Once the mosquitoes have been defeated, in the Danish-designed paradise where Germany spends its days in Herzogenaurach, there is concern about another bite. They will face the most courageous team in the history of the European Championships. No team has ever thrown itself into defending so far from its goal as Spain. The team’s defensive actions are, on average, 53.4 metres from its goalkeeper, according to StatsBomb records, eight metres higher than in the last major tournament for national teams, the World Cup in Qatar.
This trait of La Roja has been present in Nagelsmann’s preparatory talks these days, as Leroy Sané said this Tuesday in Herzogenaurach: “We are still in the middle of preparing for the match, but we know that they know how to press high up, and that gives us space that we will know how to exploit.”
The Spanish coaching staff also has in mind those spaces that open up when the choral exercise is out of balance. Also those that are created when they are disorganised when attacking and lose the ball, and are not well distributed to deactivate the counterattack. The round of 16 match against Georgia was a wake-up call. That’s how the goal came, and so did the rest of the danger that La Roja encountered. It was the lesson of the round of 16. If Georgia had the runs of Kvaratskhelia and Mikautadze, Germany has the speed of Musiala and Sané, with Kroos as the launcher.
Despite the risk, the Spanish coaching staff is not considering abandoning this trait. On the contrary, they are convinced that it can be decisive in defusing the host team. They believe that no team has put them under pressure like Spain can.
More goal chances
The pressure from La Roja is important above all for what happens afterwards, something that Sané already knew at the start of the week: “When they win the ball back, they don’t keep the ball and play it backwards, but rather they are more vertical.” The methodical Nagelsmann, who writes a script for himself before matches of how he imagines them, explained yesterday what Spain achieves in this way: “This is how they create more scoring chances,” he said.
This is where the change that best sums up the new style of the national team lies, in what happens after the recovery. This is the only Euro in which Spain attacks faster than the average of the teams in the tournament, according to StatsBomb, which has data since 1996. The team approaches the opponent’s goal at 2.3 metres per second, when the average is 2.1. The contrast with the last major tournament is enormous. In Qatar, Spain was the team that attacked the slowest, at 1.1 metres per second.
De la Fuente’s point is key, but so is another point that Sané mentioned: “It helps them to have new weapons, like their wingers. We have to prepare to combat their strengths.” That will require an extra defensive effort: “It is crucial to help the defenders and prevent them from finding themselves in one-on-one situations.” As Nagelsmann explained, the problem is not limited to the attackers on the outside: “It is difficult to defend the wingers, but they also have strong full-backs, which allows them to play with double passes. They combine inside and outside and that makes them very difficult to defend.”
Sané is ready: “I know I have a reputation for not helping, but I have learned. And I like it. Defence starts at the top.”
As in Spain, they are not the team that puts on the most pressure in total, but they are the ones that do it the most in the opponent’s half, 104 per game, 63% of all their defensive efforts, more than anyone else. And with great intensity. They have never launched themselves so many times and so quickly at their opponents. They have recorded 101 aggressive actions per game: the number of times they have gone for an opponent less than two seconds after receiving the ball. In Qatar, they were the third team that did it the least, only 64.50 times per game.
Spain’s wingers have caught the eye at the Euros, but Nagelsmann knows their greatest threat comes from pressing.
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