Zinedine Zidane Denies Real Madrid 'Crisis' After 4 Matches Without a Win

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane insisted there is no cause for panic despite Los Blancos recording their fourth-consecutive draw in all competitions on Sunday at home to Eibar. 

The 1-1 result at the Santiago Bernabeu followed draws with Las Palmas and Villarreal in La Liga and Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League.

It is not a record that meets Real's usual standards, but they remain tied on points at the top of La Liga with Atletico Madrid, and Zidane said there is no need to panic given how young the 2016-17 campaign is, per Sport:

"

We're not in crisis, we’re in October. It’s been four draws, three actually, not including the Champions League draw. 

When you've been ahead [at the top] it's tough, but I'm not going to lose the plot. The only thing I see is that we need to work more, put in more intensity at the start of the games, as we were doing, but haven't been as much lately.

"

The French manager did admit, though, that "something's going wrong when you have three consecutive draws in the league," per Marca.

It has been over a decade since Real endured such a lengthy run of stalemates, per WhoScored.com:

Against Eibar, the Madrid giants were left to rue numerous missed opportunities after Gareth Bale cancelled out Fran Rico's opener in the 17th minute, per Sky Sports La Liga:

Los Blancos escaped significant punishment for dropping two points again because, despite Atleti winning 2-0 against Valencia, Barcelona surprisingly went down 4-3 to Celta Vigo.

Zidane knows, though, that improvements need to be made, and he said that he would look to find a solution ahead of Real's next La Liga match—against Real Betis on Oct. 15—while his players are away on international duty, per Marca: "The players will go off with their national teams now, and I have to find solutions. We will analyse things when the players return, because we cannot continue like this."

Profligacy in front of goal has been a recent problem for Real as they have failed to put games to bed.

In winning their first four matches of the 2016-17 La Liga campaign, Real netted 12 goals, but they have scored only four times in their last three outings.

Per Opta, star man Cristiano Ronaldo has been struggling to find the net—he has scored only once in four league games this season—clearly a factor in Real's recent inability to win matches:

The international break has come at a good time for Real and any talk of a crisis will disappear if they return to domestic action with a convincing defeat of Betis.

But if they continue to drop points and fall off the pace in the La Liga title race, the pressure on Zidane will increase rapidly.