Bessone: The Lads Understood Everything Perfectly

Federico Bessone won over the supporters not only with the victory against Gorica, but even more with the manner in which Osijek claimed all three points. The White-and-Blues dominated throughout the match, creating chance after chance from start to finish. It was the same in both halves, with everything under control – a testament to the excellent preparation by the coaching staff. Such superiority and dominance in every aspect of the game simply had to result in victory.

This was a very important match for us. If you ask why… when a new coach arrives, after a good pre-season, just as we discussed yesterday while preparing for the game. I’m happy because we’ve managed to change the mentality, and that was something we were missing last season when our problems became evident. We’ve managed to change that, which makes me very happy and proud of this team, Bessone said after the match in Velika Gorica.

The players executed everything that had been planned and practised during the week, causing Gorica problems all over the pitch.

Let’s be honest, we prepared very well for this match. The lads understood everything from the very beginning. We pressed high, won the ball in advanced areas and then managed to create dangerous situations once we played out of those zones. I’m very happy, especially because we managed to score. It’s true that by half-time we should have been leading by three or four goals, but that’s football. You can’t do everything perfectly all the time and always score. We created plenty of chances in the second half as well and should have added another goal to finish the game. Maybe even a little earlier, but this is still a good outcome. It’s the first match of the season. Sometimes the ball simply doesn’t want to go into the net, and all you can do is keep trying and continue pressing until the end.

The Team Has Understood the Basic Principles of Play

Tactically, everything looked excellent. The performance was not only effective but also full of intensity, tempo, determination and a clear desire to secure all three points.

We knew Gorica would try to press us, which is why I keep saying we prepared very well for this match. The lads understood and absorbed everything. They knew when to stay wide and when to move inside. That’s extremely important and comes from the work we do throughout the week. The players understand the basic principles of our game and what I expect from them. That’s why I know this is the key.

Next weekend, Osijek will return to the same stadium, where newly promoted Rudeš will be the designated home side.

Next week the scenario is the same, only with a different opponent. We’ll take a little time to recover because this was a very important victory for us. Then, on Monday, we’ll start preparing to come back to Velika Gorica and aim to produce a performance similar to today’s.

Bessone also expressed his gratitude to the loyal supporters who travelled in impressive numbers to cheer on the White-and-Blues and celebrate the victory together with the players.

Our supporters were one of the main topics throughout pre-season. It’s perfectly understandable that they were disappointed by the results over the past two seasons. I came to Osijek with the idea of trying to change that, including the team’s spirit, at least to some extent. This time the fans saw that we can play good football, just as we said during pre-season. I hope even more of them will come next week to support us. After that, we’ll be looking forward to seeing them again at home against Lokomotiva.