In recent years, you can count on the fingers of one hand the games in which Isco Alarcon He has shown a crumb of the quality he treasures and still there would be a few fingers left over. Isco, with a refined technique and brilliant talent, tends to despair of friends and strangers for his lack of attitude and irregularity. Like the boy who studies the day before in a hurry and knows that he will pass, the Malaga native believes that a couple of good passes, a few turns on himself and the occasional decent performance from time to time, like the one he signed against Atalanta in the Champions League, they will help you redeem yourself. Nothing is further from reality, it has been a long time since the Andalusian midfielder stopped being a competitive resource to be considered for his inconsistency and lack of competitiveness by choice.
Or to put it another way: even Zinédine Zidane, the coach who has invested the most and believed in him, has renounced this season to count on Alarcón until the infirmary has said enough and there has been no other option but to use the Malacitano. Nor is there more wax than what burns in the center of the field. In fact, with 423 minutes played, the ’22’ Real Madrid stands as the 16th player with the most flight hours on the pitch in LaLiga this season. Or the 12th with less, depending on how you look at it. Isco is very good and he knows it, that is why his figure generates so much animosity, since the degree of demand from the fans varies according to the quality of the footballer. It is frustrating that someone with such talent wastes it like that.
At 28, Alarcón seems to have been flirting with retirement for at least a couple of years. With states of very worrying form, going through the season without pain or glory and watching his career advance inexorably. Happy with waste what should be his football maturity and resigned to live football from the bench. Showing details by droppers, far from being able to decant games through their individuality, adding very little as a shock from the bench and complicating the rotation plan for the French coach. In summary, Isco has not been up to the challenge for a long time which meant the traumatic departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. And yet, with what ease some cast the bells to the flight.
Zidane has supported Isco from the tactic
We often look for tactical reasons to justify the performance of the players and analyze the causes of their ostracism. As if scrutinizing every motive and consequence on the board would solve the rest of the problems. In the case of Arroyo de la Miel this happens to a secondary plane in the best case. After injuring himself with Julen Lopetegui and being discarded by Santiago Solari, Zidane did everything possible to remove the footballer who was inside that inert body whose body language exuded weariness. The white coach designed a tactical system that would allow him to flag a diamond in the center of the field, but he could not resuscitate the player he had been.
And it is that, as distant as it may seem, until 2017-2018 Isco was one of the most valuable resources of Real Madrid in its most glorious time. Acting as player number 12, the Andalusian tipped the balance in vital clashes such as the finals in Lisbon and Milan, but also in other complicated moments where he supported his team by keeping the ball and providing ground with the ball. This has never been Alarcón’s problem and Zidane has given him facilities. When the ’22’ has played well, Real Madrid collectively improves because it unites its pieces and gives them structure as control element. The problem is that in recent times its impact on the development of the season as well as on the game has been nil. The doubts with Isco are not spilled on his talent, but on the rest of the aspects that surround the Golden Boy of 2012.
Perhaps that is why Zidane has trusted him again. Perhaps that is why there is still little hope of recovering for the cause a player whose performance in Bergamo knows little, but it is more than nothing. With direct influence on expulsion, Isco was essential to drag the Atalanta centrals and freeing up space for the entry of Vinícius Júnior and Marco Asensio and was above what it has been offering previously. Perhaps the nine goals and four assists spread over 3,964 minutes spread over the past three seasons (one goal action every 304.9 minutes) don’t weigh as much as what he did in the past.
Fermín de la Calle
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A little over a year before his relationship with Real Madrid ends (contract ends in June 2022), the question with Isco is the same as always. Will he be able to give some kind of lasting argument to justify his presence in the team or will he force everyone to keep looking back to have a glimmer of hope about his present? Only he has the answer.
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