Final 23 announced. Looks good IMO, although of course some tough choices were made excluding players that would've been ok to include and obv shame about key players like Puyol and Villa injured. Gonna be tough to defend the title, but beating this team ain't gonna be easy either.
Soldado I guess maybe could've been included, but Muniain no way. He's not good enough in attack or in midfield for the NT yet.
Negredo over Adrián, Soldado, Raúl, Rubén Castro, Michu or even most of the members on this forum ? Krusty is so f******g dumb, with his crappy line ups and stupid doble pivote which only removes width from the team and doing other stupid things such as leaving out José Enrique for Monreal. Why Pedro deserves to be called up: He always performs in the big games (against Germany at the 2010 World Cup, in many Clásicos, Champions League final 2011), has proved his worth, brings pace and skill into the team and has regained his form just in time. Why Torres deserves to be called up: he's enjoying a good era in his career after a shockingly poor year and a half, his confidence will be sky high after Barcelona and QPR and the call up to the Euros will only boost his confidence and make him even more eager to achieve.
Not to nitpick but Monreal isn't on the team either. Soldado must be pissed. I think he already knew the writing was on the wall. Del Bosque is going with his usual suspects.
I know Monreal didn't make the team, but he always gets called up for qualifiers/friendlies over José Enrique which is an insult. However, as much as I think Monreal is a paquete and as much as I was begging him not to make the team, I'd much rather he be there over Negredo ffs. I mean NEGREDO ? Did you guys see the poll on Marca yesterday ? Readers were asked to vote for 3 forwards out of Adrián, Navas, Pedro, Soldado and Negredo. Adrián came first, followed by Navas and Pedro, Soldado was only a little behind Pedro while Negredo hardly even received one vote. http://www.marca.com/2012/05/27/futbol/eurocopa_2012/espana/1338071764.html This shows that I'm not alone, nearly everyone agrees that Negredo is a paquete. And bloody hell, I don' even think Soldado is that good, he's the typical striker who looks good in an average team, but Soldado over bloody Negredo ANY day. I thought Javi García and Beñat had more of a chance to go to the Euros than Negredo, I thought Negredo only made that preliminary team because Bilbao and Barcelona players were ineligible. I'm so very disappointed.
Adrian was never going to be in the team, he's going to the Olympics which gives Del Bosque the perfect excuse to leave him home. I think he went with Negredo as opposed to Soldado because he's less of a 'threat' to other options like his first 2 strikers and possibly even putting Silva in that position, less of a threat as in less people will complain if one of those players get to play while Negredo would be on the bench. It might have helped that he played better yesterday as well, so maybe it's as simple that he functions better in a 2 striker formation. Or maybe Soldado has too much of a bitch personality (which I get from watching his behaviour in some games) Monreal hasn't been called up that often, wether Jose Enrique sits on the bench or somebody else while Alba is playing doesn't really matter all that much to me.
If we score more than 6 goals this entire tournament I'll be shocked. We will have to rely on our midfield to carry us. Someone like Cesc will be our leading scorer or even Pedro. And Albiol selected? If sees any time other than garbage time we are lost.
Spain absoluta need Adrián more than Spain U-23, he's the closest thing we have to Villa. But for argument's sake, let's say Adrián shouldn't go and Soldado has a bitchy personality (his comments today "son momentos jodidos" make me believe in the possibility even more), surely players like Muniaín, Callejón, Rubén Castro, Michu, hell, even "verde" youngsters like Tello and Cuenca or the classic RAÚL have done more to deserve being in the team over Negredo. I would never even consider calling up Callejón, Rubén Castro, Michu or Raúl, but if the only other choice is Negredo than ANY of them over him, seriously. As crap as Albiol is, who would you take over him? Botía, Domínguez, Víctor Ruíz and Iñigo Martínez are still inexperienced and have a lot of developing to do. Personally I would actually take Ballesteros. Saying that though, if Piqué and Javi Martínez got injured, the chemistry and understanding between Arbeloa, Ramos and Albiol would be a bonus.
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/11/14/del-bosque-spain-tactics-false-nine-euro-2012/ http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/17/spain-0-1-switzerland-tactics/ These two articles have very interesting points about Spain's lack of width. When you consider how many teams are going to park the bus against Spain, it really backs up the common belief that Xabi Alonso is one too many in Spain's midfield.
Raul on the bench in the national team would bring too much drama in the press. The position Negredo has in the selecion is one of a fail safe, do you think he will play over Llorente, Torres or Silva (as a striker)? Keeping him on the bench the whole tournament is easier than doing it with Soldado and certainly with Raul. He wouldn't be my choice either, but I can see reasons as to why he got chosen and ultimately it wouldn't really change much as he will probably not even see 1 second of playing time because other players in the team are earlier options to Del Bosque. Which would be the case if that 3rd striker position was Negredo, Soldado, Adrian or Raul.
Put it this way, I'd feel more comfortable with Busquets as our central defender than Albiol. That is how bad Albiol is. And Torres? He is still living off of the 2008 final.
The one thing Torres has, is that he make a decent supersub because of his speed. Llorente starts, Torres as the supersub speedy striker, and Negredo as a cheerleader on the bench.
Well sure. But I think he will start with Torres. Llorente is the best option for this team considering how the team plays. He fits in well even if he doesn't score a lot. Torres is just lost here. At best he served as a distraction for the defense so that Villa could score.
If Adrián was called up he could have been so useful, for me I would have him as a starter without a doubt, he provides assists, has a lot of skill and speed and is the PERFECT replacement for Villa's role. Negredo won't even play, what can he provide that Torres and Llorente don't do 100000 times better already ? He's just a waste of space and makes our 23 man squad look weak. If you guys read the Zonal Marking article, the comments on Spain's lack of width due to the over usage of centre midfielders really makes me believe they should start with a player like Adrián (maybe Navas) and keep Torres in the striking position to draw out defenders and open up spaces as well as being a great player for the counter. But of course, Del Bosque is going to start Xabi Alonso, which is stupid, if Barcelona's midfield is considered the best in the world and all three of them are Spanish, why change it? Also, why have two defensive midfielders when every team is going to park the bus against Spain? it's so unnecessary. All Alonso does for Spain is clog up the midfield, provide long balls which will only end up returning to the centre of midfield, blast the ball from the halfway line 10 times a match, giving the opposing team a goal kick each time, reduce the options in attack, remove width from the team, push Xavi into an uncomfortable role higher up, force Iniesta to have less space and on to the wing...
If he start Torres, I am going to be shocked. It is hard to say what he will do. Hell, he started Silva as the front man in one game.
I think you are too preoccupied with Negredo. I would be more concerned with the players that actually play. I don't think Del Bosque was ever going to use Adrian because the pecking order of players he already prefers ahead of him. The fact of the matter is that he probably has a starting eleven in mind and maybe 4 alternates he will consider using. After that, they are all cheerleaders barring injuries.
I'll give Del Bosque this, he is a great psychologist and knows how to deal with stars. But tactically he is absolutely terrible. Who remembers the USA game? remember when he chose not to bring on Llorente and didn't even make a 3rd substitution? I've already mentioned his stupid double pivot tactic which completely ruins the fluidity of Spain's play, every time Alonso is removed (I've watched every single match Spain have played since the 4-1 win against Russia at Euro 2008), Spain play 10000x better, it is not coincidence. Spain won the World Cup because of the players' quality and DESPITE having Del Bosque as coach. He has no tactical solutions in the key moments. He would never come up with genius solutions and starting line ups the way Guardiola or Mourinho do so often.
Well it always been known that Del Bosque is not that good of a tactician. Aragones was much better than him in that respect. But he is a very good man manager.
You could also argue that every time Xavi is removed they play better too. Altough that probably just supports your argument against the double pivot more.
Just read the article, don't know why. We've had "lack of width" at Euro 2008 and the WC 2010 as well. Our whole gameplan is for the wide midfielders to come inside, as opposed to going for the end line and cross it to the middle. That the article "proves" that including players like Navas or Villa to mix at the WC totally added width to our team and helped us play better, this while Villa who ONLY comes inside and helped us win the Cup by doing so and Navas who started how many games again?...makes me not give much expertise points to Zonal marking.
If Llorente starts, it will change the entire dynamic of the team. Whether that ends up being good or bad, I don't know. Does Spain chip the ball into him, so he can lay it off to the incoming midgets? It is quite different from having Torres toeing the frontline.
Here is the final XIII: Porteros: Casillas, Valdés y Reina. Defensas: Arbeloa, Juanfran, Ramos, Piqué, Albiol, Javi Martínez y Jordi Alba. Centrocampistas: Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Cazorla, Silva, Mata, Cesc, Pedro y Navas. Delanteros: Llorente, Torres y Negredo.