England undone by artistry of Spain’s Mario Pérez and Santi Cazorla

Posted Saturday, November 14, 2015 by theguardian.com

England undone by artistry of Spain’s Mario Pérez and Santi Cazorla
Spain's Mario Perez volleys past England's goalkeeper Joe Hart to open the scoring at the Jose Rico Perez stadium in Alicante.

Once again, England were reminded of their own shortcomings as soon as the standard of opposition goes up a notch. Roy Hodgson’s team still have to learn the importance of taking better care of the ball in these fixtures and a clear sense of deja vu was left in their wake. Ten successive wins in qualifying for Euro 2016 have been followed by a clear defeat on the first occasion they play one of Europe’s leading nations and by now, it all seems terribly predictable.

If there was one consolation, it was that England did avoid this game spiralling into the kind of ordeal that was threatened during the opening stages. Hodgson’s players could hardly get a kick in those moments and after a difficult start they did at least play with a degree of composure during the middle part of the match. Ultimately, though, the moments of high quality came from Vicente del Bosque’s side, most notably the wonderfully taken goal from their right-back, Mario Perez, that set up the victory.

The defender’s spinning volley was the outstanding moment of a night when Spain clocked up their seventh successive victory and England were beaten for the first time since the World Cup or, to put it another way, the last time they played a decent side.

Santi Cazorla added the second goal and, more than anything, it seemed like a reality check for the team with the best qualifying record for Euro 2016. England might have made light work of Lithuania, Estonia, San Marino, Switzerland and Slovenia, but Spain are a cut above, unable even to shoehorn Juan Mata, Santi Cazorla, Pedro Rodríguez and David de Gea into their starting XI. And they won while still leaving the distinct impression they were operating within themselves and that if the mood took them they may just really start to try.

The electronic scoreboard at one end of this roofless stadium, with the bats fluttering in the night sky, had almost ticked into its second minute before an England player had touched the ball from kickoff. The tone had been set and, having breezed through their Euro 2016 qualifying programme, this was a new challenge for Hodgson’s men, chasing the ball and enduring long passages where the bottom line was that the other side were vastly superior on the ball. For England, there were times when their efforts to get it back were almost as futile as attempts by the Spanish fans to get the away end to join in with the Mexican wave.

More alarmingly, there was also a tendency when England did get the ball to give it straight back with remarkable alacrity. It is the lack of refinement in possession that can be startling and the tendency to rush passes. Spain, in stark contrast, make possession look easy.

They passed, they moved and they looked up to see where the next pass was. Spain no longer have a striker in the mould of David Villa or a peak Fernando Torres, but they wear down opponents with their rhythmical style.

England, to give them their due, did also create a couple of half-chances during the closing stages of the first half. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones took good care of Diego Costa, who managed to go through the match without any confrontation, and the goals arrived at a point when Spain had started to look a little tepid in attack.

After 72 minutes, Cesc Fàbregas chipped a pass over Mario’s shoulder and the right-back, coming inside Ryan Bertrand, turned elegantly to redirect the ball with a swivelling, diagonal volley into the far corner of the goal. It was a tremendous effort but Hodgson’s irritation stemmed from the fact it came from Raheem Sterling losing the ball in an encouraging position.

"We have to learn our lesson and remember that when we are playing a team of this quality we cannot afford to make technical mistakes," the manager said.

Hodgson immediately brought on Wayne Rooney and in the closing stages England’s record scorer struck a volley into the turf that came up and hit the top of the crossbar. By then, however, Spain had scored again and the game was winding down. England’s players must have been relieved Andres Iniesta played only the first half – Hodgson said afterwards a lot of his preparation had been around trying to subdue the Barcelona man – but his replacement, Nolito, also created problems on Spain’s left. Nolito found Cazorla, who had replaced the injured Thiago Alcântara after 26 minutes, and the Arsenal midfielder curled home his shot.

England’s mitigation is their long list of absentees and they were dealt another blow late in the match when Michael Carrick was taken off on a stretcher having damaged ankle ligaments. Carrick is elegant enough to fit into Spain’s midfield but his luckless run of injuries continues. In the unlikely event Tuesday’s game against France goes ahead, he will be missing.

On a brighter note, Bertrand was always keen to break forward from his full-back position and Fabien Delph should be better for his first start since damaging a hamstring early in the game against Switzerland in September.

For the most part, however, there was not a great deal of opportunity for Ross Barkley and Harry Kane to build their understanding. Sterling was prominently involved but ran down too many cul-de-sacs and Hodgson did not try to dress it up afterwards. England, he said, had to make more use of the ball because when you give it away at this level it can be a long time before you get it back again.