There have definitely been some "consequences" for Zidane's loyalty to players like Benzema, Lucas, etc. You think this wasn't the reason Mbappe was scarred off (or others like Auba). Lucas may have been "useful", ditto Asensio; but if James isn't good enough, then they certainly aren't. Those types of decisions bear long term consequences. So part of the reason we are so far behind in the transfer game is that Zidane preferred inferior players while letting talented players walk away without even giving them a chance. You realize we won 3 CL, not three trebles. We lost out on plenty of trophies. We turned away Aubameyang and gave away James. You think blackballing that kind of talent is a winning strategy. Unfortunately like for like replacements will probably cost over 500ME, while the total sales for all of them would be well under that amount.
You don't think Benzema missing chance after chance had any impact on results? Or cost us any points? Or Vasquez coming on every time instead of others didn't impact results. Or Marcelo being a defensive liability not leading to goals? If not then we don't need to carry this conversation any further. Don't ask for specific instances with dates and time stamps because nobody has time or energy to do that over an internet argument.
Well summarised, additionally keeping all of those players outlined above may also impact who we sign. Most of those players won’t want to be bench warmers next season.
Do you really think playing Benzema at striker instead of Mayoral cost us La Liga?? When Lucas came on half the time he truly was the better option. Last season we were grumbling about him coming on yet look who won us that penalty against juve? With Marcelo or only other option was Hakimi who was un horrendous form. Again, how did Zidane's preference cost us winning? I still don't see how he's cost us trophies. In the end he is far right than wrong. The same people who attacked him relentlessly for Morata are the same ones mocking Morata now. People exaggerate to mind spinning levels just to attack this man. Same people wanted him fired in January last year... then when we won the third in a row they pretended that never happened... only to attack Zidane again once he walked away. Then blame him for everything those years while they absolved Florentino the entire time. Our fanbase on this forum comes off unbalanced because if you take a step back these are irrational behaviors.
I agree here. You have people spazzing out about the unknown. If Zidane makes all the right changes the same people will pretend they knew it would happen like this the entire time. Zidane has earned the right to be trusted. It is extremely said fans on this forum can't even give him that respect. At least let him prove us wrong before you pick up your pitchforks to lynch him.
So ending up 18 points behind Barca in the league with the lowest points tally in over a decade is coming out well? It didn't cost us? really? He scored 5 goals that season, 2 from penalties i think. Remember this.... https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2017/08/26/59a14f6722601d247c8b45c7.html
Zidane was great with the players we had. His long term vision is questionable and will only be put to the test next season. I dont think Isco is worth keeping over Ceballos or Llorente for example Or Asensio over Brahim nor over James two years ago.. If we win the CL again but fail miserably again in La liga, I would consider it a failure this time. Barca is changing key players constantly however they remain very competitive in La liga.. same with Atletico who has now finished 2nd two years in a row. I know Messi has a lot to do with this but they still concede very few goals and they keep adding and removing players in defense every year. We will see.
That’s when I’d start to worry, not now. We have to understand that at the end of the day Zidane’s goal is to win, his job literally depends on it and he’s not an idiot that’s simply going to sabotage himself by relying on players who cannot deliver. If he can sell Navas, a goalie he’s fought for two straight seasons then no one is untouchable or safe.
Morata was a great bench-player and could bring spark against tired teams with spamming crosses in the final 25-20 minutes of the games. But he wasn't good enough to being a starter ahead of Cristiano (who's the 1st scoring option). Anyway, Benzema had a completely different role under Zidane's system in the previous 2 seasons. His role wasn't emphasized on producing goals, hence why his production & shots attempts steadily declined until this season. Now that Benzema adapted to a completely new situation as the 1st scoring option for Real Madrid, he's been great. For example, to have Madrid be press resistant- he played Kroos/Isco close to CBs while Modrić roamed between centre/right with Casemiro playing furthest.And, that's really a huge pain and limiting to that quality.— Loconté (@Loconteee) May 12, 2019 And in order to make up for that - Benzema comes in.He was playing deeper in order to help Madrid play forward & shield Casemiro's weakness, many blamed ZZ for not dropping the Frenchmen but nobody could do the job better than him on such circumstances.— Loconté (@Loconteee) May 12, 2019 So with Benzema dropping deep, FBs were tasked with huge work, especially attacking wise as often Ronaldo would be the only attacker.— Loconté (@Loconteee) May 12, 2019 Crossing - Because of Zidane's approach and problems with Casemiro on ball, FBs being key in attack, Madrid was slow on moving forward due to deep positioning of Modrić/Kroos/Benzema/Isco so they'd have to resort into finding Ronaldo's head.— Loconté (@Loconteee) May 12, 2019 It's a boring but mostly effective approach, Madrid off ball would create a block between lines with a higher line which sometimes got exposed due to lack of physicality on some area's. Lack of pace when facing transitions hurt them a lot.— Loconté (@Loconteee) May 12, 2019
apparently he told Navas that he tried to persuade the club to keep him for next season but that he was unable to do so and that the decision from the club to not count on Navas for next season was final.
There is a lot of truth to this. But whether this is his philosophy or him adapting to his personnel, we'll have to see. The greatest coaches adapt to their squads, and Zidane did that. Now he gets to build his own squad, and his targets paint a different picture than the teams we've had prior. Hazard and Jovic work hard off the ball, Pogba is a physical specimen with the ability to score from anywhere, Mendy is strong on both ends. Most importantly, all his targets are able to carry the ball, and seem to be above average to elite dribblers at their position (even Jovic, who is very hard to get off the ball). If he gets his way and his players, this team will play a different style of football next year.
When Zidane came back he said he had mistakes previously so if he keeps Asensio and Isco he hasn't really learnt.
Dude that’s crazy if true, because it’d mean that Zidane still isn’t calling the shots and that wouldn’t make any sense whatsoever since I don’t say any way in hell he comes back if he isn’t calling the shots.
Hopefully that extends to players like Marcelo as well who Zidane seems to be absolutely in love with. Unless he's trotting Marcelo out there for the poor guy to get smoked just so he can get his 40 mil. Theo V2
It was reported by the same source who broke the Keylor Navas news, which is now all over the media...Edu Aguirre And yeah, I also believe it’s crazy.
Huh? You quoted the wrong post or something? Lol Man that would be depressing if true, it doesn’t make any sense though, why would Zizou come back if Perez is just going to call to keep calling the shots, isn’t that what got us in this mess in the first place? Yea this story too weird and I’m going to assume there is more to it than meets the eye.
I didn't read your post (no offense) but is posting tweets from a guy with 200 followers somehow meant to give credibility to anything you say?
No, I just hope Zidane not having total control doesn't only stay with the goalkeeper decision. His return has been highly questionable so far for me. Came back because Solari was doing a bad job and he pretty much did worse.
Not all but decisions about which players he wants to count on? Absolutely. Unless it’s something crazy like selling Vinicius to Betis but thats a cartoonish scenario.
I wouldn’t just use our recent results to determine that Zidane is doing a worst job than Solari, it’s not that black and white. Zidane’s focus currently isn’t on getting results, we have nothing to play for, we’ll finish 3rd no matter what and he is experimenting hence the heavy rotation. When Solari had the squad we were in all 3 completions and he was playing to win.
So far the players he backed in public we've all agreed here that they're cooked and done out of the oven. Imagine us putting together a plan to replace Marcelo and Zidane walks in calling him his captain and saying he's happy with him.
The numbers say he barely rotated though. His Modric-Kroos-Casemiro midfield got over 800 minutes. Marcelo has started all games he's been available for but one. He came back and instantly placed his favorite players back in the starting lineup/in a favorable position. I've said it before, if Vinicius doesn't start the last league game, I'm officially disgruntled.
Rotations are perhaps lighter in certain areas than others but overall it’s happening at a much higher rate than under Solari and understandably so because back then we had something to play for. I don’t read much into the fact that the likes of Isco and Marcelo have seen more minutes lately, at the risk of repeating myself it’s all part of the expirement and it doesn’t much in the grand scheme of things, the summer will give us a clearer picture. Yes if Vini doesn’t start this upcoming game I’d be pissed as well, we think he is the future of this club Zidane has said the same so I expect him to count on him, if not then my support for him would definitely drop. Given how talented Vini is and most importantly how humble and down to earth he is I have a hard time seeing Zidane not count on him.
I agree totally and it dont look good going into next season. The worst thing is we have some good young players and he wants to remove them. I do not know why we cant keep Llorente, fine we can loan/sell Ceballos. Yet keep shitty Asensio and loan Brahim Pochettino would have been a good bet here