Rudé: The match against Arka will be a huge test for us

The 23rd round of the FORTUNA 1 League is upon us, and with it the Arka vs. Wisła match. On Friday at 8:30 PM, the White Star will face the leaders, the Yellow-Blue, in Gdynia.

Medical report update:
- Kamil Broda and Miki Villar - started individual training on the pitch, the loads will be systematically increased;
- Vullnet Basha, David Junca, Igor Sapała, Bartosz Talar and Patryk Gogół are in the process of rehabilitation.

The debate over the Widzew match is still ongoing. How will the coach address the issue of a possible replay, and how are the players approaching the matter? "I have to say, we don't even discuss this in the locker room. Because the referees' job with VAR is difficult, we don't need to put extra pressure on them. If, after every match, every team disagrees with the decisions of the VAR or the referees, we'll have about 90 percent of matches replayed. This business is about winning or losing. We have to move on," he said.

What kind of match can we expect on Friday in Gdynia? "We honestly expect a very difficult match. We know Arka is one of the strongest teams offensively in this league. They have a lot of quality up front, players who can make the difference. This is a clash between two teams with a very attacking mindset. To win, we have to attack better than them," he analyzed. "In every match, we encounter situations that give us room for improvement. In the last match, we faced congestion in front of goal, with low pressure that is not easy to break. Despite this, we had eighteen shots against such a defensive opponent. More than fifty percent of our shots – ten out of eighteen – were blocked. This showed us that we have a lot to improve on to make these situations clearer. Of course, we are working on this," he noted.

Arka Gdynia is the league leader and will be looking to maintain its position. Asked about their opponent's strengths, the coach replied: "As I said, Arka are very strong in attack. They have a lot of quality, they score a lot of goals, they can make a difference. From my perspective, it's a worse idea to defend more strongly to prevent that. I think what we want to do is attack better than them to get the three points."

The points difference between the teams in the table is close. Which of the promotion contenders most appeals to the White Star manager? "The table is very tight here. It's a league like the Championship or Segunda Division. It's not easy, because teams like Wisła have to be at the top. We know we have to be ready for many finals until the very end of the season, and Friday's match will be another one," he replied.

When can we expect Karol Dziedzic and Billy Omrani to be in the matchday squad? "We're pushing them hard all the time, but they need a lot of time to be ready. It will probably happen after the international break," he announced. Journalists were also interested in how Billy performs in training: "Despite all the controversy that accompanied his arrival at the club, he has a lot of quality. Of course, now we need to prepare him physically, show him our game model. Then we will use him."

Last week was intense in terms of matches played. How are the players physically looking ahead to their next match? "That's an interesting question about the workload. We need to pay attention to it, look at it from a distance. After the 120-minute match against Widzew and then the one against Odra, last week was a bit easier for the players, but we had to prepare in such a way that we were 100 percent ready for Friday's match," he said.

"Generally speaking, you always have to use the information you have about your opponent. For example, if we know we're going to play a team that defends low, we need to pay more attention to our positional attack. If you're playing a team that attacks very well, we need to focus more on defense. In every match, as I said, we have something to improve, something to develop, and of course, the match against Arka will be a huge test for us," he said.

The meeting with the coach was also an opportunity to inquire about the team's mood after the draw for the Polish Cup semifinal. "I won't lie, it's very exciting for us, but we have to be sensible. We have to hold our excitement until the semifinal arrives. At this point, we have to be 100% focused on Arka," he urged. After their first matches in the First League and their brush with the Ekstraklasa, does the coach still believe that Kraków plays better against teams from the top division? "I answered this question a few weeks ago. I think it's possible. Teams in the Ekstraklasa and the First League play differently. Perhaps our players' profiles are more suited to the Ekstraklasa, but the reality is that we don't play in the Ekstraklasa. Therefore, we have to be able to win in every league, and we have to prove, match after match, that we are better than our opponents to achieve our goal. We are focused on being better every week, in every match. We work for this every day," he argued.

Albert Rudé was also asked to assess the team's progress. "That's an interesting question about the team-building process. There are always two sides. There's competition, and there's building a game model. A game model needs time because you need to learn from your mistakes. You need to face different situations head-on. It's a process. But you need to score points. That's why you need competition. We can't say we're focusing on our game model now and need time because we won't be scoring points. We need to put it all together. We need to compete, score points, and try to integrate with our game model. I hope that in the final part of the season, we might be very close to what we want to achieve," he continued. "I have to learn faster, adapt faster to the conditions I've found here. Of course, when you come here, you gather information about how it all works, but you really have to experience it for yourself. For example, in the match against Tychy, we suffered from three, four, or five counterattacks, which showed me that we need to improve in this aspect. If you don't have that experience, you won't feel it; it's a completely different feeling. You have to experience it to improve. Of course, I know we don't have time. We have to score points faster, correct our mistakes," he said.

Kamil Broda is slowly transitioning back into individual training. When can we expect his return? "When returning from injury, there are two parts to that return. The first is returning to training itself, and he's entering that phase. After that, he can move on to the final stage, which is training with the team and competing. Looking at the entire process ahead of him, we hope he'll be ready soon," he said.
The situation in the Polish Cup and the lack of Wisła fans on away matches means that the Kraków team has to cope without support. Asked if the R22 coach doesn't feel like the club from Wawel Castle is constantly facing a growing number of adversities, "I'd like to talk about the atmosphere during the match against Widzew. I was impressed. It's important to understand that fans are very important to us, that they can influence the result. Did Widzew, who came here, have such support from their fans at our stadium? Absolutely. Are our fans going to Arka? Unfortunately not, so we have to be prepared to be alone on the road and adapt to that," he concluded.