Everyone who's been to the gym will be perfectly aware of this phrase: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Now, I can promise you that there is no question of Luis Enrique's sense of humor, nor does he need much time in the gym, as he is probably leaner than the footballer who won titles for Real Madrid and Barcelona. And harder. So, the logical conclusion is that he is going to continue with Spain's futility exactly as they have been and just hope that "it will be different or better or more successful this time" when they face Slovakia on Wednesday. Will in his final Euro 2020 group game.
You can forget that idea of suddenly giving up on your hobby of pressing opponents to the pitch, or trying to dominate a match. Sucker punch, rope-a-dope, percentage, a pragmatic style: none of this appeals to him, ever or ever will. The malaise that Spain suffers - in terms of boxing, they are stylistically attractive, they are in good shape and they carry some catches, but they don't have the knockout punch and they are slowly being bullied by lesser fighters Those who throw every time a mower -- is not a recent phenomenon. Sometimes La Rosa would face a tired or naive team, and drive them up the wall.
Things looked to be set under Julen Lopetegui, and the red letter day ended with Italy beating Italy 3–0 in 2017, then beating Argentina 6–1 the following spring. It's too bad he was seduced by Florentino Perez's siren song on the eve of the 2018 World Cup, later chewed and spit on by a Real Madrid machine. Then something special was cooking.
There have been parallels under Luis Enrique. A 6-0 smash of World Cup finalist Croatia in September 2018 had much to do with player absences and extreme exhaustion, but nonetheless, it was a remarkable gamble around the pitch in Elche where it looked like Spain could score at will. And there was probably another four or five in their tank.
The other recent glee spree was Germany's utterly surprising 6-0 win last November. Joachim Low, both in terms of honor and personal philosophy, wanted to go toe-to-toe with a Spanish squad that was returning from a dull, nervous, almost disastrous draw in Switzerland. Manshaft masterclass didn't seem impossible. By the end of 90 minutes Germany was bewildered, dizzy and was calling her mothers. Luis Enrique tried everything he could to come up with and, frankly, he told us that a real thumping victory was just around the corner that he was looking for in training. Glory.
But the harsh fact to be faced is that these are the exceptions that prove the rule. For months, a large number of teams would take one look at Spain's potential and say, "I don't want to dance, but I'll happily stand on your toes." Teams that are stubborn, who absorb pressure, who play on the counter, and especially teams that can go 1-0 up, have a weak, sluggish and toothless Spain team that is particularly troublesome. Very good chance to do it and lose confidence in the same. Time.
Luis Enrique spoke on Tuesday about his players being "unblocked" and the edge of form and taking chances. And I believe in that. But right now, draws against Sweden and Poland are almost the same as their teams did against Switzerland, Greece and Georgia in recent months. I'm not (of course) a great believer in the cute Spanish phrase that "La pelota no queria entre," or "The ball didn't want to go in." When you see the individuality, free will and self-determination inherent in a football, I think you are struggling a bit. The ball didn't really want to go to Spain very often over the years, with the exceptions above.
This week, it was interesting to hear former Real Madrid and Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart booting up with his blatant criticism of Spain. Like he and his teammates in the 2010 World Cup final, when he literally tried to put the boot on, I think he missed his target and was out second best.
At first Koke, a loyal La Rosa soldier, made a better comeback about "watching a lot of van der Vaart as he is the player from Holland who is captured in a picture of Andres Iniesta, who won the World Cup final. Has attained." If Luis Enrique's striker can take the ball away with the same gleeful, cheesy style as Coke did van der Vaart, La Rosa will be a potential Euro winner.
But the Dutchman was wrong in another way. The main reason some Spain matches are both tense and a bit repetitive is because there is a bunch of teams that don't care how flashy the match is; They are happy to defend, push, muscle out and grab whatever they can from the scorched earth. Spain may not have a knockout punch, but they bob and jab and weave and body punch with the best of them - they try to win on points if they can't put their opponent flat on the deck. They're not negative, and they're not dull... they're a little gentle up front.
Which brings us back to the definition of insanity - one that can be extended not to bring Iago Aspas and Jesus Navas to this tournament, though that's probably a conversation for another day.
Changing your patterns in the power of Luis Enrique is to expect different results—not a complete restart, but a refresh. Marcos Llorente, who scored a total of 25 goals this season (divided between those scored by him and those who assist him), should not play at right-back under any circumstances. It will have to be changed. Either he is an attacking right midfielder, or at least a right wing-back. And the wing-back concept opens the door to a change in setup from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2.
It's doubtful whether Luis Enrique will accept widespread pressure from fans and the media for a significant change: that stubbornness is a fundamental part of his makeup. In his career so far, this has been a major plus.
This reduces his chances of scoring three runs behind him. But it is a system in which Pedri, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets flourished this season. It is a system that helped Coke and Llorente clinch the Spanish title, and it is a system that was once implemented at Chelsea by Thomas Tuchel, which again made Cesar Azpilicueta a fixture in the team and a Champions League winner. helped in
A right centre-back in Azpilicueta 3-5-2 will also help Aymeric Laporte move to a position where he is more comfortable on his stronger (left) leg. Supply from wing-backs like Llorente and Alba, or Jose Gaya would be meat and drink to Alvaro Morata and Gerard Moreno.
Busquets will return in place of Rodri, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday, by slapping the back of his head and neck to teammates who lined the guard of honor and then mocking "college" to congratulate the poor boy. Traditions, eh? The Catalan may not be at his peak sharpness yet, hasn't played much football lately but he has a brilliant mind and he loves the push-prompt-prize approach to attacking midfield and I think he Would love to try to unpick Slovakia.
Frankly, if Spain can't beat the Slovakian team that has struggled a bit lately against some very liberal rivals, they don't deserve a place in the last 16. But they can and will.