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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Princ
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RedFootballs wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:24 pm You need a mix of profiles.

You can't have all pitbulls because someone needs to carry the ball and make plays. You can't have all technical lazy players because someone needs to win the ball back.

But if you have both, the pitbulls can work and win the ball back to pass to their more gifted teammates, and it works in harmony.
Attempting to carry the ball is super dangerous for an underdog team like Albania, as you saw when we held 52% possession in Warsaw but ate 4 goals.

Simply win the ball back, look to play a long ball or spring a winger down the flanks. No need to overdo it, anyone can make those plays..
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Princ wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:29 pm
Attempting to carry the ball is super dangerous for an underdog team like Albania, as you saw when we held 52% possession in Warsaw but ate 4 goals.

Simply win the ball back, look to play a long ball or spring a winger down the flanks. No need to overdo it, anyone can make those plays..

But you had a very physical team in Poland. The defenders, Manaj, Cika, Gjasula., Trashi, Abrashi. Can't get more physical than that. And you still ate 4 goals.

Technical ability is not passing between your defenders like Albania did. It's actually attacking and knowing what to do in attack. Albania's only goal was a fluke long ball from Gjasula.

The best defense is always attack and this was proven against both England and Poland.
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Aurora Bulkualis
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A player like Messi was strong physically and had endless endurance. Height is just 1 thing.

But I disagree on the technical thing. Athleticism is always the most important thing. It's what differentiates women vs. men sports. Women can be pretty technical. The problem with pitbulls is like LedZep once said about Lila "these are 20 minute players".
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If you dont have technique then you're a nothing player. And its not one or the other, the best guys have elite technique and athleticism. But if you are gonna create a team, I'll have 11 technically secure guys over 11 strong guys who don't have a first touch.
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Aurora Bulkualis
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CanaYouDoIt wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 12:43 am If you dont have technique then you're a nothing player.
Technical players may do well for the first 10-15 minutes, but you're playing a 90 minute game of very high intensity/pace and it's a contact sport. This ain't your neighborhood game.

If you don't have athleticism you can't even run up and down the field and get gassed/bullied. I guarantee you an athlete of an another sport will cream any freestyling amateur that has little stamina/strength over the course of 90 minutes. Being good off the ball is just as important as being good on the ball (pressing, movements, marking, etc...).

Like I said, the biggest difference between men and women sports isn't technique. It's athleticism.
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This reminds me of the Bone Collector. Super awesome/technical dude, but never made it into the NBA. He even teaches James Harden tricks/skills who is a technical player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8JLlaj7hKU

If you're not a monster physically you can't play at the highest level. Brazilian streets are filled with technical players who haven't even achieved a quarter of what Andi Lila and Abrashi have.
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Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 2:33 am
If you're not a monster physically you can't play at the highest level. Brazilian streets are filled with technical players who haven't even achieved a quarter of what Andi Lila and Abrashi have.

I think it's because of football iq/decision making more than physicality the reason most of these street players don't make it.
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CanaYouDoIt
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Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 2:33 am This reminds me of the Bone Collector. Super awesome/technical dude, but never made it into the NBA. He even teaches James Harden tricks/skills who is a technical player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8JLlaj7hKU

If you're not a monster physically you can't play at the highest level. Brazilian streets are filled with technical players who haven't even achieved a quarter of what Andi Lila and Abrashi have.
Now come on, NBA is different. Football on the other hand you can find 5’6 guys being the best player on the pitch.

And again, I said the top guys are elite at both aspects. But technique will defeat athleticism any day. You brought up women, a woman’s team will defeat all non pro men at football , not because they are stronger but because they can actually control a ball.

It’s the combination of strength + skill that makes these guys special.

And remember this is in the context of Laci vs Bare. We’re talking about guys with similar physical levels, except one is superior on the ball.
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Hello guys, just a brief introduction! I have been your loyal reader during the past years but never contributed actively with contents. I would like to thank you all for the updates about albanian football on this forum! I'm a big fan of the national team and wanted just to say my opinion on this last discussion.

I think a mix of technical players and phisical ones can best suit to our Kombetare and generally speaking to every football team. We desperately need technical and creative players, especially in the midfiled and flunks to get the maximum out of Broja, who is the very only potentially "top player" we have. Players like Bare, Asllani, Bajrami even if they make sometimes bad mistakes (Bare) or are lazy (Bajrami) are fundamental for our play. We need players able to hold the ball otherwise we will always be exposed to non stop attacks. I'm not worried about phisicality regarding our roster because it's easier to produce "quantity" players rather than "quality" ones. There will always be a Xhaka, Abrashi or pitbulls like them but it's very rare to have technically gifted players, in fact you can count them on fingers (Skela and who else?!?).

A general consideration on our best formation at the moment (if everyone is available). We need to change the 3 at back in my opionion (even if it will never happen with Reja) and go with a 4312 to get the best out of our players:

--------------Strakosha------------------
Balliu-----Gjimshiti-----Kumbulla----Hysaj
-------Abrashi-----Bare------Laci--------
-----------------Asllani-------------------
-------------Bajrami----Broja-------------

I would love to play Asllani below 2 forwards (like he did against Inter and scored as well). Bajrami (as a typical 10) and Broja (Centre Forward). In non possession phase Asllani can move a step back helping the 3 midfielders.

Uzuni, Cika, Roshi can be options for the last 20-30 mins.

We don't have creativity/speed on the wings, therefore a 352 will never work.

What do you think about it?
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