In the first spring round, Sparta went to Karviná, where an unfathomable opponent awaited them. MFK works well under coach Jarábek, their preparation went well, overall they have an interesting team. In Saturday’s race, however, it became clear whose side had more quality. Letenský could not handle these types of matches before, the unequivocal win only proves the progress they have made under coach Brian Prisk. In the first part of the match, Silesia was still enough, they even had chances, but Sparta outlasted them and managed a comfortable victory in the end, mainly thanks to the intensity and speed of the game.
I have to admit that, in my eyes, Sparta is currently a little more favorite for the title than Slavia, I think they are a certain percentage better, more consolidated, more confident at the back. Of course, I could be wrong and in a few weeks the situation could be exactly the opposite. Sparta has a demanding schedule, the first match of the Europa League awaits them on Thursday, plus a long journey. The Reds have a wide squad, the players in the lineup can rotate, but there can be injuries, loss of form, but currently I see Sparta a little further.
However, I would not compare the opening spring duels of Prague S. Slavia played a very solid game offensively, which we have become accustomed to, especially during duels in Eden. It was significantly worse defensively, they will have to work on that, but I don’t expect something like that to happen again. Paradoxically, such a win can help her, firstly, they showed their mental strength, secondly, they will pay attention and not live in the fact that everything is ideal, but it is necessary to turn it on. At the same time, we have to appreciate Jablonec’s performance, which was really excellent, we were not used to that from him in Eden in previous years.
The Budejovice revival can help depose Hapal. Contribution from the program PřímákVideo: Sport.cz
I was a little surprised by the deployment of Lukáš Masopust, even though they played a lot in the autumn in this composition (Masopust – Ogbu – Holeš), I expected the composition to be a little different. For example, Tomáš Vlček could have started instead of Masopust, whose deployment the coach explained by his above-standard passing, but it is generally known that he was never a complete defensive dog.
David Zima returned pompously to Eden, who became the most expensive arrival in the Czech league. In my opinion, it is Vlček who is most keen on his arrival, which I sincerely regret, because in him Slavia has a player with great potential and I would like to see him in the starting line-up as often as possible. But when a player comes for such money as Zima, it is clear that he must get space, moreover, he should not need much time to acclimatize, he should be an immediate reinforcement. The competition for the stopper is unbelievably big, we’ll see how they do. But if Zim does well, he can certainly still go abroad, he is an extremely high-quality player and he is still young.
I would still stay with both S, because if we talk about the clubs that have strengthened the best, it will be them. Apart from Zima, Solbakken is an extremely interesting acquisition for me, I am very curious about him. Otherwise, it was a classic winter transfer, nothing big, rather minor transfers, of course with the exception of Staňek, who unfortunately got injured and will have to wait for his debut.
The biggest surprise of the round happened in Budějovice, which beat Baník 3:0. They are going through a really turbulent period in the south of Bohemia, and after everything they have been through, a win over Ostrava must be at least a small satisfaction for them. I already wrote in the fall that when a team is going through something similar, they are usually able to pull themselves together, grit their teeth and stick together. Personally, I don’t think that they have such a terrible team, as it might seem after looking at the tables of the autumn part, moreover, there are a large number of patriots in the club. Whether it is the new coaches Jiří Lerch and Jirka Kladrubský, they are also led by another local heartthrob, Ivo Táborský.
Their main task now will be to establish the right atmosphere in the cabin, a fighting mood, even from the bottom they were in after the fall, they can rise, after all, miracles sometimes happen in football. I have to admit that before the match I expected that a surprise could be born, but perhaps even the biggest optimist did not believe in a 3:0 win.
If we take it from the other side, it is a great indictment of coach Hapal. He has been working in Ostrava for over a year, his time as a defender is long over, he moved the team, but now stagnation has come. Despite the number of changes in the summer, the coach assembled the squad in his own image and it’s still grinding, something is not right, it seems to me as if they take one step forward and two steps back. I expected them to step into it in the spring, the expectations from the fans and management are high, the top six should be an obligation for them, but I am not entirely sure if they will achieve it. They have a duel with Plzeň already on Tuesday, they are going to Boleslav at the weekend, who knows if coach Hapal would even be able to endure two more losses.
Pilsen didn’t get off to the start of the spring as she expected either, although she didn’t have the worst performance against Boleslav, but she will definitely regret the draw. During the premiership of David Holoubek on the bench, the Central Bohemians gave an excellent performance in the west of Bohemia. Holas will certainly improve Bolka, especially from the tactical point of view, he is an exceptionally high-quality coach. He will give order to the team, he will improve the organization of the game, he has quality material at his disposal, we will see how high he will finish in the end, in any case, the point from Pilsen is certainly deserved.
Another surprise was born in Slovácko, where Pardubice managed to win even in ten. This is primarily due to the excellent work of coach Kováč, whom I regularly praise here. Another reason will be the not very good work of the home players, coach Svědík described it quite succinctly. According to him, the home team only went to play football and it just doesn’t work like that. They are experienced guys, they will learn from it. Another factor is the departure of Valenta, who held the midfield very well, the team from Uherské Hradiště has to get used to the fact that he is no longer there.
In addition, Pardubice was denied a completely regular penalty, it is incomprehensible to me, I can’t get my head around what led VAR Zelinka to intervene. The referees’ commission itself recognized that it was a wrong decision. Personally, I would be in favor of making the referees’ communications public in these cases, at least for TV viewers. I would like to know why they made their decision, how they made it. Everyone makes mistakes, that’s clear, no one will rip their heads off, this step would at least prevent unnecessary conspiracies about influencing referees.
Sparta plays in Turkey on Thursday as part of the European League, I myself played a few matches at Galatasaray and the atmosphere is really unreal, the boys are sure to breathe. An extremely challenging duel awaits them against an extremely strong opponent, which has good players and leads the local league. The most important thing will be to get a good result in the rematch, because Sparta itself is very strong at the home stadium. I’m a little envious of the boys getting to experience the famous Turkish hell, I’ve been there a few times myself as a guest and I still remember it to this day because that’s exactly why you play football, it’s one of my fondest football memories.
