The Intricacies of Managing Real Madrid: Substitutions

Zinedine Zidane has now been manager for a little over a year, and in that time we’ve seen him learn a lot. We’ve also seen some patterns that, despite all of his experience on the pitch, managing is a strange world that’s often difficult to transition into. I thought I’d start a series explaining the importance of certain aspects of managing as we follow Zizou along his ride as manager of the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid.

Managing a team isn’t easy, especially at Real Madrid. Everyone wants playing time and you only have 11 spots on the pitch. The easy answer is to rotate the squad, but Zidane has shown that he has trouble starting players that aren’t established as a usual member of the starting XI. Now, he’s left with only one alternative: subbing in players.

Substitutions are a very important aspect of the game. They can allow the manager to fortify a specific game plan and bring fresh legs when needed, or they can be used to change a team completely, changing formation and play style.

Normally, you also see a drop off in talent because the bench is usually filled by lesser players. But Real Madrid have a bench so good that most, if not all of the players, could be starting XI material in another team. This is why Zidane needs to take advantage of the 3 substitutions he has in a match.

Now, let’s take a look at some example where Zidane has either failed to use his substitutions in an impactful manner as well as one where he used them in a tactical way to completely change the match.