Luis Enrique looked to be firm at his post as Spain’s manager for the years to come. A surprise World Cup exit though in the round of 16 to Morocco threw everything into a tailspin. Even before the media could really speculate on his future it was announced that he was out as head coach of the national team. Luis Enrique had bet heavily on young players particularly those coming from Barcelona.
With a play style that looked to mimic that of Pep Guardiola’s famous Barca teams. Ultimately, he came up short at the World Cup after posting bad games against Japan, and Morocco respectively. With such a young team, though, would it have made sense to stick by him? Here are a couple of reasons why he was sacked in the first place. Those tell us a lot about what Spain is going to look for in a new manager.
Twitch & His Streaming Career Did Not Help
The fact that we got a head coach of a relevant national team at the World Cup who was willing to interact with fans and laugh at himself was a breath of fresh air. It certainly spoke to the modern times that we’re living in. Ultimately it seemed like the players enjoyed the fact that Luis Enrique was in on things that are relevant to the youth.
That was one way of looking at things. For the older heads though, it was always seen as a distraction. Basically it was proof that Luis Enrique was not all in with his duties as Spain’s head coach. There’s an argument to be made that if he hadn’t launched a streaming career the Spanish FA would’ve been more willing to keep him on. Sadly, you can do these types of things only if you win. Once you lose they tend to backfire on you. Luis Enrique certainly saw this first hand.
The Heavy Barca Influence
There’s also a bit of a political issue with Luis Enrique’s Spain team. The fact that he relied so heavily on Barca players is something that certainly doesn’t sit well with fans and players from other teams in Spain. This is an issue though that goes way beyond the game. Staying on the pitch for just a sec, his willingness to take the likes of Eric Garcia who is a rotation player at Barca at best and leave long time captain Sergio Ramos off the squad proved to be a mistake on so many levels. The team lacked leadership, and a strong presence in the back.
Going back to the more political side of things, it seems ironic that a national team would take its influence, and most of its players from a team that represents a region that has expressed for years they don’t want to be part of said country. On top of that it’s not like Barca is dominating world football like they once did. That certainly doesn’t help either!
Finding A Neutral Candidate
Again this point is going to touch upon some of the political issues that are relevant in Spain. Finding a neutral candidate who can get particularly Barca and Madrid players to co-exist is going to be key to Spain’s success. Its best era was kick-started by an Atletico Madrid legend Luis Aragones. Although they then turned to a Real Madrid legend Vicente Del Bosque he also proved to be enough of a conciliatory presence. Luis Enrique is too Barca centric and that affects different aspects of the team. The issue for Spain at this point is that there’s no clear-cut candidate that could replace him. Even worse is that the Euros are just around the corner!
