Spain's stylistic identity shows what England lacks under Gareth Southgate | Football News

Last April, I spent a week in Mallorca and had the opportunity to attend the Mallorca Cup, a youth football tournament featuring elite academy teams.

On two artificial pitches on the northern corner of the island, teams of all ages from dozens of Spanish clubs, including Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Sevilla, competed in a knockout tournament, cheered on by friends and family who had travelled with them.

The standards were high, in some cases embarrassingly high, and provided a window into the level of talent being produced in the country. But what was really memorable was the style in which they played. It is hard to recall an instance where a goalkeeper went too far.

That experience came to mind when watching the Spain senior national team, which was made up of players who had competed in similar competitions (17-year-old Ramin Yamal had just recently), beat England in the European Championship final on Sunday.

The scoreline did not reflect the one-sided nature of the game, and while wingers Ramin Yamal and Nico Williams gave Spain a thrilling new dimension, the game had its old traits. With 65% possession, they held England capitulated.

That's the Spanish way. Or at least that's how it has been since the national federation overhauled the country's youth development programmes in the 1990s as part of a plan to foster the highly technical, possession-based style of play that has come to define them.

This change was decisive in the decades that followed, when Spain, who had not won a major international tournament since 1964, won back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012, as well as the World Cup.

“We have come out of a time when no one knew what the characteristics of Spanish football were,” said Fernando Hierro, the former technical director of the federation at the time. Now those characteristics are deeply embedded in every aspect of the game.

Of course, interpretations vary from club to club and region to region. For example, the Basque Country, home to Athletic Club Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Alaves, is known for its greater emphasis on dueling and physicality.

However, the core principles of short passing and possession are widespread and are promoted at amateur level thanks to the popularity of futsal, a small-scale version of football that uses a small, heavy ball to practice precise control and technique.

A conversation with Aston Villa’s Spanish centre-back Pau Torres last season provided insight into the work being done on the pitch. Asked about his natural composure and ability to handle the ball, he shrugged. “That’s what I was asked to do as a young player in the Villarreal academy.”

This uniformity in the way Spanish clubs demand their young players to play is a huge boost for the national team and helps explain the cohesion that Luis de la Fuente's side showed in their triumph at Euro 2024.

Spain were a club side in this competition, but their squad was diverse, with 26 players from 17 clubs. The starting lineup De la Fuente used in the final had played together only once before, in a 3-3 friendly draw with Brazil in March.

Even though the personnel changed, their rhythm was not broken.

In the 1-0 win over Albania in the final group match, De la Fuente made 10 changes to his team without affecting the style of play or the level of performance. Pedri and Rodri, who were injured in the quarter-finals and final respectively, were replaced completely.

Thanks to Pep Guardiola’s success at Manchester City, this Spanish style of play has found its way into the English domestic game, with outstanding achievements being made at academy level and this is reflected in the level of quality currently on offer for the national team.

But despite winning trophies at youth level, England are still trying to catch up with Spain when it comes to developing their own identity.

This doesn't mean there was a lack of effort.

Ten years ago, after the FA's St George's Park headquarters opened, Southgate, then U21s boss, sat down with former director of elite development Dan Ashworth and head of player and coach development Matt Crocker to discuss England's 'DNA'.

The five-point plan includes a section called 'How we play', which is interesting material considering England's Euro 2024 campaign and particularly the final.

“The England team aims to win possession intelligently,” it says. “The England team aims to win possession intelligently, as quickly and efficiently as possible,” it says on another line.

Southgate has done a great job in many areas, particularly with regard to the culture and ethos around the team, but the issues with his playing style have been painfully highlighted in Spain and throughout the tournament.

Despite fielding players who are accustomed to playing an attacking, possession-oriented game at club level, Southgate's England have tended to be reactive rather than proactive, and are more likely to be pushed than dominated, particularly against top opposition, as they were against Spain.

In fact, Spain ranked first in turnovers per game among the 24 teams in the competition and third in passes allowed per defensive action, while England ranked 11th and 16th respectively, a passivity they display when not in possession that runs counter to their DNA.

Of course, reaching a second successive European Championship final is an achievement in itself, especially considering the slump they endured under former manager Southgate.

But Spain, decades ahead of its time in terms of establishing a stylistic identity and with a seemingly endless supply of players who have lived and breathed Spain their entire lives as footballers, shows that England still have a lot of catching up to do.