Ljubljana Olimpija coach Zoran Zeljković after the win over Mura: “If we had scored quicker, it would have been a completely different game”

Published on 13. November 2023 13. November 2023

Photo: Nik Moder / Sportida

One month, seven games and five wins. Problems in attack, but a defence that is as solid as granite. Zoran Zeljkovic can’t really complain about the start of his coaching adventure in Ljubljana. On Sunday, he scored another positive result after Olimpija defeated old rivals Mura in Stožice with a goal from captain Timi Max Elšnik.

“What we have seen shows the character of a team that perseveres to the end. Always and everywhere. In every training session, in every game, we play from the first minute to the last. We want to finish every game the way it should be finished. I believe this will become routine,” said a visibly satisfied Zoran Zeljković after the victory over the guests from Murska Sobota.

Rui Pedro Olimpija Mura — Photo: Nik Moder / Sportida

The former coach of Krka from Novo mesto and Koper continued.For now, the boys are doing exactly what I want them to do. We have enough energy. But we need to be realistic. We still have a lot of work to do, but I am happy because I see a lot of effort and desire. I’m very happy, but now I’m already thinking about the continuation of the championship. Some will go to the national team. We need a good rest. We have a lot of tough games ahead of us. Before the last few games, I was aware that this is the period when we can get closer to first place or further away from it. I’m glad that the boys are accepting the pressure of playing in a big club. We all need to be able to cope with this. I believe that we will behave in a similar way in the future. We go match by match. We must remain humble.”

Zoran Zeljković: “I believe we will be better in time”

Olimpija kept the net intact for the fifth game in a row, something they had a lot of trouble with under the leadership of Joao Henriques. “I could go on for a long time about what we have changed to make our defence excellent. But if you go to look closely, we stand differently than we did before. Otherwise, we defend ourselves. I’m sure we are partly to blame. But I always say that defence starts with the attacker. All the boys are working hard. We have more energy than before,“, explained Zoran Zeljković, touching on the obvious problem: the Dragons are not scoring many goals.

“A match is different from a game. This time we really created a lot of opportunities. We didn’t against Celje. We were losing balls too easily. We were nervous. We were more confident now, which is normal after two wins. The fact is that you have to score more goals from as many chances as we had this time. In Europe especially, if you are not effective, you are quickly punished by your opponent. I believe we will get better with time,” says the 53-year-old.

Read also

Olimpija had many scoring chances against Moro, but the home team didn’t make the most of them. Zoran Zeljković, despite the wastefulness in attack, thought that the Green-Whites played a good game from this point of view.If we had scored faster, it would have been a completely different game. You would have more energy. We would have had more chances to score. We would push harder by the minute. You need to play high pressing. When the opponent plays long balls, you have to pick them up and go on the attack again. The boys proved that it can be done if you want it. Even though we didn’t take our chances, we played a very good game this time.”

Zoran Zeljković concluded by admitting that the Prekmurje team played a good game this time too: “Mura had a few chances, but I think we controlled them well. Maybe it was only the last goal, which was overturned for offside, but thank God we didn’t stand the way we should have. We could certainly have played better. Mura had too many chances for my liking. Looking at the whole game, we had more chances and we converted one of them into a goal.”