The coach of Vojvodina FC, Božidar Bandović believes that his team has great chances for the placement into the play-offs for Conference League if they repeat the game from the matches against Ajax.

The players of Vojvodina FC are traveling to Maribor on Tuesday, where on Thursday they will be playing against NK Maribor in the first match of the third round of qualifications for Conference League, and the only one missing from the team will be Aleksa Vukanović.

  • We are expecting a difficult match against an organized and disciplined opponent, but if we repeat the game from the matches against Ajax, we have big chances to pass into the next round. As for the team, Aleksa Vukanović is not in the protocol due to his injury, while Vukan Savićević has been left out because he is not feeling well, it is not an injury, he trained this morning. We have to repeat the same discipline, the same energy and motivation as against Ajax – Bandović said.

He also reflected on the loss against Čukarički on Sunday at Banovo Brdo.

  • As a coach I take full responsibility for that loss, because I decided to give a chance to some players, because they deserved it due to their work at trainings. I believe that if we were on a level from the first minute, the game would have been different. I entirely take the blame, I start from myself, from what I could have done, but I am sure that the players also know what was wrong. We were missing energy, but this loss will not affect us, we have to overcome it. I don’t like the way we lost, but this team has the power to look ahead, and is aware of the goal, and on that road, there won’t be matches like this one – Bandović said.

He also answered the question about the debut of the returnee – Slobodan Medojević.

  • Certainly, the new players need some more time to adapt. Medojević has just arrived, it takes time for him to prepare, and the time will show his strength. However, the entire team was not on a level. I believed that the team that started the match could have won this game, because I know how much they can do. Secondly, between Ajax and Čukarički we had only two days of rest, and some individuals were certainly in a condition to play and not get hurt, but then it would be a big question if they would be ready for Maribor, because that match is also close. We want to play on both fronts, that is why we have a pool of players. We have many games to play – Bandović highlighted.

The coach of Voša said that on Sunday against Čukarički nothing was functioning like it should have, and that the team didn’t deserve to win.

  • Focus, energy, nothing was working. To receive two goals in such a short period of time is really bad. I have no excuses, I chose and decided, we were missing everything, tactically and mentally. I cannot be pleased with those 10 minutes of good game between their two goals. That is why we didn’t deserve to win. Simply, we didn’t play well, maybe it would have been different if we scored a goal in those 10 minutes. Čukarički defended well, we didn’t make chances. The pitch was a disaster too, even though I don’t like excuses – Bandović said.

Finally, he commented on the lineup of Maribor.

  • Maribor was compacted in the middle, everything revolves around those two midfielders, who are high quality players. They have dangerous zone who must solve the match, but we will analyze and prepare everything. Ever since I have been here, we never had tactics, we played our game and that is how it will be now. We have to analyze their pressing, zone defence and use their weaknesses. The game style remains the same, bravely, offensively, and to have ball possession. And when we are in the middle, we will know what we need to do – Božidar Bandović said.