By Matthew Placzek
Special to FOX Sports
MÁLAGA, Spain — Two late targets propelled Spain to a 3-0 win over Norway in a Group A match on Saturday.
Here are three ideas on the Euro qualifying motion from Málaga:
Luis de la Fuente plays it safe as Spain crawls to a win
Before Saturday’s match, de la Fuente’s solely expertise as a senior-level coach was 11 video games in cost of Deportivo Alavés in Spain’s third division. Anyone who anticipated a “tactical revolution” in his first top-flight recreation in nearly 12 years was severely mistaken.
Apart from the 14 adjustments in personnel, there wasn’t a lot of a mentality distinction from the Spain that we noticed three months in the past. Outside backs Alejandro Balde and Dani Carvajal not often seemed to play a cross into the midfield and as an alternative opted to modify the play by means of Aymeric Laporte and Nacho Fernández. The majority of Mikel Merino’s involvement was one-touch drop balls to the backline. Although Spain racked up nearly twice as many passes as Norway (632 to 336), solely a handful might be categorised as “threatening.”
If there’s one factor that de la Fuente can deliver to this workforce, it’s the mission to own with a objective. The objective of shifting the ball shortly with brief passes is to shift your opponent and open up holes in their defensive form. The lack of want to go ahead was evident as Iago Aspas or Álvaro Morata dropped into the midfield far too usually with out receiving the ball. Gavi and Dani Olmo have been not often utilized on the wings with the latter solely scoring his objective after redirecting an errant shot from Balde in the first half.
Spain must rediscover the propensity for goalscoring that contributed to their World Cup win in 2010. Spain’s subsequent opponent, Scotland, will probably be a a lot harder check for de la Fuente. They received their match towards Cyprus on Saturday in nearly equivalent vogue (an early objective and a brace from a second-half substitute) they usually have the squad depth to use Spain’s weaknesses. If their favored 3-4-2-1 formation can expose the half-spaces in between Spain’s defenders, La Furia Roja might be in massive hassle.
Joselu shines in his debut
If anybody doubted the inclusion of the 32-year-old in this squad, they should not anymore.
With Spain firmly in management late in the match, Joselu changed Álvaro Morata in the 81st minute. It wasn’t a substitution designed to permit Joselu to develop into the sport or make a giant distinction. As the lone uncapped participant in this squad, it was a chance for de la Fuente to provide the Espanyol ahead his first look as a full Spanish worldwide.
Just three minutes after he entered, Joselu nodded in a Fabián Ruiz header on the again publish to place La Furia Roja up 2-0. The followers in La Rosaleda erupted in the loudest cheer of the night time and the complete Spanish squad mobbed the goalscorer in the nook.
Less than two minutes later, Oyarzabal discovered the ball on the byline and whipped in a cross throughout the bottom. Once once more, Joselu was there to ship the ball careening previous Ørjan Nyland for the second time in two minutes.
Five touches. Two photographs. Two targets. It’s troublesome to be extra environment friendly than that.
Norway struggles to place up a combat with out Erling Haaland
In a press convention this week, coach Ståle Solbakken stated that taking part in on the counter assault for a full match was “impossible.”
He ought to have taken his personal recommendation.
As quickly as referee Benoît Bastien began the sport, Norway sat again in a 4-5-1 as their opponents moved the ball to their coronary heart’s content material. Martin Ødegaard repeatedly yelled at his teammates to not press out of the system as they tried to drive Spain into making their very own errors. It occurred a few occasions, equivalent to when Dani Olmo didn’t deliver down a diagonal ball from Laporte, however Norway not often created attacking alternatives by themselves.
Without Erling Haaland, it was all the time going to be troublesome to interrupt down Spain’s staunch again 4. Real Sociedad’s Alexander Sørloth tried his greatest to recreate the Manchester City ahead’s wrecking-ball runs, however he does not have the acceleration that makes Haaland a nightmare for his opposition.
More importantly, he cannot match his compatriot’s composure in entrance of objective. In the eightieth minute, Sørloth despatched a volley 5 yards broad of the far publish in his solely probability of the night time. One can not help however suppose that Haaland, who scored eight targets in his final two video games earlier than the worldwide break, would have put the prospect away.
Sørloth wasn’t the one one to have a tough efficiency. Mohamed Elyounoussi added nearly nothing to the Norwegian assault and often discovered himself attempting to crawl out of Dani Carvajal’s pocket on the left wing. Sander Berge was outclassed in each doable means by Balde on the fitting facet. Until Haaland turns into accessible, Solbakken wants to contemplate a formation change — maybe a 4-4-2 with Sørloth and Jørgen Strand Larsen up high — to provide his workforce extra appears in entrance of objective.
If they proceed to play like they did towards Spain, they may discover themselves with an insurmountable mountain to climb in their quest to qualify for his or her first main event in 23 years.
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