Zinedine Zidane to Manchester United
It’s been no secret that for the last few years, first beginning towards the end of José Mourinho’s tenure as manager of Manchester United, that one day I want Zinedine Zidane to manage the club.
I’ve already done a thread on Twitter about why I believe now is a good time for Zidane to come in and manage United, which by the way was my most popular tweet to date.
But here, I’d like to discuss my thoughts in more detail and going into further depth about what a potential starting lineup could look like under the Frenchman.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær
I have nothing but respect for the job that Ole has done thus far. Prior to his appointment as Caretaker Manager, the club was a mess. Results were diabolical, players were getting criticised constantly and there was a poisonous vibe created at the club by then manager José Mourinho.
When Ole was appointed, the message from the club and the fans to him was pretty simple; make us enjoy watching the team play again. For every game under Mourinho in the 18/19 season, was a chore to watch.
Especially being a fan where the time zones are a problem, you wouldn’t really feel motivated to set an alarm for a crazy time like 2:30 am, just to watch boring 90 minutes.
But I remember when I woke up the morning following Ole’s debut match as Caretaker, funnily enough, against his previous club in Cardiff City. My first thought at seeing the scoreline was wow. But after watching the highlights, I was in awe of how much energy, speed and flair United played with.
It was like watching the United of old.
I then managed to watch matches like our 4–1 rout against Bournemouth at home and our clinic at the Emirates against Arsenal in an efficient 3–1 win.
But it wasn’t until we played PSG away. I was expecting a pasting. We were away from home against a hostile crowd, with elite players like Neymar and Mbappe. We also had 10 first team players out injured or suspended. I feared the worst.
But when I woke up to see the last 10 minutes of the game, I was shocked. 2–1. 2–3 on aggregate. Then Rashford getting the penalty. Scoring it. I went absolutely crazy at 5 in the morning.
What followed was Ole given the permanent job. Based on the emotions at the club, the decision made sense. Looking long term, it was probably a bit naive, considering we only won our next two games in the league. But hey, you only live once. Ole deserved a chance to build a squad based on his period as Caretaker Manager.
What followed was a rollercoaster. His first season as permanent manager was mixed. A very ordinary start, with many calling for the appointment of recently sacked manager, Mauricio Pochettino to take over. I, to be honest, was one of those people as I felt Ole was beginning to show that he was out of his depth.
But signing Bruno Fernandes following a humiliating 2–0 defeat to Burnley at home, probably in the long term saved Ole’s job. Bruno was integral to our success and making the top 4 in the 2019/20 season.
What followed in the 2020/21 season was a similar story, but we brought in some key players and it looked like we could really make up some ground on Manchester City and Liverpool.
But following the 6–1 defeat against Spurs and then losing 2–1 to İstanbul Başakşehir away from home, those questions of whether Ole was the one to win trophies with us began to resurface and since then, I’ve slowly grown to the idea of wanting Ole out.
We then end up getting booted from the Champions League, fail to win any meaningful competitions and then going on to lose the Europa League final against Villarreal.
As I’m writing this article now, we probably have our best team post Sir Alex Ferguson and our best chance of really winning a trophy. When you have a frontline consisting of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba and not to mention Cristiano Ronaldo, the pressure should rightly be ramped up.
But despite sitting equal first in the league, only once this season have we really had a solid and convincing performance, where that came on the opening day against Leeds in a 5–1 thrashing.
Since then, we haven’t really looked that convincing in games, and that contributed to defeats against Young Boys and West Ham.
I’m not wanting Ole to be sacked or moved on because of those two games. That would be an incredibly rash and naive decision to make.
For the last few years, Ole has been making mistakes of a similar nature, that have cost us games and caused the club to win 0 out of the possible 18 trophies we could’ve won under Ole’s tenure as manager.
Under Solskjær, these problems have been present for the last 3 years:
- Elements of poor coaching (i.e. inability to break down low blocks)
- Poor substitutions (either not making them/not making the right ones/waiting too long to make one)
- Bias towards/against certain players (Fred and McTominay would always get gametime, even if they don’t deserve it)
- Often lack of urgency in games (i.e. requiring the opposition to score to trigger an emotional change in our performance to improve)
- Lack of a winning mentality (downplaying the need to win certain trophies such as the Carabao Cup)
This model is clearly not sustainable long term. As I said in my thread, giving Ole the job permanently on the basis that he would be a transitional manager would be a smart move.
He got the best out of many young players, got the fans on side again and we are now able to attract key players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho.
But now the club needs to make a really pivotal and key decision; do we stick with Solskjær, or do we relieve him from his duties and get an elite manager to win us trophies.
For me, we have to go with option B.
Last season was kind of a wasted season, labelled as progress. This season also looks to be labelled as progress, as we haven’t got a CDM. There is only so much longer we can keep labelling seasons as progress, when some of our elite players are now beginning to age (i.e. Cavani, Ronaldo, De Gea, Pogba).
Ole is yet to win a trophy. He’s had opportunities. For me, he’s taken us as far as he can and this is nothing against the guy. I commend him for the progress he’s made with us.
But when we’ve really got a key squad that’s ready to win, we need to bring in a manager that knows how to win.
Zinedine Zidane
Unbelievably, Zidane is available. He has mutually agreed to step down from manager at Real Madrid for the second time, and while I understand that he would like to manage the French National Team at some point, I strongly believe that United should entertain the idea of him managing at Old Trafford.
Zidane’s track record as the manager of Los Blancos is impressive, notably winning three Champions League titles in a row and two La Liga titles.
People like to use the argument that Zidane is just a man manager, trying to suggest that he is tactically naive and is really just another Ole. But the story is, he’s not.
Many who doubt Zidane’s ability to manage United throw in this quote:
“Maybe I am not the best tactician, and I don’t even need to say it because the press says it. But I have something else. Motivation, passion, I have, and that is worth a lot more. I don’t know if when I was playing everything was easier, I don’t know if I’ve been a better player or coach. What I have is a passion for football. I will always be positive, I have that. My parents taught me that to achieve things in life you must think it will work out, if you think you will fail, you will fail.”
However, they’re totally disregarding how humble Zidane is. He’s always been humble like this. Another example was after the 2017 Champions League win against Juventus, a reporter showed footage of him telling Carvajal how Madrid would score their first goal and he said ‘I don’t give the credit to myself, it’s the players’.
Tactically, Zidane has qualities. He had a clear style of play, that was possession based football, that focussed on utilising the strengths of the midfield three consisting of Toni Kroos, Luka Modrić and Casemiro, to ultimately find the key front three of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
Every player had a key role in the offensive, defensive, transition to defence and transition to offence phases.
Zidane was also flexible, particularly in the 2016/17 season, where he shifted to a 4–4–2 diamond to facilitate the loss of Gareth Bale, by having Ronaldo and Benzema leading the line, with Isco sitting in just behind.
Furthermore, he adjusted to the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2019/20 season (his first full season following his return to the job in the 2018/19 season) by not only winning the league, but having one of the best defensive records the club had had in decades, with Real Madrid only conceding 25 goals in 38 games (0.66 goals conceded per game).
Zidane’s personality and charisma is also a key quality of his. He is remarkably calm in many situations, and one where he proved this to a high degree was the 2017 Champions League final at halftime against Juventus.
The club released footage of Zidane talking to his players at halftime, with the score being 1–1 and what was evident was his ability to keep the players focussed and calm for the second half.
He put faith in the players ability by saying, “We will suffer, it’s a final. Keep calm. We will get another goal. Got it?” From there, Madrid smashed Juventus out of the park, by scoring three goals and in the end, comfortably winning 4–1.
Zidane’s tactical set up and man management is second to none, as he kept many players in positive spirits and in career best form. The prospect of him arriving at Old Trafford is a sight to behold, as the potential he could have with the players at his disposal is an exciting prospect.
Possible Lineup
Zidane’s go to system is the 4–3–3, due to its fluidity and flexibility. I believe there is only one signing he would really need to make. A defensive midfielder. There are many similarities between United’s current squad and Zidane’s Champions League winning team at Madrid.
A key and integral part of his system however, was the CDM. Casemiro was huge for Zidane, particularly in the Champions League as he averaged 4.3 tackles per game and 2.36 interceptions per game through the three Champions League campaigns.
However, bringing Casemiro to Old Trafford would make little sense, especially considering his age.
Two Similar players to Casemiro, are both in the Premier League in Wilfred Ndidi and Declan Rice. I feel that Zidane would push harder for Ndidi due to how defensively solid he is and how similar he is to Casemiro.
So far in the Premier League this season, the Nigerian international has averaged 3 tackles per game and 2.8 interceptions per game, numbers of a similar level and quality to the Brazilian.
Albeit Ndidi would cost a lot of money, he would be the primary target for the club as there are no other positions that are in desperate need of strengthening, and on top of the likely sale of Anthony Martial, the club should financially be in a position to attempt to make a bid for Ndidi.
Here is how a Zinedine Zidane Manchester United side would line up:
For me, this lineup above should it come to fruition, should be competitive in both the Premier League and Champions League due to the quality in all areas of the pitch.
