Albanians abroad

[Princ]

Albania broke top 25 in August 2015..

At the time, none of Xhaka, Abrashi, or Kukeli played in a top 5 league.

I will make it very simple.. of the 23 man EURO 2016 squad, only 6 players (Cana, Mavraj, Hysaj, Berisha, Ajeti, and Lenjani) had even played a minute of top 5 league football.

[Dallku]

Albania broke top 25 in August 2015..

At the time, none of Xhaka, Abrashi, or Kukeli played in a top 5 league.

I will make it very simple.. of the 23 man EURO 2016 squad, only 6 players (Cana, Mavraj, Hysaj, Berisha, Ajeti, and Lenjani) had even played a minute of top 5 league football.

Also Migjen Basha.

You say only 6(7) as if that's not more than half of a starting lineup. In international football even 6-7 top leaguers should be enough to be a little competitive.

But that team had a little extra too besides that. Xhaka and Gashi were playing Champions league every other week. Agolli in the EL , and Abrashi was clearly Bundesliga level even then.

I guess the only one who supports your argument is Kukeli but I guess he peaked too late in his career. He's a unique case.

[Princ]

Also Migjen Basha.

You say only 6(7) as if that's not more than half of a starting lineup. In international football even 6-7 top leaguers should be enough to be a little competitive.

But that team had a little extra too besides that. Xhaka and Gashi were playing Champions league every other week. Agolli in the EL , and Abrashi was clearly Bundesliga level even then.

I guess the only one who supports your argument is Kukeli but I guess he peaked too late in his career. He's a unique case.

My bad, Basha was not playing in a top 5 league at the time either though, although previously having played in Serie A.

Top 5 league players on the pitch for biggest results of campaign:
Win at Portugal 4/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 4/14 total
Draw v. Denmark 4/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 4/14 total
Win at Serbia 4/11 starters
Draw at Denmark 3/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 3/14 total

Not a single match of these with more than 4 top 5 league players in the lineup.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Also Migjen Basha.

You say only 6(7) as if that's not more than half of a starting lineup. In international football even 6-7 top leaguers should be enough to be a little competitive.

But that team had a little extra too besides that. Xhaka and Gashi were playing Champions league every other week. Agolli in the EL , and Abrashi was clearly Bundesliga level even then.

I guess the only one who supports your argument is Kukeli but I guess he peaked too late in his career. He's a unique case.

My bad, Basha was not playing in a top 5 league at the time either though, although previously having played in Serie A.

Top 5 league players on the pitch for biggest results of campaign:
Win at Portugal 4/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 4/14 total
Draw v. Denmark 4/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 4/14 total
Win at Serbia 4/11 starters
Draw at Denmark 3/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 3/14 total

Not a single match of these with more than 4 top 5 league players in the lineup.

Yeah just so happens they’re in our most important spot for the team . We didn’t concede goals and this allowed the bad players a chance to score goals .

And those players not in the top league were playing for the best team in a good league playing CL football . Not playing for bottom half Hungarian and Croatian teams.

You lack the understanding of nuance, it’s actually sad

[Aurora Bulkualis]

In international football the NTs with the most top league players are able to separate themselves.

What is a solid European NT with mostly off league players ? You won’t find any unless you pick on Russia or Turkey who pay their domestic players a lot of money to stay in their leagues. When a Kazakhstan plays vs Moldova it’s 3rd tier level that’s why they have 0 chance of qualifying.

You're making it sound like there's an "anti-Top 5" bias. World class players play in top leagues. No one is arguing that.

The issue with our "Top 5" players is that they are always borderline players. Sometimes they play and have a good streak. Sometimes they get benched. You can't definitively state those players are always 100% of the time better than mid tier league players. Even Andi Lila played in Serie A and scored against Inter.

Our 2016 squad was way more "professional" than some of these players. Btw, does anyone remember Agolli? The Azeirbajani player?

[Princ]

Yeah just so happens they’re in our most important spot for the team . We didn’t concede goals and this allowed the bad players a chance to score goals .

And those players not in the top league were playing for the best team in a good league playing CL football . Not playing for bottom half Hungarian and Croatian teams.

You lack the understanding of nuance, it’s actually sad

Explain how the undisputed MVP of the team, who carried us on his back by scoring 8 goals in 8 official games from 2019 to 2020, played in the 2nd Turkish division at the time.

[RedFootballs]

Also Migjen Basha.

You say only 6(7) as if that's not more than half of a starting lineup. In international football even 6-7 top leaguers should be enough to be a little competitive.

But that team had a little extra too besides that. Xhaka and Gashi were playing Champions league every other week. Agolli in the EL , and Abrashi was clearly Bundesliga level even then.

I guess the only one who supports your argument is Kukeli but I guess he peaked too late in his career. He's a unique case.

My bad, Basha was not playing in a top 5 league at the time either though, although previously having played in Serie A.

Top 5 league players on the pitch for biggest results of campaign:
Win at Portugal 4/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 4/14 total
Draw v. Denmark 4/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 4/14 total
Win at Serbia 4/11 starters
Draw at Denmark 3/11 starters, 0/3 subs, 3/14 total

Not a single match of these with more than 4 top 5 league players in the lineup.

So what's your point? It's worse to have top 5 league players or something? Is that why there were 'only 4'?

Or is it just because we have actually never had players in top leagues... That's why in our history we haven't played top5 league players lol. You can't find a lineup with a lot of top5 league players because we have never had a lot of top5 league players.

Now that we do have a top5 league base, let's see how well we do. I say we qualify for the EUROS without CAS this time, an even better achievement.

Because, you know, all the best teams in the world have hundreds of top5 league players. Albania is not an exception to this correlation... we don't have some weird spell that makes our top5 league players play badly.

[Princ]

So what's your point? It's worse to have top 5 league players or something? Is that why there were 'only 4'?

Or is it just because we have actually never had players in top leagues... That's why in our history we haven't played top5 league players lol. You can't find a lineup with a lot of top5 league players because we have never had a lot of top5 league players.

Now that we do have a top5 league base, let's see how well we do. I say we qualify for the EUROS without CAS this time, an even better achievement.

Because, you know, all the best teams in the world have hundreds of top5 league players. Albania is not an exception to this correlation... we don't have some weird spell that makes our top5 league players play badly.

My point is that it does not matter what league the players play in, so long as they are productive when called upon for the NT.

Albania reached peak success with overwhelming majority of players not playing in top 5 leagues.

[Dallku]

Albania reached peak success with overwhelming majority of players not playing in top 5 leagues.

But those players were at least borderline top league. Even Andi Lila was good enough for a season in Serie a. They weren't amateurs.

Now Albania has more "established" top leaguers. That's why qualification should be easier than ever before.

[RedFootballs]

So what's your point? It's worse to have top 5 league players or something? Is that why there were 'only 4'?

Or is it just because we have actually never had players in top leagues... That's why in our history we haven't played top5 league players lol. You can't find a lineup with a lot of top5 league players because we have never had a lot of top5 league players.

Now that we do have a top5 league base, let's see how well we do. I say we qualify for the EUROS without CAS this time, an even better achievement.

Because, you know, all the best teams in the world have hundreds of top5 league players. Albania is not an exception to this correlation... we don't have some weird spell that makes our top5 league players play badly.

My point is that it does not matter what league the players play in, so long as they are productive when called upon for the NT.

Albania reached peak success with overwhelming majority of players not playing in top 5 leagues.

I agree,but in general, it's a good thing to have more professional players, because 9/10 of them will be valuable.

There will be that one guy from a top5 league who sucks (Veseli, Manaj for some on this forum, Uzuni again for some on this forum) but most of them will be valuable.

For that reason I think we will achieve our peak success and more if we just play the best players. No Trashis or Hoxhallaris.

There are special cases e.g Roshi so you should always consider the alternatives, but in general the more top5 league players the better.