DIRECT FROM STUTTGART | After three clean sheets and flawless performances in the Champions League, the shock came. Sparta’s defense fell apart on Friday after losing to Sigma (2:3). Coach Lars Friis had three days to put it back together. He may (or may not) use a new piece for Tuesday’s Champions League match against Stuttgart, Danish stopper Asger Sörensen is 100% fit. “We are likely to make changes. But let yourself be surprised,” the Danish coach smirked at Monday’s press conference.
He arrived in the huge hall for journalists in a good mood, even though Sparta collapsed in the league match with Olomouc Sigma (2:3) on Friday. Coach Lars Friis immediately started talking to representatives of the Czech media, allegedly putting the upset home defeat out of his head.
“This is the first time since Saturday in Strahov that I have returned to this match,” he said convincingly in the bowels of the Stuttgart stadium, where the Leten team will play the second round of the league phase of the Champions League.
Nevertheless, he knows very well that his players made a lot of individual mistakes in their second home loss this year. “We made some mistakes that I’ve probably never seen from us,” Friis noted. Which must not be repeated against the vice-champion of Germany from last year.
The Spartans have conceded a total of nine goals this season in the top Czech competition (even though the value of expected goals conceded is 7.11), four teams are ahead of them after nine matches – Baník Ostrava (8), Plzeň (7), Jablonec (5). and Slavia (1), which set a new league record and is significantly better than Sparta in this regard.
“Nine goals conceded is a lot, but it must be said that Sparta got five of them in the last two home matches,” Roman Polom, an expert of the daily Sport, recalled the 2:2 draw with Slovácko from the end of August.
Just like against Olomouc, the goals were mainly due to individual mistakes. On Friday, stoppers Martin Vitík and Jaroslav Zelený scored three goals, and defense chief Filip Panák was among them.
In this combination, they kept a clean sheet during their famous entry into the Champions League against Salzburg (3:0), when it was already the third match with a clean sheet in the European Cup in a row. Before that, Letenští beat Sweden’s Malmö twice by the same score of 2:0. “But the atmosphere in the team is still the same, the defeat doesn’t change that,” explained Vitík.
This was also seen in training. In Stuttgart, the game was played, the coaches debated and the players jeered so loudly that a loud echo ran through the stadium…
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“Sparta showed in Europe that they are at a very high level tactically, maybe even further than last season. They defend well as a team and can transition well from an active press to a very deep defensive block,” explained Polom.
But Stuttgart is a different weight than Slovakia, Olomouc or even Malmö and Salzburg. “Stuttgart plays at a very high intensity with and without the ball. We have a tough opponent ahead of us,” confirmed Friis.
There is a question in which personnel composition of Friis’s defense will start against the German team. “You want to know the line-up, don’t you?” asked the Danish coach while reaching into his pocket. As if he had the names of the starting eleven written on paper. Of course he didn’t reveal anything…
Asger Sörensen, the Danish defender, who sat on the bench after a two-game break on Friday against Sigma, is being offered. A small injury is a thing of the past, on Monday night he was at his best in a magnificent arena for more than sixty thousand spectators. On the contrary, Elias Cobbaut, a recent signing from Italian Parma, did not fly to Germany with his teammates, although he will probably return to the training process in the next few days.
“I saw Stuttgart in the match with Real (1:3) and I recognized that the team is very strong, which they showed especially in the first half. He has made great progress in the last two years. It will not be easy, we will face a physically, powerfully and technically quality opponent,” Vitík mentioned.
With their teammates, they will face extra quality in the form of offensive stars Demirovic or Undav, who has scored six goals for Stuttgart and the German national team in the last five competitive matches.
“But a match against Stuttgart might suit Sparta,” thought Polom. “He will rely more on breaks than on conquering the opponent’s defense. He will be better in such matches than against outsiders,” he added. Which apparently applies to this match. In what light will the Czech champion appear?
