The Spartans do not like to look at the tables of the last closed years. Third, fifth, third, third… For four seasons in a row, they did not even reach the position of vice-champion in the final accounting. At least Slavia or Pilsen have always been better.
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Of course, the Spartans were all the more pleased that this time, after six rounds of the current year, they led the Fortuna League standings. In the European League, they added debacles with Lille and AC Milan, but also (rightly) the celebrated fresh Thursday win 4: 1 in Celtic Park.
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In this mood, the Spartans headed for the match in Pilsen, following a rival who lost his own European dreams in the match with Hapoel Beer Sheva, first in Alkmaar and then on October 1 in Israel. Then Viktoria played on October 4 in Olomouc (2: 2). When it became clear that Adrián Guľa, as the first Pilsen coach, not named Pavel Vrba, would not get “fired” after the European failure, came the month of covid-19 forced league break, in which Viktoria did not play any match.
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There was no dew left on the tracks this time
In contrast, Sparta completed the three European League duels mentioned in the meantime. And that was to be her big advantage in terms of team play. Was not.
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The Pilsen Express rolled her like a confused snail family, who stood in his way on the tracks. The train driver Adrián Guľa’s unexpectedly started machine was really not an obstacle. And as for the score, it could have ended in a much bigger massacre than the still relatively decent-looking 3: 1 result for the home team.
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What was the power of Pilsen in? In a compact, consistent and powerful attack on the opponent’s basic pass, either in the depths of the field or somewhere at the bisector. Sparta didn’t know how to do it practically throughout the match and the opponent only forced one of her mistakes after another. It started with Plechatý’s unwanted assistance, for which even the coaches of younger pupils would step out. And then Sparta rode.
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She was completely out of the rhythm of the match, she couldn’t find a tactical element to outsmart the Pilsen cylinder. For example, by kicking the “front line” to which she was not entitled, on the approaching tip or wing. But no one was running in or digging. And coach Václav Kotal sadly summed up the post-match sentence on the substitute, that such football as Sparta showed this time really has no future.
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Yes, Sparta lacked a lot of players. The key organizer of the defense, Ondřej Čelůstka, or another stopper, Lukáš Štetina, who was unhappily taken out of service in the national team jersey in Slovakia by Bořek Dočkal.
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Dávid Hancko has started for the second time, but even his knee clearly does not intend to burden Sparta for more than 60-70 minutes in the match.
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Having Adam Hložek or David Moberg Karlsson on hand, perhaps Sparta would show even more of Kotal’s demands, but…
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But whatever the mood and partial personnel crisis, Sparta cannot afford such a poor performance with its ambitions. Notabene in the key match of the season, because it is the duels of the strong three that usually influence the final ranking of the table very significantly. And in Pilsen now, Sparta, with all due respect, didn’t even cut it off. It can certainly be lost, but not like this, in the cat-mouse style.
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On Thursday in Glasgow, the Letna team crushed Celtic, who plays football a bit from the old school, he didn’t succeed in the match at all, and Sparta was able to use his cumbersomeness beautifully with swift runs into the open spaces.
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He rejected the unflattering Native American name Guľa
Although it may seem unbelievable to someone, on Sunday she encountered a much, much more mature opponent in Pilsen tactically and football-wise than Celtic Glasgow was a few days earlier. This time, Adrián Guľa proved that the Indian name does not fit him: “The one who everyone wanted him here for years, and when they finally got him, he didn’t show much except nice words.” He demonstrated. In the “covid” break, he apparently tuned the team physically and perfectly motivated and prepared it tactically on Sparta.
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Victoria’s game mechanism was wrong this time, at least Sparta was unable to find any on the field, let alone use it. This time, the personification of Victoria’s performance was the physically perfectly inflated striker Zdeněk Ondrášek, who, figuratively speaking, had Spartan defenders “for breakfast” about the same as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s green berets in the film Commando.
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True, Ondrášek is nicknamed Cobra, so a film message from Sylvester Stallone would probably be more appropriate, but for example “You are a disease, I am a cure” is probably not entirely appropriate at the time of the pandemic. And not about psychopaths at all.
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But let’s go back from football to lower football genres. For example, to the famous shajla, with which the Pilsen matador David Limberský passed Ondrášek a goal. In the package with the subsequent ending, let this event be marked as one of the best in this crazy league season. Really a precise piece.
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Sparta doesn’t need a saber
If another major internal problem is looming after Kang Sparta, it is a question of further involvement of her matador, ie Bořek Dočkal. With the presented style “the chef walks around the field and spreads his hands” this time he was not very useful to his team in Pilsen.
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It’s up to him if he’s still moving a little. And it is up to Václav Kotal to find a way to make the most of Dočkal’s strengths, such as chiseling final passes, and to suppress his shortcomings in dynamics as much as possible, which are increasingly visible.
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When Sparta conquers the defense of an outsider at Letná who, figuratively speaking, digs trenches there, Dočkal’s football combination solutions will certainly be very useful to Sparta. On the European scene and in the confrontation with the Czech top, however, Dočkal’s contribution is already disappearing, which is certainly an unpleasant news even for the national team coach Jaroslav Šilhavý.
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But not all days are over, for example Bořek Dočkal will show all those who are already writing him off that he has not finished his part yet. It would undoubtedly “sting” Sparta. Especially after losing the injured and goals of the injured Adam Hložek for an as yet unspecified number of months.
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Derby sometimes on St. Nicholas, another hit almost under the tree
Before the derby with Slavia, Sparta also has cup matches on the program with Celtic and in Lille, as well as two league rounds. The derby is scheduled to be played according to the preliminary schedule on Sunday, December 6, unless they move it to Monday or unless even worse things happen, such as another league break.
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After a football loader in Pilsen, Sparta needs to be formed, treated, repaired. Related to this is the fact that she would probably need to fix the basic layout, because the constant switching from a system with three stoppers to the classic “four” and back, which is usually forced by a personnel crisis, probably does not fully suit her. Some players, such as Dominik Plechatý, logically do not have all the angles and positions fixed enough to be able to switch between the two systems perfectly flexibly.
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On the other hand, Pilsen is now mentally, physically and football-wise at the top, the staff is more or less in a hurry, moreover, it is already largely virus-infected, so at least for the end of this year, it has quite decent prospects. As she showed on Sunday, she doesn’t even need Roman Berber.
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After two European qualification failures from the position of vice-champion, he is undoubtedly grinding his teeth on the championship crown, which still opens up completely different, much more advantageous options for its holder than the vice-champion, both in the fight for the Champions League and the European League. And the Pilsen cash register would really need the group phase of a proper European competition in the 2020/21 season.
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In the ongoing league table, we still find Pilsen only in third place, but with the shape it showed on Sunday, it is not possible to be afraid of it, but respect for sure. The question is whether they are happy in Slavia or not, that they will take a trip to Pilsen just before Christmas.
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Only then will it be quite possible to decide who will unwrap the gifts under the tree, knowing that it will overwinter as number 1 in the table.
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