Better than all the CFs Spain have and yet to play a single game.

Don Vicente played Llorente against Portugal in South Africa as a sub and it changed the game in Spain's favour. He might start him in the semi final.

Better than Torres?

Also it could be because VDB wants someone who contributes to the build up play.

Llorente can contribute to build up, just not as good as a born and bred midfielder would lol

Torres has been woeful so far tbh, his only good game came against Ireland :/

Torres has been crap so far apart from Ireland game ..

Playing Llorente is definitely an option.

Allegedly Llorente and Javi are both exhausted due to Bielsa's training style, but with the amount of rest he should have had by now I find this excuse hard to believe.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Allegedly Llorente and Javi are both exhausted due to Bielsa's training style, but with the amount of rest he should have had by now I find this excuse hard to believe.

Maybe he's mentally exhausted? It would make sense if he wasn't up for it, Bilbao had a gut wretching season considering how close they came to having a historic one.

he'd probably ruin spain's game and try to run at a defender or shoot on goal or something, instead of backpassing and passing sideways

I LOL'D

Tired?

I would point to Barca's players, Xavi in particular who play 3 games a week despite fitness problems and him being past 30.

In prime Llorente and Martinez tired? I dont buy it.

He plays Silva, Cesc and Iniesta together because it means more and more possession. He sacrifices goal threat for more possession.

Why is Torres and even Pedro favoured? Because they provide depth with their running in behind. Llorente doesnt do that.

Does that make him right? No, not at all. Llorente as shown himself much more than a hoof it to targetman, he is easily the best 9 Spain has and one of the very best in this tournament.

He is VDB's secret weapon.

The i-Navas-Llorente duo will strike at least once before the tournmanet is over.

It's a mental thing imo. He might not be up for it.

Zealous wrote:It's a mental thing imo. He might not be up for it.

It isn't, it's blatant favoritism.

I love Torres like no other, but I saw this guy in Europa last season,in the semi final, there is no way he lacks mental toughness or in any way has a bigger mental block than Nando.

It's so screwed up because Fabregas is an integral part of the bench who can come on an completely change the game, now we're just wasting him.

Perhaps but it's up to the player to talk to the coach and tell him that he can step forward and win games for the team.

Hes ostracized because Spain are more concerned with passing and possession percentage than with scoring goals

BhritanniaBhlue wrote:Hes ostracized because Spain are more concerned with passing and possession percentage than with scoring goals

Then how come Spain is the team who has taken the most shots and scored the 2nd most goals?

Everytime Spain play it feels as if they can do better, however they still end up winning the game.

mtfootball wrote:Everytime Spain play it feels as if they can do better, however they still end up winning the game.

couldn't have said it better myself.

After Del Bosque has started a strikerless 4-6-0 twice in four games in this tournament I think it's clear he prefers short-passing game in everything, even when it comes to creating chances in and around the penalty box. So he plays short-pass experts. If this guy played FIFA he probably doesn't touch the shoot button but tries to pass it into the net.

mtfootball wrote:Everytime Spain play it feels as if they can do better, however they still end up winning the game.

Probably because they've been in 3rd gear all tournament. The only team that has made them seriously sweat so far is Italy and even then, they were still in 3rd gear.

Playing with no striker is a legit tactic for Spain atm but it might not work against Portugal I say this because Portugal have Pepe a CB willing to play in an advanced position and break up play.

So far CB's weren't sure what to do since they had no striker to man mark. Pepe has seen it before so it won't confuse him imo.

Also pressing a team that doesn't play a striker is a bit easier than if one was playing, when a striker plays he is making runs and providing an out ball for a midfeilder under pressure. With no striker there is less risk of being caught out because there is no striker to exploit the space.

Don Vicente will play a striker against Portugal imo.

Art Morte wrote:After Del Bosque has started a strikerless 4-6-0 twice in four games in this tournament I think it's clear he prefers short-passing game in everything, even when it comes to creating chances in and around the penalty box. So he plays short-pass experts. If this guy played FIFA he probably doesn't touch the shoot button but tries to pass it into the net.

lol nicely put.

Even against France it was obvious they didn't feel threatened at all. Such confidence the entire team has...I just hope it doesn't come back to bite them in the ass one day.

I think Spain could use Llorente the same way Gomez is used for Germany...the big target man with a handful of playmakers around him to feed him. Instead Del Bosque used a playmakers on the 6 mid/front positions instead of using a few playmakers, speedy wingers and a proper in form 9 (notice I said in form...which means not Torres)

If only David Villa was ready to go...

David Villa's form is almost as bad as Torres's form.

Goalscoring wise, yes apart from that he was pretty good...

Don't get me wrong Spain still miss him but he really was low on confidence last year imo.