Spanish outstay their welcome and pay the price

Right on the money Steve. But which one?

Tiki-Taka is wonderful football to watch when played well and Spain and Barca have done that for a long time. The players themselves have probably been let to hang on for to long. People who hate the way Braca and Spain play are rejoicing because they think that style of football has been defeated but it is really done to key players playing on for too long. They no longer press as intensely as they used too, the off the ball movement is not a incisive or dynamic as it once was. Barca is going to need to slightly adjust how they attack the penalty box of the opposition in the future but that style of football is not dead.

I'm by no means a soccer aficionado but if did read leading in that the game they had perfected presented the socceroos (and thence the others) with some predictability to attack against.

Alex Ferguson said you only get 4 top years out of any team. He was right.

I understood your point Mitch, and agree

I agree Mitch, had we had our old boys still in the team, we would have looked slow and stale - like the Spanish do now, but with much less class... There, but for the grace of Ange, go the Socceroos :)

While there were some great performances by Spaniards in the UCL Final (Koke, Villa, Ramos, Carvajal, etc.), many of the key performers were not Spanish, despite playing for a Spanish team. Di Maria, Marcelo, Modric, Bale, Ronaldo, Courtois, Godin, Luis, Miranda. I don't think anyone thought that was a serious indication or representation of the Spanish national team, given that three of the starting midfielders for Spain played in a Barcelona team that went silver-less. It's not like 4 years ago when barcelona were dominating, with mostly a Spanish side (plus some handy bloke called Messi of course). If anything, the UCL Final showed me that strong powerful counter-attacking side would triumph at the WC, and not Spain's slower pass and no movement. The team that looked most like the finalists are the Germans, and in fact Argentina (at least their 2nd half performance against Bosnia).

Great team. But tiki-taka was boring to say the least.

Different Steve here. I thought Spain would make it out of their group, but I did think their time had passed and they would lose to a good counter-attacking unit. I guess I didn't realise how good the Netherlands were. Their previous biggest strength, the midfield, has become their biggest weakness Spain relied so heavily on Xavi. Xavi is still so great at controlling the tempo and making the right passes. The problem is when Spain dominated, the tempo they had was fast but not too fast, slow but not too slow - basically it was just right for midfield control yet chance creation. The problem is, while Xavi can still control the tempo, that tempo is too slow. All of the players got used to going to Xavi's tempo, and so when he slowed, as did the whole team. The movement lacked, passes became safe and yet at the same time there were more turnovers. When he did not play against Chile, the Spaniards looked lost in midfield, despite having some of the best players in the game. Real Madrid had the same problem about 10 years ago when Makelele was forced out. While not the same player as Xavi (more a Busquets type), Makelele was so great at controlling the tempo, even though he is mostly remembered as a defensive DM. I think the future for Spain is when Thiago take the mantle as key conductor. We will see whether he becomes another Xavi or not....

Of course they will. It's all relative Hawker. What I was focussing on is the guts to rebuild a team of ageing stars. Just because they got the job done in the past doesn't mean they will in the future. While I'm not comparing the two team's quality, I am comparing their ability to spot a train wreck coming.

what do you mean james? Spain had to go through qualifications, they were in group I with France, Belarus, Finland and Georgia. They topped the group but just (sort of, Fr finished 3pts behind) so they had to play competitive football for the past 2 years, same as everyone really.

Spain were always going to struggle in a South America. All the South American teams would have been psyched up to prevent them from winning the World Cup there, you just need a limited knowledge of their history and some understanding of human behavior to realize that. The primary difficulty the team Had I the field though was at the back, not even Barcelona or Real Madrid can afford to have a defense with Ramos and Pique at the centre of it. One of them yes, but not both. I think the Spanish coach must take the blame, Del Bosque never added anything to develop this Spanish team, he just reaped the fruits of the work Arigones did and when the time came to add new players and revitalize the team he never did so. The signs were definitely there, Spain even lost to South Africa, granted it was only one nil, but the coach came out prior to this World Cup and said the Spanish had become predictable and easier to play against. He was proven completely correct, see link below http://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/BafanaBafana/Gordon-slams-sterile-Spain-20140525 Spain will be back better and stronger at the next tournament, with a new manager if they are smart

Who thinks the fact that the Spanish squad didn't have the cut-throat qualifying to survive is a factor? The other squads (except Brazil) had to hang tough through their qualifying, and build teamwork, belief and cohesion. As reigning champs Spain could afford to drift through.

"It is those on the inside, those in the heat of the battle, those existing in the bubble that surrounds professional teams and individuals who just don’t see the bigger picture and fail to notice the increasingly bright warning light until it is much too late." The very reason Fergie has become a legend of the game. Despite being in that bubble, he always knew when it was time to act and change, before anyone else did. And he was ruthless about carrying out the necessary surgery.

Its always easy to talk about a "Spanish side who had taken on a tournament too many." after a WC. Reality is no one saw that coming, I mean ppl were saying "hmm, am not sure thi Spanish side is as good as it used to" but in all fairness everyone had them in their top 3 favorites ( a 100% Spanish UCL final reassuring everyone one they were still quality). Football is so competitive and crowded at the top that you don't need much to become a losing side: a little less fitness, a few decisions that don't go your way, an opponent who starts believing in their ability and suddenly you lose 5-1 and 2-0 against 2 very good sides. There will be changes in their squad, and rightly so, but I still think this side had the potential to do something in Brasil and if a WC was replayed in 2 months time, they may well be competitive. Having said that, no one is happier than I am that they are now out of the comp. 3 major wins in a row was far too much for my liking!!

Agree Chris. Don't think it was a tournament too far for this team. Despite the results so far, as individuals most of the current team would be a walk up start on any other World Cup squad. For mine it's more an a result of the way the WC is being played and the tactics (thankfully open and exciting) being used. We saw a similar thing in Korea-Japan 2002. That said, this was always going to be the last major tournament for this Spanish side, win lose or draw generational change was happening post WC.

lol "Spain are the socceroos before Postecoglou. If Aus went into the WC with Holger still at the helm and the same old ageing stars we would be in a hole far deeper than that of Spain." give me a spell. they will make changes and rebuild the team no matter how good you are everyone's time in the sun comes to an end. They have arguably the best or second league in the world to develop players and only last year won the under 21 euro championship - they will bounce back.

The signs were there over the past 2 years. Barcelona being smashed by Bayern Munich. Spain thrashed by Brazil in the Confed. Cup. Plus the emergence of Simione's Athletico Madrid. Spain and Barcelona's style was getting left behind after Pep Guadiola left. At the beginning of Barca/Spain's reign, they relied on their OWN attackers like Villa and Torres. Slowly but surely the like of Messi and Neymar had been the go to man for Barca. Costa is no Messi. He does not do for Spain what magical things Messi does for Barca. The last WC simply saw the beginning of the death of Spain's reign - they simply played with 6 midfielders and ground out 1-2 goal wins always going through the middle. What's left is a team with no speed, no flanks, no aerial threat and aging legs.

It's human nature, especially in professional sport. To try & remain at the top for as long as possible. Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglu had the courage that all of us would like, in making the changes, but few of us would follow through with. Oh sure, there are plenty of bosses who will make changes, often knee-jerk & ill-thought out. But being able to make necessary changes with savvy fore-thought, is a real skill. I think it's called wisdom. Actually a very rare commodity.

I think there is a comparison between Spain and the Socceroos. Spain are the socceroos before Postecoglou. If Aus went into the WC with Holger still at the helm and the same old ageing stars we would be in a hole far deeper than that of Spain. However just a short time out the tough decision was made and a rebuilt team has taken to the field winning many plaudits. I shudder to think what would have happened if we hadn't made these changes. Similarly the writing was on the wall for this Spanish side at the Confederations cup, but nothing was done. Sometimes it is hard to let go of those absolute champions though.