Barrage goes to Šilhavy, meaningless substitutions slow down the Czech team

The players of the Czech national football team have defended their coach Jaroslav Šilhavy, who has been linked with the end of his time with the national team, despite being left out of the World Cup barrage in Qatar. Despite his well-chosen tactics, criticism has been heaped on the experienced coach for his substitutions in the 75th and 83rd minutes.

Jaroslav Šilhavy has received praise on social media for his chosen line-up. A bold move with a five-man defence was offered in view of the absence of the outside backs, as was the option with Jan Kuchta in attack.

The Czechs outplayed the Swedes in the first half, even scoring a goal that was disallowed due to a foul by Jakub Brabec. Even the entry after the change of sides was not bad, but a lot changed in the 75th minute when wing-backs Lukáš Masopust and Jakub Jankt left the game.

However, they were replaced by typologically completely different players, Aleš Matějů and Milan Havel. While Masopust and Jankt are wingers with a pull on goal, Matějů and Havel don’t offer much going forward and their position is in a four-man defensive unit.

Still, the national team continued with the five-man defender system, which played into the hands of the home team’s speedy stars, Alexander Isak and Dejan Kulusevski. The two substitutes were lacking in speed and fouled on offense. The Viktoria Plzeň defender even thwarted two promising chances.

There were seven defensive-minded players on the pitch. The coaching staff had Jan Sýkora and Jakub Pesek at their disposal. Sýkora has experience as a left-back from Plzen, while Pešek would have played at least the right side of the defence.

After Šilhavy got rid of the speed on the fringes, there was another incomprehensible move. Jan Kuchta was replaced at the top of the offense by Tomas Pekhart. The burly Legia Warsaw striker had an excellent season last year, during which he dominated the Polish league scorers’ table and yet didn’t get a proper chance in the national team, but this year he, like the rest of the team, is not doing well at all.

Pekhart was given a chance at the expense of Ondrej Lingr, who on the other hand, with his performances in a Slavia jersey, was asking for a first substitute position, maybe even the starting line-up. Instead, he went into the game only in overtime at 0:1.

Šilhavý played well tactically with the Swedes, but the decisions made during the game worsened the overall impression of the game. Unfortunately, Havel, Matějů and Pekhart did not have such a positive influence on the team that their surprising deployment could be defended.

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