Fresh from the international break, the global Man United family expected Man United to launch a strong recovery from their previous demise. And that recovery couldn’t have been better started than against Watford, a team (with poor performance) that doesn’t get high odds to win even from the biggest global bookmakers on liontips.co.za.
Ultimately, losing 4-1 at Watford rightly revealed how much Man United had fallen under Solskjaer. With the acquisition of the magical likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jordan Sancho, and Raphael Varane, punter rushed at the best bookmakers on liontips.com to bet on Man United winning the Premier League this season.
The season turned out to be catastrophic. Unmemorable mauling from Liverpool and Manchester City was a stunning reality check to all Man United’s trophy-winning ambitions.
Ole Solksjaer’s legendary status had bought him enough grace at Man United. But an inglorious humiliation at Vicarage Road (Watford’s home) forced the hands of the Glazers family – and then the ax came swinging for Ole’s head.
Sacked!
The season is relatively early, and redemption is yet possible. Such redemption would be highly dependent on who fills the managerial vacuum currently at Old Trafford.
For now, a caretaker team led by Michael Carrick manages the team. However, it is no revelation that Man United’s executive board has been throwing admiring glances at Zinedine Zidane for a while now.
Zidane has earned the consideration
Such infatuation with Zidane from Man United is not unnatural. The Frenchman has an exceedingly handsome CV – embroidered with magnificent trophies both as a player and a manager.
Come on, you don’t win the three Champions League trophies Zidane amassed during his coaching stint at Real Madrid if you don’t know your stuff.
Winning it once could be a fluke, but for three consistent times, there is no grain of luck in that!
What is more, to retain the love and admiration of the infamously rebellious Bernabeu fans – as Zidane did during his time there as coach – is no easy feat.
Zidane aptly managed a team full of football’s biggest names
Ask the top managers today at the world’s biggest teams. Today’s football landscape has changed with the dressing rooms of big teams congested with large egos.
There is so much player power today. Players in the biggest leagues have outrageously enormous followers on social media. Just one post or even a like on a post from them on social media can pile overwhelming pressure on a coach.
Zidane did remarkably well managing a dressing room laden with oversized egos like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Benzema, and Sergio Ramos.
With spectacular man-management, he managed to keep everyone happy and pulled them in one direction. Never across his time in Real Madrid did we hear of dressing room mutiny, an all-too-familiar scenario in many top European teams.
But is Zidane a technical genius?
Zidane’s critics will point out that he doesn’t have the luxuriously tactical football brains of Guardiola, Klopp, Tuchel, or Antonio Conte.
Such accusations wouldn’t be too out of place either. While Real Madrid played mouthwatering football at some intervals, there were games where they were a pain to watch, even for Madrid supporters.
While Zidane almost guarantees results for Man United, he doesn’t guarantee the flamboyant football Old Trafford faithfuls are gluttonous for.
The trophies would come, but not every weekend would Zidane’s Man United tear teams apart for lunch with attacking bravado!
The premier league – while notorious for ferocity – also has a sizable collection of tactically sound managers. Would Zidane be able to pit his football brains against this lot?
Zidane is not the most eloquent English speaker
Critics are also quick to point out Zidane’s English speaking deficiencies. You wouldn’t blame Zidane much for this as the bulk of his football career had been spent in the shores of Spain and Italy.
But would such language handicaps become consequential at Man United? A large slice of the media attributed Unai Emery’s failure at Arsenal to his poor grasp of the English language, which impeded the transmission of his ideas to his team.
Well, as in every situation, time will tell if Zinedine Zidane works out for Man United.
