Spain plays it safe in Luis de la Fuente‘s first match in charge: 3 takeaways

By Matthew Placzek
Special to FOX Sports

MÁLAGA, Spain — Two late goals propelled Spain to a 3-0 win over Norway in a Group A match on Saturday.

Here are three thoughts on the Euro qualifying action from Málaga:

Spain vs. Norway Highlights | UEFA European Qualifiers

Luis de la Fuente plays it safe as Spain crawls to a win

Before Saturday’s match, de la Fuente’s only experience as a senior-level coach was 11 games in charge of Deportivo Alavés in Spain’s third division. Anyone who expected a “tactical revolution” in his first top-flight game in almost 12 years was severely mistaken.

Apart from the 14 changes in personnel, there wasn’t much of a mentality difference from the Spain that we saw three months ago. Outside backs Alejandro Balde and Dani Carvajal rarely looked to play a pass into the midfield and instead opted to switch the play through Aymeric Laporte and Nacho Fernández. The majority of Mikel Merino’s involvement was one-touch drop balls to the backline. Although Spain racked up almost twice as many passes as Norway (632 to 336), only a handful could be classified as “threatening.”

If there’s one thing that de la Fuente can bring to this team, it’s the mission to possess with a purpose. The goal of moving the ball quickly with short passes is to shift your opponent and open up holes in their defensive shape. The lack of desire to go forward was evident as Iago Aspas or Álvaro Morata dropped into the midfield far too often without receiving the ball. Gavi and Dani Olmo were rarely utilized on the wings with the latter only scoring his goal after redirecting an errant shot from Balde in the first half.

Spain needs to rediscover the propensity for goalscoring that contributed to their World Cup win in 2010. Spain’s next opponent, Scotland, will be a much tougher test for de la Fuente. They won their match against Cyprus on Saturday in almost identical fashion (an early goal and a brace from a second-half substitute) and they have the squad depth to exploit Spain’s weaknesses. If their favored 3-4-2-1 formation can expose the half-spaces in between Spain’s defenders, La Furia Roja could be in big trouble.

Joselu shines in his debut

If anyone doubted the inclusion of the 32-year-old in this squad, they shouldn’t anymore.

With Spain firmly in control late in the match, Joselu replaced Álvaro Morata in the 81st minute. It wasn’t a substitution designed to allow Joselu to grow into the game or make a big difference. As the lone uncapped player in this squad, it was an opportunity for de la Fuente to give the Espanyol forward his first appearance as a full Spanish international.

Just three minutes after he entered, Joselu nodded in a Fabián Ruiz header at the back post to put La Furia Roja up 2-0. The fans in La Rosaleda erupted in the loudest cheer of the night and the entire Spanish squad mobbed the goalscorer in the corner.

Less than two minutes later, Oyarzabal found the ball at the byline and whipped in a pass across the ground. Once again, Joselu was there to send the ball careening past Ørjan Nyland for the second time in two minutes.

Five touches. Two shots. Two goals. It’s difficult to be more efficient than that.

Norway struggles to put up a fight without Erling Haaland

In a press conference this week, coach Ståle Solbakken said that playing on the counter attack for a full match was “impossible.”

He should have taken his own advice.

As soon as referee Benoît Bastien started the game, Norway sat back in a 4-5-1 as their opponents moved the ball to their heart’s content. Martin Ødegaard repeatedly yelled at his teammates not to press out of the system as they tried to force Spain into making their own mistakes. It happened a couple of times, such as when Dani Olmo failed to bring down a diagonal ball from Laporte, but Norway rarely created attacking opportunities by themselves.

Without Erling Haaland, it was always going to be difficult to break down Spain’s staunch back four. Real Sociedad’s Alexander Sørloth tried his best to recreate the Manchester City forward’s wrecking-ball runs, but he doesn’t have the acceleration that makes Haaland a nightmare for his opposition.

More importantly, he can’t match his compatriot’s composure in front of goal. In the 80th minute, Sørloth sent a volley five yards wide of the far post in his only chance of the night. One can’t help but think that Haaland, who scored eight goals in his last two games before the international break, would have put the chance away.

Sørloth wasn’t the only one to have a rough performance. Mohamed Elyounoussi added almost nothing to the Norwegian attack and frequently found himself trying to crawl out of Dani Carvajal’s pocket on the left wing. Sander Berge was outclassed in every possible way by Balde on the right side. Until Haaland becomes available, Solbakken needs to consider a formation change — perhaps a 4-4-2 with Sørloth and Jørgen Strand Larsen up top — to give his team more looks in front of goal.

If they continue to play like they did against Spain, they will find themselves with an insurmountable mountain to climb in their quest to qualify for their first major tournament in 23 years.

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