Albanian National Team [General topic]

[Plako]

Don't know why I've done this as it just annoys me but if us and Kosove somehow combined National Teams I really think we would be up there under the right coach . Compared to Croatia who are the best in the Balkans, it is actually quite close . Midfield can be changed around as its the weak point but still with that attack and defence we would make World Cups and every Euros. Hopefully one day , dont want to waste this generation.

Combining Kosova's midfield/forward with Albania's defense and goalie would be a sick combo with the right coach.

[Princ]

Before being selected to coach Albania, Edi Reja had been on the shelf for 3 years.. playing bingo all day.

During his time here, the old man has stunk up the joint by drawing with Andorra at home and failing to pick up more than one point in two matches with a Superliga level team like Lithuania.

Dropping valuable points during this nations league cycle may have cost us a playoff spot for World Cup qualification. Numerous former players and coaches have criticized his tactics but it has fallen on deaf ears, literally.

Unfortunately, the last 3 victories might have saved his job but he has been far from impressive.

[Dallku]

Don't know why I've done this as it just annoys me but if us and Kosove somehow combined National Teams I really think we would be up there under the right coach . Compared to Croatia who are the best in the Balkans, it is actually quite close . Midfield can be changed around as its the weak point but still with that attack and defence we would make World Cups and every Euros. Hopefully one day , dont want to waste this generation.

Combining Kosova's midfield/forward with Albania's defense and goalie would be a sick
combo with the right coach.

The same Kosova midfield/attack that gets dominated by the Moldovas, Macedonias, and Ramadanis?

I thought that hype/bandwagon died after getting exposed countless times. Guess not.

[ZenMaster]

Are you listening to what people are saying ?

We played teams where one of our players is worth more than the whole squad and barely came out on top. We barely created any chances because of the tactics , the 352 he employed deserved to be criticised . The games were so boring watching our wingbacks lump balls into the box from halfway to two statues upfront .That U21 point makes no sense whatsoever and has no links to this argument . How could you watch us barely string 3 passes together and go 3 games without scoring and not blame the coach/tactics.

So according to your logic when less valuable team wins against the team with more value it's only because the team with more value has used 3-5-2 formation?

"We barely created any chances because of the tactics" it's simply your unproven claim but for the sake of argument i will accept it as it was true. Can you please clarify us why "We barely created any chances" is the history of our national team? We must blame Reja and his 3-5-2 formation even for De Biasi, Kuze, Arie Haan, Briegel "we barely created chances" era?

As far i know football is different to figure skating, gymnastics etc. There is no jury and aesthetics has ZERO impact in the final result.

I can't blame the coach/tactics because that's not a problem that has appeared now and was not among us before. I believe Reja clearly has more knowledge about tactics and formations than those who have claims against him.
It's exactly same people who "complained" about Panucci arrogance, now they have problems "vendosjen e skuadres". Panucci really tried to play "attractive football" and brought Qaka and even tried to bring Zhegrova but as we know his experiment failed miserably also because of lack support by public opinion.
Albanian media made him enemy number one and commentators were literally ranting during 90 minutes against him, they never gave him credit to him for anything.

I suspect this has nothing to do formation. Some people who had too much access during the De Biasi era were frustrated with strict rules imposed by his successor. Reja is also quite strict when it comes to the discipline so that's why they want to get rid of him.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Don't know why I've done this as it just annoys me but if us and Kosove somehow combined National Teams I really think we would be up there under the right coach . Compared to Croatia who are the best in the Balkans, it is actually quite close . Midfield can be changed around as its the weak point but still with that attack and defence we would make World Cups and every Euros. Hopefully one day , dont want to waste this generation.

Combining Kosova's midfield/forward with Albania's defense and goalie would be a sick
combo with the right coach.

The same Kosova midfield/attack that gets dominated by the Moldovas, Macedonias, and Ramadanis?

I thought that hype/bandwagon died after getting exposed countless times. Guess not.

lol exposed ? Muriqi was the only one who played against us in attack who normally starts . Their attack for the international average is very good whereas Albania is average at best .

[CanaYouDoIt]

Are you listening to what people are saying ?

We played teams where one of our players is worth more than the whole squad and barely came out on top. We barely created any chances because of the tactics , the 352 he employed deserved to be criticised . The games were so boring watching our wingbacks lump balls into the box from halfway to two statues upfront .That U21 point makes no sense whatsoever and has no links to this argument . How could you watch us barely string 3 passes together and go 3 games without scoring and not blame the coach/tactics.

So according to your logic when less valuable team wins against the team with more value it's only because the team with more value has used 3-5-2 formation?

"We barely created any chances because of the tactics" it's simply your unproven claim but for the sake of argument i will accept it as it was true. Can you please clarify us why "We barely created any chances" is the history of our national team? We must blame Reja and his 3-5-2 formation even for De Biasi, Kuze, Arie Haan, Briegel "we barely created chances" era?

As far i know football is different to figure skating, gymnastics etc. There is no jury and aesthetics has ZERO impact in the final result.

I can't blame the coach/tactics because that's not a problem that has appeared now and was not among us before. I believe Reja clearly has more knowledge about tactics and formations than those who have claims against him.
It's exactly same people who "complained" about Panucci arrogance, now they have problems "vendosjen e skuadres". Panucci really tried to play "attractive football" and brought Qaka and even tried to bring Zhegrova but as we know his experiment failed miserably also because of lack support by public opinion.
Albanian media made him enemy number one and commentators were literally ranting during 90 minutes against him, they never gave him credit to him for anything.

I suspect this has nothing to do formation. Some people who had too much access during the De Biasi era were frustrated with strict rules imposed by his successor. Reja is also quite strict when it comes to the discipline so that's why they want to get rid of him.

Utter drivel . You dont seem to understand anything so no point carrying on.


I'll ask you one more question before moving on , are you happy with the job he has done and the playstyle instilled ?

[artan]

Are you listening to what people are saying ?

We played teams where one of our players is worth more than the whole squad and barely came out on top. We barely created any chances because of the tactics , the 352 he employed deserved to be criticised . The games were so boring watching our wingbacks lump balls into the box from halfway to two statues upfront .That U21 point makes no sense whatsoever and has no links to this argument . How could you watch us barely string 3 passes together and go 3 games without scoring and not blame the coach/tactics.

So according to your logic when less valuable team wins against the team with more value it's only because the team with more value has used 3-5-2 formation?

"We barely created any chances because of the tactics" it's simply your unproven claim but for the sake of argument i will accept it as it was true. Can you please clarify us why "We barely created any chances" is the history of our national team? We must blame Reja and his 3-5-2 formation even for De Biasi, Kuze, Arie Haan, Briegel "we barely created chances" era?

As far i know football is different to figure skating, gymnastics etc. There is no jury and aesthetics has ZERO impact in the final result.

I can't blame the coach/tactics because that's not a problem that has appeared now and was not among us before. I believe Reja clearly has more knowledge about tactics and formations than those who have claims against him.
It's exactly same people who "complained" about Panucci arrogance, now they have problems "vendosjen e skuadres". Panucci really tried to play "attractive football" and brought Qaka and even tried to bring Zhegrova but as we know his experiment failed miserably also because of lack support by public opinion.
Albanian media made him enemy number one and commentators were literally ranting during 90 minutes against him, they never gave him credit to him for anything.

I suspect this has nothing to do formation. Some people who had too much access during the De Biasi era were frustrated with strict rules imposed by his successor. Reja is also quite strict when it comes to the discipline so that's why they want to get rid of him.

My quarrel with the 3-5-2 is that we assume it's a good fit for us because our strength lies in our defense. We simply don't have the wingbacks for this system who need to be able to attack and defend the entire match. I like Hysaj alot as a player (even when the media was bashing him) but he's an okay wing back but I do appreciate him trying to give us width. With two central holding strikers this gives our offense no pace or width on the sides. This may be okay but the fact our midfield is already defensive and our strikers don't have much ability besides hold some up play (No pace or creativity) this just makes our offense stagnant. We don't have the professionalism or discipline as a team to hold possession for a sustained time without losing it and it seems like the only width is created is by Hysaj who tries his hardest to do something. A team like us needs to try to get quick attacks on the counter because lets face it we don't have the players to break down a defense. Ironically, under GDB we were considered super defensive but it seemed we scored more goals back then because we scored alot of counters and had wide players who had pace and some dribbling (Lenjani, Roshi).

I also think we've been sold the idea that we have enormous depth at center back. We have two very good centerbacks and the rest are fringe Serie A and B defenders. I like Ismajli as a player but he's just not ready yet to be a starter, he needs some more seasoning just like Gymcity a few years back when he was struggling. I think we have some hard working players and I would like to see us go back to a pressing style of play. Abrashi, Bare, Selahi and Laci all seem like midfielders who have the work ethic to press. I also like Uzuini and Roshi on the wings whereas both have pace and some creativity. I also think the 3-5-2 invites wayy to much pressure in our own defensive half.

-------------Broja (Cika)
Uzuini-------------Roshi
----Abrashi----Bare
-----------Gjasula
Hysaj-Kumbulla-Gym-??
----------Strakosha

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Gjasula and Abrashi have no business in that midfield. That midfield will be completely destroyed by any Top Tier side. I mean like "U21 England vs. Albania" torn apart to pieces levels of destroyed. Lithuania completely exposed Gjasula with a bit of pressure. Abrashi is another motivation based player. Good for last 20 minutes for some pressing but he ain't gonna win you games against top opposition.

You need technical ability to play at a high level. I'd call back Kace any day of the week over these guys. We beat France 1-0 with him, and even against Spain that last half hour he looked quite good and controlled the tempo.

If you play even basic levels of chess, you know the most important thing is CONTROL THE CENTER.

You need guys who:

(1) Can hold onto the ball and don't give it away the second they're pressured

(2) Can navigate in and out of tight spaces by dribbling

(3) Can provide long balls to wingbacks to open up the play

(4) Slow down tempo when things are heated against you, and speed it up when in your favour.

We either do total anti-football like DB with fake wingers/midfielders like Lila or Xhaka and just stop playing altogether, or we get some technical ball players like Kace or Kallaku. Go halfway in like that and you get fucked. Fucking Belarus and Lithuania were wrecking us.

[Princ]

We cannot go back to a pressing style of play as the starting midfielders are all old and out of shape benchwarmers.

The only midfielder who is regularly starting at his club (bottom table Ligue 2) and would be able to keep up the pace is Laci.. even Ramadani has not been a consistent starter at his club since their promotion to the Danish top flight (as sad as it is).

De Biasi did not have these problems during our qualification campaign as Xhaka, Abrashi, and Kukeli were well conditioned starters at their clubs, at the time. These men were the core of that team..

[CanaYouDoIt]

Ismaji LB ? Would rather put Hysaj there and then Doka RB as he looked competent . We even have Balliu and what happened to Binaku , he seemed good to me.

But apart from that looks decent for what we have right now. As for Xhaka the guy would be playing if he didnt disrespect every coach lmao