Teams must play to their strengths; an overarching philosophy can only be applied if a manager has the players to execute it.
Thus, for a team to be successful, a natural balance must settle into place, filling the gaps between a desired style and sensible pragmatism.
Spain, the defending European champions, have a lot of talented ball-playing midfielders. As such, Vicente del Bosque has arranged his team with wide players who are near-universally prone to cutting inside, into the central corridor of the pitch.
Against Croatia, del Bosque started David Silva and Nolito on the right and left flanks, respectively; Silva and Nolito are left and right-footed, respectively, and so, when in possession, drift inwards, looking to combine with Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas.
Such an approach makes a lot of sense, certainly in terms of the squad del Bosque has selected. Looking down the list of Spanish midfielders and attackers, only Real Madrid’s Lucas Vasquez – hardly a household name – could be confidently described as a player more at home nearer to the touchline than the top of the penalty area.
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Furthermore, the approach isn’t only an appropriate one for the personnel, it’s an effective one: Spain’s opening goal was crafted by David Silva cutting inside and threading an exquisite reverse-pass through to an on-rushing Fabregas, who then crossed for Alvaro Morata to tap in.
It was a sequence that comes so easily to these players, one almost repeated later on in the first half. Silva even gave us a glimpse of what happens when he chooses not to cut inside; he looks a little less comfortable, to be sure, and the action forces him onto his weaker foot.
This does affect Spain in other ways; mainly, it forces all of the responsibility for the provision of width onto the fullbacks, Jordi Alba and Juanfran.
The sub-effects of this are varied, and none are really beneficial. Unlike four years ago – when Spain played largely with Fabregas as a false nine – the Spanish have a capable, aerially-viable striker in Alvaro Morata – and to a lesser extent, Aritz Aduriz – so crossing opportunities are more valuable to them as an attacking asset.
If opposition defenders know that, by and large, only the Spanish fullbacks will attempt to cross from the byline, then it makes their jobs significantly easier, especially if they enjoy the support of defensively diligent wingers.
The Spanish fullbacks, especially Alba, aren’t shy of getting forward. In fact, Alba surges with such abandon, at one point against Croatia he ended up in the far-right corner of the opposition box, and made other runs that traced the route normally pursued by a central striker.
Juanfran, while willing, is visibly less comfortable up there, where the air is rarefied. His role in the final third is less to act in the way Alba obviously relishes, as a stiletto puncturing the defensive line, and more to be a simpler passing option. You can see, in this clip, that as Silva, Iniesta and Fabregas tip and tap among themselves, Juanfran chooses not to charge in behind the defence, in the way Alba might, and when he does receive the ball, he switches play from his flank to the opposite one immediately. His crossing can be good, but his distinct lack of pace makes defensive recovery a horribly lurching task.
Naturally, this sort of set-up leads, inevitably, to moments where the opposition has huge swathes of a pitch to counter-attack into down the flanks. When your wingers are Silva and Nolito, and two-thirds of your midfield are made up of Fabregas and Iniesta, you will always have problems defending pinpoint, athletic counter-attacks. And Croatia, equipped with some excellent, virile wingers, caused Spain these exact problems, with Ivan Perisic a deadly force on the break.
The Inter Milan attacker is a tightly-coiled, persuasive runner, all narrow shoulders and vigorous inertia. He is also a willing and able defender, and the warning signs were there for Spain; Croatia coped with the Spanish possession – as suffocating as it can feel – as well as any team can, and when they did break up the Spanish passing triangles, there were clear avenues downs the flanks.
Here, Juanfran and Gerard Pique’s progressiveness would have been punished, if not for the pass spiralling slightly out of play. Here, a supremely elegant Vedran Ćorluka tackle crafts the embryo of a threatening break, with Alba stranded, that is stopped only by Nolito’s tactical foul.
Often, it was Perisic working alone; around the hour mark, he neatly exposes Iniesta’s leaky defensive technique, and fashions a length-of-the-field crossing opportunity. It isn’t just direct runners that can hurt Spain either; Croatia possess a number of highly-skilled midfielders, most principally Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric – the latter was absent from the victory over Spain – who can pass through desperate lunges on the counter.
To del Bosque’s credit, he eventually made changes to mitigate for his team’s weakness, bringing on Bruno Soriano for Nolito. Soriano, a very competent covering midfielder, took up a position alongside Sergio Busquets, and was seen making a clear effort to plug the gaps left by the still-roaming Juanfran on the right. You can see in this clip that Soriano lurks as a passing outlet and defensive fail-safe as Juanfran takes up essentially a winger’s position, with Busquets doing much the same on the left.
And yet, with del Bosque’s mitigation plan in place, it was from that right flank that Perisic launched his late blitz. Having blocked a Spain attempt on goal, Croatia quickly punched the ball to striker Nikola Kalinić, who had the space to turn.
By that time Perisic had already scorched the visibly exhausted Juanfran and was tearing away down the left. Kalinic’s pass was well-timed and, although David de Gea should certainly have done better to save Perisic’s shot at his near post, Marko Pjaca was free in the centre had a cross come in instead. Croatia had, finally and decisively, executed the textbook break they had threatened to all evening.
With Modric on the pitch, these Croatian transitions become even more fluent. Mario Mandzukic is arguably better suited to play the role Kalinic shone in against Spain. Croatia are now the looming dark horses of the Euro, with a favourable draw and a talented team.
As for Spain, well, it doesn’t take much to see their weaknesses, in spite of the fact this was their first defeat in the European championships since 2004. They now face Italy in the round of 16, a just punishment for failing to win this last group game.
In international football, and immersed as they are in the heady, perilous atmosphere of a continental tournament, a team can never assume their inadequacies will remain undiscovered.
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