The best thing about Euro 2008 is that, following the negativity that dominated in Portugal, positive attacking football is once again back in fashion.
Of course, teams still need be built upon a solid foundation, but to win tournaments you need to create chances and score goals; and the best way to do that is to be clever in how you use possession: not relying on set plays or the occasional counter attack. It’s a very simple equation: the more efforts on goal you have, the more likely you are to score a goal.
The current European Champions, Greece, caught everyone by surprise with their brand of negative football four years ago in Portugal. They studied their opponent's strengths and tried to nullify them; they man marked the best players out of the game and played with a sweeper behind the centre backs. They also got lucky, they had a lot of players on form and they were able to build upon a good result in their opening game and gained momentum. That was four years ago.
This time around, it didn’t work for them in their opening game and their opponents have worked out how to attack them. That has been good for this tournament and it’s good for the game itself. It’s a joy to see teams like Holland and Spain playing the kind of football that excites the fans and it’s paying off: their good football is accompanied by good results.
Holland
Holland look very strong because they have found a balance: something that is very important for any team. They have weaknesses, but, so far, they have learned how to overcome them. For example, the overall strength of a team is built upon a strong defence.
There are concerns about the Dutch centre backs so, instead of playing with just one midfielder sat in front of them, Holland are playing with two. That permits one of the full backs, Gio Van Bronckhorst, to go forward at will: in the knowledge that the space behind him is covered. With the opposite full back rarely going forward, they are defensively solid and that means, even when they aren’t at their best, they are still capable of keeping a clean sheet.
Of course, Holland aren’t perfect, and let’s not forget that were it not for Van der Sar, Italy would have scored and France would certainly have increased their tally; but in having a good keeper combined with that new found defensive solidity makes them very hard to beat.
With such a strong base, Holland’s excellent attacking players are allowed to express themselves, and the ability to bring the likes of Robben and Van Persie off the bench shows the strength of their squad. Add to that the fact that Van Nistelrooy is relatively fresh and they are even more dangerous as games go on.
Can they Dutch be beaten? Well for a start they will need to maintain their momentum from their opening games, and that is very difficult at a major tournament. The way to beat them is by defending deep and playing a very direct form of football. In the past, theywere less direct and they allowed you to recover your shape if you lost the ball when playing against them.
This Dutch side allows the opposition to have possession, and when you lose the ball they hit you hard and fast on the counterattack. The thing to do, therefore, is not to play in to their hands: make the conscious decision to let them have the ball. How do you do that? Well, you play very quickly, you pressure them early and when you recover the ball you play your first pass forward, and quickly.
That’s how Arsenal play, and if you lose possession after that first forward pass, it’s not a problem because you still have almost everyone back behind the ball: you keep your shape and remain solid in defence, and that makes it hard for the opponent to use their pace against you on the counter.
Spain
I know that Guillem suspects that Spain are slightly unbalanced, that they are strong upfront but are too small in midfield and vulnerable at the back. However, they are very, very good in possession and that makes them one of the hardest teams to play against. When you think that you have them under control they can suddenly open you up and hurt you with a surprise, killer, pass.
How do you beat Spain? Well, first you must work to deny them space, and then, it is vital that you deal with Torres and Villa. The Swedish centre backs - Hansson and Mellberg – nullified the Spanish strikers for most of the game and when that happened, you struggled to see where Spain’s goals were going to come from. The Swedes clearly learned from watching the way Spain exposed the Russians: getting in behind the defence with diagonal runs. Sweden have better defenders and did not allow themselves to get caught out in the same way; and that is partially how you beat Spain.
As well as having two strong central defenders, you must also deny the Spanish space, defend deep and, importantly, force the ball out wide and away from their outstanding central midfielders.
Guillem has been talking about the tactical differences between teams at this tournament, asking if there is anything that makes them stand out from each other: like the Portuguese with their two wingers, the Greeks with a sweeper behind the centre backs or Germany pressuring opponents high up the pitch.
Personally I think you have to be pragmatic in international football and it’s very difficult to try and implement new things when you are working with players for such a short space of time. It’s no surprise, therefore, that while the teams each have a different style, they all remain fairly faithful to their football culture. However, there are exceptions at this tournament: Holland are playing differently and have strayed from their traditional 4-3-3; the Spanish are mixing their traditional passing game with a direct type of play and Italy are playing with a possession based 4-3-3. The difference is that these teams all have very versatile and highly intelligent players that can adapt to what their coaches are asking of them. For teams without this calibre of footballer, it makes more sense to play it safe and stick to what you know.
One thing that I have noticed at this tournament is that while a lot of these teams are trying to defend solidly and to counter-attack quickly, they are not as defensively strong as at other major tournaments. I can’t think of one team that has a really solid back line. That’s one of the reasons why teams are looking better in attack.
I expected the Germans to be very strong in defence, but their centre backs have really disappointed me. They are going to really struggle when they come up against the likes of Ronaldo, Torres, Villa or Van Nistelrooy.
The exciting thing about this tournament, and what marks it out from the last one, is that the really clever players are going to be successful: players like Sneijder, Ronaldo, Iniesta and Xavi are showing their class. I believe that the eventual winner will be a team with one of these really special players. The Germans, for example, don’t have that kind of player and while they are a good side – I tipped them at the start – they are very predictable: they play 4-4-2 with very straight lines; they go wide, they put in a cross and look to win the ball in the air or snatch a shot; that’s probably not going to be enough against the Portuguese.
The common denominator amongst all of the favourites at Euro 2008 is that they all have some special players: players with great movement and clever passing who work the angles and can be unpredictable.
One thing Guillem and I have both noticed at this tournament is that the pitches are very hard and that is because UEFA are not allowing them to be watered any later than an hour before kick off, and that benefits defensive teams. Its something I have noticed in other tournaments and the authorities are very strict when it comes to regulations regarding pitches. It was the same in Germany, Japan and Portugal and the pitches were always very dry and hard. For some reason they didn’t want them to be wet at kick off in spite of the fact that a wet pitch is what the players want and what the fans should also want. Dry pitches favour defenders; while the ball moves quicker off a wet pitch and that improves the game as a spectacle.
To finish off, Guillem asked me to identify the single most important element for a team to be successful at a major tournament like this. Personally speaking, I’d have to say that above all a side must have simple, well defined, tactical instructions: every player in the team must understand and know their job. Following that? Well, having a really special player who can turn a game is always useful when you want to lift that trophy at the end of it all.
Steve McClaren
