After the 4-1 defeat to Spain, national team coach Murat Yakin had a few gripes with the referee’s decisions, as he did in the 2-0 defeat in Denmark. First and foremost, however, self-criticism is being practiced after the start of the Nations League.
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- Switzerland is defeated by Spain despite being outnumbered for a long time, loses its second group game and is already under pressure in the Nations League.
- As against Denmark, the Nati also lacked luck. Coach Murat Yakin demands after the game in Geneva: “We have to get the luck back on our side.”
“There were also some actions that went against us today, luck wasn’t on our side,” Yakin told Swiss television. He was referring, for example, to the 1:1 from Becir Omeragic (7th) that was not awarded due to a handball by Remo Freuler (“can be given”) or the penalty that was not whistled shortly before the break after a similar hand from Lamine Yamal. However, Yakin made it clear: “We have to fight for our luck.”
Yakin also put it down to the Spaniards that the Swiss were unable to build on the very good phase at the end of the first half, which was rewarded with the 1-2 through Zeki Amdouni (41′), after the break. “They adjusted to us. Then we couldn’t get through, we lacked the decisive interface passes. We lost patience in the second half. We certainly lacked experience on the pitch today and one or two players didn’t have the same rhythm as before the European Championship.”
Mistakes in the defense
In addition to the withdrawn Fabian Schär and Xherdan Shaqiri, Yakin had to do without the suspended Granit Xhaka and Nico Elvedi as well as Silvan Widmer, who was ruled out shortly before the game. The speed of the injured Dan Ndoye was also missing.
The absences were a factor for Manuel Akanji, who wore the captain’s armband in place of Xhaka, “but everyone can communicate. You have to talk to each other on the pitch, that was missing today. There were mistakes in communication, we didn’t look exactly where the opponent was,” criticized the Manchester City defender. Freuler added: “We have to work much better in the defensive phase. We can’t concede four goals in one game.”
Although the Swiss are on zero points and a goal difference of 1:6 in Group 4 of League A after two games, Akanji also saw positives: “We showed good approaches, I think things are going well.” But of course, they need to pick up six points in the two games in October. On October 12, the Swiss face Serbia away from home, followed by Denmark in St. Gallen three days later. The closing words belong to Murat Yakin: “We will come back stronger.”
More on the Nati performance against Spain
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