Prague – Sparta’s football coach Lars Friis praised Brest after the 1:2 home loss in the fourth match of the league phase of the Champions League. He stated at the press conference that it was no Mickey Mouse team. He admitted that his charges made many mistakes in the match. Due to the game and result crisis, they must therefore return to the basics. At least he was pleased to see the Spartan DNA in the players against the French team.
Edimilson Fernandes and Kaan Kairinen’s own goal decided the Leten team’s premier match against Brest, Victor Olatunji reduced it in the set-up. “We didn’t play against the Mickey Mouse team. They have already won 10 points from four games, they have pure quality. They are among the best teams in the competition and play in one of the top five European leagues. They are a good, experienced team,” said the 48-year-old Dane.
He acknowledged that the people of Prague made too many mistakes. “Then it’s hard to get something out of it in a Champions League game. We still got up, but at the end, it wasn’t enough, it was too late. When you make mistakes like that, it’s very difficult. I’m not just talking about the goals, but also the situations, in which we normally don’t make mistakes,” said Friis.
“On the other hand, I can’t blame the guys for not trying. I saw the Spartan DNA there again. They were hungry, they did everything. If you look at the numbers, we ran like crazy. In terms of quality and decision-making, we didn’t have quality worthy of the Champions League,” said Friis.
Even his large number of inaccuracies surprised. “We’ve made mistakes that you’ve probably never seen from us. There’s only one way out of this: back to the basics. We can’t do hocus pocus or change a lot. First of all, it’s about effort, about showing heart, will, hunger so , as Sparta always does. We can cross that off. Then it’s about the basics in decision-making and quality. We need to work even harder to see success,” noted Friis.
Sparta, which lost four of the last five competitive duels, started without a number of injured supports led by wingers Lukáš Haraslín and Veljko Birmančević. “It was a game of mistakes. We made too many mistakes, two of them big ones, because of which we just couldn’t get anything out of it. Even for Sparta, it’s difficult to play in the Champions League when we were missing some seven players. That’s not an excuse, but a statement of fact ,” said Friis.
“However, I do not attack the players who started, because I am pleased with their performance. The starting eleven and the substitute players showed that they still have Spartan DNA. Seeing him was very important for me. I am not happy with the performance, but I am happy with the Spartan DNA,” said the former coach of Viborg and Aalborg.
The defenders of the Czech title are in the middle of the league phase with four points in the joint table of 36 teams in 26th place. 24 teams will reach the elimination phase. “We don’t have enough points to continue in the competition after January. We have to get more. We have good opponents, we have already met equally good teams. It will be difficult, but we will do our best, that’s what we are here for. We will never give up, ” said Friis, whose team will welcome Atlético Madrid in less than three weeks.
He picked up the fans at the sold-out Letná. “The cup games here are special. At one point in the game, looking at the sold-out stadium and the way the fans supported us gave me goosebumps. He’s doing his best and I hope they continue to do that. Seeing how they cheered, even though it was not the quality or decision-making from the players, so I can promise them that we will never give up. And I want them not to give up either,” said Friis.
Sport football Friis Brest 4th round AUDIO Sparta Champions League PHOTO
Source: www.ceskenoviny.cz
