In 1996, coach František Cipro and Slavia Prague won the championship title, the first in forty-nine years. He sat on the bench of the Prague club a total of three times in different periods. Her former coach František Cipro has no explanation for the tragic introduction of the red and whites in the spring season. “Probably nobody has that. Not even in the club,” he says.
League match with Karvina 0: 1, quarterfinal with Sparta 0: 2. Both matches at home. Do you have an explanation for Slavia’s tragic entry into the spring season?
I don’t, no one probably has. Not even at the club. Probably more causes came together, there may be objective reasons. Based on my own experience, I was surprised that the team was in the heat for three weeks on Sunday, but did not play a single preparatory match. That seems weird to me. I have been with the manchaft in Portugal about three times, we had arranged matches. I know that covid may have canceled some matches, but other clubs have not had such a situation. Being somewhere three Sundays and playing blues against yellows is useless.
Was the general with Baník not enough?
One match is not enough. The winter break was, you start again, one match will not show you the best line-up. But I’m not there, so I only speak from a fan position.
First a defeat at home with Karviná, with the last team on the table. How could this happen?
I know such matches, I’ve experienced them too. Do you think that it will go by itself, that the opponent arrives fucking, retreats and gives up the match. But he did not hand him over. Slavia bets on combination football, it will combine to the point of lime, but when it gets to it, it faces nine red and white opponents. This is difficult to overcome.
Defeat with Karviná, even that can happen. But why didn’t the player get a home derby with Sparta?
Slavia’s speech was very sad. When I saw the Sparta line-up, I thought, they probably don’t attach that importance to the cup, they delete it. Young men, some of whom I didn’t even know, such as Suchomel. Slavia almost complete, I just don’t know why Shrovetide didn’t come. Is he hurt? They probably said too, we’ll cross these. It looked completely different on the field. Sparta defended well, scored a second, it is then played badly when you go full and there is a risk of counterattacks in the open defense. Honestly – it could have ended much worse for Slavia. However, the last twenty minutes have been terrible, one foul after another… And for the same simulation, the players keep falling, the referee leaves it, it also annoys me. I thought it was going to go wrong. All in all, there was no big spectacle for Slavia playing with Sparta.
Not one goal scored in two shows at home. What is behind it?
Again, I don’t want to evaluate from a distance, but it is difficult to adapt Krmenčík to Slavia’s game. And for others to adapt to it, it’s even harder. I will return to the Slavic combination game, in which he also tries to get involved. At the same time, his style of play is different. Enter the sixteenth, head, finish. When he joins the combination, he doesn’t do well, he doesn’t have it, and then, on the contrary, he misses in front of the goal. When a center comes, there were not many quality ones, so there is no. He still has his back to the opponent’s goal, he accepts the balloon, which is also not good. I don’t know why they didn’t try the promising Denis Aliyagic, whom everyone praises and I like as well. He is looking for an attacker who scores goals, did not get a chance, went on a guest visit to Liberec. I don’t know what’s behind it.
Are you suggesting that the release of the shooter Jan Kuchta and also the creator of the game Nicolae Stanciu was a mistake?
Undoubtedly, it is a loss. But Slavia has a staff of thirty, another ten for hosting. He can’t make excuses. She monetized them well, so it is that the players come and go and look at the financial point of view. The management has made good transfers in the recent past, and Kuchta is also a great deal for the money. So is Stanciu.
The beginning of autumn was similar: reactive ending, goals scored after mistakes. Thus, the basic groups in the Champions League and the European League escaped Slavia. Is there a parable?
Maybe you’ll find something in it, I don’t see the club so deep now. I repeat, I’m not there. But not only did the Slavs not score, they didn’t even shoot properly. They didn’t create anything. The ideal set is probably being sought quickly. At the end of the transfer period, they made two players, Fila and Jurásek from Mladá Boleslav. There are too many foreigners in the team for my taste. Sparta joined the two, still foreigners in quotes, there are many of them in Slavia. It’s not my taste.
Karvin’s goal was preceded by a mistake, hesitation or inconsistency of five players. Does this indicate anything?
As I say, a lot of foreigners, I don’t think so.
Danish back Alexander Bah was almost a world class in the fall, now he’s worried. Why?
It’s not just him. Petr Ševčík was a great football player, now he plays ball, Olayinka doesn’t play anything. Bah is very upset, he is waving his arms, he is still bothered by something, the referee, the opponent. He’s not concentrating. How he feels, it is necessary to ask him. I don’t know what’s bothering him.
Is it a crisis?
No, but the team has to catch on. I believe that he will not lose in Slovácko. Slavia has the advantage that the house cannot be full yet. When it’s sold out, it’s very uncomfortable there, it would play badly for her.
What would you advise coach Trpišovský to do?
He has to find the optimal set. It’s still kind of spinning, spinning, rehearsing. I used to play with thirteen people, I trusted them, others already knew they were substitutes. And there is no boss who would calm the others, organize it. I know that time is different, but I would look for the optimal set and give them confidence. And let’s go. From the beginning before they catch. They got into a bad situation that no one expected. But as they fell into it, they could rise again. Just one match and they are out of it.
Will Slavia defend the title?
Definitely who else. With such a cadre. It doesn’t work either way.
