We can face such team, manager believes
10.4.2019, Klub
Slavia take on Chelsea home on Thursday. There is an elite club we must face, Jindřich Trpišovský admits.
“Chelsea are extraordinarily strong. The teams they eliminated were really strong too. They have the best defence among all the English teams. Mix of fitness, strength in duels and football quality makes them complex team. There is an elite club standing against us. But we wanted Chelsea to be drawn against us, we want to compare, test what we can do. I am glad we have such an opportunity,” Jindřich Trpišovský said on the pre-match press conference.“All players from our Europa league squad are ready, there are none on the injury list. It is a good message for us, we are aware of the difficult games ahead of us,” Slavia manager added.
Souček misses the game
On the other hand Tomáš Souček – one of the top Slavia players in European competitions – will miss the game due to yellow cards. “We will definitely miss him. But soon there will be time when we will have to play without him anyway. It is difficult with such an opponent. Souček is a key player for us in most of the situations. We have several substitutes, but it is like if Chelsea would miss Hazard and will try to replace him. We must divide his role among several other players. We will start with different type of player and must also opt for different tactical formation,” Trpišovský said.
Will Chelsea rotate players?
Both clubs play difficult games on weekend. Slavia host Sparta in Prague Derby, Chelsea will face Liverpool FC. Will the English side focus on the Premier League more? “I will try to guess Mr. Sarri’s tactic a little bit,” Slavia manager asked. “They are in similar situation as we are in the Czech league and in Europe. They cannot take any game lightly ad I don’t believe they would focus less on any game. Their line-up for Liverpool will be similar to the one against West Ham and other players will start here. I would guess about 4 to 5 changes in compare to West Ham. Pedro, Willian, maybe Kovacić. But it is just my opinion, it could be another way. Chelsea know they have second leg home and will try to rotate players.
