Luis Enrique aims to inject adrenaline shot that Spain desperately need if they are to be extraordinary once again
The new Spain manager left it in little doubt how he intends his side to play
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As Luis Enrique sat in the “mythic” Wembley for his first match as Spain manager, he didn’t reveal what he thought about the country’s pathetic World Cup elimination, but did rather strikingly indicate his intentions.
The 2010 champions effectively passed their way out of Russia 2018 with a defeat against the hosts that became a psychodrama, and seemed to bring so many problems with the side to a head. It also temporarily proved true some of the worst criticisms of the country’s style, a possession game that has been argued as boring. Luis Enrique, however, has promised something very different.
“I like adrenaline,” the new boss said on the eve of their opening Nations League match against England. “I love the Dragon Khan [rollercoaster] ride.”
Football to match such words would offer some difference, as well as maybe offering the jolt this hugely underperforming side requires.
The primary problem with Spain right now feels psychological, as if they are governed by an uncertainty that the sacking of Julen Lopetegui so brutally brought to the fore.
They should have at least got to the semi-finals in Russia. They should have been in at least one tournament quarter-final since 2012. They should still be one of the best teams in the world, and play the dominating football that befits their talent. They should. But they did not.
They did none of that, and it was often as if they were asphyxiated by adherence to an idea of their game as much as anything, a desperation to live up to an expectation and that exquisite 2008-12 side – one that Luis Enrique described as “a reference in world football for 10 years”. Their last few eliminations did bring ever-greater debates about the value of a possession-pressing game that dominated world football over that period, but that was always a bit misplaced.
The problem was not that Spain – or, indeed, Germany – played that way, it was that they did not. Spain played a parody of that approach in 2014 and 2018 in particular, with the many issues around the squad in both World Cups preventing them from really committing and expressing themselves in the way their greatest ever side did.
It is for that reason that, despite a lot of debate, Luis Enrique might be exactly the right choice for this time. There has never been any uncertainty about him. There has only been an abrasive certainty, and it did feel pointed that he sought to so articulate what Spain’s philosophy is, describing an approach far removed from the criticisms.
“Attacking football, high press, try to dominate the game. We will see where we find spaces but we will be aggressive.”
The irony is that Luis Enrique has never exactly been a purist for the national approach descended from Barcelona’s, and has always demanded a slightly more direct style. That however might be exactly what Spain need, too, to get the adrenaline going; to get the goals going in.
“Of course we try to do different things,” he said. “Spain has been a reference in world football for ten years. We try to evolve our model. Then we see if we are efficient enough. The aim is to evolve.”
Captain Sergio Ramos admitted they were adapting to differences.
“We are trying to implement his philosophy. We are reflecting the way he thinks on the pitch. All this new information is good. We want it to be enjoyable for the fans.”
Ramos also denied that there were any issues between himself and Luis Enrique, from the manager’s time at Barcelona, merely saying they are similarly “strong characters”.
This is something else that fires a subplot of the new regime. A notoriously spiky character, Luis Enrique may give this squad a jolt in another way.
He has already banned mobile phones from dinner and meetings, Playstations from the camp, and even the boardgame Ludo – which is to Spain what Monopoly is to England. Whether that is actually a good thing remains to be seen.
“I do all sorts," he responded to such questions. "I haven't got a one-size-fits-all system. It's nothing out of ordinary.”
But this is the thing with Spain. They should be so much more than ordinary, so much more than a last-16 side.
They should be extraordinary. And for all the talk about how England need to prove they can beat a side as good as the Spanish, the Spanish need to show how close they are to being as good as they should be.
They need to get the adrenaline going. That, at the very least, is what the manager demands.
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