Once you are in a trade for a long period of time, you begin to know your way around things when times become hard. As a writer, one of the most difficult challenges I face is writing an article which has title-related content worth up to only 1/8th of the minimum words limit.
In the beginning, it was a mighty difficult task. Seemingly-impossible, even. There were times when I had to drop the piece due to the failure of not being able to reach the minimum words limit. Now, however, it is an entirely different story.
As you can already infer from the first two paragraphs, I am yet to write anything related to the topic and I have already finished two paragraphs. By the end of this paragraph, it will be three paragraphs—and a lot of my job will have been done.
Zidane’s relative experience
However, it is not utterly pointless, otherwise, it would be a job poorly done. And neither I nor Zinedine Zidane can afford that. But how much of it would have been worthwhile or enhancing? This is the discussion we must have over Zidane. As the manager of Real Madrid, anything short of excellent is but average. How Zidane will cope with the current spate of injuries will define his legacy at the Bernabeu.
While a year in management isn’t enough to claim that the legendary Frenchman has been in the business for long, it could be argued that he has relative experience given that he was a phenomenal player as well.
That, plus his experience with Castilla means that he is quite adequately placed to face this situation and get around it. Zidane’s tenure with the club might have only spanned for just over a year, but he has already won three titles and currently leads the league table with half a season to go.
The quality of Zidane
A great many tacticians have managed the Blancos over the years, but only a very few could achieve the success as instantly as the French manager. The thing that sets him apart from most of the previous managers of the club is that his man management skills are far superior to his predecessors.
And then there is the ‘Zinedine Zidane factor’. He is Zinedine Yazid Zidane for crying out loud. He is the man who led France to the final of the 2006 World Cup with a bunch of players in the final phases of their careers—he himself was 34 at the time.
This is a man whose presence induces a state of euphoria among the fans. This is a man that millions of kids look up to. This is a man who had such footballing skills that he was almost a myth. It won’t be surprising if Real Madrid players wet themselves every time they see him. In fact, the contrary would be quite inscrutable in itself.
But there are looks. When one sees the players around Zidane, it is impossible to not notice the adoring gazes the players give to him. It is almost as if they have all stopped going to the Church as they have found God in him.
This is the sort of reverence that every manager seeks from their players. Some managers gain experience and trophies, while others instil fear and apply manipulation techniques to make the players do their bidding.
Not Zinedine Zidane. With him, all this is as pointless as selfie sticks. The respect that he gets is natural and it is this veneration that pushes the players to do almost anything for the Frenchman.
And he has instilled a winning mentality within the players, a point that is rarely highlighted. Many claim that he is lucky. Well, yes, he is. But luck, as the saying goes, favours the brave. The number of games that the Blancos have saved from the jaws of defeat works like a perfect testament to mindset the legendary figure has engraved in his players.
The real test for Zidane
These are some of the most important reasons as to how he has gotten this far with the Galacticos, but now is the crux time of his tenure. Or, as Sir Alex Ferguson would have put, it is squeaky-bum time.
With an injury list longer than the line of people that attended Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, this is a testing time for Zidane. Real Madrid are broken, especially in defence where only three first team players—Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane and Nacho—are fit, and this is the moment that will reveal what Zidane the manager is truly made of.
What he should do from here is an analysis for another article, but how he does from here is what determines the true state of his managerial ability. If he knows the trade well, he will find a way to get around this quagmire and reveal how much he actually knows—and that’s what the test is all about.
At Real Madrid, the past plays absolutely no importance to the present status of a manager. One can win a treble with the Whites and be sacked the very next season if he fails to deliver any trophies—regardless of the situation.
Zidane might not have many first team players available, but this is what management is all about—to make the best use of what one has instead of moaning about what isn’t there. In the end, if Zidane can come out of this phase to win the league title at least, he will prove that Zidane the manager is the real deal like he was as a player.
