Quote:
Originally Posted by alwaysabear
The Spanish coach seems to insist on playing a very unbalanced side, at one point he had 6 central midfielders on the pitch . He took the only striker off then put two wingers on  Spain progressed in spite of the coach not because of him. |
Well they've progressed to the final. He is getting results.
Spain, I am now pretty sure, know what they are doing. They seem to keep possession in midfield to draw out the opposition defence and create space in front of the goal and avoid being at risk of a break. They are not scoring as much but nor are they conceding as much.
The problem for Spain going into this tournament was that people had suspected they had been 'figured out'. A blueprint on how to defeat Spain was drawn up in the Chelsea and Inter wins against Barcelona. You don't go to play football, you confine them to the edge of your box and force them to shoot from afar. You sit back in a frankly absurd position and soak up their pressure and, as they get increasingly frustrated and commit more men forward, you await your chance to break. It worked for Chelsea, it could work against Spain.
They have effectively neutralised that threat. They won't be drawn to the edge of their opponents box and hope for an opening. Instead they keep the ball in midfield and await an opening as the opposing team comes to them. They can't be broken against and there will be spacing opening up between the defence and midfield.
They have a clear tactical plan and it's working, although not brilliantly. However they've got to a third successive final without any of their players setting the championships alight and without playing strikers. Can't pretend that isn't a success.