RFS head coach Viktors Morozs said his side must be more aggressive in attack after a 2-0 defeat by Jablonec left the Latvian club with work to do in their UEFA Conference League third qualifying round tie.
Vakhtang Chanturishvili opened the scoring for the Czech side in the 18th minute before Matej Polidar doubled the advantage after the break. RFS had spells of possession but struggled to create clear opportunities, leaving them needing to overturn a two-goal deficit in the return leg in Rīga next week.
Morozs said the difficulty of the contest had been expected but admitted RFS did not do enough in attacking positions.
“We expected a very tough game against a good-quality, strong and experienced team, and it was everything that we knew and prepared for,” Morozs said. “We are not happy, of course, about the result. In some situations we need to improve. We wanted to be more aggressive in the attacking area, but in some situations we didn’t show enough of that.”
The RFS coach was also frustrated with the defending for both goals, saying his players had failed to execute situations they had discussed before the game.
“We had two mistakes. We spoke about how to react, how not to let the opponent cross, to close the centre for them, force them to the side and then attack. But in the first moment we allowed them to do that and also lost the player. The second goal was an amazing shot, but there was also a mistake from our side in the block because we allowed them to make this cross.
“There were many situations where we reacted correctly and didn’t let the opponent create something else. The difference is that we had similar situations to shoot and score, but we didn’t shoot on target in those moments, and it is impossible to score.”
RFS were also forced into a last minute change before kick-off when first-choice goalkeeper Jevgeņijs Nerugals was injured during the warm-up, with Rihards Matrevics, who only recently departed Czechia to join RFS, taking his place. Morozs, however, said the change had not affected his confidence in the team.
“Of course we prepared well for this match, but we have two good goalkeepers and they compete between themselves. We were sure that it would not be a problem. He was very confident in every situation, and about the goals we also cannot say that there was some mistake. There were no mistakes, so I was very confident and sure that it would not be a problem for us.”
Despite the defeat, Morozs stressed that the tie remains alive ahead of the second leg in Rīga.
“This is only the first match. Of course we are disappointed, but we will try to do our best at home.”
