Tecl: We want to play aggressively and as a team! Will Slavia be able to play against Fenerbahce without coach Trpišovský?

On Thursday, Prague Slavia will play in the European Conference League against Fenerbahce Istanbul from Turkey. However, Jindřich Trpišovský will be missing on the bench of the visiting team, whose health problems prevented him from participating.

The current sixth-placed team in the Turkish top flight will challenge Prague Slavia on Thursday evening, of course in the first round of the knockout stage of the Conference Europa League.

It should be noted that this match will be played without the presence of coach Trpišovský, who will be replaced on the bench by his current assistant Jaroslav Köstl. This is only the second time in his life that he will try the role of head coach.

“It will be unusual, because we are all used to Jindra. But historically, all the decisions that have been and will be made are from all the coaches. So even now, we have been fine-tuning it with him,” Köstl commented on the situation in an interview for the club’s website.

“The communication takes place during Wednesday, when we talked to him on the phone, it will also take place after the training when we will communicate some impressions. And of course on Thursday. We haven’t talked about communication during the game yet,” he adds.

One thing is certain for now, according to Stanislav Tecl, the Prague players will want to play aggressive and above all as a team. However, he does not speak about the absence of coach Trpišovský, who was prevented from going to Istanbul by health problems, as a complication, but as a certain unusual thing.

The Seamers will also have to watch out for some very dangerous names. According to the latest information, Mesut Özil is expected to be involved in the match, while Enner Valencia and Mergim Berisha will be very dangerous in attack.

“Of course, we watched them towards the end of the autumn season when it was clear that we would get them. Then there was a change of coach, so the team was a bit different, but the individuality remained. It’s a team that is extremely uncomfortable up front. There are Valencia-type players who, when they turn their engines on, it’s uncomfortable. But we are ready for that too,” Köstl concluded.

According to the current statistics, Slavia has a fairly solid chance of success. Fenerbahce is not performing so convincingly at home, but they are doing much better away from home, where they have scored a total of 19 points.

Sources: SK Slavia Praha, Fenerbahce Istanbul, UEFA