Why Spain Have The Perfect System To Win The Euros
Despite being largely unfancied before the tournament, Spain have swept all aside on their march to the Quarter-Finals, and now face Germany with the winner almost certain to be favourites.
But how, without their usual array of big-name stars, have they looked like Euro 2024's most accomplished team? Adam Clery looks at both the personnel and the system to show why they could go all the way.
But how, without their usual array of big-name stars, have they looked like Euro 2024's most accomplished team? Adam Clery looks at both the personnel and the system to show why they could go all the way.
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00:00Hola amigos, me llamo Adam Cleary here to say that we can actually read, we've seen
00:08all the comments being like, when the hell are you doing a video about Spain, about how
00:12they've been so good, about how they're so exciting, about how they might go and win
00:16the whole bloody thing.
00:17And to answer that question, we are doing a video about Spain, ahora.
00:24Right, okay, so you are either Spanish or just interested in what the Spanish are doing.
00:30You know them, you love them, they play tiki taka, they're a bunch of little passing nerds,
00:34they have 900 touches per match and they eventually just sort of like, knit you into submission.
00:39But not anymore, Spain are very exciting and they love to run with the ball instead of
00:44passing it now and they are giving us easily the most exciting team to watch at this tournament,
00:50in my opinion.
00:51Normally I would be like, well this is the team that's carried them through the tournament
00:54so far, but as you no doubt know, they made sweeping changes for their third and final
00:58group game before reverting to this exact eleven again for the Georgia match.
01:03Now we will talk about that specifically a little later on, because hidden within that,
01:08something quite clever.
01:09Now it's got all the hallmarks of like a classic Spanish side, you've got Rodri in the middle,
01:13you've got Marco Carrera who can invert to give you dominance in the middle, it's got
01:17forwards who want to kind of get inside and can run with the ball and Alvaro Morata who's
01:23just always there, isn't he?
01:24But what sets this Spanish team apart from all the others that have come before it in
01:28recent years is A, how they are using Yamal and Nico Williams and also Ruiz and Pedry.
01:37Because where previous Spanish sides would have racked up pass after pass after pass
01:40and I'll be showing you how one of the fullbacks was moving into the middle and they were controlling
01:44the games, that is not what is happening here.
01:47This is a team that wants to move the ball freely and quickly, vertically up the pitch
01:53and hit you where it hurts.
01:55And probably the best place to illustrate this is in the heat map of Fabian Ruiz here.
02:01This is a Spanish central midfielder, if this was a Xavi or an Iniesta or a David Silva,
02:06any of the players we normally associate with this position, you would see this heat map
02:11being far deeper.
02:12Yes, they'd be doing loads in the final third but they'd be going to collect the ball from
02:16all these different regions and instead, you can see he does do that, but also he spends
02:21so much time in the final third and crucially, not even just on his side, across the entire
02:27width of the pitch.
02:29And likewise, I'll show you Pedry, he was involved a lot less but you can see there's
02:32the same sort of horizontal movement across from right to left, moving freely across that
02:38entire zone of the pitch and that is what makes this team tick.
02:43Because with this, they're trying to do two things, right?
02:45First of all, they're trying to find the space, get on the ball themselves and make things
02:48happen.
02:49But secondly, because they're able to drift out of sort of their natural sides, they can
02:53pull defenders away to leave the wide attackers in one-on-one situations and when they're
02:58in those, that's when this Spanish system comes to life or lives la vida loca to use
03:04the natural term.
03:05Now, this isn't from the Georgia game, it's from the Italy game, which is of course a
03:09much greater test.
03:10This is every single successful take on that Spanish side completed in that game.
03:15Every time a Spanish player got the ball at his feet and thought, screw it, I'm going
03:19to take this guy on and every single time that worked.
03:23Now, this is a lot.
03:25Take my word for it for the stage, but this is a lot.
03:27What's really absolutely mind-blowing is I'll show you all the unsuccessful ones they had
03:32at the same time and the game is just constantly littered with examples of Spanish players
03:38attempting to run past their opponents, not pass it round in nice little triangles to
03:43just directly go at somebody.
03:45And it's this sort of team-wide ethos of being this direct.
03:49The other sides just currently don't really know how to live with.
03:52Like in the first minutes against Italy, he can see Williams gets the ball.
03:56There's no thought about coming back inside or finding a numerical advantage.
04:00He just believes in himself and his ability to beat that defender.
04:03And Spain should be up in the first couple of minutes.
04:06Even when there's not a direct one-on-one opportunity, Spain turn the ball over.
04:10They get a fairly good counterattacking situation.
04:12And again, there's no sort of inclination to wait for support, to get extra men.
04:17They just go and go and go and they should score again.
04:21And between Williams and Yamal, they've arguably got the two best players in the entire tournament
04:25for doing this.
04:26Like Yamal gets the ball against Italy here.
04:27He gets a half turn.
04:29There's three Italian players around him, but the instruction is not pass that back
04:33into the midfield.
04:34The instruction is skin these lads, which he does in quite spectacular fashion.
04:39He burns past three of them, creates yet another chance for Morata.
04:43While obviously the goal in that game was a bit of a comedy of Italian errors, where
04:47does it come from if you just rewind ever so slightly?
04:50Marco Correa, he's up here supporting Williams, but all he does, he doesn't even offer him
04:54a pass.
04:55He tries to take this defender away to give Williams a one-on-one opportunity, which he
05:00gleefully takes advantage of, puts the cross in, and the next thing you know, it's in the
05:04back of the net.
05:05This Spain team, if I've not made the point already, likes to run.
05:09And you can't really stress enough just what a staggering change of philosophy this is
05:14for a nation like Spain.
05:15Like if we just go back to the last World Cup, they were averaging something like 75%
05:21possession a game, and they were attempting something like 16 or 17 take-ons per match.
05:26And yet we just jump forward a few short years to this tournament, the possession stats have
05:30fallen off the cliff.
05:32It's like 55, 56% now, but the attempted take-on numbers are through the roof.
05:37They are the leading team at this tournament for trying to run past an opponent.
05:42Like they've not just brought in this hugely different new system, they're really good
05:48at it.
05:49If you just want to go through the numbers themselves, they tell an amazing story about
05:52the system of this team.
05:54Like they're second for the total number of progressive carries in the whole tournament.
05:58That's any time a player gets the ball and just sort of runs with it at least 10 yards.
06:03That's massively, massively up on what it was at previous tournaments.
06:06They lead the tournament in terms of the chances created directly from a take-on.
06:11That's massively up from the previous tournament.
06:13Like Yamal's been getting a load of the headlines so far, because fair enough, he's like six
06:17years old.
06:18Anything he does would be considered interesting, but if we look at his tournament heat map
06:21so far, that's not where you'd normally assume you'd see a young attacking player.
06:26Like there should be stuff in his central area where he's making things happen, but
06:30almost everything he's done has been right out on the touchline.
06:33And yes, of course, obviously he dribbles in field as and when those runs take him,
06:37but he's never looking to receive the ball in that position.
06:40Spain are just so determined to stretch their opponents.
06:43This determination to keep repeatedly taking on your opponents, to exploit any space they
06:48leave, to use your midfielders, to drag defenders out, to create that space when it isn't normally
06:53there, it's all well and good, but it does leave Spain with Rodri aside, a very sort
06:58of technically good, but physically slight team.
07:01And while that's kind of always been the case with Spain, they've never physically dominated
07:05their opponents.
07:06The amount of possession they had meant that normally they were in a good enough position
07:10to not have to worry too much about the defensive aspect of the game.
07:13But as we've already seen, those possession stats have dropped off the cliff.
07:17They now are required to really worry about what the opposition might do with the ball.
07:22They've got like a perfectly on-brand system for winning it back.
07:28Like just to show you the potential pitfalls of a team like this, Spain are right at the
07:32bottom right now for the percentage of the ground duels they have won in this tournament.
07:37So they get sort of in a coming together with an opponent, they're losing it a lot more
07:42than they're currently winning it.
07:44But the reason, if you've watched Spain's three games, you haven't really noticed them
07:47getting physically bullied like this.
07:49It certainly doesn't feel like they're losing control in that respect is because they're
07:52also at the very top for the total number of ball recoveries they've made.
07:58Basically the pace and the determination and the direct running that they're using in attack
08:02has also become like their best defensive weapon.
08:06Like if you can match them in their run to the ball, they're not likely to win it, but
08:10they are beating so many teams in that foot race.
08:13They're getting there before the defender does.
08:16And that's also made them the most high-pressing team at this European Championships by a pilas
08:22mila.
08:23At the time of me recording this, which is before the sort of England round of games,
08:28they have got nearly double the number of turnovers in the opposing third.
08:33And that's not because they're structured in a way to win the ball back up there, just
08:37because they're so intense with their running that these opportunities are just sort of
08:41coming up.
08:42Like I probably say this is the best example of their quote-unquote high-press.
08:46You'll see they're not particularly locked on.
08:49There's no real sort of intent to force the opposition into a particular area.
08:53It's just that that's a slightly loose ball and Spain are so good at getting on slightly
08:58loose balls.
08:59And this is something you imagine will become a real, real weapon for them as the tournament
09:02goes on.
09:03Because as legs get stretched, as injuries happen, as squads get rotated, as teams try
09:08and snuff out what it is Spain are directly trying to do, having this in their back pocket
09:13as a good little chance creation tool could be invaluable.
09:16There is also one other, one very sneaky, one very clever thing that Spain have already
09:23done in this tournament, right?
09:26Because we're showing you all these little maps so far, and there's a lot of running
09:29required from the two central midfielders, all the attackers, they're constantly bombing
09:33up and down.
09:34That's a huge, huge requirement on their fitness and on their legs.
09:39They've already taken a step to fix this.
09:42This is every single player at the European Championships ranked by how many minutes they've
09:47played in the tournament.
09:48Now because Spain took the liberty of resting almost their entire squad for their third
09:52group game, but also because they're very comfortable using their bench and changing
09:57players to keep them fresh, you have to scroll down to 92nd in this list to find a single
10:04member of that squad.
10:05In fact, despite them going out at the earliest possible opportunity, there are several members
10:10of the Scotland team that have played more minutes in this tournament than Spain's best
10:16players.
10:17Now what does that guarantee you?
10:18Well absolutely, joder todo, which I think is how you're supposed to say that according
10:22to Google Translate, but it certainly is a smart step to take and might be a real difference
10:28maker.
10:29Now can I get away with any single video on Spain without talking about Rodri for a moment?
10:33No, I absolutely cannot.
10:35This is his pass map from the Italy game, which of course is very useful because you've
10:40got a team full of people who just want to run.
10:43Having a brick in the center of the pitch, he was willing to pass it, does kind of balance
10:47things out a bit.
10:48The 90 minutes he played, he was in front of his back four.
10:50He was covering into these channels.
10:52He was helping push up when they were in good possession and he misplaced the ball only
10:56twice.
10:57What makes Rodri so important to all this isn't the sort of number of passes he's doing,
11:01not the fact he's keeping it neat and tidy or he's just like the enormous Spanish dad
11:05and a team full of excitable kids.
11:07It's that he's got an unbelievable quality of game reading and his passing range is so
11:14underrated.
11:15I'll just go back to the start of this video, right?
11:16We talked about how Ruiz and Pedri, their job was to move horizontally across this pitch,
11:22right?
11:23Now you can imagine Rodri as the single pivot in the team.
11:25Cucaracha doesn't come across to help, he's in there on his own.
11:27He becomes the magnet for an opposition press and the one thing about this Spanish side,
11:32not the runs past people, not all the take-ons, not all of that stuff, that could take them
11:37all the way to the last stage of this tournament and beat any team that's put in front of them
11:42is moments like this.
11:45Rodri's taking up a position in the dead center of the pitch and you can see here from the
11:49movement of the Italians, they are actively trying to press Spain.
11:52They think this is an opportunity to win that ball back.
11:55Now if we pause it right here, the only option open to him in front is Pedri, but that is
12:00not a pass you want to play.
12:02Yes, it would break one or two lines of pressure, but when he gets it, he's only going to have
12:06to go backwards, sideways or lose the ball.
12:09Now 99% of midfielders would look at that, assess it correctly and be like, I need to
12:14turn around, I need to go the other way, nothing is happening here.
12:17But because Rodri is so good and because the two players in front of him are moving
12:21horizontally almost constantly, he knows he doesn't need to pass it to Pedri, he needs
12:27to pass it where Pedri is going.
12:29And this happens so fast, not a single Italian player picks up on it, but he actually rolled
12:34it to this side of the defender, Pedri is able to keep his run going, gets onto it,
12:39it is inch perfect and all of a sudden Spain have blown that press wide open.
12:46And you know what?
12:47Since we've got this clip up, we might as well talk about the other, other, other, other
12:49thing that's making them really good, right?
12:52Nothing comes of this move.
12:53It breaks down, Pedri can't find the pass, it comes to nothing, Italy have a great counterattacking
12:59situation on, except no, no they don't.
13:02Now if you've never heard of this term, you might need to go and look it up, but this
13:04is a little thing called rest defence, right?
13:08Something that Ten Hag ended up going on about loads because Man United were conceding loads
13:12because they didn't have any of it.
13:14It's basically when you are in an attacking scenario, when you have the ball, what are
13:18your players who are out of possession doing to stop a counter?
13:23Like think about it this way, you're playing football, your teammate has the ball, they're
13:26trying to make something happen, you're not going to get involved in the play, you're
13:29not going to catch up or make some kind of overlapping run.
13:32Your brain should instead be looking at the opposition and thinking, hang on, if we lose
13:36it here, where do I need to be?
13:39And this little sequence isn't just an example of Rodri having this great vision or the horizontal
13:43movement of these Spanish number eights, it's a great example of their rest defence
13:48as well because as soon as Italy turn this ball over, there are three Spanish players
13:53who spring into life and stop any kind of counter attack.
13:57And so you take that, you take all the movements, you take all the take-ons, you take all the
14:01turnovers in the final third, you've got a team that are screaming out to you that running
14:07is the new passing.
14:09And just as an aside here, we've already done a video on Germany where we talked about how
14:12they might have the most effective looking system, but big tests still remained of it.
14:17And then they went and played Switzerland and just didn't quite look right all of a
14:20sudden because a more organised team had figured them out.
14:23This is a Spanish side that has comfortably beaten Croatia, that has beaten Italy and
14:29then rotated every single player practically and won the third game of the group.
14:34Like I understand that people don't think these are a fancied nation, that the stars
14:38of yesteryear are all gone and it's got players in there that you would never expect to go
14:42far in a tournament, but from where I'm sitting right now, which happens to include watching
14:48England games, this is the best thing going on at this tournament.
14:52Will they win it?
14:53I don't know, like anything could happen, but it's going to be exciting to find out.
14:58But yes, anyway, I am absolutely baking under these lights, so I'm going to wrap it up there.
15:01If you have enjoyed this video and let's say, hypothetically speaking, you're a native Spanish
15:05person who's never seen the channel before, please do consider subscribing to us here
15:09on 442, because the further you go in the tournament, the more we are going to talk
15:13about you.
15:14And I would really, truly, honestly, I'm not just saying this because it's my job, right?
15:16I'd hate for you to miss that, it would make me sad.
15:19Also more importantly, the comment section is right there, so if you want to just flood
15:22it with actual Spanish, that'll confuse the hell out of our regular subscribers.
15:26So go on and knock yourselves out.
15:28You can get me across all of the socials at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y, the 442 socials are
15:32in the corner of the video.
15:34The magazine is available the next time you're in an airport in the UK, I presume.
15:38And until next time, or until these go and demolish somebody in the round of 16, I'll
15:44see you soon.
15:45Hasta la vista, baby.
15:46Don't know where I heard that somewhere.
15:50Bye.