Spain manager Luis de la Fuente is already under pressure for his job, despite just two matches with La Roja.
De la Fuente was a surprise choice for the role after Luis Enrique Martinez left in December, being promoted from the under-21 job. It was thought that he would bring more convention and more calm to the national side.
Yet after just two matches, he is already close to the sack, as per Cadena SER. They claim that Spain must perform well in the Nations League, where they face Italy in the semi-finals and potentially one of the Netherlands or Croatia in the final.
Spain kicked off their European Championships qualification campaign with a 3-0 win over Norway, but followed it up with a poor 2-0 defeat to Scotland. After the camp was done, those within the camp and some players raised concerns about de la Fuente and his ability to manage at this level.
They say he was ‘overcome’ by the situation, and players were disappointed with what they saw in training, which was not up to the level they were expecting.
This tallies with de la Fuente’s post-match press conference after defeat to Scotland, where the story he told of the match was in direct contradiction to the one that most watched, claiming Spain had played well. It appears as if he will need a performance against Italy in order to settle the nerves, as so far, all he has brought is unrest.
