Horrible, where the Hungarian national team’s European opponent, the “filthy” soccer team, has fallen

What is certain is that classic British football is no longer characteristic of the Scottish national team. At the same time, the team does not excel in either ball possession or passing accuracy, as it possesses an average of 47 percent of the ball, in this regard thirty-seven teams had a better indicator in the qualifiers, while the average passing accuracy is around eighty percent, which is only the twenty-ninth best indicator in the continent’s field.

which was less than only the French and Portuguese national teams received until then, however, they were spectacularly let off at the back after their exit became certain.

Historical low or deceptive statistics?

The last time the Scottish national team was able to win was in Cyprus, in the European qualifiers in September by 3-0. They have lost five of the seven games they have played since then, but perhaps Scotland is the best example of why you shouldn’t always rely on statistics. In fact, since 2005, that is

In addition to the already mentioned European qualifying fiasco against the Spanish, they lost 3-1 at home to the European silver medalist England, then 4-1 in France, and 4-0 in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam failure it can be especially painful, since the home team had only one goal advantage at the break, and the Scots last lost by the same ratio in 2004, against Wales, and since then they have not lost by a bigger margin in any series.

If you look at the results alone, it’s not very flattering, but instead of saying that the Scottish football team is at an all-time low ahead of the European Championship in Germany, it’s worth looking at what the four teams mentioned − from which Scotland ran into a large-scale slap in the face recently − it is among the seven best teams in the FIFA world rankings, so it is not a shame to lose to them. In addition, the last three friendly matches were essentially Steve Clarke’s experiments, as several players who did not play in the qualifiers, or only occasionally, got a chance. For example, the national team captain tested Southampton forward Che Adams and Scottish Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland, while Lyndon Dykes, QPR’s player from the English second division, was the starting striker in six of the eight qualifying matches.

since the foundations were stable, promoting the offensive game became the next step. Against the Netherlands, we played three-four-three, and it seemed to suit the players, as we initiated more with the ball, but we had problems with counterattacks, and we were disorganized during some movements. I’m curious to see how Steve Clarke will use the remaining two training matches, because the Scottish football team often faltered under pressure and conceded a goal, which is a shame, because there are positives in his game,” he said. in an interview with NSO Tam Courts, former coach of Budapest Honvéd.

The Scots also stumbled in their last two European qualifiers, as they drew 2-2 against 75th-ranked Georgia, and Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice for the Georgians. And in the last round they played an incredibly crazy match with the Norwegians without the injured Erling Haaland, for whom it was already decided before the match that they would not qualify for the European Championship. In other words, there was essentially no stake in the match, because even if the Andrew Robertsons, who had secured qualification earlier, had managed to win – the Northerners scored the equalizing goal in the 86th minute – they would only have had a chance to top the group if Spain lost to Georgia. And there weren’t many signs of this, as the Georgians could only beat Cyprus back and forth in their group.

In the warm-up match against Northern Ireland, however, the Scots won 1-0 as they outplayed their rivals in practically every aspect of the game, but only one shot that hit the goal was enough for them to score.

The Scottish national team, which has been in a minor ups and downs since qualifying for the European Championship, is not in a panic situation for now, it would be difficult to say that the Scottish miracle team has fallen apart, however, the 19 goals conceded in the last seven games may be a warning sign for Steve Clarke’s team, because with such a terrible game, they will not have a chance for the first time in its history to reach the straight knockout stage at a world tournament, but it could even end in an ugly exit.

There are a lot of damaged, vulnerable defenses

Steve Clarke may have several problems before the upcoming soccer European Championship, because due to injury, he almost certainly cannot expect his two most favorite right backs, Nathan Patterson and Aaron Hickey, to play at the tournament in Germany. THE The Athletic according to information, Everton’s 22-year-old defender suffered a hamstring injury, which will keep him out of action for the rest of the season. Hickey also suffered a hamstring injury against Chelsea in October, and has not played a single game since then. Although Brentford manager Thomas Frank recently stated that the 14-times Scotland defender’s recovery is progressing well and has not ruled out a return for the final rounds of the Premier League, it would be a surprise if Steve Clarke calls the 21-year-old into the squad . In this way, Celtic’s football player Anthony Ralston, who played in one match in the qualifiers against Georgia, may be invited. The 25-year-old defender did not get too many opportunities in his club this season either, taking into account all series, he has had a total of 16 games so far, which means that the right side of the defense is quite problematic for the Scots.

An even bigger problem for the Scots is the elimination of Lewis Ferguson, who suffered a serious knee injury, so he can’t be there at the European Championship. Bologna’s 24-year-old midfielder was injured in the league match against Monza in April, and as it turned out later, he tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee, which was operated on, so he probably won’t be able to play for the rest of the year. The goalkeeper position is also questionable, as Angus Gunn has only recently recovered from his injury, but it is not yet known for sure who will be the starting striker for the Scots at the European Championship.

According to Csaba László, the poor form of the Scots is not authoritative

Despite this, it would be a mistake to underestimate the Scottish national team, claims Csaba László, who previously worked as head coach for the Scottish Hearts football team and Dundee United, and has been following the country’s football ever since. The former second coach of the Hungarian national team gave an interview to Origo Sport, in which he talked about, among other things, what he sees as the reason for the poor performance of the Scottish national team recently.

The team has been together for a long time, if I count, they have at least six players who play in the Premier League, and they are not in bad teams and are almost always starters. They are the backbone of the team,” began Csaba László.

“Overall, you have to pay attention to them as a team, because they play quite self-sacrificing football. The midfield and defense are strong, they have shortcomings in the forward position, but they can compensate for this. If you look at the last matches, they lost to the Dutch, but the result is a bit deceptive, because they conceded a lot of goals, they were able to dominate the Dutch at times. I see that recently, since they got to the European Championship, the national team has started to experiment. At the same time, Steve Clarke has the team, and he knows it. what he wants to play with his team” – opined a Székelyföld FK Professional director of Csíkszereda.

The Hungarian national team has something to earn against the Scots

The professional born in Székelyudvarhely also talked about how he sees a lot of similarities between the Hungarian and Scottish national teams.

“The Scots play very similar football to the Hungarians, they don’t use much tactics, they have been defending 5-4-1 for years and their tactical formation is 3-4-3 in attack. In this respect, it is similar to the Hungarian national team. It will be interesting, that we will meet them in the last group match, since everything will be decided by then, or it will be an extremely intense match. It is certain that they should not be taken lightly,” he began the comparison of the two teams Transylvanian Hungarian football coach.

but anything can happen at a European Championship, there are already one-to-one matches. Much will depend on how the teams manage to prepare, how many key players will be injured until then. There is one very important factor in which the two national teams are similar, since the benches do not have the same quality as the starting eleven. So, if, say, Szoboszlai, Sallai or Orbán are eliminated, we cannot replace them at the same level. This is also one of the weak points of the Scots. What could be their advantage is that the players predominantly train in one of the best leagues in the world, the Premier League, and in one of the toughest leagues in the world, the Championship. So there are many similarities between the two national teams, but I hope that we will be in better shape that day. I think this will be the best match at the European Championship from the fans’ point of view, because two fan bases will meet that always support the team 100 percent” – said Csaba László to our newspaper, who during his career worked as a second coach at the Hungarian national team, as a head coach at Ferencváros, and as a national team captain at the Ugandan and Lithuanian national teams.

The Scottish national team will face the hosts in the opening match of the continental tournament in Germany on June 14, then five days later they will meet Switzerland and Hungary on June 23 during the group stage.