“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Slavia Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Slavia Prague heard it as anything else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slavia Prague is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Patrik Hrošovský has agreed terms with Banik Ostrava for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Oscar obliged against Mlada Boleslav. 5‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Slavia Prague.
Match20 Nov 2027
Another one collected away from home
8 on the bounce on the road for Slavia Prague. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Slavia Prague and Mlada Boleslav, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Position 1, 42 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Tomáš Vlček was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.59. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomáš Vlček. 2‑0 against Viktoria Plzen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Slovacko will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Slavia Prague were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.45 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
27 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Slavia Prague have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Michal Sadílek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slavia Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomáš Chorý. 2‑0 against Mlada Boleslav, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.78, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Tomáš Chorý was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.54. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.71 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
26 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Position 1, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A brace, and Tomáš Vlček takes the afternoon — 9.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tomáš Vlček provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
David Douděra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
7 goals in one match, Oscar on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Slavia Prague and Jablonec.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Denis Višinský was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.63. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Derby days make names, and Oscar made his against Sparta Prague. 2‑1, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Slavia Prague scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Slavia Prague support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Petr Ševčík was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slavia Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Radovan Pankov has just signed for Slavia Prague, and for once the answer mattered.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Slavia Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Javor-Matis will make the call about Štěpán Chaloupek this week. Slavia Prague have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
A brace, and Danijel Šturm takes the afternoon — 7.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danijel Šturm provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Slavia Prague heard it as anything else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Slavia Prague and Banik Ostrava, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.73 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Michal Sadílek was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 40 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
27 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
David Douděra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vasil Kušej had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sigma Olomouc were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Sigma Olomouc left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.43 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Vasil Kušej was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.89. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.25 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vasil Kušej wants continental football; whether Slavia Prague can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Douděra is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.56, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A brace, and Ivan Schranz takes the afternoon — 8.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Schranz provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Tomáš Holeš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of David Jurásek has come up in conversations Slavia Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marked 9.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Banik Ostrava paid $430.0K and Slavia Prague took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
10 academy players handed senior numbers at Slavia Prague
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Antonin Sima is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matej Vydra has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Zima is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Štěpán Chaloupek and Slavia Prague agree another 5 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
David Douděra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Timothy Ouma and Slavia Prague agree another 5 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 3, 57 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The phone has started ringing about Tomáš Holeš again, and this time the name on the line is Cracovia. Slavia Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Slavia Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
In brief
SquadWords at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
SquadDavid Zima has improved at 26, which nobody expected
MarketTimothy Ouma comes back from a loan that worked
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slavia Prague can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Youssoupha Sanyang is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matej Malenšek is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Slavia Prague have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Douděra is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Add another name to the list: Santa Fe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomáš Holeš. The answer from Slavia Prague has not changed — yet.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Slavia Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Slavia Prague will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Slavia Prague heard it as anything else.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nazar Domchak is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The phone has started ringing about Jakub Markovič again, and this time the name on the line is Slovacko. Slavia Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Slavia Prague has been clear about where Éder Balanta stands, which is more than many ever get.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Slovacko will make the call about Nazar Domchak this week. Slavia Prague have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Lukáš Vorlický’s exile
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Slavia Prague have had the benefit of it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
David Douděra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Zima is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Tomáš Holeš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadDavid Zima falls out with a teammate over standards
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Višinský is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Zima signs something — a contract at Slavia Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
David Zima falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
13 goals in 28 games at Ufa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Slavia Prague updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I did not go to Bohemians 1905 to sit and watch. I want to come back to Slavia Prague and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Prague lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 119 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Hrošovský is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
David Zima falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Douděra's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at Slavia Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Zima is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Tomáš Holeš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éder Balanta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
0‑2 against Red Bull Salzburg. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I watch every Slavia Prague game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jihlava runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad15 Mar 2027
David Zima falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Youssoupha Sanyang and Slavia Prague agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Schranz and Slavia Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Zima is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Slavia Prague, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
1‑1 against Red Bull Salzburg, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.74 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Jan Bořil falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Slavia Prague pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Market1 Mar 2027
Maxim Magada returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Jindřich Staněk: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Zima is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Rukh will make the call about Štěpán Chaloupek this week. Slavia Prague have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
Player ratingsThe kick that got away from Jaromír Zmrhal
The offer from Pribram for Danijel Šturm was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Slavia Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Vasil Kušej falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not go to Viktoria Plzen to sit and watch. I want to come back to Slavia Prague and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Slavia Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
32 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slavia Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Slavia Prague will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Slavia Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The offer from Urawa Reds for Ivan Schranz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Teplice, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Feb 2027
David Zima falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.21 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vasil Kušej wants continental football; whether Slavia Prague can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ivan Schranz. 2‑0 against Zbrojovka Brno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Vasil Kušej was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.75. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
SquadWords at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Position 3, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The chase for Denis Višinský ended with $1.3M changing hands and Viktoria Plzen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Add another name to the list: Urawa Reds have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Schranz. The answer from Slavia Prague has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
David Douděra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Lukáš Provod was one of the reasons people came, and $36.4M does not replace that by itself.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tomáš Frühwald is living that version at Slavia Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee is $770.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Bohemians 1905 drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The chase for Marián Tvrdoň ended with $240.0K changing hands and Viktoria Plzen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The name of David Jurásek has come up in conversations Slavia Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Slavia Prague have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Slavia Prague, and 3 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A performance of 9.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasil Kušej is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Position 2, 44 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Tomáš Holeš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 9.66 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 9.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
SquadVasil Kušej falls out with a teammate over standards
3‑2 against Vikingur, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Two goals and a mark of 9.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oscar. 1‑0 against Banik Ostrava, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Zima is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Vikingur spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Vasil Kušej falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
3‑2 against Sporting CP, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Tomáš Holeš was at the centre of the description.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Slavia Prague rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Sporting CP had no answer to any of it.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vasil Kušej wants continental football; whether Slavia Prague can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Štěpán Chaloupek obliged against Teplice. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Slavia Prague.
Position 2, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
A mark of 9.39 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Slovan Liberec left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Douděra is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Slavia Prague, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Slavia Prague told David Zima something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for David Látal
2‑1 against CSKA Moscow, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Vasil Kušej was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I did not go to Viktoria Plzen to sit and watch. I want to come back to Slavia Prague and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad9 Nov 2026
David Douděra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Slavia Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shots: 15. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
3‑2 against CSKA Moscow, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Oscar was at the centre of the description.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oscar provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.26 for the rest of it.
Tomáš Holeš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 9.52 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Douděra is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Lukáš Provod could not do
Zbrojovka Brno will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Slavia Prague were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Lukáš Provod was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
6 goals in one match, Danijel Šturm on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Slavia Prague and Zbrojovka Brno.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Petr Ševčík was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
5‑0 against Vikingur, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Two goals and a mark of 9.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.53 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Tomáš Holeš’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Slavia Prague.
Squad28 Sep 2026
David Douděra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
0‑0 against Sporting CP, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Slavia Prague pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bruno Pirri falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Youssoupha Sanyang did not need any: 8.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tomáš Holeš was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Youssoupha Sanyang. 2‑1 against Pribram, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad14 Sep 2026
David Douděra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A mark of 8.50 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Lukáš Provod was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.57. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Lukáš Provod’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Slavia Prague.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Petr Ševčík was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.68 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
SquadWords at Slavia Prague training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
$21.2M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Youssoupha Sanyang did not need any: 9.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mojmír Chytil was one of the reasons people came, and $21.2M does not replace that by itself.
The offer from Jihlava for David Jurásek was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oscar provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The chase for Matej Malenšek ended with $1.5M changing hands and Jablonec out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.58 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Sigma Olomouc will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Slavia Prague were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Lugano for Mojmír Chytil was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from HNK Rijeka for Jakub Markovič was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Add another name to the list: Lugano have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mojmír Chytil. The answer from Slavia Prague has not changed — yet.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Slavia Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Oscar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.