LaLiga Hangover: Zidane's Marching Real Madrid Look the Right Kind of Different

It hadn't been pretty, and there was no celebration for the occasion, but this was one and it felt apt this way.

As the whistle blew, as Cornella seemingly gave a collective shrug that said this is what's meant to happen, players quietly shook hands and Zinedine Zidane departed immediately down the tunnel. The anticipation had been for something more flamboyant, and Zidane had the look of a man with work to do, and yet the raw facts said the work he's doing is just fine: His side had won, again. 

He's getting quite good at this.

Real Madrid's trip to Catalonia to face Espanyol on Sunday was just Zidane's 24th league game in charge, and the 2-0 win means he's now won 21 of them. Of those, the last 16 of have arrived without interruption, 12 at the end of last season added to by four more to start this one, breaking a club record from 1960-61 in the process and matching Pep Guardiola's Barcelona of 2010-11 for the longest winning streak in league history.

Madrid have never been better, or at least so say the record books.

So, have they? Better is a subjective matter, and like they have for much of Zidane's tenure, Madrid were more functional than fearsome on Sunday.

In a scrappy affair littered with tackling and fouling, the visitors never quite got going, denied any sense of rhythm or comfort by an Espanyol outfit fighting to make an impression to a new manager and new owners that's taking longer than hoped to materialise. It was Madrid as we're getting to know them, but the results aren't wavering and that's the point. "Addicted to winning," said Marca. 

A year ago, this is the sort of game Madrid would have lost. Last season, away trips were characterised by a sluggishness that often wasn't overcome, and alterations to the XI were regularly difficult to work through, particularly against sides willing to scrap. But this was different, and that's how Madrid look at present—in the right kind of way.

On Sunday, there was no Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or Keylor Navas. Casemiro was forced off the field with a knock early on, too. Such disruptions have shaken Madrid in the past, but they didn't here.

James Rodriguez took his opportunity, Dani Carvajal was superb and Karim Benzema overcame questionable fitness to deliver the knockout blow at the end of a flowing team move. The impact of Toni Kroos was significant, too, for the simple fact he now looks like himself again after not looking so for the bulk of last season. 

It speaks volumes for what Zidane is achieving. There's now an evenness in contribution that hasn't always been there, right across the squad. Already, 12 different names have appeared on the scoresheet for Madrid this season, and their last 11 goals have all come from different players. No longer is there that look of being overly top-heavy; there's now a sense of structure, balance, of the load and responsibilities being shared and embraced. 

You can see Zidane learning, too. When the Frenchman was an assistant under Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid went on a run like this in 2014 but were later underdone by a flawed structure and accumulated fatigue stemming from a lack of rotation.

The former Galactico's status helps in this respect, sure, but he looks comfortable when turning to others outside the heavyweight core. Casemiro benefited from such last season, as did Lucas Vazquez. Marco Asensio and Alvaro Morata have been prominent in similar fashion this term. 

"I've got 24 players and they're all quality," said Zidane on Sunday night, via the club website. "We're going to play 60 games and we have to change players in each game because we're playing every three days."

In rotating, the manager has also shown a willingness to be tactically flexible. As his tenure has progressed, Madrid's 4-3-3 has become a little more 4-1-4-1 with the wingers starting a little deeper. At times we've seen them shift to a 4-4-2 as well, and against Espanyol, Zidane switched to a 4-2-3-1 to accommodate James in his preferred role.

"James had to play in the middle, behind Karim, as a No. 10," he said. "He looked good in that position."

He was right, and it mattered that such was the case. James has been a delicate issue at the Santiago Bernabeu for 12 months. Stylistically and systematically, he's an awkward fit in Madrid's preferred setup, and the discontent on both sides has been palpable.

At full strength, there's no place for the Colombian in the club's XI, and Sunday won't change that, but what it did demonstrate is that Zidane is getting something from everyone; that his whole squad is buying into the encompassing idea; that the full extent of Madrid's resources is being used with good effect. 

This is a club that looks different on the pitch: There's greater unity and a feeling of heightened focus. The noises are different, too. 

It's been striking to hear Madrid's players talk of such a specific target this time around. "It's been a long time since we won the league and it's our priority," Luka Modric told AS earlier this month. Bale has said the same, too, again via AS, the message contrasting with the more typical and often meaningless we-want-to-win-everything line. If it doesn't sound telling, it is. 

From a club that has underachieved domestically for years, such assertions point to a recognition within that they've often been their own worst enemy.

When Andres Iniesta described, via Sport, LaLiga as Barcelona's "bread and butter" in May after clinching a sixth title in eight years, it neatly reflected the differences between Madrid and the Catalans in terms of consistency and relentlessness, in recognising leagues are won through thousands of little actions done over and over rather than through sporadic bursts. 

You sense Madrid get that now. The noises coming from them suggest so, and the evidence on the pitch points to a team with a new single-mindedness, grinding games out where they once—whether consciously or subconsciously—might have let them drift.  

It helps that the background picture is settled. Whereas in other years, and particularly last season, Madrid have bordered on being the dysfunctional family at the heart of a political drama, right now there's a certain institutional harmony evident. That can change with frightening speed in Chamartin, but more than ever in recent years, Madrid the team and Madrid the club look more like the same thing. 

Winning helps, of course. More than 200 days have passed since Madrid last lost in the league, to neighbours Atletico, in late February. Though they haven't always been scintillating in that time, a collective identity has grown. There's a purpose to them now; they look different. 

In the right kind of way. 

Not Forgotten Amid the Hangover

• Just two games after using resolute defending to shut out Atletico Madrid, Leganes on Saturday decided going punch for punch was the way against Barcelona and, in the process, found out it's not. Committing men forward and engaging in an end-to-end affair, Asier Garitano's side left acres for Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar to run into, getting a 5-1 hammering despite taking more shots on goal. There was a whiff of Paco Jemez's Rayo Vallecano about it. 

• Luis Enrique's switch to a 3-4-3 was interesting, but Javier Mascherano didn't look all that comfortable in the right-sided role of the back three.

• Rafinha, take a bow.

• Atletico Madrid landed the knockout blows against Sporting Gijon inside five minutes and never looked back. Kevin Gameiro recalibrated his radar and scored a fine goal, while Fernando Torres grabbed a second-half brace as a substitute. But again it was Antoine Griezmann who shone brightest, this time with two lethal left-footed strikes, the second simply stunning. "Griezmann, in the guise of Messi," wrote AS editor Alfredo Relano. 

• Sevilla's record away from home is now just weird. On Saturday, Jorge Sampaoli's side let go of a 1-0 lead against a 10-man Eibar and couldn't find a winner when the Basques went down to nine. That's now 21 league games on the road without a win, dating back to the end of the 2014-15 season. 

• Another week, another triumph for Las Palmas. Though they weren't as impressive against Malaga on Saturday night as they were against Granada and Valencia, the win means that, since late February, they've won more points in LaLiga than every club except Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico and Athletic Bilbao.  

• Real Betis vs. Granada had everything: 38 shots, four goals, two red cards, 10 saves (per WhoScored.com), lots of woodwork, brilliant attacking and a penalty kick that was saved, then saved again, then cleared off the line. 

• Alberto Bueno is back and living up to his name.

• Goal of the Week (and probably the season, for that matter) goes to Villarreal's Nicola Sansone. Have some of this.  

• We can't say the same about Alexandre Pato's effort.

• Valencia: It just doesn't stop getting worse. 

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