Manchester United and Zidane are such a good fit it makes too much sense at some point. Cannot see it happening now because OGS is certainly going to get a new contract, but you just feel Zidane and United should happen at some point if the opportunity arises.
Zidane watch
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Knowing our Board we will not even contact Zizou. We are happy with a top 4 finish and CL money, and have no real intention to win anything big. So Ole it is for now and for as long as we are in CL spots.
Why would he come here to be a director of football when he is a better manager than our current manager?
I'd love him here. I don't think he's the second coming of SAF but his aura is unrivalled. Our players would run through brick walls for him.
We've been here before haven't we? Great manager available but we stick by our own out of loyalty. A season later our manager is gone and the great manager is no longer available.
We've been here before haven't we? Great manager available but we stick by our own out of loyalty. A season later our manager is gone and the great manager is no longer available.
I agree. That said, we'd be a good fit for him in the sense that he'd have time to work, get his own project going and not have to deal with crazy press all the time. We even have a couple of players he likes too.
I've heard an interview with him somewhere else where he's said he's not super comfortable with English, but as we've seen with Bielsa, it's not insurmountable. As long as you have servicable training ground English you could always bring a translator with you to the press conferences.
Would love for him to manage us in the future. Hope he still has the fire and is available when we come calling.
Like I said he has been a very integral person, both as player and manager. There were some issues but if things are as he says in his letter, where he hasn't been fully backed then it's the right decision. Then this is a huge problem for us if someone like Zidane, who is a figure for Real Madrid, and our most successful manager can't get the support he requires. So the next manager we have is for a though ride as it seems Zidane already squeezed the most performance from the team, so some changes are needed if we pretend to remain competitive.
His second stint has been highly unconvincing overall. I'd understand the praise he gets if you could see something in development despite the trophyless season, but this second chapter is essentially squeezing the last drops out of their war veterans to try to win quickly, without any signs of development from their young players nor anything being built in behind, making their rebuild now more difficult than two years ago.
Before he went back there in 2019 I said that they were in a dangerous position, and they needed deep changes to revitalize their core introducing also a more dynamic element in their approach. Real's strategy as a club was to sign a lot of young players instead of already made stars, but what Zidane did is building around his loyal old guard again with some 32-35 yo. players being the axis of it and basically playing everything until the end.
You can say he's got a decent return from them considering age and trophies won in the past, and tactically they've been well organized. But as a whole they've looked lethargic and incapable of pressing well or playing a more expansive game, being unable to compete against the best teams in Europe flying at much higher pace. Then you have the poethic cases of Llorente and Hermoso, two players personally discarded by Zidane and winning the league now with Atletico in front of their noses.
If all this had happened under Mourinho (who was the alternative back then) he would have been crucified for delivering the same stuff and performances, discarding good assets from their ranks and building nothing for the future, just to see their former players lifting the trophy for their city rivals. All while keeping all the dinosaurs around including the corpses of Isco and Marcelo, that were sidelined already in 2019 by the previous coach because of lack of discipline. Simply atrocious. A third division team sending them home in the cup this season was remarkable, too.
Not saying Real are exemplary as a club but they've been classy here by letting the man go by himself instead of sacking him, as the situation demanded. I understand Real fans praising Zidane as he's been a great servant for them overall, and I'd do the same in their place. But I think people wanting us to sign this guy after what he's shown in the last two seasons and the formulas applied on the field are very lost in football, to be honest.
Before he went back there in 2019 I said that they were in a dangerous position, and they needed deep changes to revitalize their core introducing also a more dynamic element in their approach. Real's strategy as a club was to sign a lot of young players instead of already made stars, but what Zidane did is building around his loyal old guard again with some 32-35 yo. players being the axis of it and basically playing everything until the end.
You can say he's got a decent return from them considering age and trophies won in the past, and tactically they've been well organized. But as a whole they've looked lethargic and incapable of pressing well or playing a more expansive game, being unable to compete against the best teams in Europe flying at much higher pace. Then you have the poethic cases of Llorente and Hermoso, two players personally discarded by Zidane and winning the league now with Atletico in front of their noses.
If all this had happened under Mourinho (who was the alternative back then) he would have been crucified for delivering the same stuff and performances, discarding good assets from their ranks and building nothing for the future, just to see their former players lifting the trophy for their city rivals. All while keeping all the dinosaurs around including the corpses of Isco and Marcelo, that were sidelined already in 2019 by the previous coach because of lack of discipline. Simply atrocious. A third division team sending them home in the cup this season was remarkable, too.
Not saying Real are exemplary as a club but they've been classy here by letting the man go by himself instead of sacking him, as the situation demanded. I understand Real fans praising Zidane as he's been a great servant for them overall, and I'd do the same in their place. But I think people wanting us to sign this guy after what he's shown in the last two seasons and the formulas applied on the field are very lost in football, to be honest.
Zidane to United, Ole to Everton. Everyone wins. Mangerial go round complete.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Zidane: "It was time to take on new challenges and Galatasaray offered them to me"
Doubt we’ll ever see him here, but can’t deny it would be amazing if it happened. Utd and Zidane have a bit of shared history, seeing him on the bench at OT would be quite a thing.
If he came here he would immediately command the respect of players like Bruno, we’d probably get a higher level of performance from the French speaking contingent of Pogba and Martial; players like Hannibal would be inspired and we’d also attract players of the calibre of Varane and dare I say someone like Mbappe in the future.
This managerial appointment makes too much sense. We’ll probably stick with fantastic Ole though.
This managerial appointment makes too much sense. We’ll probably stick with fantastic Ole though.
Did he not spend 355 million in the 19/20 season on a bunch of flops and an over the hill Eden Hazard? I think it is fair to say he has been backed massively in the past and proven to be a very poor evaluator of talent and with the financial issues at the club I can't say I blame Perez for not wanting to give him the credit card.
This isn't even remotely true.
Real Madrid only has 3 starters over 32.... today, two and a half years after Zidane managed the club.
No, not really.
I assume you are getting this 355m figure from transfermarkt. That figure includes 45m for Rodrygo, whose signing actually happened much earlier, after Zidane had left the club for the first time. It also includes 50m for Eder Militao, whose signing was negotiated before Zidane returned to the club in March of 2019 and announced a few days after Zidane's return. At most, he approved a signing that was ready. He also looks like a very solid CB now, after a shaky start.
That leaves three signings. The first is Ferland Mendy, who has been quite successful, became a starter and is partly responsible for RM having very good defensive record (which is the primary reason they've been competitive). The second is Luka Jovic. Some have said Zidane was responsible for this signing. However, this article from Marca dated April 14, 2019 says that the club were the ones pursuing the signing. The spanish version of the article also states that Zidane had been informed of what the club was doing but had not had a meeting to define what the squad would look like. Given that Zidane never seemed to care for him much, and that he doesn't fit the profile of Zidane's "signings" (french, or playing in France) it's a safe bet that this is a signing from the club that they foisted upon him.
The last signing is Eden Hazard. Hazard was not "over the hill" when he signed for RM, he's had serious and unexpected injury problems. Let's not use hindsight to try and pretend signing him was insane, because it wasn't.
Last edited:
I'm not so sure he wanted all those players, and I also agree with the club if they decided against bringing someone like Pogba, like Zidane wanted, but the not being supported comments are more due to his claims of the club leaking stories to the press of his job being on the line if the didn't win the next match. If the club don't trust him anymore, or how he's managing the resources, there certainly are better ways to deal with that.
I must say I found it amusing when all the Madrid fans had to walk back their ‘GOAT manager’ talk after ZZ finished empty handed, but you’ve gone way too far here. He was very close to back to back league title wins and almost made a fourth champions league final, chasing a fourth title that would have made him the winningest manager in European club competition football history. Plus they had to deal with a raft of injuries.
There’s obviously question marks about his recruitment, his ability to nurture younger players etc etc. And also you don’t know how he’d fare in a different country with a different language etc etc. But to say you wouldn’t take him over Ole or whoever is madness IMO. Ole has achieved nothing of note as a manager in 10 years.
Looks like Snape
It's amazing Madrids unproductive spending of recent doesn't get close to the attention ours gets. Is suppose it's because they still win
The idea that he has been 'highly unconvincing' seems completely detached from any realistic assessment of how things actually are at Real Madrid. Managers at Real Madrid underachieve, a lot. In seven seasons, with Pellegrini, Mourinho, Ancelotti, and Lopetegui, Real Madrid won a grand total of 1 CL, 1 league title, and 2 cups. It's a terrible return. League titles, in particular, are extremely difficult to win for RM for whatever reason. if Zidane hadn't won the one last season, the record over the last decade would be completely appalling.
Zidane's league record over the last two years, winning one and being 2 points off 1st for the next one, is one of our best two-year periods in league competition, tied with... himself.
Yeah it’s not the done thing to sign past it players for 100 million. Hazard’s rep was sky high when they signed him
Yeah, that’s fair. He’s done very well in both stints, it’s crazy to say otherwise
Would be great to see him flex his managerial muscles against Klopp, Pep and Tuchel.
Sadly our owners are arseholes
Sadly our owners are arseholes
Tell me which young player has evolved under Zidane this time, then. Militao finding form in the last two months?
Vinicious is the one playing regularly and he's still as frustrating as before. His brazilian mate Rodrygo was labelled as even better when he was signed and he's done nothing remarkable either. Asensio could be sold and nobody would miss him.
Then you have Mayoral and Jovic on loan, Reguilon sold with the buyback clause, Hermoso transfer blocked by him, Llorente discarded, Hakimi to Inter, the japanese kid on loan too, Odegaard asking to leave after not playing much. Such an amazing development by the young bunch.
I'm not saying every player sold or sent out on loan was exclusively because of him, as I don't know if there were financial reasons behind Achraf to Inter, for example. But let's not pretend he's been some sort of Arsene Wenger supporting and polishing the young talent at Real, when he's been close to Mourinho in terms of the overall approach.
Checking again Ramos is 35, Benzema 33, and Modric will be 36 this summer. 31-34 would be more accurate than 32-35, but overall it's still the same.
In the last game vs Chelsea the stats showed Werner making almost double runs than Benzema, I don't remember the numbers exactly. Then you see Kroos, the guy labelled despectively as a diesel tractor by his compatriot Bernd Schüster some time ago, playing like a turtle with the Chelsea players flying around him too. In my eyes that team is poorly defined from the basis, the concept is wrong in the modern game and limits their possibilities in terms of tactics.
This is why I think this time should have been used to introduce and mould new players more actively, so they could add a new dimension to their game that honestly looks flacid more times than not. And with all honesty I haven't seen any attempt of doing something anywhere.
That said, I'm not sure if a washed up Ancelotti will be an improvement in that regard. Surely not.
Real are facing the worst Barca team of the last decade with the club being in chaotic state at every level. The fact of losing against Atletico after 38 games with half of their budget and after reinforcing them is unforgivable.
Their CL campaign has been vastly overpraised too. Their group stages performance was diabolical considering the opposition, including Shakhtar infested with covid and playing a lot of reserves, winning both games against Real.
Atalanta in the 1/16 playing with 10 men for almost one hour, Real only managed to win in the last stages of the first game with their left back scoring from distance. Liverpool first leg, well played with a low block. The second one they were battered at Anfield and could have ended up in tragedy.
The difference with Chelsea in terms of rhythm, pressing and pace was day and night as expected. Tiredness and injuries being overplayed by his fans to save face in my opinion. The truth is they were in the friendly side of the CL draw and that's it, by the other side they don't get that far. 3rd worst out of 8 teams in the odds after the quarters draw by the way. Nobody gave a penny for them.
Let's pretend also that their loss in the cup against a third division team never existed. The guy gets literally praised after building nothing, ending the season trophyless and being ridiculed by some amateur team in the way. And I'm the one going too far.
About Zidane at United, I simply don't want that formula around here nor the club either, apparently. They made it clear they're building with an eye for the long term, and they invested heavily in the academy for a reason.
The likes of Conte or Allegri and their short term approach are vetoed from here after Mourinho's tenure, and Zidane after this second spell at Real should be included in the same book. I understand people asking for Pochettino despite not being a big fan of him, or wanting to take the risk with Nagelsmann before he signed for Bayern.
Asking for Zidane right after all we've seen in this second chapter is not serious from any angle, I'm sorry to say.
Last edited:
If Kroos belongs to a concept which is wrong in modern football how has he won 1 World Cup and 4 Champions Leagues being a reference in all his teams? Unless modern football started in 2020.
This is an old squad with a big part of the players injured, running out of gas in the final part of the season and last but not least with a very mediocre attack, except for Benzema. I agree with you that Zidane should have done better with the young footballers though, especially Odegaard.
Why on earth would Utd want Zidane? A manager who ignores youth players. Who has also never hung around for a rebuild? Wouldnt touch him with a bargepole.
Dude, the problem with a ‘long term’ approach is (a) no one does that anymore in this day and age. This is not 1986. The closest modern example is Klopp and he was successful a lot more quickly than OGS has been and (b) if you’re gonna go for a longer term approach anyway, you need to have someone of the highest quality in charge to oversee it. United had Ferguson back in the day. Liverpool chose Klopp. United now have Ole, he’s simply not good enough.
If you got rid of him and got Zidane (or Conte or Allegri) you might actually win something. Football at this level is not for people that are just ‘ok’.
Because we're not in a rebuild. This team should be ready to start winning something.
Making arguments is easy when you dismiss evidence with a wave of the hand. Two of the players that played against Chelsea hadn't played in weeks and did not play a single minute of football again. They were clearly not over their injuries. You can ignore that if you want, there's no law that says you're not allowed to live in the Phil Osophy Mind Palace. The rest of us live here in the real world.
The reason why the "japanese kid" is on loan is because he's japanese. Real Madrid already have three players who are not EU in the squad. They're all "young." They all got a lot of minutes this season.
It's also just not really true that Zidane does not like youth players. He takes a conservative approach, but young players play.
The misleading perception is created because the number of young players around Real Madrid in the last seasons is ridiculous. You have Llorente, Hernandez, Vallejo, Hakimi, Ceballos, Odriozola, Brahim Diaz, Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo, Odegaard, Militao, Reguilón, Mayoral, Valverde, and Jovic. That's fifteen players. And these are the players that have actually played for Real Madrid. There are others, like Kubo and Reinier, and promoted players, who are just on loan. It all adds up to an entire squad.
Needless to say, you should not replace your entire squad with young players over a four-year period. You should especially not do something like that if you don't have to. Real Madrid didn't have to. The squad isn't as old as people seem to think. A lot of the "veterans" are not even 30 years old (Varane, Carvajal, Casemiro, Isco, Vazquez) and some of them had not turned 30 when Zidane came back (Kroos, Nacho).
The whole thing with RM needing to be "rebuilt" came from the fact that the players were playing badly. All of them. Young, old, you name it. The typical, hysterical fan reaction to this is "we need an entire new squad" because "they're all washed up." Zidane came in, did management, and got most of the players to play well instead. Not all of them, but most of them. Some of them were washed up, as it turned out. But most of them weren't.
RM currently have four young players that get a lot of minutes: Vinicius, Rodrygo, Valverde, and Militao. That's not a bad amount. Ideally Jovic would have taken over Benzema, but he is a bad transfer and sucks. Ideally Odegaard wouldn't be a weak-as-piss baby, but he is.
Last edited:
People talk like Zidane has been managing for over a decade. He's been managing for about 5/6 years at one club and has 3 champions leagues, 2 la ligas, 2 supercups and a Copa del Rey. Yet you have people seriously saying there is no reason to want him? With that kind of CV I'd argue it would be completely reasonable to sack solskjaer just so we could get him in. It's something our club should be considering seriously.
Of course we're in the midst of a rebuild otherwise we wouldnt be looking for CB, CDM, RW, ST etc. Zidane also doesnt speak english and has never played or managed in PL. An overrated coach. In the ancelotti mould of being a good man manger but not exactly a supreme tactician.
Every team is always looking to strengthen, doesn't mean every team ever is in a rebuild.
Rebuild is far too often just a term used to excuse underperforming managers tbh.
Yes those overrated coaches with more champions league wins than fergie. Even if you think they are overrated , surely it's levels above what we currently have.
’some sort of Arsene Wenger‘ ? Wenger went 14 years without a title and never won the Champs league before retiring.
The arrogance of this post, with the weak impostor that you currently have as your manager
It's hard to dislodge a winning eleven of champions.
Just think back to Veron or Forlan for us.
There's an obsession with tradition and "the united way".
I think there are some very loud posters who don't mind if we become a bigger Ajax. They also have tradition, have their way, and focus on youth.
The reality is the club should be aiming to win while evolving with the times. Even Fergie didn't stay with 4-4-2 forever.
I also don't think the Glazers are looking to penny pinch by having Ole at the wheel and just staying top 4.
(1) Zidane can't possibly cost that much more than Ole
(2) I don't imagine Zidane would demand 2x the transfer budget or leave
(3) Zidane to United would be the stuff dreams are made of.. it'd shake the footballing world
I do feel like Zi would be looking at PSG as he doesn't seem that adventurous
Ole is already getting paid more than Ancelloti at Madrid I believe. I'd also add 4) it would almost guarantee pogba signing a new deal.
I will say I have not watched a lot of real Madrid so I will defer to the LA Liga experts on here but the results speak for themselves. And your third point, it would be the stuff of footballing romance; The magician at the Theatre of dreams
Rumours of Zidane going to PSG. If he does, watch for lots of clueless people talking about how Zidane will not have ‘proven himself’ because he ‘always goes to ready made situations’ and ‘doesn’t build clubs from the ground up’.
People, it’s 2021, not 1975.Top managers and players don’t go to crap clubs anymore, unless the top clubs don’t want them. Sorry.
People, it’s 2021, not 1975.Top managers and players don’t go to crap clubs anymore, unless the top clubs don’t want them. Sorry.
Long term approaches are not overseen by managers these days, I'm fully aware. This is why the club appointed Murtough and Fletcher as our football directors.
City before signing Pep had the basis for their possession game in place after Mancini and Pellegrini spells, all orchestrated by former Barca directors Begiristain and Soriano. They had that strategy in mind being built by different coaches and the squad was moulded accordingly.
That's a long term strategy, something impossible if you always appoint the flavour of the month or some flashy names without any cohesion or common factor between them all, as we did after Ferguson leading us nowhere, and as some people comically want us to do as soon as we draw a pair of games.
That's why you'll never see City trying to sign Mourinho as we did based on pure desperation, and the same for Bayern to name another example of a well run club. They will never beg for a short term mercenary like him to win them the CL by playing miserable football and setting a bellic atmosphere inside. Their potential success is built on their own structures and ideas, with different managers becoming the extension of the club plans. That should be in my opinion the aim of every big club.
Once Pep leaves City you know they will have a solid platform to keep building from, and they will be immediately a pain in the arse. As Barca were back then when he left, and his former assistant Vilanova reached 100 points in the league, with the "ok guy" Enrique appointed from a humble Celta Vigo team winning the treble in his first season, beating Pep's Bayern in the process by the way.
In our case after Mourinho left we were in a pretty bad position. As I said with a mixed squad built by three different approaches in such a short time, with lots of average players around while having the biggest salary mass in the game. The efforts needed to rebuild that garbage, needing to improve the quality while having to reduce wages, developing young players and trying to get results all at the same time are not valued enough.
And this is what happens with that aggressive short term approach and why I think our board is reluctant about it. Short term managers will do everything to win now at all costs, favouring experience and patching over the cracks instead of fixing them, avoiding certain players and profiles with inevitable learning curves and blocking progression in many cases. When the lemon is squeezed and deep changes are needed they move elsewhere, leaving the problems for the club.
It's a double-edged sword. In the end you "might" win something relevant. Or not. But you're risking your position for the coming years by wasting your ammunition that way, so you have to think twice. Our club tried this model and amazingly backfired, a huge loss of money and time. As I said before last year they made their intentions clear about building a more sustainable model and taking a more patient approach, leaving a reasonable margin for development and young players coming through the ranks. From that point people can accept our current vision or keep crying pathetically around the corners, as many are doing on here.
City aren't in a rebuild and are looking forward to strengthen their squad with striker and midfield. With this logic all teams are in a never ending rebuild.
I won't reply on the other arguments about the language and PL because they're so terrible it's actually funny.