What's wrong with Spain?

I guess on the face of it, you could ask yourself, they’re into the semi finals of the World Cup, nothing’s wrong...

Spain certainly have a great chance of winning the World Cup. Considering they lost their opening game so shockingly, pulling things together to get through to the last four is also nothing to be sniffed at. However, on the evidence of the games so far, Spain just don’t seem quite all there.

Leading up to the tournament they were many people’s favourites to lift the trophy. Not just in the traditional ‘Spain are a dark horse’ way we’ve seen historically but in a ‘they won Euro 2008 in great style, qualified with an unblemished record and have hardly lost for the past several years’ kind of way. And yet, whilst they are still obviously in a great position to live up to their pre-tournament billing, they are yet to ignite or capture the imagination of their opponents on Wednesday, Germany.

In a way it’s something of a role reversal for when they met in the final of the European Champions in Vienna two years ago. During that tournament, Germany looked shaky and unimpressive whilst Spain won over many neutrals with their precision passing and fast build up. That style, closely associated with the style that Barcelona have displayed in recent seasons has seen many across the world hold Spain up as the blueprint for how a side should be able to play, to manoeuvre and manipulate the ball at speed whilst retaining possession and probing for openings. In this tournament however it’s the Germans who have played with verve and panache.

Spain in contrast, whilst still maintaining their exceptional levels of ball retention have at times looked slow and stodgy. Apart from brief spells here and there they haven’t electrified and their build up play has been ponderous. They have had to deal with opponents packing their defence, playing deep and restricting them space, but that was the also the case at Euro 2008. However two years ago the ball was moved faster, the build up play more rapid. So what’s changed?

A simple reason refers to the condition of many of their players. Xavi, the arch conductor, after a couple of marathon season with his club looks tired. His club mate Andres Iniesta has struggled with injuries over the past 12 months and Fernando Torres is patently unfit, as well as drastically out of form. Blaming fatigue however is a little too simplistic, and I think one has to investigate a bit deeper into the way the Spanish have been set up by manager Vicente Del Bosque.

During the European Championships a similar formation was used, Torres as the focal point of the attack, David Villa pulling out wide and then four other midfield players, however the makeup was a little different, as well as the personnel. In Austria and Switzerland, Xavi and Iniesta played as two central midfield players in front of a holding player. This enabled them to exchange passes and orchestrate moves from the midfield as they do for Barcelona. Now however, Iniesta has been pushed out to flank to accommodate Xabi Alonso. Both these players are clearly more than comfortable in their roles and fine performers (witness Iniesta’s classy run which eventually led to the Spanish breakthrough in the quarter final ) yet it’s meant a different dynamic.

Iniesta is not a natural wide man, and two years ago, David Silva, used very sparingly this time around provided balance and width. Similarly Alonso is a fantastic passer off the ball with a wide range within his repertoire, yet he plays in a different way to the boys from Barcelona. Listening to analysis so far, whilst he’s arguably been one of Spain’s better performers, there’s the argument that he’s upset what was a great dynamic through the fact he has often been looking for a more direct ball than the shorter option the Spanish style has been built on. Is this just over analysing? Perhaps, but the speed at which Spain have moved the ball around the pitch has been significantly reduced.

The other difference comes from the holding midfield role. In 2010 we have seen yet another Barcelona man, Sergio Busquets playing adeptly, but not giving as much as the man from the 2008 vintage, Marcos Senna did. Whilst he is now slowing down, and while he has had an indifferent couple of seasons since the triumph of two years ago, Senna was a vital cog in the Spanish midfield, not only playing the holding role but also seemingly evolving it to where he was both the stopper and orchestrator of attacks. To be rather pompous and quote myself in an article I wrote reviewing the tournament for a website I wrote for (www.411mania.com) I said at the time;

“Quietly and efficiently, the naturalised Brazilian went about his business, allowing his more illustrious team mates to shine. Senna was the linchpin at the base of the midfield, patrolling just ahead of the Spanish back four. It says much for the standard and level of the performances he has put in that the vulnerable defence of Spain was not unduly troubled. He has not just been a destroyer however, as his passing and movement have meant the ball was still kept moving when it came to him and attacks did not break down. Comfortable on the ball, throughout the tournament he was able to evolve the role of the ‘holding midfield player' being both the start of Spanish attacks while being the end to the oppositions.”

This is arguably what Spain have been missing, whilst Busquets performs his role well he is far more limited in his passing and distribution and the result has seen a slowing down in the way the Spanish are able to play their game. They also seem to be suffering from an over reliance on David Villa for his goals. Torres’ poor form has been well publicised but problems also seem to emanate from the fact that Del Bosque has only briefly dipped into the vast resources under his disposal. One of the great aspects of Spain’s victory in 2008 was the way in which they used basically the whole squad, bringing in players not just for the sake of it, but bringing in different options when certain situations called for them. In this tournament we have not seen enough playing time for the likes of Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Pedro, Jesus Navas and Fernando Llorente, all of whom have provided positive impetus the times they have been used.

It seems strange to be describing Spain as having some problems when they are in the semi-finals of the World Cup and still stand a great chance of adding the world crown to their European one, but it’s clear that they will need to significantly step up their game to beat a vibrant and in form Germany. I suppose in a way it’s the very high standards they have set for themselves which means people have been somewhat disappointed in Spain’s performance, but perhaps they have finally realised what it takes to get the job done at a World Cup; approach the tournament through the eyes of their ideological rivals - the Italians.