Czech national team [R]

I will add that while I understand playing a trio that are in sync at the club level; I still would have preferred Jankto to Husbauer.

 

I figured Jarolim would play a back three after calling two central defenders... Can't help but feel this is based simply off of the Nigeria result without much actual attention to detail.

At full strength, I think we should be beating Ukraine honestly. I still expect a competitive match with this team though.

 

I'm surprised not to see Jankto start, but that seems to be our best XI all things considered. Hopefully we can win this because the match actually does mean something

 

We definitely have to play for 3 points from this match even with all the injuries.

Ukraine was in a similar strength group overall (although in retrospect perhaps a stronger top 2) for the last qualifying cycle and like us finished 3rd.

Looking at their lineup. They don't really have a proven striker, and in fact seem to be starting a young player that's never been capped before. Their midfield is quite strong though (especially Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka) and while not the most famous group of players their defense is a bit like our midfield in that they are almost all from the same club.

 

We forgot to pay the electric bill.

 

Maybe it works in our favor...

Quite a few Ukrainians there from the looks of it now that the lights are on.

 

Putting the game in eastern czech makes it easier for Ukrainian supports to drive there.

 

So lets see if Selassie can be our Kyle Walker and make that right centerback spot his own. I think this formation suits us very well when everyone is healthy.

 

Wow what a goal by Schick

 

Just imagine him doing that for the next 10 years.

 

Promising start and what a goal.

 

We've gone to sleep since though.

 

Ukraine is killing us. I really don't know how they haven't scored.

 

Settling down a little bit in defense, but our positioning and organization are not great.

 

This really has not been a good half for us. Defensively we looked shaky, and we are really struggling to hold onto the ball. We cannot transition from defense to attack at all.

 

If I hadn't seen the lineup I'd have a hard time telling you what our formation is.

 

Our entire midfield had to drop back to cover the defense most of the half. Even Schick was coming back to cover.

 

Ok so Krmencik is off, so I am confused what the new formation is.

5-4-1?

 

Still kind of looks like 10-0-0 with occasional forward runs.

 

This is bad. We've made Ukraine look like France.

Any decent team would be beating us 5-1 right now.

 

If Ukraine had an experienced striker we'd be done. I'm surprised how poorly even some of our players that normally do well are playing like Soucek.

I would only really say Schick and Vaclik would be rated average or higher so far.

 

Having a bit better play, looks like we've dropped Husbauer back to a deeper position and helping link the midfield a bit.

 

They deserve it.

Still that is a crappy way to lose.

 

I lost video before the winner but after they had very nearly scored, to be honest if this is what a Jarolim team is going to look like I'd almost rather we lose to force a change than have stolen undeserved points.

Vaclik deserved better after the match he played though.

 

Best 3: Vaclik, Schick, ???? (can really only say 2; Selassie & Kaderabek weren't awful but below standard... maybe Zmrhal he livened the 2nd half a bit)

Worst 3: Brabec, Krmencik, Soucek (Could easily have picked any starting midfielder or Kalas, so I could keep going)

I'm sure people will point to the long injury list, but honestly that's not drastically different from how this team played even when healthy last I saw. We're not well prepared and Jarolim's strategies are all reactive.