After Lechia’s match against Motor, coach John Carver shared his thoughts. Read what the White-and-Greens’ manager had to say.

Coach’s comments on Monday’s match:

I could just replay the tape from the last press conference and say exactly the same thing again. I think it was a kind of animation and something different from what I’ve experienced so far in Gdańsk. I know we conceded three goals again. Usually, when you concede three goals, the blame falls on the defenders, but this time it was a little different because the situations arose after losing the ball. As a team and within our structure, we were simply too open—especially at the moment when we conceded from a free kick, because just a few seconds earlier we had a free kick ourselves. We played the ball across the field, the opponent intercepted it, and then we had to foul to stop them. That led to the free kick. The Motor player scored a “goal of the season” type strike. I think the goal we conceded just before halftime was also beautiful, but that was more of a gift from us, and it shouldn’t have happened. It was the kind of match where at halftime I was extremely angry. Sometimes, through my anger and how I react in the dressing room, I’m waiting for a reaction from the players. And right after halftime, we conceded a goal. That’s when the moment comes to show the character of the team. I think that was a test we responded to well. We created a lot of chances. I’m very happy that Tomek Bobček scored two goals (although the first was officially given to Bohdan Viunnyk), but he could have had five. We had to take him off during the game because he was already cramping. What’s positive for me is definitely the substitutes, who came in and sent a signal to the whole team. That was good to see. Now, for various reasons, we have to quickly play away against Zagłębie Lubin. We’ll have only three days to prepare the team for the match, while Zagłębie have had two weeks.

Lechia’s defense has conceded 11 goals this season:

That’s obviously too many, but in this case, it was poor reaction after losing the ball and how we dealt with the transition phase. There will be no excuses about defending badly. And it’s not like there’s one person making the same mistake every time. In each match, it’s someone different making a costly error, so we all have to take responsibility because we’re conceding too many goals as a team. I also want to point out the quality of the goals Motor scored—they were truly top-class strikes. When I think about it, our goalkeeper basically only had one save to make, though I could be wrong. We’re trying to find the right solutions, and that hasn’t changed. We’re still “looking” for new center-backs, but if we don’t defend well as a team, it won’t matter.

Coach John Carver appeared visibly frustrated. Does that mean he’s losing patience with his team?

That’s madness. I still have patience with them because I see what they give me, and they give me everything—I saw that in the second half. I’ll never be angry with a player for losing the ball, miscontrolling it, or misplacing a pass. I was mainly angry because we weren’t winning physical duels, those one-on-one defensive battles. I was surprised by the lack of intensity in the first half—both in those duels and overall—and I want my teams to be known for playing with intensity. Motor gave us a tough time and it was a difficult challenge. Mateusz Stolarski is a coach who pays great attention to organization, and his team was well-organized. Because of that defensive organization, we had some trouble with their counterattacks.

Mateusz Stolarski believes that Lechia will soon start picking up points regularly:

Coaches see in their analysis what the opposing manager is trying to do, so maybe that’s why he said that. I hope we will start picking up points, but we haven’t had that bit of luck yet. We’ve been missing it a little, but I know you also have to earn your luck. It would have been nice to see Tomek Bobček—from that far post—hit the post from two meters on the right side, the inside rather than the outside.

Anton Tsarenko was not in the match squad due to injury issues:

At the start of the week, he suffered a groin injury. In fact, he only had the scan done on Monday. We’re now waiting to get the results of that scan.