By J.L. GARCÍA-OCHOA / PABLO POLO
Modric has not as yet fully settled into the team.
Just when it seemed that the Croat had found his place, after his performance against Zaragoza, along came the Champions League.
Luka started, but he came off at the break with his head bowed, aware that he’d failed again.
Mou knows that Modric is struggling to settle in.
Yesterday, Karanka was in charge of giving him one-to-one lessons, notebook in hand.
The assistant coach is always in charge of taking notes on players’ movements.
Aitor approached the midfielder and spent ten minutes explaining some of the tactical aspects of his game.
Mou had already said that Modric would need time.
He knows that he’s come from a very different style of football and the pressures associated with playing at Real Madrid are very different to those at Tottenham, where nobody criticised him.
The Croat is also at a disadvantage with respect to Essien, who is more experienced and has already worked under Mou at Chelsea.
Modric’s transfer was also a problem.
He signed late and didn’t take part in the team’s pre-season.
The player himself has admitted that the time he spent training alone to get match fit has slowed his settling into the side.
Modric trained yesterday with the other players who didn’t start in the Champions League.
As he only played the first half, he wasn’t with the rest of the starting XI.
He trained hard with the others. He still has work to do and he’s the first to acknowledge it: “I can do much better”.
Source: Marca
