Zidane back at Real

I wouldn't mind if we return to winning the CL, even if that means not winning the league. It would be preferable if we win both, but I think that's something that traditionally requires either the starting XI to largely stay fit throughout an entire season, or very strong bench alternatives. Obviously, having both makes it a lot easier to challenge for anything. It seems to me that our best seasons in the league, in terms of consistency and amount of points accumulated, aren't even remembered since your team was so ridiculously good and we ended up with no trophies to show for it.

We may have taken it all for granted at the time, but having a young and fresh team with the likes of Pedro Leon and Jose Callejon on the bench, made our title challenging campaign in the league a lot easier than it is today, considering we now have more limited options, outside of our starting XI. Even our last La Liga win was largely won due to you guys choking near the end of the season, and the likes of Morata, Kovacic, James and even Pepe made a world of difference in terms of ensuring that we were able to stay in the game, even when we struggled with injuries and poor form in key players.

Great guy tbh. Goes back as soon as "his" club is in trouble. Unlike another bald fraud that we all know who bolts from one easy job to another while trying to poach our players and transfer targets and makes ridiculous remarks in his first season away from us how this and that player is the most intelligent he has ever worked with and doesn't even visit his supposed friend who suffers from cancer while taking a sabbatical in the same country and city. Nothing but respect for him.

Give Pep a massive transfer budget, and I'm sure you'll see him return to "his" club that's in trouble, as well Honestly, though, I'm just happy that it looks like we'll get some stability back. I think the leaving and returning warrants about as much admiration as when Messi did it with his national team. Take that as you will.

Pep is never coming back. I don't think many people noticed this because both sides hold their mouths shut but he holds a grudge against us for some reason and left in the most butthurt way possible. You really noticed it when we played Bayern and our players snubbed him when he tried to lick Messi's arse on the sidelines. Messi said he never talked to him after he left. Wasn't even invited to Tito's funeral. Xavi talked about Aragones as his most important coach. Pep let know through his father that he ain't coming back.

He will coach another 2 competitiveless teams in PSG and Juve and then retire.

Wait, Messi was not invited to Tito's funeral? Didn't all of them worked together for years, like clocking 5+ years?!

Doc wrote:Wait, Messi was not invited to Tito's funeral? Didn't all of them worked together for years, like clocking 5+ years?!

No, Pep wasn't. Tito's wife explicitly called Pep to tell him not to come.

Messi was.

futbol wrote:

Doc wrote:Wait, Messi was not invited to Tito's funeral? Didn't all of them worked together for years, like clocking 5+ years?!

No, Pep wasn't. Tito's wife explicitly called Pep to tell him not to come.

Messi was.

Oh dear, that says a lot if the wife of your supposed best friend told you not to come. Personally. Oof, that had to hurt a lot.

What's your opinion on this "putting his reputation on the line" narrative, Doc? Personally, I think it sounds about as romantic and silly as "steadying the ship". That said, I can't imagine him picking any other destination that would put him more at risk of taking a dent to his reputation.

He's experienced all of his success at one club. A greatly talented one, that had the majority of it's players go through the peaks of their careers. He might've had the option of going to struggling, top clubs in other, European leagues, like he vaguely alluded to after he decided to leave us (learning English). And that would've been a serious risk from a reputational point of view. As it stands, he's returning like a white knight to improve on the low standards left behind by the predecessors who inherited a progressively aging, less motivated and overall less impressive team than he was in charge of.

He's likely to be pretty much immune to criticism from now until the season ends. If anything, he'll gain more public trust if he capitalizes on this instability with his own stability and sense of familiarity to get some positive results before the transfer window opens up - at which point, he faces the admittedly tough task of figuring out what the team will look like going forward. I say tough task because it's easier said than done, but really, I would expect any coach at this club to be able to put together and structure a team after their own style or preference - especially, if he's allowed the amount of economic and political freedom that's being reported. So, next season we might boast a starting XI with some of the world's top stars in it. Talk about putting one's reputation on the line That's my two cents. Just had to get that off my chest. I'm happy that he's returning the stability, but fuck me, the naïve, opportunistic, kneejerking of the Real Madrid section on here gets to me sometimes. It's like reading kids casually talk about how they're going to be astronauts one day, or how great life would be if they lived in a castle made out of chocolate. I think I enjoyed taking these discussions more seriously when I was drunk on vacation in Greece

Doc wrote:

futbol wrote:

Doc wrote:Wait, Messi was not invited to Tito's funeral? Didn't all of them worked together for years, like clocking 5+ years?!

No, Pep wasn't. Tito's wife explicitly called Pep to tell him not to come.

Messi was.

Oh dear, that says a lot if the wife of your supposed best friend told you not to come. Personally. Oof, that had to hurt a lot.

Pep was a little shit when Barca announced that Tito would take over. He was mad, don't remember if it was because Tito "stole his thunder" or if he felt betrayed Tito splitting into his own.

futbol wrote:Pep is never coming back. I don't think many people noticed this because both sides hold their mouths shut but he holds a grudge against us for some reason and left in the most butthurt way possible. You really noticed it when we played Bayern and our players snubbed him when he tried to lick Messi's arse on the sidelines. Messi said he never talked to him after he left. Wasn't even invited to Tito's funeral. Xavi talked about Aragones as his most important coach. Pep let know through his father that he ain't coming back.

He will coach another 2 competitiveless teams in PSG and Juve and then retire.

he only has to wait like 2 more years and then everyone he trained at Barca will be gone

i think that pep tito visit thing is kinda below the belt, with those kinds of situations its very difficult to use that to insult someone. people handle those situations differently, one wants someone close to them to visit them in those times, but not everyone has the stomach for that, it seems selfish but its reality, some people just want to remember the friends they have in the best possible way; they don't want to remember them, sick or helpless or things of that nature.

and if true, i don't see a big deal in his wife not inviting pep. two people being friends doesn't mean such friendship translates to the survivors; in fact in many cases, in such times such relationships with the survivors breaks down, if ever there was one. the wife's mourning and she would have her reasons for not inviting certain people

damn it, can't believe y'all are making me defend pep here, but yes that situation, situations regarding critical illnesses and death are very tender, and we can't really know much on that since one of the parties is no more

i tried to ignore that post especially on a zidane/madrid type thread, but i just felt compelled to state that. i know futbol really hates guardiola, i'm not a fan either, but i didn't think his hate was that deep lol.

titosantill wrote:i think that pep tito visit thing is kinda below the belt, with those kinds of situations its very difficult to use that to insult someone. people handle those situations differently, one wants someone close to them to visit them in those times, but not everyone has the stomach for that, it seems selfish but its reality, some people just want to remember the friends they have in the best possible way; they don't want to remember them, sick or helpless or things of that nature.

and if true, i don't see a big deal in his wife not inviting pep. two people being friends doesn't mean such friendship translates to the survivors; in fact in many cases, in such times such relationships with the survivors breaks down, if ever there was one. the wife's mourning and she would have her reasons for not inviting certain people

damn it, can't believe y'all are making me defend pep here, but yes that situation, situations regarding critical illnesses and death are very tender, and we can't really know much on that since one of the parties is no more

Pep was living in NY. Tito was getting treatment in NY. Pep only visited once and it allegedly ended in screams. Seems that they couldn't put their differences even then.

Thimmy wrote:What's your opinion on this "putting his reputation on the line" narrative, Doc?

I mean, your reputation is always on the line when you take up another job. Klopp had to essentially start over when he went to Liverpool even though he had more league titles than Pool had in 20+ years. In Zidane's case, yes, he has put his reputation on the line as he went back to the club where he made a real name for himself as a manager. But he would have done that with any big club he had gone to as his prior success would be used as a gauge to see if he can repeat.

And chances are, he won't repeat such a feat but if he can win some La Liga titles (fucking 1 would suffice I feel) and just have his team play non shitty football, I think he'll be fine.

Doc wrote:

Thimmy wrote:What's your opinion on this "putting his reputation on the line" narrative, Doc?

I mean, your reputation is always on the line when you take up another job. Klopp had to essentially start over when he went to Liverpool even though he had more league titles than Pool had in 20+ years. In Zidane's case, yes, he has put his reputation on the line as he went back to the club where he made a real name for himself as a manager. But he would have done that with any big club he had gone to as his prior success would be used as a gauge to see if he can repeat.

And chances are, he won't repeat such a feat but if he can win some La Liga titles (fucking 1 would suffice I feel) and just have his team play non shitty football, I think he'll be fine.

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people don't expect him to win the Champions League again, anytime soon. The standard has been set pretty low, already this season. Those expectations might change if we do sign some established names in the summer, though. I think he picked his safest option by returning at this time. Like you say, any coach puts his reputation on the line by going to a different club and environment. It really makes their job a lot easier if they have great players, however. As it stands, I don't see how Zidane's taking any such risks, unless we go into next season with a similarly flaccid starting XI.

Like I said before, I genuinely appreciate having his stability back. You don't want to change things unless they're proven to be broken, and Zidane left the club on the high note of high notes. My eyes just start rolling around every time our section sees a glimpse of positivity in something, and then proceed to squeeze the shit out of it to make sensationalist news juice. I'm gonna go back to the RM section now, and read what Zidane has definitely been thinking for the past year, according to omniscient posters of this forum

Happened like a few weeks too late for Madrid this season, but if they are offering him a massive transfer kitty then it’s a no brainer for everyone involved.

windkick wrote:Happened like a few weeks too late for Madrid this season, but if they are offering him a massive transfer kitty then it’s a no brainer for everyone involved.

That's exactly my impression, as opposed to the more naïve and romantic suggestion that he courageously decided to return out of the goodness of his heart and love for the club, like a knight in shining armor, willing to put his reputation on the line for all of the €300mill passionate fans that he's been thinking about non-stop over the past 6-7 months. #Risk-taker.

Good ol' ZZ just needed a time out to buy a pair of pants, of course. I have no doubt that he cares about Real Madrid, but I'd wager he'd risk a whole lot more if he had gone to a different country and different club, at this point in time. I guess it's a good thing that the media seem to have decided to paint ZZ like a Messi-esque protagonist, considering so many people absorb these publications like a Dison vacuum cleaner would. It never hurts to have these news sites and gossip magazines glorify whatever your coach or players do, and shove the negatives under a rug. I hope it continues while he's our manager.