Sydney FC have had an amazing season. Rotating the top position throughout the league with rivals Melbourne Victory and debutants Gold Coast has made this A-League season the most exciting ever.
For many, Sydney FC’s Czech coach Vitezslav Lavicka was a strange appointment. But why? He was voted Czech Manager of the year twice and coached two of the biggest clubs in the league (Slovan Liberec and giants Sparta Prague) and on top of that he was the Czech U21 leader.
Coaches of his caliber are more than welcome to this country.
Newcastle Jets coach Branko Culina has been critical of the Czechs work. Why? Maybe jealousy has got the better of the man who should have won two if not three titles with the Sydney UTD side he had in the old NSL, and how can we forget his pathetic coaching stint with the skyblues.
“I don’t care what their coach says and the fact that he’s on $500,000 and I’m on 50 bucks or whatever it is, but if that’s what the foreigners are going to bring to this game, let’s have more local coached,” Culina said. And we hope he remains on $50 a week.
Mr Culina is eating his words.
The influence of Lavicka has been enormous, the charismatic Czech has put to play an East European style of play which has been welcomed by the Sydney FC fans. He also brought along with him former Slovak international Karol Kissel who has played under Lavicka and three different clubs.
Kissel has been dynamic in his performance from the heart of Sydney’s midfield, becoming a cult figure.
It’s beyond me why Vitezslav Lavicka was not voted Manager of the Year. In his first season in charge and he has taken the club to top of the league. It has to all come down to one thing really…envy.
AlexMilic
Roar Rookie
You got a problem with that mate? I am a slav and? just have a look at how many slavs have been in Australian football over the years.
AlexMilic
Roar Rookie
mark are u having problems in your personal life? we are here to talk about football.
markwakefield
Guest
major, i was wondering why you have an image of tim cahill celebrating his violent criminal brother on your profile page? are you aware of what his brother did? i can only assume you support this sort of cowardly violence?
markwakefield
Guest
major milicic : always talking up the slavs...
markwakefield
Guest
i think your right about colosimo... i've never thought of him as a central defender... he's a fullback or defensive midfielder... he has blundered in two big games : kuwait asian qualifier and final vs melb...
Rob
Guest
Merrick has also had 5yrs to put a team together. VL is still largely stuck with Kosmina's leftovers.
DiCanio
Guest
There are only two coaches who could have won coach of the Year, VL from Sydney or Ricki Herbet from Wellington. Culina did well coming into the job unexpectedly but conceded far to many goals. Miron's team didn't really live up to their own expectation, and his conduct has been a bit clownish. Dave Mitchell's Glory argueably underperformed, though he did get them into their first finals series. AU and NQ didn't really shine and obviously the Roar have had their coaching issues. The justification for Merrick is what? he took his team from first to second? What exactly has Melbourne acheived at the time of this award?
Dogz R Barkn
Roar Guru
Yes - guilty as charged!! :)
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
It is not as easy as you think to coach a team to be compact in defence. If it was easy, all A-League teams would be well organised. The theory isn't that hard and a half decent coach can explain it on a whiteboard (heck I can even do it). Transferring the tactical knowledge into coaching drills and getting your players into good habits is the hard part. Also, players have to respect the coach before they will works the guts out for him. I imagine the Sydney FC players respect Lavicka more than most the other A-League teams respect their coaches (Brisbane Roar appear to have the worst respect issue). You're probably right about them falling out of finals race. However, they now have a good base to work off. I like to think that first thing you need to do when you build a team from the ground up is to shore-up the defence (anyone who plays football manager can tell you that). Sydney have achieved that this season. I think their attack will improve next season.
Art Sapphire
Guest
Alex - considering his teams struggle when they fall behind, then its no surprise he was not voted manager of the year. That has nothing to do with envy, that's just a plain fact.
Dogz R Barkn
Roar Guru
I don't reckon Lavicka has done anything special. It's not an amazing feat to coach a team to play tight and counter-attack. Vidmar managed to do the identical thing in Adelaide's amazing run to the ACL - in fact, the similarities between that Adelaide team and Sydney are eerily similar. That type of game plan can fall apart just as quickly as it was created - Colosimo has shown the first signs last night. Add to that a bunch of youngsters still learning the game, who are all a bit hit and miss, and we have a recipe for a team falling out of the finals race in straight sets.
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
Thank you captain obvious. Anyone who read Lavicka's CV would have known that he would get Sydney near the top. The fact that they took out the minor premiership comes as no surprise to me. I think they'll go even better next season.