Carver: We need to wake up

Matchday 32 brought a defeat for Lechia in Łódź. After the final whistle of the #WIDLGD game, head coach John Carver answered journalists’ questions.
Coach’s comment on the match:

First of all, congratulations to coach Vuković and his team. They effectively won the game in the first half. We cannot give the opponent so many chances in the opening part of the match and be that passive. What you have to bring is work rate, commitment and a strong fighting spirit. I didn’t see that from us. In many duels we were late and passive.

We addressed this at half-time and became a different team. Of course, the opponent also had their chances, as we wanted to attack and take more risks. This is no longer the time for me to just talk about what needs to be done – now we have to act to change our situation. At the moment, this position is out of our control.

You have to believe that it was very heated in our dressing room. I didn’t hold back in what I said to the players. Football is, generally speaking, simple – but if you don’t do the hard work properly, you can’t win matches. I also have to find some positives. The only one is that we won the second half as a team.

In every sport, and especially in football, you need experience and you need to be the best version of yourself every week – particularly with such a young team. Sometimes players get distracted because they want to help others on the pitch. Each player must focus on their individual responsibilities and start with themselves.

We need to wake up – that’s the truth. Both the players and the staff must take responsibility. We know that a big game is ahead of us, with a large crowd supporting us. I won’t say much more – the proof will be on the pitch. I hope the players are as angry as I am, and we will see that over the next two weeks.

On Lechia’s poor starts to matches:

That’s a good observation and a good question. Usually we start games well and then give gifts to the opponents. Maybe it’s a lack of concentration or organisation – I don’t know yet. But if we keep giving away chances like that, it will be a problem, especially since recently different players have been involved.

We talked a lot about how to stop Fornalczyk. We prepared for him cutting inside, with Sebastian Bergier making runs behind the defence. All of this was worked on in training.