Having endured the ‘wonderful football’ that we have all become acquitted to over the years, watching Spain & Barcelona, following the events of last season, it may be time for them to construct a back-up plan.
Now, we all know the Spanish philosophy of ‘passing the opponent into submission’ is there forte and the reason achievements have subsequently followed. But in contrast to what we have witnessed in the past, teams have recently altered their approach to facing the World & European Champions.
Aside from brilliant individuals, Spain pride themselves on the fluidity of their intricate passing, aligned with maintaining possession and pressurizing the ball in order to regain control of the play, making them a solid cohesive unit. For years we’ve become accustomed to this ideology, which predominantly, can be sublime to watch.
But on the flip side, you can argue that Spain tend to overelaborate their play and lose composure, condemning the opposing team to an onslaught in front of goal, but with no end product.
Many teams have also tried and failed to play the likes of Spain & Barcelona at their own vibrant attacking game, but have inevitably faltered.
However, in the Champions League semi-final last season, we saw Chelsea revert to a different system to try and halt the offensive threat that Barcelona obviously posed. It might not have been poignant as such, but the resilience of the two banks of four, as well as a slice of luck, thwarted Barcelona’s system, and because the Spanish giants had no alternative to the defensive mindset of Chelsea, it ultimately cost them a winnable tie.
Even in the friendly at Wembley against England, Spain were deservedly outright favorites but found themselves losing 1-0, due to the fact they had no innovation on the day.
We’ve also seen the defensive system being replicated during the European Championships against the Spanish. Italy & Croatia both evaded their traditional formations by adding an extra man in midfield to try and sustain possession, whilst looking to break on the counter-attack.
The argument is that Spain should look to implement a different dimension to their game in order to break teams down, especially if their sophisticated movement and interchanging play aren’t successful.
Obviously we are so used to associating creativity and imaginative play to the Spanish game; the likes of Xavi & Iniesta have that in their repertoire in abundance. But in the context of switching from the coveted 4-3-3 formation during a game, to perhaps a less effective, but damaging 4-4-2. So if they do in fact find themselves behind and suppressed for ideas, they can resort to using a different method, especially with the towering presence of Fernando Llorente on the bench.
Following proceedings in the Champions league and more recently the Euro’s, it’s clear that more and more teams will revert to a defensive system in order to nullify the Spanish attack. With the World Cup looming and the likes of Germany & Brazil making significant progress, Spain may need to revert to an unconventional plan in order to retain their formidable status.
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