The capital’s team will host the “Petrovac” team on Thursday at the “Žalgiris” home stadium, which they defeated 3:1 last week in Montenegro.
According to “Žalgiris” strategist Andrius Skerla, the team will step onto the field not with thoughts of preserving the advantage already created.
“We will play. We want to play. We definitely will not step onto the field just to protect the result. We hope the stadium will be full and we want to delight our fans with our play, to whom, as I have said many times, we owe,” noted the head coach of “Žalgiris.”
– With that protecting, you know, anything can happen… Of course, there are moments when you need to defend, when the opponent forces you to do so. But it’s not like we trained all week just to defend.
We analyzed the opponents’ play again, saw their strengths, what we need to fix. We cannot step onto the field without thinking. We must be prepared for situations if something goes wrong.”
– What is most important before the return match? – journalists asked A. Skerla.
– Yes, we managed to play well away, achieve a good result, but the second match is still ahead. We have the advantage, but I try to prepare the team to fight. That away victory is not final yet. I think we are ready because tough battles await.
– How satisfied were you with the team’s play, the execution of the game plan, in the first match in Montenegro?
– Before those matches, I was a bit worried… Many changes in their team, we saw some of their friendlies, but those were friendly matches. We saw their principles, also watched last season’s matches.
Maybe I didn’t expect that we could play so well. Win like that. But we played really great matches. We bring back a 2-goal difference from the away game – if someone had offered that, I would have agreed (smiles).
– Many newcomers in “Žalgiris” as well. How satisfied are you with what you see in the team, its playing curve?
– New players bring even more competition. We have been training together for quite some time. Currently, we have a full team, many players, injured footballers have returned. Internal competition is high. Everyone understands they have to fight for their place.
– Club officials revealed that they are looking for one or two more newcomers. Which positions do you want to strengthen?
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– This work goes on all season. If there are opportunities and players we need – we try to bring them in. Yes, we need a few more players. We have a few in sight. Negotiations are ongoing, and if successful, I think one or maybe two players will definitely join the team.
We have Jurijus Kendyšas, who is already 36. In my opinion, he is playing very well now, but many matches await, so we are looking for a player for that position to have full rotation.
– You took over the “Žalgiris” helm in mid-April – three months ago. How much does the team already play football according to your philosophy? How successful is it?
– Do we play as I want? Well, we try. It was definitely not easy to change… It took time to get used to the players, see who fits with whom, how the relationships work. The game is improving. At first, I saw many problems. Especially in defense, where we were punished, any mistake turned into a goal. Now the situation has somewhat improved, and when the defense is better – we always create chances. The most important thing is to watch carefully and not concede a silly goal.
In attack, we have creative players who can decide the outcome of the match. So we need to watch the back, and up front, we can find goals.
– A full stadium is expected, packed stands. What kind of motivation is this for the players?
– As I said, we owe the spectators, especially our fans. I think everyone feels it, knows it. Every team wants to play in a full stadium, and when the stands are filled – you have to play at your maximum. You can’t skip running somewhere, can’t fail to put your foot somewhere. Players also play differently in a full stadium. There are extraordinary matches for both teams. You wait for such encounters all year. It will be a fun atmosphere, and we will try to do everything to make the game and result good.
“Good thoughts, we have a positive result. We won 3:1 away, we are in a good position to advance. We just need to finish the work started here in Vilnius, show what we can do and win,” – echoed the coach by Deividas Šešplaukis, who also participated in the press conference.
- Another victory for “Žalgiris” would add ranking points, which are later counted into the club’s tally, separating teams into seeded and unseeded.
“I myself dislocated a finger in the last match, but that does not prevent me from playing football. I think we are all ready,” continued D. Šešplaukis. “It won’t be easy because there are no easy opponents in the Conference League.”
If successful, in the second qualifying round “Žalgiris” would face the Georgian football flagship Tbilisi “Dinamo” or the “Mondorf-les-Bains” team from Luxembourg. In this pair, “Dinamo” won the first away match 2:1.
To reach the main stage of the Conference League, four qualifying barriers must be overcome.
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