Hlozek immediately makes an impact off the bench and continues to be a playmaker by setting up Dockal. 1-1!
Liberec and Gent is uneventful again. Pesek and Mosquera are too involved in defending so not too many forward ventures this half, although a few counter attacking chances materializing. While Gent have more possession its mostly generating half chances so far.
Matousek on for Pesek Last season: they are looking for the insurance goal on a counter This season: well they want to hold a 1-0 advantage.
Gent has 70 percent of the possession and 79 percent of the completed passes, but Liberec leads 1-0 with 2 shots on goal each. Gent subbed on Laurent Depoitre, who scored 6 goals in 33 games for Huddersfield Town in the English Premier League in 2017-2018. He was on loan from Gent then.
Nguyen with a big save, when listing reasons that Liberec can shithouse forgot to mention above average goalkeeper for a small club. Less than 10 minutes even with stoppage time.
FT Liberec 1 - 0 Gent The team with the least expectation starts with the best result. Have to question their fitness though, the first half was very even but in the 2nd half they started fading almost immediately and they spent most of the half surviving.
I didn't watch, but Gent had 70 percent of the possession and twice as many shots as you in each half. Sparta lost 1-4.
I would say in both cases that statistics flattered the loser. While Slavia definitely controlled most of the match even if they took their actual best chances (out of 17 or however many total shots) a 3-3 draw would have been the result if all else stayed the same (Hapoel Be'er Sheva converted every chance they had I believe). At no point even during their best spells did it look like a 5-1 final was coming. For Gent, most of their attack came from the outside and resulted in shots from angles that are easily guarded by a decent keeper. Liberec packed it in the 2nd half, but at best Gent maybe looked like they would equalize. Where do you get the statistics for dangerous attacks?
ℹ Martin Hašek je povinen zaplatit AC Sparta Praha částku 800.000 EUR, v přepočtu více než 20 milionů korun. Konstatuje to Rozhodčí nález Sboru rozhodců FAČR. #acsparta➡️ https://t.co/WHE9gAgCqD pic.twitter.com/tHiTJOz6TH— AC Sparta Praha (@ACSparta_CZ) October 23, 2020 A reminder, Martin Hasek (illegally) terminated his contract with Sparta unilaterally earlier this year believing he'd have a number of offers. He's still a Free agent and now one that owes his former employer 20 Million CzK (~$870,000). As much as I don't care for Sparta or seeing a once promising young player Darwin Award their career, this is very deserved punishment for such a stupid decision.
While he scored the goal, from the highlights I've seen, I wonder if Dockal should be kept on the bench for Europa League matches at least until some defensive players are healthy. He is fairly slow and lazy in defense and I don't think Sparta can really afford that against the teams in their group.
Injuries and bad officiating aside, this game reinforced a few concerns at Sparta that became even more apparent against a strong European opponent, and that is: • Heca's starting spot in goal should no longer be safe. He honestly reminds me of Hruska in Plzen at this point. I don't understand how Nita continues to remain on the bench. • Sparta have zero fullbacks capable of playing against fast, dynamic players (again resembles Plzen in this regard, and even a post-Coufal Slavia may be heading in this direction). Ultimately why playing a 3-5-2 is so crucial for them. Hopefully for next week Plechaty and Celustka are fit to play Milan, so Sparta can return to a three centreback formation (Lischka surpringsly played quite well yesterday). I thought Pavelka had a good debut given the circumstances. It's evident his experience will be vital in all competitions. Also, Julis and Hlozek should be fully fit to start together by next Thursday. I do think Sparta can challenge Milan and beat Celtic with a healthier team and subsequent better suited formation. I agree, but I think playing with 10 men really exacerbated that issue. Otherwise, with everyone healthy/not suspended, I think Kotal would play Pavelka - Krejci - Dockal in midfield for Europa League to compensate for those defensive and physical shortcomings. Regardless, I do feel Karabec needs to be given more opportunities instead of Sacek and/or Travnik, who both have stalled in recent years and have probably reached their ceiling at Sparta.
I feel like every time I see Liberec (Nguyen) or Olomouc (Mandous) play this year I wonder how Heca and especially Hruska (who is both crap and old) still have jobs at top 3 clubs.
For Czech clubs on Thursday: Slavia: https://www.flashscore.com/match/OWYXOmkh/#match-statistics;0 Liberec: https://www.flashscore.com/match/fTAkWpF8/#match-statistics;0 Sparta: https://www.flashscore.com/match/vPhneCVm/#match-statistics;0 Do people in the Czech Republic call the city Praha? Clubs with names I see two ways are Bayern Munich/Bayern Munchen, Dynamo Kyiv/Dinamo Kiev, CSKA Moscow/CSKA Moskva, Sparta Prague/Sparta Praha, and Slavia Prague/Slavia Praha. Do all of them have two names for the same reason? Is one name what they are called in their country and one name Americanized? This is my 15,000th post.
@EvanJ Yes, Praha is just the Czech word for Prague which is the English (and French) spelling. The name commonly translated in English language media while other cites with teams like Plzen (Pilsen in English) aren't. Cool, I normally use the UEFA match stats in European matches, but the flashscore ones look more detailed.
AC Milan have some Coronavirus positives ahead of the match with Sparta. Sparta and Slavia both have tough matches this week, and Slavia at home will really want a result. Liberec are in Serbia, a result of any sort and advancement suddenly becomes a realistic possibility.
Not seen an update on the top 2 league's, but FACR has paused lower divisions (starting with MSFL and CFL) until at least the end of the calendar year.
At least one more week of pause for the league is confirmed. Middle November is now the soonest matches may resume.
I think Sparta might have the better chance of getting a result today than Slavia. That is if they aren't reduced to 10 men in the first half and can field a strengthened, healthier lineup as expected. Slavia are hard to predict right now in their current state, while Leverkusen have been in strong form of late. Although, this kind of match up of more open, counter-attacking play may suit Slavia better as opposed to having to breakdown more defensive opponents that they'd otherwise be favoured to beat (see Pardubice result earlier in the season, Midtjylland to an extent, and just Hapoel last week).
I just realized this is that one crazy week where European daylight savings time has ended and the North American one is still going until Sunday. That would explain the comparatively late match start times.
Sparta team to face Milan at San Siro: Heca - Sacek, Celustka, Lischka, Hanousek - Dockal, Pavelka, Travnik - Vindheim, Julis, Krejci A last minute injury rules out Hlozek which is a shame. I wouldn't be comfortable with either of those fullbacks at this level if I were Kotal, but the real threat will be directed at central defence in Ibrahimovic.
Liberec lineup has a few changes, most notably Sadilek is getting his first start at the LB position that seems to be his new home wherever he goes. Matousek is starting as the 2nd striker/free-roaming winger with Pesek out, surprised they put him over Beran for that though.
I was going to watch this while match tracking Liberec, not sure if its worth it without Hlozek. I think Sparta can get a result against Milan at home, but not so convinced today.