McStay’s Champions League challenge

Ujpest Dozsa face their toughest domestic challenge of the season tonight when they travel to Debrecen.

Manager Willie McStay is looking forward to testing his side against Hungary’s Champions League entrants knowing that a win will put his side into joint top place in the league alongside Videoton.

The game has been brought forward to tonight to give Debrecen extra preparation time for their trip to Italy to face Fiorentina with the first match between the two sides ending in a 4-2 defeat for Debrecen.

“Every game in this league presents a challenge but we’re really looking forward to playing Debrecen,” said McStay. “I know that my players thrive on the big occasion and that’s exactly what this game will be.

OPPORTUNITY
“We’ve prepared well for the match and have a good idea of what to expect from Debrecen, they are a team that likes to score goals and that gives us the opportunity to attack them.
“Debrecen play with a lot of passion as they showed against Fiorentina, we’ll have to match that and have the players to do that.
“It’s great for Hungary to have a team in the Champions League and so far they have been a credit to themselves and the league.
“They played well but lost 1-0 at Liverpool then lost a few bad goals to set pieces at home to Lyon then gave Fiorentina a great game.
“They’ve had a go and expressed themselves which is good to see, they haven’t set out to frustrate teams and have shown that they can play a bit themselves.
“This is an important game for us in the league, there are a few teams at a similar level to ourselves and we want to stay up there in contention.

SILVERWARE
“It’s eleven years since Ujpest won any silverware and that’s what is driving myself and Joe McBride on. Winning something in our first season would be an amazing feeling.
“We’ve got a run of tough games coming up before the winter break starts on November 21. Hopefully we’ll still be up there in the top three and in contention when the season resumes in February.”
McStay has been on a fantastic learning experience since making the switch from Celtic to Ujpest.
A week of frantic dvd viewing was all the preparation that he had for the job before being pitched into pre-season training for a league that he had never experienced.
With Joe McBride appointed as his assistant they went about the task of imposing their own ideas on the game onto a group of players who were equally in the dark about the new management team at their club.

LANGUAGE
Every season new managers takeover at clubs but the challenge of a new country and a new language added to the task facing McStay.
He admitted: “Every manager has to gain the respect of the dressing room, when you don’t speak the same language gaining respect is even more important.
“There wasn’t any time to adapt, myself and Joe knew the job that we had to do and made quick judgements on the players that we had and what they were capable of.
“We had to work with the players that we inherited, my biggest decision was to retain Peter Kabat.
“From the first dvd’s that I watched I knew that he would be central to our plans, he’s our number 10 and brings things together in the team.

CAPTAIN
“There was an offer for him from Debrecen but I told the directors that he had to stay with Ujpest and I made him our captain.
“That was important for the team, he’s respected by his team-mates and has been magnificent for us.
“We’ve put a lot of work and effort into training and it was important to increase the tempo that we play at, we’ve been rewarded by that with a few late goals that have been important.
“The players have been used to doing things their way, we’re doing things differently and trying to keep the best parts of the Hungarian game and add it to our own ideas and the methods that I used at Celtic.
“You can’t raise players fitness overnight, we’ve worked on it gradually and the players are feeling the benefits in their performances and results.
“It can get quite intensive but we work with the players on the training ground then show them dvd’s of what they are doing, good and bad, and back that up with some visual presentations.
“That’s not easy to do and I’ve had to become a video editor to help get things through to the players.
“Working on the training ground is just one aspect, showing them examples and explaining yourself is just as important and helps their understanding.
“I’ve had to become very demonstrative to get my ideas through because of the language issue but the players seem to be responding to the work that we are putting in with them.”
The game against Debrecen tonight will certainly have an important bearing on Ujpest’s season but McStay knows his squad well enough that tonight’s match won’t be an eye-opener.

JUDGEMENTS
After a decade working behind the scenes at Celtic with youth and reserve team players he is enjoying the challenge of being back in the firing line with judgements being made about him and his team on a weekly basis.
While the Scottish games stagnates and comes in for increasing criticism at the lack of quality and competition Hungarian football seems to be reviving after 20 years or more in the wilderness.
Budapest alone supports five First Division teams with half a dozen clubs having ambitions on the championship and the benefits of the Champions League.
Ujpest have waited a long time for success with McStay cautious about predicting how the season will unfold.

SCHEDULE
The former
Celtic boss said: “We’ve got a hard schedule of games against the top teams coming up before the winter break at the end of this month.
“We’ve started the season well and are looking to be in the top three when the season resumes in February, doing that and still being involved in the cup is our immediate ambition.
“The Debrecen game will be a great test but I wouldn’t say that they are a role model for others to copy.
“They have invested in a new stadium and training complex as well as players thanks to the Champions League money.
“That shows what can be done with success. The other challengers in Hungary want to get the championship and then get into the Champions League.
“If Debrecen win the league again and qualify for the Champions League it will put them into a very strong position.

AMBITIONS
“We want to achieve success and obviously seeing Debrecen in the Champions League gives every other club ambitions.
“This season we played Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League and I learned a lot from that. The players were bold, gave it a go and took a lot out of the matches despite losing.
“They saw what they could achieve and have carried that into the domestic season, hopefully we can build on that and bring the club some silverware this term.”
Ujpest are expecting to visit Scotland for a week during their winter break as well as going to a training camp in Austria.
UJPEST website
HUNGARIAN league table