Bessone: In the second half, I saw the attitude I want to see consistently

Osijek and Gorica drew 1–1 at Opus Arena in Round 10 of the SuperSport HNL. Armando Leon scored the equaliser in the 68th minute. Head coach Federico Bessone was unhappy with his team’s first-half performance but more satisfied with their approach after the break.

I didn’t like the first half at all because we weren’t aggressive enough on the pitch. Of course, we wanted to be, but when you don’t win individual duels, it’s very difficult to do anything more constructive. We are also making too many mistakes. They came into our penalty area perhaps only once and scored. We have to try to stop conceding such cheap goals.

We certainly showed more in the second half. It’s true that they had three goals ruled out for offside, but I don’t know how many chances we created during that period, when we were trying a lot of different things. If we fight as we did in that part of the game, we will be closer to winning than losing, Bessone said.

He added that it had taken the team considerable time to find a good rhythm.

It’s true that it’s difficult to find the right rhythm when your opponent plays with a low block. They were prepared to capitalise on our mistakes and exploit transitions. They scored first and then dropped back in front of their penalty area, so it was difficult to find a way through to their goal.

In the second half, we changed a few things, started putting more balls into the penalty area and creating chances. It’s a shame we couldn’t find a second goal.

Chances to score the winner

There were opportunities in the second half that could have turned the game into a victory, while Gorica also had chances on the counterattack.

It’s important that we didn’t lose a match like this, but I’m a coach who wants to win. Today, once again, we showed that we go out to win from the first minute. I told the players during the break that if we managed to equalise, we would go after a second goal as well.

That’s exactly what happened, but we weren’t lucky considering the number of chances we created, such as Bukvić’s opportunity and Barić’s shot that hit the post. All the players who came on as substitutes brought fresh energy to the team.

In the end, I’m a little disappointed because we wanted to win and tried everything, but at least in the second half I saw the attitude I want to see consistently from my team, Osijek’s coach emphasised.

In the coming days, training will focus on several aspects of the team’s play.

We need to attack the spaces available to us a little better. We also need to improve our crosses from wide positions because too many of them are being cut out at the near post.

I’m happy for Armando and his goal. What I like about him is that even when he doesn’t score, he works for the team and gives everything he has. I’m also pleased with the energy and effort Barić brought to the game. We brought him on because we knew he had that ability. It’s a shame his shot hit the post.

Preparing for Rudeš

Next weekend, Osijek will play at home for the third consecutive time, with Rudeš visiting Opus Arena.

I expect a very similar match. Rudeš usually play with five players at the back, so it will be difficult for us to play through that formation. We will analyse certain details as we prepare for the match in order to try to secure all three points on our home ground.

I know this is somewhat disappointing for our supporters because we have had three matches at Opus Arena and an opportunity to put together a winning run, but sometimes in football you don’t get what you deserve. We have to remain positive and prepare extremely well for that match, Bessone concluded.