I wish I had posted something about how much trouble this 5-3-2 was going to cause Barc...ahem I mean Spain. For me its quite simple and I really hope Lucho realizes this as well, teams are simply exploiting the space behind the back line when the two attacking fullbacks go forward. In a 4-3-3, its too easy to beat the backline when its a 1-on-1 with the CBs against the strikers.
This result and our unflattering season as well has less to do with a drop in quality and much more with simply the tactics being too stale. Spain in the first half were the better team and had Costa and Silva finished their chances better, the game would have been quite different.
The person I feel sorry for the most throughout all of this is Victor Valdes. With the form he was on before he got injured, he honestly could have both a) given Barca a better shot in the run in this season and b) been starting over Iker. If VdB was smart and had Valdes been available, he would have started over Iker based on form and he would have performed A LOT better than Iker did who unfortunately had a bit of a nightmare out there tonight. Career ending.
Its not over for Spain but honestly I always thought Chile was going to give them more problems than the Dutch were going to and based on this result, Chile could easily do the same to Spain if they don't get their tactics right.
VdB is in a difficult position right now. He has two options:
1. Stick to his guns and simply reshuffle the line-up to make this 4-3-3 work a bit smoother. Something like this line-up would be an improvement for what Spain need:
de Gea
Juanfran-Pique-Ramos-Alba
Koke-Alonso-Xavi
Pedro-Villa-Iniesta
2. He tries a 4-4-2 that suits the Madrid players more.
de Gea
Juanfran-Pique-Ramos-Azipilcueta
Pedro-Koke-Alonso-Iniesta
Villa-Costa
Busquets for me was a key reason why Spain got so exposed. He was not shielding the back line nearly as well as he should have and was caught positionally way too high on numerous occassions and the lack of pace in MF got woefully exposed.
I hope you all realize that we just had a preview to how Man UTD-Barca could play out next season unless Lucho rethinks and revolutionizes our tactics here. Its not our way of playing, its not our style and our players still posses a clear advantage in technical quality over all of the other players in the world. Its simply the shape.
Been saying the same shit with Barca for a while now and no one listens lol