Scotland head coach Pedro Martinez Losa unhappy with negativity around his team

Scotland head coach Pedro Martinez Losa hit out at a “totally manipulated” and unacceptable narrative around his team following their 1-0 win over Slovakia in the Women’s Euro 2025 qualifiers.

Sophie Howard’s second-half header at Hampden put Scotland on four points in Group B2 as they clinched a first victory in nine competitive matches.

Martinez Losa had accused a written journalist of having an “agenda” when asked about the statistic on the eve of the game and he used his post-match media conference to continue his criticism.

When asked about the performance, the Spaniard said: “Finally we won a competitive game, isn’t it? Not only did we win a competitive game, we had 70-30 possession, we have conceded one goal in the last four games, even though friendlies don’t count for some journalists.

“We are happy – four points is a good return for what we want from qualification. It was a difficult opponent, on the ball especially.

“The team showed a lot of character. I am really proud of my players because they play in a narrative, totally manipulated, that is not acceptable.

“You can feel how the players feel no good – we all need to be on the same page and pushing.

“You can see the players give everything, the level of training is outstanding. We have seven players who can be in the line-up who are not here but even without that we are giving the team character and consistency not to concede goals.”

When pressed on his comments about the narrative, after winning a first competitive match since beating Austria in October 2022, Martinez Losa said: “We have won nine games since that day and lost five, two against the number two in the world and two against the number seven in the world.”

When asked if the players had been affected by the build-up, he said: “Totally, because they feel the negativity around the team. Not from me.”