Zinedine Zidane

futbol_bill wrote:Pep in Madrid, you got to be kidding. No way would that certified Catalan ever make it in Madrid. That's like saying we should go after Pique!!!

This isn't the first time they have promoted the B team coach to direct the first team for the remainder of the season. Difference this time is Zidane has an opportunity to make this full time. I know your zest for him Sports and I would also like to give him an opportunity, but the reality is it is an interim appointment, he is unproven and there likely will be alternatives come this summer. However if he makes the best of the opportunity (I think playing much better than they did under Benitez and getting 2nd in liga and to semis in CL would be enough) he likely will get the job without the interim tag.

Dude its crazy. Madrid hater journalist Graham hunter is their source some people are so much detached from reality. Same arguments im having in that zidane thread in general section.. As a socio I hope you educate those people what is what.

besides this post, i'm writing, i would never put 'graham hunter' and 'journalist' in the same sentence

I'm a lil bit surprised he is being used as a reference. For anything.

The realm. Do you know what the realm is? It's the thousand blades of Aegon's enemies, a story we agree to tell each other over and over, until we forget that it's a lie.

Some people want the world to believe that we approached Pep and he turned us down. So later, after 10, 20 years they can use it to mock us. It's sad, but it's understandable coming from them.

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Pep-guardiola-veut-entrainer-en-angleterre-mais-n-a-pas-encore-de-nouveau-club/621611

This puts and end to it. Pep came out and said "I'd like to manage in England next season."

It goes both ways. Pep would never go to Madrid and Madrid would never take him. If Flo hired him there would be a revolt. Anyone who says anything else simply do not know or understand Spain.

futbol_bill wrote:It goes both ways. Pep would never go to Madrid and Madrid would never take him. If Flo hired him there would be a revolt. Anyone who says anything else simply do not know or understand Spain.

Trust me, they know this, and they know that what Hunter said is a lie. But like I said, they want to believe it because it suits their agenda.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:It goes both ways. Pep would never go to Madrid and Madrid would never take him. If Flo hired him there would be a revolt. Anyone who says anything else simply do not know or understand Spain.

Trust me, they know this, and they know that what Hunter said is a lie. But like I said, they want to believe it because it suits their agenda.

Qft

I hear these arguments about ZZ not having relevant experience, but by that same token, Benitez has ages of it.

Not to mention... Pep had none when he took over Barca.  Same for Cruyff at Ajax (Ajax was the best team in Europe in the mid to late 80s FYI).  Carlo had a grand total of 4 years, 2 of which were with Reggiana of Serie B (did take over a very good Parma team that had Thuram, Veron and Crespo) before taking over Juve.  Heck, Beckenbauer took over Germany NT with no experience at all at any level (like Cruyff) and won the world cup in 1990.

It's really not that unusual.

Zidane has all the potential to be a big time coach; star player career, big time impact to all his teams, has gone to coaches school and has been paying his dues behind some very proven coaches. However despite the potential he isn't proven and has some very questionable results and team shape at Castilla.

For those reasons he is appointed as Interim. He has 6 months months now to prove himself before he will be given the title without the word Interim in front of it.

Will it work out? Who knows? I suspect even Zidane doesn't know the answer to that. But if it doesn't we are no worse off for giving him the shot.

and to make it work, he is not under the pressure some of you (and the mostly Barca fans in general section) have listed. He will need to improve the form that Benitez has been putting out there, need to be better (actually much better) at man management than Rafa was, will need to be capable of being on the same field as big teams and likely need to secure at least 3rd in liga and get to at least QF in CL. To expect anything else is simply unrealistic.

This is not at all, the same situation as with Chelsea nor Liverpool. This season is a bust and the firing / appointment is to salvage the season from being a total disaster.

futbol_bill wrote:Zidane has all the potential to be a big time coach; star player career, big time impact to all his teams, has gone to coaches school and has been paying his dues behind some very proven coaches. However despite the potential he isn't proven and has some very questionable results and team shape at Castilla.

For those reasons he is appointed as Interim. He has 6 months months now to prove himself before he will be given the title without the word Interim in front of it.

Will it work out? Who knows? I suspect even Zidane doesn't know the answer to that. But if it doesn't we are no worse off for giving him the shot.

and to make it work, he is not under the pressure some of you (and the mostly Barca fans in general section) have listed. He will need to improve the form that Benitez has been putting out there, need to be better (actually much better) at man management than Rafa was, will need to be capable of being on the same field as big teams and likely need to secure at least 3rd in liga and get to at least QF in CL. To expect anything else is simply unrealistic.

This is not at all, the same situation as with Chelsea nor Liverpool. This season is a bust and the firing / appointment is to salvage the season from being a total disaster.

Re: ZZ's performance with Castilla

Sometimes it's just a bad fit. Didn't Enrique absolutely crash and burn at Roma? Juande Ramos was amazing at Sevilla, but his reputation is nowhere near that anymore. Pellegrini at Villareal too (his season with us was good too, just happened to coincide with a Barca golden generation).

Some of the most gifted managers never really won much due to having bad squads... great example is Pepe Mel. Fantastic coach but made but choices in terms of moves for himself.

Some absolutely atrocious managers did well relatively speaking... Lemerre and Domenech are prime examples of that on the NT level. On the club side, i think Mancini is grossly overrated.

So the most dissapointing part of his press conference
“Yes, I will always play with BBC. That is the idea. Of course.”

This just got me really sad, this sends a very bad message down to the squad players. He could have said something like:
"The tactical requirement of the match will determine the line-up".
"Certain players are well suited to a particular tactical set up than others".
OR simply put "my line-up is not set in stones".
Do we av another Perez's Puppet, Let us hope he doesnt mean it 100% and see how the first few game go.

by the way @sportcsy, your profile picture is creepy..lol

This also did not sound well

Real Madrid expect a different way of playing, how will you change from Rafa?

“I am going to try and follow my game as a coach, but make sure that the players have fun on the field - probably the way they did with Rafa actually - and that’s what I’m going to do day after day.”

He did not need to give credit to Rafa; he could have stopped at 'fun on the field'

This one sends a message down to the fans that we should expect more of the same. We will know after the depor match

Before u tell me to slow down on the criticism, they are just analysis and not criticism. We are all analyzing and trying to predict the possible outcome.
We all hope he succeeds

shadexticos wrote:This also did not sound well

Real Madrid expect a different way of playing, how will you change from Rafa?

“I am going to try and follow my game as a coach, but make sure that the players have fun on the field - probably the way they did with Rafa actually - and that’s what I’m going to do day after day.”

I think this was more of a classy, diplomatic response than anything else. He'd be completely mental with suicidal tendencies to actually use Rafa's tactics.

shadexticos wrote:So the most dissapointing part of his press conference
“Yes, I will always play with BBC. That is the idea. Of course.”
This just got me really sad, this sends a very bad message down to the squad players. He could have said something like:
"The tactical requirement of the match will determine the line-up".
"Certain players are well suited to a particular tactical set up than others".
OR simply put "my line-up is not set in stones".

Obviously, he was wrong to say it out loud. It cripples the confidence and motivation of the other players to know that it doesn't matter how well they play or work, BBC will start even if they play like amateurs (which is usually the case).

I was disappointed to hear it yesterday. But I hope Zidane will make BBC work more. If they play as a unit and not for themselves and help us defend and press constantly, I won't mind having them in the starting lineup.

Also, Zidane is not that eloquent or sharp to know how to cleverly respond to these kind of questions and not fall into the trap of journalists. He simply doesn't have that skill.

Do we av another Perez's Puppet, Let us hope he doesnt mean it 100% and see how the first few game go.

Of course he is. Do you even doubt that?

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

shadexticos wrote:This also did not sound well

Real Madrid expect a different way of playing, how will you change from Rafa?

“I am going to try and follow my game as a coach, but make sure that the players have fun on the field - probably the way they did with Rafa actually - and that’s what I’m going to do day after day.”

I think this was more of a classy, diplomatic response than anything else. He'd be completely mental with suicidal tendencies to actually use Rafa's tactics.

shadexticos wrote:So the most dissapointing part of his press conference
“Yes, I will always play with BBC. That is the idea. Of course.”
This just got me really sad, this sends a very bad message down to the squad players. He could have said something like:
"The tactical requirement of the match will determine the line-up".
"Certain players are well suited to a particular tactical set up than others".
OR simply put "my line-up is not set in stones".
Do we av another Perez's Puppet, Let us hope he doesnt mean it 100% and see how the first few game go.

Obviously, he was wrong to say it out loud. It cripples the confidence and motivation of the other players to know that it doesn't matter how well they play or work, BBC will start even if they play like amateurs (which is usually the case).

I was disappointed to hear it yesterday. But I hope Zidane will make BBC work more. If they play as a unit and not for themselves and help us defend and press constantly, I won't mind having them in the starting lineup.

Also, Zidane is not that eloquent or sharp to know how to cleverly respond to these kind of questions and not fall into the trap of journalists. He simply doesn't have that skill.

Pipe dream. Maybe you could get Benz and Bale to run but Cr, at this stage in his career when he's leg muscls and ligament are shot? No chance. Mourinho and Ancelotti couldn't make him run and press. The only period I saw him run is after Barcelona smashed you guys 3-1 in december 2011, the next few games after he was booed to hell and he ran, after it stopped it was back to status quo.

If CR is a lost cause, then I hope he makes Bale and Benzema work hard enough to cover for his laziness. Because they too, even though they have been more active and less lazy than CR, what they have been doing workrate-wise is not even close to enough.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:If CR is a lost cause, then I hope he makes Bale and Benzema work hard enough to cover for his laziness. Because they too, even though they have been more active and less lazy than CR, what they have been doing workrate-wise is not even close to enough.

They can't cover for his laziness.

CR wants to play on the left, Benzema in the Centre so Bale would be on the right. If both Benzema and Bale press, the defence can move the ball to the flank CR is on because he is static so that side will always have a numerical superiority. Either Marcelo or the CM behind CR have to push upwards to cover leaving a gap there once again.

Di Maria was the key because of his speed and willingness to run up and down the field and he was able to cover for Marcelo and CR quite effectively but the Barcelona games showed even that wasn't infalliable. Except CR is played as one of the CFs like they did when Bale was injured, he is a tactical liability.

The plan is probably to use this season as a buffer and then dump CR imo. Which explained why Benitez first went and met Bale when he was appointed. Gave him the free role and was the best attacker so far under Benitez. I dont believe Benitez will do something like that with out the assurance from the club that CR will be gone by the end. What went wrong was that Benitez actually pissed off many of the players and was a tactical disaster, add the poor results too. So club decided that use this half season as a buffer and start fresh next season after dumping CR.

Adit wrote:The plan is probably to use this season as a buffer and then dump CR imo. Which explained why Benitez first went and met Bale when he was appointed. Gave him the free role and was the best attacker so far under Benitez. I dont believe Benitez will do something like that with out the assurance from the club that CR will be gone by the end. What went wrong was that Benitez actually pissed off many of the players and was a tactical disaster, add the poor results too. So club decided that use this half season as a buffer and start fresh next season after dumping CR.

pending

Adit wrote:The plan is probably to use this season as a buffer and then dump CR imo. Which explained why Benitez first went and met Bale when he was appointed. Gave him the free role and was the best attacker so far under Benitez. I dont believe Benitez will do something like that with out the assurance from the club that CR will be gone by the end. What went wrong was that Benitez actually pissed off many of the players and was a tactical disaster, add the poor results too. So club decided that use this half season as a buffer and start fresh next season after dumping CR.

I think Benzema has been the best attacker, especially before his injury. when he isn't on the field the rest of the attack look clueless. Madrid's attack basically becomes like a crossroad without traffic lights.

jibers wrote:
They can't cover for his laziness.

CR wants to play on the left, Benzema in the Centre so Bale would be on the right. If both Benzema and Bale press, the defence can move the ball to the flank CR is on because he is static so that side will always have a numerical superiority. Either Marcelo or the CM behind CR have to push upwards to cover leaving a gap there once again.

Di Maria was the key because of his speed and willingness to run up and down the field and he was able to cover for Marcelo and CR quite effectively but the Barcelona games showed even that wasn't infalliable. Except CR is played as one of the CFs like they did when Bale was injured, he is a tactical liability.

Not only they are not covering for his laziness, they are also being lazy; just a little bit less than CR. Playing all three at once without a work horse might work against a scrub team, but not against the elites.

So unless Benzema and Bale improve their work rate considerably (CR is a lost cause), we're doomed.

Adit wrote:The plan is probably to use this season as a buffer and then dump CR imo. Which explained why Benitez first went and met Bale when he was appointed. Gave him the free role and was the best attacker so far under Benitez. I dont believe Benitez will do something like that with out the assurance from the club that CR will be gone by the end. What went wrong was that Benitez actually pissed off many of the players and was a tactical disaster, add the poor results too. So club decided that use this half season as a buffer and start fresh next season after dumping CR.

Ditto!
I hope that is what it is.

you guys know how much i believe Ronaldo is the major problem in madrid and i couldnt help hiding my disgust for him. It's hard not venting my anger here anymore, but trust me, i still tell everyone who cares to listen and I analyze the intricate detrimental effect he has on the team.

Because of the influence he wields, his dissatisfaction for Benitez had a riple effect on other players and facilitated his sack.

I will be the happiest Madridista if Ronaldo leaves before next season.
Just sit down for a second and imagine a team without an ego like Ronaldo; a selfless team.
Imagine the intricate exchange of passes among modric, kroos, isco, james, benz and Bale;
Imagine Bale leaving a freekick for Arbeloa or even Pepe, just because he asked.Orgasmic!
Imagine freekicks that dont hit the wall every time.

Freekicks should go to James not Bale tbh. Bale is a decent freekick taker, but James is a demon.

rafa deserves some props for proving me right, that if players don't go out of their way to spoon feed cr, his finishing isn't breathe taking but rather average like i have always said, and that benzema can be a goal scorer if you let him, instead of sending him out to massage the ego, the power of tactics .

anyway hopefully zidane can sort out the shape and workrate issues, that should be enough until the end of the season.