Roland: - We need to step up

Head coach Roland Nilsson attended a press conference yesterday evening in the build up to FCK’s clash with Shamrock Rovers. The squad is in Ireland preparing for the second leg of their third round qualifying tie for the UEFA Champions League.

by Joe Short

Nilsson expects his team to face a tough test in the Tallaght Stadium in front of nearly 6,000 Irish fans, and approximately 50 hardy Danes who will do what they can to roar on their team who won 1-0 in PARKEN last week in the first leg.

- We need to step up our game compared to the first match where our performance was not quite as good as it should have been; but we do have a head start, which means that if we score we will put further pressure on Rovers, said Roland on Monday evening.

The Irish champions have not been in combat since the first leg in PARKEN, as the Irish League was suspended for the weekend while a selected Irish team – without the players from Shamrock Rovers – participated in the Dublin Super Cup friendly tournament with Manchester City, Inter Milan and Celtic.

- We got off to a good start in PARKEN, but we tried too hard to make it 2-0, and so we lost both pace and sharpness. Once that happens during a match, it's hard to pick up again, said Nilsson, who in the first match had to replace Johnny Thomsen during the break because of an injury. Johnny is in Dublin and was tested last night, before Nilsson and his coaching staff decided on their final 18-man squad.

Ragnar Sigurdsson can be used as a replacement, but Nilsson stressed that there are other alternatives to right back slot too. He refused, moreover, the idea that the Lions will go out to grab a quick goal in the match, and placed more emphasis that the performance as a whole should be good, which in turn increases the chances of winning.

The Irish journalists tried in vain to get the Swede to reveal his starting XI, but it was confirmed that Dame N'Doye is totally fit for fight. Instead, they used this opportunity to ask for Nilsson’s assessment of the World Cup qualifying group that both Ireland and Sweden have ended up in: a pot he calls severe and where Germany are the clear favorites to qualify.

Thomas Kristensen pointed out one key word for the Danish champions tonight, and that was ‘pace’:

- We need to get out and run much more! It was not good enough in the first match where we wanted to settle the tie, but now we have to get out there and finish the job. We must be mentally focussed from the first whistle, and I am confident that we will be.

Photo: Torkil Fosdal, FCK.DK