Albanian National Team [General topic]

[RedFootballs]

This started when someone tried to take a cheap shot at the “professional leagues” debate. Let’s play guys from albania, croatia , south korea and see what happens without those top players.

We are playing them already - Asani, Seferi, Mitaj and Cikalleshi started all the games, whilst Daku was important. All of them are from low level leagues.

Sylvinho's choice. He chose to play them over top leaguers... and it worked.

To be clear - I am not saying that low level league players are preferable to top league players. Obviously, naturally, a player who plays for a better club will USUALLY be a better option.

But there is significant context behind that where sometimes a player with a seemingly worse club career is better. You have to consider more things than just the name of the club they play for.

Ramadani is an example where despite the fact he always played for bad teams until now he was a key player everywhere, so he was always in shape and always improving with experience, vs some of our players who stagnated on the bench at better clubs.

[RedFootballs]

Daku wasnt ever sold for big money... nor is his club record anything spectacular... nor is his current record. But to you he counts as a top league player, despite never having played there and not excelling at currently a lower level?

Same with Mitaj. These clubs don't bench players just because they are Albanian. They have reasons beyond that.

Balliu is a key player for a mid table LaLiga club that regularly takes points off Barca and Madrid. Yet he barely gets a game for Albania. Why? He's a experienced, consolidated top league player - why can't he play ahead of a bench player in the Russian league.

Uzuni is a starter for Granada in LaLiga... yet cant play ahead of absolute amateur village player Seferi. Why?

There are clearly other circumstances you don't consider in NT performance. Sylvinho sees them. Its about more than your club's prestige.

We haven't seen enough of Daku to really have a clear picture about his level but the way he won duels and created chances was impressive. So who knows maybe he could be a top leaguer. You have to look past statistics.

Mitaj could be benched because he looked at the Russian coach wrong. I couldn't care less. With the NT Mitaj has proven that only Asllani is on his level technically.

Balliu doesn't play because in his place plays a super professional - Hysaj. Simple..

The jury is out on Uzuni being a top leaguer. Look at my Veseli reference.. Myrto has only played in La Liga for a few months in total and has stunk up the place. Got relegated once and heading that way again.

All this just precisely gets at what I was saying.

You just said, you have to look past statistics with Daku even if he is poor with his club, you couldn't care less what Mitaj does at his club because he proved his quality with the NT...

Doesn't that directly go against this top leaguer argument? You just said, you dont really care what they do with their club because they proved their quality with Albania. In the same vein, you just said you don't care if Uzuni plays in LaLiga because he isn't that level anyway. Precisely the point - you rate those two because you've seen how good they play for Albania regardless of what they do with their club.

Then it would seem like the top league argument that is used to bash players like Asani is actually used because you don't rate their skills in general, not because they've had a bad club career, because this doesn't apply to everyone.

It all circles back to the point I was making... you have to judge on the performance they give with the NT, not their club career. Club career is definitely a strong indicative factor but it requires context sometimes and is misinterpreted a lot.

Sometimes players have quality and they've just been unlucky/not had that opportunity in their club career to show it. Ajeti is another great example. For us he has always been very solid but had a poor club career.

[Princ]

Ylber Ramadani was always good player 1.85m menace but did not get the chance to show it until Sylvinho took over. Reja was leaving him on bench to play the super professional from Espanyol.

I used to come talk Ylber up back when he still playing at MTK for a reason, while experts here laughed at me. When there were too many injuries to keep ignoring him, Ramadani came on and was man of the match for us v. Poland in Tirana 2021.

After he moved to Aberdeen, it was more of the same bashing on this forum. “Weak league, only Celtic and Rangers, bad move, will forever remain amateur player, etc.” Sylvinho replaced the forum favorite Bare with Ramadani, Albania turned into world beater, and experts want to backtrack.

Now the arguments are, “Ramadani has improved overnight” since he plays in a top league, “Asani can only shoot but he is not really a lion,” and “Seferi got lucky v. Czech Republic but keeping him in the team hurts us going forward.”

What a joke!

[Plako]

Ylber Ramadani was always good player 1.85m menace but did not get the chance to show it until Sylvinho took over. Reja was leaving him on bench to play the super professional from Espanyol.

I used to come talk Ylber up back when he still playing at MTK for a reason, while experts here laughed at me. When there were too many injuries to keep ignoring him, Ramadani came on and was man of the match for us v. Poland in Tirana 2021.

After he moved to Aberdeen, it was more of the same bashing on this forum. “Weak league, only Celtic and Rangers, bad move, will forever remain amateur player, etc.” Sylvinho replaced the forum favorite Bare with Ramadani, Albania turned into world beater, and experts want to backtrack.

Now the arguments are, “Ramadani has improved overnight” since he plays in a top league, “Asani can only shoot but he is not really a lion,” and “Seferi got lucky v. Czech Republic but keeping him in the team hurts us going forward.”

What a joke!

Hey man I have to give you credit for calling this back in 2021.

Congratulations to Ylber Ramadani!

A man who showed us what it means to play with heart for your country. Although super underrated and often looked over in favor of others, he never complained about it. This player kept his head down until it was time to prove himself on the biggest of stages, and that he did!

After an inspiring performance last night, I consider him as having the potential to be a big part of our squad moving forward. Yet another solid alternative we have discovered at that position!

[RedFootballs]

Princ knows his stuff. I used to think he was a bit of a crackpot but despite being weird he has a interesting perspective on football that is right more often than you would think.

[Plako]

Princ knows his stuff. I used to think he was a bit of a crackpot but despite being weird he has a interesting perspective on football that is right more often than you would think.

It was his Mitro love that made him lose credibility. We don't forget lol

[Aurora Bulkualis]

lojtari qe osht masakru ne forum osht kan Ylberi prej te gjitheve

Lol I think Balaj then Cikalleshi take that title. But yeah a lot of people underestimated Ramadani, myself included. However, he still has improved massively since those days when we were losing to Lithuania at home or whatever.

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Now the arguments are, “Ramadani has improved overnight”

I don't think anyone said overnight, but players improve lol. Rrahmani at Partizani =/= Rrahmani at Napoli. Even Broja at Vitesse vs. Broja in EPL looked night and day.

[Dallku]

Doesn't that directly go against this top leaguer argument? You just said, you dont really care what they do with their club because they proved their quality with Albania. In the same vein, you just said you don't care if Uzuni plays in LaLiga because he isn't that level anyway. Precisely the point - you rate those two because you've seen how good they play for Albania regardless of what they do with their club.

You are confusing being top league level with actually playing in a top league. It doesn't mean you're top league level even if you play there and vice versa.

Players like Ramadani, Uzuni, Bare and Laci are borderline top league level. Yes they could probably start for those small relegation teams, get relegated, and then come right back up the year after. Repeat...

That's their level and their career proves it. If they were younger you could have question marks about their potential but they have already peaked. Someone like Daku hasn't peaked yet so it remains to be seen.

Did you notice a difference between what Laci vs Bulgaria than what Ramadani has done? Nope... (if anything Laci is better on the ball). That's because all these players are very interchangeable. They are easy to replace.

The true core... aka the true professionals aka the top leaguers (Asllani, Djimsiti, 2 goalkeepers, Hysaj, Bajrami, Mitaj) are the difference makers and the reasons why you qualified.

You can play without Ramadani but you can't play without Asllani.

[Aurora Bulkualis]

I'll say this about Ramadani though. More defensive minded players are kind hard to prove themselves at lower leagues. You don't see their quality until they're properly stress tested at a higher league.

But if you're a striker, even in a shit league, and you score goals, you will stand out immediately. That doesn't mean you'll automatically do well in a top league, but you can get more eyeballs on you for sure.