Spain Must Go Back to the Drawing Board as They Are Not Learning from Mistakes

Vicente del Bosque made no secret of the fact when speaking to the media after the match that saw Spain lose their first Euro qualifier since Sweden beat them 2-0, 36 matches and eight years ago, that defeat against Slovakia was not what he had been expecting.

He wasn’t the only one.

The truth, however, is that neither he, nor we, should be that surprised. And while an upbeat Paco Alcacer told the press that defeat will do Spain good, it’s fairly safe to say that, as far as Spain’s national side is concerned, these are bad times.

Petr David Josek/Associated Press

Where to begin? Clumsy, ill-informed analysts will look first and foremost at trying to find scapegoats and to that end goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Del Bosque are in many people’s firing line. In my eyes, they are wrong.

Oh that it should be so simple and that changing the 'keeper and the coach will solve everything. It won’t.

Did Casillas make a mistake? Yes, just after an amazing, instinctive save. That is perhaps the difficulty for him: He is so good at those reaction saves that when he has to think about a ball like the one he couldn’t save for the first Slokavia goal, he doesn’t always take the best decisions.

Iker normally doesn’t take risks with balls straight at him. He punches the hard shots, that one went straight to him. So he thought he would go down easily and punch. But the ball moved, as they do nowadays, and he got caught out. He should have stayed on his feet and tried to get behind the ball so he could then react if the ball moved.

But changing the goalkeeper is not the whole solution to Spain's problems.

For quite some time, Spain have struggled to open up defences that defended really deep and also with pride, commitment and as if their lives depended on it. Not even the likes of Pep Guardiola consistently managed to get the better of such systems.

Whenever he did find a way past, it was through organisation in attack; rehearsed moves, so slick and so fast that they were as instinctive as they were impossible to defend.

Players knowing where they should be at any given moment, both with and without possession, hungry for the ball, running at defences in search of a solution.

There is, sad to say, an absence of that approach, but what is worse is that it seems to have been replaced by some with a Micawberish something-will-turn-up kind of attitude from a side too used to winning at a canter.

Far too many players look the same, play the same as they always have, yet somehow without the hunger and passion that used to be prevalent in a side that never took anything for granted.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

We saw it in abundance from Luis Enrique’s Barcelona, against Rayo Vallecano last weekend, who having taken a 2-0 lead seemingly decided that they didn’t really have the desire to go for the opponents’ throats.

This Spanish side had exactly the same lacklustre look about them with not enough urgency at the right times and poorly paced distribution of the ball.

Predictable passing, not enough questions asked of the Slovakia defence, not enough shots on goal from outside the box and too few alternatives from the bench.

Possession statistics will once again suggest that Spain deserved to win, but goals, not time spent on the ball, are the only statistic that count for anything, and the sooner this Spanish side understands that the better. The sad truth is that at the moment this is looking very much like a side that is too easy to stop.

That said, you might have sensed Spain had got out of jail with Alcacer’s late equaliser and could at least looked to have come away with a point. You would have been wrong.

Petr David Josek/Associated Press

While in the past Spain would have enjoyed a host of conservative possession as they defended in numbers and regrouped, these days they seem incapable of doing just that.

This is probably because this is a Spanish side looking to play a more direct game. But, unfortunately, the result of that is to leave them so exposed, so vulnerable at the back that, despite the fact Slovakia created precious few chances, they still contrived to make enough to secure the win.

At 1-1, Spain should have been cleverer but acted stupidly, "determined to go for the win," as Del Bosque put it. Mistakes at the back, mistakes going forward make for an overall feeling that this is no longer a solid side.

What Next?

But enough problems, what about solutions? The return of Fernando Llorente could be one or perhaps less concentration on using midfielders who want the ball to feet because with Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Koke, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, there is too much emphasis on possession and not enough on running off the ball.

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

I know also that Del Bosque is looking closely at trying to exploit the ever-growing Cesc-Diego Costa partnership although if that happens I can’t see where others will fit into the system.

Whatever is decided, the reality is that this isn’t just about Del Bosque nor is it about any single player but rather the collective. It’s about going back to basics; back to the drawing board because, at the moment, despite the false dawn that came from Spain’s opening 5-1 win over Macedonia, this looks like a side that has learned nothing from the mistakes it made in the World Cup earlier this year.