That great save would have been offside anyway, but yeah Kolar is playing great. It's FT 1-1 which coming into today was a great result for Slavia to shoot for, but really a timid last 20 minutes when they could have got 3 points
I agree that we got too defensive, but the officiating was also very biased throughout so considering we had to play a big club in their stadium against their official.... 1-1 isn't so bad. We would batter them playing how they did in Prague if they aren't much improved.
Going back and forward between feeling good or disappointed by that result. At least people seem to take us seriously now.
I would say more good, the only disappointing thing is how they equalized. I was crtical of Trpisovsky's approach late, but its very clear that Slavia are a class above the league and not in over their heads in Europe.
Barcelona got outplayed by a newly promoted team, and Inter won the first Milan derby decisively. I still don't want to be optimistic about Champions League, but the way we are playing I hope we continue to make news. Meanwhile, its Derby day and we look likely to thump Sparta again.
On paper they should be no worse than 2nd in the league. They are only about 4 years removed from thrashing Lazio in Europa League, but they've spent a lot of money on players that didn't fit since selling off their last championship core. This season seems like another step back.
Well... Slavia are 12 points clear of Sparta after 10 matches. Plzen are only 3 points back, but they aren't anywhere near Slavia's level on the eye-test although they are improving some lately... I still feel comfortable saying Slavia will win the league again already.
Sparta suck, and I mean that objectively not criticizing a rival. Plzen just know how to win even if they don't always look good doing it. Our loaned out reserve players if one team could easily be top 3 which really shows how far we are outpacing the other teams. I am trying not to get overconfident though because last year we were the best team by far, but injuries slowed us down in the middle of the season. Considering we have a lot of demanding fixtures in Europe and less depth it could happen again.
This is more or less a perfect representation of Sparta's season so far... pic.twitter.com/iHyE7TXN9T— Out Of Context Football (@nocontextfooty) September 23, 2019
Plzen leading Sparta 1-0 in the 2nd half. Good game so far for Krmencik punctuated by a vintage pouncing on a defensive error for a first time strike, I think he is getting back up to speed after a rocky start.
Conversely Lischka is clearly still struggling to get back on form after missing most of last season recovering from heart treatment. Made the bad pass that Krmencik pounced on and in general is really struggling to handle Krmencik's physical play.
FT 1-0 Plzen keeping pace with Slavia, but Sparta now in 8th place, 15 points behind the leaders and we've only played 11 rounds. This was actually one of their better defensive performances, but... while I've criticized Sparta's overzealous firings in recent years - the worst still being Lavicka for a few bad weeks after he won a title and took them to the Quarterfinals of Europa League - I don't know how anyone reviews this team every week and thinks that Jilek has a plan. At this point I think its clear the front-office doesn't know what they are doing either (with all due respect to Rosicky the player). It's unforgivable to be starting Kozak at this point, they should move Hlozek up front to his natural position and put Karlsson in on the right. At this point I almost feel bad for them
Dortmund definitely look more prepared than Inter did, but Slavia still holding their own okay. Stanciu is talented but wasteful.
Masopust just blew a one-v-one with the keeper... again. He is so close to being a really good player as far as physical attributes, but just never has the right idea when it counts.
I would say Masopust should have chipped, but he didn't do that well either in a similar situation against Cluj. Bad start but starting to take control a bit.
Masopust also has the dubious distinction of being kicked in the face twice in the first 30 minutes... the 2nd was kind of his own fault though
Great individual effort by Dortmund, but Slavia can't leave that much space for a counter against this quality opponent.