Coaching duo: #KOTWIS

Wisła kicked off September with a 1-1 draw against Kotwica Kołobrzeg in the 8th round of the Betclic 1 League. After the match, coaches Kazimierz Moskal and Ryszard Tarasiewicz met with journalists.

Kazimierz Moskal - Wisla Krakow

"First of all, I feel a huge sense of dissatisfaction, because with so many chances, we need to score at least a few goals. We conceded a goal from a set piece. Our start may not have been the best, but to be honest, I should have expected that after Thursday's match and after our travels. We had to get into this match somehow, and it wasn't the best start, but like I said, when you have so many chances in a match like this, you have to take them no matter what. We were a bit too nervous near Kotwica's penalty area, which is why we only managed to score an equalizer late in the game," began the White Star coach.

The Kraków team created a lot of chances, but ineffectiveness prevailed. Does the coach remember any matches with a similar outcome? "It's hard for me to recall them quickly now. I don't know if I was managing Wisła, but I'm sure there were some similar matches in my history, but it's hard for me to recall them quickly right now," he replied. "We'll definitely want to use this time ahead and train properly. Prepare for the match against Warta. After that, we have matches every three days again, but there was very little time for training. That doesn't excuse us or excuse our ineffectiveness, because the situations were very clear," he added.


Igor Łasicki left the pitch at halftime. What was the reason for this? "The change was caused by Igor starting to feel his knee again, and we didn't want to take any risks. He wanted to come out for the second half and see how it went, but we didn't want anything to get worse, because Igor has been through a difficult period of rehabilitation and wasn't in the squad. He's now played in Bruges, and we wanted to avoid any more serious injuries, but we still don't know what really happened. We'll only know more after the tests," he said.

James Igbekeme was in the starting lineup. How did the coach assess his performance? "James played for the first time in such a long time. We couldn't expect any major fireworks from him here. As I expected, he could easily handle 45 minutes. He contributed more, but this change was also due to fatigue and a yellow card. We wanted to avoid more unpleasant consequences," he analyzed.

Ryszard Tarasiewicz - Kołobrzeg Anchor

"We knew who we were up against. Wisła, and in my opinion Arka Gdynia, have the greatest football potential. I think we played as well as we could have in the first six rounds, apart from the match against Znicz, because if we had played like we did today against Wisła, we would definitely have taken points from Pruszków. Maybe not all, but most of the chances Wisła created were due to us losing the ball too quickly after receiving it from 20-25 meters, when we could have either sent it forward faster, or kept possession and forced a foul. We wanted to play too technically, I would say elegantly. When Wisła attacked in position, the six, seven, or even eight players from Kraków stayed close to our penalty area. We also need to appreciate Marek's attitude in goal. That's why the biggest teams – we're not like that, but I must say, they also rely on the goalkeeper's attitude. "Definitely a very valuable point with—I repeat—the team. Today was the eighth round, and they have 26 or even more matches in hand. Wisła is on track to advance directly. I don't want to exaggerate our result here, but it's the truth. Congratulations again on the performance of my team, who defended very well in the penalty area. Just as I wish our team good luck in their upcoming matches, I also wish Wisła Kraków the best of luck," said Kotwica's manager.

Journalists asked about the improved defensive approach to Angel Rodado's goal, which the coach summed up as follows: "In a sense, we could have caught him. There was a moment when he escaped down our left side. We could have fouled him in our penalty area... When he was approaching the penalty area or was already in it, it was difficult for our defenders to be more aggressive, because we risked a penalty. You brought up the topic. I didn't want to bring it up, but from what I saw, I don't know if Uryga fouled Jonathan when he won the match. But let's not look for excuses, because we played against a team that has more than ample potential for the first league. I think we got a very valuable point. Again, the players learned at the very end that discipline and defensive rigor are paramount. I wouldn't want to do that here either, because I love attacking play, but let's not be partisan, let's not rattle the sabre when it's unnecessary." he finished.