Slovácko coach after draw with Artis: I don't understand how much hostility came from our fans

Football club Slovácko played to a 1:1 draw with Artis in a match at their home stadium in Uherské Hradiště, where around three and a half thousand spectators gathered. The hosts took the lead in the 80th minute after an own goal by visiting defender Harazim, but just five minutes later Artis equalized thanks to a mistake by Slovácko's new defender Behiratche — the ball was taken off him by Adediran, who set up Fombo for an easy finish into an empty net.

Slovácko coach Jiří Jelínek chose not to criticize the young defender for his error. "I won't blame him, because he wanted to play. Of course, we'll discuss what stage of development we're at in terms of our game. Apart from that, Behiratche performed at a high level. It wasn't only his fault — a series of mistakes led up to that goal. I appreciate what the team did — after the match, all the players immediately backed him up," the coach said.

The stands were particularly unhappy with the way home goalkeeper Milan Heča built up play from the back. Since returning to the starting lineup, he often waited for a teammate to find space before releasing the ball. Because of these pauses, fans booed their own team several times.

Jelínek explained the philosophy behind the team's style of play. "There are already plenty of long balls in our league — that's how our opponents played, and that's how we played a week ago against Slavia, and it got us nowhere. We want to develop our style of play and our players, and the way we build up needs to fit that. The fans don't like it, but that's how, for example, Cape Verde played at the World Cup. Cape Verde! And here we are, constantly just fighting for scraps — we're sick of it ourselves. We're at the start of this journey, but if we don't try, we won't make progress," the coach stated.

He also addressed the stands directly: "Even when Heča is standing there with the ball, a lot is happening on the pitch and in the players' heads. If we want our footballers to feel the game, we need to give them space. Artis's only free player was their goalkeeper — it wasn't easy to find space against their tall defenders. We knew that. When building play, what matters to us is that the player picks the right moment. It didn't work in the first half, and in the second half it even got a bit absurd — people were shouting at me, asking what I'm teaching them, and then suddenly Stojčevski found himself one-on-one precisely because of patience in the build-up. If we just mindlessly hoof the ball forward, the fans will be happy, but we ourselves won't understand what's happening on the pitch," he said.

The coach added: "I appreciate the support of the fan section, but I don't understand how much hostility was coming from our supporters." At the same time, he praised the performance of goalkeeper Heča, who has recovered from injury: "In that situation he was faultless and patient, he didn't buckle under pressure, unlike some other players who felt the weight of the crowd. Heča showed a very good level," Jelínek concluded.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz