Niké League: Weiss Criticism & Owner Meeting

Coach Vladimír Weiss put things on edge after the last loss against Košice. Either there will be radical steps in the club, or he will offer to resign. Already today, he is supposed to negotiate with the owner Ivan Kmotrík Sr. about his future.

“Some relationships are not what they should be. We’re catching up with some of the things I announced two years ago,” Weiss claimed. Already in the autumn, he repeatedly indicated that he was not satisfied with the summer purchases.

Weiss also hinted at internal problems that he can no longer keep to himself.

If we break it down to the nitty-gritty: Weiss indirectly admits that the cabin is falling apart, that the team has no hierarchy or discipline. And that he himself can no longer move with it.

So who makes the team? Who makes the cabin? Who signs players?

Like brothers

Weiss seemed to admit for the first time that his position in the club might not be as strong as we all thought. Although he previously claimed that he decides on transfers together with the Godfathers.

Trainer Weiss and owner Ivan Kmotrík Sr. are connected by a long-standing friendship. The coach often says that they are “like brothers”. No coach in the era of independence had a stronger position in Slovan. But this relationship also shows its limits.

Several statements of the coach today suggest that the CEO Kmotrík Jr. he’s been buying players he doesn’t want, or isn’t consulted as much as he imagines.

And it’s not the first time to see tension between them. Already in the past, Weiss and Kmotrík junior have sent each other indirect messages through the media.

In 2022, Godfather Jr. for the daily Šport, he criticized the way the coach publicly pilloried his players:

Reinforcements or not?

“These are things that shouldn’t come out of our kitchen. We can have different views, we can talk to each other about them, but they should stay inside the club,” he declared.

He added that such press releases are unusual and unprofessional.

Slovan brought in six players in the summer: left-back Sandro Cruz, defensive midfielder Petr Pokorný, wingers Kelvin Ofori and Alasanau Yirajang, forward Mykola Kucharevyč and stopper Sidoin Fogning. Not one of them became a support. None of them have a certain place in the starting line-up, most jump into the game as a substitute.

Weiss already admitted during the press conference in Košice that the exchange of players “is not adequate for what they want to play”. People have high expectations after the Champions League, but the team does not have the quality, according to him.

“League matches are such that the team is too old and lacks the quality that will triumph over Dunajská Streda or Žilina – we don’t have that at the moment,” he claimed.

They were stopped by a sixteen-year-old

The coach complains that “it is impossible to play without a striker” and that the club did not buy him the players he needed.

The godfather junior claims that he invested a record three million euros in the summer. Nevertheless, Slovan is not enough even for the last place in Košice. They signed sixteen-year-old stopper Tomáš Ďurko with almost no league experience.

If Slovan cannot get through such a team without international experience, the problem cannot be only in the quality of the staff. One has to ask: How is it possible that the players of the second row of Slovan are not able to compete with the team fighting for salvation? Who is responsible for the composition of the team? Who makes the cabin?

Weiss himself indicated that the cabin was not in order. “There’s enough trouble here – even in the cabin. There’s a lot of these black boys and then it’s one with the other. It’s going back and forth. It’s not good, you have to do something about it,” he said.

Suddenly they play nothing

Let’s look at the criticized boys from Africa.

Maybe Ofori and Yirajang were the stars of the league last year, but in other clubs. Rahim Ibrahim also shone at the start of the season. Other players who even played in the Portuguese league last year (Sandro Cruz, Sidoine Fogning) are suddenly not good enough even for teams from the underrated Slovak league. How come they are not playing anything all of a sudden?

If they are good, why did they fall in performance? And if they are not good, why did Slovan hire them? And why did the club expect loyalty from a player who already refused to transfer from Trenčín last year?

The most significant decline in form can be seen precisely with Rahim Ibrahim. Weiss praised him as the best player back in August. Today he talks about him like this:

“Like they brought in another Ibrahim – with black hair instead. That’s something terrible. I know where the connection is. One with the other. Poor performances.” However, he did not specify the reason.

“Unfortunately, I have to keep that to myself,” he added mysteriously.

He was knocked down by two wards

One of the reasons may be the summer transfer that did not take place. Ibrahim reportedly wanted to go to Danish Midtjylland, but Slovan reportedly rejected the transfer.

It is significant that the club then expected that the player would remain motivated – although he already had a reputation as a problematic footballer and his transfer from Trenčín to Slovan was literally frowned upon.

Saturday’s match in Košice was symbolic. The victory of the home team was decided by Slovan’s foster children – players whom the club once let go easily and for a symbolic severance pay.

Twenty-year-old winger Milan Šimon Rehuš grew up in the academy together with Nino Marcelli. He already won the title with Hoffenheim U19, went through the third division in Germany, and on Saturday he scored his first ever league goal – against Slovan, where he spent his entire childhood – ten years ago.

Striker Roman Čerepkai, another Slovan protege, was among the best on the field and assisted on the goal. If these two had stayed in Slovan, they would hardly be playing for the A team today.

No one from B

And the Slovan stars were defended only by 16-year-old Tomáš Ďurko, who has almost zero experience in men’s football. Well, it was more than enough for the sovereign richest Slovak club on Saturday.

Weiss talks at length about fatigue and not having enough players he can trust.

However, Slovan has a B-team in the second highest competition. It’s alarming that he can’t pull almost anyone out of it. In the last five years, the only exception is Nino Marcelli – and that is pitifully few.

Why does Slovan have a reserve team in the second league when they practically do not use it?

At the time of the greatest successes in the former federal league, Slovan was able to draw regularly from its own ranks – even when the B team was only playing in the third or fourth league. He knew how to attract young players, educate them and give them a chance.

Doubts of Weiss

Weiss is our coaching guru and the most successful coach in the era of independence, but he relies on experience for a long time. He himself claims that he is under pressure in Slovan and must win regularly. With youngsters who have fluctuating performance, it’s a risk.

Weiss has respect, credit and power. And an almost untouchable position on the Slovak football scene. His successor in Slovan would be difficult to find.

Today, however, even he himself admits that perhaps he is the problem:

“If I’m the problem, I won’t go to the match on Thursday,” he declared.

After his words, maybe something will move in the Brickfield.

However, whether it will help – that will be shown only in the coming days and the owner’s decision.

What happens in the cabin?

Slovan’s players have royal salaries by Slovak standards. Weiss recently praised them for their famous physical data, which according to him correspond to the parameters of the Premier League.

How is it then possible that Slovan can play a balanced game against teams from the French or Spanish league, but fail against the last team of the Nike League? Why is the team that was able to deservedly defeat Raya Vallecano unable to apply the basic principles of the game against Košice?

Other questions are also offered. What radical things did Weiss mean? How will affected players from Africa react after his harsh words and what will it do in the cabin? The atmosphere in the team is already tense, and similar statements can shake relations even more.

And can Slovan perhaps afford to exclude several players from the squad, when he is suffering from fatigue and infirmity?

Despite the problems, Slovan is still first in the domestic competition and can still have a good and successful season.

He is in the game in all three competitions.

In the league this year, he still has an important duel with Žilina, and in the Conference League meetings with Škendija and Häcken. Weiss believes that even a team that is currently struggling can deliver a big night of football.

Weiss mentions a miracle

“It could be a miracle that we play something in North Macedonia and that we beat Häcken at home. Just like we played a fantastic game with Rayo Vallecán…,” Weiss recalled.

Both remaining opponents are playable under normal circumstances. From the point of view of financial possibilities, Slovan is clearly the favorite – but the question is the current mood in the team.

Slav has objective problems. Several key players are injured or out of shape – Barseghyan, Šporar and others.

In combination with psychological discomfort, decreasing self-confidence and critical statements towards one’s own team, a mix is ​​created that can move the team in two directions: either lock it down, or break it down even more.

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