Wisniewski: "We are a different team now"

They were the only team that managed to defeat the great Barcelona last season. However, the dream came to an end in the Last 16. Over the years, Orlen Wisla Plock have not manage to break this boundary, even though they have caused a few spectacular surprises recently.

The team captain Adam Wisniewski, who has been in the club his whole career, admitted that Plock has evolved significantly, and is looking forward to the new season.

He also shared his opinion about the changes made in the club and told us how he copes with the consequences of serious injury of multiple ligament injuries, he experienced many years ago.

ehfcl.com: A very intensive pre-period with lot of matches behind you. It looks like you started the season a month earlier!

Adam Wisniewski: This is actually the third time Manolo Cadenas has taken this approach. Always two weeks after starting our preparations we go to Germany for a tournament. When we come back we’ve got regular trainings and at the weekends we play matches. I think that it works well because we come into the our rhythm very quickly.

ehfcl.com: It is a good strategy for a team with such a high level of turnover, right?

Exactly! Over past three years our team has been rearranged a lot. Many players come and go from our side. The more time we spend on the court, the better we get to know each other.

ehfcl.com: You have been observing these changes for more than 15 years now. Do the newcomers always adapt to the team well?

Yes, I think so. As the captain of the team I’m responsible for creating an atmosphere and there were never problems with that. We’ve got a rule that each new player invites the team for a beer, to break the ice (laugh).

ehfcl.com: This time you have quite big gap to fill after losing such players as Kamil Syprzak and Mariusz Jurkiewicz.

Well, Sypa (Kamil Syprzak – ed.) was part of our team since childhood. By the coach Cadenas side his shooting improved a lot. Mariusz was already an experienced player and he fit in with Plock very well. They both made up the middle of our defence. Now that we have brought over the new players we need a bit of time to adjust.

ehfcl.com: Is the most expectation placed on young Dmitry Zhitnikov’s shoulders?

Yes, he is expected to be our game changer. He is young but already very experienced back. In my opinion, and probably many will share it, I think he is really good. He represents his country well, he attends big tournaments and he performs in the Champions League. He is very fast and he sees everything on the court. It looks like he has got only skills (laugh)!

ehfcl.com: Off the court too?

Yes, he is a cheerful and open-minded man. He jokes all the time and is always smiling!

ehfcl.com: Did he invite the players for a beer too, or something more typical for the Slavic nations?

No, no, only beer! We don’t drink hard liqour at all (laughs)!

ehfcl.com: Has Plock significantly evolved since the time you played in the Champions League for the first time?

Yes! We had a system with four teams in the group with two of them going forward then. These two teams were always the top ones and we had no chance against them. Most of the time we were losing everything and we were always fighting for the third place. It’s totally different now. We are different team, our club is a different brand. We’ve got better players, we have a bigger budget and a bigger hall. It’s a far cry from what it was.

ehfcl.com: But still, even though you have big potential, you can’t get passed the Last 16, why is that?

Well, last year we were really close. We were in the lead by nine goals over Vardar at home but we didn’t manage see out the tie, thus we were going to Skopje with six goals and that was not enough. The season before, we were knocked out by Veszprem after winning by one goal home and losing there by five. Each time we lose against the really big names, but I hope we can change it this time around.

ehfcl.com: You are also one step behind Kielce in domestic contest.

We can’t quite catch them recently. We are really close, but, unfortunately, always somewhere around the 50th minute something happens and we lose by two or three goals. Last time we won against them was in 2011. This year we’ve got a nice team I hope we will topple them of the championship or the cup. Definitely everyone in Plock misses such trophies.

ehfcl.com: Do you have a Kielce complex?

No, I don’t think so. We managed to beat Flensburg and Barcelona, so I think that people in Europe heard about the team from Poland that can cause problems in the Champions League, this is our success (laugh). We rebuild each season and Kielce remain almost the same with one or two players being exchanged. But we keep our fingers crossed for each other in the Champions League!

ehfcl.com: And how is your health? Do you still feel something from the accident ten years ago?

Well, sometimes I feel pain in my knee, especially in such a pre-season. My knee has experienced really lot. I have ruptured my ligaments three times, I had five or six surgeries. All in all, I have been out for three years in total. It all started in 2006, so I missed our national team’s greatest success. That’s why I was incredibly happy with a bronze in Qatar, but I hope it’s not the end!

ehfcl.com: As you are a true Oiler, you spent your entire career in Plock. Haven’t you thought about changing clubs?

I’m a born Oiler true and true (laugh)! Of course I had offers before the injury, from Spain and Germany, but they disappeared when I got injured. I don’t regret anything, now I just would like to stay here and play as long as possible. I’ve got my family here, friends, I run my business. I think that at this stage I don’t want to turn my life upside-down.