Zinedine Zidane's greatest success is that he trusts his Real Madrid players and treats them like grown men

Andy West 21:25 19/09/2017
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  • Zinedine Zidane

    Zinedine Zidane’s success at Real Madrid is best illustrated by a rather incredible statistic: since he replaced Rafa Benitez at the Bernabeu in the January 2016, the club have won as many trophies (seven) as they have lost games.

    If that isn’t impressive enough, perhaps you might be persuaded by the fact that Zidane’s team have scored in 73 consecutive games – a sequence dating back 19 months.

    Or maybe, if you really need any more convincing, you could consider that May’s La Liga and Champions League double saw Zidane become the first Madrid manager to hold both trophies at the same time since Luis Carniglia in 1958.

    Whichever way you look at it, Zidane has enjoyed a remarkable level of success at the Bernabeu, and his new contract for another three seasons is richly deserved.

    The question is: how has he done it?

    It’s a pertinent question because of the persistent perception that – despite those seven trophies in 18 months – Zidane is not a particularly good tactician.

    It’s an allegation he would probably not even attempt to dispute. When it comes to Zidane, you won’t find anything as fancy as Pep Guardiola’s inverted full-backs, Antonio Conte’s revived Catenaccio, Diego Simeone’s low block or Jurgen Klopp’s Gegenpressing. He is not that kind of manager.

    Instead of espousing tactical jargon, Zidane peppers his match analyses with exhortations for his team to follow more traditional concepts like hard work, commitment and concentration.

    In an age where coaches are increasingly cast as bespectacled and deep-thinking intellectuals, studiously absorbing the teachings of Marcelo Bielsa to dream up ever more complex tactical masterplans, this is all rather unfashionable. But it has also been extraordinarily successful.

    So could we conclude that Zidane is single-handedly leading the fight against tactical complexities in favour of a more simple approach to kicking balls into nets?

    Not really. Zidane not talking about tactics doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about tactics, and a comparison of the team he inherited with the team he is now overseeing makes it clear how much he has moved things along.

    For years before his arrival, Madrid were dogmatically wedded to a 4-3-3 formation which allowed them to simultaneously field as many of their superstars as possible.

    Considering the defensive shortcomings of their two wingers, and the lack of solidity in midfield, it was an approach which failed as often as it worked, leading to the embarrassingly one-sided 4-0 defeats suffered against their biggest rivals, Atletico (in February 2015 under Carlo Ancelotti) and Barcelona (in November 2015 under Benitez).

    Initially, while he found his way, Zidane followed the same approach, hoping he could make it work. But after his first defeat, a 1-0 home loss to Atletico six weeks into his reign, he started to evolve an entirely different method.

    Now, Casemiro is vital in a midfield which plays as a narrow diamond, giving Toni Kroos and Luka Modric the opportunity to command possession while Isco’s creativity connects midfield with attack.

    Up front, ‘BBC’ has been transformed into BB or BC, with only two of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano now guaranteed to start, lining up together in a fluid front two. But there is still plenty of width through the raiding runs of full-backs Dani Carvajal and Marcelo, who are free to bomb forward in the knowledge that Casemiro will cover their backs.

    All of this is Zidane’s work. None of it happened before he took over, and he is therefore entirely responsible for devising a playing style which functions so well – even if it took him some time to get there.

    Real Madrid's Benzema Ronaldo and Bale

    Real Madrid’s Benzema Ronaldo and Bale

    Zidane’s greatest strength, however, is something else. Recall, again, that his preferred approach allows only two of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano to play, with one of them left out.

    Specifically, recall that in the latter stages of last season, with his team closing in on the title, he left Ronaldo out of the squad – not just the team, but the matchday squad – for four consecutive away games.

    Really, seen from afar, that was a quite astonishing decision. The title was at stake and the club’s all-time leading goalscorer was sitting at home watching on television, even though he was fit?

    It was remarkable, but nobody batted an eyelid and nobody – not even Ronaldo – complained. And, sure enough, the team won anyway.

    Making that decision was possible firstly because Zidane had developed such a good squad, with two world-class players available for every position, that he was able to rotate his team every week without detracting from their overall quality.

    But it was also possible because Zidane, more than any other manager, is universally respected to the extent that he has taken total control and command over his dressing room.

    Zidane and Ronaldo celebrate after Champions League success

    Zidane and Ronaldo celebrate after Champions League success

    This, even more than tactics, is vitally important in modern football, and even more so still at a club like Real Madrid.

    In most teams, players who have been left out moan, complain, go behind backs and form jealous cliques. But Zidane’s players accept it because they know they will play next week, and they unconditionally respect the man who has made the decision.

    This is the greatest key to Zidane’s success: man-management. He trusts his players on and off the pitch, treats them like grown men and shows them respect. In return, he expects their respect, and he gets it.

    When Zidane took over, he inherited a hugely talented but horribly unfocussed squad, with reports of disharmony an almost daily occurrence.

    Was Sergio Ramos in charge of the dressing room? Or Ronaldo? Or Florentino Perez? With many factions all pulling in different directions, nobody quite knew.

    Now, there’s no doubt that Zidane, with his quiet yet forceful authority, is the man in charge. More than anything else, his ability to engender genuine team spirit – one based on mutual respect rather than tub-thumping motivational messages – has delivered enormous success.

    And it’s a lesson many others might learn from.

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