With El Clasico just around the corner, @GT4ABL sat down to ask their Spanish Football Expert for his opinions on the upcoming Clasico.

So Miguel, with El Clasico nearly upon us, how are you feeling!

I am exited, it's like having two Christmas's a year, one at the Bernabéu and one at the Camp Nou!  It's one of the biggest fixtures in world football and the latest instalment is nearly here!

The biggest talking point pre-match was always going to be around Luis Suarez.  As you predicted on this weeks @GT4ABL podcast , it was announced today that he is starting.  What difference do you think it will make to the Barcelona team and their style of play?

Suarez is world class talent.  He is a player who gives his all for the team and will do what it takes to win.  Sometimes he goes to far and that is what has delayed his début for Barca.  One thing you can guarantee is his work rate and selfless attitude towards his work for the team.  A major consideration for Luis Enrique was his fitness.  We hear all the time of fitness and match sharpness being two different things.  Throwing a player in for his debut, having only played a handful of friendlies and a couple of internationals is a big call, even for someone of his ability and experience.  It all came down to the hunger and desire he has been showing in training.  Players in the dressing room have been saying in interviews this week that he is physically and mentally ready for this game.  He may only last 60 minutes, but it will be an explosive 60 minutes full of passion, running and energy!

 How will they keep Messi happy now with both Suarez and Neymar in the team?

Messi and Neymar have worked much better together this season.  Last year it all looked a bit disjointed.  Some of it was to do with Messi not being happy with the coaching of Tata Martino, and some was down to Neymar getting used to not being the main man and they often tried to play in the same spaces on the pitch.  Now they are adjusting and the introduction of Suarez will actually enable Messi to perform better.  The work rate of Suarez will allow Messi to rest in games.  He will be able to perform in a similar role to the one under Guardiola where he plays off the front, with Suarez providing that Eto'o type foil at number 9.

Speaking of Messi, that Ronaldo is looking a bit tasty isn't he!

Yeah, he certainly is!  Ronaldo is in sensational form at present, as is the whole Madrid team.  Since their 4-2 humbling at Sociedad earlier in the season (note:where they were 2-0 up) they haven't looked back. Ronaldo has been on wonderful goalscoring form.  His goal the other night against Liverpool epitomised the way they have been playing and the difference James Rodriguez is having now he is beginning to adapt. James is having to learn to perform in the Di Maria role, working of the front, fitting in to a defensive formation where needed.  This is a big change from his free role at Monaco, and also the demands of playing with a perfectionist like CR7.

How will the absence of Gareth Bale hurt Madrid's chances of breaching a defence yet to concede in La Liga?

I think it will help them in some ways.  Of course, missing a player of that immense quality and skill will hurt any team, but it is allowing Isco a run in the team.  He is a very good player in the kind of Juan Mata / David Silva mould.  He is too having to learn the defensive side of the game, but provides the cover to allow Ronaldo the freedom to roam about and appear in spaces to receive the ball.  Madrid will score, I'm sure of that, Barca's defence has only had one real test which was away at PSG in the Champions League and they failed that test conceding three goals.  Pique is off form, although improving, and that means a central defensive partnership of Mascherano and summer signing Mathieu.  Even without Bale, Karim Benzema and Ronaldo should be able to find spaces through the Barca backline.

Overall then Miguel it's shaping up to be a good one, score prediction please....

2-2 for me.  Barcelona are undefeated in the league and are yet to concede so they will approach the away Clasico with confidence.  Madrid too arrive at this fixture in a good vein of form, scoring goals and looking strong, especially in midfield and up top.  Last years 4-3 was difficult to top, but I'm expecting an exiting game with goals.

Cheers Miguel!

Gracias, always a pleasure.

A time to look back…and forward. A Review of the La Liga Season

A time to look back…and forward.

 

When sitting down to analyse this years’ edition of La Liga, I was unsure where to begin.  Do we look at the dethroning of the traditional Clasico superpowers?   Do we look at the triumph of hard work and spirit as demonstrated by the excellent Simeone and his Atletico side?  Do we – and this is could well be the follow up to Graham Hunters excellent book Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World – review the struggles of FC Barcelona following Pep’s departure and the end of tika-taka. 

As suggested in previous dispatches, this very much looks to be the end of an era for Barcelona, with Tata Martino having confirmed his expected departure from the club with ex-player and former Celta Vigo manager, Luis Enrique set to take over the reins in the summer.

This La Liga season has been one for the underdog.  One of tactical nous and organisation over flowing beauty and grace.  Atleti’s winning spirit and die hard attitude, embodied by the aforementioned Diego Simeone, hasn’t always been one for the purists but has been one for the connoisseurs of courage, determination and hard work.  It has been one for serial loanee, Diego Costa, to finally show in true Ian Wright style, that sometimes it’s ok to show up late for the party.  It has taken Costa until the age of 25 to show his promise and boy has he taken his chance well.  Having seen himself behind Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan, and more recently Falcao in the Atletico pecking order, he has taken his chance to prove himself after persuading Simeone that he was the man for the job.  35 goals in 42 games later, Diego Costa has repaid his bosses faith.  He shares many characteristics with his Manager; he plays with a fire in his belly and has the knack of winding up his opponents.  He is also not afraid of confrontation, as Sergio Ramos and John Terry will tell you.  Sly off the ball nudges, a bit of discreet treading on the toes, Costa has learned his trade as a Centre Forward and is coveted by some of Europe’s top clubs, as well as having chosen to represent Spain in this summer’s FIFA World Cup ahead of his native Brazil. 

Their last day title win at the Camp Nou is already historic with Atletico Madrid being the only away team ever to have won the title at Barcelona.  This last day performance was the season encapsulated in 90 minutes.  Barcelona, play well and go 1-0 up through an excellent Alexis Sanchez goal.  Atleti equalise through a Diego Godin header from a corner. 1-1. Atletico defend stoutly – albeit with some slices of good fortune – and win their first title since the double winning side of 1996.  Cue big celebrations in central Madrid with a parade to rival that of Arsenals hours before in London after the North London club picked up their first trophy in nine years.   The big job now is to prevent La Decima for arch rivals Real.  The Champions League Final in Lisbon is the first European Cup final between two clubs from the same city - and although Costa and the very influential Arda Turan are doubts - it will prove to be a titanic contest.

It is yet to be seen if Atletico can stop Real Madrid from winning a record breaking 10^th European Cup success, or whether they can withstand the almost inevitable departure of Costa to Chelsea, but one thing is for sure, this was a Liga title thoroughly deserved by Los Colchoneros.  Their legions of fans hanging on every word from Simeone in his press conferences, their obeying his every wish inside the daunting Vicente Calderon Stadium, the players battling for every ball, playing their hardest until the very last kick on match day 38 in the Camp Nou, this was a real collaborative effort, a victory for all associated with the club, and in this age of Billionaire owners, this made Atletico’s achievements this season feel very special indeed.

Is This The End? A Review of Spain's 2014 World Cup

Is this the end?

29^th June 2008.

Marcos Senna picks up the ball on the halfway line and plays a first time ball to Xavi who is on the half turn.  Xavi traps the ball with his left before playing a first time ball with his right dissecting the German defence.  Fernando Torres sprints through, out muscling Philipp Lahm before dinking the ball over Jens Lehman in the far corner of the net.

11^th July 2010

Jesus Navas - on a substitute - is passed the ball midway inside his own half and begins to run.  He takes it past four Dutch players before one of them nicks it away from him. Unfortunately for the Dutch it’s straight to Iniesta who instinctively backheels the ball to Fabregas who plays a first time ball to another sub, the tired looking Torres.  Torres’s attempted pass from left wing to the right hand edge of the box is too short and knocked away poorly by the centre half.   The ball falls to Fabregas who has continued his run; he thinks about the shot momentarily but squares a pass to Andres Iniesta who has taken up the position outside the covering defender. His first touch sends the ball a little higher than normal; it seems to take an age to come back down.  Iniesta is set.  Body position and balance perfectly coiled awaiting the ball to drop.  Stekelenburg starts to come off his line to close the angle, Iniesta waiting for Sir Isaac Newton’s theory to take hold and bring the ball back down to earth, the time is right; he releases his right leg and strikes the ball hard and downwards.

A nation erupts.  Iniesta’s first thought is to remove his shirt revealing a tribute to his friend the Español player who had died earlier in the year…. ‘ Dani Jarque – Siempre Con Nosotros’.

1^st July 2012

The Italians are still in shock.  Still stunned by the mauling they have received from the Spanish.  Spain fans singing songs and serenade El Nino after his first and Spain’s third seal the title for La Roja.  As per the rest of the preceding 87 minutes, the Italians give Sergio Busquets the freedom of the centre circle to receive and pick his pass.  Torres – as for his goal a couple of minutes earlier – peels away left from his centre back to receive the ball.  Busquets recognises the movement and provides an inch perfect delivery.  Mata runs in behind Torres from left to right pulling away a defender.  Torres unselfishly draws the goalkeeper and squares to Mata to tuck away the record fourth goal.

 

The story of the modern Spain starts in 2008 with Luis Aragones in charge of La Selección de fútbol de España.  In 2004 when he took over the National team, they were still playing in the ‘La Furia Roja’ style of play.  Direct, aggressive, with wingers and Raul as the centre piece up top. 

Aragones realised that the future of the game was in passing and ball retention.  He dispensed with the great Raul and embraced a new generation with David Villa and Fernando Torres leading the line. Both had the same nickname of ‘the kid’.   ‘El Guaje’ for Asturian Villa and the more well-known’ El Nino’ for the Castilian Torres.  Players like Xavi Hernandez and Xabi Alonso were given pivotal roles in this new side and the small more technical players flourished.

The Spanish class of 2008 won the European championships in this new style.

Starting XI in the final: GK 1 Iker Casillas (c), RB 15 Sergio Ramos , CB 4 Carlos Marchena , CB 5 Carles Puyol , LB 11 Joan Capdevila , DM 19 Marcos Senna , RM 6 Andrés Iniesta , CM 8 Xavi , CM 10 Cesc Fàbregas  Substituted off 63' , LM 21 David Silva  Substituted off 66' , CF 9 Fernando Torres Substituted off 78'

Substitutions: MF 14 Xabi Alonso Substituted in 63’, MF 12 Santi Cazorla Substituted in 66’, FW 17 Dani Güiza Substituted in 78'.

This line up, save a few older players, is still very familiar to us now.

After the 2008 European Championships it was announced that Vicente Del Bosque was to succeed Aragones.  He wisely decided that evolution rather than revolution was the best policy.  This coincided with Guardiola’s promotion to First Team Coach at FC Barcelona and Aragones/Del Bosque’s short passing style at International level was being implemented at Club level by the disciples of Cruyff.  This coincidence dovetailed well.

Spain’s success continued, under Del Bosque they won 10 straight matches – a record for a debuting International Coach – their first loss coming against the USA in the semi-finals of the Confederations cup.

Their journey to the World Cup Victory in South Africa was an intense one.  Spain entered as huge favourites for the tournament, and although confident, they felt the weight of expectation from back home.  Andres Iniesta had missed large parts of the season through injury and was going into the tournament suffering with a form of depression.  Fernando Torres, the talisman of previous years and the scorer of the winning goal at the previous Euro’s, was off form and also had a recurring hamstring injury.  They were both included in Del Bosque’s squad.  Spain lost their first game to Switzerland 0-1, they bounced back with a David Villa inspired 2-0 win over Chile, from there on the rest is history.   

In the following European Championships, Spain cruised to success and capped a wonderful tournament with a record 4-0 victory over Italy.  The highlight being a stunning goal from Jordi Alba, which was the Spanish style and football beauty encapsulated in one flowing move.  Started and finished by the full back Alba.

 It’s worth noting how Del Bosque is loyal to his players.  In his time as coach he has only selected 37 players to represent the country.  To put that into context, England have used 57 players between the beginning on the 2012-13 season and the end of the 2013-14 season.  Judging by the evidence of the World Cup Campaign in 2014, you could reasonably make a case for it being a weakness.

 

 13^th June 2014

Robben sees the play before it develops and begins his run.  The through ball is slightly over hit giving Sergio Ramos a five yard head start.  Robben beats him to the ball, Ramos - looking like he is wearing lead boots – trying to keep up.  As Robben enters the penalty area he checks back, leaving the advancing Casillas stranded out of his goal.  He takes a moment to compose himself before firing the ball past the covering Ramos and Azpilicueta into the top corner. Holland 5 – Spain 1.

Seven of the starting XI for Spain in the 2010 World Cup Final, started that match against Holland in the first group match in 2014.  The four missing were Puyol (retired), Capdevilla (not selected), David Villa and Pedro were on the bench.

Spain get a penalty – Alonso makes it 1-0 for the World Cup holders.  From there it was as good as it got.  David Silva missed a guilt edged chance to make it 2-0, chipping over the keeper but just wide, had that gone in it may have been a different story; alternatively it may have just delayed the inevitable.

From the moment RvP’s excellent header went in just before the break, to the thorough beating the Spanish took in the second half, they looked lost and out of ideas. 

Del Bosque sat, his analytical mind looking on trying to solve the puzzle.   His theory of evolution was crumbling before him.   Suddenly the otherwise ever reliable Casillas looked indecisive and nervous, Ramos and Pique looked a shade of the central defensive pairing that had only conceded 5 goals throughout the 2012 European Championships and the entire World Cup qualifying period, and here they were shipping five in one game.  Xavi, the pass master and the heartbeat of the Spanish midfield was reduced to clipping balls out wide to create some space, as opposed to using the tika-taka style beloved of him and the other Barcelona alumni.

In the second game against Chile it was more of the same.  Xavi and Pique this time dropped to the bench with Javi Martinez and Pedro favoured.  Unfortunately it was to no avail.  Again they looked shaky at the back, Casillas arguably at fault for both Chile goals.  In attack the impotent Diego Costa continued to look out of place.  Unfit and not used to the style of the Spanish side, he failed to adapt to the movement and intelligence needed to operate at the top level.  Consistently spinning off of his defender and going in behind, as he had done with Atletico, forced the midfield generals of Busquets and Alonso, as well as the architects of Iniesta and Silva, to look long to find him.  Playing the ball into spaces for him to run into as opposed to the false number nine approach favoured in the past.  This lack of joining up play left gaping holes between the lines of the Spanish side.  The defence, after being exposed the pace and skilful running of Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben in the first group game, meant that the usually composed and dominant Sergio Ramos was sitting deeper than usual.  This drop of ten yards meant that they were further away from their midfield, therefore reducing the capacity for short, sharp passing and movement that had been the trademark of the past six years.  With Costa running in behind and not seeing any of the ball – he lost all three areal duels in the second game – and not seeing any of the goal either - posting 0 shots on target in the two matches -meant that the Chileans were able to exploit the gaps in the Spanish ranks, albeit not to the same ruthless extent as the Dutch.

In the last game, Del Bosque thankfully dispensed with Costa and gave David Villa a start in what would be his final International game.  Villa scored, Spain out passed a poor Australia side, also out of the tournament, and did show a glimpse of their old selves running out winners three goals to nil. Torres getting himself on the score sheet as did Juan Mata.

As for what happens next depends largely on whether Vicente Del Bosque feels he has the appetite to see through a new crop of youngsters and emerging talent, of which there is plenty.  Guys like Isco, Muniain, Illarramendi, Negredo and Navas all missed out on making the squad for the World Cup, so filling the places of likely retirees Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Villa and possibly Casillas, shouldn’t leave too much of a gaping hole in the terms of quality or big game experience.  This would likely see a continuation of the possession style of play much lauded and admired around the world.  Although, as we have seen in the past two Champions Leagues, slightly more direct styles of play, with quick wide forwards ala Real Madrid, have become fashionable again.  Football is cyclical and as such it will take a strong coach to maintain a philosophy and to stay faithful to it.  There is no danger of Spain losing an entire golden generation as England have seen recently; more they need to have a refreshment of newer blood entering the fray, bringing youthful exuberance and a hunger to win. 

The Players Parliament with Xavi as the Tika Taka Prime Minister, Home Secretary Iniesta and Defence Secretary Busquets have been able to incorporate a coalition from Madrid, with Alonso as Foreign Minister and Casillas as Chief Diplomat.  This has been a successful demonstration to a generation of young Spaniards that traditional regional interests and politics can be put aside when it comes to the National team which has not always been the case.  This will be a legacy of Del Bosque and this era of great success, not the exit of the World Cup at the group stage. 

Overall I feel that we should be thankful to what Spain have given us from 2008 – 2014.  They have shown that having a philosophy and an identity is a really strong way to create a team and to be successful.  With the notable exception of Costa, who has only recently entered the International scene having taken time to decide to represent Spain over his native Brazil, any one of the squad knows what is needed to play in that style, regardless of whether they came up through La Masia at Barcelona or one of the other big Spanish Club academies.  Their players grace our Premier League and we as football lovers are better for it.  We appreciate their technical excellence and only wish that we had one of Fabregas, Mata, Cazorla or David Silva at our disposal for England. 

Spain will reflect and rise again.  We can all be thankful to have witnessed an era of greatness and dominance made possible by playing wonderful football in the right way.  Gracias La Roja, Viva Espana!