Sad thing is, I've never seen a manager utilise such a good bench the way Zidane does. I'm mainly talking about games like this where we see an entirely different lineup and the likes of Ronaldo not in the team and still winning very comfortably. Remove his stubborness, forget BBC and we'll have the perfect manager.
Flogging a dead and buried horse: how in everything that is sacred did Isco not play a minute of the Classico?!
He didn't really say anything groundbreaking. Pretty much a standard uncontroversial statement from the always chill ZZ. The Bale issue solved itself with his injury. Although if he is back in time for the UCL final and starts, there will be hell from the fans and media. And we've seen he will not budge on the Morata/Benzema issue regardless of what Morata does. It sucks because we're probably going to lose a talent like Alvaro which is surprising given the club's ambition with trying to invest in more Spanish youth and successfully doing so. We're also extremely lucky that Isco has strong reasons to stay in Spain because he'd probably be gone if not for his kid.
He doesn't make this shots. its all Perez. if he does, then he have no place in this club or for that matter any top club. it means he's an idiot.
The only thing that makes sense to me is he is trying to keep those egos happy. I'm sure he doesn't want Bale reporting him or Benzema drunk driving in his Bugatti. Crazy.
What do you guys want him to say though? That Benzema sucks and Bale is worthless? If (and I hope it's true) we're looking to sell some "key" players come summer we can't in late April throw them under the bus. Their value will plummet. We talk about getting our money back for Bale by selling him to United or another EPL club, that won't happen if Zizou comes out and says he won't play because Isco/Asensio is better. Same with Benzema.
If : 1) Both Benzema and Bale stay 2) We lose any of : Isco, Morata , Kovačić, Asensio( hell ,James is a world-class player. A formation switch would do us wonders) then Zidane is a failure as a coach to me. These are players that every club in the world would kill for. You think Barcelona or Bayern wouldn't take any of these (except James for Barcelona ) in a heartbeat? Ronaldo, Ramos & Modrić are all on the wrong side of 30ies
I could see why Isco would stay. His family is in Spain and IIRC his wife is living in Malaga with his kid, i don't see him moving to any club in Spain and moving out of it he would be even further from his family. Asensio and Kovacic are still in that "young" phase and they will probably stay one more year. But as i've said many times now, i can't see a single reason for Morata to stay. Zidane has made it clear plenty of times now that NO MATTER WHAT, BENZEMA STARTS. If he has a little self-respect he won't take that. I can see a lot of clubs going after him. With Diego Costa rumored to leave for China, Morata would be a great buy for them. He's also worked with Conte before so that's good. In all honesty though, if Zidane keeps going like this we will lose one of La Liga or UCL this season. The irony is we could win both if he wasn't so adamant in his starting 11 and especially BBC.
Everyone is playing well, and competition is high in the squad. That's it. Why does he need to say "Those who play more also play well." Like he either thinks the fans and his team are a bunch of idiots, or he's that delusional.
Well he was vague.. He didn't point at any player.. he is talking about everyone from the starting team and that also includes Ramos/Modric/Kroos/Carvajal.. not just the bbc
Zidane actually rotates well compared to Ancelotti , he barely rotated in his time. Ancelotti would've played with the same 11 (maybe a few changes) against Deportivo. If we see 3 managers using bbc even when they are in bad form, who do we blame?
Zidane. Asensio, Morata and Kovacic have all been underused by him. Kova barely featured after Modric, Kroos and Casemiro were all fully-fit. Everyone and their dog knows just how laughably unjust his insistence on selecting an underwhelming Benzema over Morata is. And Lucas was preferred to Asensio up until the end of last month.
If we end up selling Morata for babysitting Benzema it would be the worst piece of footballing decision by us . There aren't many strikers at his age who can do all that he can do , we need to keep him at any cost .
I think you forget how many strikers we parted ways with so Benzema's position doesn't get challenged. Hell, Morata himself was one of them. I've never in my years of watching this club seen anyone as protected as Benzema. No one comes close.
I do remember and look at how it had panned out. Higuain had a monstrous season. He is the kind of striker who wins you the league. Morata knocked us out of the semis . We need to take lessons. It is one thing to protect him when he was young , if we do the same for a soon to be 30 year old , it would be really ridiculous !
What I meant to say is that it's already been one of the worst decisions that have happened and continues to be.
"Everyone is playing well" vs. "Those who play more also play well" -- what is the difference there? You're splitting hairs.