Euro
2012 is over. The best team won, but what did we learn? I look at three important
lessons that this Summer's tournament taught us. The dust has settled on what
was, in the main, a fantastic international tournament. Plenty of goals, some
surprises along the way, some fantastic skill, drama and, of course, a few
wedges of controversy were all on display as Europe’s finest footballing
nations competed to take home the
coveted trophy. Spain emerged as Champions once again, claiming their third
major international tournament victory in a row and nobody can say that it
wasn’t deserved in the end. However, rather than jumping on the Spain bandwagon
and waxing lyrical about them for an entire article, I thought I’d bring you my
take on what I feel are three of the
most important lessons, in no particular order, we can take away from the
competition as a whole.
The
first lesson to take away from Euro 2012 is that doing enough, is enough. Spain
are, quite simply, the best international footballing side of this era. Some
accused the Spanish of being boring, Arsene Wenger accused them of being
“negative”, however, these accusations are wide of the mark. Perpetual winners
become tiresome to watch, yes, that is human nature. We all like to see the
underdog triumph, at least from time to time,
and in that sense Spain are reaching the end of their honeymoon period,
however, they were not boring, they simply did enough.
There
is a saying in football that “you can only beat what’s in front of you” and
that’s what Spain did, without ever getting out of second gear if truth be
told. The closest Spain came to losing was against Croatia in the final group
match, but they didn’t concede and they eventually made the breakthrough.
Portugal gave them a game but could not score, in extra time the Portuguese had
nothing left and, even when it went to penalties, it looked like there would
only be a Spanish victory.
In
the final, Cesare Prandelli altered the Italian formation and line-up that had
been so successful against the Spanish in their tournament opener and this
played right into Spain’s hands. Having said that, the first half of the final
was the only forty-five minutes of the tournament when Spain actually moved
from first into second gear and they left Italy for dead in that opening
period. After Prandelli’s desperate gamble with Motta failed, La Roja happily
slipped back into first and comfortably saw the game out, adding two more goals
in the process.
In
winning the tournament, barely breaking sweat, Spain proved that they are still
the best in Europe and that the best of the rest have got a long way to go to
catch up with them. With Torres winning the Golden Boot, they proved that you
don’t have to start a striker in order for him to ultimately be effective and,
with the contribution made by Fabregas in the “false 9” role, that perhaps it
can be better to switch between the two systems. Ultimately though, and perhaps
that’s why they received so much criticism up until the final, Spain proved
that just doing enough to win, is enough.
The
second lesson to take from Poland and Ukraine this summer is, that England are
in reverse with Roy Hodgson at the helm. Controversial, perhaps, but thoroughly
true. Whilst the rest of Europe’s elite footballing nations are playing fluid
4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 systems, playing short passing games and experimenting
with the afore mentioned “false 9s”,
England have Hodgson’s 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1.
Not
only is this system (it is only one, don’t be fooled) totally outdated in the
modern game, it is also never going to get you past the quarter finals of a
major tournament. Hodgson and the media did a fantastic job of lowering
expectations before the finals so that England’s tournament seemed ok on the
face of it. It wasn’t! People bought in to the fact that Chelsea fluked the
Champions’ League playing defensively
and that it could work for England. It didn’t. Even after the tournament
people are buying into the belief that England were defensively sound and
unlucky to go out. They weren’t.
The
reason England stayed in so long was two-fold, good luck, and a good
goalkeeper. England had conceded more shots at goal than any other team in the
competition when they went out, thirty six against Italy alone. Joe Hart made
more saves than any other keeper in the tournament, including Buffon, who went
all the way to the final and faced Spain. These stats do not indicate a solid
defensive unit, rather they reveal the truth about England’s defensive
frailties, even when playing such a boring, calculated, low risk brand of
football.
There
are now those out there who think that Hodgson will change tack, that he was
only using those tactics for the tournament because he’d had so little time
with the players. He won’t and he wasn’t! Roy Hodgson has used these same
tactics, two rigid banks of four, everyone in position at all times, no room
for expression, for over thirty years with various clubs/countries to varying
degrees of success. Wherever he has been, Inter Milan, Fulham, Switzerland,
Liverpool or West Brom. The tactics have remained rigidly fixed and they will
not change now, he has no other way of playing.
So
newspapermen, England fans, the F.A., all those who’ve put faith in Hodgson to
lead England forward at least to the next World Cup, please do not be surprised
when, after limping through a weak qualifying group, which England will do,
playing the same unadventurous, at times torturous, brand of football, the team
are torn apart in Brazil the first time they play anybody half-decent. Football
has changed, very noticeably, in the last eight years and, while the rest of
the world is evolving quickly and adapting to the change, England are stuck in
reverse with a Brontosaurus calling the shots.
The
third lesson we can take from the summers’ championships is that, regardless of
how strong a squad you have at your disposal, it is always folly to make
wholesale changes. This point is particularly in reference to Joachim Loew, the
German coach, who, for the game against Greece, changed several members of the
starting line-up in order to “rest” them for the semi-final.
A
presumptuous move, which initially seemed to have been a sensible one, with
Germany crushing Greece by a 4-2 score-line in the end, however, in the
semi-final, his decision came back to haunt him. The performance of some of those brought in
against Greece, particularly Reus, tempted Loew to keep them in the starting
line-up against Italy in the semi-final at the expense of other regular
first-teamers. Germany were poor against the Italians and, in particular,
couldn’t get going as an attacking force. This was particularly obvious because
this German side is normally so quick and fluid going forwards. After falling
behind, to Mario Balotelli, Germany never really looked like coming back.
Many
Germans, the press and former players, including Didi Hamann, blame the
performance against Italy on the re-shuffle made before the Greece game. Why?
Firstly, tournament football is different in that the games come every three or
four days and each one is hugely significant, played at high intensity.
Players, tired after a long season, often only get through these tournaments on
adrenalin so, bizarrely, giving them too much rest can actually make them more
tired, their muscles heavier etc.. Secondly
making so many changes and then half-changing back for the semi meant
that Loew disrupted the fluency of the German side and, being so spoilt for
choice, the feeling here in Germany is that Loew got the recipe wrong when
selecting his starting eleven for the Italy match, particularly in leaving out
Thomas Mueller.
Germany
are, no doubt, one of the best international sides in Europe at the moment. I
fancied them to seriously challenge Spain for the trophy and they certainly
played some mouth-watering football, smashing in plenty of goals along the way.
Unfortunately, the strength of Loew’s squad and perhaps the confidence that
this gave the manager was their undoing. During the tournament, Joachim Loew
spoke brazenly about not being shy of tough decisions and having the confidence
to change a winning team so it is ironic, in a way, that ultimately it will be
his decision to do just that which will be remembered for costing the nation
its place in the final of Euro2012. The old adage then, in this case, remains
correct; never change a winning team.
These
are three of the main conclusions that I drew form Euro 2012. A tournament
eagerly awaited but quickly finished, the excitement of an international
competition over for another two years. It was fun while it lasted, it added to
our summer evenings and taught us all a lesson or two but now, it’s back to the
real business of club football as we look forward to the beginning of the 12/13
season.
By Neil Patterson
Email: neil.b.patterson@gmail.com
Facebook: http://goo.gl/MJce0
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Neil1980
