Mariusz Jop before the #ŁKSWIS match: “I see good energy in the team to go out and play for the

On Sunday, December 7, Wisła Kraków will play their final match of the calendar year, facing ŁKS Łódź. It will be the first away fixture of the spring round in the Betclic 1 Liga. Ahead of the match, the White Star’s coach, Mariusz Jop, answered questions from the media.

What is the team’s mental state after the last match against Zawisza? “I think that when it comes to the mental side, the first reaction right after the match was, of course, heads down. But as they say, time heals wounds, and now those lowered heads have turned into sporting anger and a desire to bounce back — which is positive. We know situations like this happen in football, and we also know that in football the time between winning and losing is short, because every next match is the most important. This is our chance to make up for what happened. Undoubtedly, the cup match was shameful for us,” the coach said.

All of the goals conceded in Bydgoszcz came from set pieces. “Of course, we carried out a detailed analysis of those goals and we know that at least three of them should have been avoided — the penalty, the third, and the fourth goal. Even with the second goal, which was very well executed, it still doesn’t mean we couldn’t have prevented it. We know what defensive behaviours we should have shown. Individual mistakes made the opponent extremely efficient. And yes, their crosses were very good, and they also had some luck — for example, the own goal by Duarte, and the fourth goal, which bounced off the post and fell perfectly to an unmarked player. That shouldn’t happen in our defensive structure. There should have been a player positioned between him and the goal, so the ball would have fallen to us instead of them.”

Assessment of Kamil Broda’s performance: “I don’t want to evaluate individual players publicly. We’ve done that internally and it will stay within the team. Everyone is, of course, entitled to their opinion — journalists, supporters. We have completed an analysis of each player, as well as of the whole team.”

The match against Stal was won convincingly, just like early-season games. Does performance inevitably drop later in the season? “I think we’d all love Wisła Kraków to look like we did in the first half against Stal Mielec. But narratives change quickly — this question shows it. On Sunday we played very well, on Thursday we played poorly and lost, and suddenly the perception of the whole team changes dramatically. I know that’s how it is here, and I also think some people were simply waiting for the moment to deliver criticism of the coach and the players. That’s our reality: when things are good, some people don’t really know what to say or write. When something goes wrong, all the criticism immediately comes out. And that’s the right of every fan and journalist. I think our last league match was at a good level. The cup match, as I’ve said, simply shouldn’t have happened. Regardless of the details — Wisła Kraków cannot lose to a third-league team by that margin. As for fatigue — it’s natural at the end of the year. I’ve said that before. It’s not only us; most teams experience it. But I see good attitude and good energy in the team to go and play for the win tomorrow. That’s the most important thing now — to prepare well and continue what we started against Mielec. We began the spring round very well, and I hope we’ll finish the year with a victory.”

Form fluctuates — we see matches like the one against Stal, but also like the one in Siedlce. “If we deserve criticism, then we can criticise ourselves. Football is a sine wave, and it always will be. We cannot expect Wisła Kraków to play like we did in the first six matches for an entire season — it’s simply impossible. There are rare exceptions in world football. It’s natural for form to rise and fall, individually and collectively. Our job is to prepare the team for the last match so that they’re in the best possible condition.”

Julius Ertlthaler and Frederico Duarte played the full 90 minutes in Bydgoszcz. Will they be ready for tomorrow? “The plan for the Zawisza game was a bit different, but given how things unfolded, we kept them on the pitch to fight for the win until the end. They’re players who can maintain high physical parameters over many matches. They’re fully considered for the starting eleven. I don’t think they’ll have any physical issues.”

ŁKS were expected to fight at the top, but sit low in the table. What are their strengths and weaknesses? “We have to look at ŁKS mainly after the arrival of coach Szoka. We know how his team worked at Znicz — low defensive block, 5-3-2. He himself said publicly that he’s now focused mainly on the defensive side. I expect that despite playing at home, they will not be a proactive team. They will sit deep, wait for counterattacks and set pieces — they have several tall players dangerous in such situations. We also know the pitch quality in Łódź is very poor — I heard about it weeks ago. I’m curious about its condition now. Their last two matches under the new coach were away. Their attacking structure is similar to ours — 3-2-4-1 — and they try to build through the centre. There’s quality in their squad. So this match will certainly be demanding.”

Returning to the Zawisza match — was there a lack of concentration? “If we look at how Kamil played in the league, he had similar issues in buildup. I think it wasn’t about being relaxed or careless — it was more nervous reactions, not lack of focus.”

How to prevent such situations? “Our message is clear: in transition, after winning the ball, the first pass should go forward to the highest-positioned teammate. That is the expected behaviour. Mariusz (Kutwa) tried to drive the ball instead, made a mistake, and it changed the momentum. We gave the opponent belief they could win, and that’s exactly what happened. When you play a lower-ranked team, every situation they create gives them energy and the crowd pushes them on. We gave them oxygen in that match.”

Could ŁKS change their playing style because it’s the coach’s first home match? “When we’re building from the back, I expect them to press high. But their last two games showed most of their build-ups were long balls and long periods of deep defending. They can keep the ball, they have the quality, but the coach understandably focused first on defensive organisation because ŁKS had issues in that area.”

What will the next few weeks look like? “We have a four-week break. That doesn’t mean players do nothing — they’ll get individual plans for the final two weeks before we resume. We start on January 5. One week of training at home, then we fly to Turkey on January 11 for two weeks. We’ll play four matches there — Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. After returning, we’ll likely play a friendly against Stal Mielec in Myślenice. Players get two full weeks of rest, but knowing them, they won’t just lie around — many enjoy padel or other sports. Then they have an eight-session program before camp so we don’t start from zero. It worked last year and before the summer preparations. Everything is planned, and players must send data from every training session.”