“I am ready to be compared to Václav Varaďa. That’s normal. My only weapon is that we will play good hockey and have good results,” says the 58-year-old former coach of Vítkovic, Sparta Prague and Olomouc.
–
You often come across this question, what will it be like after Varaď? Will it be difficult to build on its success?
–
Of course. Venca did not leave a deep mark here, but a deep groove. He deserves credit for what he has done here. As I said when I started, everyone told me in the first or second sentence after they found out I was going to Třinec that I was going to have a hard time. Sure, but why be afraid of it. I trust my work, I trust Vlad (Országh) and my implementation team. Hope our work will be successful.
–
How uncomfortable it is for you that, as a more experienced coach, you will be compared to coach Varaďa, and someone might suggest that under Varadi it was like that …
–
It will certainly be so. But if that were not the case, it would be incomprehensible. I am more or less ready for this. I don’t follow any social networks, politics or sports at all. But the confrontation will be here. It must be. All I can do is that we will play well, we will have good results and our performances will increase.
–
Your predecessor had screens built into the substitute posts so you could show players the different moments of the match during the match. Are you used to it?
–
Tablets are a normal thing that is commonly used in America. It’s just that we are not yet technologically able, the championship and not even now the Champions League, to take full advantage of everything. For example, regarding the challenge of coaching. We at Třinec are ready, but not all stadiums are in the same situation, because it is expensive. But it works for us, so we can get what we need from it.
–
Have you already used it in a game?
–
No. Because it hasn’t been launched yet.
–
Was it a good move by Varadi to make it through?
–
Of course. When you watch NHL games, the guys bring a tablet there, they watch what and how. What about them, what about the opponent, how they are, what they are doing, what they should have done differently.
–
The Třinec players cheered for the goal.Photo: Jaroslav Osana, CTK
You are an experienced coach, you have already done a lot, how do you feel about starting Třinec after three titles in a row?
–
I’m not completely at peace, but I wouldn’t be anywhere before the season. Every coach is a little nervous, if he wasn’t, something would not be right. I already have some experience, so I would like to deal with situations calmly. This is important than panicking and being nervous. But every athlete has to have those butterflies in their stomach, that’s an important thing. This is what Havran has (points to Captain Peter Vrána standing nearby – ed) and the other guys. The butterflies are there.
–
How did you and Vladimír Országh juggle the tasks at the switchboard?
–
Vlado said at the first meeting that he can’t turn his back. So he trains his attackers, I make myself an attacker in a hot dog, I observe the opponent and react to the situations that develop. The players follow each other in a row and I manage to blend quite well in both the opponent’s game and our game and make some decisions.
–
Václav Varaďa succeeded with a solid defense that he had to teach the players. Will Třinec’s style change a lot under your leadership?
–
From the point of view of the defense, absolutely not! We would be crazy to change this. Now we want to add an offensive quality to the wonderful defense.
–
The staff have been together for a long time, do they have something ingrained in them, are the players open to new things, systems?
–
Sure, they are affordable. In general, boys like to play. And hockey is a game. But I don’t want there to be offensive races here. We know that all successes, all titles are won through defensive play. At the World Cup the Finns won the title with an excellent defense and thanks to this we also finished third. In previous years, Kometa has won titles with excellent defensive play, the same three times with Venca and Třinec. But the offense is also important. We haven’t been able to score more goals so far, but I hope it comes.
—
