Kaan Kairinen had an almost ideal start to his new job. In his competitive debut for Prague, the 24-year-old Finnish midfielder of Sparta leveled the game in the 18th league round with Mlada Boleslav with the first goal after just six minutes, and then contributed another assist to the final 4:1 win. The winter reinforcement of Letenské believes that he will continue with similar performances, coach Brian Priske is convinced that his new charge will improve even more.
A week ago at the beginning of the spring part of the season, Kairinen remained only on the bench during a 1:1 draw in Olomouc, but against Boleslav he already got a chance and in the sixth minute leveled the score at 1:1 with a low shot to the bar from behind the goal. The spectators declared him the player of the match.
“A perfect start? Of course. It’s amazing to get an award like this. I hope to continue at this level. And the team, of course, to win more games. It’s amazing to be part of this club.” Kairinen told club television.
He praised the fact that Sparta was able to turn the situation around before halftime. “It was quite difficult and also a tough match. Boleslav played a lot of physicality, they had a lot of counter-attacks. There were a lot of fights. We defended our penalty area quite well today, our defensive work was great. I think it was a very solid performance from our team “ Kairinen noted.
Even coach Priske, who had not used Kairinen a week ago in Olomouc, was satisfied with his performance. “None of us know how it looked a week ago. Anyway, he played an excellent match today and I’m happy for him. He helped us mainly in two aspects. He is strong and at the same time calm on the ball and has a constructive passing game. He played well both in combination with Sadílek , so with Pavelka. She also has an excellent left-hander and dangerous set pieces. But she still needs to improve in the defensive phase and get used to the hardness of the Czech league. But I would say that she adapts quickly.” Priske said at a press conference.
He already led Kairinen in Midtjylland in the past. “I think he can still develop, that’s what we signed him with. At Strahov, we also work on his development every day. I trained him a few years ago when he was still quite young, and since then he has come a long way with the help of other coaches . I watched his development, which is why he was one of our targets in the transfer window. He showed a good start, but I think he can offer us even more. I want him to make even better decisions in certain situations.” added Priske.
