Drawing another blank at San Mames won’t have been what Zinedine Zidane would’ve expected from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
Four goals from 14 league games is an atrocious return, especially from players of their calibre, but frankly, Zidane only has himself to blame.
His reticence to play anyone other than BBC in the striking positions is coming back to bite him on the backside. “Untouchable” was the one-word answer given at the beginning of the campaign when discussing Real’s answer to Barcelona’s MSN.
Neymar would move on of course, but in Ousmane Dembele, the Catalans have at least plugged the hole with a sensible purchase. His subsequent injury was rotten luck but the Brazilian will be history in the minds of all cules once the young Frenchman hits the ground running. And he will.
When Real had the opportunity to purchase another French starlet, they somehow managed to allow Kylian Mbappe slip through their fingers. Be under no illusions, the former Monaco ace was only ever heading to the Santiago Bernabeu.
His father had talked in glowing terms about Real and the player himself seemed happy enough… However, an 11th-hour curve ball saw Los Blancos delay the move and that, in the end, proved fatal to their ambition of signing one of European football’s hottest properties.
As has been seen this season, Zidane will not budge from using strikers that clearly aren’t fit for purpose. When Mbappe, via his representatives, wanted guarantees as to playing time, the coach wouldn’t give it.
With Gareth Bale being injured for much of the season to date, both the decision to renege on Mbappe, and the one not to allow Bale to move to Manchester United for somewhere in the region of €100m are looking like folly.
But that’s not all.
Alvaro Morata is currently the third highest top scorer in the Premier League on nine goals. Only Harry Kane and Mo Salah are ahead of him.
He looks dangerous every time the Blues go on the attack and has proven himself an adept target man. Having said that, he didn’t really need to prove it at all, given he’d already done so last season.
Despite having to routinely come off of the bench, he still managed to finish with 14 goals which was three more than Benzema, who, as now, was Zidane’s preferred choice.
It’s no wonder he wanted to move on to pastures new, but the sad fact is he could’ve been delivering for Real, if Zidane was willing to drop his under-performing stars.
Think about it. The front three that never was; Ronaldo, Morata, Mbappe. It beggars belief.
Zidane’s man management skills might be A1, but his tactical nous is beginning to be questioned. He told the press on Saturday that Real are where they are in the La Liga table because they’re not scoring goals.
Frankly, he needs to be a bit more self-critical because It’s not only BBC that should be shouldering the blame for that.
