An opening 4-1 loss to Russia at the European Championship was a clear warning for Czech Republic coach Michal Bilek that he needs to quickly fix his team’s porous defence to have any realistic chance of progressing from the group stage.

Bilek’s major challenge since taking charge in 2009 has been to rebuild the team following the retirement of its star players.

He may be on the right track in midfield, but the opener clearly exposed his team’s weakest link. Russian forwards tore his defense apart in what was the team’s biggest loss since the Czech Republic was formed after Czechoslovakia split in 1993.

Bilek now has until Tuesday’s second match in Group A against Greece to find a solution.