Football (Soccer) Thread

[The Larch]

One of the most controversial topics of Luís Enrique's tenure was player selection, how unwilling and reluctant he was to call up certain big names or in-form players for the big events, and how he only wanted players that would fit seamlessly into his tactics. There were a few long running controversies during his tenure in that regard. Off the top of my head:

- Dropping Sergio Ramos for the 2020 Euros (he had a terrible season with lots of injury issues and contract disputes with Real Madrid, which ended up with him leaving the club for PSG) despite being the team's captain and never recalling him, even when he recovered his fitness and became a starter again for PSG. This compounded with him not calling up any Real Madrid players for Euro 2020 and the 2021 Nations League finals, which put a permanent target on him by a sector of the (pretty toxic) Spanish sport press.
- Dropping David de Gea from the starter keeper spot first and the team altogether later on, preferring Unai Simón (a decent, but not brilliant keeper) as starter and two virtually unknown players from small Premier League teams (Brighton's Robert Sánchez and Brentford's David Raya) for backup, when, besides De Gea, Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga was also available.
- A long running refusal to call up in-form strikers from domestic teams that didn't fit his tactics, even when these players were amongst the Spanish league's top scorers (for instance, for this WC, 3 out of the top 5 goalscorers for La Liga are Spanish, but none were called up for the tournament, while Morata (#10 best scorer in La Liga so far) was called up as the team's only striker.
- A fondness for calling up very young and still unproven players at the top level. In some cases this has proven to be successful, like when he called up to the national team a then 17 y.o. Gavi who had barely just joined Barcelona's 1st team from the reserves, and making him a starter in the 2021 Nations League, or with Pedri, who was also made a starter for Spain in the 2020 Euros at only 18 in his 1st season for Barcelona, and with only one year of professional experience under his belt, but in other cases, like the insistence on Eric García (how he has managed to rack up 19 caps by 21 is beyond me), not so much. This tendency ended up causing that for this WC the players that had to be sent in from the bench in order to improve things in the pitch were mostly very young and inexperienced (Nico Williams and Ansu Fati are 20, Alejandro Balde is 19), even if they're clearly very talented and have bright futures ahead of them.
- Rotating the team very heavily during qualification and friendlies, to the point that nobody had any idea on which starting XI would feature for each game, and then during the WC itself being for the most part very rigid with a starting XI that was clearly not working as intended.

At the end of the day I fear that many of these issues compounded into a team that was technically brilliant and obviously extremely well fitted for the coach's game plan, but at the same time extremely rigid and unoriginal in terms of actual game play. If this could have been improved with different names in the squad, like veterans that could have provided more experience and a sturdier backbone for the team, or more in-form players that could be a workable plan B, it will remain to be seen. The image that will remain in some circles is that Luís Enrique wanted a team in which he himself and his game plan were the clear number one and the only voice in the locker room, and the players more or less interchangeable pawns for this game plan.

[Duque de Bragança]

So here's hoping Canada can move up in the rankings in the next four years (despite winning CONCACAF, Canada (41) was ranked well below Mexico (13), USA (16) and even Costa Rica (31)) and get a more favourable draw in 2026.

As a co-host, they will probably be seeded, easier with a 48-team tournament. Qatar was seeded as well.

[Gups]

What's the post-mortem in Spain on tiki taka? IMO should be consigned to the history books.

There's plenty of criticism on the way Luís Enrique shaped the team and how, at the end of the day, his "revolution" was just a change of names and not of style. He was considered to be a coach that put a spin on the whole tiki-taka style, bringing more directness and incisiveness to the table, but then you had a national team that played most games of this WC without a clear striker, that shied away from creating clear chances, not willing to risk ball posession even in the final third of the pitch and with players that couldn't match the technical skill of the ones that brought success with that style.

It all has to be tempered with the fact that it was known that we didn't have a truly brilliant squad this time around, with much being made of not having a single player in the top 50 running for the Ballon d'Or this year. There are plenty of talented youngsters, so the team might have a bright future, but what to expect from this particular iteriation was a bit of a wild card. Before the WC it was said that it'd be equally realistic for the team to fail to qualify from the group stages or reach the semi finals. So, in a way, reaching the 1/8s is about right for this team.

As part of the post-mortem on the national team WC performance (if you're interested on this, Sid Lowe, the Guardian's Spanish football correspondant, is pretty brilliant, and I quite liked his take on it), it has indeed been wondered if Spain's "obsession" with tiki-taka deserves to continue. It is after all the style that is prevalent in the national team at all levels, and our youth squads are built up based on it, so there's continuity when those players reach the national team. On top of that, it is obviously also the prevailing philosophy at the Barcelona academy, which continues to be the main supplier of players to the national team after all these years, and is also copied in other team's academies. This particular squad felt pretty samey in that way, with too many players out of the same mold of technical, tidy, attacking players to the point that it felt like a glut at certain positions. This was compounded by Luís Enrique's choices, by bringing only one clear striker to the team, and being incredibly unwilling to change game plans once things went against our way. It is being mentioned that the atmosphere inside the national team, following Luís Enrique's lead, might have been too self-congratulatory (he was criticized after the Morocco game for saying in the press conference that he was happy for the team because they followed his instructions to the letter, for instance) and that had the team blinded to their shortcomings.

Now it will all depend on who the next coach will be. I have the feeling that the one just named will be msotly a caretaker, and whoever is selected after him will be the one that will have to reshape the team for the 2024 Euros.

Thanks, great response. I found watching Spain largely frustrating and often boring. Particularly bemusing as Morata clearly didn't soon the system. Tiki taka at it's possession obsessed worse takes out crosses as an offensive play making it easy for opponents to simply pack the box.

I like Sid Lowe but haven't read his take yet.

[Josephus]

Quietest it's bben here during a World Cup game

All watching Harry and Meaghan?

[Tamas]

Quietest it's bben here during a World Cup game

All watching Harry and Meaghan?

Working.

[HVC]

Quietest it's bben here during a World Cup game

All watching Harry and Meaghan?

Not much to talk about. BB must be torn, his adopted team not playing great, but they are being kept at bay by Croatia.

[mongers]

Quietest it's bben here during a World Cup game

All watching Harry and Meaghan?

Nope, just been down the betting shop to back Croatia to win the penalty shoot-out.

[FunkMonk]

No team has really captured me. No one is playing especially exciting football consistently. I'm pulling for Morocco for now but they'll inevitably get beaten.

This World Cup sucks a lot of assholes to be honest. I just want the premier league to restart so I can watch good football again.

[Duque de Bragança]

Quietest it's bben here during a World Cup game

First WC 1/4 final not on a free channel in a lifetime, over here.
Croatia doing more than holding its own, but not a spectacular game.
Reminds me of a Round of 16 game involving Croatia in an EURO some years ago.

All watching Harry and Meaghan?

Wut?

[Duque de Bragança]

Until then Croatia had defended very well, but Neymar woke up.

[HVC]

Well fuck

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, penalties after all. Stream collapsed just before. 

[Valmy]

Gutsy goal by Croatia.

[HVC]

Well, penalties after all. Stream collapsed just before. 

Brazilian goalie is well rested. Whether that's good or bad we'll see

[Duque de Bragança]

Hopefully for Brazil, they trained for penalties more than Japan or Spain.