1) Real Madrid’s Summer of Stagnation

In theory, the Real Madrid job would have been a first-pick for any top coach in the world last summer. After all, the side had won the Champions League title for three years in a row. A slow couple of seasons in the transfer market meant there was quite the transfer kitty, if need be.

But, there was a reason why Zinedine Zidane took the shocking decision to step down last summer after so much success. The Frenchman sensed that the team had reached the end of the line and needed rejuvenating. This was even before the departure of the goal-power of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Karim Benzema was stale after leading the line for nearly ten years at the club. As talented as Gareth Bale is – and crucial to the club’s Champions League victories – constant injury problems meant that the Welshman was only available for 50% of the time. The club’s generation of young Spanish talent such as  Isco and Marco Asensio was not guaranteed to be strong enough to move the club forward.

Club president, Florentino Perez, had given up his big-spending Galactico addiction and it had proven to be a success for Real Madrid. But last summer was time to get it back and spend big on some elite talent, whether it be Eden Hazard or Kylian Mbappe. Instead, a former youth team player, Mariano Diaz, came in for Cristiano Rolando, a right back also joined the ranks and a Brazilian wunderkind, Vinicius Junior was signed only to be used a luxury player for Los Blancos' reserve team, Castilla. The one area that saw heavy investment, the goalkeeper, was the least required with Thibaut Courtois coming to oust the hugely popular Keylor Navas.

Julen Lopetegui suffered from a summer of stagnation at Real Madrid, and it’s possible that any replacement of Zinedine Zidane would have suffered the same fate.

2) The bottom of Real Madrid’s wish-list

When Zinedine Zidane rocked the club to its foundations with his departure at the end of last season, the summer’s transfer stories should have been full of coaches vying to take over at the Santiago Bernabeu and one of the most glamorous jobs in world soccer.

Instead, it was one big Real Madrid target after another ruling themselves out of the job, perhaps sensing the danger of the team at the top of a downwards arc. Massimiliano Allegri, Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino, Julian Nagelsmann and Jurgen Klopp had all ruled themselves out of the running to takeover the club, some admitting that they had been approached by Florentino Perez.

When the name of Julen Lopetegui was announced as the new Real Madrid manager, it caught everyone cold for two reasons. The first, the 52-year-old former goalkeeper had a fairly undistinguished career in club management with just two years of experience at Porto. The second: Lopetegui already had a job as Spain’s coach. Indeed, he was supposed to be busy preparing for the World Cup, due to start just days after the announcement that Lopetegui would be leaving his post after Russia 2018. The Spanish FA saved him the effort and fired their coach before the tournament had begun, meaning that the Real Madrid manager was starting his job under a cloud in Spain. It’s normal for the fans of the other 19 clubs in La Liga to be against Real Madrid’s boss – but not for the club’s own supporters.

A reputation for being the last choice for Real Madrid boss as well as lacking any kind of credible coaching resume in club football meant that Lopetegui had to start the season fast. But he didn’t.

3) No goals, no system, no hope

Ultimately, a manager stands by results and everything else can be covered over if need be.

Unfortunately, for Julen Lopetegui those results never came aside from a short-lived run at the start of the campaign. The team looked lost without Cristiano Ronaldo and went on a record-breaking run of matches without scoring. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Real Madrid’s playing style. Instead, the superstars and World Cup winners of Madrid were bossed around by clearer inferior opponents such as Levante, Alavas and CSKA Moscow, and dismantled by Sevilla and Barcelona.

The attack was disjointed with every player seemingly out of form at the same time. The defense was at sea and the midfield engine room delivering a shadow of the performances last season.  El Clasico was win or bust for Julen Lopetegui, a last chance to show that he was the right pick by Florentino Perez. That chance was lost.