As the Letens stood in a circle and grabbed each other’s shoulders, the man number 20 stepped out of line and began. He was literally shouting, throwing his arms around, his dissatisfaction and anger poured out from him to the entire Pilsen stadium.
“We’ll keep it to ourselves in the cabin,” answered fullback Matěj Ryneš when asked what exactly was heard in the circle. The Albanian midfielder’s emotional speech lasted around ten seconds, then Laci took his place back next to coach Lars Friis. So he added one more sentence, received a pat from Albion Rrahmani, who was standing next to him, and then the head coach continued.
Editing of the match Pilsen – SpartaVideo: LFA
Probably no one can be too surprised by what happened. Sparta showed a very lackluster performance in Pilsen, especially in the first half.
“I don’t know if emotions were the problem,” said Friis at the press conference. “We lacked quality, I lacked more offers. In the first half we kicked a lot, in general it was not a good match at all,” he added.
However, there are opinions that it was precisely the wrong mental attitude that led to the fact that Sparta did not succeed in the duel at all.
“When I was watching the match, emotions immediately hit my eyes. They don’t go out of business, the movers are not doing well at the moment. (…) When I go back, Ladislav Krejčí has developed into a leader and support of Sparta, and I miss a similar personality in Sparta’s squad now. The only person I can think of who could bring emotion to the team is Laci. On the other hand, such a position must be supported by performance. And I’m not sure here,” Tomáš Malínský, a former league player primarily from Liberec or Hradec Králové, described to Sport.cz.
“It was not enough from the Spartans. It wasn’t about individuals, but they didn’t catch on as a team. There was no drive and I didn’t feel that they were going to win,” former Sparta footballer Jakub Podaný said in the O2 TV studio.
“There was no will and hunger for victory. The returns were far worse than at Pilsen,” added Zdeněk Folprecht, who also wore the Letenský jersey in the past.
And Laci’s speech? “Others may take him harder when he is not a definite player in the starting line-up. Laci is on edge. You take it differently if it’s Láďa Krejčí, for example,” said Folprecht.
Even the players themselves spoke critically. Captain Filip Panák was annoyed that Sparta retreated from their game, kicked a lot and at the same time did not have second balls.
“We will have to think and change something. From the approach to the match from the beginning, we have to fly into them,” stated Panák.
Midfielder Kryštof Daněk was perhaps even more direct in an interview for club television. “We didn’t approach it the way we should have. It is then up to each of us, we have to get up and start with ourselves. There was great discontent in the cabin. The approach has always decorated us and it must be different. We slacked off a bit, which is punishing us. I hope everyone realizes this and we start from scratch,” he described.
Sparta has a chance to show a diametrically different performance already on Wednesday evening, when they host Zbrojovka from Brno in the 3rd round of the MOL Cup. At the moment, a clear outsider who is struggling and in the relegation positions in the second league. And then Baník on Saturday and Brest Champions League on Wednesday. Everything for Summer.
