Euro 2012: This Spanish win would be admired, not loved
Carlos Alberto Parreira, the former Brazil manager, will have been watching Spain line up with no striker during euro 2012 and telling anyone within listening distance: "I told you so."
Parreira, who led his country to the World Cup in 1994, made a prediction 10 years ago that we would eventually see the most successful teams play with no recognised No 9. He saw the future of football. Spain, and to some extent Barcelona, are realising that vision. The game has developed to the degree whereby where once we had a traditional 4-4-2 and then 4-5-1, now the world champions happily play 4-6-0.
From a professional point of view, it is fascinating to see the application of a theory which would once have been considered unthinkable. You cannot argue with its effectiveness, nor ignore the levels of technical ability required to set up this way.
Spain keep the ball better, quite possibly, than any international team in history. They have conceded just one goal en route to the final, their ability to dominate possession and wear down an opponent makes it incredibly difficult to create chances against them, and if they score just once, the odds are the game is over.
Even if you get a chance to attack, because you have been chasing the 70 per cent of possession Spain tend to have, you are normally too tired to do any damage. In their past 15 competitive matches in the World Cup or European championships, Spain have kept 12 clean sheets.
You will not find a single footballer who does not admire or even envy how the Spanish side are able to do this. The question I, like many others, have been asking myself during the course of this tournament is whether Spain are actually over-complicating the theory. Should they have to rely on penalties to beat Portugal, for example? I think they are better than that.
I do not believe they need to play 4-6-0 to win Euro 2012. They could play with one less midfielder and still pass the ball better than anyone else. Their left back, Jordi Alba, has been one of the players of the tournament and often looks like an extra midfielder. No manager has more options than Vicente Del Bosque, so it is a perfectly justified debate as to whether he should be packing his central midfield with players of a similar type.
It would not matter if Spain played 4-3-3, 3-5-2 or 4-5-1, most countries still would not get near them because they have players flexible enough to make it work. What they have decided to do in this competition - a difference to Euro 2008 and the last World Cup - is adopt a system which is worthy of professional respect and appreciation rather than one that generates excitement and edge-of-the-seat football for those with no emotional connection to the team.
I understand why neutrals suggest the Spain games have not been that enjoyable to watch. I would not say I agree with them, but that is possibly because when you are a player you can get absorbed in the tactical play a bit more.
What I do accept is that what stirs the emotions is seeing a winger beat a man, someone with pace sprinting past defenders, plenty of goalmouth incident and, obviously, lots of goals. We have not seen that in the Spain matches. They have been more like strategy games where you can acknowledge the brilliance of what they are doing, but they are not playing in a way that gets the heart pumping.
I have heard it suggested they are mirroring the Barcelona system, but there are key differences. For a start, Barcelona have Lionel Messi's genius and his 70 goals a season. Also, Barca use the pace of Pedro and Alexis Sanchez down the wide areas, constantly running beyond the opposing defence giving the central midfielders passing options. Barcelona create tons of chances in every match they play.
You cannot suggest we have seen the same kinds of movement from this Spain team, because the midfielders have not gone beyond the opposition centre-halves enough. They have changed, even since the World Cup, suffering from the loss of David Villa who, even when playing wider, had a natural instinct to run beyond defenders. Four years ago, Fernando Torres and Villa played in the same team.
While I would not suggest there is anything negative about how Spain play, I do believe the 4-6-0 is reflective of Del Bosque sticking with the players he trusts most, who are evidently his central midfielders.
He may have felt he had to act. In several friendlies after South Africa Spain suffered heavy defeats. Argentina beat them 4-1 and Portugal also enjoyed a 4-0 victory. Opting for a more solid midfield could have been a reaction to this.
In difficult moments, Del Bosque has basically reverted to the system that ensures he has his best players on the pitch. He will argue, with some justification, that when he has selected a No?9 - Alvaro Negredo or Torres - they have been the weakest links.
Parreira's prediction about a team succeeding with 4-6-0 has proved correct. It is certainly a break from the past but I am yet to be convinced it is necessarily a forward-thinking evolutionary step for Spanish football. The greatest teams will always have the right balance between defensive soundness, technical expertise and attacking threat.
Italy will be heartened by what they witnessed against Portugal on Wednesday, but their manager Cesare Prandelli has a tactical problem of his own. He nullified the Spanish in their group game, playing three at the back. He will also have noted how Portugal pressed high up the pitch to unsettle the Spanish possession.
Del Bosque will recall the impact Torres had as a substitute in Gdansk, creating numerous opportunities by running beyond Italy's back three. He will also remember it was a deep midfield runner, Cesc Fabregas, who scored the equaliser. The tactical analysis of the game will make it enthralling for football students.
I expect Spain to win, probably narrowly, consolidating their position as the best nation in the world, with the most talented players. When they won in Austria four years ago, they did so by quickening the pulse of football lovers who took pleasure from their exhilarating brand of football.
Victory this time would deserve the same respect and admiration, but perhaps not the standing ovation of 2008. It is certainly a different Spain team winning in a different way. They have not thrilled in quite the same fashion yet, but they are still way ahead of the rest.
Source [
DNA India]
