Provod imo has the highest ceiling out of the players listed. I really think he found his best spot in center mid now. I could see him signing for a bigger club this offseason.
Hlozek is back to 100% based on the last week, including today's 3 goal 1 assist outing against admittedly terrible opponent, Opava. I almost wonder if Sparta was hoping he'd take a bit longer to increase their chances of keeping him, but really hard to imagine he stays another season. I am starting to agree with the assessments that Karabec is an equally big star in the making, although not as flashy a player. Having recently listed off a long line of bright players whose careers were ruined by injury its hard not predict at least one will suffer a career ending injury by the age of 23... that said they are the two best talents at their age I've seen us produce in a long time. Even though Sparta are still behind Slavia (who look worn out for the season at this point although they broke the record for longest unbeaten streak in meager fashion 0-0 earlier), I think they are still the stronger academy. Trpisovsky has excelled at developing players as full pros though. Brno still just suck, but hey when we drop at least Pachlopnik and Rusek can go play for real teams like Krejci II, Sural, etc.
Sparta currently have the stronger academy without a doubt and I don’t even think it’s close. I’ve noticed that some Slavia supporters are evidently kind of envious of the young talent at Sparta in spite of their much greater success head-to-head and in Europe recently. You don’t have to like the club, but there’s no denying that Hlozek, Karabec, and Vitik are exceptional talents not seen in this country for quite some time. Obviously Hlozek is leading the way and primed for a big move, but I think the other two are just as capable of having as good, if not better careers. With that said, Sparta’s success rate on transfers in recent years is just abysmal and needs serious improvement. This is where Slavia is simply levels ahead in terms of scouting and player development while spending next to nothing. I think Hlozek is more flashy, but Karabec is the more elegant player with his technique. Hlozek’s early physical development is what helped him immerse into adult football quicker, whereas I’m pretty sure Karabec is still growing in height. This is my fear for any young Czech player that has showed promise and moved abroad in the past decade. The pessimist in me says a career ending injury by 23, but the optimist says we’ll be watching them in our own backyards at the 2026 World Cup.
Slavia won the league officially today, they actually won it mathmatically via the Liberec - Sparta draw earlier, but then went out and beat Plzen 5-1. Surely Gul'a can't survive this (I know he probably will, but this just seems like the only way to finish any post involving Plzen).
Slavia once again expanded their streak over Sparta with a 3-0 cup win. After a lot speculation he might retire after this season, it sounds like Gebre Selassie will come back to Czech league. I assume he still wants to return to Liberec if he comes back. An almost random Czech abroad of the season occured as Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt made an offer for Jablonec's young midfielder Dominik Plestil. Jablonec who are battling Sparta for 2nd place turned it down.
Gul’a is finally relieved of his duties after an embarrassing draw at home with Pribram. The only saving grace for Plzen this season is that they’re in the Cup final, but will likely be run over by Slavia again anyways. Slavia have very impressively distanced themselves from their main competitors this season.
Brno is toast. Edit: forgot that its only one team going up this year, so Lisen gets screwed. Hradec Kralove are already confirmed to be going back up, which I'm glad, they are a solidly supported club and way better than Pribram and some of the other dregs of the first division. I'm also happy their stadium reconstruction is going to preserve the lollipops (classic light fixtures):
Plzen have hire Michal Bilek to replace Gul'a. Bilek spent the last few years managing in Kazakhstan for the national team and then briefly Astana. His last stint in the league was with Zlin who he had at a respectable mid-table level. Was never a Bilek fan, but can't imagine him being any worse than his predecessor. There is a lot of fix at Plzen though, especially the defense.
Blansko might be dropping out of 2.liga and could by replaced by Vyskov. They do not have enough money at the moment to stay in the 2.liga, even if they are not relegated.
I think Bilek should be able to lead Plzen back into the top 3 assuming the necessary reinforcements are brought in. Can’t say I was a fan of Bilek either, but it does create an intriguing dynamic of having two former national team managers at the top clubs. It’s crazy to me how Jablonec is playing for the Champions League. Their roster doesn’t look all that impressive, but Rada is obviously doing something right over there.
Well Jablonec have very good wing play by our leagues standard both midfield and fullbacks, and I think Schranz was a smart signing as he was very good at Ceske Budejovice. Dolezal also is above average in the league as much as he isn't national team material so they have 2 strikers good for 10+ goals a season right now. Also, Hubschman is ageless. The biggest contribution though is that Sparta and Plzen greatly underachieved. They will get killed in CL qualifying, but may make an EL group stage.
Based on the first half of this Sparta - Plzen match so far, Bilek's plan to address Plzen's defensive woes is to acknowledge your defenders aren't good and bunker as a team. It's kind of working so far as Sparta are having a lot of the ball (like 75% or more possession) but not much in chances, meanwhile Plzen managed to grab a shit-house goal from a corner. That's a shame. I still believe that with the lack of money in Czech football that the first and 2nd division should be reduced. Their just aren't enough fully professional budgets to avoid frequent license or budget issues.
I don’t like the idea of a 3-5-2 system that Bilek appears to prefer, at least not with this personnel. I thought the 4-3-3 under Gul’a was ideal for them and wasn’t the root of their issues. Plzen just really struggled with productivity in the attacking third and defensive lapses in their own third. Of course it’s Brabec that scores twice in as many games..
2 forwards is really pointless with what Plzen have, unless they experiment with Ba Loua or Kayamba as 2nd striker. Mihalik is worthless and Ondrasek out of form.
I hope he starts in place of Provod instead of Masopust. Why not. Definitely worth a try against Scotland at the very least.
He absolutely should be getting regular senior team minutes at this point. He's a word class player in the making... but even in this match by the end of 90 Karabec looked to be an even bigger "generational talent."
It feels like every time Karabec is brought off the bench for his 15-30 minutes of play, he looks the most talented player on the field by a mile. It’s incredible. I do think Sparta are being wary of his physical development and managing his minutes accordingly, but sooner or later he has to replace Dockal.
It's only 2 matches (and they lost t5-1 against Slavia and scraped a draw against Pribram in their 2 prior matches), but so far he's making a strong claim to being worse.
The latest reports suggest a possible squad overhaul at Plzen this summer is developing so it may get much worse before it gets any better.
Apparently Schanz is moving to Slavia.... not sure how he fits there honestly even though he's now had successful seasons with two very different teams the last 2 seasons. It definitely hurts Jablonec going into European qualifiers. In return Slavia is exchanging Zeleny (who had a good season on loan at Jablonec) and Malinsky who was a complete flop signing for Slavia. I'm actually a bit surprised they exchanged Zeleny as they are not very deep on the left side.
Slavia secured the double today with a rather lacklustre 1-0 away victory over Plzen. I didn’t think Plzen actually played that poorly and were again unlucky to be reduced to 10 men for a considerable time, so a missed opportunity for them. I felt this was another example of just how far ahead of the rest Slavia are. Great teams always find a way to win and even when Slavia started badly, you still expected them to prevail and eventually win.
Hlozek is about to sign a new contract with Sparta, I suspect it will be similar in scale to the one Soucek signed the summer before moving to West Ham. I would still rather just see Hlozek make the jump this summer, Sparta are somewhat improved under Vrba, but still a mess. No need risking an injury. I mentioned in the abroad thread, but sounds like Gebre Selassie -> Liberec is nearly complete. Simon Deli in a Tiki-Taka interview said that he is open to remaining at Slavia beyond the end of his loan, but not sure they would be able to get a price from Brugge that they would pay as he was good but not as good as before during his return.
Hlozek has just scored four goals in the first half (still 15 minutes remaining) against Brno to overtake Kuchta in the scoring race. Unbelievable.