Although Tatran Prešov started new season with the victory at Czech-Slovak Cup and three straight wins in SEHA Gazprom League,
they did
not succeed in the first two rounds of EHF Velux Champions Leaguea after losing to FC Porto and Meshkov Brest. The main reason of both lost games was the low potential of Tatran´s backs in these matches. It was mainly caused by serious problems of back players that have been pursuing Tatran since the beginning of the season.
Before travelling to the Spanish vice-champions Naturhouse La Rioja in the third round of the Champions League the coach of Tatran Rastislav Trtik has only four backs available for the match: “We found ourselves in very serious situation as we really miss six back players. These players were able to create certain pressure, which significantly supported the function of other positions on the court - wingers and pivots.
The first player that we have been missing for a long time is the left back Oliver Rabek. He did not start the pre-season, because he picked up a groin injury. He had to undergo an operation. He has trained only four times in the last three months. He seemed to be ready for the game in Porto to help us. Despite he looked really well before the match, he suffered the setback in his recovery from injury. Now we have to wait, when he will be allowed to come back to training.
The second one who picked up the health problems is our Slovenian centre back Vasja Furlan. He also did not start the pre-season training, because he had suffered injury setback. He had been training only for six weeks. After his great individual performance in Porto, where he scored 7 goals, he suffered another leg injury setback. He should be on the injury list for three weeks.
Those are two important players for the team, because Furlan is able to make the play of the team and Rabek can create needed big pressure on the opposite side.
The third player, who suffered from injury, is left back Dominik Krok. He is a dynamic player who can also get the opponents under pressure in certain phases of the game. He suffered the injury setback. Moreover he picked up some other health problems. He has been sidelined for two weeks and he will probably miss other two weeks.
Another injured player is the third left back we miss – David Pogany, whose abilities and parameters are interesting for every coach. After his summer move to Tatran Prešov, he came to the club with an injured shoulder. At first our medical staff tried to solve his problems in a conservative way, but finally they decided he had to undergo an operation. At the moment he is recovering from his injury and we will have to wait for his comeback for a long time.
The fifth back, which got injured versus Meshkov Brest, is a universal back, Slovakia U20 international Lukas Urban. He is one of the biggest talents, so we gave him bigger space on the court. I really like his attitude to trainings and performances in matches. Unfortunately, he is another player who suffered the injury setback. He renewed his hand injury, so he has a plaster cast of his hand. We will miss him at least for three weeks.
The sixth injured back is Croatian right back Ivan Ivkovic, who picked up some serious abdominal problems. At the moment we do not know how long we will miss him.
As a consequence, the biggest problem we have to face right now is how we are able to cope with the absence of six back players. It is almost irresolvable situation, because we have only four backs available – Radchenko, Sadovyi, Peskov and Pekar. Moreover we have 12 fixtures in October 2015 – 4 matches in EHF Velux Champions League, 4 games in SEHA Gazprom League and 4 Slovakian League encounters.
That is the reason why we have to be realistic about our goals in the Champions League, in which we simply cannot keep up the entire games with the teams, which have at least two players for an each position. Nowadays the matches in the Champions League are decided mainly by the quality of backs and their abilities to create efficient pressure on the opposite side. Therefore we will focus on our new long-term aim in La Rioja and other Champions League games – to build the team that will be prepared at the high quality level towards next seasons.“
Despite all this, the coach of Tatran Prešov Rastislav Trtik does not give up before the Champions League game in Spain: “We will fight hard and we will give our best in the game. On Tuesday, when we lost in Skopje to home side Vardar 32:39, we gave the chance to play to other talented young players such as Lubos Sarpataky and Richard Wilga, who could start to gain their first experiences on European handball courts. I was positively surprised with the performance of our backs. Peskov scored 8 goals, Sadovyi added 7 goals. They proved they were able to play under pressure and take responsibility. We actually managed to win the second half 19:16. It is the proof that boys do not give up and are able to fight against the team that belongs to the top clubs in the world. I believe we will give quality performance in La Rioja.”
Prešov