Pardubice was very scary for the first thirty minutes or so, don’t you agree?
Courage was lacking. We had a plan that failed to materialize. We were losing a lot and played every ball backwards, so they started Sparta’s pressing. Under pressure, they then kicked upwards, where you have a minimal chance to hit something. Then we got into the game a bit, but the opponent was still threatening. However, Sparta is of such quality that they have already secured the match. We knew they were going to jump between ranks, but they didn’t perform well for me and the side shift didn’t work either.
Was Sparta the best team you played against this spring?
I saw them from the stands, but I liked them even more from the line. They played fast, they know what they want to do. They have a strong bench, they do not lose quality during rotation. But we lacked the will to win the game. I have seen heads hanging from experienced players. I don’t know why, if we were really that scared, but I’ve seen hot flashes all week. Now I saw after the first return pass that if we don’t play our style, we won’t get anywhere.
So could anything have been done differently?
The respect was huge, I don’t understand. We didn’t want to just enjoy the match, but I expected much more courage to play up. The intensity was too high for some of our boys. Sparta plays very fast and has minimal losses when not under pressure. We couldn’t torture her.
In addition to the team concept, have you seen bad individual performances?
I don’t really want to judge individuals, but I said that if we want to beat Sparta, everyone has to perform above average. I saw maybe four or five below average ones. I’ll tell the guys to their faces, we always tell each other the truth. Now let’s rest and move on.
The key part of the year is still waiting for Pardubice.
Our season starts next weekend. We have nine rounds, the playoffs are starting, Sparta is behind us and now we are playing for our lives. But we know that. Six rounds ago we were minus six points and went to Boleslav. Now we have the same as Zlín. A key duel awaits us on Sunday, if we win, we will add Brno to our team.
What can be done differently so that the scenario from the duel with Sparta does not repeat itself?
We will definitely analyze what worked. But above all, we must keep calm, we must not panic. We were already dead in the autumn after Brno, no one believed us. Now we will go match by match and do everything to not be the last after the superstructure.
