Zidane Sack Watch

I ain't know about leaps and bounds. Our defense has surprisingly gotten better, much better but our offense still lacks legit creativity or effectiveness i.e if Benzema doesn't score, no one scores. Also, our right flank is null and void for most matches since Dani is a shadow of his former self and Bale is, well, Bale while Rodrygo is still very much a noob at this level. He clearly knows how to judge players when it comes to how they fit within the starting 11 (hence Ceballos and Llorente are not even worth discussing anymore and Valverde is shinning) so I really appreciate that. That being said, we bought a 60 mil striker with his approval and he is currently getting the Mariano treatment so it's a work in progress...apparently.

I'll give Zidane credit for getting us to focus once again after Lope and Solari shitting the bed nicely but at the same time, I am still seeing his, um, "coaching style" still hasn't changed much which I grew to dislike a lot. But leaps and bounds, um, no. Leaps and bounds would be in a winning position in La Liga and finishing 1st in the CL group. This is just a steady progression.

You can't say Zidane is not responsible for getting our team to compete again from being abysmal last season. The only differences between our starting 11 from this season to the past one are... Valverde (who was on the team last year) and Rodrygo. Rodrygo hasn't contributed a ton to our success if I'm honest.

Putting together a scheme that fits (putting them in a position to succeed), getting them motivated and instilling a winning attitude... is all on the manager for Real Madrid this season. If the manager had a little to do with it, these same players wouldn't have fallen off a cliff last season.

Justice for Solari, the man earns more points per match than the rest and all he gets is disrespect

Find someone who watches your sack the way Sportszcy watches this sack watch thread.

Because Solari was absolutely god awful. It's one thing to lose... but it's another to have no clue on how to set up the team, how to manage the locker room and create unnecessary rifts.

He was arguably the worse manager in Castilla history too before getting promoted lol. I follow Castilla. So my dislike of him isn't based on his brief Madrid tenure alone.

What you mean you don't have a clue Thimmy? You know very well why he isn't liked. It's like if one of us got to be manager of Real Madrid i.e a man who was very much unqualified for the position. Hell, the folks who watched Castilla regularly were so against him being the manager but Madrid made him one and lo and behold, we were terrible. Like really bad.

With Lope, we did start off good but what Lope wanted the lads to do eventually faded into mediocrity. Meanwhile, Solari didn't do shit from day 1.

Lope's issue is that he's an ideologue.  He was the worse manager in Porto's modern history and then did really well with Spain NT.  The way he came to Madrid was controversial... and then he tried to replace WC veterans on Madrid with undeserving kids (Odri, Reguillon, Ceballos, Llorente, etc.).  When that started backfiring big time, he couldn't go back to the veterans because he lost them.

At elite clubs, it's as much about man-management as anything else.  Lope was a good tactician, but a poor man manager.  He was trying to recreate Spain U23 (that just won the youth Euro) at Real Madrid and those guys just weren't good enough.  It wasn't the same quality as Barca's golden generation obviously.

Solari was terrible at everything lol.

Solari deserves credit for the brilliance of Vini and Reguillon last season.

NeganIsco wrote:Solari deserves credit for the brilliance of Vini and Reguillon last season.

What Brilliance? If a potato had the chances Vini had against barca in CDR we could've been the finalists.

Dribbling past 18 people and wasting the ball like an idiot is no brilliance.

Win percentage:
Numpetegui: 43%
SantiaGOAT: 69%
ZZ: 51%

Goals scored per match:
Numpetegui: 1.5
SantiaGOAT: 2.2
ZZ: 1.8

A very simple way to look at it...  Lope had major positions before and after Real Madrid.  Quickly too.  Solari can't get a job in the 2nd division of Kazakhstan.  That's how the industry rates these managers... forget what anyone on GL or the media thinks.

In fairness to solari he doesnt have the resume that lope has. Lope wasnt hired based on his real madrid tenure. Solari's only top coaching experience was a couple of months with Madrid. He has less experience than lope that's just it.

danyjr wrote:Win percentage:
Numpetegui: 43%
SantiaGOAT: 69%
ZZ: 51%

Goals scored per match:
Numpetegui: 1.5
SantiaGOAT: 2.2
ZZ: 1.8

At Barca:

Luis 'Lucho' Enrique: 76%
Pep Fraudiola: 72%
Tito Vilanova: 76%
Valverde: 68%
Tata Martino: 68%




Also your numbers are wrong aren't they? Zidane is on 66%, definitely not 51%

Are you trying to deceive us?

Myesyats wrote:Also your numbers are wrong aren't they? Zidane is on 66%, definitely not 51%

Are you trying to deceive us?

No. Zidane's current season may be 66% but remember he started last season. The stats are from the start of his second tenure at Madrid in March 2019.

Yeah ok, I also added up stats from Jan 2016- May 2018 which is only fair.

Myesyats wrote:Yeah ok, I also added up stats from Jan 2016- May 2018 which is only fair.

Exactly

titosantill wrote:In fairness to solari he doesnt have the resume that lope has. Lope wasnt hired based on his real madrid tenure. Solari's only top coaching experience was a couple of months with Madrid. He has less experience than lope that's just it.

He can't even get a youth team job tito.... because that's how bad he was at that level for Castilla.

Do you know that he is even looking for a youth team job? You make it sound like he applied and is getting denied. I'm not his biggest fan either, but if we're comparing to lope, he just doesnt have the experience. Last season was a mess across the board, but it started with lope.

He's looking for any top-level coaching job...  in any league.  France, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Germany, Italy, Argentina, etc.  He can't get one.  According to reports, he'd even take an assistant manager's position... but nothing there either.

Given his lack of opportunities, would he take a youth level position? My guess (and only a guess) is that he would.

Bottom line is that he's not working in any capacity as a manager.  I highly doubt that it's by choice.

Sad world where shmucks like Gary Neville get top flight jobs but not Solari ...

Gotta eat the crow when you have to. Most of us questioned him for his treatment of James, Isco and so on, and may have put his successes down to luck but he has been one of the most consistent coaches in the last 5 years. He's had a few brain farts in his coaching career (namely having Kovačić to man mark Messi the whole game) but other than those few hiccups you can hardly ever argue with his team selection and tactics. Important to note he has developed a few youngsters and improving their game too.

His team does not play the most attractive brand of football that is exciting to the neutral like Klopp or Guardiola's teams play, but he knows how to get results in the modern game better than anyone. He reminds me of Ancelotti of a couple of decades ago. Legacy Serie A tactics and defending has definitely defined his coaching methodology, but he has been able to turn around Real Madrid from a team with little hope to a strong contender for La Liga and dare I say Champions League.

Kudos to the bald maestro

Can't wait for his match-up against the bald impostor.

Very steady progression, love it. Our attack is still pretty dire but our defense more than makes up for it from a league standpoint. Doubt Madrid would go far in the CL without a more potent offense but stranger things have happened. Maybe Hazard might turn into 05 and 07 Kaka for the CL.

I still stand by my statement about his "coaching style" but the results are still positive so clearly the players are responding to it nicely. All in all, the ship is steadied...until we drop points then it's back to over dramatics.

Oh and mandatory Mendy > Regi.

We still are poor in attack. with Hazard we'll be better.

The best thing Zidane has done is bringing back the fighting spirit and using the whole squad.

Bringing Mendy and Valverde into starting 11 who are both Fast and strong has helped our defence alot. Last season Marcelo as left back and the trio of Kroos-Casemiro-Modric in the middle made us so slow and vulnerable off the ball and in defence. we got hit on the counters left and right.