Zinedine Zidane's nonchalance will speed up his Real Madrid exit

For the umpteenth time this season, Real Madrid failed to push on from a position of strength, as they followed up the 4-1 win over Valencia by playing out a 2-2 draw with Levante.

The games played in the past few weeks have been very symbolic of Real Madrid's season, it's been very much Jekyll and Hyde, so unlike the Real Madrid side we know, they defeated Deportivo 7-1 at the Bernabeu and immediately lost to Leganes in the ensuing cup tie as they were embarrassingly dumped out of the Copa del Rey.

They went to the Estadio de Mestalla and secured a hard fought 4-1 win over Valencia and as it looked like a corner had been turned, down they went again as they played Levante and drew with the minnows who are placed 17th on the log.

The importance of these games has not been lost on anybody, not least Zinedine Zidane himself, but his seemingly nonchalant attitude to games, during and after, reeks of ignorance and borders on mediocrity.

Tactical disasters

Gareth Bale should definitely have played the full game against Levante

The Levante game was slipping away right before his eyes and he removed Gareth Bale, one of the most energetic performers on the night and left on Toni Kroos, someone who had been very lackadaisical all game.

His decisions and indecisions in the game were to blame as Los Blancos slumped to another draw, one that brings them closer to qualifying for the UEFA Europa League rather than the title, something unheard of on these shores for ages.

The winter transfer window was introduced to aid teams, giving them a chance to correct transfer mistakes made earlier in the season and try to redeem the season to meet the targets set, to strengthen their respective squads for the final push, for some it's to avoid relegation, for others it's to give themselves a better chance of winning trophies or give them something to build on for the next season.

Transfer market inactivity - a sign of ignorance?

Benzema and Ronaldo have struggled to score in La Liga this season

It's noteworthy to point out that Real Madrid were the only team in La Liga not to strengthen the squad in the winter despite the obvious failings of the attack, strikers who could have made an impact were bandied around by the Madrid media in the hope of getting Zidane to see reason, but his nonchalance came out on top as he, once again, decided to leave the squad as it was, hoping that Benzema would somehow morph into Ronaldo at his prime for his trust in him, a dream that's as wild as it is vague.

Zinedine Zidane has repeatedly bemoaned bad luck as the reason Real Madrid had not been converting their glut of chances this season, luck is what the lazy rely on when the folly of their own actions have been thrown down their faces, it's not supposed to be used so often at the top end of a cutthroat game as this.

He watched as Karim Benzema, Ronaldo and co repeatedly missed chances that were easier to score and he still felt luck was the main modifier, they drew and lost games and he watched on doing nothing when a striker should have been brought in to add more goals in attack.

The league had been long lost before the draw at the Estadio Ciutat de Valencia but games like these were supposed to be the precursor to the big apple, the games that would revive the flickering fire of optimism ahead of the UEFA Champions League tie against PSG.

But in this form, only the bravest of optimists would back any other result aside from a Real Madrid elimination and as that's the only competition Los Blancos are still actively competing in, an exit would mean only one thing for Zidane, the axe falls on him and it'll be because of his nonchalance.