Albanian National Team [General topic]

With memories of the golden years (80's) of the albanian football still fresh on her mind, Albania is now attempting to recreate its strong football legacy. As young players start making their names abroad, the future is looking bright for Albanian football!

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We’ll be playing Galles and Czech republic on friendlies this June.
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artan
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So another set of matches and yet not much has changed. Offensively the team looks lost with no identity and balance. The lineups still doesn't have much width, pace and creativity. Many of us were saying this before but the nations league was a huge failure for us despite winning the group. We struggled in a terrible group where we barely got by and fooled ourselves into thinking some players like Manaj or Cikaleshi are viable options because they scored tap ins. I don't even think Cikaleshi is a terrible player but the amount of praise him and Manaj would get for being in good form is laughable. We kept the same old coach and his same old tactics and it's clear this strategy isn't working nor has even considered changing it.

I don't think playing with a back three is the problem but when we play such a defensive style where the wingbacks can't get forward (nor do they really have the quality to do so) and where the midfield doesn't have the ability to hold possession or camps us deep in our half and our lineup ends up looking like a 5-3-2. The midfield is poor technically (with the exception of Bare) and doesn't have the ability to hold possession or push the attack forward resulting us being pinned deep in our half. The wingbacks are maybe the most important position in a 3-5-2 but I wouldn't say we have natural wingbacks. Hysaj is a good fullback (especially his defensive qualities) but offensively he's subpar. He can work as a wingback because his motor is so high that alone can create width but when paired with our imbalanced defensive lineup he struggles.. Lenjani had a good run with the NT but his time is up and it's clear that he doesn't have the same pace/dribbling he used to have. Since the wingbacks aren't comfortable going forward they're usually tucked in as additional defenders. And having two holding forwards is just useless when playing with a 5-3-2. When we do get possession everything is so compact because the spacing is non-existent with no outlets or counter attacking threat resulting in rugby style of play. Atleast put in a pacey forward to threaten the defense with long runs to give some sort of outlet. Our backline is relatively good but not good enough to with hold for 90 minutes. I think they're best qualities is aggression and tackling and not so much with the reading of the game so playing a more up tempo style can be good for them.

Reja should play a winger in one of the wingback spots (and not Roshi) who can provide pace and width. If Bajrami isn't allowed the midfield spot next to Bare needs to be an attacking minded midfielder or box - box midfielder. The forward pairing needs balance. Both forwards can't be holding forwards who don't have pace or any redeeming qualities. Maybe Reja should switch to a 3-4-3 which might fit better. When Macedonia plays with a back 3 they look so much more up temp and fluid compared to us. I know there attacking talent is better but they seem to have found balance in their lineup. Alisoki is so good as a wingback for them as he provides so much width and creativity on the wing, elmas and bardhi push the attack forward and offensively they're a legit team.

I hope to see new players get tested in the June friendly. Now is the time to experiment.
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artan wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:02 pm So another set of matches and yet not much has changed. Offensively the team looks lost with no identity and balance. The lineups still doesn't have much width, pace and creativity. Many of us were saying this before but the nations league was a huge failure for us despite winning the group. We struggled in a terrible group where we barely got by and fooled ourselves into thinking some players like Manaj or Cikaleshi are viable options because they scored tap ins. I don't even think Cikaleshi is a terrible player but the amount of praise him and Manaj would get for being in good form is laughable. We kept the same old coach and his same old tactics and it's clear this strategy isn't working nor has even considered changing it.
The main problem is the midfield who are not able to provide any service to our forwards. This is probably the worst midfield I've seen in the last 30 years. Our main threat in the last 3 games has been Hysaj.
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artan wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:02 pm So another set of matches and yet not much has changed. Offensively the team looks lost with no identity and balance. The lineups still doesn't have much width, pace and creativity. Many of us were saying this before but the nations league was a huge failure for us despite winning the group. We struggled in a terrible group where we barely got by and fooled ourselves into thinking some players like Manaj or Cikaleshi are viable options because they scored tap ins. I don't even think Cikaleshi is a terrible player but the amount of praise him and Manaj would get for being in good form is laughable. We kept the same old coach and his same old tactics and it's clear this strategy isn't working nor has even considered changing it.

I don't think playing with a back three is the problem but when we play such a defensive style where the wingbacks can't get forward (nor do they really have the quality to do so) and where the midfield doesn't have the ability to hold possession or camps us deep in our half and our lineup ends up looking like a 5-3-2. The midfield is poor technically (with the exception of Bare) and doesn't have the ability to hold possession or push the attack forward resulting us being pinned deep in our half. The wingbacks are maybe the most important position in a 3-5-2 but I wouldn't say we have natural wingbacks. Hysaj is a good fullback (especially his defensive qualities) but offensively he's subpar. He can work as a wingback because his motor is so high that alone can create width but when paired with our imbalanced defensive lineup he struggles.. Lenjani had a good run with the NT but his time is up and it's clear that he doesn't have the same pace/dribbling he used to have. Since the wingbacks aren't comfortable going forward they're usually tucked in as additional defenders. And having two holding forwards is just useless when playing with a 5-3-2. When we do get possession everything is so compact because the spacing is non-existent with no outlets or counter attacking threat resulting in rugby style of play. Atleast put in a pacey forward to threaten the defense with long runs to give some sort of outlet. Our backline is relatively good but not good enough to with hold for 90 minutes. I think they're best qualities is aggression and tackling and not so much with the reading of the game so playing a more up tempo style can be good for them.

Reja should play a winger in one of the wingback spots (and not Roshi) who can provide pace and width. If Bajrami isn't allowed the midfield spot next to Bare needs to be an attacking minded midfielder or box - box midfielder. The forward pairing needs balance. Both forwards can't be holding forwards who don't have pace or any redeeming qualities. Maybe Reja should switch to a 3-4-3 which might fit better. When Macedonia plays with a back 3 they look so much more up temp and fluid compared to us. I know there attacking talent is better but they seem to have found balance in their lineup. Alisoki is so good as a wingback for them as he provides so much width and creativity on the wing, elmas and bardhi push the attack forward and offensively they're a legit team.

I hope to see new players get tested in the June friendly. Now is the time to experiment.
Playing with 3 cb's is a problem for a variety of reasons
1. No depth. At the moment only Kumbulla, Gymcity, and Ismajli are reliable cb's. As we saw against England, Veseli is not reliable especially against big teams and mid-level teams like ours, but obviously he'll do fine against minnows and low-level teams. Ajeti still has to prove himself again, so I can't judge him yet. I don't see Dermaku, Mihaj and other cb's worthy of a starting role or reliable subs for us to continue making progress.

2. Playing with 3 cb's means 1 less center mid if you play 3-4-3. There is no center midfielder in this team that can do a good job defending and attacking, except Bare to a certain extent. This leaves a big gap in the center, and makes it harder to control the center of the field.

3. If we play 3-5-2, then the problem becomes the wingbacks, we simply don't have capable wingbacks who can defend and attack well. Using this system, Uzuni and Roshi, two of our best players, are completely shut out.

A simple strength and weakness analysis makes it clear we must play a 4-3-3, 4-5-1, or 4-2-3-1 moving forward.

Strengths
Goalies - 2 very good keepers in Strakosha and Berisha
Defense - 1 very good defensive fullback in Hysaj, 3 very good cb's in Kumbulla, Gymcity, and Ismajli
Wingers - capable wingers in Uzuni and Roshi, hopefully Grezda can turn his career around as well

Weaknesses
Left back - still haven't replaced Agolli, maybe Mitaj might.
All 3 cm's roles - I thought Gjasula did very well in the 2020 Euro qualifiers, but since Nations League his level has dropped. Bare has potential but doesn't have the experience and is not rising to the level needed to take control of our midfield. We desperately need a good holding midfielder like Kukeli, and a creative midfielder like Bajrami
Strikers - all strikers are inconsistent, all I see here is Broja with future potential, and Kamberi, deff no point in playing with 2 strikers.

I think we can play well and become a good pot 3 team/borderline pot 2 if we stick to our strengths using a formation like 4-2-3-1 similar to Kosova if Bajrami is able to play for us

Strakosha
Hysaj-Kumbulla-Gymcity-Mitaj (Ismajli for now?)
Gjasula-Bare
Bajrami
Roshi Broja Uzuni
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Plako wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:15 pm
artan wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:02 pm So another set of matches and yet not much has changed. Offensively the team looks lost with no identity and balance. The lineups still doesn't have much width, pace and creativity. Many of us were saying this before but the nations league was a huge failure for us despite winning the group. We struggled in a terrible group where we barely got by and fooled ourselves into thinking some players like Manaj or Cikaleshi are viable options because they scored tap ins. I don't even think Cikaleshi is a terrible player but the amount of praise him and Manaj would get for being in good form is laughable. We kept the same old coach and his same old tactics and it's clear this strategy isn't working nor has even considered changing it.
The main problem is the midfield who are not able to provide any service to our forwards. This is probably the worst midfield I've seen in the last 30 years. Our main threat in the last 3 games has been Hysaj.
Against Portugal we had Kukeli, Abrashi and Xhaka. Maybe it's better than this, but not by much.

At a certain point we were begging Alban Meha to join us.
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4-5-1 is a good formation for us. 4 at the back will do fine with our defense, we need the extra person/people in midfield to ensure we aren't instantly losing the ball when we win it & trying to overrun the opposition using superior work rate, and also the one up front allows us to play Broja in his more natural role. Poacher.
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The conclusion from the last 3 games is that Albania is absolutely fcked in midfield/attack.
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http://www.panorama.com.al/sport/eksklu ... -marokeni/

Need Bajrami to help at all, this case should help us. Man what a crap rule this is.
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^ Looks like Munir's case is literally identical

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munir_El_Haddadi

"On 1 October 2020, following a rule change by FIFA that allowed a player to change their national team provided they had made three or fewer appearances in qualifiers before the age of 21, Munir once again attempted to switch from Spain to Morocco and was called up to their national team.[46] Nevertheless, this switch was also rejected by FIFA, on the grounds that Munir had played for the Spanish under-21 team in September 2016, after turning 21.[47] On 28 January 2021, FIFA published the eligibility requirements for national teams, and Munir received the green light to represent Morocco, as he played once for Spain before he turned 21.[48]"
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