Dallku wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:00 am
artan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 11:17 pm
The Kosovar diaspora players may have been mercenaries but they were more patriotic and played harder than all these Albanian diaspora players. Without them we never qualify for Euro 2016. They weren't complete pussies like this current crop of players are.
They were anti-footballers who were lucky UEFA expanded Euros and CAS gave them a free qualification. It was a lucky/flukey moment for a lot of them. (example: Arlind Ajeti).
They weren't good players at all. That Kosovar diaspora also played in 2014 and 2018 qualifiers. They were less warriors and patriotic then?
They were less talented but they had some talent mixed with professionalism. I do think this current crop is the best talent we ever had but they have constantly shown to collapse and without herorics from Broja we would have finished even worst.
But that core had a mixture of talent and professionalism. Someone like Ajeti was without a club half that qualification campaign and somehow managed to be a beast. Mavraj was a average bundesliga player but played like the Albanian Bonucci. Kukeli, Abrashi, Xhaka and Lenjani all played their hearts out. It didn’t last because the core got old and regressed. Cana, Mavraj, Kukeli all were dinosaurs after 2016 (Cana retired asap). Other guys like gashi, ajeti, aliji, kace etc all fell off hard, it happens in football. We just couldn’t replace them and the younger players we thought who could take over were all flops like ajeti and kace.
Going back to the point of professionalism I don’t see that in this team yet. I think Hysaj has that professionalism even if he’s not in his ideal position and gets shitted on. Bare I think can be that but has shown to collapse in big moments even if wasn’t his fault. Asllani I’m hoping. Broja and Bajrami despite the talent has issues with consistency and perhaps professionalism. Kumbulla and Gym are just quiet whereas Cana and Mavraj were both very vocal.
Maybe a vocal new manager (in the mold of a someone) can spark a fire under these guys.