World Cup 2018: Questions remain over David De Gea, Fernando Hierro and Spain’s wild inconsistency as hosts await

There has been something to fix at almost every step so far for Spain, and it continues to raise questions over whether Hierro is really a ‘manager’ able to make the big decisions

In the days since the very fragile performance against Morocco, Fernando Hierro’s mind has been hardening, as he makes his final decisions on the Spanish side for the last-16 match against hosts Russia. Koke is set to return to the starting line-up, in place of Thiago Alcantara, Marco Asensio may come in – and David De Gea will definitively stay in goal.

These decisions at the very least represent certainty, a sense that has been badly lacking in an uncertain World Cup for Spain so far. They might well be one of the strangest sides in the tournament in terms of performance. If none of the other top sides have yet convinced in any way, Spain’s issue has not been that, but one of consistency. That’s not even from game to game, but often from one 10-minute spell to the next. Spain seem to go far too easily from looking like the best team in the tournament to one on the brink of calamity.

“Everything can improve,” Andres Iniesta said after the chaotic and far-too-tense 2-2 draw with Morocco, a display that brought so much about the team into question and yet still saw them top the group.

As to whether Hierro’s changes can begin to make everything improve? That’s another issue.

Most of this however comes back to the same issue: the defence, or rather the ease with which Spain have been giving up goals. It is something that Hierro is said to have been obsessing about over the last few days, even going to scrutinising the defensive records of past champions. The stand-in coach has been stressing to his players how only two sides since 1958 – Brazil 1970 and Argentina 1986 – won the World Cup having conceded more than one goal in the knock-out rounds. Spain themselves didn’t concede a single goal from the last 16 onwards in their 2010 victory, having only been breached twice in that group stage. De Gea has already picked the ball out of the net five times in Russia, and the players are now picking up on the message.

“The most important quality in winning a World Cup is transmitting defensive solidity,” Gerard Pique said this week. “From there, those in attack can be freer and enjoy that greater freedom to score the necessary goals to keep going though. That was what succeeded in South Africa.”

That is what is now causing the most consternation in Russia, and that is why there are increasing calls for Hierro to not pick De Gea. It has been Spain’s primary issue of the tournament since the sacking of Julen Lopetegui, their major concern and supposedly Hierro’s major big decision, even though he is still unbending on his No 1. It is a situation that has amazed some at Manchester United given De Gea’s heroics there, but there are similar figures around the Spain camp who put some of the blame on Jose Mourinho’s set-up.

The problem is not just those errors, the lack of saves and what former international goalkeeper Santiago Canizares has described as the goalkeeper’s “transparent” lack of confidence. There’s also a perceived lack of confidence from some of the Spanish players to play their game because of it. This is where the criticism of Mourinho has come in. De Gea is seen as a goalkeeper who now largely sticks to his line and makes saves, rather than the type who comes 30 yards out of his goal to effectively become another outfield player, as Pique and Sergio Ramos have become used to.

The net result is the centre-halves are not completely comfortable in stepping up to their usual area, nor completely comfortable in playing the ball back to their goalkeeper. This slightly greater disjointedness has disrupted Spain’s passing flow, with the greater gaps also resulting in those lapses like Ramos missing Iniesta’s pass for Morocco’s first goal in that 2-2.

Ramos himself did try to downplay this problem by arguing they are just a freakish number of individual errors rather than indication of any collective problem. The general vibe in the team is also that most of the Morocco display had the right foundations.

Hierro, then, isn’t going to try to remove that issue by removing De Gea. At least not yet. He is going to change things further forward, and one possible solution is the introduction of more Atletico Madrid “steel” – in the form of Koke.

David de Gea has made high profile mistakes (Reuters)

Spain’s abundance of playmaking talent can occasionally mean an over-elaboration that has further fostered their looseness, and is something else that has come up in the camp over the last few days. The return of Koke to the team brings more resilience, but may also have an attacking benefit too. The fact remains that Diego Costa – the closest player Spain has to an incisive decider like 2010 David Villa – performs better with his Atletico teammate alongside him.

And, for all the talk that Rodrigo or Iago Aspas should come into the game after how the Morocco game went, Costa’s inclusion is seen as essential fro Russia. They need his physicality against Russian muscle.

The hosts have had Euro 2008 manager Guus Hiddink into their camp to give them a pep talk about the game, although he has similarly said in media that he expects Spain to grow in the tournament. That is the feeling in the Spanish squad, too, just as they – justifiably – believe that they should beat Russia with little trouble if most goes to plan.

But this has also been the bigger issue so far: little has gone to plan. There has been something to fix at almost every step, and it continues to raise questions over whether Hierro is really a “manager” in the sense of being able to make big decisions required. He has made the decisions he feels are right for this game. Whether they start to make Spain right is itself a bigger story.

“We have completed our objective in getting out of the group,” Iniesta continued. “Now something else comes.”

The hope for Spain is that isn’t just another problem to fix.