Debunking the Myth of “Isco’s Missing Minutes” – A Deep Dive Analysis

It is widely accepted that Isco is not getting enough minutes at Real Madrid. But has this idea perhaps been overblown? Alex McVey believes it has been. In this deep dive, he debunks the myth of “Isco’s Missing Minutes.”

Introduction: The Hullaballoo Surrounding Isco’s Game Time

Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez, known simply as Isco.  How can you not love this guy?

The bearded little man Ray Hudson has branded the “bandy-legged beauty” has won the hearts of Madridistas around the world with his slick dribbling, intense work-rate, outrageous close control, and, as the video below shows, he has the ability to score a whole mess of goals from a variety of angles and in a variety of styles.

Yet somehow, the ex-Malaga man cannot seem to consistently find his way into Zidane’s starting eleven. There seems to be a near constant complaint from the press, Madrid fans, and even Isco himself, that Isco is simply not receiving enough minutes.

Isco told reporters from BeinSports that he would consider leaving the club at the end of the season in order to get more game time: “I’m calm,” Isco declared, “What worries me is to have minutes.”

Isco’s perceived lack of game time has also generated a firestorm of attention on social media. A brief perusal of the tweets below gives you a small sample of the demand from Real Madrid fans that the little magician receive more minutes:

The problem of Isco’s minutes has been so well-documented that even Real Madrid’s coach Zinedine Zidane was forced to recognize that Isco and Alvaro Morata deserve more game time.

There is a certain kind of paradoxical thinking at work in the clamor about Isco’s minutes. On the one hand, Isco has to have played at least enough to have proven to the Madrid faithful that he is worthy of a starting berth.

On the other hand, the consistent commotion about his minutes seems to indicate that he has not played nearly enough to keep Madrid’s fans happy.

The Mythical Status of “Isco’s Missing Minutes”

It is so widely agreed upon that Isco isn’t getting enough game time, that “Isco’s missing minutes” comes to be used almost unthinkingly, with almost no reference to the number of minutes that he is actually getting relative to other players.

I worry, therefore, that the problem of Isco’s missing minutes has garnered a certain mythical status amongst the Madrid faithful.

To say that the narrative surrounding “Isco’s missing minutes” is a myth is not, as the term myth is commonly understood, to imply that it is false. Many potent cultural myths are based in fact.  Instead, a myth is any oft-repeated tale which has taken on a certain symbolic significance that transcends the meaning of the story itself.

It is far beyond me to argue that Isco isn’t getting as many minutes as he might at another club. Nor would I ever suggest that he wouldn’t be better served by getting more playing time.

My problem with the myth of Isco’s missing minutes is that it tends to function in service of hyperbolic narratives about the club which often don’t match up to reality.

For Madrid fans, the broader symbolic significance of “Isco’s missing minutes” is primarily about failure – the failures of Zinedine Zidane to successfully integrate the talented young players in his squad, the inherent failure of any tactical system without an in-built role for a classical no. 10, the failures of (insert given fan’s scapegoated player of choice) to justify their starting spot over Isco, and the failures of Florentino Perez’ Galactico policy which privileges flashy foreign stars like Ronaldo and Bale over hard working Spaniards like Isco.

For the press, and perhaps even Isco himself, the myth of “Isco’s missing minutes” has been used as rhetorical leverage to stir up fears about losing Isco to a club that would presumably give him an unquestioned position in their starting eleven.

It exists in the same discursive universe which holds that Isco would simply walk into the starting lineup of any other major club in Europe, including the Catalonian rivals, FC Barcelona.

Rather than allow this myth to persist unquestioned, I feel it is time to give Isco’s lack of minutes a more thorough critical analysis. What is the truth behind this myth? Has Zidane really made an immense error in denying Isco minutes? Has he so seriously underplayed Isco that the only logical response is for the Spaniard to move onto greener pastures?

Looking at the Data

One can certainly find substantial data to back up the claim that Isco is not getting as many minutes as he deserves.

When compared to some of the top attacking midfielders across the globe, Isco is certainly lagging behind.  Isco’s minutes in the league pale in comparison to Manchester City’s David Silva, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, Napoli’s Marek Hamsik, and Tottenham Hotspur’s Dele Alli.

All of these players are sitting at over 2000 minutes, whereas Isco is hovering at around 1200.

However, this comparison also points to some of the problems with the “Isco’s Missing Minutes” myth.  While Isco would almost certainly be able to walk into the starting eleven on squads like Napoli or Spurs, it’s less certain that he would be able to displace the likes of David Silva or Kevin De Bruyne at City or Hazard at Chelsea.

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It’s probably true that his chances for minutes would be greater at City or Chelsea than it would be at Real Madrid, but that’s not the same as saying Isco would have a guaranteed spot.

And while any of these squads would be a fine place to play football, none of them are super clubs in the vein of Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Bayern. This means that while Isco would be more likely to get playing time, he would be less likely to win the kinds of silverware that Real Madrid offer.

A comparison with these kinds of super clubs reveals a slightly better idea of the kinds of expectations we might have of Isco’s minutes.

Isco’s missing minutes seems more reasonable when compared to the league minutes of other attacking midfielders like Ivan Rakitic and Andrés Iniesta from Barca, Arjen Robben from Bayern, and Miralim Pjanic from Juventus, (Robben here, like Hazard above, is perhaps is better labeled an attacking winger, but is still considered by many to be an attacking midfielder).

It is true that both Iniesta and Robben (and to a lesser degree Pjanic), have spent some time on the injury list this season, dragging their minutes down. Nevertheless, when compared to other “super clubs” who are fighting for multiple trophies every season, Isco’s league minutes don’t seem as unreasonable.

Another apt comparison is to look at other big clubs (although perhaps not at super club levels) with versatile midfields. Here, compare Isco’s minutes to those of Chelsea midfielders Willian and Pedro, and PSG Midfielders Angel Di Maria and Marco Verratti.

All of these players are well under the 2,000 minute mark in their respective leagues. Each of these players are important members of their respective squads, who may or may not start a given match depending on the tactical and rotational needs of their coach.

"Isco’s minutes are still on the low side, comparatively."

But the difference is not quite as outrageous as the seemingly constant uproar about Isco’s minutes might betray.

We see a similar distribution when we compare Isco’s minutes to the likes of Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, Manchester United’s Juan Mata, and Dortmund’s Marco Reus.

Isco is sitting below all of these quality players, with the exception of the oft-injured Reus. But the gap between his league minutes and these top notch, if not “Top-5-in-the-world” midfielders, isn’t immense.

Perhaps the most important comparison to be made is with other midfielders in Real Madrid’s squad itself. Here, I believe, we begin to see the best arguments against the common applications of the “Isco’s missing minutes” myth.

Take, for example, the following comparison of the minutes distribution in La Liga between Isco and Madrid’s top midfielders.

I have included James Rodriguez here despite the fact that he has largely been a bit player for Zidane this season because he is the type of galactico-esque player one would expect to be a top choice for Real Madrid’s midfield.

Toni Kroos is, of course, getting close to the 2,000 minute mark in the league. Besides him, however, most of Madrid’s players are sitting at under 1,500.  Isco has played more minutes in the league than Casemiro, and nearly double the amount of minutes as James.

Of course, for a good chunk of this season Zidane did not have Casemiro and Modrić at his disposal, but nonetheless, the numbers indicate that Isco is certainly finding his way into Madrid’s lineup this season, one way or another.

An even more apt comparison is between Isco and Real Madrid’s bit players in the midfield.

When it comes to minutes distributed to Madrid’s substitutes, Isco is leading the pack ahead of Lucas Vázquez, Mateo Kovačić, Marco Asensio, and James.

For the most part, Isco is the first man off the bench, and the first person in Zidane’s lineup when one of his choice midfielders of Kroos, Modrić, and Casemiro are absent.

Conclusion: Debunking the Myths

I should say, before attempting to unpack all of this data, that the comparison matrices above do leave out the crucial figures of Champions League minutes. And Isco has certainly been lacking in those to date, playing only 77 minutes across two matches.

Additionally, many of the players listed above like Reus, Iniesta, and Robben have spent long spells of this season injured, driving down their minutes, whereas Isco has largely been injury free.

However, introducing the discussion of the Champions League and the question of injuries brings me to a more important point about the status of Isco’s missing minutes and its role in the popular myths about Real Madrid.

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Real Madrid is a super club, fighting for much of the season to stay in three competitions (or more, when you include Super Cups, Club World Cups, and other less meaningful matches).

The distribution of minutes above indicates that Zidane has used Isco as a key player in his fight to regain Madrid’s first La Liga title since 2011. The fact that so many of the iconic players above have spent time missing through injury indicates that any squad which is serious about winning multiple trophies a season must take the issue of injury replacement seriously.

Those who cling to the myth of Isco’s missing minutes would probably be quick to remind me that when all of Madrid’s preferred midfielders are healthy, Isco has no place in Zidane’s once de gala.

This, I would argue, is an example of mythical thinking overshadowing the harsh realities of contemporary club football. When Madrid is fighting for trophies on multiple fronts across the length of a grueling, injury-ridden season, there is simply no such thing as a true “once de gala.”

Asking what would happen if Madrid’s players were all healthy at the same time seems like an exercise in fancy, because it is rare that Madrid’s players are all ever totally injury free.

One of the hallmarks of this Zidane side is its tactical flexibility.  Matt Wiltse of Managing Madrid recently wrote of Zidane’s tactical identity:

"Many have questioned and criticized Zidane for the constant chopping and changing of personnel and systems. At Real Madrid, there are 18+ players that could start for virtually any team in the world. Flexibility in the system provides options for different personnel and different characteristics."

This flexibility has been especially important as Madrid has experienced key injuries to players like Gareth Bale, Luka Modrić, and Casemiro. As Graham Ruthvren writes for Marca, “Isco has become a tactical lynchpin for Zinedine Zidane, allowing him a degree of flexibility in the final third.” If flexibility is the name of the game for Zidane, then Isco is far from a  player and is much more a key piece of Zidane’s constantly changing puzzle.

Another set of assumptions lurking in the background of the Isco minutes myth is that Isco necessarily deserves to start over the likes of other players, who are often the same ones scapegoated for Madrid’s occasionally lackluster performances.

The usual suspects are Karim Benzema and Casemiro, but we’re starting to see more calls for Isco to start over the likes of Luka Modrić as well:

I have no problem with fans discussing which players might function better in particular scenarios and at particular points in the season, but the discussion rarely takes place on this level.

The discourse about Isco’s missing minutes is usually rooted in hyperbole about how players like Benzema, Casemiro are utter garbage, a disgrace to the badge, and evidence that Zidane’s bald head is either empty or filled with delusions.

Think I’m exaggerating? Nope:

Everyone is, of course, entitled to their own opinions. Nobody, however, is entitled to their own set of facts. Benzema, Casemiro, and yes, even Luka Modric, are all prone to having off games. But to say that these players are garbage, or that Isco is so perfect that it is unthinkable that he would ever ride the pine in favor of these lesser beings, is a conclusion simply not hovering in the orbit of reality.

Soccer fans are emotional creatures by nature. The ties that bind us to our favorite clubs and players are far from rational, and these intense attachments can often cause us to miss the forest for the trees.

While I can understand where these fans are coming from, I believe they would be well served to take a step back, take a deep breath, and really think about what Zidane has accomplished with his tactical rotations.

Far from failing to provide Isco minutes, Zidane has done an excellent job including him as a key player in a diverse, tactically flexible squad. Real Madrid currently sit two points atop the La Liga table heading into the month of April, and Isco played a major role in getting them to that precipice.

Far from failing to provide Isco minutes, Zidane has done an excellent job including him as a key player in a diverse, tactically flexible squad.

It’s not even the case that Isco has been relegated to playing exclusively against the league’s minnows: Isco started in the Super Cup against Sevilla, in El Clásico at the Camp Nou, and in Real’s thrashing of Atletico Madrid in the Calderon. These decisions might indeed have been influenced by Madrid’s injury list at the time, but acting as if rotation isn’t always on the back of the coach’s mind is an exercise entirely divorced from the real world.

It is worth remembering that Isco is still just 24 years old. With Madrid mainstays like Ronaldo and Modrić creeping into their early thirties, the path ahead for Isco looks bright indeed. Isco will get his chance to cement his place as a Madrid legend.

Rather than focusing on Isco’s perceived lack of minutes as a sign of Zidane’s supposed naiveté, fans should appreciate how Zidane has created one of the deepest and most tactically flexible squads on the planet by distributing minutes widely across Madrid’s entire team.

There is a certain truth to the myth of Isco’s missing minutes. Isco is an amazing player, and in many other squads, he would probably get more playing time.

But this isn’t just any other squad. This is Real Madrid, the best team on the planet.

Next: Real Madrid Not So Routinely Take Care of Alavés

Isco has demonstrated the kind of patience that is needed to break through such a squad. Hopefully the purveyors of the myth of “Isco’s missing minutes” will demonstrate the same kind of patience.