Slavia Prague’s Assistant Coach Jaroslav Köstl made a statement after the match they played with Fenerbahçe in Istanbul.
Köstl, who took the field at the head of his team after the coach Trpisovsky could not come to Istanbul due to health problems, used the following statements in his evaluation of the match:
“WE SHOWED OUR SUPERIORITY BY STAYING CALM”
“We knew that a difficult match was waiting for us. It was a difficult match. Fenerbahce played strong at first, came against us strongly. We played smartly, circulating the ball, closed our field in such a way that they could not find a gap. With Fenerbahçe being a little more excited, we remained calm and “We showed our tactical superiority. After finding the advantage, we conceded an unfortunate goal. Pelkas was the only free player. They found him. We gave a strong response and we scored 2 goals in a row. We thought we could finish the game even earlier, but we conceded an unlucky goal again.”
“A HUGE VICTORY FOR US”
“For us, this is a great victory in every way. We wish we had not conceded 2 goals, but Fenerbahçe is a very big club. Fenerbahçe is a club with a great history all over Istanbul. Everything is not over. There is 1 more game. With an advantage. “We’re back home. We’re very happy to have the advantage.”
“We had no communication problems with Trpisovsky. We talked to him constantly. We make all the decisions as a team. We met at halftime. He is also very happy. I don’t know anything about his feelings after the match. I haven’t had a chance to talk yet.”
“WE ATTACKED VERY EASY”
“The pitch was very nice. The ball could move quickly. In the Slovacko match, we couldn’t find the opportunity to pass because of the floor. There were no combinations of passes, the ball wouldn’t go. Here we were able to make any pass we wanted. We were able to attack much more easily. We saw a higher performance from some of our players. Traore played great. “Scoring a goal was a great contribution to the team. Apart from the goal, he was able to catch the ball where necessary. He distributed the ball very well. He put the ball on top of what he played in the last games, improved his performance. The opponent’s game was also an element.”
“WE ARE PRODUCTIVE ON NORMAL”
“After conceding the goal, they opened up a lot because they had to score. We found plenty of spaces in the back that we wouldn’t normally find. We found 3v1, 3v2 positions. We evaluated as much as we could. The calm of the opponent was broken and the calm of the fans was broken with our attacks. A few lighters were thrown on the field. I think we’ve had above-normal productivity today.”
“Milan Baros’ son brought us luck today. He was wearing the Slavia Prague jersey. One of the things that brought us luck was little Patrick.”
“WE TRIED A TACTIC THAT WE HAVE NEVER USED BEFORE”
“We had a lot of ideas in mind. Seeing that the pitch was fast and nice, we decided to play with 3 players. We used Ivan Schranz on the right wing because there were no 2 right-backs. When we saw the pitch, we decided to use 3-5-2. We’ve never done this before. We didn’t use it. We thought we could force the opponent by coming faster from the flanks, and that’s what we thought. With the tactical change, we also nullified the opponent’s preparations. It was a tactic we hadn’t used before. We showed Ivan the disadvantaged sides of the opponent with the videos yesterday. He played great. He met our expectations. Both his own speed and technique. We showed tactical quality.