Within the first 17 Months of his Managerial career he has already achieved so much. When he first joined Benitez had left the club in a dreadful position. Madrid were 3rd in the league - 4pts behind Athletico and 5 behind Barca - yet Zidane was almost able to turn this around coming within a point of winning the league. He has now went onto become the first manager to win back to back Champions Leagues, holds the longest unbeaten run in Spanish football History, shares the longest winning streak in the La Liga with Pep Guardiola and has also managed do what very few Real Madrid Managers have managed to do in the last decade - beat Barcelona to the La Liga.
My Question is deserve he deserve to be classed as one of the top 5 or 6 managers in the world currently. One of the main arguments against him is he is able to work with a squad full of world class players. However looking at Barcelona's team you would have to argue in terms of skill and ability they are the better team.
Suarez is clearly a far superior player to Benzema, with all of Bale's injury issues you would have to say this makes Neymar a far more useful asset and although there is not much between them I would class Messi as the slightly better player.
In terms of Midfield Busquets for me is a better player than Casemeiro however I would have both Modric and Kroos ahead of any Barcelona midfielder. In terms of defence and their goalkeepers their is very little difference between both.
What is clear is this Barcelona team is still a very side yet Zidane has been able to come out on top against this very impressive side to win the La Liga as well as overcoming teams like Napoli, Bayern, Athletico, Juventus, Roma and Man City to win 2 champions league's.
Another argument in favor of Zidane is that a manager of the stature of Benitez, who is a 2 time La Liga and champions league winner, was not able to get this talented squad working as a team - yet Zidane was able to do so in weeks.
In my opinion Zidane obviously does not compare to the likes of Paisley, Ferguson, Clough who built teams up and made them believe they could have it all. However in terms of modern day football I think it is difficult to argue against him being a top quality manager with the record he has, however like Guardiola to prove he is one of the best in the world he needs to move to a league like England where there are several teams challenging for the league and come out on top.
So how highly would you rate Zidane as a manager.
5 Stars - One of the 5 best managers in the world
4 Stars - One of the top 10
3 Stars- Very good manager but needs to do it for a longer period of time
before he can be considered one of the best in the world
2 Stars- Just being made to look good by his players
1 Stars- Wasn't even a world class player
Discuss
Zidane
posted on 4/6/17
comment by GHAGooner (U19228)
posted 1 minute ago
Yes, he has shown himself a better manager than Ferguson in just two seasons; I'll have an article on both he and Pep are better managers than the Scotsman
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If you actually read the article you would find it fairly balanced. In the article. I ckearly stated that Zidane was not on Paisley's, Ferguson's or Clough's level due to the fact unlike them he has not built up a club from very little into a dominant force. I also stated that like Guardiola he would need to move to a more competitive league if he wants to truly prove he is the best manager in the world. I merely asked if he was good enough to be considered as one of the top managers currently managing.
posted on 4/6/17
Managing Madrid isn't easy, it's such a high pressure job, even more so when competing with Barcelona.
That said, I'm not convinced Zidane would replicate his success elsewhere. He fits Madrid because of who he is. Maybe Juve and France job would fit him also.
posted on 5/6/17
I think winning the CL back-to-back and La Liga in the same season obviously puts him right up there, he's outperformed ALL of the other managers this season.
I think pound-for-pound Conte is currently the best coach in the world, went to a new league, took over a team who were a mess last season, had to deal with Jose, Pep, Klopp, Wenger, and Poch and blew them away without needing to spend 100+ of million, sign of a great coach imo.
I know why people question ZZ, having Europe's best players in a predominantly two-team league means you're in a with a good chance of winning the big competitions, but we've seen how hard it is to win consecutive CL's and it's not something to be sniffed at.
posted on 5/6/17
As a manager, I have him as 2.5 and rising slowly.
I don't think it's just him though. Zidane barely ever discusses tactics in his pressers, it's all about the players' frame of mind.
It's clearly his man management (Ronaldo's already stated several times that it was Zidane who sat him down and convinced him that he needed to take the first part of the season easy), but combined with the tactics of the bald guy who stands around him basically going so unnoticed that barely anyone's even bothered to write about him.
By the way, his name's David Bettoni.
posted on 5/6/17
comment by Arthur Johnson (U6426)
posted 12 hours, 8 minutes ago
As a manager, I have him as 2.5 and rising slowly.
I don't think it's just him though. Zidane barely ever discusses tactics in his pressers, it's all about the players' frame of mind.
It's clearly his man management (Ronaldo's already stated several times that it was Zidane who sat him down and convinced him that he needed to take the first part of the season easy), but combined with the tactics of the bald guy who stands around him basically going so unnoticed that barely anyone's even bothered to write about him.
By the way, his name's David Bettoni.
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Isn't that what makes a good manager though? It's about motivating your people, delegating correctly and making sure everything works well together.
Real Madrid especially is a club where you need man management above all else because these are talented super stars and plenty with egos.
posted on 6/6/17
comment by HRH King Ledley (U20095)
posted 1 day, 18 hours ago
Hard to argue with what he has done, but hard to gauge his true position because of his position at the circus of Madrid.
What I will say is you have to be a fantastic man-manager at Madrid to command the respect of the players, and charismatic enough to win over the fans. Everyone respects Zidane, one of the modern greats. Obviously that will not get you by in itself though.
He is a great manager at the minute, jury is out on his ability as a coach though
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Good comment. I'd be interested to see if he'd be able to dig Real out of a tough patch; it's a unique situation given that Real pretty much never have a real bad spell - at least, a bad spell by normal standards.
He clearly got the job based on his reputation as a player and his links with the club, and I can only assume he's used his ability to command respect due to his legend as a player to good effect. It's worked, for sure, and don't get me wrong - he deserves a lot of credit for clearly being an excellent man-manager and motivator. But no-one can really argue he's had to do anything dramatic or complicated from a tactical perspective, and he's clearly been afforded more patience by the fans and board than Benitez ever got.
Also, for what it's worth, Barca have gone backwards in the last 12-18 months, mainly because Luis Enrique has inexplicably decided to abandon the club's tradition of using La Masia, and instead has bought a load of decent-but-not-Barca-quality players like Arda Turan, Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez, Lucas Digne, Aleix Vidal, Jeremy Mathieu and Paco Alcacer. All decent players in other sides, but none anywhere near the level of the previous generation of La Masia graduates.
posted on 6/6/17
Out of interest and since everyone seems to remain sceptical about Zidane, whom are considered the top 5 manager (and which order) at the moment?
posted on 6/6/17
Managers or coaches?
Madrid's players need minimal coaching - lots are at the top of their game.
They do need to be managed extremely well to keep the egos in check though.
He has to be classed as a great manager on his record, but relatively unoroven as a coach.
posted on 7/6/17
comment by Boss By Hugo (U18550)
posted 1 day, 23 hours ago
Isn't that what makes a good manager though? It's about motivating your people, delegating correctly and making sure everything works well together.
Real Madrid especially is a club where you need man management above all else because these are talented super stars and plenty with egos.
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Sorry mate.
If you look at it from that angle, yeah.
Just I always think in-game management is a hugely important feature. When teams are fairly well matched, it's a battle of wits where you can get your starting shot wrong but make up for it with the right adjustments.
In pressers and interviews, ZZ really doesn't come across as much of a tictac-head. His spiel is generally on motivation and concentration; he desn't go much into tactical detail.
I may of course be mistaken.
posted on 7/6/17
comment by Zlatan The King Ibrahimovic (U10026)
posted 2 days, 14 hours ago
Managing Madrid isn't easy, it's such a high pressure job, even more so when competing with Barcelona.
That said, I'm not convinced Zidane would replicate his success elsewhere. He fits Madrid because of who he is. Maybe Juve and France job would fit him also.
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Agree with this.