He finally presented himself in a “white” jersey and right on the pitch. The Luxembourger Gerson Rodrigues is supposed to replace the Serbian gunner Aleksandar Čavrič in the spring part of the football season and above all to help Slovan Bratislava with the offensive.
news-item-description">The general before the spring part of the season, a different opponent than was originally agreed, the new successor of Aleksandar Čavrič with a controversial reputation, dissatisfaction with the staff and a heavy heart for Slavia Prague. After Saturday’s match with NK Bravo, ŠK Slovan Bratislava assistant coach Boris Kitka spoke.
After the departure of the “white” icon Alexander Čavričwho, after eight years at Tehelno poli, headed for distant Japan, the reigning champion of Slovakia needed to find someone who could become his adequate replacement.
The man who should be the new offensive leader of the “Whites” is to become a 28-year-old Luxembourg representative Gerson Rodrigueswho we also remember well from the mutual fights against Slovakia in the qualification for advancing to EURO 2024. It was the Portuguese native who caused the “falcon” the biggest problems defensively, and they expect exactly the same from Rodrigues in Slovan.
Gerson Rodrigues starts for ŠK Slovan Bratislava for the first time, source: ŠPORT.sk
After halftime, warm-up à la Diego Maradona
After arriving in Bratislava, the pupil of the French FC Metz introduced himself to the fans for the first time in Saturday’s warm-up against the Slovenian club NK Bravo (1:1). He got into the match only after the change of sides, but he got to know the ball already during the halftime break.
In it, he juggled several times to the tunes of the well-known song “Life is life” by the Opus band, and fans could thus recall the legendary video of Argentine Diego Armando Maradona, when he warmed up to the same song before the Napoli match. Look at the bottom of the article.
However, in order for the Luxembourger to get into an ideal mood and be beneficial to the needs of the Slovan coaching staff, he will still have to work on himself. “I can’t say much yet because he’s only been here for two days. I think it could be cool. We will see how he fits into the team and how he looks on the field. If he’s struggling, I think it won’t be a problem,” he said about the match with NK Bravo Czech Jaromír Zmrhal.
Gerson Rodrigues (in blue). Source: imago
The coaches will do everything to help Gerson
Rodrigues had some interesting moments in his first match – he tried to get into runs behind the defense, ask for the ball, tried it one on one, but he is still far from ideal. This was also confirmed by assistant coach Boris Kitka, who drew attention to the fact that the Luxembourger was not with the Bratislavars at the training session in Qatar. Therefore, he will need some more time to get used to the team.
“When we watched him in the fall, for me he is typologically a completely different player than Aleksandar Čavrič. If you analyze his game, especially in the Luxembourg national team, he had a lot of freedom in the offensive. It was also seen today that he was moving in spaces that are more or less in the lower offensive line. We will definitely need him especially in the ‘nine’ position and we will adjust the position accordingly. He is looking for space, especially in the intermediate zones. I shouldn’t compare him with Čavrič, but as long as he has the numbers, we’ll be happy,” said Kitka.
“We will do everything to be able to get the players through training sessions and individual interviews to a level that will not weaken us at least. It will be difficult, but it will also be important how the player himself wants to work. Of course, Gerson is here for a short time and is unprepared because he didn’t train with us. We have a short time for everything and we will try to do miracles,” announced the assistant of Vladimír Weiss senior.
Gerson Rodrígues and Ivan Kmotrík Jr., SK Slovan Bratislava, source: skslovan.com
Problems with the courts in Luxembourg
Although Rodrigues has an indisputable football talent, he is also accompanied by a highly controversial past, which also stems from his wild temperament. Even in Saturday’s training session against Bravo, up to three teammates had to calm him down after one of Slovan’s corners.
As already reported by ŠPORT.sk, Gerson will still have to deal with inconveniences in Luxembourg, where he is facing charges of assault in three cases. He is reportedly facing up to two years in prison. The footballer, for whom Slovan is already the 14th club in his career, is definitely not a “flower”.
news-item-description">Although with a delay, Slovan Bratislava brought a replacement for Aleksandar Čavrič.
“There are some things that belong to the person of the given player. Some things are not for us to comment on. That’s one thing. The second is what we can change and that is how it will behave with us. We will concentrate on that. That there were problems with some players in the past, so it is not fair for me to comment on that. If we manage it here, everything from the past will be forgotten. If we can’t handle something, we’ll deal with it internally,” added Boris Kitka.
2024-02-03 20:30:00
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