So almost a month has gone by and still no official announcement.. however all indications still point to Hasek becoming our new manager (as early as tomorrow even). The assistants are said to be Jaroslav Vesely (who would remain managing Bohemians) and Jaroslav Kostl (longtime assistant to Trpisovsky and would leave Slavia entirely). Pavel Nedved was speculated to be taking on the role of manager, but the same source has now revealed that he rejected this offer today. I was surprised to see him even mentioned for consideration, didn’t think he’d be interested anyways. My guess is that Vladimir Smicer could now return to the national team manager role after holding the position when Bilek was in charge. Smicer and Hasek are also good friends, although to be fair, Hasek seems to be friends with everyone that has status in Czech football which is basically why he’s getting the job. This could all come undone though given the sudden postponement of the last committee meeting where some reports suggested that Hasek was the only real candidate in play but still didn’t have enough passing votes..
It’s official. Ivan Hasek has been appointed as our new manager. There’s no point in going into detail as to why this is an (obviously) underwhelming choice, so I’ll attempt to put a positive spin on it. At least we’ll all finally get to witness Hasek with our own eyes after hearing his name mentioned amongst Czech coaches for the last decade. To many including myself, he’s remained a mystery all this time, and I’m genuinely curious to see whether or not he’s up for the challenge and how his seemingly outdated (and arguably irrelevant) resume translates to the current day. I did like that he put more emphasis on qualifying for the next World Cup and already labelled that a priority ahead of the Euros. So yeah, as Danicek simply tweeted, “Let’s wait and see.”
I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed... even though it was so predictable I guess we have the element of surprise since nobody in Europe possibly knows or cares what the hell Hasek's been doing since 2008.
While Hasek isn’t inspiring confidence, our assistants do sound promising. Mostly Kostl anyways, who many believe is the best assistant in the country and will eventually become a head coach. For a 34 year-old assistant, he does have an impressive resume, one that goes back nearly a decade alongside Trpisovsky since the very beginning at Viktoria Zizkov. No short of knowledge and excellent guidance there. Some are suggesting that Kostl and Vesely will do much of the tactical preparation and inside management while Hasek will be more of a figurehead whose first and most critical task will be repairing team morale.
We’ve been drawn into the Eastern European group for the next edition of the Nations League: Ukraine, Albania, and Georgia. A tough group, but good preparation for World Cup qualifiers next year. We’ll need to make considerable improvements to finish better than third. Albania again. Yikes. We’ve actually never played Georgia before in our history, so happy to draw them for that reason. That being said, they aren’t exactly pushovers anymore and can easily surprise us. The format has been changed so that we can still be promoted into League A even if we finish as runners up (a new expanded promotion playoff has been introduced). Of course, winning the group will guarantee us promotion and will also help with securing a World Cup playoff spot.
Hasek will announce his first squad already next week. It would appear the Belmondo trio have been forgiven and cleared to return to the team, which doesn’t surprise me at all. I personally have no issue with them returning to the team and believe it’s the right decision. Apart from that, it’s difficult to predict how the roster will look without any previous substance under this coaching staff, but I imagine there’ll be a healthy balance of experience and newcomers in the team.
SPEKULACE: Plzeňský útočník Tomáš Chorý (29) má blízko do národního týmu. Trenér Ivan Hašek ho může povolat už příští týden stejně jako Pavla Šulce (23) 🇨🇿 https://t.co/t1kl2AQfYd— Fotbalové přestupy (@infotbal) March 7, 2024 Of course just speculation at this point, but this site does seem to have good insider sources. I’m surprised there are even fans and journalists on board with this… Chory is not international quality at all (and neither is Jurecka). As if we don’t already have tall forwards in Schick and Cvancara, plus another physical option in Chytil, who arguably is the best at hold-up play. Sulc without question deserves to be there. That I will not argue. Although, I’m curious as to who Hranac would take precedence over. He’s rightfully in the mix now, but I personally would wait until after the Euros to call him up.
Reports are indicating that the goalkeeping trio called up will be Stanek, Kovar, and newcomer Vitezslav Jaros. This is very positive if true and good to know that priority is being put on younger players with the next cycle in mind. It’s worth highlighting Vaclav Hladky, who I don’t believe we’ve mentioned on here, that is having an incredible breakout season with Ipswich Town in the Championship. However, he’s a late bloomer that turns 34 this year and has spent the majority of his career as a back-up and never played any higher than his current level. Deservingly in contention for a roster spot, but doesn’t make sense in the long-term. The official squad announcement won’t be made until Friday now, after European play this week.
První nominace trenéra Ivana Haška na přípravné zápasy v Norsku a proti Arménii. 🇨🇿🦁 #ceskarepreKompletní informace https://t.co/6wPGWYWHAY pic.twitter.com/NdKwdtdYyg— Česká fotbalová reprezentace (@ceskarepre_cz) March 15, 2024 All I can say is WOW… was not expecting this many newcomers. A very young and inexperienced squad with an average age of 25. I do have mixed feelings about this though. If Hasek is using these friendlies as an opportunity to introduce and test new players (his only real window to be honest), then fine. With that said, we simply can’t afford to just leave out proven players and I’m not talking about the Belmondo trio, but Kral and Cerny who should be there. I have to imagine the team for the Euros will be considerably different. At least I hope so. Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised and especially happy to see Barak and Schick return, but still a little unsure of Hasek’s intentions here.
I’m assuming we’ll play 3-5-2 with how the roster is shaped, but to me the team is still unbalanced without Kral and Cerny. Having one traditional winger in Matej Jurasek and basically four attacking midfielders doesn’t make sense. I know Sulc and Lingr are versatile, but Cerny was our best player last year by a considerable margin. We’re also short a central midfielder unless Hasek plans to use one of Krejci / Holes there which isn’t ideal. I don’t think post-injury Provod is the answer either. I’d of just called up a 25-man team personally. Against Haaland too lol. My unpopular opinion is that Brabec is still necessary for the Euros.. but I’ll let that rest for now. I had a feeling Hasek would leave Vitik for the U-21s which I don’t agree with either.
The early indication from Sport is that we’ll be set up in what looks to be 4-4-2 with Krejci playing in midfield next to Soucek.. Stanek - Doudera, Holes, Zima, Zeleny - Jurasek, Soucek, Krejci, Provod - Hlozek, Schick Not confirmed yet, and I sure hope it’s not true.
Ivan Hašek vyšle do přípravného zápasu proti Norsku tuto sestavu. 🇳🇴🆚🇨🇿 Zápas můžete sledovat v přímém přenosu od 17:40 na ČT 2! 📺🔴 #ceskarepre pic.twitter.com/kMKfAxN29t— Česká fotbalová reprezentace (@ceskarepre_cz) March 22, 2024 Our coaching staff did say they want our team to be “unreadable” for opponents and they’ve sure delivered in that regard. I have no clue if it’s 3-5-2 or a 4-4-2 diamond, if Krejci is in defence or in midfield, and if Provod is playing centrally or as a wingback. My expectations are pretty low seeing this lineup.
Every matchtracker I've seen says 4-5-1 (well 4-2-3-1), even though I can't imagine anyone familiar with Chytil listing him as a wing player. My guess would be 3-5-2, but I suppose we'll see soon. I'm mostly interested in the performance of our younger and more marginal players.
Also, it’s crazy that Norway hasn’t qualified for a major tournament since Euro 2000, especially with how good their current generation is on paper. For as dismal as our World Cup history is and being far removed from our own golden generation, our track record of qualifying for eight consecutive Euros is still impressive and shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Extremely narrow formation for attack, any width is from the fullbacks, Provod and Sulc can play wide, but it isn't their natural position.
History is full of teams with a few great players that did nothing internationally since they couldn't get a team lineup that worked.
Zeleny shouldn't have gotten beat like that, but Zima really needs to be better positioned to support. He was too central and marking nobody.
So this lineup is fairly dumb and we really struggle with any sustained possession, yet I still wouldn't be surprised if we win.
That felt like a tale of two halves within one half. I thought we’ve been better after Norway went ahead, creating chances of our own even if we still look bad in possession. Norway have plenty of individual quality that’s superior to ours, but I agree, they do seem to lack cohesion and basically abandoned any organization which let us back into the game.
They make our defense look normal, which is the worst insult I can imagine for any vaguely competent footballing nation.
Apart from Zeleny looking way out of his depth, it’s hard to be critical of those being played out of position. Chytil and Sulc are clearly central players and Krejci next to Soucek was never going to work.