New sponsor, new name. The season kicked off last weekend, I think rather than copy the results and table I shall simply refer to the hard work of anonymous wikipedia editors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014–15_Czech_First_League I will however reflect on the state of the league for a moment, as just a few years ago Czech domestic football was in very dire straights: Slavia quickly fell into financial ruin, Sparta was rumored to be not far behind, and our UEFA coefficient was falling into the 20s. Today as write this, we currently rank 13th in the real time estimated UEFA coefficients, and the league is coming off its highest season attendance average in 6 seasons last year. I don't want to over state it as the league still has many issues, but it is worth noting that the last few years have been an upward trend.
And we already have a firing, Viktoria Plzen sacking Dusan Uhrin less for his league performance and more for the pitiful exit from Europa League qualifying after the European successes of Vrba (although the draw in the first weekend certainly didn't help his job security either).
Biggest news of the week I suppose is that Milan Baros is back at Ostrava (again). We are actually almost 1/3 of the way through the season, and can't really say there are any surprises at the very top or bottom of the table. Plzen and Sparta are in a class of their own compared to the rest of the league. There are surprises in the middle though, particularly Liberec's slow start. I'm quite happy with Brno's start, and that younger players such as Vavra are developing. 1. FC Viktoria Plzeň 8 5 2 1 18:6 17 2. AC Sparta Praha 8 5 1 2 11:4 16 3. 1. FC Slovácko 8 4 2 2 19:10 14 4. FK Baumit Jablonec 8 4 2 2 12:8 14 5. FK Mladá Boleslav 8 4 1 3 11:6 13 6. Bohemians Praha 1905 8 4 1 3 12:12 13 7. FC Zbrojovka Brno 8 3 3 2 11:8 12 8. SK Slavia Praha 8 4 0 4 13:12 12 9. FK Teplice 8 2 5 1 10:8 11 10. FC Baník Ostrava 8 3 2 3 5:12 11 11. FK Dukla Praha 8 2 3 3 5:9 9 12. FC Slovan Liberec 8 1 5 2 11:9 8 13. SK Dynamo Č. Budějovice 8 1 5 2 7:14 8 14. FC Hradec Králové 8 1 3 4 4:14 6 15. 1.FK Příbram 8 1 2 5 8:18 5 16. FC Vysočina Jihlava 8 1 1 6 4:11 4
It's been a very good season so far and should be exciting the rest of the way. There has been some very interesting storylines for me that include, the firing of Uhrin at Plzen, Sparta and Husbauer's early struggles, Libor Dosek carrying Slovacko on his back, Slavia starting very strong but horrendous as of late, the new look Jablonec keeping up with the pack, Baros joining an Ostrava side full of youngsters, and what is going on with Liberec? And with all that said and done, we have our first Prague derby this weekend .
Tickets to the Plzen vs Sparta match in two weeks sold out in under an hour. Would have to assume it will be down to these two once again to battle it out for first.
Without question, they are on a whole other level than the rest of the league. I right now am predicting Plzen. The shock of the season is what has happened to Liberec, who have been a consistent top a club the last few seasons and now are drifting towards the relegation zone.
I think Plzen are slight favourites heading in, but I can see Sparta escaping with a draw. I can't see Liberec staying at the bottom that long having seven draws and surprisingly a positive goal differential. A team I've been watching closely is Banik Ostrava, who have found themselves in fourth. They have a ton of young talents who already have a significant role with club. A few standouts for me are Daniel Holzer, and their CB pairing of Jan Baranek and Patrizio Stronati. However, offensively they've struggled all season which should improve with the addition of Baros.
At the winter break the table looks like this. No surprises at the top, but Liberec sitting in the relegation zone with a positive goal differential is one of the strangest things I've ever seen. #KlubZ V R P Skore B (rozdíl) 1.FC Viktoria Plzeň 16 12 2 2 33:12 38 21 2.AC Sparta Praha 16 12 1 3 26:7 37 19 3.FK Baumit Jablonec 16 10 3 3 30:14 33 16 4.FK Mladá Boleslav 16 8 2 6 21:12 26 9 5.FC Baník Ostrava 16 6 4 6 12:20 22 -8 6.FK Teplice 16 5 6 5 24:20 21 4 7.1.FC Slovácko 16 6 3 7 25:24 21 1 8.SK Slavia Praha 16 5 5 6 21:22 20 -1 9.FK Dukla Praha 16 5 5 6 18:24 20 -6 10.1.FK Příbram 16 5 4 7 19:24 19 -5 11.FC Vysočina Jihlava16 5 3 8 15:22 18 -7 12.SK Dynamo České Budějovice 16 4 6 6 15:30 18 -15 13.Bohemians Praha 1905 16 5 2 9 20:26 17 -6 14.FC Zbrojovka Brno 16 4 4 8 17:24 16 -7 15.FC Slovan Liberec 16 2 9 5 19:18 15 1 16.FC Hradec Králové 16 2 5 9 12:28 11 -16 It certainly looks like it is once again between Sparta and Plzen, though the stakes aren't quite as high in European aspirations as the top two teams will get a chance at Champions League qualification. Transfer season has begun, and Plzen have made the first big move signing Bosnian striker Aiden Mahmutovic from Teplice.
I think Plzen still needs to add a CB during the break, and perhaps a replacement for Petrzela if they are to stay ahead of Sparta. Although, no European football could help them down the stretch.
Vítězslav Lavička was sacked by Sparta today after being eliminated by Jablonec in yesterday's cup match. I think it's now safe to say that Plzen will win the league. Disappointing season for Sparta.
Plzen are the class of the league from what little I've watched this season, and are undeniably the favorites to finish with the title. I felt Sparta may have been impulsive in letting Lavicka go considering he brought them there most successful season in a long time last year, but looking at it more their performances did appear to be getting worse in recent months.
I think it really came down to Plzen having so much more depth than any other team. When Sparta had injuries and players out of form, there were no ideal replacements. Plzen were very effective during the transfer season while other than Kadlec, I thought Sparta made very poor decisions when buying and selling players.
Have to wonder if Sparta is rethinking that managerial change after losing to a Liberec side that's spent much of the season battling relegation.
After a few days to think about it, I think the move was quite harsh. There's nothing Lavicka could have done when his most important players were all in poor form or when someone as valuable as Kaderabek got injured. Looking at Sparta's bench over the last few weeks, I don't know what he could have done to fix these problems. I don't understand the point of firing him after a Cup match either. This kind of decision should have been made a lot earlier. Plzen were quick to drop the hammer on Dusan Uhrin and now look where they are.
I may have spoken too soon... Plzen is now only three points ahead of Sparta after their loss yesterday. Sparta's win today was very convincing and probably their best performance since the second half of the season started.
Fair play to them last week, but Sparta and (more importantly) the match of the year were bailed out by shamelessly biased officiating against Mlada Boleslav. Total robbery to set up a huge match next week. Should be a great one though.
Unfortunately biased officiating is nothing new this season, but at least it won't be a problem this weekend since a Spanish referee will be in charge for the match. I'm holding off on predictions for now. I really don't see a clear favourite at the moment.
Roman Hubnik makes it 2-0 for Plzen. Yes, he still exists. He's had a great game and an even better season for Plzen.
How has Pilar been playing for them? I stopped paying much attention to the league when Brno was relegated a couple seasons ago.
I'll just pick up with this thread, but in a move that will surprise nobody - Plzen have sacked Miroslav Koubek. This was likely after the clubs collapse in Champions League qualifying, and a slide in domestic form the last two weeks hastened the move. I can't really question the move but its a bit disappointing to see them move so quickly with a nepotism hire rather than at least try to find a candidate with a resume befitting their recent success.
With 11 rounds finished and the first meeting between Sparta and Plzen next weekend, I thought I'd chime in. I'm guessing those two will eventually pull away from the pack, though Sparta look the better side at the moment. The duo of "Lafatai" is unstoppable right now, and Bicik has been constantly saving Sparta's shaky defensive unit. I don't see either one of those things changing in the near future. I must say, Mlada Boleslav and Liberec have been very impressive to this point. Boleslav is a great attacking team with the focal point being Skalak, who is quickly emerging as one of the best players in the league. It seems that Liberec have switched places with Jablonec and are no longer underachievers like last year.
I've actually been keeping up with Sparta. Lafata is scoring for fun in the league and in Europe. I can understand why Vrba wants him still with the national team but Lafata is also playing against easier opposition at least in the league.
I've always admired Lafata's scoring record in the domestic league and his nose for goal. Although, I think he's better off as an emergency option for the national team, which was the case at the beginning of qualifying. He's certainly taken advantage of some weak defending in the Czech league, and he's never been able to transfer his success from club to country. I've been pretty harsh on his national team performances lately because the idea of having him lead our attack next year doesn't sit too well with me.