Interview with Ljubomir Vranjes

 

Telekom Veszprém will play its last preparation game on Friday at 5:15 p.m. against Slovenian side, Celje Pivovarna Lasko. Next week they will play their first live game against Csurgó, in the Hungarian championship. Near the end of the preparation, we asked our head coach, to give us his opinion about the preparation, the training camps, exhibition games and the attitude of the team.

 

 

It was great. The players have not seen each other for a few weeks and they had a great summer. It was good and they were happy.

 

In Holland, the physical training was in focus, but also the basics of defense and attack. We went through everything in Sittard. It was great, and the atmosphere was great also. We are eager to start the new season. About the integration of the new guys: It was visible instantly that it was perfect. They are coming in the group very fast and the team is accepting them nicely.

 

In the first weeks of the preparation it is really important to get the endurance and resistance training done for the season, because later it is difficult to keep up during the season. We did a lot of gym sessions and running, but the players have a great attitude. They know why we are doing this. They know that if you do not do it now, the season will be very hard at the end.

 

The first game in Veszprém was okay. We were still fresh, so we could run more and it was a good first game. You always see some things in these kind of matches; some players did not play and so on. In the pre-season games, you need to see were you are with the new players, old players and so on. Every game in the preparation phase, for me, is to check the temperature of the boys. We start the season on 5 September and it will be good until then.

 

 

It was really good for us. We met 6 teams out of the best 8 in Europe. It was good for us to get this challenge. Without being in optimal level, we did well. In the first game against Nantes, we had the power still. In the second game, we did not have a chance against Montpellier from the beginning. They are another level still but they had the same team for a few years now. You notice that. It was the third day against Brest, so I did a lot of rotation in the team. I got a lot of answers to my questions. I did not want to do much rotation but it was impossible not to. The players were too tired and if you are tired, there is always a risk that you get injured. It was a good tournament for us.

 

We still train endurance and resistance but I expect that some things work better, and some players work better as well. I also have a clear structure how I want to play defense and attack. It is going to be a good preparation game for us.

 

I think it was successful. I want to build a team and it is going really good. They are fighting much differently than last year and I like that. They are not trying to find excuses in a mistake, but they say “OK, let’s do this differently next time.” It was great to see that, and it is great for the future. I have much more ways to play now. I do not only have Lékai in center back, I have more variations in defense and attack as well. We have to work more of course. If we look at PSG or Montpellier, we can see that we need more time with the new players and old players. We are a good team and we can do some surprises this year.

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös