What I mean by "teams set up to NOT play" in reference to Spain is that teams go into the game fully satisfied with a 0-0 draw, hoping to get a fluke goal or two. That is EXACTLY what England did.
It gets a bit strange when people say Spain play boring football without taking into account that more often than not it is because of how the opposition set themselves up and their mindset going into the game that dictates what the game will be like.
Spain of yesterday looked like Arsenal for soooo many games in the last couple of years. Possession football without either ambition or quality to also be penetrative can be boring as fuck. I´ll take that over what the Stokes/Blackburns/Englands of this world serve up any day though.
Personally, I strongly question going into a game with the mindset of being fully content with a scoreless draw and just defend for 90 minutes. I DO expect to be entertained by football, but what do I know? Maybe I´m just an old fool with a romantic view of what football should offer.
