Curious case of Isco

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,767
Location
France
I think this is nitpicking to be honest but let's leave it at that then.
What is nitpicking? You are the one who came into a conversation about expectations and tried to shift it to something else.
 

Zehner

Football Statistics Dork
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Messages
8,104
Location
Germany
Supports
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
You mistake tricks for technical skill. His functional technique was good, but nothing amazing
Nah, he had incredible close control and composure in tight situations, never fecked up a first touch and regularly completely killed passes that were extremely difficult to control. Like a scaled up version of Bernardo Silva. But technique is not everything and Isco is probably the best example for that, although he still achieved a very high level over a few seasons.
 

giorno

boob novice
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
26,559
Supports
Real Madrid
Nah, he had incredible close control and composure in tight situations, never fecked up a first touch and regularly completely killed passes that were extremely difficult to control. Like a scaled up version of Bernardo Silva. But technique is not everything and Isco is probably the best example for that, although he still achieved a very high level over a few seasons.
He often had bad touches though, always struggled with the weight of his passes

He had a great touch and control of the ball at his feet. That's good, but that doesn't make him one of the best technical players in the world. It makes him a great circus act. Functionally his technique was very good, but that's it
 

FootballHQ

Full Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
18,249
Supports
Aston Villa
Why's he never been interested in a loan out of Real Madrid out of interest?

Even Hames went on years loan.

You'd think he'd want to go and start some actual games.
 

Zehner

Football Statistics Dork
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Messages
8,104
Location
Germany
Supports
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
He often had bad touches though, always struggled with the weight of his passes

He had a great touch and control of the ball at his feet. That's good, but that doesn't make him one of the best technical players in the world. It makes him a great circus act. Functionally his technique was very good, but that's it
You've got a point regarding the weight of the pass. Regarding the flawed touches: Everytime I watched him, the ball was glued to his feet in any situation. Always thought that I only saw very, very few players being so flawless on the ball. But I assume you've seen much more of him than I did so I might be wrong on this one.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,767
Location
France
He often had bad touches though, always struggled with the weight of his passes

He had a great touch and control of the ball at his feet. That's good, but that doesn't make him one of the best technical players in the world. It makes him a great circus act. Functionally his technique was very good, but that's it
Mister Capello, welcome. :lol:
 

BarstoolProphet

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
6,511
Which makes his case not curious. We observe players from the outside and have an incomplete set of data, we don't know how they actually process information, we don't know how they learn new things, we don't know their athletic limits and we don't know their personalities either. We tend to look at players age and apply a linear growth in most areas which is highly flawed and why most players don't match expectations, some do better and others do worse.

My point is that we shouldn't cling on past expectations as if they were definitely correct. And as you said Isco isn't a bad player, he is pretty good and his case isn't curious.
Very good post. "He's good now, but imagine him in 2-3 years when he hits his peak age wise" is an argument used for pretty much all promising players, but never really struck me as a good argument.
 

DWelbz19

Correctly predicted Portugal to win Euro 2016
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Messages
34,010
Isn’t he another of those talented but never properly had a set position guys like James, Dybala, Coutinho etc?
 
Last edited:

Rajiztar

Full Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2019
Messages
2,102
Supports
Chelsea
Nah, he had incredible close control and composure in tight situations, never fecked up a first touch and regularly completely killed passes that were extremely difficult to control. Like a scaled up version of Bernardo Silva. But technique is not everything and Isco is probably the best example for that, although he still achieved a very high level over a few seasons.
Him and mata both are similar in playing style. Good touch great control eye for pass. Both were lacking in pace to play as wingers and nowadays managers rarely play no.10s without work rate.

Isco just wasteful in front of goals unlike mata who is cold blooded in front of goals.

Modric just too good for Madrid who played for hybrid 8 and 10 role in one with enormous work rate and Zidane just liked it that way.
 
Last edited:

Classical Mechanic

Full Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2014
Messages
35,216
Location
xG Zombie Nation
If you look at his Real career he was never a proper XI player anyway. The most league games he started in a season was 26 in 14/15 and his appearance record has declined since then.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
3,996
Supports
Real Madrid
Why's he never been interested in a loan out of Real Madrid out of interest?
Even Hames went on years loan.
You'd think he'd want to go and start some actual games.
Because the manager liked him.
Isco started two CL finals. James wasn't even on the bench for one. Extremely different situations.
Allegedly Isco was one of the players that the club wanted to get rid of and Zidane didn't. Zidane was wrong in this case, since he was never able to get Isco to return to his best.
 

FootballHQ

Full Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
18,249
Supports
Aston Villa
Because the manager liked him.
Isco started two CL finals. James wasn't even on the bench for one. Extremely different situations.
Allegedly Isco was one of the players that the club wanted to get rid of and Zidane didn't. Zidane was wrong in this case, since he was never able to get Isco to return to his best.
That was three seasons ago now.

In 19/20 he started 15 La Liga games, Bale 11 so really not much in it at all and the perception is Bale just bench warmed whole of his final season at Real Madrid.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
3,996
Supports
Real Madrid
There were multiple stories this season saying that Isco wanted to leave in January. The club didn't want to allow it. He is also the only player in the squad who didn't post anything about Zidane's departure, as far as I'm aware. Some bad blood there, probably.
 

RedRonaldo

Wishes to be oppressed.
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Messages
18,996
He’s won 2 leagues and 4 Champions Leagus with Real. I think he’s had a decent career…
Individually speaking he was quite decent during the earlier part of his career:

13/14: 23(9) appearance, 8 goals 6 assists, 7.41 avg rating
14/15: 26(8) appearance, 4 goals 9 assists, 7.35 avg rating
15/16: 12(10) appearance, 3 goals 7 assists, 7.09 avg rating
16/17: 18(12) appearance, 10 goals 8 assists, 7.24 avg rating
17/18: 21(9) appearance, 7 goals 7assists, 7.16 avg rating

At this point he has been playing quite good as a squad player role. At 27, it looks likely he is on the way to finally cement a place in starting 11 as main player, as he is about to enter the peak years of his career...

But for some reasons, after Ronaldo had left, he has been performing very poor:

18/19: 11(16) appearance, 3 goals, 2 assists, 6.66 avg rating
19/20: 15(8) appearance, 1 goals 2 assists, 6.70 avg rating
20/21: 8(17) appearance, 0 goals 2 assists, 6.46 avg rating

I can't think of any reasons for that. He is still only 29, but past 3 years he has been very shite. I think the more appropriate question here is, what happened to him in past 3 years?
 

RooneyLegend

New Member
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
12,963
A combination of injuries and a lack of belief from coaches has him where he is. The season after Ronaldo left was shaping up to be his best yet and he was the player at Madrid, than he got injured and was forgotten after that. He desperately needs a move. I do agree with the other poster that technically, he's the best player in the big leagues.
 

Maluco

Last Man Standing 3 champion 2019/20
Joined
Jan 4, 2014
Messages
5,904
He would be a great pick up for a team looking for a creative player who could be given more freedom and “built around”

But his ability would dictate that he deserves to be at a club like Madrid, where he won’t be allowed that freedom and where the expectation is probably just a little too high for him.

Stuck in that space between not being quite good enough to be the main man at the very top tier clubs, but too good to drop down to the second tier clubs.
 

JuriM

New Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
2,266
Location
Estonia
He would thrive in Wenger's Arsenal atm. Hope he gets chance with Ancelotti.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,767
Location
France
I think Joaquin played at a 10 while Isco was wide. Not entirety sure though.
I'm pretty sure that Isco mainly played centrally and sometimes played on the left. Looking at it, it's because Baptista was injured for the most part of 12/13.
 

Peyroteo

Professional Ronaldo PR Guy
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
10,884
Location
Porto, Portugal
Supports
Sporting CP
He was Godlike to Madrid fans at one point. Go listen to the ovation he got when he got subbed off in the 2017 CL final. He was most definitely a key piece of that team.

He’s the perfect example of why being incredible at ball retention isn’t enough in modern football, always lacked the physical aspects to be world class.
 

Adisa

likes to take afvanadva wothowi doubt
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
50,370
Location
Birmingham
He was Godlike to Madrid fans at one point. Go listen to the ovation he got when he got subbed off in the 2017 CL final. He was most definitely a key piece of that team.

He’s the perfect example of why being incredible at ball retention isn’t enough in modern football, always lacked the physical aspects to be world class.
I don't think his physique was ever a problem. I think his biggest flaw is not having that sense of timing of when to release the ball with a key pass. That imo set him apart from ball huggers like Silver and Iniesta. Another thing, he doesn't have their lungs. Those two could run all day at their peak.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
3,996
Supports
Real Madrid
But for some reasons, after Ronaldo had left, he has been performing very poor:

18/19: 11(16) appearance, 3 goals, 2 assists, 6.66 avg rating
19/20: 15(8) appearance, 1 goals 2 assists, 6.70 avg rating
20/21: 8(17) appearance, 0 goals 2 assists, 6.46 avg rating

I can't think of any reasons for that. He is still only 29, but past 3 years he has been very shite. I think the more appropriate question here is, what happened to him in past 3 years?
Almost no one in RM was very good in 2018-2019 and in early parts of 2019-2020. The rest is partly lack of trust and lack of interest from the player, I would wager.

Having said that, I don't know enough about these averages, but I would imagine 6.6-6.7 is not "really poor."