#5 Zinedine Zidane and Luis Enrique’s tactical intransigence
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Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the biggest clubs in world football. Yet, their managers are rookies in management, relatively of course. Zinedine Zidane’s previous managerial experience was the Real Madrid Castilla side while Luis Enrique has only been managing at the top level for 5 years.
Young managers are notoriously inflexible in their tactics, something Pep Guardiola noted was a flaw when he was at Barcelona. Zinedine Zidane has a very clear idea of his playing style, with a clear demarcation of attack and defence, and a slight preponderance to counter-attacking football. When Madrid face deep-lying sides though, that system falls apart, and Madrid are left banging their heads against a defensive block, to no avail.
Luis Enrique has been inflexible as well, but it’s more a case of ‘if it works, don’t fix it’. The Barcelona boss even recruited in such a way that he’s not left with much of an alternative when things go awry, as Arda Turan, Paco Alcacer and Denis Suarez are simply poorer versions of the players they replace on the pitch. Enrique needs a direct player to speed things up in the final third for Barcelona, and risks losing out on trophies if Barcelona remain one-dimensional throughout the season.
