Real Madrid: 5 players who must rise to the occasion at Cadiz

CM Isco

Isco did not play poorly against Getafe this weekend, even if his impact on the match was minimal. The truth is that without a real midfield setup, Isco didn’t stand a chance at making his mark on a match against a notoriously tough defensive side.

For the most part, Isco has been decent this season, even though he’s played fewer than 500 minutes in La Liga. You still get the feeling he can bring some magic to the table, and he’s mostly avoided awful performances.

Being a midfielder in a three-man midfield is not really ideal for Isco, and a “back three” formation would, likewise, benefit the former Malaga man. But it looks like Zinedine Zidane is expected to use the 4-3-3, in which case, Isco will have to step up.

He worked hard against Getafe defensively, but the problem is that he doesn’t have the physical capabilities to do all that running on defense for 90 minutes. Hence why playing as a midfielder in a double-pivot or a flat three-man midfield is not a good situation for such an attacking-minded, creative player.

We’ll see what Isco can do against Cadiz this time around. In the first match, Isco played 46 minutes and completed four dribbles, per WhoScored.com, before being pulled off the pitch by Zidane. And the change did not help Los Blancos.