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So how DO you beat Spain?

Rasiak-9: Number of posts : 2605
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Post n°1

So how DO you beat Spain?

by Rasiak-9 Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:45 pm

It looks like they'll be the team to beat this summer and whilst yes they are playing very weak opposition right now they're still having no difficulty polishing off their qualification group with no difficulty whatsoever in addition to the way they walked the Euros a year ago.

So what advice would you give the Brazilians, Dutch, Italians, Germans, Argentinians, French and even *gasp* English about how to go about beating them?

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Post n°2

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Axeslammer Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:49 pm

Simple : play them !

They've managed to avoid us for a while now...

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Post n°3

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Rasiak-9 Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:53 pm

Play them?

United vs Barcelona
Chelsea vs Barcelona...

I mean obviously Barca and Spain aren't the same team but if the CL this year taught us anything I would have thought it'd be that you really don't want to try and play a better footballing side at their own game.

...and I think I would say Spain are the best footballing international side in the world right now.

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Post n°4

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Axeslammer Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:54 pm

Rasiak-9 wrote:Play them?

United vs Barcelona
Chelsea vs Barcelona...

I mean obviously Barca and Spain aren't the same team but if the CL this year taught us anything I would have thought it'd be that you really don't want to try and play a better footballing side at their own game.

...and I think I would say Spain are the best footballing international side in the world right now.

Until they play us for real I'll hold my judgement on that Ale

Ale

Glenarch of the Glen

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Post n°5

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Glenarch of the Glen Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:58 pm

my nipples Grr

Grr

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Post n°6

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by BoBo Vieri 32 Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:00 pm

Elbow them and hope the ref doesn't see

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Post n°7

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by fcb Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:07 pm

Do what Chelsea did to Barça, except it'll be harder because you don't have the same understanding among teammates in int'l teams that you do in club teams. Basically you must focus on not conceding a goal, and then see if you can be MU-esque lethal on the counter.

BoBo Vieri 32: Number of posts : 10187
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Post n°8

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by BoBo Vieri 32 Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:23 pm

We took Spain to penalties without the one midfielder who could match up to theirs (and our main creative source) plus without our captain at the back.

I don't think Spain created a huge amount, especially in terms of clear cut chances, even though they had more of the ball and were putting pressure on us. In fact, i'd say we had the 2 best opportunites in the match.

So i'd agree with kas - astute defending. I don't think Spain's defence is amazing - good teams will create chances against them.

Last edited by BoBo Vieri 32 on Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Post n°9

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by debaser Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:24 pm

Meet them on a bad day? They're an excellent side, and certainly look like the team to beat following '08, but World cups don't necessarily go to the team in form 1/2 yrs beforehand.

Anyway, in terms of tactics: In a one-off KO game, you can hold them to 0-0 and beat them on pens (remember they only beat Italy on pens in the Euros). I don't think they are unbeatable defensively - they make up for that by holding possession, but a period of sustained pressure on defence by any of the teams listed and they could go behind. Only against Greece in the euros did they go behind, but that was a pretty meaningless game, we don't know how they'd do going behind in a world cup KO game.

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Post n°10

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Khadrim Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:45 pm

You do realise Iraq held them comfortably for just under an hour. I actually think they would struggle against a team with a strong midfield. But there aren't that many teams around with such strength in the middle.

Football Genius

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Post n°11

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Football Genius Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:47 pm

You have to target the players who circulate the ball and maintain possession, such as Alonso, Xavi and Iniesta.

You'd have to play 5 in the middle in order to achieve this, the defensive line must be close to the midfield line perhaps 5 - 10 yards, to squeeze the space the ball can be played between, this allows the majority of space in behind the defence, to nullify this threat you have to play a deep defensive line. Once the ball has been acquired you'd have to look at Sacchi's Milan team of the early nineties and apply their 'slow, slow - quick' approach, keep the ball until the space opens and then surge very directly and quickly.

To do this you require the right personnel, a solid defence, good ball winners, a striker who can hold up play and bring the midfield into the final third.

Chelsea? Liverpool? - not sure about a NT though.

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Post n°12

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by TITO Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:48 pm

Khadrim wrote:You do realise Iraq held them comfortably for just under an hour. I actually think they would struggle against a team with a strong midfield. But there aren't that many teams around with such strength in the middle.

You do realize that Spain didn't even bothered to play?

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Post n°13

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Khadrim Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:02 pm

TITO wrote:

Khadrim wrote:You do realise Iraq held them comfortably for just under an hour. I actually think they would struggle against a team with a strong midfield. But there aren't that many teams around with such strength in the middle.

You do realize that Spain didn't even bothered to play?

Pathetic.

You struggled against Turkey and Belgium. Did you not bother to play then?

I have seen Spain play a few times now. Any decent team who adopts a defensive mentality will hold out against you. Italy managed it easily in 2008.

All this inferiority complex in the English media is based on the Engliand friendly game that included in midfield Carrick, SWP and Downing.

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Post n°14

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by DeLux Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:15 pm

Khadrim wrote:You do realise Iraq held them comfortably for just under an hour. I actually think they would struggle against a team with a strong midfield. But there aren't that many teams around with such strength in the middle.

Coffee

Any team can hold another when they have ten men behind the ball. It was simply a matter of when not if. This same argument comes up every time we're televised. The same thing also happened in the pre-Del Bosque era, during the qualifiers.

We also struggled to break down Sweden in the Euros, but because we won it funnily enough it isn't mentioned.

Khadrim wrote:All this inferiority complex in the English media is based on the Engliand friendly game that included in midfield Carrick, SWP and Downing.

What about the game in the Bernabeu? The racist chanting overshadowed how poor a performance that was.

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Post n°15

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Khadrim Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:19 pm

Olé wrote:

Khadrim wrote:You do realise Iraq held them comfortably for just under an hour. I actually think they would struggle against a team with a strong midfield. But there aren't that many teams around with such strength in the middle.

Any team can hold another when they have ten men behind the ball. It was simply a matter of when not if. This same argument comes up every time we're televised. The same thing also happened in the pre-Del Bosque era, during the qualifiers.

We also struggled to break down Sweden in the Euros, but because we won it funnily enough it isn't mentioned.

You have a winning mentality now. Just like the Germans. But they get criticized for it or its the luck of the Germans.

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Post n°16

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Tweesus Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:30 pm

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Elbow them and hope the ref doesn't see

Can't think of any other way.

The REAL question is, are they player for player, better than Barca

Question

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Post n°17

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by BoBo Vieri 32 Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:55 pm

Tweedle wrote:

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Elbow them and hope the ref doesn't see

Can't think of any other way.

The REAL question is, are they player for player, better than Barca

I'm bored - so i'll do the comparison.

Casillas>Valdes
RamosPuyol=Puyol
MarchenaCapdevilla>Abidal
Senna=Yaya
Iniesta=Iniesta
Xavi=Xavi
Silva>Henry
TorresVilla
3 in favour of Spain, 3 in favour of Barca, 4 equal. I guess you could compare different players respectively though, and i'm not i've got the lineups completely right.

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Post n°18

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Kroos Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:01 pm

i think spain can break the

big 4 + host theory

in the next WC

hard to beat, they are extra class in every part, never seen such a quality in midfield thats working so fine

only we can beat them, see you in the final Wink

Wink

Guest: Guest

Post n°19

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Guest Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:04 pm

C>V
A>R
P=P
P>M
A=C
Y=S
I=I
X=X
M=S
E>T
V>H

BoBo Vieri 32: Number of posts : 10187
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Post n°20

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by BoBo Vieri 32 Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:10 pm

Özil wrote:i think spain can break the

big 4 + host theory

in the next WC

hard to beat, they are extra class in every part, never seen such a quality in midfield thats working so fine

only we can beat them, see you in the final

They would also break the European team never winning outside Europe theory.

No doubt they are a quality side who work very well together. Also, alot of the big nations are looking relatively weak atm, so Spain will have a great chance.

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Post n°21

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by debaser Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:13 pm

Be the first since Germany in 70s to follow a EC win with a WC win. And I think they were the only side to do so.

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Post n°22

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by fcb Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:22 pm

Football Genius wrote:You have to target the players who circulate the ball and maintain possession, such as Alonso, Xavi and Iniesta.

You'd have to play 5 in the middle in order to achieve this, the defensive line must be close to the midfield line perhaps 5 - 10 yards, to squeeze the space the ball can be played between, this allows the majority of space in behind the defence, to nullify this threat you have to play a deep defensive line. Once the ball has been acquired you'd have to look at Sacchi's Milan team of the early nineties and apply their 'slow, slow - quick' approach, keep the ball until the space opens and then surge very directly and quickly.

To do this you require the right personnel, a solid defence, good ball winners, a striker who can hold up play and bring the midfield into the final third.

Chelsea? Liverpool? - not sure about a NT though.

Several points there directly match what Capello is trying to do, and kind of succeeding in some and not in other aspects, with England Shocked

Shocked

Anyway, I really don't think Spain will win the WC. It'll be whoever goes into the tournament with some big doubts, but then strikes form from their last group game onwards. Of course they have to have a certain level of quality. I'm thinking of the likes of England, France, and Germany.

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Post n°23

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Romford Pele Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:23 pm

France won't win it with that retard in charge. Still wouldn't put it past Brazil doing it again.

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Post n°24

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by DeLux Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:27 pm

Ray Parlour wrote:France won't win it with that retard in charge. Still wouldn't put it past Brazil doing it again.

Despite what the Brazilians on the board think about Dunga I think that with the system he plays he'll cause us problems.

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Post n°25

Re: So how DO you beat Spain?

by Fade out Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:32 pm

Ray Parlour wrote:France won't win it with that retard in charge.