MADRID, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Spain coach Luis Enrique will have reasons to be content after watching his side defeat England 2-1 at Wembley on Saturday night, giving him a debut win in his new role.
Although Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea, who was otherwise back to his best, was perhaps lucky to see an injury-time strike from Danny Welbeck ruled out for a supposed foul, the final scoreline did not flatter the Spanish, and showed that it has not taken long for the former Barcelona boss to impose his style of play on the team.
The fact England had not previously lost at Wembley since 2007 should only add merit to Spain's triumph.
Spain looked to take the game to an England side that, despite its success at the World Cup this summer, still lacks a dominant central midfielder, and with Saul Niguez and Thiago Alcantara shutting down Jordan Henderson, England found it hard to create fluid attacks.
"It was hard in some phases of the game, but we won the ball a lot. You have to reduce the time your rivals have as much as possible and we did that well. You have to attack space and that is the basis of Spain's game," said Luis Enrique after the match.
Questions had been asked about Luis Enrique's relationship with Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, but Ramos performed well and his Real Madrid team-mate Dani Carvajal was one of Spain's best players on the night, helping set Saul up for the equalizing goal, just minutes after Marcus Rashford had put England ahead.
"What made me happiest was the attitude of my players during the game. Even though they conceded a goal, the team carried on working in the same way and tried to do what we have been talking about," said the Spain coach.
Saul could feel especially content with his evening's work. After not having played one minute at the World Cup, where the Spain midfielder passed the ball with little positivity or penetration, the Atletico Madrid player was at his aggressive best.
Eyes might have been raised when Luis Enrique left Saul's Atletico team-mate Koke out of his squad, but Saul showed he can harry, win possession, create chances and that he also has an eye for goal.
Midfield partner Thiago also gave an accomplished performance in midfield. After having looked in no-man's land between attack and defense in Russia, he flourished on Saturday. With Sergio Busquets his steady self and Saul providing the aggression, Thiago was able to find space to exploit the many times Spain were able to stifle England in the middle of the pitch and launch an attack.
At the back, Nacho Fernandez barely put a foot wrong alongside Ramos, and while left back Marcos Alonso didn't get forward as often as he does for Chelsea, he too can feel satisfied with his evening.
As for England, the defeat showed that coach Gareth Southgate still has work ahead of him, especially in resolving the team's problems in central midfield.
Although having three central defenders allows the full backs license to push forward, Saturday showed once again that when England are pressed high up the field they struggle to find a solution, and with Dele Alli once again disappointing and Harry Kane all too often isolated in attack, maybe the time has come for Southgate to look for a creative midfielder who can contribute more to partner Henderson or Dier in the deep-lying role.
Southgate's main problem is that there don't appear to be many players with those characteristics available to him, so for the moment the England coach probably has more to think about than his Spanish counterpart, and perhaps wishes Saul was an English.
