Zinedine Zidane has defended his Real Madrid players and insisted they are "not that bad".

Madrid have won just two of their last six LaLiga matches and find themselves 16 points behind table-toppers Barcelona, albeit with a game in hand.

That has inevitably led to criticism of Zidane and his squad but the Frenchman claims it is not all doom and gloom at the Santiago Bernabeu.

He told reporters ahead of Saturday's game with Villarreal: "We can't always look at or listen to what is being said. It's difficult, but nowadays everything that is said about Real Madrid is negative, and I don't see it that way, we're not that bad.

"You [the media] know very well it is not all negative here. But it is very easy to say bad things about Real Madrid, it sells more.

"The positive thing is that we are still alive in all competitions. I watch the matches back two or three times and I don't agree with everything that's being said. I accept what is being said, but there are lots of positive things coming out of this team at the minute."

Bolstering his squad in the January transfer window is not something Zidane will do readily after repeating his stance that signing players out of season is his preferred method.

"I can understand why people would think that [we need to sign players]," he added.

"But with transfers, as always, if you have a player that you want and he's available and he's going to bring a lot to your squad then it doesn't seem like a bad idea. But I have my squad, I have good players and I don't see anyone at the moment who can improve that.

"Things can change but I think it's best to change things in June rather than now."

Zidane also backed Cristiano Ronaldo to rediscover his best form after two games without a goal, and on the back of a poor performance in last weekend's 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo.

"He seems fine to me and that's the important thing," said Zidane. "The same thing was said about him a month ago and he responded by scoring goals. He will get back to scoring again."