Coach Vladyslav Lupashko ahead of Lechia vs Stal Mielec

Ahead of the match against Stal Mielec, coach Vladyslav Lupashko met with the media. The White-and-Greens’ head coach spoke about the upcoming opponent, the team’s development and plans for the upcoming international break.

How does the coach assess our upcoming opponent:

I watched their match against Termalica and I believe they did not deserve to lose. They try to play very vertically and are one of the more experienced teams in the league. It will be a clash of experience and youth. We understand how they want to play, although it often happens that our opponents change certain elements specifically for us.

Lechia Gdańsk are making progress from game to game:

Today, we analysed yesterday’s training session and then looked at one of the best teams in the world – Barcelona. We still need more aggression and dynamism. We are in a much better place than we were before. We have a lot of work ahead of us during the international break. There will not be much time to rest. We will have two training sessions every day. We need to make up for what we lost at the beginning of the season.

Everyone is inspired by the way they play. We focused more on their work without the ball and their pressing. We showed that we are already at a good level in certain areas, but we need to maintain it for longer periods. I think the fans will be happy if we can play aggressively throughout the entire match.

The Polish Cup draw takes place today. Who would the coach like to face:

I want us to draw an opponent we can beat. It does not matter whether they are from the Ekstraklasa or the third division.

How does Lechia view its current position following the victories over Polonia and Miedź:

Miedź and Polonia will be among the candidates for promotion. We can only talk about our prospects once we are fully prepared in terms of fitness, physical condition and tactics. We have major plans for the international break, but we also have quite a few players who will be called up to their national teams, so they will not be able to make up for those areas with us. The number of call-ups shows the quality of the players we have selected for our team.

I have not looked at the league table at all. We do not need to do that right now. I can assure you that everyone working at the Club is looking in one direction only – upwards.

The journalists also asked about the goalkeeping situation and competition for the position:

There is competition. Szymon has been doing very well in training. He knows that we are counting on him. I am happy with the situation we have in this position. In some areas, we need to make faster progress, particularly when it comes to playing with the ball at our feet.

Is the coach beginning to have an idea of what he considers to be his strongest starting XI:

Javier Mena joined us a week ago, and so did Narek. We have time to assess their potential. Then we will work towards finding our optimal line-up. For now, we can rely on the players who featured in the last match. They are the closest to the starting XI.

The Tricity Derby takes place in a month. Is that when Lechia will be in their best form:

I cannot say what will happen in a month. Right now, we have our next match ahead of us. That is the most important one for us and we need to prepare for it properly.