B³aszczykowski’s loss affected the cloakroom. “I have not had such a match yet”

Wisła Kraków fans had high hopes for the coming. And although the team is doing well in the Polish Cup, where it advanced to the quarter-finals, and Wisła is the league leader in introducing young players, it is also very average in the league. In an interview with Sport.pl, Adrian Gula analyzes what caused his team to finish the year only in 13th place.

Jakub Seweryn (Sport.pl): You finished a difficult round with a 3-0 victory over Bruk-Bet Termalica. A big relief?

Adrian Gula (coach of Wisła Kraków): Of course. Our situation was not very happy, so ending the round with a victory was very important to us. In addition, we managed to show the progress of our game, although there is a lot of work ahead of us.

How do you rate the last round? The expectations were higher …

Expectations in Wisła are always very high, especially at the beginning of the season. We all want to score more and be higher in the table, that’s natural, but we have to accept reality. The very beginning was really good for us. There were a lot of positive emotions, some very nice matches and the game culture at a good level. Later, however, we started to have serious health problems, and subsequent worse results resulted in lower self-confidence, which was used by our opponents.

Our situation was not and is not easy, but we have managed to achieve it ourselves. Therefore, we must analyze it, draw conclusions and make progress in the next round. We are happy that we are doing well, where we have a chance for a really good result. The Polish Cup, the top league, introducing young players – this is what we will focus on.

What were the reasons for the Vistula’s problems in the second part of the round? You can’t probably explain everything with staffing problems.

That’s right, more things contributed to that. After a nice start, we lost our self-confidence very quickly. After two or three worse results, we stopped being stable in our game. We won with Legia, made up for the losses and tied with Lechia, and then difficult moments came. It was the same after winning the derby with, when we also couldn’t follow the blow.

Stability in defense and efficiency in offensive play, self-confidence, balance between defense and attack and covering in our own penalty area – this is what we still have to work on.

A lot of this. And don’t you think Wisła lacked leaders on the pitch? It seems that there was a lack of characters that would pull the team, especially in the difficult times of which there were many in the fall.

Full agreement, but we are building something new. There is not only a new staff, but also a new team. There were many changes in Wisła in the summer and we were not able to control all of them yet. Leaders only reveal themselves in difficult times, and we did well at the start of the season.

We miss it, but you also have to remember that we lost quickly and it also had a big impact on the cloakroom. This responsibility must, however, be shared by a larger number of players. We have already made some changes in this direction and it was visible in several matches. We have shown that we are alive, that there is something good about this team that needs to be pulled now to show great stability over a long period of time, not just in one or two matches. This is to be worked out.

What are you happy with?

From the victory with Legia or in the derby, because these results gave a lot of positive energy to the entire club and its fans. The team also reacted very well in the Polish Cup. There she is fully focused on the goal and goes through the next rounds. It is in these matches that we also manage to introduce changes that improve the level of our team. These are details, but I believe that they will pay off in spring as well, because we all have ambitions for more.

You did not mention that Wisła is the league leader in terms of introducing youth.

Honestly? I didn’t even compare with other teams, I didn’t focus on specific numbers in this aspect. This is because, from the beginning of my work, I try to choose the strongest squad at a given moment. I do not pay attention to how many adolescents there are in it. Of course, I am happy with this statistic because it means we have a lot of potential, but the young players are only playing because in my opinion they can give a lot to the team and help it win.

And is there anything that, in retrospect, you would change from your beginnings in Wisła?

You can always find something like this after a round. After the fact, it’s easy to talk about it, but at the moment you have to do what you think is best for the team. Not only on the basis of emotions, but mainly on the basis of facts, our information and statistics. After each match we do detailed analyzes and it often turns out that something did not work out or it could have been done better. We already know what we should do during the winter break. I believe that our decisions will be good for the team and we will see the results on the pitch this spring.

Are you surprised that the league turns out to be so difficult?

The best experience is your own. The practice confirmed my expectations that the league is a very demanding and extremely even league. Here everyone can really win with everyone, the differences between the teams are very small, and in individual matches the details determine the result. We saw it the hard way and we need to pay more attention to these details. You have to be as precise as possible in our game. I won’t say that it surprised me, but I was convinced that there are not many leagues as evenly matched as the top league.

Which moment do you consider the most difficult this fall?

It was after losing the match at home with as much as 0: 5. Before this game we won 1-0 in Zabrze and I felt that the team was close to returning to the right track. Against Górnik, we presented a new set-up, a better commitment and I believed the team already knew what was going on. I thought we would go this way now. And in this match with Silesia, something that I did not expect in my darkest dreams happened. 0: 5 in front of my own fans … I’ve been a coach for over a dozen years, and it was an extremely difficult moment for me anyway.

Have you had such failures before?

No. I don’t remember a match like this. You can lose high with Lech as in Slovakia with Slovan Bratislava or in the Czech Republic in top form. But it was all away. I believe something like this will never happen again.

In the match against Silesia, Wisła’s defensive problems were most evident, which in the last round were not limited to goals conceded, but also quick red cards in important matches against Zagłębie and Jagiellonia. Where do these problems arise from? There is no individual quality and you need to look for reinforcements, or maybe the problem lies in the organization of the game?

I think a little bit of both. However, many goals conceded resulted from simple individual mistakes. It is enough to remember the matches with Piast, Radomiak or Zagłębie. There were no problems with the positioning or the risky high play of the defense lines. In this respect, we didn’t have much trouble, we didn’t concede goals from the counter-attacks. The surprise, however, is how many individual mistakes we make, and here everything depends on the current form, skills and responsibility of the player. In addition, there are permanent fragments of the game that were used, for example, by Wisła Płock. All these mistakes made the team’s confidence drop, and in addition to two matches – with Jagiellonia and Zagłębie – we had to play almost all the ten games through red cards.

It is not an easy situation for the team, so in spring we have to show much greater responsibility and work much more in our own penalty area, especially in covering. It is about the work of the whole team, because we lost a lot of goals in a very simple way, when all or practically the entire team was behind the ball line. We know this and we need to change it as soon as possible.

Are you also planning winter buffs?

It’s always good to strengthen the team. Each coach would like to have as much quality as possible and a lot of competition in the team. I think it would be good to get one player for each formation – defense, midfield and attack. We’ve already brought in left-back Sebastian Ring, so it would be best to make a few buffs together to give this team some new energy. However, we also want to analyze what happened a year and two ago, when I and my training staff were not in Wisła yet, so as not to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors and be able to react in a similar situation.

We will be active in the transfer market, but I don’t want to reveal any more details about exactly what positions we are looking for new players to and how close we are to making these reinforcements. I believe that we will be able to implement our plans.

What are your goals for football spring? You are richer with the experiences from the fall, you got to know this team and its possibilities. What will you be playing for in the spring?

Both the Polish Cup and the Polish Cup are important to us. In the cup, we are already in the quarter-finals and we want to go as far as possible, and show progress in the league, both in terms of results and the game. We will also continue to introduce young players and fight for the fans’ trust. We have to show them that we are on the right track.

What would you like to get as a gift for the upcoming holidays?

First of all, I would like everyone to be healthy. This is the most important thing, especially nowadays. When you are healthy, everything else is up to you. Therefore, I wish everyone a lot of health, energy and optimism.