Osijek Coach Zoran Zekic gave a passing grade to Osijek’s efforts in Velika. The preps were satisfactory to say the least, including the exhibition match against Sloboda (1-0).

“I must admit that I’m very pleased and I hope that we won’t get overly full of ourselves. We did some good training sessions (4) and the match was great, considering we had a kind of makeshift squad. You know that some players left our roster and some new faces came and our game seemed a bit disjointed due to those factors. One could feel the fatigue of the intense training, especially when trying new tactics and maneuvers. We wanted to strain our defensive line and midfield a bit more, so that we left the opponents approach us 10 to 7 for 60-70 minutes straight. Generally speaking, I am happy with our performance because we checked off the boxes that we set for ourselves for Velika. Next week, we will upgrade our tactics and prepare for Rijeka”, Zekic commented.

Superior Second Half

Considering the bout against the Tuzlanians, Osijek’s coach had a few gripes with our players’ ballgame, especially during the first half:
“Save for Lopa, we haven’t had any eager players that wanted to push forward. However, our players didn’t make any deep plays and the opponents didn’t have stellar movements and plays, either. The second half, however, proved better and our U-19 showed up better. I think that they proved that Osijek won’t have any issues in the local regional competitions”, Zekic added.

Bagadur Could Stay

Ricardo Bagadur played for Osijek, the 22-year-old player from Rijeka, who has been looking for a new home after having left a few 2^nd league clubs in Italy. He had played for Osijek II in their match against Cibalia and Zekic decided to try him out in Osijek’s first squad.

“I must stress that he came as a trial for the B squad. He played this match well, but one can see that he hasn’t been peaking lately in a competitive sense. However, I think that he will blow up by playing for Osijek II. He is strong and robust in 1-on-1’s and his positioning are good, but his utilizing long passes needs improvement. I think that we can unlock his full potential with proper training”, Zekic concluded.