A single English word he returns to that, unpacked, analysed and investigated, explains much. "I don't think tackling is a quality," he says. "It is a recurso, something you have to resort to, not a characteristic of your game. At Liverpool I used to read the matchday programme and you'd read an interview with a lad from the youth team. They'd ask: age, heroes, strong points, etc. He'd reply: 'Shooting and tackling'. I can't get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play. How can that be a way of seeing the game? I just don't understand football in those terms. Tackling is a [last] resort, and you will need it, but it isn't a quality to aspire to, a definition. It's hard to change because it's so rooted in the English football culture, but I don't understand it."
The tackle is perhaps the greatest expression of an English conception of the game ÔÇô physical, epic, emotional. By definition, reactive. After every tournament knockout, some respond by moaning that England's players did not feel the shirt, that they lacked passion. Alonso admires the sentiment but does not share it. Spain's experience suggests other flaws; passion is a myth to be debunked. "Passion?" he says. "Of course it's necessary but it's more important to have footballing foundations, certainly when developing players. Passion isn't something you work on. It's more important to construct a good team, to know how you are going to play, how to read the match. You have to truly understand the game."
Less motivation, more preparation, then? "Yes," Alonso says. "And from youth level upwards. From a Spanish perspective, what matters is the ball ÔÇô possession of it, knowing what to do with it and when. The identity is clear. Technique is vital and intelligence is fundamental. You need players who interpret the play, who can adapt and do not just have one concrete skill or characteristic.
