Del Bosque defends formation

Spain boss, Vicente del Bosque, has defended his decision to start his side’s opening game against Italy without a recognised striker. The champions dominated possession in Gdansk, but looked blunt in the final third, after Del Bosque had opted to start midfielder, Cesc Fabregas, ahead of the likes of Fernando Torres, Fernando, Llorente, and Alvaro Negredo. Following the injury to David Villa, the big question surrounding the camp was who would start as Spain’s main striker at the tournament, with many tipping the resurgent Torres to lead the line, after previously starring in La Furia Roja’s successful Euro 2008 campaign. However, Del Bosque caused a major shock by playing without a recognised frontman, preferring to play Fabregas in a ‘false nine’ position, and, although it took the Barcelona man a while to adapt to the role, he did manage to get on the scoresheet. The veteran boss eventually introduced Torres to the fold and, despite missing a couple of chances, the team did look better with the 28-year-old as its focal point. Whether the Chelsea man will become a fixture of the top scorer betting, this summer (http://www.bet365.com/news/en/betting), remains to be seen. Del Bosque has now argued that the reason for his selection was so that his team could dominate the midfield, but says he is unsure whether he will continue with his experiment. Fans who watch football live will no doubt have opinions of their own (http://www.bet365.com/news/en/betting/euro-2012), regarding Del Bosque’s tactics. "We wanted to have superiority in the midfield so that we could have possession and arrive higher up the pitch. David Silva, Cesc, and Andres Iniesta arrived very well from the second line of attack, and I think they did very well in a lot of moments", said the 61-year-old. "The plan didn't go badly; Cesc did very well in this position. When Fernando Torres came on, the match was much more open. We had more chances to score, but so did they and we can't forget that. Time will tell whether this is a good point or not.”