Zidane Sack Watch

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.

Sooo...

Things were said in this thread that may need some reviewing. By me. Things looking not looking good. At all.

Doc wrote:Sooo...

Things were said in this thread that may need some reviewing. By me. Things looking not looking good. At all.

Well, in his defense Doc:

Spoiler:

Man's won three CLs in a row but that still hasn't bought him patience and goodwill with you lot?
Shame on you

Hapless_Hans wrote:Man's won three CLs in a row but that still hasn't bought him patience and goodwill with you lot?
Shame on you

Your club fired a man that actually won you a title. Shame on me? Shame on your entire organisation.

But yes, shame on me. Allow me to suffer please. I deserve it.

Because it's not. Being 5 points behind Barca isn't the end of La Liga.

futbol_bill wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:What happens when they lose this and the weekend match against Barca? Is the season essentially over then?

I wonder why no one answered my question?

I think the league would still remain a realistic target even if we lost to Barça this Sunday. Both teams have their problems and both are bound to drop points from now to season's end. A loss to them would see the gap separating the two widen to just 5 points. That's nothing, really.

The CL,however, is a different story. I don't think we stand a chance now. I think we're already out.

As for Zidane's fate, I think he's safe and protected. Even if he finishes without a major trophy this year, he'll be kept on.

futbol_bill wrote:Here’s another opinion!

https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/opinion/2020/02/27/5e57c2abe2704e9abe8b4571.html

Another opinion piece where no one is putting any real blame on Dani Carvajal. Sigh. How long folks are gonna turn a blind eye on what is now a very past it full back?!

Tbh he should have been sacked if he lost the league to this Barca.

But man his trophy stats are insane.

I don’t want to shit on Zidane’s accomplishment this season. Hell, the fact that we’re discussing his success again, is testament to his accomplishments and the impressive legacy he’s creating off the field.

However, to compare him to Lopetegui and Solari makes no sense, at this point. The latter two were given half a season between the two of them. In that time, they we’re not expected to instill a philosophy in the team, they were expected to have a Mou-esque impact from the get-go, and I don’t think anyone should be surprised that they failed at it. Even Zidane didn’t change anything in the half season after he took over, and the team were already familiar with his game plan.

Not only was he given time and a transfer window that saw Luka Jovic, Militao, Mendy and Eden Hazard come in, but despite Eden experiencing a tough first season, we produced our best football in years during the short time that he was on form before christmas. Him finding his feet, seemed to inject a dose of morale into a team that was mostly struggling not long before our thumping of Galatasaray. The added depth has helped too. Courtois’ improved form might possibly have been inspired by ZZ, for all I know, but tactically I think we looked quite lost up until that point.

The second half of the season has undoubtedly been great for us. We even capitalized on Barca’s failings - something we only seemed to be capable of doing during that one season, the last time we won the league. We’ve struggled to capitalize on those situations, both before and since that time.

I think we benefited substantially from the league season being cut short, as it’s quite well documented by now that our veterans just don’t seem to be wired for long league seasons. Hell, they all looked terrible at times during the start of the season, and although the ends justify the means, I haven’t forgotten how much we all complained about then prior to the league restart. I think it would be naive to assume that Zidane rolled back their years.

Another trophy for the club cabinet and Zidane’s impressive fireplace collection, it’s a great achievement and I’m definitely happy about it, but I also don’t mind being the only in our section who still has reservations in regard to Zidane’s abilities as a coach.

As much as I love him for what he’s accomplished both as a player, and now as our manager (and I obviously hope it continues), I’ve tried thinking back to a period of time during his two stints with us where he tactically outmaneuvered our opponent teams, and I find it pretty astonishing how many times we’ve pulled through despite having our backs against the wall.

As long as it works, that’s fine. I’ll even give him credit for making the quickfire cross it into the box tactic work for such and absurdly sustainable period of time. You won’t hear me complain about success, but I would be lying if I said I think that success directly reflects ZZ’s capability as a manager. Regardless of how much we win under him, I’ll be honest and say that, my opinion on his tactical capability has stayed the same both throughout his successes and failings. It’s only the result that changes, and luckily for us, the end results favor him more often than not. Bottom line, I love Zidane, The Real Madrid coach, but he wouldn’t be near the top of my priority list as manager of my fantasy football team.


I personally think Benzema’s best season for us was last season, when we won jack squat. If not, then I believe it must’ve been his best season under Ancelotti, where he was exactly the type of player I’ve always wanted him to be.

nah benzema was better this season than last season by far imo. this season he had clutch games in moments when the title race was on. last season barca had already left the arena and so too atleti, during those ten games.

zidane is a pragmatist, he doesnt seem to be sold to one style or idea (which can be positive and negative). unlike the other coaches you mentioned, his history with florentino and his status at the club gives him more clout than those other managers. he has his flaws but the guy is a winner

i didn't want him back as coach for fear he'll tarnish his reputation after an unprecedented 3 straight UCLs and a liga. now my hope is he stays on. i'm not going to pretend like i had all the confidence in this group going into the season, cos i definitely did NOT. and i'm still a little surprised we pulled this off. but zizou definitely knows how to win

all that being said, i'm not a blind fan. if we ever have that type of season we had last year, i don't care who the coach is, he must get the boot

Zidane is definitely proving his skills again the second time around, at first when he came back it was quite a mess, but shortly afterwards u can clearly see some progress and improvements as time went with him back. Until now hes mostly been able to produce winning and effective football again, while keeping most happy.

Lets see if he can keep up and adapt as time goes, if he does it'll be better than most managers have ever done at Real, and many at Barca also, most of which only last short times.

Funny thing is that Zidane has proven that he is not as tactically inept as people make it seem, but holy hell you would think he would know that crossing it over 1000000000 times every match when we don't have Ronaldo and Bale in the box is a useless tactic.

Who are we crossing to? Rodrygo? Vinicius? Benzema? I bet all our opponents say "Don't worry let them cross" every time.

Reading that Shakhtar were without 13 first team players because of covid cases, fuck me

And madrid were without one key player due to mcdonalds mcdouble, fries and cola zero to cut on the sugar of course.

Zidane as a coach in fm should get minus rating for attack.

As if I needed further proof that Zidane and his coaching abilities are nowhere near what it suppose to be.

Motivation, squad management, hell, tactical nuance are all quite fine but you can literally see that whatever is being coached is extremely poor. And even with this lose, I'm still confident Zidane is gonna end up winning a trophy at the end of the season.

Almost sure of it...

Yea really surprised how bad Real are doing. Ramos and Carvajal are huge misses though, how long are they gonna be out for? Will they be ready for the classico?

Still believing in Zidane to win the league prolly, hes definitely better than Koeman and Simone and Lope etc....

Doc wrote:As if I needed further proof that Zidane and his coaching abilities are nowhere near what it suppose to be.

Motivation, squad management, hell, tactical nuance are all quite fine but you can literally see that whatever is being coached is extremely poor. And even with this lose, I'm still confident Zidane is gonna end up winning a trophy at the end of the season.

Almost sure of it...

What is it supposed to be? I think people rate him for the things you listed but no one considers him a tactical mastermind

Zidane has the Italian style of coaching. Pragmatic and cautious. Looks like shit sometimes but it gets results. Until it doesn’t.