Zinedine Zidane judged and declared culpable

Zinedine Zidane must take a lot of blame for Real Madrid's defeat against Cádiz. He did not know how to handle difficult circumstances after the international break, which left him with a group of tired players that he did not know what to do with. He rotated too heavily and lined up with those who have been doing the worst during the last two years. He did not mix the starters well with the reserves and he did not study the rival sufficiently.

Zidane said ahead of the clash that he is always scrutinised: "Every game I am going to be judged, that is the position I have here." And after the match, he judged himself: "If Cádiz scores two or three more goals against us, we couldn't say anything." He knows it's on him, because the same thing happened last season after the second international break, when they lost 1-0 at Mallorca.

The Frenchman used four reserves who have been off the pace for two years: Nacho, Lucas Vázquez, Isco and Marcelo. That ensured the general collapse of the team before even accounting for the physical and mental fatigue of the internationals - Varane, Modric and Ramos, who were a shadow of themselves. Tactically he exposed the defense by leaving Casemiro and Valverde on the bench and putting Marcelo on the left.

It was an erratic XI, unbalanced, with a mix of out of form and tired players. That gave Cadiz wings and they crushed Madrid in the first half. They went in at the break only 1-0 up, even though it could have been more. Zidane rectified his errors with four subs but the team could not break down their opponents in the next 45.