Tipsport Malta Cup: when we win some points in the league, we will ask coach Vrba for a sea lion, says defender Václav Procházka

You participated in the tournament in 2020 with Baník Ostrava. How has it changed in that time?

So far we have played in the same stadium, trained in the same complex. It hasn’t changed much. We’re just staying in a different hotel, closer to the pitch, the journey shouldn’t take that long, but we caught some traffic, so it wasn’t better. Then on the first day we were surprised by a sharp wind, but that got better, shouldn’t bother us. It’s seventeen degrees here again, a beautiful temperature.

You’re going into the sea in January?

Some people tried it then, but now there is no beach near the hotel that allows it. When we find one, we’ll go, it’s the best rehabilitation and hardening. I’m not a big fan, but I’d try it once or twice.

Three years ago, about 100 fans came to see Baník. Isn’t it a pity that there are no Zlín fans here this year?

We don’t have the results to have them fly so far to support us. We have yet to win them over.

The team has been taken over by Pavel Vrba, who you know well from Viktoria Plzeň. Did the memories you have of him come back to you immediately?

As soon as he first spoke in the booth, it jumped out at me that I used to hear those words in Plzeň. I realised that we would be playing similar football, but more importantly, purposeful football. We’re not going to play for beauty, we need points, we need to win. But its elements that history knows will be there, no doubt.

Will it be the attacking elements? Coach Vrby is a lover of offense.

In our situation, I have to focus on the defensive. We have to build on it. But it is from there that the distribution is created, which coach Vrba has always paid attention to, starting from the defenders. Something was already there against Trnava. We have ideal conditions in Malta to practice something, at home in Zlín we have only been running around.

How has coach Vrba changed since you worked with him in Plzeň?

It seems to me like it’s been no time at all, he’s still the same. He was very emotional during the first friendly. The guys asked me what they could expect from him, but I didn’t reveal anything.

When are you gonna ask him to do the proverbial sea lion, jump on the lawn?

When we get some points in the league, then maybe it’ll come.