Rudé: I will believe that we can end this season on a positive note

The final round of the FORTUNA 1 League regular season is scheduled for Sunday, May 26th. All matches in the series, including #WISBBT, will begin at 3:00 PM. Before the match, journalists met with coach Albert Rudé.

Medical report before Sunday's match:
- Bartosz Talar - is rehabilitating after surgery;
- Igor Łasicki - suffered a meniscus injury and is already after surgery;
- Dawid Szot - has a problem with his lower back and is undergoing rehabilitation;
- Bartosz Jaroch - trains individually;
- Patryk Gogół, who has knee problems, trains individually.

Kacper Duda and Eneko Satrustegui will also miss the game due to yellow cards.

Wisła Kraków's problems begin with their defense, due to absences due to injuries and suspensions. "I can confirm that some players from the second team trained with us all week so that we're ready if we have to rely on them. Just like last week, we'll try to put all the pieces together in the defense as best as we can," he began. Kuba Wiśniewskie also trained with the team, alongside other reserve players. When asked if he would be included in the matchday squad, the coach replied: "We need to carefully assess the situation with the second team players. We're counting on them, but we have to make a decision at the right time."

Kacper Duda will be unavailable due to yellow cards, as will Patryk Gogół, who could replace him. How to manage the second line? "Unfortunately, Gogół is struggling with a knee problem and has been like this practically since preseason. Unfortunately, we're not sure if we'll be able to use him on Sunday. In such a situation, we have two options prepared with young players: Mariusz Kutwa and Karol Dziedzic. And the second solution is experienced players: Vullnet Basha and Igor Sapała," he explained.

Bruk-Bet Termalica is sitting in a safe 14th place. What kind of opponent does the R22 manager expect? "First and foremost, I want to say that it's clear the coach clearly knows how he wants to play, how he wants to instill his ideas in the team. This is a coach who has already won promotion to the Ekstraklasa, so he knows exactly what to do in this league. This is a team that tries to kill time without the ball. With the ball, they are very vertical, attacking with a large number of players. In the last match, they scored a lot of goals, so they proved they are an offensive team. We know this will be another challenge for us. Everyone knows this is the most important match of the season," he noted.

Another question asked concerned Wisła's performance in the spring round and the poor performance of individual players. "Now is the time to focus on winning the next match. We have to do our job. We believe in our chances, we believe we can do it. It's possible, but we have to focus on what we have to do, not on the scenarios in other matches. We can extend this season by another week. Believing in this will be key for us, and only after the season ends will there be time for reflection and evaluation," he replied.

The end of the season is fast approaching. Has the coach already understood the future and discussed it with the club's president? "I can't really answer that question at this point. I'm focusing all my energy on winning the match on Sunday. What we want to achieve is possible. Only after the season ends will there be a full week to calmly talk to the president, evaluate everything, and make the best decision for the club. Not for me personally, not for my personal interests, but for the club," he emphasized. Winning the Polish Cup earned the team from Wawel the opportunity to compete in European competitions. Could this be the factor that will keep the coach in Krakow? "It's certainly positive to win the Polish Cup, our first trophy here in thirteen years. The prospect of playing in European competitions is fantastic for the club, very exciting, but as you know, the primary goal of this project is promotion to the Ekstraklasa. I won't give up, I will believe that we can end this season on a positive note. I will believe in it just as I did in the 99th minute of the Polish Cup final," he recalled.

The coaching staff has had several discussions with the team about responsibility on the pitch, but mistakes continue to be made, and they were unavoidable in Katowice, forcing the Kraków team to play with ten men again. "Of course, we've spoken with the team and tried to make the players aware of how important it is to play with eleven men. What I can say is that we have to be more responsible and demand more responsibility from the players. We have to improve on this. I believe we won't have to play with ten men in the third match," he continued. "There's absolutely no doubt that we have to improve if we have to play with ten men. I watched the Lechia match, and in my personal opinion, it's the same as when they were promoted. The reason they won with ten men is exactly the same as the reason they won promotion two weeks before the end of the season," he added.

The future of the White Star depends not only on this match, but also on results at other stadiums. Do the coaches intend to monitor the results of the remaining matches from the Wisła bench? "We will be 100% focused on our match, on winning it. This is the fundamental condition we must meet. Only after our match is over will we review all other results. We must accept this and take responsibility for all of it," he emphasized.

Dawid Szot is also among the injured. Will he be fit for Sunday's match? "Honestly, I'm not optimistic about his ability to play on Sunday. He's in the rehabilitation process, and we'll have to evaluate it all on an ongoing basis," he explained.

"I think the mental, psychological side is just as important as technique and tactics. I can say that the work we put in, step by step, was one of the fundamental factors that helped us win the Polish Cup and influenced the way we did it. However, it's true that in the league, it's quite the opposite. We weren't able to achieve direct promotion, and now we're fighting for the play-offs. We have to do everything to reach the level we achieved in the cup competitions," he replied when asked about the role of psychology in football. "The team was sad, the team struggled with what happened in the last match, but above all, we were angry about how it all turned out. We used all the factors to help the team win the next match. I can say that the locker room is very united and believes we can achieve our goal," he added.