also, every player was busy at Euro 2012, giving them almost no time for pre season recovery. Basically, they have been at this tempo for over a year and a half now. The second reason why this is a problem is because the team is Real Madrid. Porto, Chelsea, and to some extent Inter can get away with this style of play, but for a Madridista, it is not acceptable. Real Madrid FC doesn't just win everytime, they win by playing the most beautiful football. This has been the Real Madrid way since forever. Again, while chasing Barcelona and while results kept coming, people put up with it, but now counter attacking against Celta de Vigo is not accpetable. Mourinho's system has to adapt (which he has tried to be fair, with Modric). 3. Form of key players - There can be no argument to the fact that the form of key players like Benzema, Di Maria and Higuain, and to some extent Ozil earlier, has failed to reach the glittering heights of last years campaign. They have flattered to deceive, though Ozil is finding form now. The defense has made numerous errors from crosses and set plays which is just unforgivable at any level of the game, leave aside Real Madrid FC. Is it a factor of being tanked out from last season, or just a dip in form, or a lack of sufficient practice in defending , this has played a huge impact. In the previous three seasons, whenever things were not going their way, Ronaldo used to drag them back by his sheer bloody minded brilliance, however he's been off color lately as well. Injuries to key players resulting in a not-stable back 4 has also been a huge factor, I guess, in the defensive lapses. 4. Other teams adapting to Madrid's style and Real not being able to adjust (highly related to the above points) - As mentioned above, Madrid are the bigger team and other teams will park the bus against them. Madrid have not been able to sufficiently adjust and dispose of such teams. Against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, the players raised their games in a more "open" match and played to their strengths. Against the lesser lights of La Liga and Spain, the fire seems to be missing. Again, may be a factor of the burn out from last season.

It is quite simple really, being A chelsea fan, I can assure you their is nothing wrong with Mourinho's managerial philosophy or style of play, it is the size of the egos in the Real Madrid locker room, some players at the club don't like Mourinho being the main name at the club, and that is how Jose does things, He brings it all onto himself so that his players feel no pressure going into a game, It is how Jose has always done it period, even when he was at Porto.

Dressing room wars.

Mourinho wanted to be dumped, so he can get the contract termination fee for 30 million euros.

As a Real Madrid fan, i think our strikers are not enough anymore.Benzema and Higuain don't play well permanently.They play very well some games but they don't meet the expactations many times .So it's hard to estimate their performace before the game. In addition to this Ronaldo stands alone. Also some Spanish footballers became against to Jose Mourinho. It's like domino effect.If you don't prevent bad things early, they become worse.

Béla Guttmann is a legendary Hungarian coach who was nomadic. He wandered from club to club, a football mercenary. He has famously claimed 'the third season is fatal.' 40 years later, enter Jose Mourinho. Mourinho's strategy has always been a counter-attack based one. Traditionally, Madrid have won matches by outscoring their opponents (worked very well in the 2011-12 La Liga) - you put together 4 of the best attackers in the world, and you're bound to win against most opposition (Manchester United firmly believes in this philosophy). The major problem in that strategy is that it requires each member of the team to be in the best possible form. Now, because a lot of his players are out of form, the cracks in this strategy can be seen clearly. The attackers and the midfield The strategy requires the attackers to press and be supremely efficient. Ronaldo, Benzema, Higuain and Di Maria need to be near-perfect. They are all under-performing. Özil used to provide many delightful assists - he is also somewhat out of form. Also, Ronaldo seems to have forgotten how to take free-kicks. Xabi Alonso, the midfield general, is very erratic this season. His distribution and long balls are crucial to Madrid's game. Poor defending of set-pieces Somehow, the aerial prowess of Ramos and Pepe fails to help them defend set pieces, and Casillas also seems shaky. There's no one controlling them, organizing them in the box. Barcelona have also been pretty poor at defending these. They now try to concede fewer fouls near the box. Prevention is the best cure. So far, so good. Madrid, on the other hand, have increasingly fouled opponents near the box and are conceding an alarming number of goals. This problem existed even last season, but was covered by an insane show by the forwards. Mourinho's relationship with his club and players Never the best at this, Mou has now antagonized Casillas, Ramos and a few more people. He has openly criticized his team after the Sevilla loss. He dropped his captain for the Malaga match - that may have been one step too much. He also drove out club legend Jorge Valdano. (EDIT: Pic description: Ramos defying Mourinho by coming out in support of Özil. He's wearing a no.10 jersey under his own.) He has insulted the cantera coach, his players, the referees, the media and the opposition - it is now Mourinho vs the world. Poor transfer policy in the summer of 2012, suboptimal squad rotation Sahin, Diarra and Granero all left the Bernabeu. They were replaced by Modric and (mysteriously) Essien. Too little competition to Alonso/ Khedira. Arbeloa's somewhat of a weak link. He is good but not world class, but he has no one to compete with. Also, Modric has not settled in well. He doesn't have a stable position - used occasionally as a deep-lying playmaker and otherwise as a trequartista. He's possibly unsure of his role. Modric was brought with a more possession-based approach in mind. Madrid were clearly looking at Barcelona's style as a plan B. Unfortunately, this hasn't worked out as expected. Albiol, Varane and the cantera are under-utilized. Carvalho's a forgotten man. So is Kaka. Definitely, Pep leaving made a difference to his motivation levels. However, I don't think that Mourinho suffers from a lack of inspiration - the Special One needs to win La Decima to cement his status in the Bernabeu, else it will be a job poorly finished. I'll end with Béla Guttmann's comparison of a coach and a lion tamer He dominates the animals, in whose cage he performs his show, as long as he deals with them with self-confidence and without fear. But the moment he becomes unsure of his hypnotic energy, and the first hint of fear appears in his eyes, he is lost. P.S. : I'm a Barcelona fan, but I respect the efficiency and ruthlessness of Mourinho's teams.

Simply put, the team is not on his side. Every manager knows it that his success depends on the team. In 13 years as manager, nobody has ever questioned "what if the players don't like Mourinho?". Real Madrid is the answer. He left FC Porto, and many players wanted to follow him He left Chelsea (got fired actually) and we saw players crying He left Internazionale and we saw one of the captains hugging Mourinho and crying on his shoulder If he leave Real Madrid right now, the players won't miss him.