#STAWIS: Coaching two-parter

Stal Rzeszów and Wisła Kraków met in Rzeszów almost at noon. After a thrilling encounter, the three points went to Kraków, and coaches Albert Rudé and Marek Zub reviewed the match.

Albert Rudé - Wisla Krakow

"In the first half, we were far from our high standards. In the second, we started playing our own game and continued playing like that until the very end. I said this recently – the most important thing is attitude and fighting until the very end. We did that today, and thanks to that, we also got the three points," began coach Albert Rudé. "I agree that we were a bit short in the penalty area today. We struggled in the first half. In situations like that, it's difficult to have an advantage in the penalty area. At halftime, we showed the team where we were struggling and how to address it. They are high-quality players and know how to implement this. In the second half, we played very well, had chances, and were aggressive with the ball at our feet. That's what we expect from the team," he added.

When asked why Ángel Baena was not in the squad, the coach replied: "Ángel Baena is experiencing some muscular discomfort, and we decided to let him rest. His health is paramount. We try to be fair to the entire squad; if someone isn't 100% ready, another player is brought in. That's why he wasn't included in the matchday squad." Kacper Duda left the field prematurely due to a clash with an opponent: "Kacper Duda is fine. He was hit in the back of the head and was feeling dizzy. We were concerned about his health and decided to make a change. Mariusz Kutwa came on; that's his usual position. We expect courage from our players, and Mariusz did a fantastic job," the coach said.

Do you think Wisła's manager would benefit mentally from winning in such circumstances? "We're going to make mistakes. When you play attacking, you make mistakes. The most important thing is what you do with the mistakes. You either give up or you keep playing. We kept playing today. At the end of the game, a penalty was awarded against us. What can we do about it? We kept our heads cool. Football gave Stal a chance, Stal didn't take advantage of it, football gave us a chance, we succeeded. It's a mental attitude. It's not a game plan, it's a mentality. We want to maintain that in the team no matter what. Sometimes we might stumble, but mentality is something that's not up for debate," he noted.
During the break, the coach met with the entire team in the locker room to give them some advice about the match: "The entire team returned to the locker room at halftime, because the substitutes also need to know what we expect from the team and what changes we want to make. The substitutes gave us a lot today, and it was very important for the entire team," he announced. "I don't think we couldn't handle the pressure in the first half. We had trouble maintaining space. We were a second late in pressing. Stal is a good team; they're young, brave, and they play fast football. Whenever they're late, Stal is able to create a play. At halftime, we told ourselves we had to be more aggressive in the second half. That's exactly what we did," he continued.

"Achieving our goal won't be an easy task. Every match will be like a final for us. Whether it's home or away, we'll have problems. We know that. Our expectations are high, but we'll improve with each match. Today we didn't show our best performance, I'm aware of that. However, I'm happy with the result, because it's important for the locker room. The team had a difficult preseason, worked very hard, and they deserved the three points," he said.

Journalists gathered at the press conference asked for an assessment of Alvaro Raton's performance, as well as information on whether the search for a goalkeeper to strengthen the competition is still ongoing. "We're still looking for a goalkeeper, we're working on it, we want to make the right decision for the entire squad. We want to increase competition for the goalkeeping spot. Álvaro was excellent today. He provided excellent cover for the defense, was brave, and tried to communicate with the defenders to prevent dangerous counterattacks. He had a difficult match, but he performed brilliantly, and I'm happy about that. He needed a match like this," he added.

The coach also described in detail the issue of changes to the full-backs: "With the changes to the full-backs, we wanted to change the team's formation on the pitch. Krzyżanowski was positioned higher up, Jaroch lower. After the changes, Eneko played lower, and Szot higher – a mirror image. The opponent was positioning themselves accordingly, and we wanted to change that. This gave us a greater advantage over the field situation," he analyzed.

"This isn't what I'd like to see week in, week out, especially our performance in the first half. I don't know what percentage of what I would consider optimal we saw today. We'll work to ensure that halves like this don't happen again. The most important thing today, however, is the points and that we're together. Together until the very end. Sometimes that brings tangible benefits. Today it resulted in three points," he said.

The R22 trainer was also asked to individually evaluate Jakub Krzyżanowski. "Krzyżanowski played well. He had to run the entire length of the pitch today, which is no easy task. He's a young player, but the only way he'll improve is if I challenge him. He had a tough challenge today. In the 60th minute, he told me he was tired. We made a change and played our game," concluded the Wisła Kraków coach.

Marek Zub - Rzeszów stood

"The team that wasn't better won. They were a bit smarter, more experienced. Maybe they had better players? Maybe a bit of added artificial intelligence? As I said at the pre-match press conference – we relied on our own, but a bit of artificiality crept in. Perhaps in a situation where the most experienced players making decisions on the pitch – in key moments – were dealing with it. Perhaps in the context of certain decisions made on the pitch by those who participated in this football spectacle, but I'm only saying this to lighten the mood a bit, because the match is over and we have no influence on the result. And if you are mostly Stal Rzeszów fans here, you're probably in a similar mood to me. We lost points, but despite everything, I'm happy with the team, with their attitude, and with the implementation of our goals for this match. To sum it all up, I think it was a clear result of what we managed to change and improve in the last two months of preparations. It's a shame that The goal for 2-1 came from a set piece, which really hurt us in the autumn round, and it hurt us in the spring match as well. To sum up, the team that lost was certainly not worse, and from my point of view – I may be biased – but in today's match we were the better team and better to watch," he began.