Slavia's defense against counterattacks fell apart after Kacaraba's injury and they conceded an equalizer. Kuchta just put them back ahead with 5 minutes and stoppage time (which should be a fair amount) to go. Odd stat, 4 Slavia players have worn the captains armband today: Tecl, Masopust, Traore and Sevcik. Also it's clear Berlin put everything they had into getting and holding 1-1 draw, Slavia just hit an insurance goal after immediately resuming pressure, Schranz ultimately the scorer.
2 of Slavia's goals were pretty weak, by the Union keeper... maybe Pavlenka's agent should call them.
Good result for Slavia today. I do expect them to really grow into the competition and eventually hit their stride once everyone is back to full fitness. Not that confident about Sparta today I must add.
I don’t think Hlozek has touched the ball in the opening 15 minutes… but when you start with three box-to-box players in central midfield, you can’t expect much service as a lone striker.
Jablonec have actually had a fairly spirited start, helped by the fact Cluj can't seem to complete more than one pass per possession.
Polidar appears to have dislocated his shoulder after a hard fall attempting to commit a cynical foul. That looked awfully painful.
Jablonec would probably be up at least 2 goals with better finishing... or worse goalkeeping. Pleasantly surprised with how they've approached this match in the first half, although they need to get something from it.
Considering how little updates I see in match tracker, I can only assume that Brondby-Sparta is remarkably dull.
Jablonec picked up where they left off, and a Cluj defender gets a red trying to double as a keeper (trying to deny his own OG). Pilar puts away the penalty.
Sparta are beginning to somewhat threaten now, or more so Hlozek finally becoming involved. An offensive change is still needed though.
Just past the hour mark and still not a single shot on target from either team. Though plenty of shots being taken from those still watching this I’m sure.
Vrba's style has become so stale, the daring attacking sides of his early Plzen days seem a distant memory... the clumsy defending has stayed though. Hanus was ready for Cluj's first good chance and managed to keep it out. Jablonec may be starting to tire as they have very little depth.
Vrba must’ve gone to the same managerial school as Silhavy cause neither will ditch the 4-2-3-1 and in doing so are negatively impacting the same player.
Jablonec have little depth so I'm not surprised they waited this long to make subs, but needs Karabec or even Dockal at this point.
Assuming Dockal isn’t fully fit, this just shows how much Vrba doesn’t yet trust Karabec. It’s not like he was great in his few starts, but he’s been effective off the bench before. Shocking management.
I was hoping for 6 points and it looks like we'll get 7, so not a bad day, but Sparta should have been better.
On the plus side, Sparta should definitely win the return as Brondby sounded bad. I can also see Sparta getting 4 from Rangers... Lyon will walk though that group. Jablonec against all odds, may have a chance at advancing, although I need to see the rest of the group a bit more. I maintain Slavia can win this competition if they get healthy and on track.
2. Liga update, Brno have actually started the year well (even in recent successful 2.Liga campaigns we normally start terrible) and are top the table with 3 points clear of the next promotion eligible team. I think my dream result for the year would be Zbrojovka and Lisen (currently 3rd if you exclude Sparta B) both making the top flight to bring the Brno derby up a level (and put more pressure on the city to approve a modern stadium.
I have mixed opinions on when a club like Slovacko has a good season, on one hand it makes the domestic competition more interesting, but on the other I can already see this cycle happening again. 1) manage to grab the last European competition spot 2) sell key player (or have them return to home club that loaned) for nearly nothing 3) sign some raw players to replace them and spend all of July-August rebuilding team chemistry 4) Fail to qualify for Europe because you were still rebuilding at that time 5) Have another good season, because ultimately you have a smart organization and manager but no budget to keep it together Oh well, good for them overall though. Hopefully if they repeat the cycle enough the budget will come (doubtful, Uherske Hradiste is fairly remote and devoid of potential big sponsors) Only other league comment I have this week is that Daniel Samek is definitely on potential wunderkind watch. Racking up goals and assists for a still fairly loaded Slavia side at 17.
Busy Thursday Kicking of soon: Europa League Sparta - Rangers - Sparta absolutely crushed Celtic at home last year (4-1), and now get a chance at the other Glasgow giant I say Sparta are slight favorites, but should definitely be closer. Europa Conference League AZ Alkmaar - Jablonec Hard to ever favor Jablonec away at this level, but AZ have had a poorstart to the season domestically (6 points from 6 matches). Still think the best Jablonec can hope for is a scrappy draw. Later in ECL Feyernoord - Slavia The toughest fixture of the group stages for Slavia, but certainly not beyond them. Still, I predict that Feyernoord wins this, but wouldn't be surprised by any result (unless there is a large margin. .
So have a bit of time to watch during my break, but actually both Czech sides are controlling their respective matches, and Sparta just got a goal. Rangers has some teeth on the counterattack though, so hardly a safe margin. AZ look surprisingly toothless, but Jablonec have been missing to quality to get anything better than mediocre half chances so far.
Sparta hit the woodwork early in 2nd half, and then Rangers forced a save on the other end. Definitely the more even and interesting of the matches. AZ - Jablonec is quite tame... Edit: Another flurry of chances for Sparta and Rangers, but somehow the score remains 1-0.
Slavia are said to not be taking Conference League as seriously, instead prioritizing a fourth straight domestic title. You know this to be true when Tecl is starting ahead of an available Kuchta and Krmencik. That was a horrific miss from Pesek, but I have to wonder if Hlozek is feeling short of confidence opting not to shoot in that situation.