[Milan]

1
Kezman Milosevic
Kovacevic

Lerinc Boskovic
J Stankovic D Stankovic


? ? ?

?

3-4-3?

or

2
Mijatovic Milosevic


Boskovic Jugovic
Drulovic Deki

? ?
? ?
?

4-4-2


N.B Mijatovic is my favourite player in the world, but is he too old
Kezman is a little young
Lerinc has no experience but has a shoot that can develop to a Rivaldo
Drulovic 32
Jokanovic 31
Jugovic 31
.............
getting too old

 

[Nick54]

well Milan i am glad u have narrowed it down for us , so who exaclty is Lerinc?

 

[Nik_23]

DOnt forget Djordjevic from Olympiakos and Goigovic from Iraklis Greece. Djordjevic is the fastest Jugoslav player no doubt and could be a lethal weapon for any team.

 

[Ben Akiba]

Kezman is MUST! With him, some defense-line breaker like Savo Milosevic, Kovacevic or even Drulic and Pjanovic.

At present, Mijatovic is OUT! Unless he gets in a proper form, we should thank him and say good-by.

Midfield: definitely D. Stankovic, Rambo Petkovic, S. Ilic, V. Ivic, Lerinc, Boskovic and Lazetic and maybe Nadj, P. Djordjevic and D. Ilic (as a workhorses) & Dj. Tomic. Still count on Jugovic and Drulovic and maybe J. Stankovic for another 1-2 years.

Give a good look to Djokaj, Paunovic and P. Ognjenovic.

Central defenders: Djorovic, Bunjevcevic, Vukomanovic, Mihajlovic (if he is a starter in Lazio) maybe Martinovic, Sakic, Saveljic and Dzodic. Current Red Star's central backs Glogovac and Lalatovic had fine seasons, but I do not know how good they really are. Dito for Rasovic from Partizan.

Outside backs: Dudic, Krstajic, Mirkovic, maybe Komljenovic and Ocokoljic and who else? We are thin in this department.

Goalies: Cicovic, Kocic and Kralj (if he is a starter in PSV). Radakovic is a potential. Young goalies like R. Ilic and Kujovic are long shots. Generally, not a great choice of goalies.

We should play a 3-5-2 formation or a more attacking 3-4-3. I think that 4-4-2 is a bit outdated and slow.

And who'll be the selector? None good in sight. The selector and (re)organization of the football federation are key problem of Yugo-football.

 

[Milan]

Yeah

Thanks for the reply guys!
I think Djorovic is good, but needs working. But I agree he is the fastest, and maybe now the best player in Greece, but needs help on International level.
Buy Buy Mijatovic
Ilic is amazing. I saw him score a hatrick near the end of the season... some wonderful goals he scored I must admit.
Ivic, I remember the U21 match against Croatia, where he scored a stunning free-kick, and got sent off, must be the nest Mihajlovic
Pjanovic, if he want to start with Kezman, must start putting even more balls into the net in open play.
Milosevic is fine.
Kovacevic must start being self-sufficient and not depend on everybody els for his own success.
Saveljic should be hung. I was diskusted with his Euro2000 performance, and he deserves the bench.
Outside back is Dudic or Komljenovic
for the goaly you forgot Jevric, I was impressed with his performance at club level this season.
Djokaj is very good, as well as Paunovic, though he needs more experience, but Ognjenovic, no thanks to his wicked shot, and great dribbling, cannot, or shoulkd I say will not play for Yugoslavia. I know he has already rejected many offers. Hopefully this will change.
DEKI ALL THE WAY!

FORZA CRVENA ZVEZDA (Red Star)

 

[Nik_23]

Djordjevic is a very good player but no way the best player in Greece. Greece have some very good players. Looking at the speed he is between the 3 fastest no doubt.

 

[Ben Akiba]

Yes, Jevric as well as his teamate Grozdic should be also considered.

Regarding Ognjenovic, I would not dismiss him that easily, providing he plays well. A national team is not sacrosant. If at some stage of his career a professional does not feel that he should play for his national team for some justifiable reason, than his decision should be respected. Ognjenovic certainly was not ready last year to play for either the senior or the U-23 team. His attempt to play for the U-23 team last year in the first match vs. Cro. was a disaster partly because of him not being prepared and partly because of atrocious behavior of the team coach Djoric. Thus, it was reasonable from him to be focused on getting a spot in his club team (Real M.) and to refuse the possibility of playing for the Yugo-national team. I wish that other players with a similar situation did the same (namely Mijatovic, Kralj and Mihajlovic, all of whom came to the EURO2000 ill prepared).

 

[Grobar]

Ben I'm curious, what makes you think that Kralj came ill prepared for Euro? I honestly believe that he played as well as he could have. He made some incredible saves, and his downfall has always been that he's been slow off the line (just look at Kluiverts' first goal). I think he had a great tournament, even if the goals against was extremely high. Mijat played ok, but none of the brilliance of his '97 season was shown. He made some nice runs, and penetrated well enough. His problem was that he couldn't finish. I think that he's never recovered from his divorce quite frankly, and that's what's holding him back mentally. Miha on the other hand suffered from an over inflated ego, and Jugo suffered in turn. He acted like a spoiled 8 year old on the pitch. He truly was the biggest disappointment for me. But better days are on the horizon (I hope! )

 

[Ben Akiba]

Let me try to elaborate on what I meant by saying that the aforementioned players were "ill prepared". I think that each case was specific. Let first start with the goalie Kralj.

Everything you said about Kralj is true. Unfortunately, he is not a starting goalie in his club PSV. He is either 2nd or 3rd choice, but almost never the 1st. The fact that he prefers not to leave the goal-line reflects his lack of confidence and lack of development in his game which are, in my view, primarily due to very few competative games he has had since he left Partizan. In fact, the only competative game he had in the last year was the qualifying game Cro.-Yug. in Zagreb. At this stage of his professional career and with the huge talent he has, Kralj should be among top 20 goalies in Europe. Since he has been essentially a banch-wormer in his club(s) during the last 2 years, he was not adequately prepared for such a strong tournament such as EURO2000.

Mijatovic career is in slump since he left Real M. He had bad injuries which prevented him for playing more than few games for Fiorentina. His personal life, as you mentioned, just aggreviated this situation. He was not ready to be our key forward player in EURO2000, although his game, as you noted, was not that bad. I think he should have given up his position to Kezman and should have come in the game off the banch. I have a lot of respect for him and hope he will return to his old form. However, I am a bit scheptical about this. First, he is playing in Italian league where defenses, unlike in Spain, practice strict marking, giving very little space to players. This is not a good style for Mijat. Second, he is in his post prime football age and there is no more than 1-2 good years left. It will be beneficial for him to return to Spain or to go to some good Franch or Portuguese team where he would have a better chance to thrive.

Miha behaved as a dumb fool. A month-and-half before EURO2000 he was injured and did not play. As a consequence, he got some extra kg-weight, became even slower than he normally is, his shot became inacurate and his air game suffered. Frankly, without his deadly shot Miha is just a mediocre player. He needed another month of competative games to return to his standard form. Another thing that made his bad situation even worse was that Boskov's decision that Miha would be the captain was altered by the people from the football federation. This made Miha mad and disrespectful of Boskov and people from the federation. He felt that he was the most successful Yugoslav player during 1999/2000 season and that he erned the captain band. With such a state of mind and with his substandard form, Miha was not ready to play in EURO2000.

 

[Grobar]

Ben I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I really look forward to your posts. They're well thought out, and expressive. Kudos bro!

Now back to the business at hand. I agree with everyone of your points concerning the three players. Ivica IMHO hasn't been the same since the shellacking he took at the hands of Dinamo in Zagreb several years ago. His confidence went into hiding and hasn't since returned. I thought that maybe the 2-2 draw in Zagreb during Euro qualifiers might help his confidence, if not actually vindicate him in a way. Unfortunately it didn't. And yes, he's actually 3rd string at PSV.
I'm a little more skeptical of Pedja than you are and think he's totally finished...unfortunately. I think his career from this point on will mirror that of Savicevic's, occasional flashes of brilliance mired in banality for 2nd class clubs. I don't believe Fiorentina will hold on to him much longer, especially now that Trappatoni is Italy's national head coach. His injuries sure have set him back but just like Kralj, I believe it's more a mental thing than physical. I hope he proves me wrong.
As much as I hate to admit it, without that left foot Miha is just average. And just like you mentioned, add in his injury, extra weight, problems with the FSJ, problems with the SPS (remember the whole document/amabassador signature thing), Lazio winning the scudetto, the result of all these factors being what we witnessed at Euro. Miha's style of play is to make up for in marking and intuition, what he lacks in speed. Having Nesta back you up also doesn't hurt to say the least. Miha didn't have him at Euro, so our defense was pourous at best.

 

[Ben Akiba]

Thanks for the compliments and likewise.

Kralj must start playing in competative games. Whether it is in PSV or some other club, he should not start the fall season sitting on the bench or even worse, siting in the stands.

Mijatovic better find another club in another country. I agree that after departure of Trapatoni, Fiorentina would not be patient with him unless he starts scoring and assisting.

You are right to the point about Miha. He must be surrounded by defensive players whom he is FAMILIAR with in order to play well. When there are Nesta and Pancaro in Lazio or Djukic and Djorovic in Yugo arond him, Miha is great. In the absence of those players, Miha feels lost, unsecured and as a result his bad temper takes over. For example, he felt extremely unconfortable of having Nadj playing at Djorovic's spot in the game vs. Slovenia and having Saveljic playing instead of Djukic behind him in the game with Holland since he has never played in such formations. Let us see what season will he have with Lazio. If he drops out from the starting line-up, he is finished as a player in highly competative clubs and also in the Yugo-team. (Hope that Boskov will not insist of starting him if he is a bench wormer in Lazio.)

 

[Grobar]

Agreed on all points. I just read somewhere that Boskov will probably stay on as our NT coach. It seems Piksi has signed a one year deal that sees him bound to Nagoya until June of next year. The FSJ will vote on this on Saturday, but it's pretty much a done deal the report states. What's interesting is that there's a good chance that Piksi might replace Boskov in June. So it seems from this that Boskov is an interim again. Quite frankly, I'd like to see Piksi get some experience under his belt before he takes over the reigns of our A squad. Best case would be to let him coach the U-21's, and see how he does. If he does well, there's two key benefits. First being that he's competent enough to coach on the big stage. Second, we have a batch of youngsters that have done well, resulting in a more than rosy outlook for the future of our NT.

 

[Ben Akiba]

I have problems with both Boskov and Piksi.

First, Boskov is too old and should retire. Second, we should not have an ad iterim volunteer(!) coach at the beginning of qualifying games for WC2002. No serious team would alow this. Third, changing the coach in the summer of 2001 when the situation in our qualifying group may already be cristalized is ridiculous. However, bad habits of our foodball federation cannot be changed overnight. Their empirical approach to the sport of football with no clearly outlined plan and strategy for the future is a main cause of our underachiving.

Piksi needs experience as a coach. He needs to be tested as a coach before he is given the position of the selector of our senior team. I also have problem with Piksi's lack of realism and his fights with Boskov. When will Piksi finally realise that his time has passed? He still plans to play for WC qualifying game. His open and vitriolic criticism of Boskov after EURO2000 shows the extent of his vanity. (Not that Boskov doesn't deserve critique, but it should be more constructive and definitely less personal, especially from someone who aspires to the position of selector.)