If anything, the Covid situation seems to have actually benefited Slavia. Between the condensed schedule going back into last season, and players being absent this season, it's forced Trpisovsky to get creative and be bold with his lineups. In the process, Slavia have found these hidden gems that may otherwise have never been discovered. Bad results against Midtjylland and Hapoel aside, Slavia now appear to have their formula for success with this squad and look poised to make another good run in the Europa League while defending the league title. I mentioned Gul'a being under pressure earlier, but I also think Kotal has to be considered replacing.
You will be lucky to keep him all of next season at this rate. Should make a killing though and trust Slavia to reinvest more than Sparta will with Hlozek money. I think Sparta will be hesitant to make a change (they have gone through about 5,000 managers since 2014) and probably give Kotal some leniency due to injuries. Though everytime their job is open Vrba gets mentioned. Plzen though have failed in Europe and are struggling in league, they will make a change and I sincerely hope it isn't Vrba again he had no interest towards the end last time.
Slavia took a day off against a very in form Bayer Leverkusen and lost 4-0. This actually started looking competitive but from the first Bayer goal Slavia just sort of stopped fighting. Sparta decided to go young and fielded a starting lineup against Milan that averaged like 21 years old... all things considered they didn't do too bad but do trail 0-1 late in the match. Slovan Liberec have actually matched Crvena Zvezda for the most part in a dull match, but neither team has been able to convert their few chances.
Sparta had Plechaty get a straight red in the 77th minute, and it ended 0-1. Slovan Liberec played a scoreless draw. Switzerland passed Greece and you, so you fell to 19th in the five season coefficients.
As mentioned Sparta went with an extremely youthful lineup, and while Karabec is probably the most hyped young player (aside from far more established Hlozek when healthy) there was very strong and confident performance by 17-year-old central defender Martin Vitik who looked a level above some of Sparta's current options at that position. Even Italian football observers singled out Vitik with tweets like this one: Jens Petter Hauge has already shown that a strong showing against Milan can win you a move there.Sparta's Martin Vítek has certainly done himself no harm here. https://t.co/pWotM6zz8S— Chiacchierata Calcistica (@CCalcistica) December 11, 2020
Vitik is apparently the big defensive talent from the Hlozek/Karabec generation. Can't say I'm surprised that he already looked more comfortable than his fellow defenders. He should be given more starting opportunites going forward. Hopefully all three can fulfill their potential one day. Would be amazing to have star players at each position.
Slavia will play Leicester City in the next round of Europa League, tough and interesting opponent. Probably too much for Slavia, but then again so was Sevilla.
It sounds like Slavia will get the Coufal replacement they wanted in Autumn, Danish right back Alexander Bah. On paper a great signing as Bah had a strong first half to season and even played and scored for Denmark. Speaking of Slavia, for 2 straight seasons they have made it to the winter break without a domestic loss, although fewer matches played at this point in 2020.
Slavia seem to be cruising to another title, they are only 6 pts clear (with a game in hand), but their main challengers are struggling and their overall performance (39 goals for 5 goals against) is by far the best in the league. Plzen really need to make a switch at manager, they're too talented to be mid-table.
This signing is looking very smart indeed after a few matches and filled in their biggest weakness. Plays very well with Sima and managed a nice assist today (also drew 2 yellow cards from the same opposing defender). In general, Slavia still just look a completely different level than the rest of the league. Their 6-2 win in Zlin today means that Trpisovsky has won 74 of his first 100 league matches with Slavia. I'm now more focused on Brno's fight for survival.
Slavia look well on their way to securing another title. Even with some lax defending in recent weeks for their standards, that offensive outburst in Zlin suggests they won't always need to keep cleansheets (unless they just want to keep breaking records for the hell of it). That attacking trio of Olayinka, Kuchta, and Sima looks very promising, while their midfield is still stacked when everyone is healthy or back from loan. Have to also wonder if Kuchta is now on Silhavy's radar. I think he (and probably Julis too) should be ahead of Ondrasek in the current pecking order.
I would say its hard to rightly rate Kuchta because Slavia is so far above the league, but they have lacked a reliable striker prior to his emergence so can't rule it out. His finishing against Zlin was quite tidy though and he is also contributing assists. Plzen is so bad right now, its hard to fault a player like Ondrasek for a cold spell, it's clear the Gul'a has lost the team at this point and they need a restart. For a real center forward solution: Abdallah Sima isn't cap-tied for Senegal yet, maybe we can whip up some dodgy paperwork claiming he is in fact Abdalla Zima from Tabor ....
Bohemians beat Sparta in the secondary Prague derby, while not as disappointing as Plzen its really gone down hill for Sparta without Hlozek. Some reports that Slavia are trying to negotiate a loan deal for a Simon Deli return to cover Hovorka's spot for the spring, but Deli also has interest from St. Etienne and Fenerbahce.
Now that would be a remarkable scenario. Maybe he'll get to play against our national team in a World Cup for Senegal with Trpisovsky leading us... I saw that rumour being mentioned amongst a few Slavia fan commenters. I think a more realistic option could be for them to bring back Suchy, who must want out of Augsburg if he hopes to salvage his international career.
We (Brno) made some solid signings this winter (Pernica especially was a shockingly competent signing) that should carry us to safety, unless we find an owner willing to invest though its clear we are a provincial club and that Brno is increasingly a hockey city as Kometa is everything Zbrojovka isn't. The win today will hopefully be the start of us building some safety from the relegation zone. I am torn on the idea of Trpisovsky as national team manager, realistically I want him to mentor a few protegees that go on to manage our top clubs as what he is accomplishing and Slavia is more and more incredible. They sold Kral, Soucek, Deli, Ngadue-Ngadui and Coufal in the last seasons and keep getting better without spending much except for on Stanciu. Someone that can identify and develop talent like that is what we need at our best clubs. Not sure Suchy could keep up with Slavia's pace sadly.
Slavisticky titan Simon Deli se vraci domu do Edenu. Vitej znovu v nejkrasnejsim dresu, kamo! pic.twitter.com/cXiXS0MsvB— Jaroslav Tvrdik (@JaroslavTvrdik) February 1, 2021 Deli is back, that happened quick. On the out door they are sending Peter Musa, the now backup striker that Kuchta leaped ahead of, on loan to Union Berlin a mid-table Bundesliga team.
These moves again reinforce just how far ahead of the rest Slavia currently are. Quite impressive they managed to swiftly arrange for a Deli return, but even more so in loaning a back-up striker to a Bundesliga team (!) to continue his development. As far as Trpisovsky managing the national team, I'd say his influence and impact on Czech football could still be just as present and possibly greater at the international level. If anything, he'd have more opportunities to work directly in different regions, mentoring other managers and scouts across the country if our FA hired him in a role that went beyond just coaching (just an idea, not sure how realistic this would be). With that said, I do also like having him at club level where he continues to grow Slavia into a prominent and respected team within Europe. I think he's done more than enough at Slavia to dictate his future, whether it be coaching the national team or abroad in a top league.
Sounds like Sparta may be planning to sack Kotal and hire Vrba... for real this time. Podle zákulisních zpráv se blíží trenérský třesk v @ACSparta_CZ. Václav Kotal podle všeho končí. Nejpravděpodobnější náhrada? Pavel Vrba.— Jan Vacek (@VacekJan) February 3, 2021 Not sure if Vrba's style is still relevant at that high a level, but it is clear that Sparta need a change.
The coaching change at Sparta appears to be confirmed. They do really need a new manager, but I’m not sure Vrba is the right choice. Ever since what I felt was an ultimately unsuccessful and overrated national team tenure, Vrba has only declined in my opinion. I’d have rather seen Holoubek appointed to help develop these promising young talents at Sparta, or even Bilek in all honesty. Vrba definitely draws the most entertainment value as a neutral I suppose, but I worry his stubborn, outdated style will limit any long term success.
Yeah, Vrba has basically kept the same sort of boring 4-5-1 style that opponents caught onto (also my recollection is it never quite worked the same without Horvath to distribute from a deep lying playmaker position) and as a manager never really offered much beyond tactical approach. He only really ever developed one big talent export and that was Darida. Considering he was the last top manager of the league before Tripisovsky, its remarkable to compare how many players from their respectives team were successfully transferred to top leagues in a similar time-frame. That said, I'm not sure Vrba ever had as much raw talent at Plzen as the current Sparta team, so maybe it will work at least short term.
Vrba's first match at Sparta is a win, coming from behind by 2 goals against Olomouc. 18-year-old defender Martin Vitik's assist on Sparta's first goal may be the pass of the season: https://streamable.com/lxunso. Plzen is still awful, still seemingly not making a change. Slavia again takes a break from easy wins to drop 2 points to a bad team, but in this case the weather conditions in Pribram probably were decisive.
Brno got completely screwed by VAR (yet again) against Zlin, and no surprise that the club is now refusing to contribute towards VAR fees for the league. I support the idea of VAR, but it seems like for every good use of VAR I see about 5 bad uses.
Vrba keeps a perfect record through 2 matches at Sparta, but performance wise that team has some glaring problems. Travnik's been a bust for a while, but now Dockal is also playing vert poor in the central midfield. They are being spared midfield ineptitude by strong performances on the wings especially by Karlsson who is probably a top 5 player in the league recently.
Sparta in these past two games look exactly how I remember a typical Vrba side, which is very offensive oriented, but lousy defensively and leaking goals as a result. I do suspect they’ll still easily finish second though once Hlozek returns. Plzen are not even in contention to challenge them for runners up at this point. Slavia with a convincing win over Pardubice before their Europa League match with Leicester City this week. In addition to Kuchta, who now has the shared lead for scoring along with Sima and Julis, the other surprise player is Provod. He’s been playing central midfield in recent weeks and is the current assist leader of the league. I mentioned earlier that Kuchta could be ahead of Ondrasek for national team considerations (which should be automatic now), and I even now think Dockal needs to be left out for Provod.
I think Provod was already sort of in the national team plans, he is a bit raw/inconsistent but more dynamic on the wing than Masopust at least and now also showing ability to play the central attacking role... although honestly, Slavia's current preferred lineup includes 4 attack minded midfielders (Olayinka, Stanciu, Provod and Sima) just shows how little they fear the domestic competition. The match against Leicester should be interesting.