Albanians abroad

With memories of the golden years (80's) of the albanian football still fresh on her mind, Albania is now attempting to recreate its strong football legacy. As young players start making their names abroad, the future is looking bright for Albanian football!

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artan
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Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:08 am
Dallku wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:03 am Fun fact: Roma was only a -0.5 favorite in this game. Trap game of the century if you keep up with these things..

It's amazing how everyone can cause upsets at home except Albania.
Typical commie isolationist mentality. Inferiority complex against anything foreign. Bushi said back in the 90s they’d be intimidated just cause the other team had brand new uniforms/shoes and nice stadiums.

Although what I’m confused about is that even people that grew up outside still have it. It’s like a virus. That’s why we need guys like Broja and Djimsiti to lead. They’re at least not phased by dumb crap.
I think much of this was because Reja is too much of a coward to not play for a draw. Reja doesn't believe we can beat Poland at home so therefore he plays for a draw and maybe for the chance we get lucky. When you constantly start amateurs (Manaj, Cika, Trashi, etc) and don't play the professionals (Broja, Balliu, Bajrami) you will lose. You can't expect a guy playing in Kuwait to not shit the bed in our biggest match of the year. You can't expect a striker who was mediocre in the Spanish third division to not look like a complete amateur against Poland (because he is). What were you going to expect?

Alot of it is the manager's fault. Play amateurs and you get amateur results.
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Princ
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artan wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:06 am Even if Roma's second unit have more talent then the Norwegian team it's still not easy to ask for 11 players who are out of form, have no continuity with each other and haven't played this year to beat a team on the road (even if it's a village team).
Good observation!

Pre-match odds suggested the home side win roughly 1 in 4 times (~26% probability). Seems the Norwegians are better than one would assume by looking at transfermarkt values.
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Aurora Bulkualis
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artan wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:15 am I think much of this was because Reja is too much of a coward to not play for a draw. Reja doesn't believe we can beat Poland at home so therefore he plays for a draw and maybe for the chance we get lucky. When you constantly start amateurs (Manaj, Cika, Trashi, etc) and don't play the professionals (Broja, Balliu, Bajrami) you will lose. You can't expect a guy playing in Kuwait to not shit the bed in our biggest match of the year. You can't expect a striker who was mediocre in the Spanish third division to not look like a complete amateur against Poland (because he is). What were you going to expect?

Alot of it is the manager's fault. Play amateurs and you get amateur results.
This goes deeper than that. We can't do shit offensively against top teams for a long time now. Players choke.

The only time we did something Balaj scored the goal of a lifetime that he can't even score in his dreams anymore.
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Aurora Bulkualis
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Also, something funny. Roma's keeper today, is the guy Balaj scored his Portugal goal against. :lol2: :lol:
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artan
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Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:25 am
artan wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:15 am I think much of this was because Reja is too much of a coward to not play for a draw. Reja doesn't believe we can beat Poland at home so therefore he plays for a draw and maybe for the chance we get lucky. When you constantly start amateurs (Manaj, Cika, Trashi, etc) and don't play the professionals (Broja, Balliu, Bajrami) you will lose. You can't expect a guy playing in Kuwait to not shit the bed in our biggest match of the year. You can't expect a striker who was mediocre in the Spanish third division to not look like a complete amateur against Poland (because he is). What were you going to expect?

Alot of it is the manager's fault. Play amateurs and you get amateur results.
This goes deeper than that. We can't do shit offensively against top teams for a long time now. Players choke.

The only time we did something Balaj scored the goal of a lifetime that he can't even score in his dreams anymore.
we've generally had a striker partnership of Manaj and Cikaleshi with Balaj getting a few starts over the years. These guys have awful scoring records and are all amateurs.

Our forwards since start of 2017 league season
Bekim Balaj: 102 league appearances 12 goals (most of these are probably tap ins or penalties)
Sokol Cikaleshi: 117 league appearances 25 goals between the Turkish Super Liga and First Division (many goals are penalties)
Rey Manaj: 94 League Appareances 26 goals (16 of them in the Spanish Third Division and many are penalties). 72 league appearances and 10 goals without the third division

The truth is we've been playing amateurs. They can't score in the depths of Europe and can only score against the likes of Moldova for the NT. What makes you think they can bury their only chance they get against a bigger team? It also doesn't help when your wingbacks aren't capable of providing service and we generally play with a midfield that isn't technical. Realistically forwards like Balaj probably need 4 really good chances to score on one, good luck creating four chances against a bigger team. We saw what Manaj did when he did have a golden chance against Poland, instead of passing it he goes for the shot and gets his shit pushed in.
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Aurora Bulkualis
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artan wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:15 am Our forwards since start of 2017 league season
Bekim Balaj: 102 league appearances 12 goals (most of these are probably tap ins or penalties)
Sokol Cikaleshi: 117 league appearances 25 goals between the Turkish Super Liga and First Division (many goals are penalties)
Rey Manaj: 94 League Appareances 26 goals (16 of them in the Spanish Third Division and many are penalties). 72 league appearances and 10 goals without the third division

The truth is we've been playing amateurs. They can't score in the depths of Europe and can only score against the likes of Moldova for the NT. What makes you think they can bury their only chance they get against a bigger team? It also doesn't help when your wingbacks aren't capable of providing service and we generally play with a midfield that isn't technical. Realistically forwards like Balaj probably need 4 really good chances to score on one, good luck creating four chances against a bigger team. We saw what Manaj did when he did have a golden chance against Poland, instead of passing it he goes for the shot and gets his shit pushed in.
That's only part of the problem. Other players can score as well. Who scored against France in those semi-friendlies? Mavraj and Kace.

Like I posted we never score against bigger sides at home. It's been like a decade and all we've had was a Salihi penalty against Switzerland in 2016 or something. The strongest teams we've scored at home were teams that were about our level like Norway, Denmark (at least Denmark THEN, cause now they're much stronger), and Hungary.

Our number #1 problem is mentality. Unfortunately most players just go with the flow. If team is playing well, they play well. If team is playing like shit, they all play like shit. That's why you need leaders.
"Cheap things you can buy in bulk, but Bulku is priceless" Ervin Xhevahir Bulku
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Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:25 am
artan wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:15 am Our forwards since start of 2017 league season
Bekim Balaj: 102 league appearances 12 goals (most of these are probably tap ins or penalties)
Sokol Cikaleshi: 117 league appearances 25 goals between the Turkish Super Liga and First Division (many goals are penalties)
Rey Manaj: 94 League Appareances 26 goals (16 of them in the Spanish Third Division and many are penalties). 72 league appearances and 10 goals without the third division

The truth is we've been playing amateurs. They can't score in the depths of Europe and can only score against the likes of Moldova for the NT. What makes you think they can bury their only chance they get against a bigger team? It also doesn't help when your wingbacks aren't capable of providing service and we generally play with a midfield that isn't technical. Realistically forwards like Balaj probably need 4 really good chances to score on one, good luck creating four chances against a bigger team. We saw what Manaj did when he did have a golden chance against Poland, instead of passing it he goes for the shot and gets his shit pushed in.
That's only part of the problem. Other players can score as well. Who scored against France in those semi-friendlies? Mavraj and Kace.

Like I posted we never score against bigger sides at home. It's been like a decade and all we've had was a Salihi penalty against Switzerland in 2016 or something. The strongest teams we've scored at home were teams that were about our level like Norway, Denmark (at least Denmark THEN, cause now they're much stronger), and Hungary.

Our number #1 problem is mentality. Unfortunately most players just go with the flow. If team is playing well, they play well. If team is playing like shit, they all play like shit. That's why you need leaders.
Mentality can only take an amateur player so far. We won't be able to beat better teams when we have 3 players in the lineup that are borderline amateur. When guys like Manaj, Balaj, Cikaleshi, Trashi, etc, start in the lineup it's like playing with half a player. It's like we're playing a man down. Bare, Gymcity, Hysaj can play great games but they won't be able to carry the few amateurs in the lineup.

I also fail to see how it's shocking how guys like Cikaleshi, Balaj and Manaj can't score against good teams. These guys can't score in second divisions what makes you think they can score against teams other than Moldova?

This is why it's a manager problem. Only Albania will bench professional players in Balliu, Broja and Bajrami for borderline amateur players.
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Bare and Hysaj are the worst players on the team, costing both losses against Poland.

Cikalleshi has carried these floor moppers on his back since 2019.
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Manaj not called with Spezia today due to an argument with Motta #Idiot
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RedFootballs wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:48 pm Manaj not called with Spezia today due to an argument with Motta #Idiot
Lol he wasn’t going to start even with Spezia missing 10 players 😂
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