Might have missed some players did it from the top of my head.

 

Close this thread and let a cromo open it for us as it brought us good luck the last round

 

True, maybe Ante or Ero will do it :grin2:

 

It’s League of Nations first anyway. Euro qualifying doesn’t start until the new year.

 

And calling a generation ‘golden’ without achieving anything in senior football is farcical.

Let them achieve something and then we can talk.

 

They're called the "golden" generation because they won the U19 Euro & U20 WC. Not because they have achieved something on the A-team level. I thought you understood football? :shakehead:

 

Edit: wrong topic

 

Using the term golden generation is a guarantee of underachieving ftr.

 

You're taking DZ's thread start too seriously. There's no such thing as a golden generation.

 

Too soon.

 

League of Nations starts in Septemeber. It's a few months away. I don't think it's too soon to start talking about HC's, roster and tactics. Then again Serbs are infamous for doing things last minute like selecting a head coach. Wouldn't be surprised if we kept Krstajic temporarily until the end of the year to see how he does in LON's. Would be the biggest disappointment but knowing these cheap a$$es in our FA, nothing would surprise me. I hope Paunovic steps up but I don't know what his contract is with Chicago and when their season leaves. Things like this can lead to our downfall.

 

Yeah, the League of Nations has *nothing* to do with Euro quals...

Please believe this, brothers :howler:

 

Being in League C is beneficial for us. :grin2:

 

I do not think this team deserve to be hanged in the media. I think we did as excepted. We were a wrong referee-decision from round of 16 where I think we would have a good chance against Sweden.

We looked compact in defence (when we didn't chase a result with an unbalanced team) and played quite good in attack at times. I really think there is something to build on here. With the same approach in the Nations League we will win our group. What I like about Krstajic is that he called something close to our best team which is rarity among our coaches.

My pool of 30 players for the upcoming gathering i September:

GK (3): Rajkovic, Dmitrovic, Stojkovic
DF (11): Rukavina*, Basta*, Gajic, Ivanovic*, Milenkovic, Pejcinovic, Veljkovic, Nastasic, Kolarov, Rodic, Obradovic
CM (6): Matic, Milivojevic, Fejsa, Maksimovic, Grujic, Lukic
AM (7): Tadic, Zivkovic, Sergej, Gacinovic, Ljajic, Kostic, Radjonjic
ST (3): Mitrovic, Jovic, Prijovic

*= players that might retire and perhaps not be availible.

 

Imagine if we could act with continuity for once. We have the core of the team from this World Cup and should continue with a similiar team. The U19 och U20-champions are now between 21-24 years old. They will be gathered over the upcoming 4 or 5 cycles for major tournaments.

Now imagine if we could have the same coach over this long period. We must be very careful with the coach selection and should be satisfied only with the best possible solution. We can not experiment with this generation! The problem with Krstajic is that he is too inexperienced for such mission.

This are my preferences:

1. Antic - our best coach but is too old for a long term contract and has a bad relation with FSS which makes him as an impossible solution.
2. Paunovic - the "father" of our young perspective generation. I think his contract with Chicago is expiring and he has good connections with FSS which makes him as the ideal solution for a long term contract.
3. Jokanovic - probably our best manager atm. Very successful career so far but probably unrealistic as the NT-coach.
4. Milojevic - has done something I didn't think was possible with a Serbian team which makes you wonder what he can do with the Serbian NT. I don't know if he is a realistic option.
5. Buvac - has a big part in Klopps success over the last decade which makes him more than interesting. Probably not interested in leaving his current job to manage Serbia?
6. Stojkovic - the greatest legend of Serbian football and can be the right man because of authority and football brain. I think he is a realistic option.

 

I would like to see us play someone more comfortable in possession next to Matic instead of another destroyer. Milivojevic is a solid squad option but him and Matic together is too negative in most circumstances. With the emergence of Milenkovic, together with Nastasic and Veljkovic, we look set at CB and I don't think there will be a big need to overprotect them. When we win the ball back, it's critical that we have a guy who can absorb the pressure, move the ball forward and initiate our attacks.

I think people were way too harsh on SMS in the Brazil game. He was not good against the Swiss but he had a solid match playing Brazil. We were practically equal in possession and shots against the best national team in the world until that second goal. There's no way we do that with Milivojevic there instead of SMS. Forget about the hype and price tag and keep in my mind that he had to play safer as a deep lying CM. Matic too was excellent (watch his compilation for the Brazil match on Youtube).

Let's hope Lukic and Maksimovic progress because they look like the best options there. Lukic, for example, could be a perfect compliment next to Matic and Sergej.

 

I think a lot of you are underrating Bogosavac. I think he's going to be a brilliant LB. He's a standard for the U21 team who is going to have a nice career. Maybe not as exciting of a player as Kolarov but he still offers a lot going forward and projects to be a much better defender than Kolarov. He's quicker and more disciplined. Knows when to make his runs. His crosses are weak but his short passes are great. Links well with central midfielders. It's the type of football I want to play now that we don't have dynamic full backs after Ivanovic and Kolarov retire. Play through the middle and have the central/attacking midfielders overlap with the wingers. Anyhow, he's a great prospect. I think he should go to Torino where has been touted to play after Partizan and he will do nicely with Ljajic and S. Lukic there.


Gajic is the bigger question mark. On the left, we have a few more prospects that could develop there. On the right, it's pretty much Gajic, Vlalukin, and then 2001 generation wunderkind, Radmanovac. Maybe someone else will step up but for now these are the main prospects. I think Gajic is solid. If Paunovic or Drulovic become HC's, they would def know how to use him. I'm not too worried to be honest. We will see more of him with the U21 team where he's done a solid job. Him and Bogosavac have both been good.

 

Serbia would be lucky to have me as head coach and Zoric as my assistant.

We'd dominate the world.

 

We will be Euro 2020 quarterfinalists. I will bump this post in 2 years.

 

Marko Gobeljić European Championship quarter finalist...I like it!

 

Seems like our cheap FA is most likely going to bring back Krstajic. I agree that he's a great guy, but he's a brainless coach. Unfortunately, Savo and company prefer "good guys" that will act as puppets for future call-ups for the Nations League competition. They were probably drooling when this competition was announced because it provides an excellent opportunity to call up players from our league.
I'm only not against it if it's actual up and coming talents like Djerlek or Joveljic, otherwise, no way in hell do I want to see those other washed up players in the NT.

I think we are just doomed for failure until these mafiasi have had enough. We (Serbians) are our own biggest enemies, unfortunately.

I hope they can have a little heart for once and let us see out our golden generation in the best possible light. This will also give Serbia more exposure. Look at Croatia...Their players are always overvalued in their league and they get a great return on the first sale. We first need to show that quality individually for big clubs like Modric and Rakitic have and then success on the NT level before other countries start valuing our players. I mean the best example is Luka Jovic. All the other strikers his age in the Bundesliga that have scored the same or less amount of goals have market values 4-5 times what he is currently worth. It's ridiculous. SMS is an outlier and a result of brilliant marketing.



Anyhow, I'm super excited for this next generation. I want guys like Kolarov and Tadic to stick around. I think they will be continue to provide valuable experience and quality as well. Let's see what the next few months bring us.

 

DZ, value and worth is not the same. And I'm not sure why you keep interjecting "price points" into your posts. Apparently, Neymar is the most expensive rolled ramen in the history of the world-- his value to Brazil is completely different than his worth at PSG.

 

There is no doubt to me that Nikola Maras should be included in the squad. This kid is miles better than guys like Spajic or D. Tosic

[ame]https://vimeo.com/259436617[/ame]

 

Coaching.

Coaching is the problem, in basketball we have it, we have a school of thought, it gets passed from generation to generation and our coaches are the most respected in the world.

In football we don’t, it seems like it’s getting slightly better but whilst coaches go through the Bata Djora school of coaching we won’t go anywhere.

There are a couple of coaches who have developed but they’re not available. You can only get rid of Krstajić if there’s someone you can replace with him.

He was given the job because they had no one else. So you either let him carry on, bring in another Curcic type or you look for a foreign coach. The latter might work if you spent money on a good one, who isn’t too over the hill but the FSS aren’t going to want to spend that money. It’s that simple.

Until we are churning out decent coaches like we are players we won’t go anywhere fast.

 

If you want a quality foreign coach, look no further than Iran or Morocco. Both teams played good football, different styles, but I'm sure both coaches could get even more out of our squad. Morocco's coach (Renard) even won the Africa Cup with Zambia, which is when I first noticed him. While Iran's coach (Queiroz) has been around the block and back.

Dule's right though, for us the major issue is lack of quality coaching. We ran the most at the WC (out of all teams in the group stage), topped some other categories as well, but our efficiency, off the ball movement and particularly passing levels were far from impressive. This is where a quality coach makes a difference. Paunovic's Serbia didn't dominate every game, they adjusted if needed and played intelligent football first and foremost. I really don't see how he was overlooked for the job. Sure, he's not dominating MLS (yet), but we know what he can do, he's tactically astute, a great motivator and surrounds himself with guys like Kosanovic who are clearly talented in their field as well.

I want the FSS to come out and make things clear as soon as possible. Also, let's see some retirements. The fact that Jelena Karleusa felt she had to insult Veljkovic for playing over Dusko is enough reason to never call players like him again. Don't make a shit show out of the NT ffs...:yuck:

 

Was he overlooked or did he just not want it?

I’m still disappointed he went down the MLS route and feel like he’d have been much better off with a segunda side or something.

Organisation makes a difference though and that’s where we fall down a lot of the time. Look at the last 8 and it will tell you a lot.

With a better coach we’d be looking forward to a quarter final with England on Saturday...

 

I think any of the options on vojo's list of coaches would be good although I don't know much about Stojkovic's coaching performance in Asia or much about Buvac beyond him being a key assistant tactically for Klopp. How many of those options are really realistic though? The Chicago MLS team doesn't seem to be doing well right now so it's possible Paunovic could become available. Other than those guys though, I'd much prefer Krstajic over another Curcic type.

A foreign coach might be an option but I like NTs to represent the footballing identity of that country as much as possible, both on and off the field. Clemente and Advocaat, although at the end of their careers, had good reputations and accomplished nothing with us. This doesn't mean another can't succeed but he has to be a prospective coach who's in it for more than just a payday.

In terms of departures from the team, I expect Tosic, Stojkovic, and Rukavina to retire which should be clear based on the club choices they have made. The RB position is still vulnerable though. Provided he's playing competitive football and willing to stay on, I might keep Ivanovic for another year or so until we can phase in Gajic, Gacinovic or some other option. I don't think the EURO 2020 squad has to be completely settled at this very moment.

 

Agree, I would rather keep Krstajic if the option is someone else than them I lister or a foreign coach. We need a leader who is experinced, authoritarian and tactically skilled and can make a team of our best players.

Our WC-performance was OK. The marginals are small and we could have passed to the next round with a bit of luck. It is easy to judge in retrospect, but I have a feeling that we were naive in the end of the game against Switzerland and how we treated the game against Brazil.

Looking forward, I think we lack a quick and possessing central midfielder (Modric-type) who dictates the game. We have a lot of tall players in the central midfield who lack a bit of speed and agressiveness.

Is a 4-2-3-1 possible with two destroyers as Matic and Milivojevic/Fejsa? Or would it be better with we reversed the central trio in a 4-1-2-3 meaning we play Matic behind Sergej and Maksimovic/Gacinovic. An option for is 3-4-3 that Krle mentioned in the other thread. If you can manage that system in a good way you can hide your lack of possesion football with good defence and quick counter attacks.

My hopes for the next gathering in september:

- Rajkovic takes the GK-spot. I don't mind Stojkovic in the squad as a back up GK as he has been good for our NT over the years.
- Ivanovic stays for one more cycle because we lack good upcoming RB's. Rukavina's club choice should mean his NT-career is over.
- Zivkovic becomes our starter at right wing after a good start in the new season with Benfica.
- Maksimovic and Gacinovic gets good startes in their clubs and becomes options as starters in our NT.

 

We need to forget about Gajic for the time being as he needs to play.

I said it as a joke earlier but at the minute post Ivanovic/Rukavina and playing Gacinovic there our next best right back is Marko Gobeljic.

Filip Stojkovic really must be kicking himself...if only he’d have been more patient.

 

Gacinovic is an interesting option at RB. I don't think Mijat has the end product to ever be a premier attacker or the passing/vision to be a top central midfielder but there are other qualities he has that could really benefit the team.

His energy/stamina and dribbling could be very effective with the space he would be given as a rightback. He could be a real offensive weapon from there without the pressure of having to produce further up the pitch.

Of course, the major concern is his defending. I think he could develop into a reasonable defender with experience but I feel he'd need to play that position at a semi-regular basis. Wingback seems more appropriate and he was fantastic the one time he played there but I'm not so eager to change our formation because of one weakness on the team. I feel that extra CB is somewhat wasted so I'm not a big fan of returning to three in the back.

 

I think we should definitely consider Gacinovic at the RB position. I highly doubt (whoever our HC is) will play him there but he's got all the attributes of a wing-back/full-back. His defense is underrated but is definitely no worse than Rukavina.

I've been watching a few of his videos recently and he has the size and skills to play RB. He's very versatile. I don't see why we shouldn't at least try him there. It will do him wonders for his career too. He can become the player that Ignjovski should have been.

He also doesn't have to be a strict RB. He can play a role like Lahm did for Germany. From a back with freedom to roam centrally and have one of the DM's like Milivojevic pull back to a deeper role and have Milenkovic move more to the right to help at the RB position. It wouldn't be a bad tactic.

 

Also, I think Adam Marusic is a much bigger loss to Serbia than Filip Stojkovic. He has really blossomed into a nice player at Lazio. I like the way he pushes forward. Very aggressive. Defensively sound. Such a shame as he would have obviously started for Serbia at the WC and would have linked up nicely with Tadic. Oh well, we are due for a nice RB soon enough. I'll keep my hopes up for Radmanovac

 

I forget about Marusic but he never even played for any of our youth teams?

But it’s interesting the career path he took that has lead him to Lazio. Sort of came out of the blue.

 

No he didn't play for any youth teams because he was a late bloomer. He owes his career to Basta who prepped him better than anyone else could have done. Born in Belgrade. Strange decision by him. It probably has more to do with Serbia's horrific scouting which is why we need to test as many players as possible in the near future. We have an immense amount of talent coming through. Will need to cap these players in tournaments like the Nations League so that we don't lose them to our leech neighbors.

Agree, I would rather keep Krstajic if the option is someone else than them I lister or a foreign coach. We need a leader who is experinced, authoritarian and tactically skilled and can make a team of our best players.

Our WC-performance was OK. The marginals are small and we could have passed to the next round with a bit of luck. It is easy to judge in retrospect, but I have a feeling that we were naive in the end of the game against Switzerland and how we treated the game against Brazil.

Looking forward, I think we lack a quick and possessing central midfielder (Modric-type) who dictates the game. We have a lot of tall players in the central midfield who lack a bit of speed and agressiveness.

Is a 4-2-3-1 possible with two destroyers as Matic and Milivojevic/Fejsa? Or would it be better with we reversed the central trio in a 4-1-2-3 meaning we play Matic behind Sergej and Maksimovic/Gacinovic. An option for is 3-4-3 that Krle mentioned in the other thread. If you can manage that system in a good way you can hide your lack of possesion football with good defence and quick counter attacks.

My hopes for the next gathering in september:

- Rajkovic takes the GK-spot. I don't mind Stojkovic in the squad as a back up GK as he has been good for our NT over the years.
- Ivanovic stays for one more cycle because we lack good upcoming RB's. Rukavina's club choice should mean his NT-career is over.
- Zivkovic becomes our starter at right wing after a good start in the new season with Benfica.
- Maksimovic and Gacinovic gets good startes in their clubs and becomes options as starters in our NT.

I disagree on a few points.


I think our game was horrendous. Lack of organization. Lots of running but without structure. We just looked scared to be there. Our best players, in general, were our young guys and Tadic. Sure, we can't compare to Belgium or France just based on sheer lack of quality but we should have at least left our group and made the knockout phase. Ref or not, no excuses. We absolutely disappeared in games after 60 minutes. Krstajic should stick to running his pizza parlor. Football is not his thing and I think he knows it too. If anything, he's a good assistant. Players appreciate him as a person. He's a great motivator. But when your players call you out for having poor tactics and costing them a game, you have to resign. You've lost all authority at that point. The problem is, who will the FA replace him with? Possibly someone even more inferior as they've wasted a bit of money though I highly doubt they paid Krstajic much if anything. They probably offered him some benefits behind the scenes. If he wanted to stay on as an assistant or "advisor" role, I'd love it. He should be nowhere near a HC position.


Well, every NT in the world wishes they could have someone like Modric. That's just not realistic. But we do have someone with similar potential, Sasa Lukic. I have no doubt he's going to have a breakout season next year. He just needs to have more freedom like he does with our U21 team. He was good enough to start at this WC but Krstajic just doesn't have the vision or experience to bring a player like him. I'm positive any experienced HC would have brought him from our pool of players if they were our coach. Same with Gacinovic (diff type of player).

Playing with 2 DM's with the type of quality we are going to possess going forward, is considered dead football. Sasa Lukic next one of Milivojevic or Matic. SMS at CAM.

I think Dmitrovic is better than Rajkovic at this point. He should definitely start and see how Rajkovic develops. He needs to transfer to a top 4 league, ASAP.
There's also Svilar who apparently wants to play for us but who knows.
Zivkovic needs to take over that Tadic role and become the dominant player he can be. Every major NT has a player like him. Belgium have Hazard. France have Griezzman. Brazil have Neymar. You need a small player who adds a dynamic touch to the game. The only thing he needs to work on is his short passes, defensive consistency and through balls. He's still got a way to go but if nothing changes, he can become a world class player.

Maksimovic needs to find a good club. Period. He's not going to get a chance at Valencia and they obviously don't want him as they aren't even considering loan options. Personally, I think he's a bit overrated.

Gacinovic has a lot of potential but I'd genuinely consider playing him at RB. Hopefully we have a ballsy coach who will at least experiment with him there. Like I said, can't be worse than Rukavina.

I'd give Tadic at least one more cycle. A very rare player. Looked like one of the best wingers at this tournament. Disappointed with his transfer but he can still get exposure with Ajax in the CL.


Ivanovic is too slow. Football is played at an incredibly fast pace nowadays. He got burned multiple times and his strength can no longer hide his lack of speed. Age has also caught up with him and he's constantly injured. If we qualify for the Euros, he will be 36. No thanks. IMO, we have better options (barely :crying



Overall, we have a nice pool of players to choose from. It's going to take a great coach to utilize them properly to hide our weakness at RB and possibly LB if Kolarov retires. We need players like SMS and Zivkovic to step up and accept the role as leaders. We need continuity. With our HC. With our players (building team chemistry). With our FA (no more BS games). With our fans (cheering no matter the result). We have to take advantage of this generation. It likely won't come again for a while.