I feel like having a weaker qualification group + the expanded number of teams makes it easier for us to experiment during Euro qualification.
Match day 1 of the new campaign. Huge opportunity to get the ball rolling with a victory. My lineup prediction: ————————Kuchta——————— ——Hlozek———-Barak————Cerny- ——————Kral———Soucek———— -Jurasek—-Brabec——-Holes——Coufal- ————————-Vaclik———————— Actually really hard to call some positions (even the formation for that matter), but I’d say my biggest question marks would be: - Who starts in goal? - Where does Holes play? - Do we stick with the 4-2-3-1 now? Poland are experiencing some injury troubles of their own, specifically in defence. Not to mention a debut for a new (foreign) manager.
You guys will top the group. Unfortunately I don't have much hope for my team Albania. My predictions 1. Czechia 2. Poland 3. Albania 4. Faroe Islands 5. Moldova
Meh, it's borderline obscene to not start Cerny, he is easily our most impressive form player right now with (5 G, 5 A in the last 10 matches). I would say Barak is also on decent form, but will at least concede that he has a history of being a poor fit since he has near 0 defensive work-rate.
Also, I think Vitik is better than Krejci at the moment, but the real question for our defense is can Brabec continue to over achieve for the national team and can Holes continue to play out of position to any success.
Wow, didn’t expect Silhavy to be this bold, although I find the lineup a little too reactive for my liking. I don’t think it’s worth trying to accommodate both Cvancara and Kuchta (as if they’re suddenly superstars we depend on) at the expense of Barak and especially Cerny. I’m not thrilled with Krejci in defence either and would’ve maybe gone Brabec - Vitik in a back four with Holes in midfield, but who knows.. I thought it was evident we had ditched this formation for good after reverting to our accustomed 4-2-3-1 after the Portugal defeat in September.
There’s no real wrong choice as to who starts in goal, but I’ve always felt most at ease with Vaclik playing even if his club form wasn’t ideal. I actually had thought Stanek had moved ahead of Pavlenka in the ranks this past year.
This is also my main takeaway of the match so far, with how many teams need a quality young LB it's hard to imagine Slavia will hold on to him too long.
Admittedly we aren't doing a lot of creating with this lineup, but Cvancara is also having a good debut when he gets opportunities.
Not the first time Santos has experienced a fast Czech start. Who remembers Euro 2012 against Greece? Almost went up 3-0 with Cvancara towards the end there, but otherwise yeah, we fizzled out the last 20-25 minutes. I really don’t like this Soucek - Kral midfield of late. Pavlenka also proving to be the right choice with two solid saves.
3 goals with a defensive lineup and no Schick. Strong debuts, Kral actually being fairly good again.... good start
Great result. Great individual performances. And a great lineup from Silhavy. It does feel good to have an entire cycle ahead where qualification is basically guaranteed now and we can experiment with introducing new players. It’s worth noting that this Polish team is apparently a mess off the field at the moment and it looked every bit true yesterday, so I’m not going to overreact on our overall performance. In particular, our possession play still leaves a lot to be desired. We remain far too frantic on the ball and resorted to mindlessly hoofing the ball up the field for much of the game. I’m still not sold on this formation either. I feel like we’re really inhibiting our attacking creativity and potential.
I will not be able to follow the match tonight, business trip in the UK and this overlaps with a dinner. That said, anything short of an easy win would be a major let-down against Moldova.
Pavlenka - Holes, Brabec, Jemelka - Coufal, Soucek, Barak, Jurasek - Hlozek - Cvancara, Kuchta Both Kral and Krejci are unavailable today. Must’ve been a last minute decision as I’d of assumed the lineup would’ve remained unchanged. I do hope this plays as a back four with Holes in midfield as Soucek - Barak is awfully slow and the latter should be playing further forward anyways. Again, Silhavy’s conservative instincts take over opting for Jemelka and not Vitik.
For who we are playing, this opening 20 minutes might be the worst I’ve ever seen under Silhavy. We don’t even have a single attempt yet. This system is terrible.
0-0 at half. Soucek hit the crossbar just before the break after a nice headed flick from Cvancara. Otherwise, a seriously concerning half. We are now depending on Silhavy to make in-game adjustments which is the last thing you want. The Poland result doesn’t matter if we don’t win today and Silhavy should still be fired.