The year in tactics: Zinedine Zidane brings Real Madrid back to glory
By Dan Voicescu
The end of 2016 is approaching, which means it’s time to examine the most successful tactics of the year. Today, we look at Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid.
Without any prior first team coaching experience, Zinedine Zidane’s promotion to head coach of Real Madrid seemed a bit of a stretch at the time of his hiring in January 2016. Zizou was a legend of the game, but would his success as a player translate into results as coach of the most heralded club team in history?
Zidane inherited a 4-3-3 formation from his predecessor Rafael Benitez. Without making any dramatic shifts in formation or personnel, Zidane gradually tinkered with the lineup, making subtle, progressive changes to fulfill the team’s potential.
The first move was to shore up the midfield by adding a true defensive midfielder (Casemiro) and allowing Toni Kroos, the previous defensive midfielder, to play further up the field, providing more support to the three-man forward line — Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema. Isco/James Rodriguez were sacrificed in the process, but the end result was a better defensive shield provided by Casemiro and greater attacking freedom for Kroos and Luka Modric (and even left back Marcelo).
It’s worth mentioning that Zidane had always credited the defensive midfielder Claude Makelele for the success of the original Galacticos team. After Makelele was sold to Chelsea, Zidane was quoted saying, “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the engine?” Zidane saw Makelele as the motor of that legendary team, and was looking for his own defensive midfielder-destroyer for the current Real side.
This subtle change had a veritable domino effect tactically, providing better balance and allowing the individual strengths of each player to be showcased. One of these effects was to give Ronaldo the option to drift inside and get more touches on the ball, or to become a target man brandishing his aerial ability. In that case, the width on the left flank would be provided by Marcelo.
Once the switch was made to the 4-5-1 system (or 4-1-4-1, considering Casemiro is a true defensive midfielder and Benzema a true center forward), the wins and trophies started coming in. A Champions League win, and a record number of points in a calendar year in Spain, ahead of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid are fantastic achievements, even at a club that expects to win the domestic title every year.
But perhaps Zidane’s greatest quality as a manager has been his ability to adjust the Real Madrid lineup to match and counter the opponent’s strength as well as maximize the talent available. His tactical flexibility is one of the driving factors that enabled Real to be the top club in Spain and Europe.
Before a key matchup against Atletico Madrid away at the Vicente Calderon this November, Zidane had to design a starting XI without five of his regular players: Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Casemiro, Kroos and Benzema. While the defensive plugs were straight swaps with Raphael Varane and Nacho replacing Sergio Ramos and Pepe, the midfield and forward lines required some improvisation and inspiration.
Zidane switched to a 4-4-1-1 with Ronaldo as center forward, Isco just behind him and Modric next to Mateo Kovacic in central midfield. Bale switched sides to play on the left wing, allowing Lucas Vazquez to play in his more natural right midfield position. This lineup was deemed a risky improvisation, but the end result was impressive, as Real won convincingly 3-0 over their city rivals and Champions League final opponents. Also remarkable is that Kovacic, who was brought over from Inter Milan as an attacking midfielder, has acquitted himself admirably as a central midfield, box-to-box player.
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The nature of the Real Madrid job means Zidane will always be under pressure, but his first year as a first-team manager has been highly impressive. With Real three points clear at the top of La Liga (with a game in hand) and facing a Champions League round of 16 tie against what looks like a favorable opponent in Napoli, the Frenchman looks set for an impressive 2017 as well.