Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Thursday, December 11, 2025, 1:41 p.m. / Updated Thursday, December 11, 2025, 1:43 p.m.
Former soccer great Thierry Henry, 48, now a CBS Sports analyst, believes Xabi Alonso is “training too much” at Real Madrid, where he should be managing strong characters rather than trying to discipline them.
Xabi Alonso's tenure at Real Madrid had gotten off to a great start, but recent results have seen his chair seriously wobble. Since November 4, the Madrid team have won only two of the 8 matches played, a streak that jeopardizes their direct advancement to the Champions League round of 16 and which has left them 4 points behind the Spanish leader, Barcelona.
What doesn't (anymore) work? Thierry Henry feels that Real Madrid players are not willing to listen and implement Alonso's tactical ideas!
Thierry Henry explains why Real Madrid are not working: “I feel sorry for Xabi Alonso!”
Is Xabi Alonso coaching more than he should be managing?
Thierry Henry brilliantly breaks down what it means to manage people versus managing tactics 👀 pic.twitter.com/0LP3Zp1fxf
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) December 10, 2025
“The other day we had Gareth Bale on the show saying that in Madrid you have to manage the team. Now you have a guy there, Xabi Alonso, who train too much for some tastes instead of managing. We also saw this with Sarri, when he went to Juventus and some players complained that he thought he was still at Napoli. And there some players were saying that he needed to manage the group more. I don't agree with that, but that's the way it is.
I feel sorry for Xabi Alonso. We all see what he was able to achieve at Bayer Leverkusen where he coached a team willing to listen to what he wanted to do. Here is another fish food. (…)
For example, in such teams, you cannot ask the players to have breakfast at 8 in the morning. Want to talk tactics at 8am? Well, someone will tell you: “We won the Champions League coming maybe not at the time we wanted, but not at 8 in the morning!”.
At that point, what's the point of fighting [cu jucătorul]? The objective is to be successful, not to lose players. At the end of the day, you will always lose the battle with the players,” Henry said on CBS Sports.
The ones who have been really successful, Del Bosque, Ancelotti and Zidane, we all consider them to be great managers, but not great coaches.
– Jamie Carragher
