Zinedine Zidane's Motivational Skills Already Proving as Important as Tactics

Real Madrid couldn't quite get over the line for a record 17th consecutive LaLiga victory on Wednesday night, drawing 1-1 at home to Villarreal, but the overall changing manner of the performance—and other recent games—gave much reason for optimism for supporters.

Los Blancos had to come from behind to take the point at the Santiago Bernabeu after a poor opening 45 minutes, but as in previous games, it seemed that words in the interval from head coach Zinedine Zidane sparked a much-improved reaction, and in fairness, the home side were unfortunate not to run out as winners.

While the tendency to focus on immediacy might have made it look as if Real Madrid had dropped two points at home, a much more important factor to take from the game is Zidane's continuing influence on the team and his ability to eke better performances out of them.

Low-key

Real Madrid started with plenty of big-name stars, with the entire BBC attack in place and James Rodriguez earning another start in midfield after a good display at the weekend.

Two names from midfield were missing, though: Casemiro, the holder, and Luka Modric, the team's linchpin and perhaps most important individual from a tactical sense.

While the three in the centre—James, Toni Kroos and Mateo Kovacic—on the night played well and were the best-functioning part of the team, Modric's absence was still keenly felt both in transitions and in movement along the front line.

With Villarreal stifling Madrid by sitting deep for the opening half-hour, the tempo was too slow, the passing too safe and the rotation in attack too predictable for Zidane's team to break down the Yellow Submarine, which was closer to a yellow bus in that opening period. The boss admitted his team were "less switched on" in the opening half, per Marca's Pablo Polo, and noted intensity was lacking.

It was no great surprise that Real Madrid found themselves behind at half-time, as Villarreal's 10-minute, more adventurous spell before the break resulted in two or three clear chances and saw several defensive mistakes made—one of which was Raphael Varane gifting possession that led to the penalty, given against Sergio Ramos for handball.

All guns blazing

It's not difficult to imagine that Zidane had several harsh words to say in the dressing room about the team's performance. It wouldn't be the first time, either: Zidane referred to a poor intensity costing his team in the Champions League last season against Wolfsburg, per Agence France-Presse (h/t The National), while a sluggish start to matches was still a concern for Zidane in pre-season, as reported by Marca's Polo.

Whatever was said, it had the required effect.

Real Madrid were a lot more adventurous, quicker in possession and looked to get more numbers in the box straight after the break—resulting in an onslaught that yielded an equalising goal for Ramos and chances for Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and substitute Alvaro Morata.

There were half-chances, shots from range, good saves from visiting goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo and at least one reasonable shout for a penalty of their own, but Los Blancos couldn't find a winner for the record, leading to plenty of frustration.

The supporters, of course, were easily riled, while Dani Carvajal was booked for dissent after full-time and Chendo, the matchday delegate for the club, was sent to the stands.

They only gained a point, but the response was worth an awful lot more.

18, not out

The record didn't fall to Zidane outright, and he shares 16 consecutive wins with Pep Guardiola as a result. But Real Madrid remain unbeaten where Barcelona are not, and their unbeaten run in competitive action now stretches back to April—18 games in total.

Of the recent matches, more than one of those have ended in positive results for Real Madrid after originally trailing: At home to Sporting Lisbon, they were losing until the last minute but won in the end, while Sevilla led until the last instances of the UEFA Super Cup also.

A comeback win over Rayo Vallecano in April followed turning around the 2-0 first-leg loss to Wolfsburg—and perhaps most pertinently, Real also won El Clasico at the Camp Nou after initially falling behind.

It's clear that Zidane has instilled a trait in his team that is quite apart from their overall quality: The match is never lost until his team opt to give up, and his in-game management makes it quite obvious that such an approach is unacceptable.

The insistence on upping the tempo is a natural approach, but getting the message across in such a way that his team regularly respond in the right manner reflects extremely well on Zidane.

Further management

There's more to come from Zidane, though, and part of how he is perceived as a manager will come not just from how his team react to his alterations within matches but also in whether he can encourage them to start better in future.

This season in seven competitive matches, Madrid have scored 18 goals, but 11 of them have come after the break. The slow start is clearly an issue that the boss wants to overcome, but it isn't always down to his team—if the opposition sit back early on, it will naturally mean Real have to work harder to score goals.

Tempo and movement is key to breaking teams down, in that case, and that's where the intensity that Zidane talks about comes into play.

Last season, 60 of Real's 110 goals came in the first 45 minutes of LaLiga games.

Going forward, Zidane has ample opportunity to work on the faster start: Las Palmas, Borussia Dortmund and Eibar are all opponents in the space of eight days, two of which are on the road.

The Frenchman sees where the improvements are required, and he is right to focus more on them than the fact his team dropped points for the first time this season.

Per Marca's Polo, he said after the match:

[Real Madrid] were great in the second half, yet you cannot always win in the final moments.

I can't punish my players, I am happy with what they're doing, so we're not going to talk any more about the record.

Let's think about the next game and think about changing things, especially at the beginning of the meetings. We lacked intensity.

Real Madrid lacked that initiative a little, but we can't always play well and go from the first minute to the end.

Every non-win for clubs like Real Madrid is too often seen as a crisis, as doing something wrong, as proof that someone, somewhere, isn't good enough. It isn't the case, though, and the upward trend of this team in recent months is hugely impressive.

Much of that is down to Zidane's methods, and his management of the players to encourage big performances out of them when things aren't going to plan. In the long term, that's worth far more than a record to his name or an extra two points against a decent opponent in an isolated game.

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