In my history Zidane's Real Madrid is the worst footballing side I've seen

It would be difficult for most players not on Ronaldo/Messi level to have an ego trip with Zidane. Like, how does that work? What can you say to him to make one feel or look superior? And who would actually have your back on this trip? Fans love him, media likes him for now, Flo likes him, past legends like him including Raul and the now deceased Don Alfredo.

Seriously, James tried and was quietly ostracized.

The media try to create conflicts but it doesn't faze Zizou at all. It's like it all bounces off him. Mou tried to drag him into his mindgame battle but ZZ squatted it away with such swagger

James it was like he got blacklisted, and the only ones trash talking ZZ because of that were Colombian NT legends and his family. I womder if Bale will have the balls to send his agent to Perez like he did with Carlo

I'm just cringing at all the posers who went hard at me because I was first to see that Zidane plays horrible football.

He is back to playing his stubborn 4-4-2 which consists of nothing but crosses, little creativity, shat defence and no goals. Name a side with less possession in recent years and a worse passing statistic than this Madrid.

guest7 wrote:Name a side with less possession in recent years and a worse passing statistic than this Madrid.

Osasuna Pampeluna

guest7 wrote:I'm just cringing at all the posers who went hard at me because I was first to see that Zidane plays horrible football.

He is back to playing his stubborn 4-4-2 which consists of nothing but crosses, little creativity, shat defence and no goals. Name a side with less possession in recent years and a worse passing statistic than this Madrid.

dude can you stop flip flopping? lol

guest7 wrote:
I don't want to point anybody out in particular because I find that too rude to do so, but I do find the "Zidane is tactically inept" so wrong on many levels. Again, this is just an example, not a name call on somebody.

Just ask yourself, if Zidane is so horrible tactician, how come players like Modric have came out and given him his respects for being tactically astute? And why does he have the lockerrooms respect? Don't @ me, if you're saying it's because "he is Zidane and he is a respected figure", if that was the case, Maradonna would be the most respected manager in the game. The players respect him because tactically he is good, but as a manager he has weaknesses. He is naive, he seems to trust the wrong players, bad subs etc. But he is a new manager, these things will get better with time.

Yeah I know, I'm a critic too. But atleast I can admit my wrongs, move on, and respect one of the best managers in a long time I've seen in Real Madrid. None can be perfect every season, despite what you think. Even SAF showed weaknesses. If he flops next season, I'd call for his head too, but right now, after 2 Back to Back CL's - I can give him the benefit of the doubt.

dude this is laughable, one week you praise him, next week you torch him

The dude switches sides faster than a politician.

People have some real reading comprehension issues I notice

I meant a Madrid side Myesyats

Interesting. Zidane is "one of the best managers you've seen at Madrid" and within the same year, his side lacks creativity and has the worst possession statistic you've seen from a Madrid side. Those are some conflicting views don't you think.

That possession stat statement is false btw... right on line with where we've been over the past 5 years. Same with chance creation. Defense is actually better than our average.

Our scoring has dropped off a cliff.

We're at our best as a counter-attacking side. Hard to counter-attack when you can't score and pull others teams out.

Doc wrote:Interesting. Zidane is "one of the best managers you've seen at Madrid" and within the same year, his side lacks creativity and has the worst possession statistic you've seen from a Madrid side. Those are some conflicting views don't you think.

Well, few things to take into consideration - historically speaking, and trophywise, we're probably seeing one of the best managers ever in Real Madrid. That back to back CL speaks alot for who he once was.

But... and this is the most important one. Even Zidane at this point knows he is the one at blame, he admitted it in his press conference. How could I not change my opinion after that? He has became to stubborn, fielding the same eleven all the time and everytime falling on his face. But there was a time when he was untouchable. He went 1 year unbeatable. Simple to say he never had a clue, which I never did, I always credited him for winning alot. But even tougher to notice his football isn't champagne football, it's the opposite of champagne football. Especially when he was already winning and everyone was on his cock like he was a god.

What I hate about you lot right now, and not speaking about you Doc - you are very friendly to me and speak with respect but it seems like everytime you lot read my posts you BLATANTLY ignore what I'm saying. I NEVER SAID ZIDANE IS A BAD MANAGER IN TERMS OF WINNING AND TACTICS, I CALLED HIS FOOTBALL STYLE BAD. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. The difference between me and you is that I don't believe there is a such thing as a motivational coach, instead there are salarys and bonuses to motivate you. If you wanna stay and earn your salary, you gotta work for it or else you get sold. I think Zidane is a great tactical coach, and in his prime was one of the best. Now? Even he knows he doesn't do it anymore. We can give him chances but when a manager admits he is at fault something is very, very wrong.

And sportsczy, where did you get your statistics from? I'm reading we have around 54% average on squawka and whoscored, but I find that pretty unbelievable tbh. We had a average of 70% with Mourinho. And Barcelona averages on about 64%, but again I know for a fact with Xavi they had 70% in every game. So I find that unbelievable too.

I'll make sure to screenshot when statistics shows up in game

You either need to express yourself better when you make comment or you are just a flip flop artist. Either way it makes no difference to me, I go with the second

I see, I see. Well, to me those are still conflicting views i.e saying a manager has a boring, bland or even bad style of football and yet not calling him a bad tactician. Both seem to coincide a lot in football but I get ya.

Nick I think it's a case of you believing what you want to believe because my opinion coincides with yours. And english is not my first language so maybe I'm not being perfectly clear but I understand English very well and I think I am clear enough.

Doc wrote:I see, I see. Well, to me those are still conflicting views i.e saying a manager has a boring, bland or even bad style of football and yet not calling him a bad tactician. Both seem to coincide a lot in football but I get ya.

Doc how many coaches are not known for being tactically astute and yet play bad football? I won't list names - I'll let you do the job. It's pretty obvious these things don't coincide at all.

https://www.managingmadrid.com/2018/2/2/16962144/watch-zidanes-half-time-talk-2017-champions-league-final-with-english-transcript-further-analysis

Zidanes tactics in UCL final explained by himself

Very good stuff I really enjoyed it.

My favorite thing he said:"the goals will come"

Ahhh the motivational speaker on the roll again. Only motivating the squad in CL. Never in La Liga

ZZ must be the first guy in like forever who has the backing of every single player in the team despite a terrible season. That quality is really underrated. I mean one loss and PSG players are already bitching internally, we have lost multiple games this season and not once has our dressing room been divided.

I agree with you, given how much time he has spent defending them, it's not a surprise.

but PSG are a bad example, they are a mercenary club and they only exist to be relevant in CL so being on the edge of losing that comp reveals a lot of insecurities within their group

If Neymar wasn't such a bitch I'd love to have him in our team. Imagine having just one attacker that can dribble that well. We haven't had one since Ronaldo was in his mid twenties. With our midfield he'd make some serious damage to other teams and it would finally spell the end of Benzema. Alas, he is a terrible human being who deserves to play for those bottlers

i love Neymar, he is furiously talented, and like Marcelo i also believe he will play for us.

@hala, you have to take the good with the bad in sports at times (this isn't specifically about neymar), we can't always have choir boys on the team. i had no problems with us attempting a compromise for suarez after the chiellini thing. its up to the team and manager to curtail it as long as its not romario level craziness its fine.....but i doubt we have the funds or resources for him, definitely not this summer.

And Romario was a hell of a footballer so I totally get why coaches try to put up with his, um, extra curricular activities. Anyway, would gladly accept Neymar and unlike PSG (and our Ferrari boys days), he'll once again tow the line as Madrid is an actual professional football club.

Honestly, I was really surprised with Neymar. I watched him at Barcelona, and even though his talent was undeniable back then, I still didn't feel he had enough of it to challenge the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly.

But on Wednesday, I saw an absolute monster. I lost counts how many times he single-handedly turned our defense inside out. It's shocking how easy it is for him to dribble past players as if they were ghosts. Absolutely sensational!

Now I understand why he left Barcelona. The freedom PSG has given him on the pitch made him blossom into a terrifying war machine and a potential Ballon d'Or Winner.

My only criticism for him is that he tends to hog the ball too much sometimes and keeps on dribbling even when there's an open shot or a free one-on-one teammate. I hope he works on it, but not against us hopefully.

Believe me guys, with the way he played in the first leg, he could easily (and I truly mean easily) single-handedly knock us out of the CL. He already had many chances to score, but his selfishness and tendency to show off made him bottle them.

The tie is very well still wide open.

But yeah, what a player!

I love Neymar's technique and style of play as well but he's too much of a cuck and a notorious diver on top of that which makes it hard to fully enjoy his abilities. Nonetheless, he's mad talented, that's undeniable.

I never want to hear Peps name mentioned alongside Zidanes ever again. His team plays more crosses than we have ever witnessed at our club and unlike them who have 11 functioning players we have a spectator so we always play a man less. He is an overrated coach. On the same level as Mou but several levels below ZZ