Guillem Balague talks Spain, Alvaro Morata and defensive set-ups in his Euro 2016 Q&A
Saturday 18 June 2016 20:09, UK
Guillem Balague answers your questions and gives his thoughts on Alvaro Morata's performances as Spain continue their Euro 2016 defence.
Vicente del Bosque's side have already booked their place in the last 16 following their impressive 3-0 victory over Turkey on Friday night and they can secure top spot in Group C with a point from their final group game against Croatia on Tuesday.
Sky Sports' Spanish football expert answers your questions on La Roja...
Just how good are Spain? People saying they are not that good? (@Buick_FTD83)
Some people have been saying Spain are not that good! Tell those people to stop playing with their phones while the game is on. If they actually watch the game they may just reach a different conclusion!
Joking aside, I understand some people may consider the football Spain play as boring because the build-up is slow. Perhaps it should improve and be faster but it's very difficult when the teams we've played against leave seven men behind the ball.
They attack with two or three but leave seven men behind the ball, waiting if they lose the ball in their own box. It's difficult therefore to play faster and more direct. What you have to do is play it slowly or at least build up together to be together in the last third. Then we can make lots of combinations to reach the targets and score a goal.
Also, if we lose the ball we are then there to win it back. It's the old Pep Guardiola idea that has been installed in Spain. If what makes you good is to stick to the gameplan, we have done that so far but I thought Turkey made us look better than we are.
Can we conclude Spain are the best we've seen so far in Euro 2016 and overwhelming favorites? Or is it too early? (@Demy_Gh)
So far Spain look like the strongest team but we did struggle against the Czech Republic and against Turkey, they lacked so much discipline defensively and you have to be very focused when you play Spain because you don't have much of the ball. They didn't have that and it made Spain's life much easier, but I can guarantee that won't be as easy from now on.
Overwhelming favourites? I don't think so. There are a bunch of teams [that could win it]. Remember, there have been many examples in the past like in the World Cup in 1982 when Cameroon looked so good at the beginning and Italy looked terrible. Italy ended up winning it and also Brazil looked very good in that tournament. You can go through all the tournaments one-by-one and there will have been teams that have started brightly.
However, that doesn't guarantee anything. It's still very early in this tournament. What it does mean though is that if we end up topping the group we will play a team that finishes third which will make Spain favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.
Is Alvaro Morata the real deal for Spain? And could he be the key to Spain's possible success? (@CaullmBradke)
Why look for one key? If you are looking for keys: 10 games without conceding a goal, Iniesta playing wonderfully, full-backs going forward and of course Alvaro Morata scoring. Nolito is scoring as well so there are different goalscorers.
All of those things are key so why just look for one? However, Morata is perfect for the style of Spain because he moves around, his first touch is very good and he continuously makes runs which drives the defenders crazy. He even runs, when say Juanfran goes forward and Spain lose the ball, back to track the winger as the full-back tries to recover.
He's absolutely wonderful for all that but also now he's scoring goals. That's important because we don't concede many.
Do you expect Spain to go full strength against Croatia or rotate the squad? (@Ghedin1878)
Against Croatia I'm sure there will be a couple of changes. There has to be. However, we want to be first and that will be decided against Croatia. A draw would be good enough for Croatia as well because Luka Modric is injured and looks set to miss the game.
A point would see them qualify second. That may see Spain make one or two changes because we cannot play with the same team for the whole tournament.
Why does the footballing world celebrate strikers so much more than real geniuses like midfielder Iniesta? (@bouncebckbltrx)
Good point. It's the goals, isn't it? You see the goals and that's what football is about. It's all about scoring in the eyes of the fans. Does Iniesta tackle? No. Does he score goals? No. Does he assist a lot? Not a lot but he is one of the most talented central midfielders I've seen in my life.
Is there any possible chance for Aritz Aduriz to play? (@iwanotong)
He has played of course but Spain are doing well and Morata staying on, Nolito as well. Aduriz was brought on to provide something different when things are difficult as he did against the Czech Republic. You will see something similar with him as the tournament progresses.
Why are teams so defensively set up at this Euros? Everyone wants to play on the counter-attack... (@Kavan010)
There is not much talent in world football at the moment so if you set up to defend you generally get points or get closer to getting points.
Also, in the minds of managers, setting up defensively is the best to way to get points and that links to the way we've thought about football for a long time.
Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola taught us something different in that to be defensively good you actually have to have an organised attack, keep the ball and be in the last third of the opposition. Look at Guardiola's team. Every single year Barcelona and Bayern have been the best defensive teams in the leagues.
He suggested there is a different way of thinking about it and that's my second point. There is a lot of mediocrity in national team managers. They don't get paid a lot and there are many that have reached their limits by managing their national team.
I am generalising because Antonio Conte is not like that and Vicente del Bosque is not like that but a lot are not great coaches. For a coach that is just mediocre the easiest thing is to just set up a team to defend. The mixture of not much talent, the easy nature of setting up to defend and some mediocre coaches means everybody looks to play on the counter-attack. Nobody is brave enough to actually try anything else.
