Leicester might be a key game for an Ipswich Town player after Sunderland.
Ipswich Town have had a great first half of the season.
After securing promotion back to the Championship after four years away, they are on course to achieve back-to-back promotions.
Entering the weekend’s round of fixtures they sit second in the Championship, three points clear of Southampton in third, and are eight points off Leicester City at the top of the table.
Championship Table (As it stands January 20th)
Team
P
GD
Pts
1
Leicester City
27
34
65
2
Ipswich Town
27
16
58
3
Southampton
27
19
55
4
Leeds United
27
23
51
5
West Brom
27
15
45
The Tractor Boys’ form of late has dipped, but they did beat Sunderland last weekend after failing to win any of their previous five league games.
Despite their victory over Sunderland, one player failed to impress – Vaclav Hladky.
Vaclav Hladky’s career to date
The 33-year-old had spent the first half of his career in his native Czech Republic, starting out at FC Brno.
He would then go on to join Slovan Liberec in 2015, where he spent most of his time as the backup goalkeeper.
He would make his move to the UK by joining St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership in January 2019. His penalty saving heroics against Dundee United in the Premiership play-off final would help retain their status for another year.
Hladky’s performances attracted interest from Europe, with Azerbaijani side Qarabag offering £200,000 for his services, which the club rejected. He would go on to leave on a free transfer a year later after rejecting a new deal.
He then made the move south of the border in 2020 to join Salford City in League Two, where he would go on to make over 50 appearances. After only spending a year at Salford, Ipswich would then sign him for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal.
His first two seasons at Portman Road were more of a backup role, but he has made the No.1 spot his own more recently, so far keeping nine clean sheets in the league.
Vaclav Hladky needs to improve
Despite a stellar season, Hladky’s form has been criticised of late.
Ipswich like to play out of the back under Kieran McKenna, and whilst it has been excellent to watch for the most part – there are some players who still need some work on the ball, like Hladky.
He was criticised for his passing out the back against the Black Cats, with some of his passes being fairly risky, causing the Tractor Boys many problems at the back that they didn’t need to, including a chance in the second half which Jack Clarke nearly capitalised on.
This has led to calls from some fans for Christian Walton to be given a game between the sticks.
Walton played in all 46 games last season for Ipswich, keeping 22 clean sheets, but was dropped in the summer for Hladky.
When comparing Hladky’s stats per 90 this season so far to Walton’s last season, they are fairly even across the board but there are some key differences.
Walton has a higher goals prevented per 90 of 0.11 compared to Hladky’s -0.01. He also has a lower goals conceded per 90 of 0.74 compared to Hladky’s 1.26. Hladky does then have a higher save rate per 90 of 2.52, compared to Walton’s 1.85.
When it comes to distribution, Hladky has a much higher pass accuracy of 84.3% compared to Walton’s 68.6%. But when it comes to accurate long balls per 90, Walton has 5.01 compared to Hladky’s 4.30, meaning Walton plays more accurate long balls when being pressed than Hladky does.
It is important to note though that Walton’s stats are in League One, compared to Hladky’s who are in the Championship.
So not only did he show his brilliant goalkeeping abilities last season, but his ability with his feet was instrumental to the way Ipswich played to get promotion last season.
After some poor performances, Hladky will need to be wary that a bad performance on Monday night against Leicester City could be costly for his starting position.
This is one of Ipswich’s biggest games of the season as they can narrow down the gap to top to just five points should they win.
But if a Hladky blunder were to happen – which he has gotten away with as of late – it could well mean he could be dropped. A good performance is needed.
