Tony Adams pledged to give Granada’s underperforming players a ‘kick up the a*se’ following his surprise appointment as Lucas Alcaraz’s successor last month.

But instead it’s La Liga that’s given Adams a proverbial boot up the backside.

The former Arsenal and England defender, 50, failed to prevent relegated Granada slumping to a fifth successive defeat under his management against Real Madrid on Saturday afternoon.

Los Blancos registered an emphatic 4-0 win at Los Carmenes, with all four goals coming in the opening 35 minutes.

James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata both scored braces to ensure Madrid remain level on points with Barcelona at the top of the table with that crucial game in hand still to play.

In truth, the result could have been much, much worse for Adams and his team.

Zinedine Zidane’s side were rampant in the first half and could, you suspect, have won by a far greater margin had they not decided to take their foot off the gas in the second half.

Lord knows how many goals Cristiano Ronaldo, who was rested for this fixture following his hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League in mid-week, would have scored.

Adams' spell has been a disaster so far

The stats from Adams’ brief tenure so far make for grim reading.

In five matches, Granada have suffered five defeats, faced 89 shots, conceded 13 goals, and scored just once from a total of 47 shots.

It couldn’t have gone much worse so far.

Adams was surprisingly upbeat after the match

But despite suffering another defeat, Adams was all smiles in his post-match press conference.

"Real Madrid are at another level, but we gave it to them too easily in the first-half," the former England captain told journalists, per the Mirror.

"I was very proud of them in the second half, we changed some things and kept it down to a 0-0 second half."

Adams asked Zidane something a little odd

Adams also asked Zidane if the French coach would “swap teams” with him.

"No disrespect to Zidane,” Adams continued, “but swap teams please."

Adams: 'I'd like a good team one day'

He then added: ”It's a learning experience for me but I've done it before and I'd like a good team one day."

It’s nice to dream.

News Now - Sport News