AN INTERVIEW
The introductory round of Fortuna: leagues brought very wild results, which offered an interesting statement about the form of individual teams. What is the opinion of the former excellent stopper and currently an expert of O2 TV Sport Jan Rajnoch on the first matches of the new year?
From the results of the first round of Fortuna: the league is above all the smooth wins of the Prague “S”, did you expect that at the beginning of the season both teams will give such a convincing performance?
So I would adjust it a little. Both of Prague’s “S” and one’s “B”, ie Bohemka, who surprised me with how well she managed the match with Mladá Boleslav. Otherwise, as far as Sparta and Slavia are concerned, the Letná team transferred the well-being from last season to the new year, which they confirmed in the first half of the match with Brno. And Slavia showed a performance at the level of European teams. Neither victory was a big surprise for me.
I will stop first at Slavia, which demolished Budejovice 6: 0. Will such a victory be rather isolated, or do you think that stitching can give opponents a similar ration repeatedly?
I think that with the quality that Slavia has, it could give such allocations to rivals repeatedly. It is also a memento for Sparta that matches are played for 90 minutes. I don’t see a reason why, if the team has the right to do so, why wouldn’t it demolish the opponent in this way … Those European teams really play their matches to the fullest until the final whistle. It was a very difficult experience for Budějovice, but Slavia is simply somewhere completely different at the moment.
Slavia made several new players in the summer, but none of them appeared against Dynamo in the basic line-up. What do you think this shows?
That the new boys have to acclimatize first. Even the previous reinforcements did not play from the first moment. In addition, Slavia plays with a very demanding style and the implementation team must first prepare the new boys properly. Whether for a league or a European Cup match.
By the way, is Slavia the biggest favorite for the title?
Definitely. This follows from what Slavia has been showing for the last two years. Slavia currently has the best team and the implementation team, I don’t see a bigger favorite there at the moment. But I am glad that Pilsen also shows very good football under Adrian Guľa, although it did not completely confirm it on Friday. And under coach Kotal, Sparta is also rising, which will definitely want to make Slavia very uncomfortable. In addition, it is probable that a crisis could come to Slavia during the season, which the teams would certainly want to take advantage of.
Is it time for Sparta to fully participate in the title game?
Sparta has finally consolidated under coach Kotal, which is the basis of everything. Although it was a little squeaky at first, Kotal put it together and after a break his team played very good football. In addition, in the summer, Sparta strengthened appropriately with experienced players, and I am convinced that Slavia will be on her heels.
An interesting offensive variant of Letenské is Juliš next to Hložka. What do you say to this attack?
Lukáš Juliš presented himself well at a guest in Olomouc and it is good that Václav Kotal gave him a chance. Adam Hložek has been performing very well for a long time, he has a huge potential and he will be even better. But I don’t think Sparta’s attack was just about the two. There are also other quality attackers such as Kozák or Pulkrab, who are waiting for their chance. Sparta will play a lot of those matches too and it’s only good if Kotal has something to choose from.
Pilsen also managed its match. But didn’t she bother more than you expected?
She was in pain. In my opinion, it was also the fault of Covid, when, on Friday morning, Victoria didn’t know if he would play at all. Another aspect was the very nice performance of Opava, which played very interesting football in the first half. But the penalty and the red card clearly knocked her down. Thanks to that, Plzeň managed the match, but coach Guľa himself knows that it was not optimal.
Now Victoria is facing a tough battle to advance to the next stage of the Champions League in Alkmaar. How do you think it will turn out?
In my opinion, the match with Opava was influenced by many circumstances and I believe that the people of Plzeň have already compared them. In addition, the ball is a great strategist and I hope that Pilsen will be ready against Alkmaar. I would very much like her to move on. It would be good for the whole Czech football.
What other result of the opening round interested you? Was it just Bohemka’s victory over Mladá Boleslav?
It didn’t surprise me that Bohemka would win. But I really didn’t expect it to be such a smooth win. Bohemka showed great performances under coach Klusáček at the end of last season and now she has continued in a famous way. But I would not forget the victory of Slovácko in Zlín. In the derby, Slovácko showed that it could be the black horse of the competition this season as well.
Bohemka fought for Europe until the last moment of last season. Is the team in real power to fight for it this year as well?
It is too early for such courts. But coach Klusáček is a great person and coach, he has an aura in him, which probably worked a lot especially in Ďolíček. Both Bohemka and Slovácko are teams that can certainly speak discreetly in the fight for the top positions.
On the contrary, in Boleslav, after the first round, there was certainly a real disappointment. You know it well there, so what might it look like there now?
I thought about it myself. The defeat was really pretty clear and the atmosphere in the club is probably not the best now. Coach Weber has been under pressure since the beginning of the season. Although it seemed in the play-offs about the European League that Boleslav could go up, this match brought the boys back. I don’t know what to think about it. There’s something unhealthy, but again, I don’t see that much to know what. In any case, I support Boleslav and I wish the club to get out of it as soon as possible.
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