I don't understand why Masopust, a winger and one of our most questionable finishers, is starting at striker. I hope we can match our previous intensity.
Early minutes we are picking up where we left off, we have the first decent chance of the match but Sevcik too slow to play the ball. Still not a bad start.
We're taking more of a chance than I'd like with a high line, its giving us possession but Kolar has had to be sharp a couple of times already.
I know I'm supposed to be satisfied with just looking so good against these teams, but I want to win. Unfortunately, our corners are too wasteful and our finishing too poor for me to expect that though.
Not able to watch, but you seem to be the negative voice about Slavia I've seen, although I agree that Slavia need to score a goal when they get chances. The Barcelona reporter for UEFA.com seems to be the first international reporter mentioning that Trpisovsky's consistently having Slavia ready may earn international attention.
It's because I've seen this 3 times already, lack of top striker and inexperience at this level just seems to be in our way, we will have good stats and win the hearts of neutrals, but still expect that we lose the match. Kolar has bailed us out when we let our foot off so far. This match is less frustrating than Inter or at home against Barcelona because while we are equal it isn't a domination by any means.
There is somewhere between a 0-5% chance that Kolar is still at Slavia next season at the pace he is making big saves .
As we begin to slowly get pushed back by Barcelona its time to reflect on how poor we were up front. While Masopust gets criticized for his finishing, but at least he mostly is positive otherwise - Stanciu though wastes so many opportunities between occasional moments of brilliance that his key player status needs to be reassessed.
We seem to have withstood the main Barcelona barrage at the start of the half, it's back more to worrying about doing something stupid than just being completely outplayed.
With the match getting closer to the end, I wonder if Barcelona will start taking chances that Slavia can counter.
Kolar is definitely man of the match so far. Doubt it, even when on the front foot Barcelona's attack seem more probing than overwhelming waves forward. Also, we have failed repeatedly to switch the play when we counter so I just don't see it. If we can hold on for a point that should be the goal.
We get a point, which all we really could deserve this time. A few months ago I would have been thrilled with this, but I think the disappointments in the first 3 matches made me want more.
I guess Slavia would want a draw in the Inter - Dortmund match to still have an outside chance of advancing in Champions League, although I think that is a stretch. Might be better to have a decisive result if they want to have a chance at dropping to Europa League.
Slavia is holding their own in this terribly difficult to group. They need 3rd to at least move into the europa league, but even that seems difficult at this point. Still an incredible job to not get bossed around by these massive clubs.
Dortmund came back from down 2 to beat Inter, which is probably the best result for Slavia's Europa League chances since they still have Inter to play at home.
I've not been doing as many detailed updates on the league this season due to time constraints, but the simple summary is that Slavia is dominating. 16 matches in they are undefeated and 11 pts clear of Plzen with +33 goal differential. As we approach the winter break I will post some more specific observations both of first and 2nd division.
As much as they are one of our (putting on my Brno hat) biggest competitors for promotion, I'm very happy to see this happen after an initial rejection: Schváleno.Zastupitelé #Pardubice před malou chvílí těsně schválili stavbu letního stadionu i přes odpor koaliční ODS. Vyrůst by měl na místě zchátralého stadionu ve středu města vedle hokejové haly. Cena nesmí přesáhnout 430 mil. Kč, součástí projektu musí být i parkovací dům. pic.twitter.com/ALZKKWoKJj— Josef Ženatý (@josefzenaty) November 21, 2019 Any club with ambition (FK Pardubice is only 11 years old) should be rewarded and we need infrastructure improvements like this in the league.
Some of the stadiums in our country that are still in use are so shit. Brno's stadium is pretty bad, but that is also cause I hate running track stadiums.
Yeah Srbska sucks and always has, I wish Zbrojovka would propose a more modest stadium plan instead of holding on to the 30,000 seat Za Luzankami plan that's been frozen for a decade. The only chance ever would be if we were bidding for a major tournament, which we've never showed the faintest interest in. A modern stadium in the 12-15,000 range would be perfect.
Caught the 2nd half of Sparta 3 - 3 Ceske Budejovice To their credit, CB have been one of the best newly promoted teams in a while and have a lot of solid veteran players, but ultimately this is a match that Sparta really should win in Prague.
Pardubice 1 : 2 Brno Big road win for us against the 2.Liga leaders heading into the winter break. We started slow (though not as bad as last season) though we have been much improved since poaching Lisen's manager. Hopefully we'll make some winter moves. I actually think there will be multiple teams promoted this season, the top of 2.Liga looks deeper and the bottom of the first division looks much worse. Long way off though.
Kolar is questionable for Slavia today, his backup Markovic is 18 years old and didn't start as usual for the U19s.
Well Slavia need a win to stay alive in this group. Inter Milan is probably the team they have any chance at beating so that is some rough news.