Finland plays as a guest of Greece on Saturday 7 September. at 21:45. Live broadcast on TV2, Areena and the app from 9 p.m.
June 17, 2024.
Markku Kanerva continues as the head coach of the Finnish men’s national football team, the news headlines read.
At the same time, something very extraordinary was done, considering the norm for national football teams. The head coach was allowed to stay, but the rest of the coaching team changed.
This has been seen in recent years only in the Swiss national team, where the head coach Murat Yakin changed his second coach before last summer’s European Championships.
Mika Nurmela and Toni Korkeakunnas continued their journey, Jani Honkavaara, Teemu Tainio and Tim Sparv arrived at Huuhkajie’s stage.
For the first time, the new four were seen together on Monday, September 2, at a press conference organized in the conference room of the hotel Kalastajatorpa.
Kanerva, Tainio and Sparv, who greeted the man of the world in the room, arrived quietly first. Honkavaara had fallen victim to the lateness of the means of transport.
Still, Honkavaara, who had to arrive almost an hour late, gave the clearest comments out of the four about what his role in the coaching group entails and how the Huuhkaji should develop their game.
Huuhkajie’s new coaching group has been assembled under Kanerva since mid-June. According to their words, several meetings have been organized and ideas have been shared. Even so, the group’s roles in particular have still remained somewhat unclear, which has now been communicated outside the coaching group.
Instead, according to the words from within the team, it seems that changes are really coming to the game.
Who does and what does?
Markku Kanerva certainly knows how important the national match window is in front of him.
In the opening games of the B-League group of the Nations League, Finland will face Greece, which rocked its game, and England, which finished second in the European Championship, both away. Compared to the opponents, Finland is, once again, the underdog.
That is why it has been interesting to listen to the tone of Kanerva and his coaching team’s message to the outside world.
I expected that the coaching staff would have come out determined and told at least relatively precisely what was going to change. Who does what?
Now the concreteness has still been partial. When Honkavaara, Tainio and Sparv have told something about their roles, there are still several things left unclear and circular.
These things would seem to be clear:
Many other things will become clear with time, but a lot is still hidden from the public after the summer meetings.
That famous game plan
The trend of Huahkaji’s recent seasons has been downward in terms of results and games. Competition places have slipped through our fingers, and especially in the completed European Championship qualifiers, we saw total meltdowns in decisive games.
The Huuhkajie’s almost unrecognizable way of playing has caused particular frustration among those following Finland.
Huuhkaj has not had a clear game template that could be recognized from the field from one game to another, regardless of the players who march onto the field.
Head coach Kanerva has managed to talk about the game plan very often. It means game-specific preparation and a plan for one fight. The match plan has been a magic word that has also been heard when the national team assembled for these two matches of the Nations League.
Making a match plan is not problematic at all, but if there is no solid way of playing around it, there are problems ahead. In the case of Finland, this has been seen quite harshly.
Finland’s success has also been based on a clear game identity in addition to functioning match plans. It’s too old to reminisce, but it was easy to describe Finland’s way of playing, for example, in the qualifiers that led to the historic European Championships 2019. Today it is more difficult.
In short: alongside surprise, something more permanent, a foundation stone, is also needed.
Schüller’s words
Looking at the past, the Savotta of Finland’s coaching management is clear, but big.
Although the outward communication could be clearer, at least a couple of outward statements caught my attention.
Jani Honkavaara’s effective ten-minute speech at Monday’s press conference was summed up in the following view of Huuhkajie’s play.
– Sometimes there has been too much thought in the game. Now we need to get certain principles and clarify how to play. We have thought a lot about the shape. Now there is a thought about it and also about how it bends at any point in the game. On the other hand, we strive for a better structure and repetition in defense.
It sounds good when you look at Huuhkajie’s needs for change.
For the Huhkaji players, this has also been brought up and set as a task on the playing field, which by Rasmus Schüller you can hear the speeches.
– There have been normal changes in the game and everyone from the coaching group has had an energetic approach, they have come rushing in. During the week, we’ve been playing first in special situations, then normal game things, Schüller started on Wednesday in an interview with Urheilu.
– Of course we still have to have the opportunity to adapt to our opponent, but now we have tried more to find what is our basic way of playing. In the first few days, we have refined our quarterbacking phase and our defensive play a lot.
Schüller also said that he confirmed what Honkavaara said on Monday.
– It has now been reflected in what we do.
In view of how much head coach Kanerva has rehearsed match plans and the players’ adaptation to the opponent, this speech is welcome.
Are you in a hurry?
In Markku Kanerva’s speeches, there is also a repeated regret that the national team’s fresh coaching has not had much time. Enough time to prepare or especially to better impress the players with their ideas.
Practice matches would have been needed, Kanerva already thought when announcing the Huuhkajie group for the upcoming games. Although time is limited, it would still be important to see concrete changes to the previous ones in the games.
The opening games of the Nations League now serve as trendsetters and screen locations. The game against England is especially important for the Finns, because Finland rarely gets to challenge giant countries of that size. A backlash at Wembley is also possible, even though England will also be leaving their temporary manager by Lee Carsley led into a new era.
What weighs more in the balance than the final results is how Finland looks on the field.
If the games show a clear way of playing, repeated basic patterns for different stages of the game and recognizable aspects, then Huuhkajat is on the right track.
But, if we see a completely different Huuhkajat on the field again in both games, there is still a lot of trouble ahead.
Hopefully we won’t see either in either game Glen Kamara as a pier. Then it would have gone backwards, and no Antti Muurinen as the expression goes.
Finland plays Greece as a guest on Saturday 7 September. at 21:45. Live broadcast on TV2, Areena and the app from 9 p.m.