Coach Mariusz Jop after #WISWXM

Coach Mariusz Jop summarized the friendly match against Wrexham AFC – a team from the English Championship. The coach was satisfied with the level of competition and the lack of injuries, although he admitted that there was a lack of goals. He also assessed Jordi's performance, the progress of new players, and revealed the preliminary plan for the next friendly match against Podbeskidzie.

Trener Mariusz Jop po #WISWXM: Myślę, że przede wszystkim jesteśmy zadowoleni z tego, że taki rywal mógł być przy Reymonta - Wisła Kraków® Official Platform

"I think, first of all, we're happy that such a strong opponent could play at Reymonta, because it's certainly not a common situation for a Championship team, or an English league team in general, to visit Poland. I'm very glad we had the opportunity to face such an opponent, who is at a very high level in terms of physicality and individual player skills. It was clear that these were not random people. What was definitely missing were goals, because I think there were a lot of chances. It seems to me that we created a bit more of them, but there were also several dangerous moments near our goal. Overall, we are satisfied with this friendly match. No one was hurt, there are no injuries. This was also very important for us and for the team. A good match, another match in the pre-season. We still have 2 weeks until the first game and now we have some time for the players to regain freshness," the coach summed up the anniversary match.

Jordi had several chances today, but couldn't find the back of the net.
"That's true. Today wasn't his day in terms of finishing. However, as you said, the most important thing is for a striker to be able to get into situations where they can score a goal. Jordi had three, four, maybe even more such situations today. The only thing you can do is train, to repeat it during practice. Theoretically, you can improve these elements. There is no other way than through training. Jordi worked very hard and created several situations for himself with good movements in space. It's a shame he didn't score any goals, because he certainly deserved to," he stated.

The team has a friendly match against Podbeskidzie ahead.
"The plan is for those who came on in the second half to start the match against Podbeskidzie. They will play for about 60 minutes, and the second team will come on for the last 30 minutes, so that there will be a full 90 minutes. That's the preliminary plan," described the Wisła coach.

The league season is about to start. Has the coach already chosen the core of the team?
"I don't want to talk about certainties, because various things happen in football. I hope there won't be a situation where we suffer any more injuries. Of course, there is a core of the team, but new players are also joining. Perhaps more will appear next week, so I wouldn't want to declare or talk about any numbers here. However, the core, I think, is known. There are a few question marks in a few positions where there is strong competition, generally in the defensive line and in central midfield. Julius Ertlthaler will be back soon, Rodado will be back soon. Elie is already with us. Perhaps someone else will join to further increase the competition for positions 9, 10, and on the wings. We need this as a team, because to develop individually and as a team, we need competition," he stated.

Opponent assessment
"Wrexham is definitely a team that is physically strong, which in the first phase of the match looked for a lot of direct play. What is characteristic is that they often focused on attacking space, especially when we were in a mid-block, on collecting long balls. In the first phase, we also did well in this element, because we covered our backs well and collected those second balls. There were moments where we had some problems in the transitional phase. I mean sometimes too quick turnovers. Not turnovers that resulted from looking for an opening pass, because we want to do that too, but turnovers, I would say, too simple, individual ones," assessed the coach.
"I think it was clear that there is a lot of individual quality in the Wrexham team. There were very few individual turnovers. When a player was under pressure, he could go for a foul or play quickly and show up in position. So I think it was a very useful match and it would certainly be difficult to find such a sparring partner in Poland, of such quality and high intensity of play, because that was also visible. I think this is a characteristic feature of the Championship, where there is very high intensity and very high physicality. This was also evident today, and despite the fact that this team is not yet in full form. For those 45 minutes, they had enough fire in them to maintain that intensity at a good level," he added.

More minutes for new players. Max shows leadership qualities in defense.
"Yes, it's natural for him to communicate, to direct the defensive line. That's very positive, but Marcel also has such qualities, so it's definitely an additional plus for a player. Especially one who is facing the goal and can see almost all the players facing the goal we are attacking. These are very important character traits for these players, that they are able to be leaders of their formation," concluded coach Mariusz Jop.