ANALYSIS: One plays, two gets angry. Sparta is looking for lungs for the superstructure, who will they bet on?

In the last three rounds, Sadílek was the first choice for the Danish coach. “And he is fantastic, I appreciate his performances throughout the season,” Priske praised him after Sunday’s 4:1 win in Olomouc. “And I said the same thing to Qazi Laci and Markus Solbakken. I understand they are unhappy.’

In Priske’s favorite 3-4-3 formation, the central midfielders are not the ones expected to score goals. With an exaggeration, let’s call the stable member of the reserve Kaan Kairinen more like a brain, now we are looking for the lungs to manage the other organs and ensure the distribution of the balls.

Several interesting things emerge from Opta’s analytical data comparing Sadílek, Laci and Solbakken.

– Out of the trio, Sadílek most often meets the ball in the opponent’s penalty area.

– Laci again sent them the most passes.

– Solbakken, on the other hand, boasts the highest pass success rate, with over 88 percent.

But apparently only one will play, two will be biting their lips. It would probably be wrong if a footballer sat contentedly on the bench and didn’t want to play. Annoyance can be understood for other reasons as well. Each of the trio can strongly argue why he should get priority.

Sadílek was an important part of the starting lineup last season, when Sparta celebrated the title after nine years.

Laci played flawlessly in the fall, when he paid for the league’s best scorer.

In the winter, the Czech champion brought Solbakken from Viking Stavanger for two million euros.

Rather than visiting cards and merits, their previous performances in the league should decide their use in the crucial phase of the season. Eleven spring bikes offer a fairly representative sample.

Twenty-seven-year-old Sadílek logged 560 minutes in eight starts, seven of which he was in the starting lineup.

A year older, Laci has 453 minutes in seven starts, five of which were in the starting lineup.

Twenty-three-year-old Solbakken managed 276 minutes. He did it in eight starts, making three starts.

However, their other statistics are quite similar.

Planting for spring? Zero goals, zero assists. Cheap? 0 + 0. Solbakken? 0 + 0.

The zero contribution of the midfielders does not have to bother Sparta too much, when they have an offensive trident of Birmančevič, Kuchta, Haraslín. However, let’s try to use more advanced statistics in the assessment of offensive contribution.

According to the well-known xG, Sadílek should have 0.92 goals, the value of expected assists (xA) is 0.56. Laci is at 0.2 + 0.27 and Solbakken at 0 + 0.71.

What is interesting about Nora is that he is not only waiting for the first hit, but for any shot at all. The statistics do not record a single blocked attempt. “He came with the label of a top player, but I already said in January that the Czech league is not easy. It is demanding physically and mentally,” pointed out expert Petr Mikolanda in the last episode of the Přímák show. “You need to give the foreigners six months to acclimatize.”

Of course, even such a Birmančevič did not shine immediately after a few weeks, but the performance of the twenty-three-year-old Solbakken must still be a little embarrassed at Letná.

The Norwegian representative moves elegantly around the pitch. He doesn’t mess up, which is proven by the high percentage of successful passes. But most of them point backwards or sideways. His movement map reveals that he runs a bit lower than the likes of Laci. What stands out about Sadílek is that he didn’t only play in the midfield during the season, but also alternated on the right side.

Note, however, that the movement of all three fighters provides only slight deviations. This also shows how Sparta is based on tactics.

Photogallery

Photo: Sport.cz

Photo: Sport.cz

Photo: Sport.cz

But back to the midfield breakdown, where it doesn’t sound very flattering for Solbakken.

It lags significantly behind its competitors, for example, in the number of accurate passes into the opponent’s goal. Success in combat or in the air is also not very common.

It is obvious that he will still have to work hard to get into Sparta’s starting eleven. After all, during the debate about the composition of the Spartan reserve with Sport.cz expert Jan Rajnoch, his name does not even come up.

“Laci has been through some kind of injury. Sadílek always plays his part, even if the team is not in optimal sports form. It is an important part of the assembly. It does what is asked of it, and even now it plays very well. He doesn’t let anything go and serves the technical Kairinen,” reflects Rajnoch. “In matches where more creativity is needed, maybe Laci will step in again if he is in form.”

It is an important fact that in the spring the favorite of Spartan fans was hindered by health, but he is far from a decent autumn record of 1+6. Compared to the Czech competitor, however, he is more often involved in combinations, and has a higher pass success rate.

On the other hand, all three midfielders have over 80 percent, which is more than a decent balance. Well, they don’t have that kind of Toni Kroos. The Real Madrid midfielder was clocked by Opta in the first half of Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich with a stunning 98 per cent pass success rate, a one-off mark for the long-term world class extra.

After all, his pass was brilliant, with which he set up the opening goal for Vinícius Júnior.

When it comes to creating chances, in the spring Laci produced only two shots for his colleagues from Sparta, according to the data set, while Sadílek six.

The wider member of the Czech national team also finds himself in the box more often. He finishes in it, while the Albanian tends to shoot from behind the penalty area. Even in duels, Sadílek is more valid than him, which can be useful in the superstructure against tougher opponents.

It is noticeable that Solbakken, who is the tallest of the trio, undergoes the most fights per match on average. He does not avoid them, but rather loses them. Sadílek is the only one of the studied trio to win more than half of them, although he is also not a long shot.

You may already understand that Priske’s sentences from the last printout are not just impressions, but words supported by numbers.

After being eliminated from the Europa League, Sparta does not have to rotate the lineup and divide the forces. The superstructure should play the best that is available. And the most beneficial currently seems to be the hard-working Sadílek.