What did the match between Slavia and Ferencváros show? Musa doesn’t fit into Slavia, Zima without Kudela (yet) is not enough

Slavia unexpectedly fell to Ferencváros 2:0 on Wednesday. The result is very cruel, the Hungarian league champion was not much better and two mistakes in Slavia’s defence made the difference. What did the match of the third round of the Champions League show for the next encounters?

Winter needs a “daddy” Kudel

That David Zima plays much better next to Ondrej Kuděla than in combination with anyone else? That’s a known fact, but on Wednesday it was twice as obvious. It wasn’t so much about the collaboration with Taras Kacharaba, but rather the duels, which he handles playfully with Kúdelka by his side.

The young stopper broke down a few times, often playing the edge situations to safety and leaving most of the passing to his Ukrainian partner, for whom this was the first career Champions League game. He upped his performance with an important save late in the game.

Musa will not help Slavia

There is constant talk of selling Peter Olayinka or Abdallah Sima, yet there is a player in the team who does not fit into Jindřich Trpišovský’s system at all. Petar Musa is a classic number nine who is sent one centre after another.

A bit like Luis Suarez, he simply wanders around the pitch the whole game waiting for the ball in the box. But Slavia need constant pressing from their striker, which is not the Croatian sniper’s thing.

In the opening three games, Musa has confirmed that he cannot revive the game even from the bench and that he is the ideal player to replenish the club’s coffers. A sale would be beneficial for both parties. The burly striker is productive when put in the right system, as we saw in the spring in the colours of Union Berlin. At the same time, he is at an ideal age, so he could leave for at least 60 million crowns.

In the rematch, he’ll be quickly reversed

More than one Slavia fan turned off the TV with the feeling that Ferencváros didn’t even create two scoring chances themselves. And it’s true, three of the four big opportunities were given to him by Slavia.

Ferencváros was adorned by a quick switch from defense to attack, which tired and incapacitated several of Slavia’s players. Not even a runner like Tomas Holeš was able to return, while Nicolae Stanciu was a pleasant surprise in that regard.

In the rematch, we can expect pressure from the Susians, but also breakout situations for the Hungarian champion. The switching on the Slavic side can thus decide the second match. If Trpišovský’s squad wants to advance further, they must reach for the running maximum in addition to constant attacking.

Source: UEFA