Real Madrid: 3 things Zinedine Zidane needs to change before the season ends

What is Real Madrid’s tactical ‘Plan B’?

Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid is predictable. Everybody knows how they play, how they attack, and what their weaknesses are. Real Madrid struggle against teams playing a certain way. Or we should say, every manager knows how to steal points away from Real, and they make their team play that way. It is frustrating, not just for the fans but for the players as well.

Imagine being Toni Kroos. You are the best midfielder on the planet, the best vertical passer of the league. You have numbers better than Lionel Messi in this regard. Yet your team fails to create enough central penetration. Your team doesn’t attack through the centre. How would you see this situation? If I were Kroos, I would be frustrated.

Kroos can console himself with the minutes he gets. What about Martin Odegaard? He was the best playmaker in the league, bar Messi, last season until he was fit. And he was called back by the manager when he could have had a full season of regular game-time under Imanol Alguacil at La Real. But you’re not played even when your team aches for a playmaker against low blocks.

Kroos and Odegaard are just two of the many players that can bring a lot to the team in a different manner. We are slow in transitions and let the opponents organise themselves before we attack. We struggle when there is very little space between the lines. We are over-cautious in ball progression. I can jot down a lot more issues, but I think I have made my point clear. We need a plan B.