Zinedine Zidane is one of the best players in the history of football, and he also grew to be a highly successful manager in a short span of time. Despite all his achievements, he is someone who loves to maintain a low profile and is never really amongst the most talked-about names, as a manager.
But in recent times, there have been some discussions about Zidane the manager, with the reason behind this sudden discussion being the possible sacking of Manchester United’s manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, after the 0-5 loss to Liverpool at home. Various outlets report that Zidane and Antonio Conte are seen by United’s board as two options to replace the Norwegian.
With Zidane’s name reported by the media, it didn’t take a lot of time for the fans and several pundits to discuss Zidane’s merit as a manager.
Those discussions involved a lot of ignorant takes on the Frenchman, and a lot of myths about Zidane were circulated across the media. Let us debunk those myths about Zidane and how he has actually been an underrated manager all this time.
1. Zidane is tactically naive
The first and biggest myth about Zidane is that “he is tactically inept”, and that he is not one of the best tacticians out there. When the people who claim the tactical weakness of Zidane’s abilities are countered with a list of the Frenchman’s achievements, with emphasis laid on the Champions League three-peat, we’re often replied with a standard phrase, that is “man-management”.
Most of Zidane’s success has been attributed to his “man-management” skills and in some cases, his luck. Tactics and man-management are the two most important skills a top-flight manager must possess, but segregating managers into tacticians and man-managers is very wrong, and it often undermines the brilliance of the manager in another aspect. The same has happened in Zidane’s case.
Zidane isn’t someone who has a managerial philosophy named after him and he isn’t someone who tries to preach his philosophy. But this doesn’t mean he’s tactically inept, and it isn’t necessary that a manager needs to have their own philosophy to be considered a genius. And he also has something special in him, which is his tactical flexibility, which made him a world-class manager, particularly in his second stint.
He used a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 diamond for most of his managerial career, but he had always ensured that his players are ready to adapt to any setup and are able to adjust to the requirements of his system. He was able to deploy three different formations for three consecutive games in a space of seven days and was able to outclass his opponents almost every time. And his substitutions in big games have always proven to be masterstrokes.
The best example to support this point is the 3-1 win vs Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16 of the 2018 Champions League, in which he tweaked the formation from a 4-4-2 diamond to a 4-4-2 flat with his substitutions in the second half, which helped the team win the game as two late goals did the job.
He has also proven himself to bring the best out of his team in big games and has been able to outsmart the best in the business. Some of his victims include Jurgen Klopp, Diego Simeone, our current manager Carlo Ancelotti, Jupp Heynckes, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Massimiliano Allegri and many more big names. Some of these names include the best of tacticians, who found it difficult to best the Frenchman’s setup, which speaks loads about Zidane’s brilliance as a manager, and particularly as a tactician.
Even after everything, Zidane remains an underrated manager. Maybe Zidane’s character can be blamed for this. He has never been one of the flashy kind of people who talk a lot and are keen to show off their abilities before the media. Zidane has always been a person who knew what he was doing and believed in what he was doing and never sought anyone’s approval. He never wanted to be in the limelight, and only valued what was important for the club.
2. Zidane needs a squad full of world-class players or a Cristiano Ronaldo
Zidane’s incredible success as a manager has also been attributed to the fact that the Real Madrid squad he inherited comprised a lot of world-class players, and some once in a lifetime players who were in their prime. Players do deserve every bit of appreciation, but in Zidane’s case, the focus is easily shifted from the manager. It feels a bit unfair to Zidane because he has never been given the respect a manager who won a single Champions League title in a decade has been given.
Coming back to debunking the myth, Zidane’s achievements speak for themselves and provide us with the evidence to debunk the myth. Critics often spoke about Cristiano Ronaldo winning everything for Zidane, but Zidane proved everyone wrong by winning a LaLiga title with a Ronaldo-less Real Madrid team that was still recovering from a terrible 2018/19 season, and also took the team to the semifinals of the 2020/21 Champions League semifinals. It also speaks about the genius of Zidane, who deployed a system that is built on his team’s defensive solidity after losing 40+ goals per season goalscorer, and used it successfully.
And regarding the presence of other top-class players like Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and co., it is a blessing for every manager to have such players. But it also depends on how the manager uses those players. Carlo Ancelotti of 2014/15 and Rafa Benitez had pretty much the same core that Zidane inherited, but they weren’t able to win everything with that team. Zidane simply knew how to use those players, and how to win trophies with that set of players. He knew how he could use Isco ahead of Bale to gain greater control of the game, and exploit the spaces in the midfield, and many more things.
One can also observe the fact that utility players like Lucas Vazquez and Nacho got to play a lot of minutes under Zidane, in some cases more minutes than big-named players. He also knew how to beat one of the most reputed tacticians in Jurgen Klopp by using a 20-year-old Vinicius Jr, and a post-ACL Marco Asensio along with a Lucas Vazquez playing out of position. He also knew when and where and how to use a particular player, and rotate the team. He had to go into big games with many of his experienced players unavailable, but he always returned victorious with the three points in the bag.
This only proves one thing. Having a team is not enough, you’ve got to know how to use them. And Zidane also knew how to win games with any set of players.
3. Zidane can’t develop youngsters
This is an argument that has been heard from the Spanish media as well, and this point has always been used whenever Real Madrid lost a match in Zidane’s second stint. Zidane had a lot of youngsters in his team, but he chose to believe in the experienced ones, which didn’t go down well with some sections of the media and the fanbase, with Real Madrid investing more in youngsters and with their development becoming a priority.
To some extent, this is true because Zidane has never been someone who will field eleven inexperienced players in a must-win game. He had a tendency of playing it safe and chose to believe in his most trusted players for many games. But to say Zidane doesn’t believe in youngsters and can’t develop young players is nothing but an exaggeration and that myth can be easily debunked by some of the examples.
In the 2015/16 season, Zidane incorporated a 23-year-old Casemiro into the starting XI, who formed an excellent trio with Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. Casemiro had just returned from a loan stint at Porto and was still a rough diamond, but Zidane had shown faith in the Brazilian and was key behind his development.
People often wrongly blame Zidane for Achraf Hakimi’s sale to Inter Milan in 2020, but one must remember that it was Zidane who promoted Hakimi from Castilla to the first team in the preseason of 2017. It was Zidane who developed a young and inexperienced Lucas Vazquez in 2015/16.
During the 2018/19 season, there was a lot of debate about whom Zidane should trust in Marcos Llorente and Dani Ceballos. But the Frenchman surprised everyone (like he does with his starting XI’s) by keeping faith in a relatively unknown Federico Valverde. Today everyone knows who Fede Valverde is, but the manager who trusted him and gave him enough chances alongside Luka Modric isn’t given the credit he deserves. One should also not forget that Zidane handed Antonio Blanco, Marvin Park and Miguel Gutierrez their first-team debuts, with the latter gaining a lot of prominence under Zidane and even under Ancelotti.
And those who say that Zidane doesn’t have an eye for talent should remember that it was Zidane who had suggested Jose Mourinho and Florentino Perez to sign an 18-year-old Raphael Varane in the summer of 2011.
4. Zidane is biased towards French players
Managers are often accused of being favourable towards their compatriots and there has always been an argument that Zidane is heavily biased towards French players. Even when he was at Real Madrid, many French names were linked to the club. But this criticism of Zidane is very harsh, to be honest, and to call it ‘bias’ just makes it another myth.
If we have a look at the French players Zidane had managed at Real Madrid, it’s easy to say that everyone deserved their place. Raphael Varane was always among the best in his position, and he would walk into the starting XI of any club. Pundits were sceptical of Ferland Mendy when he was signed by Zidane for 48 million euros, but his performances speak for themselves, and his arrival made the left flank of Real Madrid rock solid.
One French player with whom Zidane has a strong relationship is Karim Benzema, and this relationship has been used to criticise Zidane, especially when Benzema wasn’t at his best in the 2017/18 season. There were rumours of Real Madrid looking at the options of Mauro Icardi and Harry Kane to replace Benzema, but Zidane had always backed Karim, and one can see how beneficial that decision from Zidane has been for the club.
Zidane did rely on French players, but he relied on them for a reason and there was never any bias. Even the players he targeted, like Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba, are one of the best in their positions, and the teenager Eduardo Camavinga, who was once Zidane’s target, is already proving himself with the Merengues. Instead of focusing on their nationality, one can focus on the fact that France is currently the best manufacturer of footballing prodigies.
5. Zidane’s brand of football is boring
This is somewhat similar to the tactical criticism of Zidane, but this is related more to Zidane’s style of play. Entertainment is a key aspect of the game that the fans want, and in that sense, Carlo Ancelotti is someone who has never failed. Ancelotti has always promised to put on an exhibition of breathtaking football in the Bernabeu, and he has succeeded in it. Zidane has been able to learn a thing or two from his master, unlike what the popular myth conveys.
Zidane has never prioritised entertainment over structural balance, but he did manage to deploy a beautiful brand of football. That brand of football doesn’t have a fancy name, but is still effective and helps a team win games. Under Zidane, Real Madrid were very comfortable while playing in any style, and they were adaptable.
But the most common aspects of Zidane’s system are wing-play and crosses, combinational play, and capitalising on giveaways or the mistakes of oppositions. They were definitely effective, but some of those plays under Zidane were a thing of beauty, particularly in his first spell as Real Madrid’s manager.
And the most beautiful part was the way the midfielders brought the ball out of pressure in the centre of the park, and in the way, pacy wingers were waiting on the flanks to take charge of the empty greenfields ahead of them and counter-attack. And the goals didn’t have any particular template. During some parts of his spells, there were too many crosses which made it look annoying, but Zidane always found ways to help the team break through the tightest of low blocks.
Real Madrid scored a record 173 goals under Zidane in 2016/17 and went on a 40-match unbeaten streak in the same season. This is surely not possible under a manager who plays it safe and deploys a boring brand of football. Yes, the three points were given more importance, but it was never that boring.