Carver: We Should Have Won this match

Monday’s match between Lechia and Piast Gliwice concluded Matchday 29 of the PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa. After the final whistle, head coach John Carver answered questions from journalists.

Coach’s comment on the match:

We are disappointed with the final result, but I’m even more concerned about how we started the game. Normally, we are full of energy and intensity, but this time I didn’t feel that in the first half. In the second half, a lot definitely changed – I saw more energy and we created many chances. Ivan scored a spectacular goal. Sometimes you might think that’s enough, but I could replay my previous press conference—the team playing with ten men waits for the right moments. This was almost a copy of the situation where Cracovia scored against us. There was a long throw-in, we committed a foul, and it resulted in a penalty. Now the question is whether it was really a penalty. I think the referee initially made the right decision on the pitch. He was only a dozen or so meters away from the incident. The VAR referee suggested taking another look. Unfortunately, we are taking responsibility away from the main referees. I would describe it as one of the softest penalties I’ve ever seen. Sometimes players also need to take responsibility. Without going into further detail, I think the Piast player should reflect on it as well. He went down as if struck by lightning, and when we watch the replay, we can see there was no contact with his face. That disappoints me. Points are very important for both teams. We should have won this match today.

The team from Gdańsk played most of the match with a one-man advantage:

We need to solve this problem as soon as possible. This situation has happened more than once. Maybe I should tell referees not to send off opposing players, because it doesn’t help us. We treat it as an issue we must resolve.

Changes in the Biało-Zieloni squad:

As for the halftime changes, Tomasz Wójtowicz twisted his ankle quite badly and couldn’t continue. Regarding Kacper Sezonienko, I wanted a different type of player – someone who would be more involved on the ball and take on a playmaking role. The final substitution was also due to Matus having an issue that has been bothering him for several weeks.