Beware of surprise Pak-ages, says ex-Hearts boss Laszlo

Published Date: 26 July 2011
By BARRY ANDERSON
IN searing hot Budapest, Csaba Laszlo ducks into a coffee house to escape the sun and indulge in his favourite pastime: talking football. He is contemplating the arrival of former club Hearts in the Hungarian capital and warns of the intense heat which will supplement the relatively unknown dangers posed by Paksi SE.
Temperatures in Székesfehérvár, the town around 40 miles south of Budapest where Paksi will host Hearts in the Europa League's third qualifying round on Thursday, will be comparable to those in Zagreb two years ago when Laszlo's Hearts team wilted in a 4-0 defeat to Dinamo. Thirty degrees or more is expected, although a few things may conspire in favour of the Edinburgh club in Hungary where they did not in Croatia. The match will take place in the 14,300-capacity Sóstói Stadium, home to FC Videoton. Paksi's own ground, a further 30 miles away, holds less than 5000 people and has been deemed insufficient for European football by UEFA. Playing a home match at a neutral venue is something most clubs would wish to avoid, although Paksi used Videoton's ground for the home legs of their first and second round Europa League qualifiers and managed a 5-0 win (against Santa Coloma of Andorra) and a 1-1 draw (against Tromso).

Ironically, however, they did crash to a 4-0 defeat away to Videoton in the league on Sunday after having a man sent off in the 35th minute. Laszlo acknowledged that their modest fan base of 1500-2000 supporters is unlikely to replicate anything like the hostility of Zagreb. For that reason, he feels Hearts can be reasonably confident heading to the banks of the Danube River.

"The minus for Paksi is playing at Vieoton's stadium. This is not their home stadium. Also, their crowd is not big. In the league they have 1500 or 2000 supporters in the stadium. This can be an advantage for Hearts," he told the Evening News. "I think Paksi have a 50-50 chance against Hearts. Paksi have a slight advantage because they have already played six games this season - two in the league and four Europa League qualifying matches. The team is in good form and this is a big plus for them. Here in Hungary it is very hot. It can be extremely warm, even at night, 30 or 35 Celsius. This will be very difficult for a Scottish team. I remember how difficult it was for us in Zagreb with that heat.

"I know Hearts have lost a lot of quality over the last couple of years. (Ismael] Bouzid has gone, Ruben (Palazuelos] has gone, Lee Wallace too.

"If I think about the Europa League game against Dinamo Zagreb, we had a lot of international players in the team. We had the quality and we still lost. Hearts have only just started in the league so you don't know if the integration of the new players will be slower. Will the quality of the old players be compensated for? All these questions are open and for this reason maybe it will be difficult

"Hearts must be careful. If they lose in Hungary, don't lose too heavily. You don't want to lose 4-0 like we lost to Dinamo Zagreb. But it is not possible to play for 0-0, you must try to score. The away goal is always very important. Jim Jefferies will talk to the players and I think they will try to be open and score goals."

Hearts' biggest advantage could lie in the second leg at Tynecastle next week, for Laszlo believes Paksi will be intimidated by a raucous home crowd. "At Tynecastle, everything is possible and this is the plus for Hearts," he continued. "It will be very difficult for Paksi to play in Edinburgh with all the supporters there. Tynecastle is a very special place and the fans can help Hearts there. If you play on a small pitch like that and you press your opponents, you can beat every team."

Ask Laszlo about any team in his homeland and he can talk for 15 or 20 minutes uninterrupted. He knows practically all their players, coaches, backroom staff, stadiums, history. You suspect he's even on first-name terms with the groundsmen. Paksi is no different. Even though he has not worked in Hungarian football for over five years, he still possesses a detailed dossier on the club and has watched with interest over the last 12 months as they rose from obscurity to finish second in the league. His admiration for the work of the Paksi coach, Karoly Kis, is fulsome. Kis has operated on a shoestring budget to facilitate European competition for the first time in his club's history. However, Laszlo detects a potential flaw in his tactical make-up. "The coach always plays 4-2-3-1. He never changes his tactics," he said. "It is indifferent what happens, what the result is, he always plays 4-2-3-1. This is very interesting. He has the players for this system and they do very well. There is no reason to change if you are second in the league and you are still in Europe. Paksi score a lot of goals because their four attacking players change position all the time during a game.

"Their attacking play is very dangerous. In defence they have big experience but they are a little bit slow. The coach is a young guy who was the assistant coach before and was promoted. He did a very good job last year. When he took over the team they were already relegated but he brought them back up and surprised everybody by finishing second. He changed nothing, nobody left the team and there were no new players.

It was the same team. Paksi is a very small team but actually they are very stable. They don't have any stars, they have brought through a lot of players from the lower leagues here in Hungary. They have always been fighting relegation but last season they reached second position. This was a big surprise."

Equally unpredictable was their elimination of Norway's Tromso in the previous round on a 4-1 aggregate scoreline. After drawing 1-1 in Hungary, Paksi secured a comfortable 3-0 victory in northern Norway. "I was very, very surprised that they scored three goals in Tromso," admitted Laszlo. "Everyone here was surprised because Tromso were big favourites. But in football the favourites do not always win, especially over two legs. I think it is nice to have a big surprise every season. All three other Hungarian teams are out of Europe already - Videoton, Ferencvaros and Kecskeméti. The only team we have left in European football is Paksi."

Midfielder Daniel Bode is identified by Laszlo as Paksi's most influential player. So much so that Laszlo attempted to lure him to Charleroi during his eight-month tenure at the Belgian club last season. "Bode is a player I was always interested in. He can play in another league outside Hungary because he has the potential. In the last year he has really emerged into a good player. Many old players whose careers were finished at other clubs when they were over 35, they would go to Paksi. Eger Laszlo, the central defender, is the head of the team in defence. [Norbert] Csernyánszki, the goalkeeper, is very good and very experienced. He was told his career was finished but then he went to Paksi and has been in excellent form. Bartha Laszlo is an attacking player I discovered at Ferencvaros. He was not ready to play at that level so he went to play in the third division and then joined Paksi and did very well. He can cause some problems."

In total there are three Laszlo surnames in the Paksi squad, none of them related to the former Hearts manager. The name Paksi SE won't be familiar to anyone travelling from Scotland, but Hearts will rightly be wary of the unknown as they touch down in Budapest.

Taken from the Scotsman