Maribor coach Damir Krznar is losing more and more will and energy: “We are doing the work of Sisyphus, but obviously our slope is very, very high”

Published on 2. October 2023 3. October 2023

Will Damir Krznar survive his last failure on the bench Maribor? Also: will he even wait for the club management’s decision? Or he will say goodbye to a team that is more than obviously not following his ideas and concepts. After the defeat in Kidričevo, Damir Krznar frankly admitted that it was turning into a really thankless task, as it felt like his charges were going back to square one all over again.

“Knowing that three days ago the same team was playing and it was completely different in terms of energy, confidence, it is even harder to accept the outcome. We saw the light at the end of the tunnel after the win against Radomlje, and the next game came quickly. Maybe we should have responded with three or four changes in the 11 and we would have had more freshness. But there was no indication that the boys would not be able to repeat their successful performance. However, we didn’t have too little running and power, but we didn’t meet the criteria in terms of aggressiveness, in terms of effort. We must be warriors. At times we showed that we can do it, but this time we fell down on the basics again, even though the whole team was as composed as against Radomlje. We saw two completely different faces of the same team within three days, which is a big challenge for us…” is after defeat by Aluminij (0:1), Damir Krznar said.

Damir Krznar: “This is my biggest concern”

The Croatian expert continued. ”It is difficult to comprehend that a team that is actually unchanged can have such fluctuations in the game in three days and so quickly lose confidence, lose its resolute attitude. It is a recurring problem. I therefore regret that we were not more concrete in our finishing moves during a promising start to the game, but were looking for more. Again, we made too many wrong decisions during the game, and the most disturbing thing is that we fell on what we were warning about. This is my biggest concern. Aggressiveness is the word we have mentioned most often over the past three days. When the game came, we didn’t have it. Aluminij was better in this element and therefore won a game that didn’t offer many chances.”

Finally, the former coach of Dinamo Zagreb further hinted that a farewell to Štajerska is not out of the question: “It is not easy at the moment. Considering the sobering we have experienced, not only in Kidričevo, but in many previous matches. This is the part of the coaching business you run away from. In our case, we are left with the impression that we are doing the work of Sisyphus. We push the ball uphill, and then, no matter how far we get it, it rolls back downhill again and again. Obviously, our slope is very, very steep… Difficult days are behind us, difficult days are ahead. We will have to look each other in the eye. There will be many questions that require answers. We will see in the coming days whether we will be able to find them.”