Ahead of the showpiece final, a tournament which started well has somewhat limped through the knockout stages. With the exception of the two games involving Germany, the busine s end of the tournament has not really been what the neutrals were so Tyler Johnson Jersey pant-wettingly excited for. The defining memories of Euro 2012 are likely to be disproportionate fines and of course false nines. That even rhymes. Im a poet and I di.. You get the picture.After several agonising conversations this week trying to explain why a false nine works so well for Barcelona but looks, well, rather dull for Spain I decided to try and put some words on a page. It might sound simplistic but the first answer is Lionel Me si. When Pep Guardiola took the reins at the Catalan club Me si had played almost exclusively as a wide attacker in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 formation. In the Spaniards first season as manager he won the treble of La Liga, Copa Del Rey and Champions League with the prodigious Me si bagging 38 goals. Another trophy laden season later and Guardiola noted two things, that Me si was capable of scoring even more goals and that he wanted to create more space for his key man and prevent him being doubled up on or predictable to mark. Me si was to become his immarkable object.After Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry and Samuel Etoo had all left the club Me sis permanent role as the false nine was confirmed. The significance was that he was capable of moving around the pitch into pockets of space in central areas or drifting wide, neither a defenders or midfielders responsibility but a worry to both. Do you follow him and risk ending up out of position? Do you pa s him on to the nearest player while holding your shape? Do you man mark him and risk taking a man out of your own teams gameplan? All valid questions until you remember that any decision you make is likely to open up space for his star-studded supporting cast. And it is this supporting cast which Buck Williams Jersey makes the formation even more effective for the Catalans.Me sis Ferrari-esque ability to go from 0-100mph before youve had time to shout stop him, means hes capable of scoring from anywhere he picks up the ball (just ask Arsenal). But the space at the top of the pitch created by his constant darting forwards and backwards is the second part of the ploy. In the likes of Perdo Rodriguez, David Villa and Alexis Sanchez Barca have players who are comfortable moving into central attacking roles. The space vacated by Me si and any defenders drawn to his Pied Piper routine is both noted and gleefully exploited by these wide players. Their natural inclinations is to find goal scoring positions and to score goals.Added to this conundrum for opposition defenders is the Dani Alves factor. The Brazilian plays so high up the pitch that he offers the width to pull the fullback out of position to cover him, allowing the right sided winger to move inside into the space vacated by the false nine (are you still with me?) for goalscoring opportunities. The fact that the forward line is so fluid and with a helping hand from Alves means teams often end up outnumbered in wide areas if Me si decides to drift there and it becomes a tactical nightmare.The last point on the Barca style false nine is the importance of the midfield. For me Barcelona are at their most dangerous when Iniesta plays centrally at the peak of the Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta axis. Aside from his pa sing being more effective from there, his ability to drive from midfield and commit players opens up space and opens up games. With both Me si and him operating through the middle and drifting wide as they see fit multiple defenders can be taken out of games in one movement from either of them. This once again means more space for the wide players drifting infield into the vacuum of space around the 18 yard line but Chris Chiozza Jersey also means when Don Andres has the ball defenders are worrying about him and take their eye off Me si. As weve seen on many occasions even when Me si does drop deep he times his runs brilliantly to get into the box and has some of the best pa sers in the world to find him.Iniesta being more central than he plays for Spain or indeed has played for Barca for much of this rare fruitle s season (coincidence? I think not) also means in the final third he is capable, no comfortable, getting beyond Me si and finishing moves (see video below). It also gives Xavi the space to dictate the tempo and link play from both deep as well as moving further forward, something the presence of Xabi Alonso in the Spain team doesnt allow him to do. Instead Xavi finds himself playing more as a traquertista than an all round central midfield playmaker in the national side and truthfully he is much le s effective here than as an overall creator.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZKUuJLPxEUWhich leads us neatly on to the Spanish system Jeff Green Jersey . To say it raised a few eyebrows when Cesc Fabregas started Spains first match as the furthest man forward is an understatement of Martin Keownesque proportions (he quipped this week that Spain tend to play a pa sing game thanks Martin). But he has played that role for Barcelona this year. However while Fabregas is a very good player he doesnt offer anywhere near the same level of penetration and spacial appreciation Lionel Me si does. Thats not doing Fabregas a di service, theres not many players in the history of the game capable of doing some of the things Me si does, thats a fact. Defenders wont be drawn to him in the same way they are to Me si for the simple fact that Cesc Fabregas turning and running at your is a lot le s frightening than Lionel Me si doing the same. The former Arsenal captain can pick a pa s with the best of them but hes never going to score goals like:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4XOuaavWFEAs touched on earlier, Fabregas arrival at Barcelona saw Iniesta spend much of the 2011/12 season on the left of a forward three where he plays for the national side. For me this stifled much of Barcelonas creativity but thats a story for another blog. While hes still a good player there he cant influence the play with his trademark driving runs and slipped pa ses from this area in the same way he can when he links up with his Catalan team mates centrally. David Silva offers much the same i sue on the other side. While hes a wonderfully talented footballer, he wants to drift infield and link up play and look for through pa ses to set up chances. In the absence of a Fernando Torres, David Villa or even Pedro, Spain with a false nine have no one naturally inclined to make that run into vacated space and it remains, vacated space. Everyone can and wants to make the killer pa s but no one has that natural desire to keep making the runs to Jeremiah Martin Jersey get on the end of these balls. Watching Spain at the moment feels a bit like hearing an unfinished Mozart symphony, its beautiful but something is