Yes.
Honestly, I could probably just stop this piece there, with that single three-letter word. I probably could have done the same last year when the rookie coach led Real Madrid to an 11th Champions League Title after taking over a team in disarray. But there were doubters out there. They said Madrid got lucky, that they had a cake draw to the Final, that they played ugly, that Zidane didn't know tactics if they smacked him on the face. Those doubters should go away now. Zidane is a good coach. The question turns now to will he be a better coach than he was a player?
Now, that question is somewhat facetious. He will likely not approach his legend as a player during his time on the sides. He may not even want to work long enough to do so. But after winning La Liga in his second year, and one win against Juventus from doing something no manager has ever done (win the Champions League back-to-back years), Zidane's first 18 months will rank right hp there with anyone else in the history of the game. Even if he doesn't lead Madrid to European glory (again, wouldn't be a surprise given no one has repeated yet) Zidane has firmly answered the question of whether he is a good coach. The more interesting question is exploring why he is.
I wrote a piece three years ago, when he was Carlo Ancelotti's right-hand man, on whether Zidane would be a good coach. I brought up a few strengths he had shown, including an actual commitment to being a coach, taking his training classes, working as an assistant coach, not wanting to just be handed a job like fellow all-timer Diego Maradona was. I also brought up a big roadblock, in that there are so few examples of all-time talents like his actually succeeding as coaches. Oddly enough, his largest strength is fueled by the legendary stature he still holds, and while he took all the classes, it is still acceptable to critique his tactics.
Let's start with the negative. I am nowhere near smart enough about soccer tactics to really give any good analysis on Zidane's ability in that regard. I have generally seen a team that is always well structured, that has good balance, that has shifted formations and strengths game-to-game and even half-to-half. The preparedness and energy of the Madridistas in their key Champions League matches showed Zidane to have a keen understanding of game tempo and strategy. Sure, he is not revolutionizing football like Pep Guardiola did. He may not seem as tactically perceptive as Jose Mourinho, but he's also far more conceited to ever admit such facts. And of course, Zidane has and will continue to improve in these areas. But let's to move what makes Zidane already a great manager, his mastery of teh tougher, more subjective part.
Zidane man management started out excellent and has only improved since. He commands that team, he has instituted such emotional change. Other than the peak of the Ancelotti years (where again, Zidane was the key assistant), Madrid has always been emotionally disconnected and shallow. No longer. His ability to connect to his key players, to convince Ronaldo to sit out of a dozen games (imagine any non-Pep Barca manager trying this with Messi!?), to rotate players in and out, to get evreryone to buy into performing. Sure, there were a few examples of players not liking being rotation players, most notably James and Morata, but let's realize in a normal squad rotation they would have gotten even less playing time. Zidane kept them integrated, motivated and they performed.
Zidane had the confidence to go on the road and rotate out 7-8 players from his best 11, going with a full-fledged B team knowing they needed results, and had those reserves playing at a ridiculous level to where people debated if the 'B' team was better than the 'A' one. Zidane's rotation worked, it kept Ronaldo fresh to where he's dominated the Spring instead of the Fall, a welcome change to when in past years his play would notably slip late in the season. Zidane has done what few managers could, manage the egos in that room to make them a cohesive unit.
What he also did was have the right mindset. What may be Zidane's favorite word as manager is 'suffer', in that his teams would have to suffer to get results. Sure, some of this is coach-speak, the futbol equivalent of football's 'Any Given Sunday', but he mentally approached games right. He wasn't about dominating opponents into submission (rarely if ever did Madrid have >70% of possession), but they were clinical. They fought. They performed. Last year, he was a little too defensive in their Champions League run (somewhat understandable given Ronaldo's injury), but this year they opened up more. The fact Madrid has gone 13 months without getting shutout speaks wonders to a changing mentality.
More than anything, Zidane is set up for the future. As he continues to grow as a tactician, he has already protected himself with such a strong position. Not only does he have the resume of a legendary player who is beloved in the capital as a player, he's done the same as a manager. It is arguable he has gained enough political clout at Madrid to win power struggles with Florentino Perez - at the very least, he has to really underperform for Perez not to get tons of blowback for canning him. Zidane has earned this with his performance, and now he really gets to shape his team.
Zidane entered a team stock full of talent. It is fairly accepted that James and Morata are out, and a few others may join them. Madrid's transfer ban will be lifted. Zidane will really get a chance to shape the team, and the rumors are that he will get a significant amount of sway on transfer decisions. He's said to want N'golo Kante, or another defensive midfielder, someone to be the Claude Makalele of his Madrid, to match with Casemiro, give depth to the one area of the team without much. This practical approach is what Madrid should be doing, and what Zidane is laser focused on.
Zidane's playing career was defined by a sad bipolar nature. He was such a beautiful, graceful player, often soft-spoken and courteous, but he had an awful temper that showed itself with a surprising amount of red-cards (including, of course, his final match). Luckily for Madrid, Zidane has seemingly driven out the temper and is only the steely, focused, soft-spoken, humble, graceful man he was on the ball. Zidane's mindset is truly perfect as a coach.
It is hard to say where Madrid goes from here. If they do win the Champions League, Zidane will have accomplished so much in his first 1.5 seasons he may see it as the right time to leave. Though that is doubtful, however long Zidane stays he probably won't match these first 18 months in tterms of results. It even seems somewhat inevitable that he will take the France National Team job at some point, try to do something no one has ever done, with the Champions League and World Cup as both a player and manager. Zidane's future is as bright as his club, and because he's gone about this the right way.
Madrid's future has never seemed brighter, and maybe that is because they found their coach, found their way of playing, found their players. Ronaldo seems reborn in his more #9-heavy role. Isco has been unearthed. The defense needs some bolstering to support the aging of their core guys, but the future is so bright at Madrid, and that starts with their calm, creative, pragmatic, handsome bald man on the sidelines.
Honestly, I could probably just stop this piece there, with that single three-letter word. I probably could have done the same last year when the rookie coach led Real Madrid to an 11th Champions League Title after taking over a team in disarray. But there were doubters out there. They said Madrid got lucky, that they had a cake draw to the Final, that they played ugly, that Zidane didn't know tactics if they smacked him on the face. Those doubters should go away now. Zidane is a good coach. The question turns now to will he be a better coach than he was a player?
Now, that question is somewhat facetious. He will likely not approach his legend as a player during his time on the sides. He may not even want to work long enough to do so. But after winning La Liga in his second year, and one win against Juventus from doing something no manager has ever done (win the Champions League back-to-back years), Zidane's first 18 months will rank right hp there with anyone else in the history of the game. Even if he doesn't lead Madrid to European glory (again, wouldn't be a surprise given no one has repeated yet) Zidane has firmly answered the question of whether he is a good coach. The more interesting question is exploring why he is.
I wrote a piece three years ago, when he was Carlo Ancelotti's right-hand man, on whether Zidane would be a good coach. I brought up a few strengths he had shown, including an actual commitment to being a coach, taking his training classes, working as an assistant coach, not wanting to just be handed a job like fellow all-timer Diego Maradona was. I also brought up a big roadblock, in that there are so few examples of all-time talents like his actually succeeding as coaches. Oddly enough, his largest strength is fueled by the legendary stature he still holds, and while he took all the classes, it is still acceptable to critique his tactics.
Let's start with the negative. I am nowhere near smart enough about soccer tactics to really give any good analysis on Zidane's ability in that regard. I have generally seen a team that is always well structured, that has good balance, that has shifted formations and strengths game-to-game and even half-to-half. The preparedness and energy of the Madridistas in their key Champions League matches showed Zidane to have a keen understanding of game tempo and strategy. Sure, he is not revolutionizing football like Pep Guardiola did. He may not seem as tactically perceptive as Jose Mourinho, but he's also far more conceited to ever admit such facts. And of course, Zidane has and will continue to improve in these areas. But let's to move what makes Zidane already a great manager, his mastery of teh tougher, more subjective part.
Zidane man management started out excellent and has only improved since. He commands that team, he has instituted such emotional change. Other than the peak of the Ancelotti years (where again, Zidane was the key assistant), Madrid has always been emotionally disconnected and shallow. No longer. His ability to connect to his key players, to convince Ronaldo to sit out of a dozen games (imagine any non-Pep Barca manager trying this with Messi!?), to rotate players in and out, to get evreryone to buy into performing. Sure, there were a few examples of players not liking being rotation players, most notably James and Morata, but let's realize in a normal squad rotation they would have gotten even less playing time. Zidane kept them integrated, motivated and they performed.
Zidane had the confidence to go on the road and rotate out 7-8 players from his best 11, going with a full-fledged B team knowing they needed results, and had those reserves playing at a ridiculous level to where people debated if the 'B' team was better than the 'A' one. Zidane's rotation worked, it kept Ronaldo fresh to where he's dominated the Spring instead of the Fall, a welcome change to when in past years his play would notably slip late in the season. Zidane has done what few managers could, manage the egos in that room to make them a cohesive unit.
What he also did was have the right mindset. What may be Zidane's favorite word as manager is 'suffer', in that his teams would have to suffer to get results. Sure, some of this is coach-speak, the futbol equivalent of football's 'Any Given Sunday', but he mentally approached games right. He wasn't about dominating opponents into submission (rarely if ever did Madrid have >70% of possession), but they were clinical. They fought. They performed. Last year, he was a little too defensive in their Champions League run (somewhat understandable given Ronaldo's injury), but this year they opened up more. The fact Madrid has gone 13 months without getting shutout speaks wonders to a changing mentality.
More than anything, Zidane is set up for the future. As he continues to grow as a tactician, he has already protected himself with such a strong position. Not only does he have the resume of a legendary player who is beloved in the capital as a player, he's done the same as a manager. It is arguable he has gained enough political clout at Madrid to win power struggles with Florentino Perez - at the very least, he has to really underperform for Perez not to get tons of blowback for canning him. Zidane has earned this with his performance, and now he really gets to shape his team.
Zidane entered a team stock full of talent. It is fairly accepted that James and Morata are out, and a few others may join them. Madrid's transfer ban will be lifted. Zidane will really get a chance to shape the team, and the rumors are that he will get a significant amount of sway on transfer decisions. He's said to want N'golo Kante, or another defensive midfielder, someone to be the Claude Makalele of his Madrid, to match with Casemiro, give depth to the one area of the team without much. This practical approach is what Madrid should be doing, and what Zidane is laser focused on.
Zidane's playing career was defined by a sad bipolar nature. He was such a beautiful, graceful player, often soft-spoken and courteous, but he had an awful temper that showed itself with a surprising amount of red-cards (including, of course, his final match). Luckily for Madrid, Zidane has seemingly driven out the temper and is only the steely, focused, soft-spoken, humble, graceful man he was on the ball. Zidane's mindset is truly perfect as a coach.
It is hard to say where Madrid goes from here. If they do win the Champions League, Zidane will have accomplished so much in his first 1.5 seasons he may see it as the right time to leave. Though that is doubtful, however long Zidane stays he probably won't match these first 18 months in tterms of results. It even seems somewhat inevitable that he will take the France National Team job at some point, try to do something no one has ever done, with the Champions League and World Cup as both a player and manager. Zidane's future is as bright as his club, and because he's gone about this the right way.
Madrid's future has never seemed brighter, and maybe that is because they found their coach, found their way of playing, found their players. Ronaldo seems reborn in his more #9-heavy role. Isco has been unearthed. The defense needs some bolstering to support the aging of their core guys, but the future is so bright at Madrid, and that starts with their calm, creative, pragmatic, handsome bald man on the sidelines.
