[UNL] Albania vs Israel - 10/06/2022 - 20:45 ECT

[artan]

Bottom line is this team needs to play modern football, not antiquated crap. You can justify 3-5-2 if you have the personnel, but we don't.

You really need wingbacks in a 3-5-2. They need to provide width, pace and service from the flanks. Hysaj has a lot of effort and even has the physical ability but technically speaking he is awful. He can’t make a simple short pass let alone a cross. I would say to bench him but I really don’t know what alternatives there are. With Balliu his limitations aren’t as bad as supposed.

The first half was the first half in a long time where I thought we had a resemblance of a team. We had quick counter attacking chances, some pace from the flanks. They were a little selfish in the final third but I think with some chemistry they should be able to play well.

At the end of the day it all begins with Reja. Why he insists on having his bizarre lineups that have no pace or width is beyond any of us. Playing three center forwards with three holding midfielders have no place in modern football.

At this point we should all be hoping for us to crash and finish last in this group. It should have happened the day after we barely won that awful nations league group in 2020. We need a managerial change.

[Princ]

The first half was the first half in a long time where I thought we had a resemblance of a team. We had quick counter attacking chances, some pace from the flanks. They were a little selfish in the final third but I think with some chemistry they should be able to play well.

Albania looked better than ever in the first half at Iceland too. Even got an open play goal there, which we could not do tonight at home..

Formation leaves us wide open, giving the other team too much space on the counter. When ahead on the scoreboard, we get complacent and leave ourselves without cover on defence. Reja explained after the last match that our mistakes defensively might be an issue of character, and I agree with him there.

Albanians struggle mentally, and they fold under pressure. No matter which players are on the pitch, this problem does not seem to go away!

[Klejdi1023]

I just wanna wake up tomorrow and find out Reja is gone. Would be the best news since Panucci got fired. So sick and tired of these Italian coaches, we need a modern coach that gets us playing exciting attacking football with solid defending. The talent is there, this team needs to be built around Asllani, Bajrami, Broja and let go of the old guard like Balaj. Sometimes it feels like a dream to go where we want but on paper it’s so simple we gotta make it happen.

[Pjetër]

I knew Albania was fucked when they were barely favorites for this game but I didn't want to say anything. They were only .25 favorites when they should've been AT LEAST .5 favorites. That gave it away right there.

Why are you obsessed with betting lines ? Is this an American thing or what.

Yeah I don't understand this obsession with betting odds and thinking they are infallible. I've literally seen multiple times where Muriqi was +120 anytime scorer for Lazio even though he couldn't score in a match if he played for 120 minutes.

FFS Vegas currently has Sergei Federov as the odds on favorite to be the Red Wings next coach.

Lol and just now Vegas wrong again with Warriors winning.

[RedFootballs]

Gjasula against Iceland : 73 touches. 51/59 passes completed. 9/12 long balls.

Asllani and Bajrami combined passing stats vs Israel : 33/38 passes completed. 3/5 long balls.

But people here call him a 'liability' whilst the Serie A players can't complete 20 passes in the same position. You guys said it yourself, Gjasula is an amateur player who spent his whole career on Germany D3 and he's old too. How is he circulating the ball better than Serie A starters? They are obviously more talented than him, but international game is different. He genuinely has moved the ball very well when he's played with the NT going back years.

We are only at 2 extremes on this forum. We either take club level performance as gospel no matter who performs well with the NT or think all top5 league players should be thrown to the bench and Superliga players put in their place.
But the truth is somewhere in the middle. You should value club level first but if some players are clearly not working they shouldn't play even if they start for some relegation team. Every nation has their Roshi's that are just better than the top league players. It's a different game internationally.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Gjasula against Iceland : 73 touches. 51/59 passes completed. 9/12 long balls.

Asllani and Bajrami combined passing stats vs Israel : 33/38 passes completed. 3/5 long balls.

But people here call him a 'liability' whilst the Serie A players can't complete 20 passes in the same position. You guys said it yourself, Gjasula is an amateur player who spent his whole career on Germany D3 and he's old too. How is he circulating the ball better than Serie A starters? They are obviously more talented than him, but international game is different. He genuinely has moved the ball very well when he's played with the NT going back years.

We are only at 2 extremes on this forum. We either take club level performance as gospel no matter who performs well with the NT or think all top5 league players should be thrown to the bench and Superliga players put in their place.
But the truth is somewhere in the middle. You should value club level first but if some players are clearly not working they shouldn't play even if they start for some relegation team. Every nation has their Roshi's that are just better than the top league players. It's a different game internationally.

Watch the game with your eyes and tell me Gjasula is better than them.

Because look at the context of the game. And if you want , look at how many passes Gjasula made when he came on. All we did was play long balls all evening, I don’t wanna watch it back but I could easily find so many times where Asllani was coming short for the ball and they’d just hoof it long

[CanaYouDoIt]

Throughout Edy Reja's term as manager we've had the same problems no matter the players chosen. We play a 5-3-2. He offers no coaching in attack, it consists of us launching balls from CB or WB to the STs who are isolated 30 yards away from anyone. Our CMs cant get involved, and have to cover an insane amount of ground in transition. You would think that with this lack of attack due to the formation we would be solid in defense but that isn't the case either. First, we are terrible at defending set pieces, it seems we are able to concede from every time the opponents have one. Second, we actually cant defend, we are so open despite having 3 CBs + 3 DMs, even teams like Andorra have no problem creating chances against us. Then we come to him as a person, the arrogance he has shown, the putting down of Albanians is disgraceful, I'd accept it if he got us playing good football or getting results but when you cant get either and are still looking down on us it makes me hate you even more. I've wanted him gone for so long now, this cant go on any longer if we don't wanna destroy a good generation of footballers.

[CanaYouDoIt]

I’m fuming , there’s no way way Reja should still be here come tomorrow. He has to go

Just look at us, we've been saying the same things for 2 years now.

[RedFootballs]

Gjasula against Iceland : 73 touches. 51/59 passes completed. 9/12 long balls.

Asllani and Bajrami combined passing stats vs Israel : 33/38 passes completed. 3/5 long balls.

But people here call him a 'liability' whilst the Serie A players can't complete 20 passes in the same position. You guys said it yourself, Gjasula is an amateur player who spent his whole career on Germany D3 and he's old too. How is he circulating the ball better than Serie A starters? They are obviously more talented than him, but international game is different. He genuinely has moved the ball very well when he's played with the NT going back years.

We are only at 2 extremes on this forum. We either take club level performance as gospel no matter who performs well with the NT or think all top5 league players should be thrown to the bench and Superliga players put in their place.
But the truth is somewhere in the middle. You should value club level first but if some players are clearly not working they shouldn't play even if they start for some relegation team. Every nation has their Roshi's that are just better than the top league players. It's a different game internationally.

Watch the game with your eyes and tell me Gjasula is better than them.

Because look at the context of the game. And if you want , look at how many passes Gjasula made when he came on. All we did was play long balls all evening, I don’t wanna watch it back but I could easily find so many times where Asllani was coming short for the ball and they’d just hoof it long

Asllani gets a pass because he was top against Georgia and he is very young and new to the NT. I'm sure he will prove to be a great midfielder for us in the future and yes he is better than Gjasula. But Gjasula is not a 'liability' either and has been very good for us over the last year or two, however it is not recognised because he played in a second division most his career (btw, so did Balliu).

Bajrami, however, something is not working. I don't think he has played a good game for us yet. It could be a question of the tactics but Abrashi in the same position has been arguably MOTM in both games now.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Gjasula against Iceland : 73 touches. 51/59 passes completed. 9/12 long balls.

Asllani and Bajrami combined passing stats vs Israel : 33/38 passes completed. 3/5 long balls.

But people here call him a 'liability' whilst the Serie A players can't complete 20 passes in the same position. You guys said it yourself, Gjasula is an amateur player who spent his whole career on Germany D3 and he's old too. How is he circulating the ball better than Serie A starters? They are obviously more talented than him, but international game is different. He genuinely has moved the ball very well when he's played with the NT going back years.

We are only at 2 extremes on this forum. We either take club level performance as gospel no matter who performs well with the NT or think all top5 league players should be thrown to the bench and Superliga players put in their place.
But the truth is somewhere in the middle. You should value club level first but if some players are clearly not working they shouldn't play even if they start for some relegation team. Every nation has their Roshi's that are just better than the top league players. It's a different game internationally.

Watch the game with your eyes and tell me Gjasula is better than them.

Because look at the context of the game. And if you want , look at how many passes Gjasula made when he came on. All we did was play long balls all evening, I don’t wanna watch it back but I could easily find so many times where Asllani was coming short for the ball and they’d just hoof it long

Asllani gets a pass because he was top against Georgia and he is very young and new to the NT. I'm sure he will prove to be a great midfielder for us in the future and yes he is better than Gjasula. But Gjasula is not a 'liability' either and has been very good for us over the last year or two, however it is not recognised because he played in a second division most his career (btw, so did Balliu).

Bajrami, however, something is not working. I don't think he has played a good game for us yet. It could be a question of the tactics but Abrashi in the same position has been arguably MOTM in both games now.

Gjasula very much is a liability , he isn't good enough on the ball to be that bad defensively. And Gjasula has played 3rd/4th/5th his career not 2nd.

For Bajrami, like I've repeated 100times till my head explodes is the position, he isn't a CM. He is a 10 , a low touch player who will try to get things done on it, not dominate the tempo. And when he was on the ball he made things happen, for example that long run where he gave it to Broja for our only chance of the half really. Abrashi is a CM and is a little warrior we all should love.