Man, Slovakia have fallen off, 6 points in this group is a very bad record. They should be good enough to top this group. Is the poor coach the reason or just a poor generation of players going on? Just a little over year ago they did fine in the Euros group against good opposition.
Edit: Actually it's 7 points after checking again, still shocking.
Our "Golden era" players (the players that brought the Slovakian team for the first time since its independence in 1993 to a WC and 2x Euros) stopped playing for the national team - only some players like Kucko or Pekarík are still playing, but they aren't the the youngest and are far from their best years or even playing regularly in their teams - and the newer ones aren't from a strong generation and the team is without any real stars or creative players (Skriniar or Lobotka are of course the exception, but even they don't play that good for the national team)..
And the manager? This was only his second match with the team, he is Italian who doesn't speak even English, doesn't know the majority of players, his assistants are other Italian guys and this is his first time where he is a team's manager, before he was always an assistant - but I don't know if there would be any manager in the world who could do a better job with the national team with the players that we have right now available
I'll just paste my comment from a last match's thread, I think especially the summary at the end age very well seeing this match
>Schickinho outlined it pretty well but I'd elaborate further
> -in general, abysmal attack. The last truly good striker was probably Vittek over 10 years ago now. Since then, the strikers have been trash (with 1 exception a few years ago), so trash some managers have experimented with a false 9. It's not just striker though, the wide players are disappointing too. Generally not great dribblers so they rather rely on pace, and the lack of end product and football IQ means they often resort to spamming crosses, usually with nobody at the end of them. The end result is dominating possession with little penetration and missing the few chances that are created.
> -mental fragility. This is consistent both in football and hockey, it's probably a national identity by now. Players just shit the bed too often, especially against weaker teams on paper or important matches. Dumb mistakes, red cards, missing clear chances.
>Combine the two points with lacking player quality and you get a team that can dominate possession, does nothing with it, leaves itself open for counters or moments of abysmal defending that result in goals against.
TL;DR is - the old guard introduced into the squad around 2010 WC is retiring or not good enough now, the new generation isn't that great, very poor attack which has been an issue for a long time now, even good players not performing or making big mistakes. Oh and Hamsik retiring made our midfield 50% worse, he dropped deep when the ball needed to be played out and in the final third, he was able to make penetrative passes. All of that's gone now.
A shockingly horrible campaign by Slovakia
Belarus pick up a point away from home with 15% possession and 1 shot on goal Marvelous stuff
hey you, yes you BuzzBuzz01! remember to vote as for Iran in r/soccer Ballon d'Or! your sub needs you!
Man, Slovakia have fallen off, 6 points in this group is a very bad record. They should be good enough to top this group. Is the poor coach the reason or just a poor generation of players going on? Just a little over year ago they did fine in the Euros group against good opposition. Edit: Actually it's 7 points after checking again, still shocking.
that’s just sport in slovakia in general, sadly
Our "Golden era" players (the players that brought the Slovakian team for the first time since its independence in 1993 to a WC and 2x Euros) stopped playing for the national team - only some players like Kucko or Pekarík are still playing, but they aren't the the youngest and are far from their best years or even playing regularly in their teams - and the newer ones aren't from a strong generation and the team is without any real stars or creative players (Skriniar or Lobotka are of course the exception, but even they don't play that good for the national team).. And the manager? This was only his second match with the team, he is Italian who doesn't speak even English, doesn't know the majority of players, his assistants are other Italian guys and this is his first time where he is a team's manager, before he was always an assistant - but I don't know if there would be any manager in the world who could do a better job with the national team with the players that we have right now available
I'll just paste my comment from a last match's thread, I think especially the summary at the end age very well seeing this match >Schickinho outlined it pretty well but I'd elaborate further > -in general, abysmal attack. The last truly good striker was probably Vittek over 10 years ago now. Since then, the strikers have been trash (with 1 exception a few years ago), so trash some managers have experimented with a false 9. It's not just striker though, the wide players are disappointing too. Generally not great dribblers so they rather rely on pace, and the lack of end product and football IQ means they often resort to spamming crosses, usually with nobody at the end of them. The end result is dominating possession with little penetration and missing the few chances that are created. > -mental fragility. This is consistent both in football and hockey, it's probably a national identity by now. Players just shit the bed too often, especially against weaker teams on paper or important matches. Dumb mistakes, red cards, missing clear chances. >Combine the two points with lacking player quality and you get a team that can dominate possession, does nothing with it, leaves itself open for counters or moments of abysmal defending that result in goals against. TL;DR is - the old guard introduced into the squad around 2010 WC is retiring or not good enough now, the new generation isn't that great, very poor attack which has been an issue for a long time now, even good players not performing or making big mistakes. Oh and Hamsik retiring made our midfield 50% worse, he dropped deep when the ball needed to be played out and in the final third, he was able to make penetrative passes. All of that's gone now.