EURO 2024 FINALS] Albania Vs Croatia - 19/06/2024

[artan]

A lot of those players aren't starters.

That squad doesn't really stand out when compared to other teams of similar level. If all of those players were to be available for transfer, very few of them would fetch more than like 20 mill. Perhaps only Asllani, maybe Broja (even that is doubtful now), maybe Djimsiti, but there isn't a huge amount of quality there compared to similar nations.

Indeed, Poland and Czechs definitely have better squads. Our squad is one of the worst in this tournament, despite being quite good, European competition is very difficult and just having some guys on the books of top5 league clubs isn't always enough.

He has made some errors in his management of these matches, but the team has also very clearly progressed in their play and we can make simple adjustments to be able to take things much further. The team is showing a very high level and undoubtedly if we had drawn an easier group we would be odds on to qualify.

I would suspect that Albnania has 5 good starters in Gymcity, Asllani, Mitaj, Ramadani and Strakosha that can start for many teams in the tournament with the obvious exception of the elite teams. They have Broja who has shown immense potential but hasn't put it together and there's guys like Muci and Bajrami who are either talented with promise(Muci) or has some quality (Bajrami). Are you really going to tell me that the Croatian team is that much better than Albania?

The team has a core of good players and the problem is that manager has not figured out the wide positions and keeps playing amateurs in these spots. Playing amateurs in qualifying may be okay but they will get exposed especially in crucial attacking positions.

Also you can't judge transfer values too much. Mitaj valued at 2 million euros gives the illusion that he's not a good fullback but a guy like Sutalo is valued at 15 million euros and is constantly bashed for being awful. Lovro Majer is valued at 20 million euros but is he 5x better than Nedim Bajrami who constantly scores crucial goals?

The Croatian team is comfortably better than Albania for multiple reasons.

First they have a ton of guys who play regularly for top league clubs or play in Dutch/Croatian league at a high level (Brozovic also is a great player even though being in Saudi now). They also have a few guys who are competing at the very highest level (Gvardiol, Kovacic, Modric).

In general, nobody in their team is amateur, they are all significantly experienced with the exception of a few young players and have all been good players. For every good player we have, they have a better direct comparison (you can look yourself).

The only area they are somewhat weak is the attack but then their attack is still generally better than ours. The only position we could possibly claim an 'advantage' is striker with Broja but we're not clear if Broja is even capable to play at the moment, and he might not be the same guy who initially gained plaudits. Even then, I would definitely take Kramaric for this tournament, who scored 15 goals and made 6 assists in the Bundesliga this season, and is extremely experienced in top leagues and internationally.

They are also far far more experienced on the international level and are not far removed from being World Cup semifinalists.

I think it's fair to argue that we missed a chance to win yesterday, because they looked poor and out of energy, and we were dominating the game until we chose to sit on our lead. Obviously, they were on an offday and we could capitalise. Criticism for that is okay, however, I don't think it's fair to argue they don't have clearly better resources than us at the moment. A lot of results are also about the context of the game on the day and even if they do have better team they were very beatable yesterday.

Criticism for not being more attacking is absolutely fair but keep in mind we don't have a great attacking crop either. With us here we have Hoxha, Seferi, Broja, Manaj, Daku, Asani and Muci. None of those players are presently able to hold down a spot at a top league team. Seferi and Asani are miles off that, Daku isn't particularly close either, Manaj maybe relegation level, Broja is totally out of physical shape and sorts and we have no idea if he's even the same guy, and Muci is a talented but flawed young player who's struggling in Turkey. We don't really know what kind of level Hoxha has but I'll say top league relegation for arguments sake. Conclusion is that they have a better team in all areas.

Croatia has a better team and better depth, we can all agree on that. Biggest thing is they don’t have a few amateurs starting where a club like Albania doesn’t have that luxury (normally when the manager isn’t playing his favorites). You don’t see Croatia playing a winger in Qatar over someone in Besiktas

But quite a few guys in our team can start for Croatia or be considered. Gymcity, Asllani, mitaj and Ramadani could probably start for Croatia. Guys like Broja and Muci could be considered for a spot with their style of play despite if a guy like Muci can’t see the field because the manager prefers an amateur over him. Minus Seferi and Manaj the talent is much or less the same. This isn’t the 2018 Croatian team this is a relatively poor Croatian team.

All I’m trying to say is that getting a point is very realistic against Croatia and shouldn’t be viewed as some kind of grand victory. Albania needed three points and they should have got three but played too scared.

[Shpati]

Current form aside, they are still very experienced.

Notice the worst player on this team is Seferi, someone with 0 experience in a strong league or big games. He couldn't even make Young Boys team in Swiss. His peak is FK Tirana. That's why he looks like a headless chicken out there.

Even someone like Arlind Ajeti is experienced because he comes from Basel, a winner team. He grew up as a good prospect with potential. Has plenty of tournament experience at every level and even though he failed at Torino he was still there and trained in a professional environment.

Besides Seferi and Asani, there is nobody on this team you look at and say: "this guy will be shook by the moment."

I was listening to Jurgen Klinsmann analysis earlier and he said the same thing about Albania. That people don't realize this because they don't have "famous names" but it's a team full of top league professionals.

I definitely think this team is better. I'm just saying I don't think GDB could do better than Sly with this current group. The guy had a lot of flaws.

It took GDB a few years to get the hang of things. That wasn't the case for Sly. No break in time required. First time in Albania's history.

End of day, Sly will probably move on to a better opportunity. While GDB got sacked twice shortly after his time with Albania. The Balaj goal + Serbia DQ is really GDB's legacy. Take those away and he's a nobody.

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Coaching different teams takes different skillsets. I don't think Guardiola could do well with DB's team, and I don't think DB would get the best out of Man City.

DB was good with a team that had little skill, but was physical and motivated. Basically playing anti-football. Sylvinho did well playing more offensive football and scoring more than 1 goal/game. He got rid of back 4 and played with Bajrami/Asllani together. But the issue is Sylvinho is starting to become more cowardly as well lately with his subs.

[Redijupison]

Spain outplaying Italy in every possible way

[Dallku]

Spain outplaying Italy in every possible way

Italy is nothing special. Sylvinho and the players treated them like it's prime Barcelona. Croatia might legit be stronger than Italy and won't be surprised at all if they beat them next round.

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Results wise Italy kept it until the end at least. Croatia was done within the first 30 mins.