#ARKWIS: Coaching two-parter

Following Friday's match in the 23rd round of the FORTUNA 1 League, coaches Albert Rude and Wojciech Łodziński met with journalists. We invite you to a recap of the Arka vs. Wisła (1-1) clash.

Albert Rudé - Wisla Kraków

"Very simple, we didn't get there in the first half. We didn't compete properly against Arka. In the second half, we played what we wanted and got a point," he began. "In my opinion, it was about the competition, not the tactics. We lost duels in defense and attack, we lost second balls. Our plan worked insofar as we tried to play as we planned, but because we lost duels, the ball kept coming back to our half. In the second half, we got back on track and took on Arka," he added.

When asked what the Kraków team's plan was to stop Arka's attack, the coach replied: "Our plan was to press high and as high as possible. We wanted to prevent long passes from being played into our half. If we look at the entire match, we'll see that the pressing worked, but we had trouble collecting second balls. The thing is, if you collect second balls, you attack. If you lose them, they attack you, and that was our problem in the first half. In the second half, things were much better."

The White Star coach was also asked about the match referee. How did he assess his work? "I don't want to talk about the referee, because their job is very difficult. The same goes for the VAR referee. I respect everyone. I focus on my team, for example, competing for second balls," he noted.

The Gdynia goal came after Dawid Szot made a mistake, losing the ball near midfield. "When you concede a goal, someone always has to make a mistake. You have to deal with it and move on, get back into the game and back into the competition," he replied curtly.

According to one media representative, Szymon Sobczak provoked Arka fans after scoring the goal. "I'm afraid I didn't see his behavior after the goal, so I can't say anything. However, our primary concern is respect for everyone, and if something was wrong, I will bring it to his attention," he assured.

We witnessed two different halves in Gdynia on Friday. What did the coach tell his players during halftime? "Believe me, we didn't talk about tactics at all during the break. We talked more about attitude, about getting back into the game," he concluded.

Wojciech Łobodziński – Arka Gdynia

"Looking at how the match unfolded, you might be disappointed with the points, as we were in the lead and had a chance to score a second goal. However, Wisła dominated us in some areas in the second half, and this result seems fair. The first half was as we planned, so I was a little worried about the second half, whether we would have enough power to press the goalkeeper, because that's what we wanted, to press the goalkeeper hard after every pass to him. And we succeeded very well in the first half, because we played aggressively. Very high. You also have to remember that in the second half, Wisła's changes gave them a lot of quality. We had some problems, and from the perspective of this match, we respect this point against a very strong opponent. And we're moving on," he began. "I don't know if it had a huge impact, but our defensive stabilization after Przemek Stolec's substitution definitely played a role in the goal we conceded. I haven't had a chance to watch it properly yet, but I have some conclusions. That one crucial mistake could have been the deciding factor. We sacrificed a lot in the first half to dominate this match, and we did. Rarely does Wisła dominate as much as we did in the first half. It's just a shame we didn't score a second goal, because we probably could have closed the match out, and yes... Wisła, we said this before the match, has a lot of quality. And not just in the starting eleven, but also on the bench. That's why I think the result was fair," he added.