As Manchester United fell to their first defeat of the Premier League season, all the drama returned to the fore.

Jose Mourinho and Ed Woodward’s relationship doesn’t seem to be a happy one, Jose Mourinho’s relationship with Paul Pogba doesn’t seem to be rosy, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial don’t seem overly happy at the club and the Man United team looked like they’d only just met each other as the were beaten by Brighton & Hove Albion yesterday.

One common factor in all that is obviously the club’s manager Mourinho.

Even some of the United faithful have been left disillusioned by the team’s playing style.

We all know that Jose has issues with his third seasons at football clubs and many are doubting he’ll see this one out at Old Trafford.

All this has led to speculation linking United with former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane. The man himself is reportedly very keen on the job if it were to become available.

But would the French superstar be any better for The Red Devils?

Well Zizou certainly knows how to manage at a big club. He won a La Liga title with Los Blancos and also coached them to three Champions League titles in a row, no other manager has managed to do that!

The way Zidane managed ex-United star Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu was extremely impressive. He got the Portuguese forward to concentrate on being fresh for the right moments and this helped the player peak towards the end of the season. Quality talent can relate to Zinedine because he was there before them and was one of the best footballers in the world, so clearly knows what he is talking about.

No one in the Madrid ranks really questioned Zidane, which shows that his man-management style must have been impressive. Yes a few, like Gareth Bale and Mateo Kovacic, would have liked to have played more but they didn’t openly criticise the manager.

Being a French icon would surely help cool any exit talk regarding Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial. Real Madrid were heavily linked with a move for Martial while Zidane was in charge, while the French boss said this about Pogba:

‘Maybe we are talking about Pogba a bit too much, but if he can keep up his current development he can become one of the best players ever’

The coach took over at Real during the middle of a campaign and he managed to change things and get positive results, that’s exactly what he’d need to do if he were replace Jose this term.

His main formations of choice in Spain were a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2 (diamond) and these are formations that would suit the current crop at Man Utd.

The Premier League side would probably have to step up and bring in a director of football asap and that person would have to be able to work with Zidane. It’s all very well adding an administrator to deal with contracts and transfers but they have to speak frequently to the manager and work to the same philosophy.

Zidane won’t come in and fix the defence. There’s clearly fundamental problems with the backline and Zinedine isn’t known for his work in that area. He was lucky at Real that he had established stars in that position and it will be a big question he’d have to answer if he’s in the Old Trafford hot-seat.

It’s an interesting period for the Mourinho era at Manchester United and clearly things aren’t currently going to plan. He doesn’t seem to have the backing of the board and he seems to be a few fall-outs away from a player revolt.

If he can’t last the term, then United could turn to Zinedine Zidane. It would represent another high profile choice but the club would have to change a few things in the background to give any manager the best chance possible.

Posted on August 20th, 2018 by scott
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