2024-03-15 15:50:08
The head coach of “Levski” Nikolay Kostov spoke before the visit of the “blues” in Veliko Tarnovo on Saturday against the team of “Eter” in a match of the 25th round of the football First League.
“We’ve had plenty of time to think about what line-up to go against Ether. It’s a bit strange for us to be playing against bottom of the table without the typical centre-forward. That’s something that’s on our minds these days. But what we’ve got , I think it’s enough to be able to go on the pitch and beat the Ether team, who I think have been playing some pretty interesting football in recent games. They’ve even come close to beating some of their opponents and they deserve respect from us.” commented Nikolay Kostov.
“Football is a game of episodes. It is desirable that we do not have such episodes with groups of mistakes from decisions of one player. I do not blame Galchev, as this can happen to any of our players, for the decision he made at that moment. because that was crucial not to beat Krumovgrad. If we were 11v11, you know very well that our team is able to change the tempo during the game and we have different strategies according to the opponents we play. I can’t speak for such lessons, which are so essential. The lessons are this – to be careful in such episodes, so that such gross mistakes are not repeated, which then psychologically affect the players themselves, who made them”, continued the coach of the “blues” .
“The team of “Eter” performed quite interestingly in the last matches. They even played combinatorially without defending as it was in the first half of the season when they played against us. I expect them to continue to fight to stay in the group, I wish them that. For Svetlja Petrov, if I have to return the gesture, I can say that he is one of the best of our young generation of coaches. And I wish him success too. My absence from the bench I don’t think is so important, as the preparation for the match is during the week, the debriefing is done before the match, the assistant coach with whom I work is absolutely with all our ideas and details, which are constantly discussed. I don’t think that such a big importance should be attached to this,” Kostov also said.
“Let’s be realistic and say that the most important thing for us is to develop the team. Some of the players who joined much later in the preparation period. We don’t want to fall into any delusions that we have a ready-made team coming out and it starts to grind together. We have very good footballers, we have very well selected footballers according to the style we profess. We believe in them and expect them to develop and improve so that we can improve the quality of the game and from there the results,” he said the specialist added:
“There is no need for additional motivation for the football players. We cannot afford to underestimate the opponent, nor did we underestimate Krumovgrad. Yes, there may be some underestimation in one situation of the game. Such moments occur when the pulse of the players increases and in the moment he recovers his energy, there can be a partial relaxation. Players always get into difficult situations – there you either survive or die. That’s how it is in football. We have players who have a sufficiently developed interface and we believe in them.”
“We are a little shaken, as we had such favorable conditions to win against “Krumovgrad”, we had enough of an audience that supported the team very well and we did not take advantage. No matter how brave we are, we must always tell the truth. The footballers believe that we will reach our goals by following our ideas. After the match with Krumovgrad, we had a training session with those who didn’t take part, and the others trained, but indoors. We have to be more objective about these things. It’s not just us resting, but all the teams. We are renewing the energy of our players, because we don’t have such a large amount as Ludogorets. We have our own view on these things. Let’s not abuse the number of days off. We always check what pitches we play and take that into account. We know what pitch we will we play, we know how to approach the match, without giving side attention to this factor,” concluded Kostov.