In the 2023/24 season, DVSC finished in the 5^th place in the first division of the Hungarian championship. The team collected the largest number of “young minutes” in the league. Srdjan Blagojevic, the head coach of DVSC, gave an interview to dvsc.hu and the staff of the “Csak a Loki!” magazine. Let’s see what he commented on different topics.

About the season, the expectations and the league

– First of all, we started the season with bigger expectations based on last year’s result and also because we are an ambitious team. Both the coaching staff and the players wanted to repeat something similar to what we have achieved in the previous season. We are a little bit disappointed because we didn’t get the opportunity to show ourselves in Europe. On the other hand, considering reality, the strength and unpredictability of this league, and all the problems and challenges that we faced during the season, I think that this is a realistic result. However, it is very difficult to say what is realistic in the Hungarian championship. For example, I don’t think that either Vasas or Honvéd had thought last year that it is realistic to be relegated, or let’s take Kisvárda as an example, who might had been thinking about competing in international cups at the beginning of this season, but now they are relegated to the second division. In this league, Ferencváros is one or two levels up compared to the other teams, regardless of the result of the cup final. I would say that all the other teams represent a similar level, and details can decide whether a team stays on the ground of reality, drops down or moves forward, like Paks did this year, or Kecskemét and our team did last year. Maybe we didn’t reach our high expectations, but overall, we are satisfied with the result this season

About development

– We have improved in some parts, while in some other parts, we have not. It was pretty chaotic and when we analyse the season, we must separate the performance from the result. In a lot of games, the result didn’t match the performance and it was true in both ways. There were a lot of games, when we played very well, but we didn’t get the result, for example in the away game against Fehérvár. However, there were also matches, when we won the game, but we couldn’t say that we were better than our opponent, like in the home match against Fehérvár. If we speak about the performance, in some parts we have improved and in other parts, we haven’t. Now, the team understands what the coaching staff wants. We need to work hard every day as learning and improvement never stops.

From a professional point of view

– I’ve checked the statistics and considering the expected points (regarding xG for us and against), we are the third in the table after Ferencváros and Puskás. It’s true that in a lot of games, we had bigger possession than our opponent. Although I know that people are commenting that they don’t need the possession, they want us to score goals, but we need the possession not for the sake of just having the ball. With the help of possession, we want to create chances and score goals, so it is possession with a purpose. I don’t want to fall into the trap saying that we don’t have the quality, of course we do, but we are aware of the fact that in some moments, we should have better solutions. It concerns the decisions made in the final third, the final passes, deciding about when to pass and when to shoot. These choices have basically cost us points and the opportunity to participate in international cups.

About the squad

– We speak about the squad during every transfer market. I have a clear idea about what I want, but it doesn’t depend just on the wishes of the coach, but a lot of other factors. There is no doubt and it is not a secret that we signed players during the previous transfer period, but we basically stayed without them because of different reasons. There’s room for improvement in this area. For the next season, the team needs refreshment, new blood, new ideas and energy, passion because football is about evolution all the time both on the pitch and in the locker room. In fact, not just Jorgo Pellumbi and Thor Úlfarsson were missing, but also Erik Kusnyir. I don’t want to use any excuses, but for us, his absence was a big loss. In my opinion, Erik Kusnyir was the most stable player in our team at the time when he got injured and I think that he was very close to receiving a call-up to the national team. He was ready to be a part of the national team, but unfortunately, he suffered a serious injury. After that we realized that Thor has a chronical injury, he had an operation and now he needs time to recover. We basically stayed with Donát Bárány as the only striker, plus the young Tamás Batai, who also got his own minutes. However, I’m afraid that it’s not going to be enough to enter a serious competition with bigger expectations no matter of the fact that I’m satisfied with Bárány, his effort, work and statistics too. Still, no one should forget that it is his first full season, If I’m not wrong, because in the previous seasons he was always injured. It is already a success that he could play during the whole season. What concerns Jorgo Pellumbi, we needed a left-footed centre-back with playmaking characteristics and a good pace, that’s why we signed him. Unfortunately, he got injured and we could not count on him.

Analysis and vision

– Firstly, the coaching staff have to objectively analyse themselves, which is a big challenge. The whole club and the management also have to objectively analyse what happened and draw conclusions in this way. After that, steps and actions need to be taken with the aim of improvement. I would say that first we have to make an objective analysis, then prepare a good plan for the transfer market. We have to be brave and make some moves that can bring us the energy and passion that is necessary. I think that our team needs to increase the aggressivity and speed. We need the desire to play more aggressive football with higher quality in defensive and offensive transitions, but without losing our own way of play.