New Spain manager Luis Enrique promised his tenure will be about “evolution, not revolution” – and the former Barcelona boss also promised plenty of surprises in his first squad.
Famous for their possession-based passing game, Spain struggled at this summer’s World Cup having been considered among the favourites.
Their preparations were left in disarray when coach Julen Lopetegui was sacked on the eve of the competition when it emerged he had agreed to join Real Madrid, and Fernando Hierro took charge temporarily.
They recorded just one group stage victory against Iran and were then eliminated by hosts Russia in the last 16.
“There won’t be a revolution, rather an evolution. You can evolve a style of play without altering it, as I showed at Barcelona,” Enrique told a news conference.
“Football is a continuous evolution and we’ll look to do just that to the current idea we have. We can play good football, be aggressive, control the ball and hurt our opponents. There’s things we need to improve, too.”
Enrique, who coached Barcelona between 2014 and 2017 winning two La Liga titles as well as the 2015 Champions League, also intimated he would pick players on form and style of play, rather than on reputation.