Viktoria Plzeň lost to Baník Ostrava 2:1. At the post-match press conference, head coach Miroslav Koubek answered the questions of journalists.

For the second time you lost at home to Baník. Is it because you don´t like your opponent or do you see any other common denominator of these defeats?

I don´t think Baník is a bad match for us. Today´s game was a game we simply shouldn´t have lost. It´s not about who stood against us, it´s about our, unfortunately, unproductive performance again. We had enough chances, but at the same time we have been making fundamental mistakes defensively lately. Both goals were unnecessary. That´s the main problem. Similar to Slavia, where we also made mistakes, but at least we were productive there. However, I can´t deny the team´s commitment, it was really there, but today it was a combination of low productivity and missed chances. The mistakes we made don´t fit the game at all. We score a goal and then we make a harakiri like this. This is the cause, not the opponent.

You´ve changed the attacking duo and replaced them with Durosinmi and Vasulin. Was it because of the fatigue of the players? And how do you evaluate the current performance of Raffi Durosinmi, who is now rather looking for a new player after that great start?

As far as Raffi is concerned, we believe that the impact of injuries and workload has had a significant effect on him. He has had health problems again in recent weeks and has missed a lot of training. It wasn´t anything related to previous surgeries, but there were other problems. He is training less at the moment, and when he does get into a match, his body is not in ideal condition and he lacks freshness.

A change was necessary. We needed to change the typology of the players. I knew we would create pressure and I needed to get tall players on the pitch who could be effective in the air, on pressure and against stoppers. At that stage, it wasn´t so much about combination, because Baník defended well and the space was very tight. We needed physical players who can succeed in the air.

How do you explain that you have the upper hand for most of the game and when you capitalize on it, you then concede two goals?

Like I said, it doesn´t fit the flow of the game at all. On the first goal, our player didn´t kick the ball into the box, but straight at Shin. The ball was quickly crossed to the other side and we scored. We were a bit unlucky. On the second goal, Václav Jemelka didn´t handle the situation. An experienced player should be able to handle that. I have to name him, unfortunately. He scored a goal and there is no reason why he should have made a gross mistake. We simply make mistakes at the back and if we are not productive, we lose. But I can´t fault the boys for not fighting. The commitment was really high. We should have decided the game at the start because we came into it with a great start. Baník had one chance after Prekop´s header, but otherwise we had more chances. Unfortunately, we didn´t take advantage of them.

Despite today´s defeat, you still hold second place in your hands. Two wins will guarantee it.

Yes, we are aware of that. We´ll fight until the last game. Today we had a penalty kick that we didn´t use, and that´s very unfortunate. We are aware that it was to some extent our own fault. Now there is nothing to do but to concentrate and keep fighting. We still have the advantage of the return leg, but we have to get the points we need.