Well after the WC debacle who would you like to can forever from the NT. I only have 20 slots so I removed Pique, Iniesta and Reina, the first two already announced their retirement and Reina is 35 years old and he will not be back.
There's no doubt that the performances were poor and turnover will/must take place. But instead of taking a negative stance of who should be axed I prefer to ask in a positive sense. Who should remain on the team? Perhaps more importantly and the issue that must come first: Who should take over as coach? What do you guys think of luring Roberto Martinez from Belgium? For a brief time after 2014 leading up to Euro 2016 I thought of Óscar García but he's been bouncing around clubs quite a bit. I still like De Gea but I'd like to see Kepa play the next few internationals to see how he copes playing for his country. Btw, I haven't really followed it so I don't understand a thing about this new UEFA Nations League that begins in September. Should it be taken more seriously than the Euro qualifying matches either as a whole or only against the so-called minnow teams? Spain are grouped with England and Croatia in the Nations League which should provide good opportunities to play Kepa in goal until at least the qualifiers begin.
I believe the nations league also gives a spot for the EC, but don't quote me on that. Two years is a long way, so hopefully some players can still rise up to prominence. Because we have a huge hole in the attacking front. Aspas will be 32, Costa will be 31. We can't go into a tournament with such old strikers imo. I see a lot of players will be on the (way) wrong side of 30 by then. Ramos, Alba, Busquets, Silva (probably retired too) The problem being that the new coach will probably still call these players up (because they might be the best choice now) and then it becomes hard to make the necessary replacement come the EC (if we qualify)
Funny that you mentioned Roberto Martinez as NT coach. On my bike ride home from work today I was thinking the same thing. I have been following him since he was at Swansea and let them to promotion to the Championship. He has the ability to mold younger inexperienced players into solid footballers as demonstrated at Wigan where he kept them up in the EPL for 3 years and won the FA cup the same year they were relegated, Victor Moses, James McCarthy, and Everton. Thanks to the fact that Belgium has a bunch of players in the EPL and it is not too far away from the UK, he remains based there since his wife is Scottish. Whether the RFEF would let him do that would remain to be seen. His tactical decisions were called into question at Everton, but since taking over the NT he has won all but his first game, and Fellaini and Chadri were the two subs he brought on late that got the Belgians their 3 points today. If the Belgian Federation does not let him go, I would really like to see Luis Enrique get the nod, whether he would want to do that is another question.
Not a big fan of Martinez but we could do worse. I'd like to see Luis Enrique out of the realistic candidates.
Realistically, I think that Aspas and Costa have played their last major tournament with the team. Monreal will never crack the starting 11, so he has to go. Busquets' pace is such a liability now. The team really needs to find a crafty forward and pace at the front similar to what Villa and Torres provided to keep teams honest in midfield. Until they do that, we will continue to see the park-the-bus tactic used with some degree of effectiveness against us. I say ditch the doble-pivote. There has to be a capable holding mid in Spain that can emulate the effectiveness of Senna as a single holding mid. Koke, btw, had the most ineffective showing of all the players out there in my opinion. Always a step too late to the challenges, never had enough skill on the ball to integrate with Isco, Silva, Iniesta fully. Would have preferred Saul. Ugh, so many questions now. It hurts.
Most of the people who I would cann are basically retiring anyway. As a whole, I'd like to see the team do a reset and build with a young team.
The more I reflect on De Gea's performance throughout the tournament, the more I agree with Pyros. I mean, stop 1. Just stop one pinche penalty or shot at a critical moment. Just 1 for god's sake!
I’m a little late to the party, but I’ve always thought De Gea was overrated. His “great” performance against Sevilla in the CL this past season was a fluke, considering that none of the Andaluces could shoot away from him. United fans kiss his nalgas pero I think Kepa is better and deserves a chance after his disaster in Russia. My final thought is that when makes a mistake, it’s a HUGE mistake, i.e. his blunder with Ronaldo’s shot.