“Every coach has his own ideas”

June 22nd, 2010 | by: Neil | Comments Off

Two straight disappointing matches at the World Cup has many people wondering if manager Vladimir Weiss will be able to keep his job after all is said and done. Not only is Weiss the youngest manager at the WC, he has also tinkered with the side regularly over the last year, especially the attacking players. Captain and best player Marek Hamsik has symbolized the team’s attacking play thus far: short on creativity, and hasn’t seen much of the ball or been very involved in the play. Hamsik recently spoke out and defended himself from criticism for his indifferent play.

Here is a link to the football italia article with Hamsik’s interview.

“The mister has his own ideas about where I should play. I play where he asks me to without any problem.”

“Our problem is in creating the play. The tactic is different from that at Napoli. Every Coach has his own ideas.”

Hamsik’s (and everyone else’s) assessment seems to be correct: Slovakia’s problem is building up successful attacks. Against New Zealand, the Slovaks spent much of the game in their opponent’s end but could only manage two shots on net. Some credit must go to the All Whites for defending well, as they repeated their trick against Italy a few days later, but Slovakia’s offence went from bad to worse against Paraguay. The team managed just one shot on net, in the 92nd minute after the scoreline was 2-0 for the South Americans.

Manager Weiss has gone from cutting press conferences short to allegedly threatening to smack a reporter in the mouth. His position seemed secure after Slovakia’s storybook qualifying campaign, but now he appears to be at the root of the problem for Slovakia. The attacking players – not just Hamsik but the entire team – seems to be confused and lacking a clear philosophy when they get the ball in the attacking third. Striker Erik Jendrisek started the New Zealand game as outside left midfielder, and played a full 90 minutes, but didn’t appear at all in the Paraguay match. These are the kinds of decisions that have people questioning Weiss’ tactics.

Slovakia’s chances of advancing are remote. Not only do they need to beat world champion Italy – both Paraguay and New Zealand played Italy tough but neither was able to beat them – they also need to hope that New Zealand doesn’t defeat Paraguay. If that happened, New Zealand would win the group with 5 points, and Paraguay and Slovakia would be tied for 2nd with 4 points. Right now Paraguay’s goal difference is +2 and Slovakia’s is -2, meaning the Slovaks could be eliminated on goal difference. So basically Slovakia needs a win and Paraguay to draw or win against New Zealand.

After the tournament ends, there will likely be many questions as to why the team didn’t play better in the attacking third. Expect much of the blame to fall on Hamsik and Weiss. But as we all know, it’s easier to replace a manager than a 22 year old captain with a bright future.