Albanian Football Forum

Judging by our roster, I seem to have overestimated the length of the prime. Cikalleshi sadiku and roshi are in that 28-29 yr old range and their prime was years ago. Others have also began their decline prematurely like kace(still better option than ramadani memushaj etc) and ajeti..

Man I don't want to jinx it, but if Strakosha, Kumbulla keep rising at this rate, and Hysaj develops consistency, we may get to a point where we get the strongest defensive lineup in the world. Our worst players will be Djimsiti who is gonna play in CL knockouts, and Veseli a starter for Empoli.



I think we may get to a point where if we get 1-2 more good defenders, Albania'll have the undisputed best defence in the world. Not there now obviously, and a lot of stuff has to fall in place, but fingers crossed.

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:26 am Man I don't want to jinx it, but if Strakosha, Kumbulla keep rising at this rate, and Hysaj develops consistency, we may get to a point where we get the strongest defensive lineup in the world. Our worst players will be Djimsiti who is gonna play in CL knockouts, and Veseli a starter for Empoli.



I think we may get to a point where if we get 1-2 more good defenders, Albania'll have the undisputed best defence in the world. Not there now obviously, and a lot of stuff has to fall in place, but fingers crossed.

There’s just no way , the big nations will always have better players . Euro 2024 should be our target to be back on the big stage . Just need some young attackers to step up to support the defence which will be good.

We should have a good defense for years to come but I'm concerned about the midfield. If our midfield gets overrun then that'll invite pressure to our backline and it won't matter how good they are if are put on islands. Kumbulla has the potential to be a world class CB and there's a good chance he'll make a jump to a big team (Juve, Inter, Man U) this summer if he continues to play well, he's now starting to get alot of attention and rightfully so. But the other players? Gym is good and all but I still think he's just an above average CB which for us is great. Hysaj is a good RB but that's hardly from the best backline. We don't even have a LB and other guys like Veseli was about to be sold to a Serie C team which says it all about him.

Alot of what makes a good defense is entire team defending. Midfielders who are in the correct spot, making sure defenders aren't in a 1 v 1, pressing, not losing the ball, relieving the defense when they're getting bombarded, etc.. With this midfield we have I don't think we have that. I think we should go back to our 2014 style of play with the pressing, bulldogs in the midfield, pacey wingers, etc.

Princ wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 4:24 am Judging by our roster, I seem to have overestimated the length of the prime. Cikalleshi sadiku and roshi are in that 28-29 yr old range and their prime was years ago. Others have also began their decline prematurely like kace(still better option than ramadani memushaj etc) and ajeti..

Lets be real. These guys never had a prime lol.

The team is in need of a leader like lorik cana. Say what you want about his technical ability but he was always able to motivate the group and keep them in line. As much as I like djimsiti and hysaj as players, I don’t see those traits in them. Strakosha could always fit the mold but doesn’t seem too interested.

artan wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:28 am We should have a good defense for years to come but I'm concerned about the midfield. If our midfield gets overrun then that'll invite pressure to our backline and it won't matter how good they are if are put on islands. Kumbulla has the potential to be a world class CB and there's a good chance he'll make a jump to a big team (Juve, Inter, Man U) this summer if he continues to play well, he's now starting to get alot of attention and rightfully so. But the other players? Gym is good and all but I still think he's just an above average CB which for us is great. Hysaj is a good RB but that's hardly from the best backline. We don't even have a LB and other guys like Veseli was about to be sold to a Serie C team which says it all about him.

Alot of what makes a good defense is entire team defending. Midfielders who are in the correct spot, making sure defenders aren't in a 1 v 1, pressing, not losing the ball, relieving the defense when they're getting bombarded, etc.. With this midfield we have I don't think we have that. I think we should go back to our 2014 style of play with the pressing, bulldogs in the midfield, pacey wingers, etc.

Strakosha is Top 3 GK in Serie A though and he's far from his prime. If Kumbulla becomes a starter in a top team, we have 2 potential world class players in defence. Then Hysaj, Djim, and potentially Veseli are starters in clubs that finish top 4-5.

My only hangup would be if Rrahmani takes off with Napoli. That would have been a BIG missed opportunity. Especially since him and Kumbulla have been praised as a very good duo at Hellas Verona.

Veseli is barely a Serie B player let alone a starter for a team that finishes in the top 4-5. Hysaj and Gym are both above average starters, realistically they're fringe starters on CL teams which is still great for us. For Hysaj it is a bit different as depending on the system he's in he can actually be a key player for a team or a liability (like in Ancelotti's system). We still don't have a LB. To defend your point Ismajli probably will make a move to a bigger team this summer (like a Serie A team or Besiktas) and some of the youth defenders coming up seem good (Kalaj and Ndrecaj). Mersinaj is also like 20 years and playing alot for Lokomitiv Zagreb but I'll be lying to you if I said he's good as I don't know the first thing about him.

But this is still alot of ifs. But that being said this is our strength and we should build around this accordingly. Build up a defensive counter attacking team as we'll never have the players to play technically. I just want to see pace on the wings and Sadiku at forward. No more two strikers and especially no more Balaj and Cika (these guys need to be shipped to Mars or something).


-----------Sadiku
Grezda-----------Roshi
-----Abrashi-Bare
-----------Gjasula
Ismajli-Gym-Kumbulla-Hysaj
------------Strakosha

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:41 am

Strakosha is Top 3 GK in Serie A though and he's far from his prime.

He’s definitely in his prime, he’s turning 25 in a month. These are his best years physically and he’s doing great.. It’s time for him to take control of that starting role, it’s been time

It seems that 2020 is an extremely lucky year for Manaj ( defenetly not for Barça) Dembele is ruled out again and their only A team attackers available are Messi and Griezmann (plus Fati ) Their football director (Abidal) needs to go asap he sold Carles Perez he didn't sign any striker even though he had time to ( Bakambu was ready to sign ) Failed to convence all the others and their clubs but... on the bright side we will see Manaj play La Liga football and probably UCL with Barcelona
Damn Rey do your best