GLOSA: Pilsen lost its weapons and happiness. The situation with Bílek is unclear

Four times out of the last eight rounds, Pilsen took the lead, but let the victory slip through their fingers. In these matches, they earned a single point for a home draw with Olomouc, against Hradec, Slavia, and most recently Bohemains, all points went to the opponent. At the same time, it was the ability to maintain the lead and win by a minimal margin, even if the game performance was perhaps not ideal, that decorated Victoria last season. And quite often even in the fall, after which she led the league.

Add to that nine matches in a row in which the West Bohemians did not keep a clean sheet. The two big guns that helped the club to the last title are suddenly gone. Why? Sometimes passivity, often unnecessary mistakes, visible timidity and the absence of the famous sports luck, which will be discussed later.

There is a crisis in the world and a fall to third place with a five-point gap on Slavia and Sparta. Mathematically, Plzeň is still in the game for the title, of course, there are still eleven rounds left with the superstructure. However, Prague S are currently far ahead of her on the pitch. Everyone could form an opinion on the difference compared to Slavia last weekend in Eden. Sparta is then on a roll, abounding in energy, self-confidence and, what is more important – winning.

In addition, any luck has left Pilsen, an own goal against Bohemians after the billiards of Lukáš Hejda and Tomáš Choré is the best proof. Jindřich Staňek, a hero in the campaign for the title and into the Champions League and a hot candidate for Footballer of the Year, added to this during the decisive hit. Ruin complete, Staňka’s emotional and dedicated reactions spoke for everything.

On the contrary, there are chances. With Olomouc, Plzeň was clearly better, against Kangaroos they played perhaps the best half of the spring in the opening act. After the change of sides, Adam Vlkanova or Matěj Vydra burned tuts. Gunner Tomáš Chorý stamped the posts and I dare say that even in autumn he would have scored at least once in each of the mentioned duels. “It’s worth a fart, we’re wearing a blanket. Other times you just score a goal on him, now we hit sticks and goalkeepers,” Vydra aptly declared on Sunday.

The recipe is probably the only one – to keep getting chances and “it will come”. They can carve the often parodied saying from the series Okresní přebor “the more goals we score, the more points we have” in the cabin. Plzeň can win in just one game, similar to how Sparta did in the fall, when after the debacle in the derby they won in Štruncový sady.

Until then, the question of how to solve the future of Michal Bílek will of course arise more and more. I admit, I don’t have a clear opinion, there are a lot of reasonable arguments on both sides. The team would need a quick boost, which the new coach can definitely bring. At a moment when other teams would put significant pressure on Viktoria in the table, there would probably be nothing to worry about and the most ideal thing would be to dismiss the coach, whose contract ends in the summer. Not fighting for the basic group of European cups next year would be sad not only from a sporting point of view.

Pilsen, however, STILL has a comfortable nine-point cushion in third place, and most importantly – we have a representative break ahead of us. Two weeks full of possibilities. The squad of West Bohemia remains complete, except for Staňko with defender Václav Jemelka and midfielder Erik Jirka, unlike Sparta and Slavia. The time for training, clearing the head and looking for changes that will bring Pilsen back to well-being is quite long. And that is probably better with a coach who knows the team well.