Well, at least this game our bench looks good . Northern Ireland are probably the worst team to face in a friendly or just in general really. Almost a guarantee this will be a snoozer.
Krejci has been playing left back for Bologna periodically since end of last season, basically how he worked his way back into their rotation, so not too surprised its being tried since we don't have an actual backup and Boril deserves a break after his effort vs England. Honestly not too far off the lineup I'd pick considering who is here. Glad Kalvach and Simic are getting starts, not happy that Reznik and Husbauer are here. I think we win a tame 1-0 match.
Our U-21 team look very poorly managed, solid talent but zero attacking cohesion. Basically 2 straight matches of lots of hopeful shots with no attempt to breakdown a defense. 2 dull draws in winnable matches against Greece and Scotland this cycle.
Lot of ball watching by Krejci and Husbauer there. Edit: I think its fair to say the Krejci at LB position experiment isn't going great right now
I would consider a first half substitute to get Krejci out of defense, they've had free-reign down his side. Reznik isn't any better, maybe switch to 3 CB formation
Should have been a penalty for Krmencik probably. Simic is the only defender that looks international level so far, but still would be behind Celustka and Brabec on recent performances. Kral is active but taking some unnecessary risks on a few passes. Looks like a team of inexperienced and back-up players ultimately.
That inability to cover ground is exactly why Husbauer doesn't play for Slavia in European competitions, and should never be put at a defensive midfield spot.
It was also Husbauer who captained a near entire reserve team to a 5-1 defeat in Russia last year. This is embarrassing. Exactly why you don't field a team that will never play together again in a million years. Silhavy blew this one.
Zmrhal, Krejci, Husbauer, Kudela, and Reznik are terrible. Pavlenka also not impressing either. Still clear that Vaclik should be first choice.
As much as Husbauer lumbering back is the final thing we saw on goal 3, it was really Kudela who completely blew his positioning to let McNair through. This match was definitely job security for the defenders that started against England.
Going into this game, I wanted the following changes: Pavlenka for Vaclik Simic for Celustka/Brabec Kalvach for Soucek/Kral Kopic for Masopust Krmencik for Schick Obviously easy to say now, but that's how you need to manage at this level, especially with a limited player pool. You can't be throwing random lineups full of players that have never played together. It's shocking to go from what we saw Friday to this disaster, but we've seen it before with past managers.
Kopic and Kral are the only players that I could say are at or around 6 on player rating right now... maybe Krmencik if you factor in relative lack of service. So I think minimum 4 subs at halftime
Now with everyone healthy and in the team, our B team is still decent. At least another level better than this anyways. Hopefully Silhavy learns his lesson with fielding ridiculous lineups like this.
Eh, we have really good central midfield depth (enough to keep Jankto playing wing), and decent strikers if a healthy Schick / Krmencik (still not there in my opinion) plus I guess Ondrasek in the old Skoda role... Beyond that its not great. CB and the wings we don't have much depth even at health.
Celustka and Boril already look a fair improvement to the collective defense, also we've put Kral back in front of the center backs to help with the clearance problems in the first half. Krejci and Husbauer still look like dead weights in this lineup
This official isn't very good. Quite a few balls been called the wrong way, calls missed. Ondrasek doesn't ever look all that impressive, but I do really like his energy and his overall game is stronger than it looks. Boril is our starting leftback, very strong run of matches for him and I think he pulls ahead of Novak. Celustka is also a locked in starter although I wish he was a better passer. And Darida is still the heart of our midfield.