Sparta Prague suffered a defeat against Mlada Boleslav, which is their first loss of the season. However, the focus was not so much on Sparta, but on the home team.
Mlada Boleslav was perfectly prepared for the match. They have a strong attacking force, having scored 29 goals so far in the season. Nine of those goals came against Zlin, which greatly helped their goal tally. And they added to it against Sparta as well.
Sparta and Slavia are dominating our league, but occasionally someone can surprise them, and this time it was Boleslav. They didn’t rely on stubborn defending and a compact block at the back, but instead played an active game.
I wouldn’t say that Sparta was tragic, but they failed in the final moments of the game. And most importantly, their defense was poor. Just look at the second goal they conceded, it was given away for free, something like that should never happen.
Some may argue that the cup participants had a tough week behind them, but that doesn’t hold up. Plzen won in Zagreb, so what more do they want? There was a relaxed atmosphere in their dressing room, looking forward to the next match. And then they had a blunder against Karvina. Those are the points that will be missed by Plzen in the fight for a cup placement, in my opinion.
The Vrsovice derby was clearly dominated by Slavia. It was a physical game, up and down the pitch, not much fouling. When such a match unfolds, it’s death for the defending team.
Bohemians didn’t want to spoil the game, but Slavia is such a quality team that they made sure of it. Meanwhile, Bohemians‘ goalkeeper Martin Jedlicka had an outstanding performance, and I consider him one of the best goalkeepers in the league.
Tomic scored a beautiful goal. He was greatly helped by Oscar’s pass, but he executed it perfectly. There’s not much you can do against that, he simply hit it right.
There were not many goals scored, and I believe it was due to the condition of the pitch. It rained a lot during the week, the grass was soft, the shots were not as accurate as they should have been. But most importantly, Plzen lacked goals.
I am surprised that Zlin didn’t lose against Olomouc. It’s a mystery. Olomouc is particularly strong at home, they can beat anyone, but they couldn’t defeat Zlin. It’s a great encouragement for the young Zlin coach Bronislav Cervenka.
On the coaching bench, there was a clash between two great Olomouc legends, Pavel Hapal and Radek Latal. I didn’t expect Jablonec to win in Ostrava, but Radek Latal prepared them well for the match.
