Zidane’s questionable decisions have put Real Madrid in a tight-spot

Zidane has made questionable choices with respect to how the Real Madrid squad is lined up in comparison to how it actually may have this season.

Real Madrid are off to an unstable start to the 2020/21 season. In La Liga, they have now lost as many matches as they did in the entirety of last season whereas they risk dropping out of the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. At the moment, it’s not looking good for Zinedine Zidane, who has made bad decisions at times.

Apart from making mistakes on the field, the Frenchman’s off-field decision-making has now come under question as well, with the very reliant Marca now highlighting what the Whites are losing. What is all the more frustrating to watch is the fact that the players who Zizou has favoured have all underperformed as compared to those who he lacked faith in.

Isco and Marcelo are particularly those whose quality has visibly deteriorated from the Madrid side. The midfielder and left-back were kept out of Zidane’s personal preference as he decided to show the door to James Rodriguez and Sergio Reguilon, who are both doing great jobs, or at least better than what the Madridistas are doing.

While James started extremely well in the Premier League and dropped his form later on, it’s fair to say that he has still been better than Isco- whose minutes have also been limited. On the other hand, Martin Odegaard, whose loan was cut short on Zidane’s request has not done anything out of the box either for the Whites.

On the other hand, Sergio Reguilon has developed into one of the world’s best left-backs under Jose Mourinho and could have been a superb competitor for Ferland Mendy. Marcelo unfortunately remains subpar and as a matter of fact, Los Blancos have lost each and every game in which the Brazilian has started this season- across all competitions.

Besides the two outstanding performers now in the Premier League, Achraf Hakimi has also shown his quality at Inter Milan. While the Moroccan’s departure is not entirely Zidane’s fault as the player wanted more minutes, he could have been a great right winger if the Frenchman tactically looked at him as one, as he performed well in his Dortmund days.

Zidane’s final mistake is probably his biggest because Marcos Llorente was sold to a direct crosstown rival and is proving crucial for them. The mistake regarding the Spaniard may now be forgiven too considering that Federico Valverde was developed by Zizou, but he surely holds a small responsibility for overlooking Llorente while Casemiro was out of form.

Dani Ceballos and Gareth Bale seem to be the only players with him Zidane was continuously right. The former is not impressing with 15th placed Premier League side Arsenal, whereas Gareth Bale has had little playing time under Jose Mourinho despite the congestion of fixtures in England and the busy Europa League schedule.

It remains to be seen if Zidane will be questioned by the board, but at the very least, decisions must be taken in a more coherent manner going forward and the final discretion must rest with the board- whose approach has always looked and worked right so far.