Albania vs Iceland match thread

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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andi2410
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I thought defense was very very bad. The 5-3-2 is totally the wrong formation for this team. Having three useless CBs is pointless. They need to go to a 4-5-1 with Hysaj Ismajli Dermaku Veseli, Lenjani and Roshi on the wings, and Bare Memushaj Gjasula central and Manaj up top. Cika is useless. No hold up play, loses the ball so much, zero touch. If we can find a stronger holding mid than Gjasula ..one who wins the ball and distributes that would be a good balanced lineup. We attack with Wings and give Manaj a chance to grow and prove himself.
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Aurora Bulkualis
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Btw, this is the first time ever that we've scored >3 goals in a qualifiers. I checked all the way back to 1946 (Balkans Cup). The 6-1 with Kuzhe was a friendly.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100820002 ... lbania.htm

It's weird because we've had a shitton of 3s. Like a RIDICULOUS amount, but not one single match with 4 or more goals.
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Shpati
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Finally beat Iceland. I felt like they've been winning all the previous encounters.
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artan
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I still don't see the point of playing with two forwards unless they are fast so we can attack on a quick counter. But Balaj, Cika and Manaj are far from pacey players and really don't offer much. You need pacey players up top so we can relieve pressure and create some quick scoring opportunities. Manaj is atleast a pitbull and does other things well besides scoring. Just look at the first goal we gave up in France when Varane had all the time to pick off a pass because Balaj didn't bother to press.

With mediocre teams generally they aren't as bad as their last game and not as good as their last game. Same goes with the players, one game we say Player X is amazing and the next game he seems to disappear. But I think it's fair to say some players like Balaj, Cika (I don't care if he scored), Ramdani, Lila, Mavraj (Lately) have been consistently bad. No surprise when these players are taken out of the lineup the team appears to be a little better. We really play with a disadvantage when these guys are starting. It's beyond me..

-I'd still rather have Kumbulla start over Dermaku. One is starting in Serie A while the other is on the bench. I don't care if Dermaku played well, it's a no brainer.
-Gjasula is a good find. He's a big body and just does his job. We've been needing that since Kukeli left.
-Three CB should be continued since we have good depth at this position. They just need to be disciplined and stop making stupid errors like bad back passes.
-Again playing with two forwards is kinda useless, especially when they're both slow and useless on counters. Teams don't even respect out counter attacks and can keep men forward. Either play with a pacey forward or just play with one and give us extra muscle in the midfield which I'd prefer.
-Roshi had a great game but he's still gonna be unplayable as a starter because he's not a wingback. Maybe start him as a wingback against the weaker teams like Moldova but against Turkey and France he might get lit up, unless if there's an extra midfielder that can provide coverage for him (Abrashi)
-Gymcity still makes me nervous..
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Simboli i Diellit
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Shpati wrote: โ†‘Wed Sep 11, 2019 1:44 am Finally beat Iceland. I felt like they've been winning all the previous encounters.
Lol last time we beat them was almost 15 years ago in a friendly ๐Ÿ˜œ
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Aurora Bulkualis
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Simboli i Diellit wrote: โ†‘Wed Sep 11, 2019 2:02 am
Shpati wrote: โ†‘Wed Sep 11, 2019 1:44 am Finally beat Iceland. I felt like they've been winning all the previous encounters.
Lol last time we beat them was almost 15 years ago in a friendly ๐Ÿ˜œ
Last time we beat them in a qualifier was 1991 according to that link.
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plisi
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Some very slick passing football from Albania, let's hope we can build on this. Turkey will probably mess things up somewhere on the road, hopefully we're there to take advantage of it.
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Plako
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plisi wrote: โ†‘Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:42 am Some very slick passing football from Albania, let's hope we can build on this. Turkey will probably mess things up somewhere on the road, hopefully we're there to take advantage of it.
We have to BEAT Turkey in the next game. That's all that matters for now.
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