Sunday 4 September 2016 16:30, UK
As England kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign with an away fixture against Slovakia on Sunday, we talk to Slovakian journalist Lukas Vrablik to get the lowdown on the opponents…
What's the mood like in Slovakia? Were people happy with the team's Euro 2016?
Yeah, I think that people are quite satisfied with their performance. They fulfilled their goal - to advance from the group stage. However, they did not play well at all against Germany and there were a lot of opinions that they could have given more on the pitch in that match, but they had four key players out injured and it was very tough for them.
What's changed since the tournament?
A lot of things. In this squad, there are nine changes compared to the Euros. Coach Jan Kozak said many times that generational change is necessary due to a lot of players being in their thirties and this is the beginning.
Moreover, players like Juraj Kucka and Martin Skrtel heavily criticized the FA for their pricing of tickets for the England match at Euro 2016 and Kozak announced that he does not want to work with Miroslav Stoch anymore, because of an unspecified issue in the summer. Hence, it will be very interesting what shape Slovakia are in right now.
Sam Allardyce expects Slovakia to be less defensive. Is this true?
They will want to go more on the attack, but their main formula will be to stay compact at the back. They will want to rely on counter-attacks, for sure. In my opinion, it is questionable what system Kozak will choose.
Against Spain, he played with three defensive midfielders and I think it is quite plausible that he will play with the same system due to injuries to players on the wings and up front.
However, it will not be that ultra-defensive football that they played at Euro 2016 as that was a completely different situation with Kozak wanting to earn a draw each time as he rightly considered it sufficient to get out of the group.
Is there anyone for England to watch out for?
In other circumstances, certainly Ondrej Duda, but he is out injured so it is hard to say. Probably Robert Mak, who is a graduate of Manchester City. He could be the one to watch as there was interest from Serie A clubs in him - AC Milan and Fiorentina - but he transferred to Zenit St Petersburg in the end. The majority of new young players are relatively unknown and I would not say that there is some big rising star among them.
