On to the Faroe Islands, who wound up beating Montenegro 4-0. I doubt we lose, but definitely can't see us doing better than a 1 goal win.
Vitik and Krejci were the best today, but we have to remember the former only started because Holes was out. I don’t think he’ll be first choice long-term, but Kovar is totally fine. I have no idea why he gets so much hate. Always done fine for the national team and when he was shaky, the team in front of him was a disaster. Must be the Slavia fans stirring that up. Provod had the only noteworthy performance going forward. Overall, there’s nothing worth celebrating about that display, but I’m sure it’ll be enough for Hasek to remain.
The logic behind yesterdays strategy and not playing Karabec would all make sense to me were this the away match against Croatia and we were still in contention to advance directly. It was a cowardly strategy to not get embarrassed and therefore stay employed on Hasek's part, there was attempt to win. Your keeping an inform creative player on the bench because you didn't trust him to adequately defend one of your opponent's defenders... It's also not like the decision worked at all, Croatia generated way more chances after the defensive minded substitutions. I sort of agree with the discussion early here: https://isport.blesk.cz/clanek/fotb...orovany-bucha-blizi-se-zahranicni-trener.html where the biggest issue isn't would Karabec have won us the match (probably not team was gassed from pressing in the first half) it's the message that we weren't even going to try. Also, from that discussion, I've been against the Cerv - Soucek pairing, but they bring up a good point that Soucek's best club years are when he was next to Rice and Cerv's best were next to Kalvach... they agree that Bucha or Beran should at least get a shot at playing a similar role in the national team.
U-21s are taking care of business against Azerbaijan leading 3-0 early 2nd half. Good performances so far from Lukas Ambros and Albert Labik (in addition to usual suspects like Paluska). Labik is a left back so if he feels like taking a big step up this year that would be great. Masek just failed to convert a penalty that would have given him a hat-trick.
Travelling so not sure how much of the game I’ll be able to catch. I really don’t feel like watching the Soucek - Cerv midfield again or Jemelka at left back. Shocking decisions.
Provod gave probably the best midfield performance last match and has been duly rewarded by being the one player replaced... I prefer Cerny but why not put him in for Kusej?
Did a bit better towards the end, but still not a very exciting performance in the first half. Our corner delivery is terrible considering the one benefit of Soucek and Cerv double pivot is targets in the box... if only we had a player that is the corner kick specialist of their team in action top league, maybe a left footer that's in form. ..
I’m the moron watching this garbage on his phone poolside. Another terrible half. Hopefully just one more left under Hasek.
Not going to lie, more often than not in recent matches I'd rather keep Cerv on than Soucek. Hopefully Beran provides some balance in the middle though.
Comedic defending on the counter. There is no way for us to lose in this match since there is no way Hasek lives to suck in the playoffs after this.
It seems that Hasek will be out. My guess knowing our FA is that Koubek, recently let go by Plzen will come on to see out the world cup cycle while a search committee does nothing for 10 months and we make an underwhelming hire to start the Euro cycle. Koubek would be a step up from Hasek, but he really should just be enjoying retirement at his age. If I were to pick a domestic coach at the moment, I'd honestly say Martin Hysky of Karvina would be my first choice (although Plzen are trying very hard to hire hime right now), or of course Trpisovsky, but how many times does he say no before you just realize he's happy where he is. Lubos Kozel of Jablonec would probably be my 2nd domestic choice, but honestly it's maybe about time the Nedved use his international connections to try something new. I think we can all agree it should definitely not be Svedik, he would be a disaster and should stay in Brno far far away from the national team.
We’ve reached a point lower than Jarolim ever did in my opinion. This is a self-induced disaster that could’ve been avoided entirely. Silhavy may have overstayed his welcome, but we at least had the chance to correct that and build for the future entering 2024. Instead, we’ve wasted yet another cycle with arguably the worst appointment in our history. Going into this year with a playoff spot basically secured, there was an opportunity to use these qualifiers to rotate and experiment (within reason) to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Right now we only know what doesn’t work, while younger players continue to be overlooked for aging, declining ones. The only option I see is Koubek taking over for November and the playoff in March, and if we miraculously qualify, it’s a fairy tale end to his career. He’s at least proven to have the tactical aptitude to manage big games well, which is already better than whatever the hell we currently have. Beyond that, we need to look abroad given the current landscape of Czech coaching.
I’m in complete agreement. It’s been abundantly clear for years now that central midfield is our most glaring issue. Soucek is declining no question, but has always had his technical limitations. The infatuation with Cerv is the real problem. Hasek as he often refers to, loves “fighting spirit”, and thought he could ride the coincidental streak where we didn’t lose with Cerv in the lineup despite our midfield being terrible as a result. We completely lack the basic fundamentals of proper build-up play. Neither Soucek nor Cerv can drop deep to collect the ball, sharply turn with it, switch play, or make a penetrating forward pass. Even when we do have possession, I’ve noticed how little we actually move into open space to create outlets that sustain it. The result is a ton of hopeful long balls and gaps in midfield that leave us vulnerable to counter attacks. I think Bucha is still the one worth really giving a shot between the two. He has the better resume to this point and probably could’ve moved to a better league in Europe had he not went the MLS route. I’m just a little less enthusiastic about Beran, as I remember when people were once rallying for Michal Travnik and Marek Havlik to be in the national team and represent clubs other than the big three. Those campaigns were short-lived and I kind of get a similar feeling here.
Hasek was finally dismissed. Only took three strikes (five if you count the Euros and Saudi Arabia fiasco), but we made it, and I’ve concluded that his tenure was worse than the Jarolim era. The glimmer of hope is that there appears to be a real mandate to hire our first foreign manager. The goal is to have one hired by January, but it may not be until next summer. Either way, it already feels like we’re going into this World Cup playoff with the mentality that it’s “too soon to expect anything from a new manager, so we’ll set our focus on the next cycle” which is exactly how Euro 2024 felt. So, we essentially wasted that tournament to focus on this cycle that we’ve now wasted. The Czech national team everyone.
Kovar / Jedlicka / Markovic Hranac / Vitik / Zeleny / Chaloupek Coufal / Jurasek / Doudera / Rynes Soucek / Sadilek / Cerv / Beran Provod / Hellebrand / Ladra / Danek Schick / Chory / Karabec / Sejk The up-to-date squad for the November break. Krejci is suspended for the Gibraltar match, so was left out. Hornicek would’ve been there, but is set to become a new father and declined the invite. From the original team, Jemelka, Zima, Sulc, Cerny, and Kusej all withdrew. Hellebrand is rightfully rewarded for a strong run of form in Poland, although as with Beran, I’m not going to overhype him the way some people are. I didn’t expect both Rynes and Sejk, but better to call up younger players with room to develop than aging ones with no future, which is usually how we fill in fringe spots. Radek Vitek, the 22 year-old Man United loanee at Bristol City, can’t even make our reserve list despite a number of MOTM awards. Ladra and Danek are truly random selections that are just filler at this point. I hate how we refuse to promote current U-21 players to not weaken their team. The senior team should always be the priority and any of Ambros, Sin, and Planka could be here instead.
As for the search for a new manager, it’s going just about how you would expect it to. Nedved is said to have proposed two names and they are Fatih Terim and Jurgen Klinsmann… which is hardly inspiring. I think I’d rather just give Kostl a shot to take over permanently, which could very well be the case given our financial constraints. That being said, I’m also wary of his role in the on-field product we saw under Hasek.
So did we schedule San Marino to get us used to playing a minnow or something? Surely at least a Pot C/D qualifying team was free... It is nice to at least see new faces and younger ages, but not a lot can be taken from this break in terms of assessing anything. Terim would probably at least be okay if short-term and uninspiring... Klinsmann... no, just no.
I think putting Soucek in the 10 spot should be enough to kill any talk of Kostl taking the job permanently. It's basically just been a continuation of Hasek with several key players missing to make it worse.
Moving our worst possession player into the playmaking role has an instant impact. 90 minutes, 1 shot on target against San Marino. We still won, but that was dreadful.