Okay, I'll stop reserving judgment, Ondrasek is a statue compared to the rest of the team, he's done alright with the ball at his feet but the pace of the game is much higher than he is capable of right now. Boril, our leftback, literally took the ball off his feet push the attack forward. Unless Krmencik is sick or injured this was a bad substitute.
Vaclik coming up big a couple of times this 2nd half. I think any scenario we get points from England requires some big saves, glad he is providing. Kopic for Jankto... odd but not awful choice, I assume its just conditioning. At this point though without Jankto or Schick we must be thinking draw or grab one from a set-piece
But who the hell cares about weird tackling of imaginary defenders when you can just stand still and wait for it!!! WOOOOOOO
Honestly, Masopust looked good today (aside from tackling in the box, but not his job). I've said a few times watching him at Slavia that he is just a bit of polish away from being a very good player.
I thought both fullbacks were excellent, but Boril in particular was a beast defensively. Midfield worked very well too. Some good link up play between them and our wingers. I'm pleasantly surprised to win, but I honestly expected a performance like this combined with an underwhelming England that was inevitable eventually. We dominated the first half. Possession was 50-50 (a stat we've been incredibly poor with under Silhavy) and outshot them 10-4. Second half we allowed England to play with the ball, but it was worth keeping our shape defensively as we would no doubt concede had we kept play open. This goes back for years now, but it seems like so many players have now scored on their debuts for the national team.
Aside from giving us some belief against good teams, just an absolutely massive result for our qualification chances.
Also more recently, me vocally criticizing a player is often followed by a goal (was Masopust last match).
Masopust to his credit has contributed to our recent victories now, but is still a very confusing and often frustrating player overall. If he wasn't so technically limited and made better decisions in the final third, he'd be a fine two-way winger. He does do a lot of good work without the ball, winning it back a few times via tackling and interceptions today, although with it he is usually wasteful. There are times where he'll make a good dribble to get by a player or combine for a good link up only to eventually fail in the same play. I'd say he's bad 70% of the time and good in 30% of his touches.
So the lineup for tomorrow will feature those that didn't start on Friday. I guess having now surprisingly defeated England, we can relax a little bit, but I'd still rather use this as preparation for Kosovo in November with few changes in certain positions. Husbauer will be the captain which is just absurd. He is the new Daniel Kolar I'm afraid. Must be a completely new lineup then because after Darida, I would give captaincy to either Soucek or Brabec/Celustka if they were to play. I'm really only interested in seeing Pavlenka, Simic, Kalvach, and if he starts, Kral.
Kalvach and Simic should get a chance. Husbauer probably can play fine against Northern Ireland, but it's pointless either way as against stronger competition his general slowness is an issue. I actually liken him more to Plasil than Kolar since he is high-technique low-speed, but all three are kind of club players that don't translate to national team but keep being given chances. I am a bit worried that Ondrasek's timely well-taken goal will erase the fact he is far more limited, less proven and older than Krmencik returning from injury. Otherwise, can't say I care much who plays.
Kuka - 1990Koller - 1999Baroš - 2001Lafata - 2006Necid - 2008Kadlec - 2010Krmenčík - 2016Schick - 2016Ondrášek - 2019All strikers, all scoring on their @ceskarepre_eng debuts.Could we actually do this more often?🤔— Czech Football 🇨🇿 (@czechfooty) October 11, 2019 Compelling evidence that we should always bring one random new player up front.
Plasil at least was a regular within the squad for years and had international reputation, even if he didn't perform for the national team, so his place in the team was warranted in my opinion. Looking back, I actually feel he should've been appreciated more by Czech fans. Given how deep our midfield is with everyone healthy, Husbauer would be like option #9 (when Barak, Dockal, Pavelka are fit and if Kalvach, Sadilek are preferred). I don't see the point of giving him this opportunity when he realistically won't be going to the Euros.
In addition to those strikers scoring on their debuts, quite a few players of our current pool have scored on their first start/appearance as well: Dockal - 2012 Celustka - 2013 Zmrhal - 2016 Barak - 2016 Jankto - 2017 Safe to say Hlozek will be next?
Possibly Kalvach against Northern Ireland. I don't see Hlozek getting a chance with a Silhavy until he is at least 19, so 2 more years. Matousek if he develops probably will, but he still leans too much on physical attributes. Really should have fought for a spot at Slavia instead of the Jablonec loan. U-21 play tomorrow as well. They are playing below expectation so far honestly.
Northern Ireland are a tough team to break down. This might not be the most entertaining match for us. I hope Kral still gets minutes. I want a mix of starters and subs playing this one. No real reason giving reserves of essentially our B team minutes.