Boss Gordan Petric on Partizan season so far

Partizan boss Gordan Petric spoke to media reps on a special mid-season presser, summing up the season so far.

“We had ambiguous three months, that`s my impression. We could have done more in the league as we dropped a total of seven points, two against Crvena Zvezda and Javor and three against Spartak. The game against Spartak was the result of fatigue. We had energy, that`s clear when you look at the running parameters. But, I look at my players every day at training sessions and I can see that fatigue in a pass, shot or positioning. You need to have a balance within the team and I want to have Partizan youths involved with experienced players. We achieved our target in European competition although we should have topped the group in the end.

We should have done better in domestic cup as well but we were sort of tense at the time; boys missed four consecutive penalties. All in all, I`m pleased with our results in Europe but I cannot say the same regarding domestic competitions.

Talking about newcomers… We don`t need them for months ahead only but for next summer, regardless of the European competition we`ll play in. For me, it`s important to have your roster in January to get them all ready for June. At the moment, we need two or three new players to freshen up the squad and get some new energy. We need different types of players, we want to add more pace in midfield and get more competition on the flanks.

Everyone says we need Partizan to play like we did against Koln but we can`t play like that all the time as Koln was attacking-oriented side. At half-time against time, we were talking about not going behind the ball as we will go down. I would love to see us play like that, or like we did against Nice, but it not always possible. We need a better pass, more courage in one-on-one situations. I believe we`ll be better after the winter preps”, said Gordan Petric.