higuain did not depart because of zidane's preference. it may be due to the fact that higuain is ramon calderon's signing. but most of all, it was his choice to leave after years at real madrid. everybody, and that including the club, has a freedom of choice.
i do not think benzema is zidane's pick. zidane personally had a hand in bringing in varane, yes, but not benzema. benzema's was a case between david villa and him, and i think it was jorge valdano who went for benzema at last because of what valencia was asking for david villa.
of course, the french connection plays a part. who else is better suited to help benz settle down other than the french legend himself? after higuain announced that he is leaving real madrid, zidane has only benzema left to support.

on morata, i think he is technically gifted. and quick. things he did last week against atletico madrid and for the spanish under 21 shows that he is indeed technically gifted. he just lacks the match to match experience. ancelotti might be slowly integrating him into the team. it's a delicate situation here. dropping benz right from the off and starting morata does no good to anyone. benzema's confidence may suffer while morata may be over eager. this transition has to be dealt with slowly. i think from now on, we'll get to see morata/jese more regularly.

the other thing is the defense line. i think there's just too much space between the defenders and the midfield, i think because i actually dozed off in a few of those games. lol.

i think because they its because alonso is not there to marshall the midfield

Yup, especially on the left. Cause they play Isco on the right and Mordic in the middle with Khedira on the right... so when Isco attacks Modric has gotta stay back. With Alonzo they usually play 2 in the DM and pair him up with Khedira... so they don't really have to go up that often.

seriously i think if modric is allowed to flourish by letting him to dictate the play from center midfield, it can actually alleviate the pressure on the team's defense. however instead of khedira we need a no nonsense DM who would stop the play if somehow we are robbed of possession.

I guess we should judge him when he is playing. Panning him while he is injured do not make any sense.

I think that they should figure out a system with Khedira, Illara and Isco. Khedira finds his way in attack way too frequent, but lacks the finishing.

khedira, with his energy, should press the midfield zone which is what he is doing now. i think this is good. illaramendi meanwhile, is the cover at the back because he does his playmaking very deep for teams that he played for. khedira is good energy/machine for madrid and i think he did quite well.

on the other hand, this juve game for me, is coming at a really bad time. 1 good game against malaga, still trying to find some groove and juve had to come visiting. a draw would be a good result bearing in mind also that juve was stung in the weekend and should be all guns firing.

i believe we got counter most of the time when we suddenly stop playing the ball and let the opponent to nick it from us. i guess retaining possession is very important as well