Levski men's volleyball coach Nikolay Zhelyazkov spoke to reporters at the club's media event. He expressed satisfaction with his team's performance in the control matches so far, but admitted that there is room for improvement and Levski will play different volleyball in the new season.
"The preparation is going normally, we are training hard. We played many control matches, the team's condition was clear. There are positive things and not so positive things. It's always good when you win control matches. We played valuable matches and not so good ones. I can't be absolutely satisfied for now. We are looking to improve the team's serve, as I believe we have great reserves there. We had a problem with the inability to use the Cuban Osorio, who could not travel with us to Serbia and Turkey due to a lack of a visa. Now we will be able to use him for the last checks in Greece," commented the coach.
"Levski will certainly be different in the new season. We have three new players, which is half a team. It is difficult to fill the place of setter Simeon Nikolov because of his playing characteristics. But Levski has another setter - Stoil Palev, who also has his own characteristics and is doing well. That's why I said we will play different volleyball," the coach added.
"I will repeat myself from last year when I said that CSKA is an extremely classy and valuable team. It's not about being a favorite in the derby against them. From day one at Levski, I have not been given specific goals, I set the goals. We realize that it is much harder to defend first place than to win it, but we will try to write this new page in the club's history," Zhelyazkov also said.
"We were champions last year, now we are a new team that will again strive for the title. We have many new additions - young and experienced players. We will also play in the group stage of the Champions League. This means more commitments, more intensive training, but we also have more players that we can rotate and greater variability for the coach," believes Levski captain Svetoslav Gotsev.
"I am glad that Gianlorenzo Blengini relies on me in the national team. I try to transfer some things into my training in the club team as well," said the birthday-celebrating young ace of the "blues" Vladimir Garkov.
photos: Nikolay Varadinov
