Can't wait till we sack Zidane and make George Osborne our coach now that he is out of a job and all. It ain't going to make a difference thankfully, we are still going to win because we have recruited well. No manager in the world can screw that up.

As long as the team is responding this well to Zidane and the results are following, he should not be sacked.

we already had a scrub coach last year with Benitez, however good he had been before, he made a lot of bad decisions tactically and in man management, stopping this squad to reach the potential they did under Carlo.

Now we have a "better" manager for this squad, again regardless of the reasons, and the team is responding well, playing well. There are some issues, but overall it's very positive so far in the season.

Again, we are fulfilling our potential here, playing at a level we have seen before from this squad, Zidane is enabling that through his man management. But he is certainly not turning scrubs into champions here, we are already a team of elite players, a team of champions.

Pardew should be available soon. He's at least as good as Zidane in my eyes.

I will say this... it's about consistency in football. Maybe Zidane is still benefiting from being a new manager. If he win wins trophies this year and then the next, to me he then proves that he is one of the best managers in the world.

The complacency that comes with a very successful season separates the greats in managing imo. If we manage a great season and then he keeps the players up for the following season, he really puts his stamp in the profession.

Pardew could have a mixture of 1958 and 1970 Brasil, Red Star Belgrade in the 70s, 80s and very early 90s, the entire Ajax generation, the Famous Five, Fergie Fledglings, Barcelona and Real Madrid legends and due to a new ruling, collect 10 points every win and still find a way to do absolute cat shit with it.

Anyway, I understand what Nick is writing so don't feel everyone is on your throat by your views, well, most of us are but still. Just don't think the argument of the squad reaching it's pinnacle is the main reason among the other reasons why Zidane is having such a successful tenure so far. In any case, all this becomes kinda mute if we finish without La Liga or the UCL though it would be a hell of a foundation to work with.

sportsczy wrote:I will say this... it's about consistency in football. Maybe Zidane is still benefiting from being a new manager. If he win wins trophies this year and then the next, to me he then proves that he is one of the best managers in the world.

The complacency that comes with a very successful season separates the greats in managing imo. If we manage a great season and then he keeps the players up for the following season, he really puts his stamp in the profession.

The thing Zidane has almost above all others is that he is ZIDANE. Ex Ballon D'or etc Perhaps only Cruijff and Beckenbauer as player managers have commanded similar respect. His personality as well. Zidane has tamed CR in a way SAF, Mou and Ancelotti couldn't dream of and has made it feel like a squad game rather than best 11 which is why Hames not towing the party line has made him a pariah of sorts. I honestly believe that Madrid have been put in the best position to retain the cl. Add to the fact that there are academy players in the squad who are just grateful to be playing at Madrid then the harmony of the squad is peak.

If we are talking the reasons why Zidane is succeeding, then Jibers you also have to add the insight that Zidane has in the club, a leg up on any manager we can sign. He has already around when Mou was coaching so he started building a relationship with our current players almost 7 years ago, then he was Carlo assistant, and everyone bonded with him, without him having to make tough decisions on personnel. And he has stayed at the club all along, even with Castilla, he was in contact with the players in Valdebebas every week. Remarkable insight that meant he came into the job having a personal relationship with 98% of players. These type of things matter a lot. And i dont even mention the fact that he is ZIDANE in madrid, he is beloved by all.

Mr Nick09 wrote:If we are talking the reasons why Zidane is succeeding, then Jibers you also have to add the insight that Zidane has in the club, a leg up on any manager we can sign. He has already around when Mou was coaching so he started building a relationship with our current players almost 7 years ago, then he was Carlo assistant, and everyone bonded with him, without him having to make tough decisions on personnel. And he has stayed at the club all along, even with Castilla, he was in contact with the players in Valdebebas every week. Remarkable insight that meant he came into the job having a personal relationship with 98% of players. These type of things matter a lot. And i dont even mention the fact that he is ZIDANE in madrid, he is beloved by all.

That goes without saying. Also he seems to be sort of in between the managers.

You had Mou that went for a power grab and used tension

then you had the opposite in Ancelotti who was pretty Laissez faire and let the players do what they wanted.

Zidane seems to be inbetween. The main thing for me is he is THE ZIDANE. The papers in Madrid already protected him and he has this sort of classy aura around him and humility etc. Add to the fact that he is loved by Florentino so player power wouldn't hover around his back and Ramos also played with him and is the current captain etc It is the perfect Marriage

TBH, I've never been a fan of this whole club philosophy thing. Madrid's philosophy atm is winning

The spirit of Juanito is personified with Ramos etc.

so post win record (which earned us no trophy by the way) we got kicked out of the copa and are dripping points in la liga games after games

and we are playing like shit still, this team has 0 consistency except for talent.

Season ain't over yet and again, season ain't over yet. That being said, not like we were lighting it up during our unbeaten run.

well i bought into the hope when we dismantled Atletico earlier this year, i thought the team was figuring it out, whatver Sports and the lads are here telling us that Zidane is working on.

Turns out it's jus the same shit, poor coaching, elite players turning up for big games and CL, but no intrinsic work is bein done with this team.

Shit coach still

Re Zidane: People can complain about our tendency to cross all they like but not do we have arguably the best headers of the game (Bale, Ronaldo, Ramos) we also have other excellent ones eg Morata, Mariano, Pepe. Why should we play through the middle when crossing for us is like a guaranteed goal?

Zidane is playing the right tactics but isn't being very objective with player selection and that is what's hurting us right now not the crossing. 5 out of our last 10 goals have been from crosses. If ZZ hadn't been such an idiot and put Morata in at HT against Valencia we could have turned that game around because he actually knows how to attack them unlike a certaib french cat

Still, glad to have Bale back, this should ease the pressure on Ronaldo to score our goals

Even yesterday, why did it take so long for him to put Isco and Morata into game? It was obvious from min 5, that the starting lineup wasn't going to do it!

His persistence of playing Benz and insisting one MF plays so far back is pathetic. It's not just player selection, it's a also a total lack of offensive creativity.

TIto has been saying he wants competition within club and Sports saying clubs needs 3 CF. Yet this lazy frenchman is played over and over again with no productivity and yet the other 2 CFs we have rot on bench. In answer to Sports we actually have 4 CFs on club, counting Ronaldo. It's great to have these multiple CFs on club, but only if the coach uses them. And if you think the idea of having 2 so called stars on team is the answer, look back on how it went with we had both Benz and Pipita!

If you look back even further when Raul was around, we always had two and both them started (i.e. a different formation), but they were always pressing and playing defense, unlike the current pair.

I think our probems come down to coaching issues and the persistence in playing Benz and to a lessor extent Ronaldo.

I don't know why Ronaldo always gets mentioned when we talk of players hampering the team. Sure he may not track back, sure he may leave Marcelo on his own but this guy has been carrying the frontline all by himself. Always at the right place at the right time, anything good he does quickly gets forgotten. Let me tell you this, we have 99 problems but Ronaldo aint one of them

halamadrid2 wrote:I don't know why Ronaldo always gets mentioned when we talk of players hampering the team. Sure he may not track back, sure he may leave Marcelo on his own but this guy has been carrying the frontline all by himself. Always at the right place at the right time, anything good he does quickly gets forgotten. Let me tell you this, we have 99 problems but Ronaldo aint one of them

He's certainly not the main problem, right now, but he's had his fair share of frustratingly unproductive performances in recent time - especially at the start of this season. When I saw him attempting to dribble, outrun or take on multiple, pacier players than himself, I knew he was going to be detrimental to our attacking chances. He started the season with relatively frequent performances like that, and in the absence of Bale (and Benzewho), you'd expect him to step up his game, not waste possession with hopeless shots or attempts at dribbling beyond what he's capable of in his current state.

I think our unlikely win streak worked in his favor, because his unproductiveness ultimately had little impact on the end results. I appreciate that he's adapting into more of an assisting role, but when Bale was gone and with Benzema in his current slump, we were sorely lacking "prime CR7" - someone who could not only score, but also help advance our attack. With that in mind, Zidane's cross attack tactics actually made some sense. So, yeah.. he's not the main issue, but I think some people still expect him to be a focal point in attack, which he is not anymore.

Oh yh I hear you. He has had many frustrating performances alright but the only thing that needs doing is "resting" him every once in a while when he stinks the place up but not sold. Even this Ronaldo who like you say is not in his prime anymore is on his worst day 10 times better than Benz on his best day. Ronaldo believe it or not has stayed more in the shadows this season, always looking to pass and stays out the way when somebody is attacking a cross. He probably knows he won't catch up to Vampire and Messi this season but if we win trophies who cares.

We should be grateful Ronaldo is available every game, take all that shit from rival fans and still wakes up the next day with the same passion. I mean Bale as great as has been has started to get injured kicking air and Benz well lets not even go there

Yeah, he said it himself, that complete restitution takes longer now that he's getting older. But we don't have a proper sub for him, so he starts and ends most matches anyway

We literally cannot play through the middle unless Isco is in the game. He's the only midfielder/AM that has the skill to play killer balls in that area.

And besides, like Hala said, our main strength in terms of scoring is in the air. So there's every reason to keep crossing. I'm just glad Marcelo isn't nailing the first defender every time with his crosses... practice makes perfect I guess. It took him 1 million crosses to get it over that player's head

Zizou clown

He finally ran out of luck.

Basically poor man's Ancelotti.

Are we playing possession? If not counter attack then? No you say?. The team has no identity. Team has no plan to win the ball back. No pressing game to pressure opponents.

Zidane is getting sacked at the end if this continue and won't be a big loss.

Zidane is conservative as *bleep* with energy cuz I've seen this team press good but it's like Zidane wants to save them for fitness

How can Zidane do anything with BBC. all three play like number 9's, Benzema doesn't even do anything outside the box now. Bale has stamina and speed so he tracks back but there is no cohesiveness with those three.

Either bench Benzema/CR and play CR/Benz as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 or play morata-CR and do a 4-4-2

Psg showed today how a team with such great talent can carry a shit coach

Results > style. Having said that, we play less than maximum potential, but so long as we win it won't matter.

Playing "bad" yet still winning can only be a good thing.
We're not that bad. Mere exaggerations. Zidane could be doing better but he has done well so far.