Life under Luis Enrique looked so good with early wins over England and Croatia and, despite more recent disappointments, the Spain boss is still happy with the current state of the national team.
Spain beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 on Sunday evening in Gran Canaria and Luis Enrique was keen to take positives.
"We are focusing on qualifying for Euro 2020 and I think the national team is looking good," he said after the game.
"After seeing how we started [in the UEFA Nations League] we expected to qualify, but we lost our way in Zagreb and Seville.
"I didn't expect the team to be at this level."
Isco was captain on the night in a Spain starting XI that had just 97 caps.
"The armband is anecdotal," he added.
"Isco is the player with the most caps, but he has been leading the way for club and country for years.
"He has big potential with us and an excellent attitude."
The overall performance and, specifically, attitude, pleased Luis Enrique.
"The team looks good to me," he said.
"We caused problems on the wings, but it wasn't an easy game.
"We tried playing football, but it's always difficult against a team who have so many behind the ball."
This was the final match of 2018, with international footballing not returning until next spring.