Zidane under the spotlight: Five mistakes attributable to the coach in pre-season Real Madrid It's been a poor summer

Zinedine Zidane is taking his share of the criticism for the poor performances after Real Madrid's humiliating defeat to Atletico Madrid.

Only two games have been played, but by losing two, drawing one, conceding 12 and seven against Atletico, there's been enough seen to raise questions.

1. Always the same

If you swap Eden Hazard for Cristiano Ronaldo and Thibaut Courtois for Keylor Navas, this Real Madrid team is the very same that Zidane had in his last season in 2017/18. While it's true that none of the signings aside from Hazard have a guaranteed place in the starting eleven, those on the periphery haven't changed roles in a positive way, with some even being moved on.

2. No change of system

Zidane lined Madrid up in a 4-4-2 formation against Arsenal with Luka Jovic joining Karim Benzema in attack, but his first-choice system remains his tried and tested 4-3-3. Unless a new arrival changes his mind, it's unlikely that anything other than that will be fielded on the opening day of the season.

3. No reaction capacity

Madrid fell behind early in three of their games, and each have seen very low intensity, to the point that they've leaked eight of the 12 goals in the first half. Zidane's changes have done little to change anything and at no point has he sprung any kind of surprise.

4. Few minutes for youngsters

It's suspected that Brahim Diaz's injury is lowering the minutes assigned to the younger members of the squad, but despite Takefuso Kubo and Rodrygo shining brighter than anyone against Bayern Munich, they still haven't played as much as they'd have liked.

5. Little public self-criticism

Zidane has been flat in his press duties and that's never changed. He hasn't offered any criticisms of the team even after leaking five goals in the first half of the derby in New Jersey. The only time his tone has changed has been when answering questions about Gareth Bale.