Latvia head coach Paolo Nicolato admitted he remains unconvinced that playing with two centre-forwards is the right solution for his side after Monday’s goalless draw against Cyprus at Skonto Stadium, while praising his players for their response to the difficult defeat in Armenia.
Latvia collected their first point of the new UEFA Nations League campaign with a 0-0 draw, with Nicolato changing his approach by starting Roberts Uldriķis alongside Vladislavs Gutkovskis. Despite the additional striker, Latvia struggled to consistently threaten the Cyprus goal, particularly during a first half in which the visitors were comfortably on top.
Nicolato admitted afterwards that the tactical experiment did not necessarily convince him. “I’m not sure, to be honest, I’m not sure this is the best way for my team, but I think about it,” Nicolato said. “I don’t think that the number of opportunities to score a goal depends on the number of strikers.”
The Italian felt that Latvia occasionally sacrificed their overall balance by adding another player to the forward line and used an unusual analogy to explain the problem. “Sometimes it’s like a blanket that is a little bit short. You move the blanket there to cover the head and you have the feet outside,” he explained. “We need to find the right way to stay on the pitch.”
While the performance remained far from perfect, Nicolato was much happier with the mentality shown by his players following the defeat in Yerevan. “It was not easy after the first match to recover the energy mentally, physically,” he said. “I am very happy about the players, their attitude, their commitment. For me, it was an amazing performance in terms of attitude and character.”
Nicolato was then challenged on Latvia’s inability to control the match, particularly during a first half in which Cyprus dominated possession and attempts. Asked whether Latvia need to become significantly better in those areas if they want to compete with teams in our group such as Cyprus, Montenegro and Armenia, Nicolato first responded with a question of his own: “Do you think they are worse than us?”
When it was clarified that the point concerned Latvia’s ambition to beat such opponents rather than whether they were weaker, Nicolato acknowledged the need for improvement but also the importance of recognising the current level of the two sides.
“Theoretically, yes, correct. We need to face our reality in this moment. Yes, this is the situation,” Nicolato said. “I think that these teams are good teams. They have a lot of players also in the middle of the pitch. For example Armenia have a player of €25 million. With €25 million, you can buy all these players.”
Nicolato specifically highlighted Cyprus midfielder Grigoris Kastanos, who has spent much of his career in Italian football, as an example of the individual quality Latvia were facing.
“In the middle, Kastanos is playing in my city [Hellas Verona – auth.]. He’s a very good player. He played in many, many teams, very important teams,” Nicolato continued. “Of course, it’s true that there is always room to improve. I cannot say that we cannot improve. Yes, we can improve 100%.”
The Latvia coach also explained that the unusual four-match international window limits how aggressively his side can press throughout games. With several players not accustomed to such a demanding schedule, Nicolato believes he has to consider not only the current match but the physical consequences for the fixtures that follow.
“You have to consider also the situation that we need to face four matches in a row with players that are not completely fit in terms of international football, I think. Pressing is very demanding physically,” he explained. “So we need to find a balance because if you start very badly and then you are without energy, you concede goals every time, also for the next matches. We need to find a balance with intelligence.”
Nicolato nevertheless agreed that Latvia need to become considerably more comfortable in possession. “I would like to have more of the ball, I totally agree. There are some moments of the games where we can do it, we can do it,” he said.
Interestingly, Nicolato believes playing with two strikers may have encouraged Latvia to become too direct. Rather than patiently progressing possession, the presence of Gutkovskis and Uldriķis gave the players a temptation to reach the attacking line immediately.
“Because of the two strikers, we tried probably mentally to arrive there immediately. For me, it’s not the way I want to play football, to be honest,” Nicolato admitted. “But we need also to consider the quality of the opponent and their pressing. For us, it’s difficult to come out with the ball. We can do better because it’s true, we can do better.”
Another question concerned Latvia’s lack of crosses despite Nicolato having spoken before the game about wanting to provide greater service from wide areas. Starting two natural centre-forwards seemingly increased the need for deliveries into the penalty area, but Nicolato explained that the formation which allowed him to use Gutkovskis and Uldriķis together simultaneously left Latvia short of numbers on the flanks.
“Playing with this shape, you have just one man on the left and one man on the right, so it’s not easy sometimes to achieve the last part of the pitch,” Nicolato said. “Against Cyprus in particular, they are playing with the 4-2-3-1, so they have a numerical advantage on the flank. Yes, it was our plan to arrive more at the end, but we arrived sometimes, not how I would like to arrive. This evening was difficult to do more than this.”
Denniss Cirkins position was also discussed at length. The technically gifted defender again operated in the back line, and Nicolato was asked whether moving him higher could allow Latvia to make greater use of his qualities in possession. The Italian agreed that it is a possibility for the future but said Cirkins lack of match fitness currently makes a deeper role more suitable.
“The last one was the first match this seson where he played 90 minutes. So this is the second. In this position, he spends less energy. For us, he’s very important defensively because he played a lot of time there,” Nicolato explained.
“I agree that he can play everywhere with us, around the centre. In this moment, I think for him and for us it’s better to play there because he doesn’t yet have the energy to play higher. These are the first two matches that he played 90 minutes in a row, so you can imagine the difficulty.”
Nicolato was particularly pleased with how Cirkins handled another full match despite those physical limitations and confirmed that he eventually wants to experiment with the defender in a different role.
“He was very good today, very good, because he managed a situation that is not easy. In the future, I hope we can use him also in another position. I think I will do it,” he said. “But in this moment, I think it’s very important here as a defender, and he doesn’t have the energy to play in another position at this moment.”
Latvia’s build-up from defence was another significant topic. Goalkeeper Rihards Matrevics who has a bit of a weakness playing with his feat had over 40 touches against Cyprus after also being regularly involved in possession against Armenia, but several Latvian attacks followed a similar pattern – a pass back towards the goalkeeper followed by a long ball and an attempt to compete for the second ball.
Nicolato was asked whether Oskars Vientiess, who offers qualities in possession, could have been an alternative in the defensive line under those circumstances. The coach defended his selection, pointing instead towards the performances of Antonijs Černomordijs and Deniss Meļņiks.
“I can understand the consideration, but I think there was no reason to change the players behind because they did well. Černomordijs did well. Meļņiks is improving a lot, in my opinion,” Nicolato said.
He did, however, accept that Latvia need to improve their decision-making when the opportunity to continue building from the back is available.
“It’s true that we need to manage some situations better because when you have the time to play, you have to play, and Matrevics is working on this situation,” Nicolato explained. “Probably under pressure in this moment, as I said to you, mentally you are a little bit under stress. So for him, probably it was easier to put the ball long also when he could play.”
For Nicolato, the psychological state of his players directly influences the technical and tactical decisions they make, which is why he was reluctant to separate the shortcomings in possession from the wider circumstances surrounding the match.
“When you are talking about specific tactical things, technical things, you have to also be aware of your moment because this moment is influencing also your tactical things,” he said. “For me, finding this balance today, they found this balance very well. Yes, we can improve, we know we can improve.”
“But, you know, from my experience, I’ve been coaching for 40 years and I know that this kind of match is very difficult mentally, physically, because we are not prepared for this kind of match. So I think they managed it in the best way.”
Another talking point was Nicolato’s decision to wait until the 78th minute before making his first substitutions. The Latvia coach had previously spoken about the need for rotation during the four-match window, but explained that he had decided against making earlier changes after seeing an improvement immediately following the interval.
“I wanted to make some changes also before. But then I had the feeling after a few minutes of the second half that we had the situation under control,” Nicolato said. “So when I had this feeling, for me, it’s not good to make any change.”
He specifically highlighted an improved performance from Eduards Emsis and a positional adjustment involving Lukass Vapne as two reasons why he decided to leave the team unchanged.
“Emsis was increasing his performance, we changed Vapne’s position in the middle and it was better, so I think the first part of the second half was good in general,” Nicolato explained. “Then, yes, when I saw some players in difficulty, I changed. But at that moment, to be honest, I didn’t find a reason to change. When something is working, in my opinion, I don’t need to try to change.”
Latvia have now completed their opening two Nations League matches without scoring and have managed only one shot on target across 180 minutes. Asked how frustrating those numbers were, Nicolato insisted he does not want his players becoming preoccupied with negative statistics at this stage of the campaign.
“We don’t have to think about it. We don’t have to think about it, in my opinion. We need to think of the positive things in this moment, not the negative things,” he said. “We know that this group is difficult for us. We don’t have to have this kind of way to think, in my opinion. We need to be positive.”
Instead, Nicolato wants to use Latvia’s defensive performances as the foundation from which the team can gradually develop its attacking game.
“The positive thing is that we conceded few goals in two games. Starting from this, we need to build something different,” he continued. “We need to build something different. We have to find a way to have more chances for ourselves.”
Nicolato concluded the press conference with an update on Cirkins availability for the remainder of the international window. The defender had initially been expected to be available only for the opening part of the camp due to an agreement with his club, but the Latvian Football Federation is now discussing the possibility of keeping him for at least one more match.
“We are talking with his club just to find maybe another game for him. I think we are waiting now for the answer,” Nicolato revealed. “I think we have a good chance to have him also in the next match. I hope to have him in the next match.”
Even if an agreement is reached, however, Nicolato warned that Cirkins workload will have to be carefully managed after playing two successive full matches despite arriving in the national team camp short of regular playing time.
“We need to remember what kind of condition he will be in for the next match because usually it’s good for you to play the first match, the second match a little bit, but maybe the third is too much,” Nicolato said. “So we need to protect the player because he’s an important player for us.”
