In Finland’s soccer game against Greece, a glimpse of the Kuopio Soccer Club could be seen. Expert Miika Nuutinen raises a point about the offensive game that the Huuhkaji should stick to.
Stomach upset and ineffectiveness of the second episode. Many followers of the Finnish national football team will surely remember these first from the opening match of the Nations League against Greece.
Huuhkajat lost in Athens with 0–3 goals. Finland, which has been reformed in its coaching leadership, showed a quarter of a quarter of promising football, but Greece soon knocked the Finns out of their cloud castles. The worst thing about Huuhkajie in the game was that the level of the team’s game decreased throughout the struggle.
Finland’s renewed coaching management head coach Markku Kanervan the management has told that the national team’s game is now to be reformed. There has already been room to improve the old one.
The Greek match now gave a first look at how Huuhkajie’s game has changed or is changing compared to the previous one. Kanerva and his coaching staff have talked about the basic principles of the game, which will be seen in the future.
– It is still too early to say what will be permanent. The sample is only the size of one match. Still, there have been a lot of changes compared to the previous one in almost every phase of the game, Urheilu’s football expert Miika Nuutinen says.
KuPS visible
Finland’s ball-playing in particular had experienced the biggest overhaul.
related to coaching in Finland Jani Honkavaara According to Nuutinen, handprints could be found immediately from this Huuhkajie playing.
– Huuhkaji’s way was much the same as in the Kuopio Ball Club he coached. In how Finland organizes its game with the ball. The team tried to occupy the center strongly and at the same time pushed their fullbacks wide and up.
Finland tried to take advantage of its strong possession in the center so that it would break into the goal posts with short passing patterns. In the opening period, it succeeded here and there.
Without the ball, Huuhkajat was also more aggressive now, trying to press hard against the ball when the team lost the ball.
– It certainly didn’t continue throughout the game. It was because, as the game progressed, those structures of the ball game broke down. The distances between the Finns therefore grew too large, Nuutinen points out.
Finland was also surprisingly aggressive due to its high press. Problems arose, however, when Greece was able to pass the ball high to press behind the raised Huuhkajie platforms.
– The players thus found themselves in a difficult situation, defending really large spaces on the field. It is not the strength of Finland’s defense.
How daring?
In Nuutinen’s opinion, Finland’s way of filling the field was very brave.
– That kind of thing requires really safe ball control and accuracy. The ball must not be lost in dangerous places at all. This happened in the second period and Greece countered immediately.
Was the company too bold then?
– Maybe it only caught Huuhkaji’s eyes when the distances between the players grew. When they are long, that is a risky way to play.
Other question marks arose.
– Of course, creating scoring positions for Finland is one such. There weren’t many of them. A lot depended on passing combinations, which Huuhkajat tried to do from the middle of the field.
– That’s why I raise it as a question mark, because even with that, it’s good to think about whether it’s the best way for Finnish player material.
Also takeaway
Huhkajat will face England next Tuesday at Wembley Stadium in London. The EC runner-up, who started with a victory in the Nations League, is a really big challenge to face.
The second match will show more about what things Markku Kanerva’s team will continue to use in their game. Against England, Finland cannot act boldly, at least, but many of the basic principles mentioned should also be seen against the giants.
Expert Nuutinen should stick to at least one thing he has already seen in the future.
– I would say that from the first half hour of the Greece game, it is good to take exactly that attacking play into the next one. The players’ distances and the effort to play the ball vertically behind the defenders were things that produced good things for Finland. For example, the counter-press was started through it and came into its own.