The 6-1 swatter against Portugal in the World Cup round of 16 triggered a lot of frustration in the Swiss national team - and a discussion about the tactics of coach Murat Yakin.

"We changed our plan and unfortunately it didn't work out," said former Bayern professional Xherdan Shaqiri after the Confederates' third knockout round in a World Cup in a row.

However, no Swiss player would have reached normal level.

“The coach is the coach.

He makes the tactics.

And we lost.

What can I say?

6:1

That says it all," said former Frankfurt player Haris Seferovic, who also made "far too many mistakes" in his own team's game.

Eintracht professional Djibril Sow said it was a disadvantage because "you don't feel so safe".

Yakin initially deployed a back three instead of the usual back four after Mainz full-back Silvan Widmer was out due to a cold.

Both the coach and his players were asked several times about the system change after the game.

"It wasn't the system, it was the readiness.

We never had access to the game," Yakin said.

The cases of illness that the team had to deal with in the past few days might have cost them strength.

Xhaka contradicts his colleagues

"We didn't lose the game because of the system," emphasized captain Granit Xhaka.

Not running defensively and only wanting something offensively "can't be done at this level," said the former Gladbacher, who seemed extremely irritated.

The national coach of the Confederates “gambled high in the most important game of his career – and lost”, meanwhile judged the “Blick”.

At the beginning of the "debacle" against Portugal (1: 6), wrote the Tagesanzeiger, there was "the line-up of the coach".

Yakin had "gambled away", analyzed the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Criticism had already arisen when the squad was announced, as the national coach had only nominated two trained full-backs.

Will the result weaken Yakin's position and possibly even jeopardize his position as national coach?

"No, not at all," said the director of the Swiss national team, Pierluigi Tami, after the game at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday evening.

“Of course we will analyze this in detail.

But I have already recognized that there is life in the team.”

The coach himself was more reserved: When asked about his future, Yakin, whose contract runs until 2024, answered evasively.

"I'm at a loss for clear words.

You have to get through something like that as a team and then draw the right conclusions,” he said.

Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer (33) has not yet made a decision about his future either: "Now I will need a few days to process everything.

Then we'll see."