Fernando Hierro had an abrupt answer to those asking questions about his tactics and strategies at the World Cup.
“I’m the new coach. I’m the national coach,” the former Real Madrid captain said. “You have to get used to that.”
No doubt about that.
In just two matches in charge of the Spain squad at the World Cup as the last-minute successor of Julen Lopetegui, Hierro has already made his mark. And results have not been too bad, as Spain is level on points with Portugal for top spot in Group B and in an excellent position to qualify for the knockout stage.
Knowing his team would be facing a very defensive Iran team on Wednesday night, Hierro came up with a different formation to the one used for the 3-3 draw with Portugal last week.
“We understood it was very important to overman on the left,” Hierro said after Spain’s 1-0 win over Iran.
“We needed to play deep on the right and have some space there for Lucas and Dani when they had to fight two against one,” Hierro explained.
“It is true sometimes on the left they have changed the whole style of game, have changed their right flank. But, on Dani’s side, Lucas’s side, we created space and we were able to penetrate, able to get balance and that’s why we took this decision.”
The 50-year-old Hierro has been Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant at Real Madrid and coached second-division club Real Oviedo two seasons ago. But he recently served as the Spanish federation’s sports director and was already in Russia with the national team when Lopetegui was fired.
A majority of Spain players were reportedly in favour of Lopetegui staying on for the tournament after Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales made the move to fire the coach.
A little bit more than a week later, the players seem to have digested the shock decision pretty well. And in any case, they don’t give the impression they want to betray Hierro.
With a coach like Hierro, things are looking bright for Spain, too.