Carver: We’re not looking too far ahead

Ahead of Friday’s match against Wisła Płock, head coach John Carver met with journalists as usual.

What kind of match does the coach expect?

I hope it won’t be 0:0. Wisła have been a team that has spent most of the time in the top six. It’s true that they rarely score goals, but they also rarely concede, which makes them very difficult to break down. We will need to show patience and play good football. We also have to be careful about their counterattacks, as they are one of the few teams in this league that play with two strikers. We want to be progressive with the ball – not to keep possession just for the sake of it, but to create chances, make runs behind the defensive line and generate more goal-scoring opportunities.

Journalists asked the coach about the analysis of goals conceded against Korona:

It’s not about a lack of confidence. It’s easy to fall into the trap of blaming defenders whenever a goal is conceded. We defend as a team. Sometimes, when you have players who are very good at scoring goals and are very attack-oriented, they are not always the best defenders in a team context. We need to constantly look for the right balance.

The most important thing is the next match, and I never talk about other games or opponents. That’s the mindset I instill in the team – we don’t look too far ahead. We are fully focused on Wisła Płock. They are two points behind us, so if we win, we move up at least one place. That would be a great starting position. There are still many matches to play, and as I’ve said before, the table is very tight and will keep changing. All of Europe is talking about it – I know the BBC recently published a big article about how exciting the Polish league table is.