Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Friday, 07 November 2025 21:01 / Updated Friday, 07 November 2025 21:12
Mihai Teja, 47 years old, the coach of Metaloglobus, commented on the result with which his team started the return of the regular season, 1-3 with U Cluj.
The return of the regular season was opened by the duel between U Cluj and Metaloglobus, divided by the hosts from the first half, in which the hosts scored three times.
In the end, Mihai Teja insisted on the idea that his students were afraid, that they shook off their emotions and showed what they can do only in the second half.
Mihai Teja, also defeated by U Cluj: “We are afraid to play! If you don't have a bit of personality…”
“We have fear, fear. I don't know where, because nobody takes our heads, nobody kills us. It's not a war, nobody shoots us. I want more personality, more confidence. The boys show that they can do more, but if we don't get rid of this fear from the beginning… We are afraid to play!
At 0-2, 0-3 we free ourselves, we have nothing left to lose and then we free ourselves from fear and start playing. Until we play from the 1st minute, and we can, because we show good football with all the teams, it will be difficult.
Then it's hard to come back from 0-2 or 0-3. Nistor, with two trademark quality goals, strikes from the first. Then Bic, goal from 30 meters. That's it, big, quality teams judge you right away if you're not careful and if you make small mistakes. If you don't hold the ball from the first minute, naturally the big teams charge you.
If the opposing team feels that you have little personality, they will naturally judge and dominate you. And the psychological factor is very important in football, you have to be strong. That's why I think it's hard for us to fight with foreign teams. We don't have self-esteem, we always think we are inferior, we enter the field with our heads down and then naturally you are a sure victim“, said Teja.
Mihai Teja: “We need 5-6 players to bring added value”
Asked if there would or would have been a need for a few more transfers, Metaloglobus being a team participating in League 1 for the first time, Teja confirmed:
“It's a big difference, League 1 is different. I don't take credit for the boys, they work, they do their job very well, they train well, but I told them, even directly, that we need to strengthen the team with added value, for 4-5-6 players to come to bring added value for League 1, so you can cope here.
If from the point of view of the game we have moments, innings, good matches, it is not enough. After all, you have to add value to compete with the big teams. Plus there are a lot of good teams with very big budgets in League 1. There are no more teams like us, with the same budget, to fight with them there. We know well, for example, what salaries are in Hermannstadt.
It's hard, the difference is very big. If in the past years there was a Brănești, a depunctuation, an insolvency… You could fight there, but that is no longer the case“.
