Czechs beset by armchair coaches

The saying goes that everybody in the Czech Republic is a coach, and given the conjecture over his starting lineup for their next game, Ondřej Zlámal feels for Michal Bílek. 

 

Never change a winning lineup. This piece of advice is as old as football. It's perhaps not so useful for Michal Bílek. His side suffered a 4-1 loss in the opening game against Russia. Now they must avoid defeat against Greece, otherwise they might be first team knocked out of UEFA EURO 2012.
The wave of criticism back home after the first game was frightening, and must have reached the squad's Wroclaw base camp. Even a demand to replace six players was met with general approval among fans in online chatrooms. That would mean a total revolution and panic.

Michal Bílek has big decisions to make

When I spoke to Bílek in an interview for UEFA.com, he admitted he was going to make changes, but still had not decided which. "I would play [Milan] Baroš and [David] Lafata together," Martin Vlček, a UEFA.com blog reader wrote to me. It's a refrain I've head from many fans on my Twitter feed: "Baroš is all alone up front – play with another forward." Others call for the inclusion of the towering Tomáš Pekhart, who would definitely provide more of a threat at set pieces.

At the same time, it may be wise to listen to the voices of Tomáš Rosický and Petr Čech, who calmed the emotions which were running high after the defeat against Russia. The 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 system brought success in qualifying. It would not be easy to change it now.

Not to make changes in defence, however, might be unwise, so it is assumed that Michal Kadlec will return to the centre of defence and David Limberský will play at left-back with Roman Hubník dropping to the bench.

There was one more phenomenon that helped Bílek's men qualify. A lot of good work was done by players from FK Viktoria Plzeň, with František Rajtoral, Milan Petržela and possibly even Vladimír Darida being touted to spend more time on the pitch, having all played together in European club competition this season.

We say that everybody in the Czech Republic is a coach. I do not envy Bílek's position now. His lineup is in question, and he must find a balance between conservatism and revolution. If he fails, his team will have to book their return train tickets after only the second matchday.