"We don't love football": Baník coach slams his own team's performance despite Cup win

Ostrava's Baník struggled to advance to the next round of the MOL Cup (Czech Cup), edging past their opponents only thanks to a goal scored in the final minutes of extra time. Despite the result, the head coach was far from satisfied with the quality of the performance and didn't hold back his emotions at the post-match press conference.

"I'll keep it short and to the point. We played timid, joyless football. The home side were better, more dangerous, especially in the first half. We only scraped through thanks to luck. But our performance over all 120 minutes gave us nothing to be happy about," the coach said after the final whistle.

A problem with "passion"

Asked about the reasons behind the poor performance, the coach admitted he couldn't find a simple explanation. "I have a huge problem with the team's passion, with their courage on the pitch. We simply didn't have it. From the very start of the match we made three or four sloppy, cheap mistakes. Our opponents sensed it and realized it was working for them," he said.

He noted that over the past three weeks he himself had publicly taken part of the blame for the team's poor run of results, "but it's the players who play football, and we played badly." The coach added that the team's defending in the penalty area looked "laughably passive," calling it a "childish" level of play unacceptable in the Czech league.

Everything's different in training

The coach pointed to a recurring pattern: in training, the team looks focused, aggressive and energetic, but fails to show the same qualities in official matches. He promised to keep working on the issue, though he admitted it would be harder given the absence of players away on national team duty and other missing squad members.

In his assessment, the team has already gone through a third of the season, and every player has had a chance to prove themselves — some have made better use of it than others. But the coach sees the main problem as lying elsewhere, not in tactics or the lineup. "Without passion, nothing works. And that's what angers me most. We have no passion. We don't love football. We're overwhelmed by other feelings, and it shows in how we play," he concluded.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz