The Club World Cup game against Pachuca was good. The team looked different from the first and were largely beautiful from a bird’s-eye view. A fan could really sniff something different from what they’ve seen over the past four years.
But one thing stood out that was not beautiful at all, the 7th-minute red card to Raul Asencio. I won’t debate the plausibility or reasoning of whether it needed to be a red. I want to talk about something else.
While I do not know about the intensity of the tackle, I do know that it was reckless and unthoughtful. The best word would be irresponsible. These are the kinds of tackles one should leave behind in premature football.
And it points toward a trend, the trend of Raul Asencio’s attitude. His rise through the ranks at Real Madrid has been exemplary. The player did so well last season, and he deserves a lot of praise for it. But at the same time, he is often caught making some really bad decisions that are entirely unwarranted.
Real Madrid need to think about Raul Asencio’s attitude
Asencio gives the idea of a menace. And to be a menace on the football field is good. Sergio Ramos was one, and with it, he won it all with Real Madrid. But for you to be a menace, you also need to be extremely clever. That, I think, Asencio hasn’t been able to wrap his head around yet.
To be a heated defender, you need to understand the game more than the average player. You need to know when to sneak a bad tackle behind the veil of an accidental or unintended foul, and when to play clean. Again, Ramos, Asencio’s idol, was a master of that art. But Asencio is not. Not yet.
Real Madrid must really take stock of this situation. Asencio cost Madrid a goal in the first game and took them down to ten men in the first few minutes of the second. While he is good, he cannot be allowed to be careless.
This is easily a problem of attitude, if not anything else in support of it. The aggressor Asencio is a very close display of what he used to be in Castilla. Being a solid defender indeed brings attention, and a few mistakes here and there are forgiven. But it becomes a concern when the value you bring to the table starts getting diminished by the number of careless acts you commit.
It has only been one season that Asencio has been playing consistently with the first team. And while it is an extremely big achievement, definitely one to be proud of and boast about, it does not give one the license for this negligence.
Asencio is still young and has a lot to learn. It is undeniable that his future is bright and that he will have some glorious moments in the white shirt. But this shirt demands consistency and discipline. He has conquered the first; the second will arrive in time, hopefully.