Sparta has lost in Scotland! Pavel Vrba faces criticism from the public, but also the invisible Adam Hložek!

The unsuccessful match, which resulted in a 0:2 defeat, means that Sparta has lost its hopes of qualifying from the Europa League group stage. It is also a loss for Czech football in the coefficient mathematics and also that the domestically hated Rangers FC are credited with a win against one of Prague’s “S”. Coach Pavel Vrba has faced criticism on social media, but so has talent Adam Hložek.

The long-awaited clash between Scotland’s Rangers FC and Prague’s Sparta outlined that the Flyers are far from ideal form. The Scottish champions won comfortably 2: 0 to qualify for the spring part of the Europa League. Both goals were scored by Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos.

Sparta, on the other hand, still have to fight for qualification to the spring European Cups in the last round of the EL. To qualify for the ECL, they must not lose at home to Danish champions Brøndby IF.

Sparta’s performance in Glasgow was lacklustre and uninspired. Sparta looked scared from the start. Attacking the opponent? Almost non-existent. The Letenans didn’t recover until about 15 minutes before the end when they created some big chances, but it was too damn late.

Otherwise, both teams played with a similar concept, staying in the block and not pressuring the opponent, the only difference was in the formation. New manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst didn’t make significant inroads into the system, and Rangers FC still played a typical 4-3-3.

In the first half, Spartans tried to rotate the play between the defenders and then look for wing spaces with crosses. But they lacked courage and running, with the opposition collecting most of the deflected balls in the first act. The only player who was not afraid to play and create was stopper Ladislav Krejci Jr.

It was not enough from the others! The worst fact is that Rangers were not a significantly better team despite Sparta’s poor performance. Coming to Ibrox Park with Jakub Pesek and Ondrej Celestka in the starting eleven and of course with form, this was simply a winnable game.

Public reaction

The Czech football public also commented on the match. Almost all of them did not forgive a jibe at coach Pavel Vrba, but the thread did not remain dry even on Adam Hložka.

Luděk Mádl added: ” Sparta attacked in the end, fine, but… The problem, in my opinion, was mainly in the first half, when Rangers ran down the runway 3 times into the stretched, dysfunctional defence and only by coincidence only 1 goal came out of it. ACS is able to show interesting moments in the cups, but it is uncompetitive.”

Spartan journalist Jan Vacek also wrote his opinion on the match, he traditionally evaluated the positives and negatives of the match. Understandably, this time he found more negatives in the performance of the team.

“The negative trend of the season must be alarming for ACS. Pavel Vrba has five games before the winter break to change it. But so far he clearly doesn’t know what to do.”

Even the cynical football-loving Neobjektive Journalist has taken a shot at Sparta, and a big one at that! He took advantage of the recent hullabaloo around Pribram.

Another football lover noticed the lackluster performance of Adam Hložek and offered an interesting opinion. “I’m really curious to know how much Adam Hložek will leave Sparta for and where. After the season (July) he will be 20 years old. And I don’t feel that he has moved on significantly from 16-17, unfortunately. I wish him well, but the edge of a youngster who is physically fit for adult football is gone.”

Sources: Tomas Podvin, Neobjektive Journalist, CT Sport