i think it more worst, Torres still dont has enough minute for competitive football after get injury, put him in 1st eleven seem not a good idea
about San Iker, i dont blame him for that goal

Take out pee-kaa-buquets and play Senna (opps. Hes not here)

Ask Pique to pay more attention at defense, not going forward too much.

Playing with 1 striker and unfit Torres is hard esp Navas can only do the Walcotts (Run, anyhow cross, repeat)

Yeah..spaniards who ply their trade in the EPL are the best.. Nuff said

Fab shud play ..
And spain shud use 442 . One striker not enough..

One striker is enough. The problem is del Bosque loves his 2 holding midfielder. One of them is enough. Xabi and Busquets? Against turtling team? Seriously? Ok, to be fair del Bosque did what he was supposed to do in the 2nd half, but it was too late. By then it was panic mode by Spain. They even start crossing the ball into the penalty box, hoping one of their midgets will get the ball.

Spain won Euro 08 with the same tactics, with one striker and Senna as sole holding midfielder. The problem is the tempo, they lack pace. The players were arrogant and lazy as hell. There's not enough movement off the ball. Reminds me of WC 06 match against France, pass, pass, pass, paa.... pa... zzz bzzz. bzzz...bzzz...bzzz...


It doesn't matter who he starts, de Gea or Cesar Sanchez in Casillas place wouldn't make Spain any better or worst. Shitty coach is shit.

+1

---

Added on June 17, 2010, 8:50 am i thought this will happen only at semis ... not good for football ...


and brazil will grind out another victory against spain ... like what they did against dprk ...


it is because senna is out that del bosque decides to play with 2 dm ...

This post has been edited by spursfan: Jun 17 2010, 08:50 AM

hmm...defense is also a type of tactics in football match(in fact in every sports)....imo playing good defense is even harder than attacking simply because:

1. you don't know where/how will your opponent attack, its all down to guessing/hunch/instinct...what ever you call it

2. players must have high level of discipline to play defense, one slack/losing concentration will cost the team dearly

3. must be extremely careful since offensive players will have the fouling advantage over defensive players....

still believe the saying: offense will win you games, but defense will win you championships

--peace yo--

i think both team play very well, spain control the game and attacked well but wasted some very good chance. but the swiss show us how to win against a team to are superior to you in every sense, they defended very well with discipline and never panic when under huge pressure by the spanish wave after wave of attack and they score when they have the chance.

still believe the saying: offense will win you games, but defense will win you championships

Result is temporary, but class is permanent.

Does it matter if Spain get first place or second place? they are going to meet one strong team (Portugal or Ivory Coast or heck Brazil) one way or another irregardless of them finishing first or second..

Spain reminds me of Arsenal...so pretty football but no goals to show in the end..zzz

if your opponent wants to run pass you, the method for defence is to pay attention to their abdomen ... that's where his center of gravity is ...
if the player is looking for a pass, then the defenders must be good positionally ... discipline and concentration is needed as well ...
if the attacking player has both options, then it's a pain to go against ...

just look what happened to the game.villa is too selfish and only passed when the ball is beyond salvation

xavi doesn't even remotely do any good to the team

casillas is out of his form lately



.....

what happended then is then,now what is more important to them is to win the remaining game.

For me, the mistake was done by replacing Busquets with Torres. I think he should replace Villa instead. The team did well by creating a many chances and openings, but Villa was ineffective, so Torres should be given the baton to lead attack. VDB should not change the whole system from 4-5-1 to 4-2-2. The later formation just forced Xavi to play deeper, and thus reduce his chance to play killer balls more often.

Was last night game the first time you watched Spain? How can you accuse him of poor form by last night performance?

who?

villa?

or xavi?

or casillas?

or all 3?

1) Poorly executed crosses
2) All except one or two corner kics as grounders
3) No dribbling except for a couple of counter-attacks that failed
4) Overwhelming posession rate that promoted the team to panic when losing possession and being countered-attacked.
5) Single striker strategy wouldn't work well agaisnt the Swiss simply because they had a height advantage - a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 would have sealed the deal.
6) Gameplay was merely to exhibit superiority in passing.
7) All the attacks were made on the right flank, allowing the defence to position themselves comfortably throughout the game.
8) No defence splitting tactics since the Swiss had employed about 6 players in their box during all assaults.
9) And the rest is history..............

does the spanish defence looks like they panic in the game last night?

now the media is getting stupid, blaming the WAG for the defeat.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/ju...ero-switzerland




and Marca claim the ball is offside

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/tra...RmaLWG4qdqR__Wg

This post has been edited by robertngo: Jun 17 2010, 05:06 PM

Spain actually played better when Torres came on so to me that wasn't the mistake.
The mistake was actually having Busquets, Xabi and Xavi all starting in the middle. None of them made any attempt to run to support Villa in attack which left him isolated in the middle. Which made it very easy for Switzerland to defend. And forcing Xavi to play deeper is not necessarily a bad thing as he's far more comfortable playing deeper imo where he can cycle possession around. The AMC position he's playing now is far more suited for someone who's more dynamic; someone like Cesc. Either replace Xabi for Cesc or switch to 4-4-2 which was how Spain played in Euro '08. Problem is Senna isn't in the squad anymore. He used to cover so much ground by himself that he could hold the midfield together with Xavi. I doubt Busquets can offer the same. Maybe Martinez can.

That said the goal conceded is a worry. Very poor decision making by the two CB's. You would think playing together in the same club they would have been done better in dealing with the situation.

yea 442 in euro is much better that 451 ... zzz

I don't know why so many people think Spain played well. They played badly for their standard. They keep passing the ball to force their opponent run across the field, without actually doing anything with the possession. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.... pass la sampai lebam. This slow uninspiring tiki taka is gay, not beautiful football. This is the old Spain. Usually if they scored first, they'll carve their opponent but when the opponent scored first they'll choke. This kind of Barca tiki taka play requires patience.

Even Aragones agrees with most Spanish fans,

Sin embargo, el principal reproche de Aragonés hacia el actual seleccionador fue el haber abandonado su sistema de juego habitual de la Eurocopa con un solo mediocentro defensivo. "Quizá el problema fuese de entrada al salir con dos jugadores en el centro del campo", sentenció.

Google translation:

However, the main criticism of coach Aragones to today was that he abandoned his usual game system of the European Championship with a single defensive midfielder. "Maybe the problem was the entrance to exit with two players in midfield," he said.

The only one who didn't see this is del Bosque. For the next game he should, send both Busquets and/or Xabi to warm the bench, and bring in Cesc and/or Martinez. He must change the tempo of the game, make Spain play faster like they did in EURO 08. If he's too degil, then Spain is f***ed up in this world cup.

This post has been edited by RtP|DEV: Jun 18 2010, 09:20 AM

VS Honduras is more difficult, they surely build two layer defender and need deal with lightning counter attack from them