Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he is "no wizard" but expects to see his team bounce back from recent poor form with a win in Saturday evening's La Liga game at Real Betis.
Madrid went into the international break having drawn their last four games in all competitions, leading to the first real questioning of Zidane's coaching credentials, after he had won the Champions League trophy within months of taking over last January.
After the 1-1 La Liga draw at home to Eibar on Oct. 2, Zidane said he would use the international break to look to find solutions for his team's stuttering performances, and during the break Zidane was reported as telling French radio that his players had a "psychological" issue they needed to overcome. However, ahead of the return to domestic action he told a news conference he denied using that form of words.
"I didn't use the word psychological," Zidane said. "What I said was that physically we were good. It is a bit of everything. The word psychological ... that is not what I said, not what we need. What we need is to win games. It is normal that there is criticism. The key for me is to look for the solution."
Zidane said that the international break did not really provide an opportunity to work on anything new with the team, although he would keep looking to improve the team and get better as a coach.
"You know the players were not here, so we could do nothing with them until the day before yesterday," Zidane said. "I'm not a wizard -- we can just work, that is what I believe in. We had a difficult moment, that can happen in any team.
"I've never considered myself a great coach, and never will think that way. This is my job, I try and do my best, looking for solutions, as that is my responsibility. I'm still new at this, but I want to learn new things, to do that every day, at Real Madrid, a big club with its own difficulties. I must just keep working and come out of this with my players."
The last fortnight has seen Blancos midfielder James Rodriguez embroiled in another 'club vs. country' row after the Colombia international travelled to South America despite a calf injury, although he was unable to play in his country's World Cup qualifiers and quickly returned to Madrid for further treatment.
Zidane denied he had been upset when James chose to travel, and praised his "cleverness" in not taking a risk and playing for Colombia when not fit.
"I can understand that he wanted to play for his country," the coach said. "So I am not annoyed with that. The good thing is that he was clever and saw it was not possible [to play], and he needed to recover. The 22,000 kilometres is no big deal. It does not change the life of a player."
The international break had allowed left-back Marcelo to return to full fitness and the Brazilian would play against Betis, Zidane said.
"We all know what Marcelo brings," he said. "He is ready, that is good news for us. He is an important player for us. We will use Marcelo tomorrow."
Zidane smiled when asked by a reporter if anything should be read into Cristiano Ronaldo having kicked a ball directly at watching journalists during the training session earlier on Friday.
"I must just laugh at that," he said. "I cannot respond to that question. It is not important. [Ronaldo] is not angry, he is fine."