Zinedine Zidane needs to drop Cristiano Ronaldo and put more faith in his squad to turn things around at Real Madrid
Ballon d'Or-winner has been almost hindrance with tantrums as Los Blancos La Liga form continues to worsen
REAL MADRID are in trouble — and Zinedine Zidane seems incapable of turning things around.
A shock home defeat by Villarreal, followed by Barcelona's comeback win against Real Sociedad means Los Blancos are 19 points behind the league leaders.
Real Madrid are in fourth place, and nearer Deportivo La Coruna in the relegation places than the Catalans.
It seems incredible that a side can fall so badly, but the reigning European champions have won a match on this continent for over a month.
Lower league sides Fuenlabrada and Numancia have both escaped the Bernabeu with draws — each scoring twice — and things are going from bad to worse.
Now, normally under Florentino Perez, the quick fix is to just get rid of the manager.
But Zidane has won the Champions League title back-to-back.
He led Real Madrid to only their second La Liga title in a decade — while also adding two Fifa Club World Cups, two Uefa Super Cups and a Spanish Super Cup.
ARSENE ANGER Five times Arsene Wenger should have been sacked by Arsenal
His most expensive signing was £26million for Alvaro Morata. A player sold onto Chelsea for £65m 12 months later.
And, even more importantly, he is one of the club's greatest players of all-time.
Most Read in football
However, something drastic has to change, and it is clear Zidane has to take a large proportion of the blame for what seems to be a never ending slump.
As the club's former youth team coach, he shared Perez's vision of building a younger, successful and more "Spanish side".
In came Dani Ceballos, 21, the star of his country's European Under-21 Championship and Theo Hernandez, 20, one of the most highly-rated left-backs in the planet.
But neither have got a look-in this season.
Zidane continues to insist that Real Madrid don't need to make any signings in January — yet continues to pick the same players, failing to utilise the full array of talent at his disposal.
Last season, as the season came to a crux and Los Blancos were fighting for both La Liga and Champions League success, the Frenchman practically used two different teams for each competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema and Co. were deployed in crunch, knock-out European ties.
While James Rodriguez, Lucas Vazquez, Morata and Mateo Kovacic came in for the domestic clashes.
It proved incredibly successful, but what are the chances of 18+ players maintaining elite form for two full seasons?
Furthermore, Pepe, Morata and James were allowed to leave —and none were sufficiently replaced.
And all three have played well at their new clubs.
James in particular, who Zidane left out of both Champions League final teams, has impressed during his loan spell at Bayern Munich.
Noises emanating out of the club, suggest players are unhappy that, despite not training hard enough, some of the club's "A-listers" are picked regardless.
Zidane needs to instil more discipline, show the likes of Ronaldo and Benzema — who have six La Liga goals between them — that they are dispensable.
Give Borja Mayoral, Vazquez and Ceballos more of a run in the first team.
Ronaldo may have won the Ballon d'Or in 2017, but all that did was make a mockery of the fact the award his handed out each calendar year.
The former Manchester United may have been sensational for the latter part of the 2016-17 campaign, but his only contributions have come in the Champions League this season.
His tantrums, reports about his unhappiness, criticism of player sales has meant he is almost hindrance now.
Zidane also needs to swallow his pride and bring in some much-needed reinforcements. Barcelona have spent £300m in the past two transfer windows to improve their squad.
Now, while it is important the money is spent correctly, Real Madrid need to invest.
Zidane could yet complete his trophy set with Copa del Rey or he may become the first manager in history to win the Champions League three seasons in row.
But, with his luck having run out, it's time to see whether he truly is a top coach.