Defense was all over the place, but we also could easily have had more goals but Provod didn't and Boril had 2 good chances. Overall though the lack of depth and a true play-making midfielder was very evident.
Good result to now pull away from the bottom two of the group along with Scotland, but that was not a good performance at all. I was not that surprised that our defence struggled the way it did, especially against a few quick attacking Israeli players (I think they're more dangerous than Scotland for this reason), and our midfield performed below expectation I thought. Can't really fault our attacking options because we are currently so thin there, although Masopust certainly disappointed. Biggest positives are Vydra scoring and Provod's MOTM performance.
The positives: Vydra finally gets a goal Provod 2 good performances this break, any winger improving is a good thing Vaclik mostly sharp despite loss of club minutes from injury and his status at Sevilla being uncertain The negatives The zone marking really struggled with the Israeli press at times Very little attack through the middle
I would line up like this against Scotland: Vaclik - Coufal, Celustka, Hovorka, Boril - Soucek, Kral - Sevcik, Darida, Provod - Vydra I think Sevcik can help with that creativity issue since he is a more central player naturally anyways and has good vision. I thought Kudela was shaky and the one defender really out of position at times. This is all of course if this team is even allowed to play Scotland..
Ideally this squad would be able to go to Scotland with a couple of reserve list players added as we really were limited in adjustments with that bench. Scotland apparently beat Slovakia 1-0.
I think Silhavy will need to reconsider continuing with this midfield trio in November. I suspect he prefers Dockal over Darida anyways, but I'd even like to see more of Barak, or perhaps that formation change we've been pondering. Our midfield did not perform the way I'd have envisioned today, particularly going forward in the final third where we spoiled lots of solid pressing that created turnovers. Even defensively, I thought Israel were finding space in behind them way too often and they didn't look anywhere near as dominant (like the England win) as they've shown to be. I noticed Darida was the lowest rated player on iDNES and I'd agree with that assessment. He runs a lot, and so does Soucek honestly, but I feel his lack of cutting edge passing/shooting is further highlighted without Schick and/or Dockal. Silhavy has to eventually try Hlozek and Schick together. There is just too much potential in that pairing not to experiment with it.
Scotland will be without Andy Robertson their best left back. Scotland also did not play particular well against Slovakia.
We will be down a Silhavy and one more player from the Israel squad. So Holoubek and 4 players from the reserve list will be joining the remaining players/staff. Better than a full team change at least.
Well, with what happened in September and how this situation was developing, this news is almost worth celebrating... In all seriousness, best wishes to Silhavy and our other positive players for a smooth recovery. I'd sincerely hope it's not one of Vaclik or Vydra that tested positive (since we have zero suitable back ups in those positions). If the former, I'd probably just have Soucek and Petrasek stand in front of our goal the entire game. Looking at that extensive, but not really assuring reserve list, my four picks would be Cermak, Sacek, Janos/Travnik, and Rabusic/Ostrak. This is just based on the Israel squad though and may be subject to change depending on the position of the player withdrawing from Covid. All of the other available strikers are shite, but I'd likely pick Rabusic in current form. I'd also consider Ostrak as another wing option (he should be in the current U21 team).
Nominace #ceskarepre pro utkání ve Skotsku 🏴 pic.twitter.com/XL7R1iU2rF— Česká fotbalová reprezentace (@ceskarepre_cz) October 13, 2020 Weak up front still, but at least we'll have a spine of A team players to work with. We do need more from the midfield, maybe put Kral at the playmaker spot and Darida as the 2nd holding midfielder. A lot of criticisms of the alternate selection, and its understandble seeing as how Malinsky isn't playing at Slavia and was the weakest link of our last reserve team 11. That said, I think other than one of the backup strikers the reservists are just being brought to fill out numbers. Edit: for clarity, Holes was the additional withdraw for Coronavirus.
Yeah, we'll still be able to field the same near A team (sort of) even if our bench is like a C/D/F team (excluding the defenders who are fine), and realistically only Rabusic would play out of those four additions (unless we plan to sic Malinsky on Scottish players). Novak was the player that had repeated inconclusive tests, but was found to be negative after all, so he has rejoined the team. That means in addition to Barak (already confirmed), Dockal and Hlozek were our other positive cases. Hopefully they are cleared to play in time for Sparta's first Europa League match with Lille next week.
The U21s kickoff in Lithuania shortly in what is a crucial qualifier. Krejci has decided to change formation and set up in a 3-5-2. I think it's a positive change, but whether it translates on the field is another story.
Obviously the entire country is struggling but Prague especially is a major emerging hotspot, so I'm almost more surprised that only 1 Slavia player has been withdrawn. There is actually a BigSoccer poster with a son in the Slavia youth academy and he shared some related news on that recently.
That formation makes a lot more sense with the players, but I feel its only because Krejci is now very much facing a termination if he fails to qualify in this group. I presume that with a good performance in Scotland that Holoubek would be the front-runner for the next U-21 manager.
Interesting thread. I'll be sure to keep an eye on that going forward. Thank you for sharing. Actually, our assistant coach Jiri Chytry will lead the team tomorrow. Not sure if Holoubek will be present, but yes, I'd imagine he is a candidate to replace Krejci at the U21 level.
Also, there is a good Youtube stream of our U21 game on the channel Delfi Sportas. I think it's a Lithuanian channel but I honestly have no clue.
Could almost see an own goal like the one in Israel because of it and judging by the way we've started, I think we'll take it.
Good header from Sasinka, although still feels like the only difference from our performance against Scotland is one of our many crosses actually worked. Otherwise we've shown about as little creativity. Lithuania have completely bunkered from the start so maybe we'll benefit from some space now.