Spain were held to a 1-1 draw against Poland in the European Championships tonight.
The home side took the lead through Alvaro Morata on the 25th minute, but Poland levelled things up in the second half through Robert Lewandowski.
Today’s draw leaves Spain third in Group E behind Sweden and Slovakia, and here at Anytime Football, we look at the three major talking points from tonight’s contest.
Enrique’s conservative approach
Spain have played way too cautiously in their last two matches, and they will have to be more aggressive if they want to do well in the tournament.
The European giants have seen a lot of possession, but they are playing without taking any risks, and therefore the chance creation in the final third has been affected negatively.
Spain have an array of attacking talent at their disposal, and they must play to their strengths.
Questionable team selection by Enrique
Luis Enrique’s decision to keep Thiago Alcantara on the bench against Sweden and Poland seems quite baffling.
Thiago is undoubtedly one of the best midfielders in the squad, and he could have helped create goal-scoring opportunities with his vision and intelligence.
Spain have enjoyed ample possession in the tournament so far, and they need someone to make the most of that control. Their passing has lacked purpose so far, and someone like Thiago would have been more effective with the ball in the final third.
Alvaro Morata and Gerard Moreno
The attacking duo had a match today, when they combined to score the first goal. The goal was initially ruled out for Morata being offside before VAR stepped in. Morata celebrated running straight to his manager and Enrique clearly looked vindicated as he supported the attacker during his moments of struggle.
But things went horribly wrong when Morano hit straight into the post from the penalty spot later in the game, after Poland levelled the score. Morata failed to place the rebound ball into open goal.
There were demands from fans that Morata should be dropped. Spanish manager was firm and confident that Morata would bounce back. Fans were not kind though, to see what’s happening on the pitch.
Lewandowski denies Spain their first win in Euro 2020
Robert Lewandowski made up for his earlier miss with a fine header placement to level the score. The VAR took time before confirming the Lewandowski’s challenge to Laporte during goal scoring moment was legal.
The Bayern Munich forward had a tremendous Bundesliga season, scoring 48 goals in 40 matches. The fans can home to see more from the Polish striker.
Spain lack creativity in the final third
Spain are desperately crying out for someone who can add pace and flair in the final third.
They are struggling to stretch the opposition defences, and someone like Adama Traore could have been very effective against Poland tonight.
He is excellent at picking up the ball in the deeper positions and driving at the opposition defence with pace and power. Poland would have struggled to handle someone like him.
The Wolverhampton Wanderers winger has not been given the opportunities so far, and it will be interesting to see if Enrique decides to switch things around now that his side are under pressure as far as a qualification to the round of sixteen is concerned.
