I'm not sure what surprises me more, how poorly Slavia played or how well Sparta are playing. Probably the latter since Slavia just aren't the team they were last season with all the injury changes.
HT Sparta 2 - 1 Lyon The home side hold the lead on the back of a sensational opening 20 minutes, but since then have sort of fallen asleep and conceded a lifeline for Lyon late in the first half. They won't hold on with the tempo the finished the first half with, but if they can play half as well as they started maybe can take this (which would be a coup for advancement chances). Jablonec 1 - 1 Randers In typical Jablonec fashion they took the lead on some lovely attacking play, then instantly conceded an equalizer with some comedic defending. Could go either way, honestly.
Sparta and Lyon are now level, although it seems Sparta may finally be waking up a bit as Hancko nearly put them back ahead soon after. First time they've done anything in 40 minutes of match time. Jablonec lead on a 2nd from Cvancara, and honestly they look the better team currently. With that defense you can never feel secure with a 1 goal lead though.
Lyon have taken a very deserved lead as they've swarmed Sparta after the opening 20, looks like Jablonec are the standard bearer today.
Jablonec settle for a draw and have the right to be very aggrieved by it. In addition to hitting the post twice while in the lead, they were denied a good penalty shout right after conceding the equalizer.
Well, Plzen finally put in a complete performance and thoroughly embarrassed a generally decent Jablonec team 5-0. Too early to say this is a turnaround, but with Slavia struggling due to injuries and Sparta struggling just because, the era of a Big 3 may not quite be over yet.
Slavia - Plzen was a borderline reenactment of Slavia - Rangers 2nd leg from last season with Plzen playing the role of Rangers. 3 Red cards, and a match that mostly descended into chaos by early in the 2nd half. And yes, there is even the post-match fallout of a paid employee of Slavia (as opposed to just a jack-ass fan) being accused of racial abuse: https://www.idnes.cz/fotbal/prvni-l...avel-rehak-rasismus.A211101_103742_fotbal_jic... I'm sure they will do nothing and claim they're being misrepresented due to (checks notes) Plzen's different history and relationship with multi-culturalism. Terrible match, albeit with a lively atmosphere. There was the added fire of Krmencik scoring against his former team and taunting their fans (instead of the more traditional no celebration). It also ended 2-0 in Slavia's favor.
I haven’t been watching as many live games lately, but following from afar as usual. It feels like Slavia’s season has been a disaster (it still kind of has in relation to the standard they previously set), yet they’re only one point behind Plzen in first.. I do expect them to create separation after the winter break once everyone is healthy, but not to the overwhelming margin of past seasons. Sparta are just not an elite outfit in all phases and Vrba is still stubbornly not convincing me of being capable of dethroning Trpisovsky. I think Plzen will eventually fade as the season progresses and settle into a 3/4 spot in the table, which is perfectly acceptable for them.
Jablonec came back to salvage an away draw keeping their hopes of advancing alive. Their defense received a big boost for the next match as Kubista, possibly the worst CB in a league of bad CBs picked up a late red card, but not before helping their opponents with an own goal. Jablonec are not very good, but two young players Plestil and Cvancara (who has like 8 goals in the last 11 matches) make them somewhat interesting to keep an eye on in this competition. Sparta were able hang in their for a decent first half, but were again completely overwhelmed by a Lyon side that really are a different level than this group (and I'm not just saying that as a Lyon fan). The big story aside from Hlozek missing the match from a training injury was Celustka leaving early in the first for an injury as well. The Sparta-Rangers matches are the battle for 2nd place.
Slavia should have had a clear penalty early in the match as the Maccabi Haifa keeper took down Kuchta. Otherwise a fairly uneventful opening.
Cvancara might as well be with the senior team (reserve list at the very least) and Samek with the U-21s.
Yes to Samek, but I think Cvancara is still a U-21 striker not Senior team. Although, certainly on form he has a better case than some on the Reserve list.
I admittedly have not watched him or Jablonec this season, but compared to some of those other tall target strikers (Pekhart, Skoda, etc.), it’s hard not to make a case for him. Slavia generally seem to be playing better, but I don’t have much to reference since I’ve watched them so periodically this season.
Slavia finally turn their possession into a goal. Kuchta with the most Kuchta of all goals, I feel he may be the next Lafata due to his goal-poaching (although I think Kuchta has a stronger overall skill set if not quite the goal scoring record).
Kuchta is basically the pest version of Lafata. I half-expected that shot to end up out of the stadium.
I hope that assistant referee is ready now that Krmencik is on. He’ll be busy I’m sure. Not really sure how effective Krmencik - Kuchta can be as a duo other than being a nuisance for short-tempered defenders. A very contrasting skillset and dynamic than what Schick - Hlozek would offer.
At the national team level they would offer absolutely nothing as a Duo, for Slavia they offer chaos. I rate Kuchta higher of the two at this point in their careers, he at least involves himself in build up instead of just looking to beat an offside trap. Krmencik has gotten worse with each injury in his career and is just a role-player at best for the teams that meet his current wage demands.
Samek actually has similar shortcomings to Karabec for now. Both are very technically gifted, but are still physically limited at their age. Karabec is quite frail with a lacklustre work rate, whereas Samek is not yet conditioned for senior football and kind of slow.
Slavia really should have put this completely away by now, but that seems like story of their season.
Replacing Boril in the national team and at Slavia is essentially a game of musical chairs at this point.
From what I've seen Dorley is a much better player than Boril (although probably about equal on pure defensive ability), which is fine for Slavia but he is Liberian so we make do with Novak and Mateju...
Slavia got the 3 points which was most important, but they are still shockingly inefficient in attack compared to past years.
I thought Havel debuting in his place at international level was pretty desperate, but Masopust and Ekpai being slotted there for club does speak volumes of our current developmental crisis at that position.
Another positive I suppose is that the Mandous - Ousou - Kacharaba axis seems to be settling in over time, so at least becoming more efficient at that end.