Željezničar welcomes Velež tomorrow in the 31st round of the WWin League BiH, and the match was announced at a press conference by Blues coach Savo Milošević and first team player Deni Milošević.
In the introduction to the address to the media representatives, Milošević pointed out:
We had practically this week already third game in eight daysso the emphasis was mainly on the recovery of the players from these previous two games. The good thing is that everyone is healthy, that we came out of these two games unscathed, which was very important for us. And, of course, we hope that we will be able to gather energy today and tomorrow, to try to play a good game tomorrow. That, in a nutshell, is the mood and the atmosphere is good after this last game. So we enter tomorrow’s game with great ambitions.
Where do you see progress since your arrival?
In both directions. Before my arrival, the team had a hard time getting forward and creating chances. Therefore, it was difficult for her to score goals. We are scoring more goals than before that, but we have many more dangerous forwards, which is a very important thing. I think we managed to fully achieve a defensive stability, considering that in seven-eight games, including those in the Cup, we conceded only three goals, which is a parameter that directly and concretely speaks of a great improvement when it comes to defense. There are still a lot of things that we managed to fix. First of all there is this one psychological momentwhich Deni talked about a little while ago, and the state of the team, psychologically and mentally. At the moment we arrived, we managed to fix it, but, let’s say, the best remedy for that is all again good or better results than in the previous period. So those are the two key things that, at the end of the day, brought us some stability and some better gameplay.
Young players – does Željo have a promise for the future?
Yes, absolutely. You could see, we already have two players transferred from the youth facility they also train with us, and they just made their debut in the derby against Sarajevo. So, in addition to them, we have two or three younger players from the youth academy. There are still two or three on the list. Of course, it is impossible to use all that, especially in this situation, a little more, because I avoid wasting young players in those, let’s say, complicated situations, psychologically and in every other sense. It is better to spend experienced, which is logical. But, of course, we are already thinking about those young players.
We were lucky that the youth team has really good guys this year, with quality and potential. And the time is ahead of us, for sure, that we will try in these six games. I didn’t hesitate to push the boys into the fire even now. I said, it was a very difficult period to push them a little more and that is the only reason. Otherwise, it is certain that we will deal with them. There is also that rule here, but also that there is no such rule. I don’t even like that rule, that we have to do something.
It is not good for the young players that he has to play. It must be worth it for every player that he has to fight to play. And we are here to prepare them to be ready when they need to play. But for sure we will deal with it intensively, because it is something that I love in this job of mine. I really like working with young people because it really inspires. It’s good to work with people younger than you. Sometimes even we, the older ones, learn more by working with them than by teaching them. But anyway, it’s good. It’s good that we have young, talented players.
Are you considering a chance for Europe?
I am somehow not satisfied with what has been achieved. All that we managed to achieve in the previous two months is already in the distant past, and that’s how it must be seen in football. And if there wasn’t that pressure from the fans or the media and that talk about Europe, we would…
The other day we had a meeting about exactly that, so I would ask that the players themselves think about that possibility. And for sure, regardless of all external factors or considerations, we would try to do our best in these six games. And that’s the bottom line. Will that be enough? I really can’t make any promises, nor can any of us, given our schedule, the state of the squad and the spending we’ve had in the previous seven games. But shall we try? Well, of course we’ll try. No one needs to remind us or tell us about it. This is, after all, our obligation.
We are professionals and I constantly asked, here is Deni, I constantly ask the players to give one hundred percent, or one hundred two, one hundred three, one hundred five percent. And the guilt and responsibility are mine, never theirs. So, for sure, the boys have really given their best every game so far. And while it was like that, the results were coming. Everything is possible in football, but we can’t start flying now, we have to stay… I said, I repeated many times, that the most important thing is to think about every next game that comes. This tomorrow is coming and it is the most important, so we will see after it. It has been seen that such an approach has brought us good things and there is no need to change it.
On this occasion, Deni Milosevic pointed out:
I think, after seven points in three games, that there can be no better atmosphere. We have returned that positive energy and so everything is going better. We expect victory tomorrow. Of course, we are playing at home, we need to show that when you come here to Grbavica, points cannot be won easily. We will do our best and we are doing well. We also know that it’s a demanding week, that there will be fatigue, but we recovered properly and I think everything will be fine tomorrow.
Yes, of course, it is difficult for other teams to play at Grbavica. And I mean, for us, as far as I’m concerned, it’s always a tailwind when you have a 12th player with you. But when the results are bad, of course it is more difficult. Now, after these last three games, it can only be a plus for us. I think it will mean a lot to us tomorrow and we hope to win, to bring them back even more, to come, watch us and cheer us on in Grbavica.
The meeting between Željezničar and Velež is scheduled for Saturday, starting at 20:45 hours.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: Ines Lučić/FKZ)
