Are Spain really kiling football ?

There is subtlety to the argument that a team of artists, setting out to win through pure creativity, can be as a negative force in the game. By setting out to monopolise possession of the ball, and achieving an unprecedented degree of success, Spain's world champions could be seen to be squeezing the life out of the idea of football as a competitive endeavour.

 There is also the question of the texture of their play, which cannot be separated from their near-monopoly of possession but in some ways adds an even more powerful element to the complaints of their critics. There is a soft, frictionless quality to the style known as tiki-taka which makes it feel as though Spain are playing in carpet slippers and which robs the game of the explosive, percussive element that has always been a part of the game.

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