Nick Bendel
Czech out the future
March 21st 2010 07:57
This was as much a victory for the Czech as it was for the true believers. After inheriting a rabble from John Kosmina, he took essentially the same individuals and moulded them into a disciplined and coherent unit. Although there were initially some shaky moments, during which the players struggled to implement his ideas, they became more and more fluent as the season progressed, eventually ending it with the competition’s most polished style of football.
True, the Sky Blues were barely able to string together two passes in the grand final, a failing that must be attributed to nerves. But during the regular season they distinguished themselves by playing out from the back, patiently moving the ball around and exchanging neat little passes in the opposition’s half. This is a reflection of the vast gulf in quality and experience between the current FC boss and his predecessor.
The point is best made by comparing Lavicka’s team with Kosmina’s – something presaged by Sport: The Australian Disease 13 months ago.
In season four, Kossie’s men started well, but then
deteriorated with alarming rapidity into a disjointed rabble, which lost games not through a lack of effort, but due to an obvious lack of ideas. The players were prepared to run all day – they were just unsure where they should be running, or why.
Lavicka’s charges, on the other hand, being rigorously schooled, understood exactly what they had to do, and with practice became increasingly adept at doing so. The climax came with the 4-2 demolition of Wellington in the preliminary final, during which they tore the visitors to pieces with their intelligent passing and movement, and could have netted several more.
The best illustration of the superiority of Lavicka’s European methodology can be found by contrasting John Aloisi’s two years in Sydney. During the first, he was tentative and ineffective – not due to a lack of talent, but because
the ball only rarely reached him in good positions...Typically, the ball would either be hoofed to him, or he would have to drop deep or wide to receive it. All too infrequently did Aloisi receive the ball at his feet when he was facing goal and in and around the box.
This season, however, better coaching resulted in better service, which in turn made the marquee man look immeasurably more assured and threatening. So having scored just two goals in 2008-9, he bagged 10 in 2009-10, to finish as the club’s leading marksman.
While charting Sydney’s on-field fortunes over the last two seasons is revealing, it is just as instructive to look at the way the Australian and Czech conducted themselves off the field.
If there is one thing that damned Kosmina more than his team’s play, it would have been his press conferences. Time and time again, he uttered remarks that bordered on the delusional. Losses were never blamed on the fact that the Sydney players were manifestly confused about their roles. Instead, they were blamed on injuries, on referees, on opposition gamesmanship, on bad luck – and finally, most shamefully, on Aloisi...Each time he did so, it became that little bit clearer that he didn’t understand why Sydney was in such a mess – and if he didn’t understand why Sydney was in such a mess, how could he be expected to clean it up?
Lavicka’s dealings with the media could not have been more different. Win, lose or draw, he reacted calmly and contemplatively, providing thoughtful explanations for what had occurred over the 90 minutes. Where Kossie was emotional, Vitya was rational. Is it any wonder, then, that while the Sydney whole in season four was less than the sum of its parts, in season five it was greater?
Consequently, there was only one conclusion that Sport: The Australian Disease could have reached this time last year:
So, it’s out with Kossie and in with Vitezslav Lavicka. Given that nobody in Australia seems to know who he is, it is difficult to assess his appointment. However, at least on paper, it looks to be a promising one. As the recent manager of Czech powerhouse Sparta Prague, the 2006 and 2007 coach of the year and the boss of his country’s under 21 team, he immediately becomes the A-League’s most experienced and accomplished mentor. Furthermore, the fact that he was entrusted with the Czech Republic’s juniors is a very good sign. As anybody who has watched their senior team would know, the Czechs produce the sort of attractive and technical football that Australia’s domestic and national teams should be striving to emulate. And so if firing John Kosmina was a good way for Sydney’s new owners to begin their reign, hiring Vitezslav Lavicka may prove to be an even better one.
Lavicka has delivered a message that the rest of the A-League would do well to heed. Clubs should no longer attempt to follow the traditional path to glory, with its dull blend of recruiting, tub-thumping and percentage football. Rather, they should aim for something more sophisticated, by hiring experienced and well-qualified coaches (and administrators). Lavicka did not claim a minor-major premiership double because he inherited more talent than his rivals, delivered louder rallying calls than his rivals or calculated the percentages better than his rivals. He outsmarted them instead. The payoff was not simply success, but the sort of attractive style that the A-League needs to embrace if it is to prosper in a fiercely competitive sporting market. Thus, while fans of other clubs may love to hate Sydney, this should be one time they don’t mind being Czech-mated.
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