Ante Šimundža revealed an interesting aspect of Aluminij’s motivation ahead of this year’s debut: “Everyone who plays there once dreams of coming to Maribor”

Published on 11. February 2024 11. February 2024

Photo: Blaž Weindorfer / Sportida

After an exciting Saturday, the Sunday program of the opening round in the Prva liga Telemach this year will feature two more matches. At 3 p.m., Celje will start its match against Mura, and if the Štajerska triumph, they will have a 12-point lead at the top of the table after Olimpija‘s draw with Rogaška. At 5:30 p.m., the match between Maribor and Aluminij will kick off.

“We want to progress, that’s the central thought before the continuation of the season. The preparation program has been fully completed, the direction in which we want to operate is well defined, we have grasped the principles in the game, and the desire for competitiveness has been achieved. I am pleased with the small number of goals conceded, and I believe we will improve things in the attacking phase as well. We are entering opportunities, which is encouraging. But we are aware that preparations are one thing, and competitive challenges are a completely different story. Everything we have done, we want to transfer into the competitive part of the season by the entire team; this will be the most important challenge. Based on what we showed in preparations, we are heading in the right direction,” said Maribor coach Ante Šimundža to the club’s website ahead of the baptism of fire in 2024.

Regarding the match against the visitors from Kidričevo, Ante Šimundža added: “Regardless of who plays for them, Aluminij is always a challenging opponent. Everyone wants to prove themselves, which is expected due to the proximity. Everyone who plays there wants to come to Maribor someday. From our side, the intention is to respect all their efforts and welcome them appropriately motivated. But we must primarily think about ourselves, show our strengths, expose their weaknesses, and with this mindset, we must go onto the field on Sunday.”

Šimundža: “You don’t live off history”

Maribor did not have the most successful fall, currently sitting in fifth place on the standings (Bravo overtook them on Saturday with one more game), but Ante Šimundža does not want to burden himself with what has been.

“I didn’t want to burden the guys too much with things from the fall. However, the played games were welcome for analysis and preparing guidelines for the future. The preparation period allows for a lot of possibilities to transfer information that the guys need. Now it is important that they accept and implement them in matches. The desire is for the cards to be reshuffled anew. You don’t live off history. Some guys have secured a better position, others have not. Whoever meets Maribor’s criteria will play. The starting 11 begins; the game concludes with 16. I don’t only look at the starting 11, but all players we have in training. When we talk about defense, we interpret it differently. Defense is not just the back four. Defense is a team that doesn’t have the ball. I wasn’t dissatisfied with the defensive line, but with the whole team and how it reacted to conceded goals. We dedicated a lot of emphasis to that during the break, and considering the preparations, it achieved its purpose, but all of it needs to be confirmed in official matches,” concluded the coach of the Styrian giant.