Moskal: You must have a lot of desire for revenge

Wisła will finish the week in Pruszków, where they will play Znicz in the third round of the Betclic 1 League. Before the first whistle, coach Kazimierz Moskal met with journalists via video conference.

Squad situation before #ZNISWIS - the following will not play on Sunday:
- Kacper Duda, Dawid Szot, Igor Łasicki, Bartosz Talar, Jakub Stępak, Jesus Alfaro, Enis Fazlagić, Joseph Colley and Igor Sapała.

"We don't just have a problem in defense. We also have a problem—I don't know if it's even bigger—in midfield. Of course, we'll have to tweak this formation a bit. There are players who are training and waiting for their chance, and they'll have to shoulder their responsibilities in this match," the coach began.

With the absences of Joseph Colley and Igor Łapicki, the coach is facing a headache over his central defense. "The central defender position is definitely very important in any team. It's better to have an experienced defender, I won't deny it. Everyone trains to play. We'll see how it goes, but overall, I think that when it comes to that position, even taking our problems a bit further, I'd rather see someone more experienced," he said, adding: "From what we have, they're youngsters fighting for places in midfield."

White Star conceded five goals in the first half against Rapid. Why such poor form? "To be honest, after watching the first half of this match, three things stand out to me personally. First, we didn't start the match the way we wanted. We were supposed to start aggressively, but we weren't aggressive in our forward formations. That's why we had problems at the back later on. Second, even in those moments when we were able to win the ball, we looked poor in footballing terms. We weren't able to use it. The third conclusion, which is connected to this, is that after the goal for 1-0, it didn't look that bad. Between the first and second goals, if we had performed better in footballing terms, had used our skills, we had a chance to create at least three dangerous chances. However, because we lacked this, even when we were in a favorable situation, we weren't able to capitalize on them. We couldn't pass accurately. We couldn't take advantage of our chances to threaten Rapid, and between the first and second goals, Rapid's players also cleared the ball out in front of them several times. We could have collected it and created our own moves. I think that were the main reasons. Sure, it's not often you concede five goals by half-time, but that second goal really caused us to completely lose our ability on the pitch in the first half," he explained.

After the heavy defeat in Vienna, the coach needs to work on the team's mental health. "I think, above all, it's a matter of rehabilitation. If you're an athlete, if you're a player at a big club like Wisła, and you lose a match like that, your ambition must be dented, and you must have a strong desire for revenge, to rebuild your position or the position of the team, the club. I think this is the best opportunity – another match. We can say here that two days have passed, we've forgotten, we've said what we were supposed to say about the match, but all of this has to happen on the pitch, not in the conference room," he emphasized.

Moving on to Sunday's opponent, what do you think are Znicz's greatest strengths? "Defense. They're solid defensively and play direct football. There aren't any great combinations or solutions, just a strong and tight defense and either a counterattack or a set piece. These are definitely Znicz's strengths. Of course, this match could go differently, and it could turn out they're playing fantastic football, but that's probably their style of play," he analyzed.

Will a central defender be added to the list of reinforcements? "From what we see, yes, from my perspective. Colley is sidelined for at least a few months. We have a problem with Igor Łasicki. He can't return to normal training, and it's unclear where that's headed. That leaves us with three healthy central defenders, of whom Skrobański is a young, inexperienced player who hasn't played much lately. And as we said at the beginning, this is a key position. We also have to look at the club's overall situation. Theoretically, we have a lot of these players, but more and more are injured. Some reinforcements would definitely be useful," he said.

On Saturday, Mateusz Młyński played in the reserve team's match. When asked if the midfielder had been moved to the reserves, the coach replied: "No, Mateusz wasn't moved to the reserves. There was a situation that arose from his poisoning and poor health. This caused him to stay in Krakow. Secondly, two new wingers, Kiss and Duarte, were reported, so we didn't have a real need to bring him here because we have players for those positions and there's competition. We decided he would stay in Krakow, play a match for the second team, and then continue training with us after we returned."