Jop: Most of all it depends on ourselves

The White Star will conclude the weekend with a match in Płock against Wisła Kraków. This match will take place in the 14th round of the Betclic 1 League, before which, as usual, coach Mariusz Jop met with journalists.

Bartosz Talar, Jakub Stępak, Joseph Colley, Enis Fazlagić, Igor Sapała, and Piotr Starzyński will miss the match against Płock. Alan Uryga and Rafał Mikulec are also sidelined due to yellow cards.

The excess of yellow cards is forcing the coach to make changes to his lineup. So how does he plan to structure his defense for the match against the Oilers? "This is a time for those who have worked hard and waited for their chance. I think I can say that. There's a lot of competition in training, and these are the moments you look forward to, like teammates' absences, and as I said, this is a time for the players who have been waiting for their chance," began coach Mariusz Jop.

When asked if the coach would focus on attacking given the defensive problems, he replied: "We are still focusing on attacking, so nothing changes there."

During the conference, we briefly returned to the match against Górnik Łęczna. What was the reason for the Kraków team's poor performance? "It's hard to say definitively, because sometimes there are individual mistakes or simple turnovers. This was especially noticeable in the first half. Sometimes even the player himself can't explain why; the reasons are varied. Sometimes it's a simple human error, sometimes it's just being careless, and sometimes it's a lack of communication with a teammate or it happens under pressure from the opponent. There are different situations that cause mistakes. We've also had situations where if there are several mistakes in a row, and we're still looking for difficult solutions to build the attack, there's a moment when the team's confidence disappears. And it was difficult for us to get back to the right rhythm, the way of playing that we wanted to present in the first half. This also resulted from the fact that we were looking for solutions that we don't practice. We talked about this a lot after the match, about being patient and trying to present what previously got us points. It's about following the way of playing that we practice, not looking for random solutions. I think this is the path for us as a team. Without No matter what happens, we have to stick to the path we've set. That's how I see it," he continued.

Angel Rodado and Angel Baena have both recently been battling health issues. Are they recovered? "They seem to be in full health," he replied curtly.

The Płock team has only one league defeat to their name. So where should we see their chances? "With all due respect to the opponent, because they're a team that's high in the table, wins, scores a lot of goals, but also concedes a lot. Personally, though, that's not a decisive factor for me, because it was similar in the match against Bruk-Bet Termalica – the league leaders were also coming to us, and that didn't stop us from playing a good game and being effective. Here, too, it's not a decisive factor for me, saying that just because the team is high in the table, we can't compete and play for victory. Although I think the Płock team will be the favorites in this match," he analyzed.

Teams led by coach Mariusz Misiura like to play open football. Does Mariusz Jop see any similarities in Wisła Płock's performances to Znicz Pruszków, which the coach previously managed? "It's a bit like this: a lot depends on what the opponent allows Wisła Płock to do. They're definitely a team that, when they have freedom in their play, can build attacks. You can see patterns in their movement on the pitch, you can see that there are repetitive things. However, all of this happens when they have freedom, because they have quality players who can exploit the spaces that create on the pitch. However, it's always more difficult when the opponent is aggressive. This is a team that doesn't tend to build from the back, when it comes to the five-yard line, but after winning the second ball, they try to build attacks in the opponent's half. I think it depends mostly on us. My approach is that it's up to us to let the Płock team develop its wings," he replied.

Following on from this, the Płock coach is forbidding his players from playing on time. Is coach Mariusz Jop expecting more play on Sunday than was the case in Łęczna? "That will probably depend on the result. However, opponents are definitely quick to restart every set piece, and it's something that's recurring, because that's what happened in Znicz when coach Misiura was in charge, and that's what's happening now in Płock. We'll see, time will tell if it's the same this time," concluded coach Mariusz Jop.