http://www.sport-english.com/en/news/liga-bbva/not-all-the-madrid-players-are-happy-with-the-zidane-regime-4868339

S wrote:http://www.sport-english.com/en/news/liga-bbva/not-all-the-madrid-players-are-happy-with-the-zidane-regime-4868339

It's impossible that everyone is happy not only in Real Madrid but in any team, they play more when the champions matches come.

strikes me as sports' pro-barcelona bias. that said, its believable, but its not any form of mutiny; why? we've still only played very few games under zidane, two; none of those players have any backroom clout, not even arbeloa- casillas on the team was helpful to his cause, because those who didn't like iker had arbeloa as sort of their mouthpiece. with iker gone, arbeloa has been somewhat forgotten even by his supporters despite his spat with pique and co. three, with the season still being long, casemiro, kova, nacho and lucas might get some games, even danilo too, if carvajal gets injured

....i don't know about kiko after that last poor showing of his and the rest....that said, in due time, some stars might also begin to dislike zidane. it is at that moment we'll see how he handles himself in managing egos

There should be a rule against quoting that cule paper rag in this section. Of course the guys not playing will not be happy, but that is the situation on every big club. Give this some time. Last game Lucas and Casemiro got into game and both played well and were able to stick with new program. It is reported that Kovacic is up next. Zidane let Denis go out on loan saying he values his talent, but he needed minutes and wasn't going to get them. Doesn't that tell you that all will get their chance (and like all bench players, they need to be ready and make the most of their opportunities). Zidane is basically starting his season and it's natural to pick your 11 and stick with it until they have fully adapted to the new tactics. The reserves will get their chance despite club not copa games to play them in.

@tito, in what world, do reserve players have clout? You guys make too much of what little politics exists wiithin team.

that's what i said , no?

This is stupid for a couple reasons.
One, that's a disgusting cule paper
Two, those are fringe players anyways..

No one would dare disrespect zidane. You can get away with that under benitez. Not a club legend and an icon as respected as zidane.

In any case, Zidane being extended until 2018 is a good thing.  Doesn't mean much since he can be fired whenever Madrid decides to.  But it does mean he would get a handsome check if they decide to do so...

The way the team is evolving Sports, I. Now believe that Zidane is proving himself such that the interim tag will be removed. I'm not expecting anything much much rest of season. I just want

1. To have respectable showings against big teams.
2. To take 2nd in liga from Atleti.
3. Get further in CL. Depending on draw I wouldlike to get to semi final.

Zidane hired a former teammate of his, Stephane Plancque, to scout opponents. Did we not have someone do this before???

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Stephane-plancque-rejoint-zinedine-zidane-au-real-madrid/631580

i'm sure we had someone to scout opponents before, but when rafa was fired, his backroom staff was as well. the appointment of zidane was very impromptu; so i won't be surprised if he himself still has some positions open, in terms of his technical team. with his extension, its likely we'll hear about more appointments/additions to his backroom staff. just my guess

as far as the contract extension; its a good thing from the standpoint of, we know who will be coaching us next season (barring florentino gets into florentino mode), and if possible a level of consistency or system can be built. also, we know how much florentino respects zidane- the guy has done whatever he can since his return to get zidane as part of the running of the club; from adviser to president to sporting director to assistant coach- as a result, my guess/hope is, zidane will have a huge say in things like transfers

now on the flip side, there's the inexperience and the fact we've only played a handful of games prior to this extension; and one can make the argument, we should have waited till the summer to see how the rest of the season pans out.

my take is, its a good move...if not for anything, some sense of relief/consistency. i have my reservations in terms of his experience, but hey, at the club its like we've gone through almost every coach...i mean, name any top manager and we've either already worked with and fired them, so, zidane it is....wish him all the best..

oh by the way, since this is madrid we are talking about, where the president, and fans are very trigger happy,- fans like to bash flow for firing, but i notice the same fans are just as quick to say " 'name of coach' out" and when a new coach comes in and messes up, they start whining about the previously fired coach...so my question is, how patient will you guys be with zidane or how long do you stick with him if the titles aren't as forthcoming as we would like?

I think patience really isn't a word that can be used with any elite club... it you have an elite squad, there's a minimum. For Madrid and Barca, it means finish in the top 2, get to the CL semis and get to the CDR semis with the draw being the only caveat in the last 2. Even with that, you are expected to win trophies after your first yar.

So Zidane has to win a trophy next year or he'll be fired. It's that simple.

Pretty sure I'll be incredibly patient with Zidane. After all, it's Zidane. One of the my favourite players growing up, it would be like Redondo, Raul or Hierro managing the team. Honestly, the team would have to do immense shit for me to go against him and I'll still be kinda generous.

Because I am bias. It's how it is.

I say we take it one year at a time. Right now, all is has to do is continue the club performance, which he has been doing quite well. I don't expect any trophies this year. Next year, after we can expect will be a fairly wild market, we'll see how team is constructed and compares to other elite teams before having any real expectations re trophies for next season. But the free ride will come to an end next season or the one beyond if team isn't playing well and isn't among the top 4 clubs in world.

sportsczy wrote:I think patience really isn't a word that can be used with any elite club... it you have an elite squad, there's a minimum. For Madrid and Barca, it means finish in the top 2, get to the CL semis and get to the CDR semis with the draw being the only caveat in the last 2. Even with that, you are expected to win trophies after your first yar.

So Zidane has to win a trophy next year or he'll be fired. It's that simple.

This.

sportsczy wrote:I think patience really isn't a word that can be used with any elite club... it you have an elite squad, there's a minimum.  For Madrid and Barca, it means finish in the top 2, get to the CL semis and get to the CDR semis with the draw being the only caveat in the last 2.  Even with that, you are expected to win trophies after your first yar.

So Zidane has to win a trophy next year or he'll be fired.  It's that simple.

I am returned from a finished contract.

Sadly this will be the case. I'd like to give Zidane at least 2 years but reality isn't kind to anyone. If Zidane survives to next season I really hope he wins something.

Seeing how we play recently, he has done very well in a short amount of time. How he does in other areas remains to be seen.

Oi sports supposedly barca out of pogba race, care to confirm?

Read that on Mundo Deportivo... it seems that they feel overstocked in the midfield and don't want to pay 90-100 mile for Pogba like City and Chelsea are willing to do. A shame. He basically stayed on an extra year at Juve because he was promised by Barca that they would buy him after the transfer ban.... shows their ethics lol.

Good for us though. So he either signs with Madrid or ends up in the EPL. Nothing wrong with that.

sportsczy wrote:Read that on Mundo Deportivo... it seems that they feel overstocked in the midfield and don't want to pay 90-100 mile for Pogba like City and Chelsea are willing to do. A shame. He basically stayed on an extra year at Juve because he was promised by Barca that they would buy him after the transfer ban.... shows their ethics lol.

Good for us though. So he either signs with Madrid or ends up in the EPL. Nothing wrong with that.

Top. KEK.

I see pogba in EPL. I cant see us signing him unless Zidane proves he is in charge of transfers or can influence Flo's decision making in regards to transfers. I still dont see him coming to us m8.

Seeing how the other guys that Zidane recommended from France.... namely Varane, Hazard and Griezmann... have panned out for us and others, I can see Flo listening to him if he really insists. Zizou has a ton of guys who give him multiple scouting reports on French and Italian league players. So he has a pretty good grip of the talent in those two countries.

He also wants us to buy Dybala too apparently...

sportsczy wrote:Read that on Mundo Deportivo... it seems that they feel overstocked in the midfield and don't want to pay 90-100 mile for Pogba like City and Chelsea are willing to do. A shame. He basically stayed on an extra year at Juve because he was promised by Barca that they would buy him after the transfer ban.... shows their ethics lol.

Good for us though. So he either signs with Madrid or ends up in the EPL. Nothing wrong with that.

We are in the same situation as Barca though, Signing Pogba is basically making a conscious decision to sell one of our key young player like Isco.

Barca has more reason to sign him. They have an aging iniesta and Pogba probably can play that role. I dont think we have any space for Pogba...we might have to make space for him for the sake of playing him and that will be another bad situation to handle.More concerned with how we handle the Anchor role problem we have for two years now.

We are probably going to sell James Rodriguez but knowing his galatico status Perez might do something about it.I would not mind selling James and Ronaldo if we can bring a top winger and an Anchor man.Its a god damn shame we are not in copa del rey, we could have tested Casemiro and Kovacic in those games. Instead they are rotting on the bench now.

We can't make any intelligent assumptions about next year. Zidane is being given the rest of this year to establish himself and evaluate the team and its needs.

It will all depend on how the players finish up the season.

I know we all are expecting Ronaldo to go, want Danilo to go, but who knows what Flo will do.

We do know that this summer is likely going to be a huge market, not just us but several other elite clubs as well.

So bottom line is it depends on how well various players finish the season and what players are we after.

We have mentioned several times that we need a defensive specialist in place of Kross. If that happens does that mean Kroos is out or is he just shifted to another more forward position.

Does Zidane want to play with AMs or not? It looks, so far, that he sees big roles for Isco and James. And then there is likely Asensio added to the mid for next year. Does he keep all 3 or depending on the Kroos situation, does he change all this?

I don't see any issue with Modric, Casemiro and Kovacic staying in their current roles.

With Benz, there are definite questions as to whether he will be staying or not. It been reported that the club is bring back Morata and there are the rumours about Lewan. bUt who knows. Perhaps Morata is just being repurchased to sell again as the price on him is likely under his current value. One thing, I think is clear is that the club should have a backup striker.

As stated earlier, who knows about Ronaldo.

i feel Bale and Jese are secure in their current roles, but Lucas will depend upon who is signed and squad capacity. i think Denis will be sold this summer.

i don't see any changes on defense except going after backup laterals (both sides if they do unload Danilo (and that has to be doubtful). Arbeloa will almost certainly be gone.

And in goal, it does appear as if Flo still wants De Gea so that means Navas departing.

How does Barca have more incentive to sign Pogba?  They have Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta and Arda Turan... and then you also have Sergio Roberto and Rafinha.  To boot, Halilovic and Denis Suarez are returning from loan at the end of the season.  They are absolutely stacked in the midfield.

Where they are thin, and always have been, is on defense.

Nothing to do with "being stocked". We're just broke and can't afford another € 100M signing with huge wages.

Halilovic, Sergi Roberto, Rafinha, Denis Suarez aren't Pogba class. Halilovic is the only one who could maybe get there one day. The rest are good players to have on the squad, especially Roberto with his immense versatility, but not starting material world beaters.

Iniesta is turning 32 soon. So we've only got Rakitic who is a proven CM and can be here for years to come.

"Not interested because we're stacked" is bollocks. They can't afford him. They haven't even announced a new sponsorship deal yet. Rumours are Barca might not have a shirt sponsor next season because the imbeciles on the Barca board somehow can't close a proper sponsorship deal despite being the most successful club of this century and having MSN upfront.

Mc Hammer broke or Martha Stewart broke?