Parreira, who led his country to the World Cup in 1994, made a prediction ten years ago that we’d eventually see the most successful teams play with no recognised ‘number nine’.
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, then 4-5-1 became more familiar, and now the world champions happily play 4-6-0.
From a professional point of view, it’s fascinating to see the application of theory which would once have been considered unthinkable. You can’t argue with its effectiveness, nor underestimate the levels of technical ability required to set a team 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 of Euro 2012, 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, since you’ve been chasing the 70 per cent of possession Spain tend to have, you’re normally too tired to do any damage. In their last 15 competitive matches in the World Cup or European Championships, Spain has kept 12 clean sheets.
You won’t find a single footballer that does not admire and to some extent 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 overcomplicating the football theory and making it harder for themselves. Should they have to rely on penalties to beat Portugal, for example? I think they’re better than that.
I don’t 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’s a perfectly justified debate as to whether he should be packing his central midfield with players of a similar type.
It wouldn’t matter if Spain played 4-3-3, 3-5-2 or 4-5-1, most countries still wouldn’t get near them because they have players flexible enough to make it work.
What they’ve 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 Spanish team.
I understand why neutral supporters suggest the Spain games have not been that enjoyable to watch. I wouldn’t say I agree with it, but that’s possibly because when you’re a player you can get absorbed in the tactical play a bit more.
What I do accept when you’re watching a game is 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 haven’t seen that in the Spain matches. They’ve been more like strategy games where you can acknowledge the brilliance of what they’re doing, but not in a way that gets the heart pumping.
I’ve heard it suggested they’re 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 can’t suggest we’ve 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 last World Cup, suffering from the loss of David Villa who, even when playing in a wider role, had a natural instinct to run beyond defenders. Four years ago, Torres and Villa played in the same team.
While I wouldn’t suggest there is anything remotely 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 rather than strikers.
He may have felt he had to react since the last World Cup. 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 may have been a reaction to this.
In difficult moments, Del Bosque has basically reverted the system that ensures he has his best players on the pitch. He will argue, with some justification, that when he’s selected a number nine — Negredo or Torres — they’ve 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’m 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’ll 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’ll also remember it was a deep midfield runner, Cesc Febragas, 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, the 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 level of respect and admiration, but perhaps not the standing ovation of 2008.
It’s certainly a different Spain team winning it in a different way. They haven’t thrilled in quite the same fashion yet, but they’re still way ahead of the rest of us and we can only dream of emulating them.
source: telegraph.co.uk
