Has Del Bosque fully embraced associative football?

For the Spanish national team, associative football was the legacy of Luis Aragonés, the coach that led Spain to win the Euro2008. The new national coach, Vicente Del Bosque, has seemed reluctant to fully embrace this style based on constant passing since he got the job.

When attacking, Del Bosque prefers a more vertical football. He wants faster passing (thus risking the ball a little more, and losing more balls per game) and he would love playing with wings. He prefers playing two destructive midfielders on the field (typically Busquets and Xabi Alonso), as opposed to playing just one. He'd rather play muscular Arbeloa on the defensive left side, eventhough he is a right-footer, than the lefty, better passer, better scorer, and more skillful yet not so strong Capdevilla. And so on. Del Bosque leans towards more conservative choices whenever he is faced with two options, and yet, his teams receive more goals against than Luis Aragonés'.

Why is that? Well, Del Bosque has not fully embraced the defensive style that must go with associative football either. Under associative football there is no choice: Spain must defend by keeping the ball and finishing each play, however long it may need to be, with a shot. That is why having Capdevilla is defensely better than having Arbeloa. That is why having Xavi Hernández lead the team accompanied by just one defensive midfielder is better than playing with two defensive midfielders and Xavi Hernández closer to Villa and Torres. It is better because in this way Spain losses less balls, and attacks more effectively, and it becomes safer overall.

The good news is that in the game against Saudi Arabia, the A team played decent although still a bit too slow associative football. Let´s keep an eye on this.