The remake is never better than the original, is not it?
Zinedine Zidane returned to Real Madrid in March, after a much shorter sabbatical than expected, resplendent in the jeans of a 20-year-old younger man and seeking to inject that rejuvenation into a troubled Bernabeu team.
The first two months were depreciated and it was acceptable. There was no challenge for Los Blancos, no trophy to win, no danger of losing a spot in the Champions League. Five wins in 11 games? Assigned to nothing material.
However, the end of the season was chaotic for the man who, during his first stint at the helm, lived when the Spaniards could follow.a flor in el culo & # 39 ;. In short, everything turned out just for him.
The second half of the season took place before the summer, the transfer window, reconstruction. Club President Florentino Perez promised Zidane to try to bring him back to the world. money, control, freedom of control … well, everything. If Zidane wanted it, said Perez, he would get it.
What Zidane wanted, it was Paul Pogbaand get rid of Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez. He wanted the board to rely on the transfer objectives he had asked for.
Zidane does not have Paul Pogba, the club has actively crossed out for Bale, and James is on the team and seems to spend his first season playing under the famous white shirt since 2016/17
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John Toshack gave Gareth Bale his first start to Wales, but did not stop in his criticism of the Real Madrid player. (BBC) pic.twitter.com/yjSIyynvl9
– Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) July 30, 2019
Not only did Pogba not arrive, but the club actively broadcast the results. Christian Eriksen stories of interest. Zidane is not interested in Spurs midfielder – the club is; as a cheaper alternative to Pogba, which will cost more money than they are willing to spend. The honeymoon did not last long.
The money was spent however; 300 M €. It's positive. Only one of the new recruits is likely to start the season in the team. This is … less promising, although groups like Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy have not been retained as impact signatures.
Zidane will not worry about it in the long run, but not selling James and Bale is just ruinous. The club has recovered just one-third of its spending of 300 million euros, and its astronomical payroll is higher than it was at the beginning of the summer. The real ones do not have a magic coin tree at this point, but rather a semi-bare replacement shrub.
Things did not go well this summer. It does not matter, because it is the activities on the ground that really matter. Things like — like — oh, they lost 7-3 against Atletico Madrid, 3-1 against Bayern, absolutely can not find a place in training for 60 million. euros in the summer, committing Luka Jovic to seek even remotely competent, and Marco Asensio, wounded in the LCA, resurrected during most of the coming campaign.
Mendy and Jovic are also injured. So that's fine. And Thibaut Courtois. This is good.
The only tiny silver wound is that Asensio's injury prevents Zidane from having him in the head having to put him in his place, Hazard and Vinicius in a place on the left. And Rodrygo. And Bale too, since that is his favorite position and that he stays now. So … it's useful.
The "disaster" is relative. Real will not be exactly relegated – they will probably finish in the top three and qualify for the Champions League group, the kind of season that most European teams would kill. For Real, however, where to drop even a hair behind Barcelona is a controversy and that falling behind Atleti is unthinkable, a second place in third place would be a disaster on a large scale.
To read too much in the pre-season performance levels is a cup game, but when a team is struggling to tactically accommodate a new 60 million euro signature is a more evolutionary problem. And when things are as tense as they are always are real, problems are usually imminent.
You want a prediction not particularly bold? Zidane is leaving this season and maybe not very long. Never come back…
