Spanish players are coveted for their skill and technique on the ball. They have an uncommon ability to retain possession and recover quickly. It's often called the Barcelona way but that's not entirely true. What foreigners called tiki-taka, a word popularized only recently by Spanish commentator Andres Montes in 2006, is actually a style as old as the game itself. From the Scottish before the turn of the last century, to the Danubian school of football, to the Real Madrid of the 1950's, and onward to the total football of the Dutch, there were precedents that coaches like Luis Aragones, Pep Guardiola and Vicente del Bosque could emulate. In a recent interview wth former Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez he stated that when he was del Bosque's number two at Real Madrid he saw the same possession game that is practiced by the Spanish senior team to this day. This is not a "Barcelona" thing. It's a Spain thing.
The problem though is that realistically there are very few top-level slots available at the big-two for Spanish players to play domestically and even most of those are taken by the best players from abroad as well. Fernando Torres left Atletico Madrid because they couldn't pay him what he was worth and his sale allowed them to restock their youth team. Pepe Reina was neck and neck with Victor Valdez at Barcelona when they were kids, even wrenched the starting goalkeeper's kit for himself for awhile but fell out of favor and reinvented himself at Villarreal before Benitez bought him for Liverpool. Juan Mata and David Silva could both be playing for Real Madrid today if they had any backers at the club. Mata himself came out of their youth side and only made himself the player he is playing alongside Silva at Valencia but were both sold to alleviate the massive debts that Valencia had incurred at the beginning of the last decade to compete with the big boys. Deficit spending just wasn't realistic, and so many other clubs have been forced to sell their best players abroad and will continue to do so.
Look at Santi Cazorla: here's a player that was an integral member of the Euro 2008 squad. He was injured during the World Cup, but at 27 he is that next budding superstar out for his big-contract. It should have been Malaga with their new-found oil wealth, but that is most certainly turning into a castle built on sand. The Arabs like investments to pay off in the end and that's not possible under the existing agreements. There is no such thing as infinite wealth and so players have denounced Malaga for lack of payment. He looks to be headed for Spurs as Luka Modric is sold to Real Madrid. Rayo Vallecano has a problem with lack of payments as well and so Michu is sold for a bargain-basement deal to Swansea City. Alvaro Vasquez has a problem with his Espanyol contract and so he's looking to move on (or at least his agent is). There is a mutiny brewing in the Atletico Madrid youth team as their players are sold to Germany and Real Madrid canteranos are dismayed that French, Brazilian and Portuguese youngsters are bought to stock the Real Madrid Castilla squad over them.
As impressive as the development system is in Spain it is not sustainable. The best players will not always play domestically. Javi Martinez, Fernando Llorente, and Alvaro Negredo might all be sold in the next 12 to 24 months. It's unlikely that any of them will be bought be Barcelona or Real Madrid and yes I realize that both Athletic players have been on the radars of both big clubs in Spain but their buy-out clauses have stopped any deals from going further. The big money is outside of Spain and so too soon will most of the next generation of Spanish players
Good writing but i beg to disagress with you. I have never seen Vicente del Bosque's Real Madrid team played with without a striker.Pep Guardiola invented the style and achieved with with, he was also criticised by the so called media that want to see his back. Before the Euro 2012, Pep Guardiola said that spain doesn't need a striker to win the tornament which they did. So spain is still under Barcelona FC
ReplyDeleteI want to believe you are sincere in trying to portray Spain's recent successes are all down to a Spanish football culture but I can't help sense that you are trying to belittle Barcelona's influence in them.
ReplyDeleteReal Madrid was one of the dominant force in football during the later half the century, among the likes of AC Milan, Ajax, Liverpool but they never had much effect on Spain's tactical game. Technically, Spain's players have always been superior, possibly due to a playing culture that favours their small stature, but they never truly gelled into a possession-conscious title-winning team.
With tiki-taka, combined with Dutch total-football influence introduced to Barcelona by Cruyff, Spain now has a tactical game-plan that complements their players' technical skill well. With possession, they are now able to frustrate kick-and-rush teams, and imposes their technical superiority in trying to carve out chances out of tight spaces, hence the small goal difference, or loss, that we are used to get from them.
Had they been more adventurous like Barcelona, they could have gotten more goals, but of course with the corresponding risk of losing out more too.
@Anonymous#! ( I wish you guys would put at least a name to these comments, it's really rude): the first thing you need to distinguish is a style from a tactic. Spain's style is a possession style. The build up slowly from the back and retain the ball probing for space, as opposed to lumping it like the English do.
ReplyDeleteOne of the tactics they use is playing with a withdrawn striker or false 9, and they didn't use it all the time hence the fact that Fernando Torres was the lead scorer in the tournament so they obviously did NOT play with a false 9 all the time.
Secondly (and you can check Jonathan Wilson for it: here Pep Guardiola did NOT invent playing with a false 9. It goes back to the early 1920's. More recently even it was Manchester United with Carlos Queroz as their number 2 who revived it and Luciano Spaletti's Roma used Totti as a false 9 when Guardiola was still Barça B coach.
@Anonymous#2: (next time pick a name please): I would agree that Real Madrid did not have much of an influence while Javier Clemente was in charge (1992-1998). He was Basque, played and coached at Athletic, and he belittled Barcelona's game for its lack of verticality.
ReplyDeleteHere's the kicker though. While he was coach, he brought in his own players who were more suited for the aerial game and slowly withdrew the influence of probably one of the greatest generations of homegrown Real Madrid players of all time: the Quinta del Buitre team. What sort of style did they play? A sleek possession style and it's how they played before Clemente took over for Spain as well and the sort of game that Spanish players have mostly played considering like you say their lack of stature and their high technical ability; Youtube Spain World Cup 1986 and you'll see what I mean. I was 20 years old then so I remember it clearly.
I've been watching Spain for a long time. I never quite got how players who were clearly on the same level as the Italians, Germans, Brazilians, French or Argentines who all won World Cups in my lifetime, how they were able to do it and Spain weren't. The difference why they win now is not tactical or physical. That's a plus, but it's mental. They have leadership and toughness now. Many of them have played abroad and they have tested themselves against the best players in the world (Barça v Real Madrid twice a year helps as well).
So, no I am not belittling the influence that Barcelona's adopted style has brought to Spain's winning ways. They hold the ball, pass it, move, and they recover like the Ajax school teaches you to. I am just trying to give you some perspective. Spain plays like Barcelona, but it is more than just Barcelona influencing them.