He thought it was a mistake, but he was left alone with four players from the ground up! Atypical situation, Hoftych shakes his head

Slovan Liberec coach Pavel Hoftych on the archive dream.

Vlastimil Vacek, Right

How many players are you missing due to the infection?

There are four players left of the team from the basic line-up. Plus Taras Kačaraba returns, but the problem is that he did not play a match for a month. This time it is a very interesting and atypical situation. Since we test every three days, the players after two, three, four of us did not pass the tests … But time brings it and more clubs are struggling with it. For us, the unplayability of other players is probably worse. If competitions were running, players would be ready, this is how difficult it is for us and them. The health situation is difficult this time. Not even during the course of the disease, there is everything is fine and positive have at most symptoms of a mild cold.

How is the implementation team?

In the final, only I fly from the entire implementation team. The last time I experienced such a situation was in the junior of Zlín … Even my assistant Míra Holeňák, who is after a ten-day quarantine, could not fly with us. In the Czech competition, it would no longer matter, but in Germany he must have another negative test, which, like other players, does not meet.

How did you deal with personnel needs?

UEFA had to open an A-list for us to complete. As was the case with the FCSB in the 3rd preliminary round. We waited yesterday and only at two did we learn the results of the tests, an hour before training. At first I thought that the names on the list passed the tests, but in the end it turned out that on the contrary they did not pass … Then we just started working on getting the players into the process. So the guys who are with us from the B-team didn’t even train with us and joined us when we left for the hotel.

Would you consider the match at Hoffenheim as the toughest in the group, regardless of your health problems?

Hoffenheim would definitely be a favorite. I always like to use the values ​​of the team on the transfer market for comparison. Ours is 12 million euros, Slavia Prague about 35, Crvena zvezda 46, Gent 77 and Hoffenheim 224 million euros. That’s a huge difference. It’s just a pity that we can’t confront them in full fire and the experience we don’t want can not gain experience with, and the boys who won the promotion can’t be with the team. I’m sorry the most.

Do you take it that the disease weakened you before the hardest match and there is no danger of anything like that for the others?

It is definitely a time for the European competition and for our league. It can be said that we will have almost the whole cuff in our country and the advantage will be that something so extraordinary will not be waiting for us in the others. Players will be in the three-month period when they will not even have to take the tests. From this point of view, the timing is better than with the FCSB. We managed to advance to the group, which no one expected from us, and we brought money to the club at the right time in difficult coronavirus times. In addition, it met us in front of an opponent, against whom we would have relatively low prospects even in full fire. Unfortunately, some boys will lose national team matches, such as Nguyen or Júsuf. But there is nothing you can do.

Regardless of the staff of the team, what do you need to improve in the game so that the last debacle 1: 5 from Belgrade does not repeat itself?

There we were not so emphatic in approaching the opponent. We left him a lot of space and our defense was not good overall. But I also take the quality of the opponent. Even though we were well positioned, they were able to renumber us with individual quality. But first I have to focus on who and how we will build it. Only then will we address what to improve. It will definitely be about defensive work. It’s annoying that all the speed players like Mosqeur or Pešek left us. After catching the balloon, we will have a hard time getting up.

Pavel Kadeřábek, Czech representative, will probably not play for Hoffenheim, are you sorry?

If he just had his flight day up and down, he wouldn’t even regret … He’s a great football player and a boy. It is rather sorry for the Czech national team. It’s annoying for him too. I think we’ll meet somewhere in the stadium and exchange a few words. I wish him to return to the field soon and in the best possible form. We will be happy to see him in Liberec.