Zinedine Zidane - 3 time CL winning manager without a job

Escobar

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For some reason I don't rate Zidane and think this would be a disaster.
How can you not rate Zidane? He literally ticks most boxes that would be important as a United coach. And don't come with the "he only managed one team" argument - so did Pep, so did Fergie....
What Zidane has done at RM has been incredible, there is no doubt about that. If he can replicate that at another team, how knows, but he has proven twice that can be a bloody great manager with tons of further potential. And, he's without a job
 

amolbhatia50k

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Imo for that you'd need a whole change of the club structure and top hiearachy, especially youth structure. Managers come and go and they bring along with them their own style, their own philosophy. Without the above it's simply impossible to maintain a certain fixed style/system if the next manager comes with a completely different style and is allowed to implement his.

You look at clubs like Ajax, Bayern, Barcelona and you'd see their whole structure including youth development is set up to serve for a certain style. We don't have that and I don't think we ever will.
I don't think it's as complicated as you make it sound. Brendan Rodgers has implemented his style on Leicester fairly smoothly. Any manager who wants them to play football that is fluid, focused on ball retention and a solid press, will easily be able to do that. Same with Bielsa at Leeds. Potters is showing the same as Brighton now. I'm not saying we need to have something like a Barcelona way that we follow for the next 80 years, but I believe as a football club, we have never truly modernised and infact have made managerial selections that have ensured that we actively ignore the major tactical shifts that have occured in the game over the last 10-15 years. So we need a teacher type manager who can finally rid us of our tactical issues and get the team playing some slick progressive football, finally. That will bear fruit in the years to come. The next manager after that doesn't have to play the exact same way but ideally shouldn't be taking over a team that plays a shit version of 90's football in 2023/2024.
 

Escobar

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Good read

I would still prefer someone can bring in a progressive attacking system that can be instilled to bare fruit for years to come. But you know with Zidane given he has such big accomplishments.
Why couldn't Zidane (or any other coach) not do that? I anyway believe that a system throughout the club is a myth and overrated - you don't really see it at any other top club except maybe Barca and Ajax.
 

Strelok

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I don't think it's as complicated as you make it sound. Brendon Rodgers has implemented his style on Leicester fairly smoothly. Any manager who wants them to play football that is fluid, focused on ball retention and a solid press, will easily be able to do that. Same with Bielsa at Leeds. Potters is showing the same as Brighton now. I'm not saying we need to have something like a Barcelona way that we follow for the next 80 years, but I believe as a football club, we have never truly modernised and we have made managerial selections that have actively ignored tactical changes that have occured in the game over the last 10-15 years (and been shit tbf). So we need a teacher who can finally rid us of our tactical issues and get the team playing some slick progressive football, finally. That will bear fruit in the years to come. The next manager after that doesn't have to play the exact same way but ideally shouldn't be taking over a team that plays a shit version of 90's football in 2023/2024.
My whole point is would you be so sure that Leicester or Leeds will play a similar football if their next manager is with a different mindset? Or is it possible for them to hire a manager with a different mindset once Rodgers and Bielsa leave?

But you can be pretty sure that Ajax or Barcelona would continue to play a similar style with their next manager. That's the difference I'm talking about.
 

sullydnl

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Zidane is obviously a better manager than Solskjaer and may well do well here.

However, there is reason to think he isn't the perfect fit too. He unquestionably isn't the coaching-orientated manager I'd prefer, instead leaving a lot of the actual details to his coaches to implement and taking a more "adaptable" rather than system-orientated approach. And (true or not) there was an undercurrent of "switch play and hope for the best" and "relying on individual talent" snarkiness during his time at Madrid and complaints that his team weren't as well-drilled and hyper-organised as those other more system orientated ones. Which a lot of people will dismiss as coming from internet armchair tacticians but then then those internet armchair tacticians called the Solskjaer problems correctly a long time ago too.

Now it may be that would work for us. After all, it obviously worked for Madrid and Zidane isn't remotely comparable to someone like Ole as a manager, so happening to also be releatively hands off doesn't mean he's not very good. But with every manager carrying some level of risk, I'd prefer these weren't the areas where we took that risk.

Whoever we hire next, I would prefer them to be from that more coaching and system orientated mold. And I would be happier taking the risk on them not having won as many major trophies as of yet.

Not saying he'd be a bad appointment, but he would also be the appointment that someone who doesn't know much about football would make, being the most high-profile option. In doesn't take much football insight to argue "he's Zidane and he won a lot of Champions Leagues". And I have little trust in our board to hire him for any reasons deeper or better thought out than that.
 
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MUFC OK

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I think it's telling how these stories are starting to come thick and fast, we're at least sounding out alternatives. Zidane is the best available option and would work well with some of our star players - Ronaldo, Varane, Pogba in particular.

In the same way I wouldn't take a Graham Potter for not having managed star players or dealt with the pressure and expectation, Zidane ticks both of these boxes.
 

JPRouve

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Zidane is obviously a better manager than Solskjaer and may well do well here.

However, there is reason to think he isn't the perfect fit too. He unquestionably isn't the coaching-orientated manager I'd prefer, instead leaving a lot of the actual details to his coaches to implement and taking a more "adaptable" rather than system-orientated approach. And (true or not) there was an undercurrent of "switch play and hope for the best" and "relying on individual talent" snarkiness during his time at Madrid and complaints that his team weren't as well-drilled and hyper-organised as those other more system orientated ones. Which a lot of people will dismiss as coming from internet armchair tacticians but then then those internet armchair tacticians called the Solskjaer problems correctly a long time ago too.

Now it may be that would work for us. After all, it obviously worked for Madrid and Zidane isn't remotely comparable to someone like Ole as a manager, so happening to also be releatively hands off doesn't mean he's not very good. But with every manager carrying some level of risk, I'd prefer these weren't the areas where we took that risk.

Whoever we hire next, I would prefer them to be from that more coaching and system orientated mold. And I would be happier taking the risk on them not having won as many major trophies as of yet.

Not saying he'd be a bad appointment, but he would also be the appointment that someone who doesn't know much about football would make, being the most high-profile option. In doesn't take much football insight to argue "he's Zidane and he won a lot of Champions Leagues". And I have little trust in our board to hire him for any reasons deeper or better thought out than that.
I'm interested by that one because Zidane was rumoured to be the one dictating France tactics in 2006 and his staff at Madrid wasn't made of particularly heralded individuals, some of them being absolute nobodies. I have seen people make that point several times on the caf but don't really understand where it comes from.
 

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At least there are some whispers now of the club talking to other managers. Gives me hope that they’ll do the right thing sooner rather than drawing it out.
 

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ZZs record at RM is mightily impressive. Yes, he had a good squad but he showed a lot of adaptability during his tenure.
I doubt many managers could do worse than Ole but the fact ZZ has a style that has been proven at the highest level must resonate in the players. Taking tactical advice from Ole, Carrick and MacKenna must be quite uninspiring considering they’ve won nothing in management. Nothing.
Expect more rumours regarding ZZ in the coming weeks.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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I'm interested by that one because Zidane was rumoured to be the one dictating France tactics in 2006 and his staff at Madrid wasn't made of particularly heralded individuals, some of them being absolute nobodies. I have seen people make that point several times on the caf but don't really understand where it comes from.
I follow Madrid's IG, during Zidan's time, when they shared short clips of the training drills, especially shooting drills, it would be Zidane laying off the ball for the players, also there some clips of attacking drills where Zidane is actually involved and is inside the training pitch.
 

JPRouve

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I follow Madrid's IG, during Zidan's time, when they shared short clips of the training drills, especially shooting drills, it would be Zidane laying off the ball for the players, also there some clips of attacking drills where Zidane is actually involved and is inside the training pitch.
Yeah he seemed as involved as Pep, neither lead the training sessions in theory for Zidane it's Bettoni, similarly to SAF having Meulensteen or Pep having Torrent years ago. They all focused on observing and interacting with individual or smaller group of players. Now maybe Zidane does nothing tactically behind closed doors but there isn't much to support that idea.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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Yeah he seemed as involved as Pep, neither lead the training sessions in theory for Zidane it's Bettoni, similarly to SAF having Meulensteen or Pep having Torrent years ago. They all focused on observing and interacting with individual or smaller group of players. Now maybe Zidane does nothing tactically behind closed doors but there isn't much to support that idea.
Whether the manager is hands-on type or the type that delegates to others doesn't matter, ultimately what matters is what happens on the pitch in terms of performances and results, and Zidane has proven himself and won plenty of trophies as a manager/head coach
 

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If we completely blow the title in the next few games, which I fully expect, I hope we can at least stay in the CL so that if Zizou comes in we can have a run at the latter stages of the competition. He's had decent success in cup competitions as a manager.. could maybe even win us the FA Cup.
 

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Zidane won 3 CLs in a row and 8 other trophies and you lot dismiss it all as fluke? feck's sake, if you know nothing about what you are posting then don't bother posting your stupid opinion. He won the league with RM in 2019/20 despite Ronaldo leaving, Hazard perma-crocked, Bale playing golf, Asensio became a shadow of himself, Jovic flopping hard, Ramos being their second top scorer with only 2 players hitting double digits on goals scored, and Messi scoring 25 goals while assisting 21.

People thinks that he is tactically awful simply because he doesn't have any philosophies. That is completely wrong because he believes in being pragmatic instead of sticking to one set philosophy and passage of play. He always adjusts his teams according to his opposition, and will not hesitate to abuse any weakness of his opponents despite it pissing the purists off. His "cross and ishallah" tactics is used often when teams are parked too deep against RM and he had prime Ronaldo and a forward-roaming Ramos in his team. Teams with a set philosophy will never do this, but Zidane knows the strength of his players and always tinker his tactics to them.

And what's with the fecking obsession with all these philosophies anyway. SAF had never stick to a single playstyle his whole career and he is the greatest manager in the world. SAF is known for adapting to his opponents and play to the strength of his players, and Zidane is exactly that, yet this forum thinks Ole is a better manager than Zidane? You lot are fecking hysterical and delusional.
Great post.
 

JPRouve

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Whether the manager is hands-on type or the type that delegates to others doesn't matter, ultimately what matters is what happens on the pitch in terms of performances and results, and Zidane has proven himself and won plenty of trophies as a manager/head coach
I totally agree, the results with Zidane have been a well trained team and a coaching staff that is able to alter games through tactical changes. I can understand that people don't like the pragmatic nature of Zidane but I don't understand the claims that he is tactically limited.
 

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Plenty of Madrid fans criticised his get it wide and cross it in approach.
 

JPRouve

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Plenty of Madrid fans criticised his get it wide and cross it in approach.
Plenty of Real Madrid fans criticized everything and everyone at some point, including Ronaldo, Ramos, Raul, Casillas, Benzema or Del Bosque.
 

Escobar

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ZZs record at RM is mightily impressive. Yes, he had a good squad but he showed a lot of adaptability during his tenure.
I doubt many managers could do worse than Ole but the fact ZZ has a style that has been proven at the highest level must resonate in the players. Taking tactical advice from Ole, Carrick and MacKenna must be quite uninspiring considering they’ve won nothing in management. Nothing.
Expect more rumours regarding ZZ in the coming weeks.
Especially considering that he took over a RM team that were doing really badly
 

youmeletsfly

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Zidane won 3 CLs in a row and 8 other trophies and you lot dismiss it all as fluke? feck's sake, if you know nothing about what you are posting then don't bother posting your stupid opinion. He won the league with RM in 2019/20 despite Ronaldo leaving, Hazard perma-crocked, Bale playing golf, Asensio became a shadow of himself, Jovic flopping hard, Ramos being their second top scorer with only 2 players hitting double digits on goals scored, and Messi scoring 25 goals while assisting 21.

People thinks that he is tactically awful simply because he doesn't have any philosophies. That is completely wrong because he believes in being pragmatic instead of sticking to one set philosophy and passage of play. He always adjusts his teams according to his opposition, and will not hesitate to abuse any weakness of his opponents despite it pissing the purists off. His "cross and ishallah" tactics is used often when teams are parked too deep against RM and he had prime Ronaldo and a forward-roaming Ramos in his team. Teams with a set philosophy will never do this, but Zidane knows the strength of his players and always tinker his tactics to them.

And what's with the fecking obsession with all these philosophies anyway. SAF had never stick to a single playstyle his whole career and he is the greatest manager in the world. SAF is known for adapting to his opponents and play to the strength of his players, and Zidane is exactly that, yet this forum thinks Ole is a better manager than Zidane? You lot are fecking hysterical and delusional.
I'm in the "let's get a tactician in here" group because, at this moment, our players look fecking clueless. We got world class stars in and turned them into championship players.

But I agree with the above, Zizou would actually be very good. Plus, he has the balls to bench anyone, including Ronaldo if needed.

Some other things he's going to improve: passing, 1st touch and fecking running.
Been to a few of his Madrid's matches and I remember him being fecking livid on Isco for screwing up a 1st touch and then a pass. That's the spirit you want from a coach.
 

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Would he be open to coming on an interim basis till the end of the season? And then we can decide. That'd be a dream scenario for me, but highly unlikely.
 

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All we will see is rumours, nothing more. I do not trust us to make the decision quickly. We will wait until it gets real bad before doing anything.
 

JPRouve

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Would he be open to coming on an interim basis till the end of the season? And then we can decide. That'd be a dream scenario for me, but highly unlikely.
A manager like Zidane accepting to be treated like a supbar manager would be surprising.
 

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A manager like Zidane accepting to be treated like a supbar manager would be surprising.
But possible if he has his eyes set on another job already (like the frech national team after the world cup?)
 
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How can you not rate Zidane? He literally ticks most boxes that would be important as a United coach. And don't come with the "he only managed one team" argument - so did Pep, so did Fergie....
What Zidane has done at RM has been incredible, there is no doubt about that. If he can replicate that at another team, how knows, but he has proven twice that can be a bloody great manager with tons of further potential. And, he's without a job
No he didn't
 

JPRouve

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But possible if he has his eyes set on another job already (like the frech national team after the world cup?)
If that's the case he isn't taking any job and will just enjoy his family like every other manager in the same situation does.
 

sullydnl

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I'm interested by that one because Zidane was rumoured to be the one dictating France tactics in 2006 and his staff at Madrid wasn't made of particularly heralded individuals, some of them being absolute nobodies. I have seen people make that point several times on the caf but don't really understand where it comes from.
I'm basing my general opinion of how Zidane operates off various pieces I've read about his time at Madrid over the years.

For example, this podcast from the Athletic during his second spell


The gist of which is:
- Not the most charismatic in the media.
- More or less a given not to ask him the type of tactical questions you might ask a Guardiola or even a Benitez. Tends to use stock answers about how hard the players worked, Madrid being the best club in the world, etc.
- Surrounded himself with people he worked with as a player.
- Zidane's style as a manager somehwere between his two Juve managers, Ancelotti and Lippi.
- Managed Ronaldo well.
- Flicked between using 4-3-3, diamond, etc.
- CL final v Juve typical of Madrid with Zidane as manager: first half system not really working, suddenly without any real logic Madrid manage to turn it around. In a lot of big games under Zidane difficult to find pure tactical reasons for why they were winning.
- Very settled side. Even in games where shape seems dodgy, relationship between players can get them through.
- Change when he came back for second spell was even greater focus on fitness and hard work, perhaps because squad was older.
- Defensive shift in second spell, as reflected in stats.

In terms of the bit you highlighted in bold, the idea that he isn't a systems coach but instead places greater emphasis on individuals and man-management has been very well covered in a lot of pieces over the years. For example this piece from Marca:

For Zidane, the easiest way to improve a team is to bring out the best in his players, not create an intricate tactical system that'll look to dominate an encounter. This is rooted in a central truth that Zidane has internalised since his days as a galactico: in the history of football, the team with the most talented players often wins. It is about the individual.

Meanwhile, the Pep Guardiola revolution has supporters talking formations, repeated patterns of play, group pressing, or novel ways of playing out from the back. But in his early career as coach thus far, the man who has most influenced Zinedine Zidane is Guardiola's opposite, Carlo Ancelotti.

It is not only that the two shared a touchline, but more importantly when they did, since it came right when Zidane was just starting out. When making the transition from superstar player to coach, the first thing Zizou picked up on was the Italian's man management, his greatest skill.

So in this sense, the French boss is not following the dominant trend in modern coaching, and frustrating many who expect a symphony not a collection of solos.
As for his coaching staff, my impression based on the commentary around his time at Madrid was that gave more authority to staff like Pintus (who was his coach at Juve) than Lopotegui did and who then instilled a more fitness-focused regime at the club, though tbf I could be wrong in terms of how much he delegated the day to day management of training sessions.

Regardless, my general point was that Madrid under Zidane (whether he was handling the coaching or not) weren't a system or coaching-orientated side but rather one that employed simple systems and tactics and instead focused on bringing the best out of individuals. Which is fine, just not what I personally want. Using the terms of the quote from the Marca article above, I want a manager who is following the dominant trend in modern coaching.
 

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Does he speak English? If we're looking for a manager that can motivate and manage players individually and as a team, that's pretty important.
 

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I don’t see any strong rumours.

But I am open to the idea. United can pretend they are trying to build something under Ole but they’ve made it crystal clear they aren’t slowly building something at all when signing the likes of Cavani and Ronaldo. Not that there’s a problem with that if you’re going to try it - we have a team capable of challenging and winning things.

However, with all the talent we have and we’re playing absolutely shite, we can’t really afford to wait when Ronaldo, Pogba, Varane, Cavani are getting older. Zidane would be the best shout to get United winning again.

There’s an issue with the long term but we do have some top young players, and the idea we’re slowly building a top class team doesn’t wash with me when we’re regularly signing older/already established players.
 

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No links posted to this claim from Romano?

Doesn't particularly excite me if it were to happen, that said he's won a lot (but with perhaps one of the very best CL squads in the competitions history) and he's familiar with some key players within our squad. He's a big name in the sport, would attract some exciting players.

Not sure he exactly brings an identity that so many seem fixated on regarding Ole, I don't believe he would come in and put his stamp on things immediately, doesn't strike me as that sort of manager, but could prove me wrong.
 

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Does he speak English? If we're looking for a manager that can motivate and manage players individually and as a team, that's pretty important.
Bielsa is doing perfectly fine motivating his players and he doesn't have half the stature that Zidane has in football. Even otherwise, other than the English lads, the rest can either speak to him in French or Spanish.
 

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If the squad is as good as some think it is then Zidane,Poch,Ten Hag etc should be able to come in and have us challenging for honours.
 

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@sullydnl but none of that supports the part that I bolded, the idea that he is tactically involved or savvy.

What you described is that he isn't talkative in the media and isn't dogmatic when it comes to tactics. Both of these things are true the former was already the case when he was a player and the latter is obvious when you see Real Madrid play and adapt to what they have and who they play. But it doesn't mean that he isn't tactically involved, the world of management isn't strictly divided between head coaches that are 100% man-management and head coaches that are 100% about their system. And the fact that you described him as between Ancelotti and Lippi is a testament to that, first because you named two italian managers and italian managers are all developed into a tactic heavy culture but you also mentioned two managers that are different one that is a bit more on the man-management side of things while the other was very pragmatic and put a huge emphasis on tactics with little room for improvisation.

And in general what you say at the end is a big issue currently. People are being hoodwinked with fancy words and principles that aren't even new or special. Zidane's tactics aren't simpler than Guardiola's tactics, if anything the likes of Guardiola and Klopp have the most basic systems around, the most complicated that I know is from Simeone and people generally don't like it. The thing that separates Klopp and Guardiola with the rest is that they have the ability to teach those simple principles to a point where the players are able to execute at a higher speed than their opponents(and they also have better players) but there is nothing special about it.
 

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I want to get the best from our world class players and think Zidane is our best bet. Conte is a great coach but I think he won't fancy Ronaldo and Bruno. We literally can't change the team now for a manager at this point. This team is definitely capable of winning something and it has to happen this season, like starting tomorrow.
 

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There are some real Zidane fan boys in here!

I'm just unsure but I'm only a football fan, like you. We don't actually know how anyone will work out.

He's better than Ole you say but that's not how we should recruit our next manager or we'd have a hell of a lot to choose from.

This is all hypothetical anyway. Ole isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Moors the pitty.