Zidane Has Given Real Madrid Ability to Cope with New Pressure at Top of La Liga

Just three games into the new 2016/17 season, Zinedine Zidane has already put Real Madrid where those within the club feel they belong: top of La Liga, looking down on their rivals.

While the team's start to the campaign in terms of performances has been by no means perfect, Los Blancos have had more than enough tactical and technical superiority to dispatch each of Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo and Osasuna in turn to sit clear in first place of early chasers Sevilla, Barcelona and Las Palmas of all teams.

It's a new position for Real Madrid to be in under Zidane, and a role within the league which brings a different type of pressure going into each game week—but in his relatively short time in charge, Zidane has brought a variety of traits to the team which will ensure they can cope with the pressure that being the chased, rather than the chasers, brings.

Faster the chase

Since taking over from Rafa Benitez, Zidane's tenure in La Liga has been all along about chasing Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. It wasn't his doing, of course, it's the situation he inherited—but even before the end of last year one of those rivals were caught and overhauled, with Real finishing above Atleti in the final league table.

Now Zidane has his side top by rights, after Atleti and Barcelona both slipped up in the early game weeks and Real Madrid remain the only team with 100 per cent record in Spain's top flight. Of course it's horrendously soon to claim anything along the lines of proof or unassailable leads, but La Liga's recent history makes it clear: There are typically only eight to 10 games in a La Liga season where the eventual champion doesn't win.

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That means Barca have already used up as much as 12 per cent of their allotted slip-ups after a weekend loss to Alaves, and more for Atletico who drew their opening two games. Interestingly, perhaps ultimately crucially, both of Real Madrid's rivals dropped points against promoted sides each time, while Madrid's game against similar opponents on Saturday ended in a 5-2 victory.

Assuming Real Madrid can beat Espanyol in Jornada 4, a side who typically rolls over when facing Los Blancos, the chance to stretch their lead at the top arises in Jornada 5 when the Camp Nou is the setting for Barcelona vs. Atletico as Real host Villarreal, still coming to terms with a number of changes in their playing squad and management.

High-value fixtures

Zidane's time in charge has so far been a litany of big-pressure situations: UEFA Champions League knockout ties, the UEFA Super Cup final and, last season, all-or-nothing games in La Liga as the team knew a single defeat would likely spell the end of their late-season title charge.

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While the nature of that type of fixture can put a strain on players, it often also brings out the best in them, particularly the elite who are used to winning silverware—and Real Madrid have no shortage of that type.

Now the coming weeks offer a different test entirely: In the mundane, week-to-week La Liga games, can they keep same focus and relentless winning mentality? Can, in short, they put in the same level of effectiveness in a run of games against Eibar, Real Betis, Legia Warsaw, Athletic Club, Alaves, Legia again and Leganes as they did in March, when the opposition was Celta Vigo, AS Roma, Las Palmas, Sevilla and Barcelona?

Every match counts now, just as it does in the latter months of the campaign, but it's much more difficult to see that heading into the games in October when the promise of silverware seems so far away.

Different kinds of strength

Everything so far points to Real Madrid being able to cope.

While big games and chasing is very different to so-called smaller or normal games and being the team being chased, the mentality to win relentlessly is already instilled in the team.

Including the 12-game streak at the end of 15/16, Real Madrid have now won 15 La Liga matches in succession and, on both a tactical level and gauging self-belief from the players, are improving all the time. They will have an unshakable assurance about themselves that even when points are inevitably dropped at some stage, the very next game will be the one to set them back on the winning path.

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The mental side of the game is arguably the most important—just look at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final of 2014 after conceding on the brink of full time and their subsequent collapse in extra time—and as much as Zidane has improved the balance of the team, so too have Los Blancos' expectations in themselves.

A winning habit is tough to get into, but equally difficult for other sides to stop and break once it exists.

Additionally, Real Madrid have shown an impressive squad depth already this season.

The first two La Liga wins came without Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, goalkeeper Keylor Navas is still absent, Marcelo and Casemiro were both rested at the weekend and three players have already proven capable additions to this season's team choices compared to last year, for different reasons: Mateo Kovacic, Marco Asensio and Alvaro Morata. The Croatian midfielder, in fact, has already played close to 20 per cent of his entire minutes on the pitch from last term.

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By contrast, Barcelona's squad rotation didn't work at the weekend and Atletico Madrid are still searching for how to integrate their top new signings into the team cohesively.

A final strength in Zidane's side is increasingly evident, through preseason and into competitive action: goals from everywhere in the team.

Real Madrid score plenty, but often there is an expectation that the front three contribute a vast bulk of them. Eighteen players scored in white last season, but only four of them managed more than half a dozen in all competitions. It's already 10 different faces who have found the net this term, with a centre-back and a 20-year-old midfielder leading the way with Gareth Bale on a couple apiece.

The squad has so many traits and characteristics that they can overcome any opponent in any given game but above all else, Zidane has ensured a balance in the distribution of responsibility and a determined composure in performance, regardless of opposition or competition.

Keeping that relentless desire to win each game is key in staying top of the table in the longer term just as much as in chasing top spot down in the final weeks if the team is not top heading into April and May, and the manager is impressively providing the team with the mental tools to be able to cope with that pressure.

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