Results aside, the two meetings of this first week of the Nations League for the Spanish team have left some tactical aspects to comment on. I break it down into five points:
The stamp of Luis Enrique in the national team can be seen in several things, but especially when the team is without the ball in the rival field. And it is that the premise is very clear: all footballers have to jump to the pressure of the ball holder or chase the possible receiver. No player is passive in the defensive phase because only, in the game plan, there are only these two options. Something that has been maintained since the first day the coach arrived. No doubts.
For all the reasons stated in the first point, Spain is a team with magnificent behavior defending forward (high pressure) but with significant problems in managing the spaces behind the defence. Because it is so true that it is very difficult to defend with large spaces behind, as there are aspects in which Spain has decoupled. The defensive distances between full-backs and central defenders in quick transitions are not good. And above all, the profiles of almost all the central defenders used by Luis Enrique in these two games (Llorente, Eric, Pau, Inigo Martínez) are not ideal in order not to lose his back. Portugal’s draw and the two goals conceded against the Czech Republic are the best proof of this. Without a doubt, the main point to work for the team.
With the ball, Spain is a combination of high rhythm and verticality. The breaks of the extremes are constant and the passing choices most of the time choose to correspond to these unchecks. This forces the rival a lot but also makes the attacks not very positional, even too much, because although this is a positive aspect in any dominant team, Spain needs to apply a point of calm in some moments of the game
It was already sensed, but these two meetings have cleared any doubt. Both were starters against Portugal and Luis Enrique did not hesitate to make them enter the emergency situation that occurred against the Czech Republic. The coach believes that Busquets’ reading, ease and reliability in starting the game are essential, as well as the positional order that he gives the team. Three quarters of the same happens with Álvaro Morata, who provides everything that Luis Enrique is looking for in the nine position: a great first pressure, mobility and a certain goal quota
The best player in these two games and the one who has given the most talk. He has combined both profiles throughout the 171 minutes he has played, but has played much more on the right than on the left. He has surprised the weight in the offensive game that he has had in these two duels (73 and 74 interventions respectively) that significantly exceed what he has recorded at Barça this season (35 interventions on average per game). And it is that the context that he finds himself in the national team is very similar to the one he has in Xavi’s Barça (same system, same premises) but with one more point of verticality. And that, because of the way he plays and because of his pace of play, is going great for him.
