GIORGIO CONTINI expects to see the REAL Scotland against Switzerland on Wednesday night.
That’s despite the 5-1 drubbing Steve Clarke‘s men took in Munich, and their Group A rivals’ impressive dismantling of Hungary less than 24 hours later.
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Experienced coach and ex-St Gallen, Lausanne-Sport and Grasshopper boss Contini is adamant they are taking nothing for granted against backs-to-the-wall Scotland, though.
He knows Clarke and his staff will be hurting in the wake of Friday night, looking for answers, and he expects the manager to find them.
Murat Yakin’s right-hand man told me: “We will analyse what the Scotland team did against Germany and why.
“But we will also analyse the friendly games from Scotland before to see what will be the key against them.
“We are sure there will be a reaction from the Scots, we are expecting a GREAT reaction.
“And we do have full respect for that team even if it was very hard against Germany in Munich.
“I don’t know if it will be the same team for us against Scotland on Wednesday. We have to analyse things to find the right balance.
“The game against Hungary was like a puzzle. We had to prepare the players for certain roles, it was about everything fitting into place.
“And that is what we saw. It was a great victory and we are very proud.
“But it is only one win. We have to go forward and be careful because Scotland will react.
“It is difficult to explain because I’m not the coach of the Scottish team. But for sure the game against Germany was tough.
“Unfortunately, it was the Germans at home, and it was very inspiring for them.
“We are on our way now, and I don’t think we need to bother too much about the Scotland coach.
“But probably he will have the right keys. The performance against Germany is not what he expected.
“As a coach, you have to change the focus. You have to be positive, you have to give new inputs, you have to change something.
“You as the coach, you are the driver of the car, you have to find the solutions.
“You are disappointed after you lose the game. But you have to change your mindset and push on.”
The Swiss were superb for most of their 3-1 victory over Hungary, from Inter Milan‘s Yann Sommer in goal through classy stopper Manuel Akanji, to inspirational skipper Granit Xhaka and electric frontman Kwadwo Duah.
That was despite a real issue at their training base on the outskirts of Stuttgart in the days leading up to their Saturday opener with a pitch that’s dying.
Swiss FA chiefs relayed the deep concerns of boss Yakin and his squad to Uefa bigwigs over the playing surface they had inherited to prepare for Group A action.
The governing body, immediately accepting the situation wasn’t good enough, has bent over backwards to improve matters for them.
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Switzerland can effectively qualify for the knockout stages with victory over Scotland, and also kill off our hopes.
Contini, 50, added: “For sure we want the three points.
“But we respect the opponent every time and we have to prepare for this game as best as possible.”
Toulouse midfielder Vincent Sierro, a late sub on Saturday, said: “It was a really good start for us, but that is all it is.
“We have more to do. We want to achieve more, and we have to continue the way we did against Hungary.
“All the group is together. You can see that with the reaction to our goals, especially when Breel Embolo scored the third.
“There is a really good team spirit. It was a good game for the self-confidence for everybody. We did a really good first half against Hungary with our pressing, with the ball and without it.
“We were really satisfied with our first half. In the second half we knew that Hungary were going to react and try to have more chances. They put a lot of crosses into our box.
“But at the end we really deserved the win and we are happy about this.
“However, we can still improve things and we will work on this.”
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Steve Clarke and No 2 John Carver will have noted how the Swiss wobbled, after Hungary made it 2-1 through Barnabas Varga midway through the second half, and piled on the pressure.
It took until injury-time before sub Embolo of Monaco netted a killer third.
Sierro, like Contini, believes Scotland will respond strongly to their Friday night humbling at the hands of the Germans.
He added: “I believe it is a really important game for both teams.
“Scotland didn’t have the game they wanted against Germany, and they will be looking to respond on Wednesday.
“We will be very focused and we will analyse them. We know for sure they are not going to give us anything.
“We know the spirit of the Scotland players, how they want to play for their country, how they fight for every ball.
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“We know it’s going to be a tough game but we want to focus on our game and our strengths.”
Asked if the pressure was on the Scots for a result, Sierro responded: “It’s on them. We only focus on ourselves.”
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