Lessons learned

The halftime of the clash with Cracovia felt like a déjà vu for the players from Poznań. Similarly to the opening game of the season, against Radomiak, Lech clearly dominated on the pitch, even managed to score (but the goal was disallowed), still, in the end, their efforts didn’t bear fruit. However, unlike in the first league game, this time the team from Poznań found a way to successfully beat Cracovia’s defensive line in the second half and triumphed following goals from Bartosz Salamon and Jakub Kamiński.

“We have analysed the match with Radomiak a couple of times. I felt that we were better prepared for the following games since we learned our lessons from the first match. All we needed was just a little bit of luck which came in the form of Bartosz Salamon’s incredible shot and then another successful offensive attempt a few minutes later,” explained van der Hart.

Lech played two different halves against Cracovia, especially when you look at the statistics. To compare the recent match with the clash with Radomiak, in the second half, Lech managed to fire three more shots at Cracovia’s goal (8) than they did in the opening game of the season. In addition, the team from Poznań had more goal-scoring opportunities and according to Lech’s midfielder, Jesper Karlström, this was the key difference between the two matches. “We have delivered a similar performance many times in the past, however, this time we had more goal-scoring chances and this turned out to be the key,” emphasised the 26-year-old Swede.

Van der Hart also praised his teammates from the field for their performance. According to the goalkeeper, the crucial part was putting a lot of pressure on the opponent and leaving them no space throughout the whole 90 minutes. As a result, even when the scoreboard showed 2:0, van der Hart didn’t have much to do. “My teammates from the field deserve recognition. When you keep on pressing relentlessly on the rival, usually you manage to break apart their defence. Cracovia stayed in possession of the ball for longer than Radomiak did, but they never managed to cause real problems to our defensive line. We completed the plan,” highlighted Lech’s goalkeeper for whom it was the second clean sheet so far this season.