Slavia go into a crucial rematch, what line-up will they field? Everything depends on Ševčík, says Trpišovský

Slavia is preparing for the rematch of the 3rd round of the Conference League in Greece and will defend a two-goal lead at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. But with what line-up? That’s a bit of a mystery.

Eduardo Santos was sent off in Eden, leaving a hole in the centre of defence. Tomas Holes, who has plenty of experience as a stopper in European matches, was inserted in the match.

Taras Kacharaba was the other option in defence against Zlín at the weekend. If he came on, there would be no need to look for a replacement for Holeš in the centre of midfield. But Ševčík is injured and as Jindřich Trpišovský said, it kind of depends on him.

“Petr Ševčík didn’t train on Tuesday, the injury is very painful. We’ll see at the pre-match training, it will be decided on Thursday after the warm-up, it’s 50:50,” said the Slavia coach at the press conference.

“It’s one point of view that is offered. We managed the first game well defensively. But it was a different surface, a different starting mode of the match and a different atmosphere. One point of view is that something worked out for us and it is offered that we just adjusted it typologically. The other thing is that Tomas Holeš has a lot of experience with it. Alot will be decided by the condition of Petr Ševčík,” the coach of Slavia answered the question whether it would be better to play Kacharaba and keep the center of the field.

In other words, if Ševčík is healthy, he’ll play in the middle of the field and Holeš will be inserted at fullback. If not, Holeš will probably stay in the centre of midfield and Kacharaba will move to the midfield.

Striker Yiru Sora is also very worried about his health. The speedy Nigerian could be very useful in an open defence, especially if Panathinaikos have to take some risks.

“Yira went to team training for the first time on Wednesday. The promise is that he will be ready for part of the match. It will be more a question of pain threshold and what he will want to risk. He’s not healed, but he wants to play and be ready. We’ll see after pre-game practice what he does. The assumption is that he will be ready for part of the game,” Trpišovský said.

Ondřej Lingr, who did a good job in the first match, should be back on the attack. The injured Ewerton did not go to Greece at all and was sent to the sickbay by Zlín’s Martin Cedidla. Peter Olayinka will start again on the left wing.

A variant of the Slavie line-up with Ševčík::

Mandous
Douděra – Holeš – Ousou – Oscar
Tiéhi – Ševčík
Schranz – Traoré – Olayinka
Lingr

Variation of Slavia’s line-up without Ševčík::

Mandous
Douděra – Kacharaba – Ousou – Oscar
Tiéhi – Holeš
Schranz – Traoré – Olayinka
Lingr

Source:: SK Slavia Prague