UEFA Nations League || 12 & 18 Nov || Netherlands and Italy || Amsterdam & Sarajevo

Cipetic horrendous defensively, Visca doing fvck all, can't cross a ball.

 

No words to describe how disappointing this is coming off the Netherlands game. Definitely quit as soon Pjanić was subbed out. Should’ve expected this, don’t know why I got my hopes up.

 

Did every that got called up get a chance to play? other than begovic and the 3rd keeper?

 

I'm not usually an angry kind of guy, but Bajevic is taking us for fools. He said that BiH were going to Poland to win, and then what does he do?

1. Deploys a midfield trio of Pjanic, Cimirot AND Hadziahmetovic – three essentially defensive midfielders. He can't even copy-paste his own f__king success formula from the Italy game. Where the hell was Gojak? Why no second forward player when you know you have to win?
   
2. When BiH go down to ten men, he takes off Pjanic and puts on a central defender – basically, waving the white flag and turning the game into attack versus defence. Dzeko becomes even more ridiculously isolated.
   
3. Even when BiH go 3-0 down, he finally brings another striker, Prevljak, on...for Dzeko. Meaning that Bosnia still have one striker on the pitch. And continue to be no threat at all.

Yes, the red card was ridiculous. Sanicanin was in position to cover Lewandowski – Ahmedhodzic was not the last man. That was horrible luck.

But that piece of bad luck is no excuse for total capitulation. It is no excuse for not even having a plan to win when you go down to ten men. It is no excuse for 75 minutes of f__k all!

 

pjanic is injured thats why he came off

 

Seeing as Bajevic is just as bad in terms of tactics as all of his previous predecessors, I am glad he decided to leave instead of staying on and wait to be sacked. The lack of tactical awareness from some coaches that used to be great players is staggering. Who the hell puts three DMs and only one forward in a must-win game??? That's basically asking your opponent to go in full offense mode.

 

Bajević definitely disappointed me considering he was actually a successful club manager with a good resume. Then again, he’d been out of football for like 7 years before taking the job. It’s puzzling, like a couple other posters said, that we went into the game with DMs even though we needed a win.

I don’t understand his infatuation with Hadžiahmetović, who’s a solid player, as he chose to bench Gojak twice for him.

Also, he continues forcing the 4-3-3 and playing one of our best players out of position (Krunić).

If it were up to me, I’d do a youth reset starting next year for WC 2022 qualifiers, we have nothing to lose. Of the players 25 and older, I’d keep Džeko, Pjanić, Kola, Krunić and Šehić. Even Džeko is starting to become someone I’d bench, bit that’s a tough call to make.

 

Nastić didn’t play.

 

https://reprezentacija.ba/311409-slavoljub-muslin-kontaktirao-me-fs-bih-ako-me-trebate-tu-sam

Not that I expect this to change anyone’s mind because why let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory but Muslin has been contacted. I know he was well liked in Serbia and people wished that he would’ve been able to stick around. He had disagreements with their Savez that led to his departure so not sure how he’d fit with our shit show.

 

It's not a tough call to make, you play poorly, you get benched, period. We're one of the only national teams in the world that consistenly rewards bad performances and bad behavior overall. Dzeko and Pjanic are not untouchable, never should have been.

 

I fundamentally disagree.

Red cards – even unjust ones – do happen in football. Any half-decent coach knows this, and will have a contingency plan to deal with this possibility – a possibility which is heightened when you are deploying a young kid at centre-back in a high-pressure game against one of the planet's best strikers.

Okay, Ahmedhodzic is sent off. You still have to win! Switch to a back three, flood the midfield and make sure that one of those midfielders is near the top of the pitch, with Dzeko. Don't surrender with 75 minutes left on the clock!

 

He is old & senile now

Not the same manager he used to be. Just look at his interviews he can barely talk properly and makes Joe Biden look like a college athlete.

 

Muslin should have got the coaching job after Bazdarevic

It's too late for him now. We need a younger coach with a 4 year mandate to qualify for EURO 2024 and integrate a new younger squad during the World Cup qualifiyers.

Our chances for qualifying for next world cup are very small. If we put all our eggs in one basket and attempt to qualify for this tournament and fail without thinking about the future then we will end up missing out on Euro 2024 as well.

I would look at trying to get Bjelica. Surely he would leave Osijek for a coaching job with us? If not then maybe Bruno Akrapovic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Akrapović

He has done well with Lokomotiv Plovdiv. Has coached them for last 3 seasons which shows good continuity, won the Bulgarian Cup twice and last season finished 2nd which is a pretty decent feat considering that Ludogrets dominate that league. They also gave Tottenham a run for their money in the Europa League qualifiers.

 

Akrapovic and Bjelica are great suggestions. Personally I would prefer Bjelica because he seems to understand football on a deep level; his teams play a wonderful brand of soccer.

However, I don't think that qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is off-limits: there is no contradiction between making it to Qatar and then to Germany.

BiH have an abundance of footballing talent: even semi-decent organisation and a coherent, attacking formation should see them enjoy success, and that's assuming the current roster stays static, which it won't: it will improve as new options come on stream.

The problem is that since 2013, Bosnia have had a series of coaches that have lost the plot: weird selections, crazy formations, suicidal tactics, catastrophic talent management. Susic, Bazdarevic, Prosinecki and now Bajevic have thrown rationality to the wind. We now have a team that has practically forgotten how to attack – and developed a curious allergy to the ball.

 

This is one of the most tragic downfalls of any national team in recent years. Going from scoring 30 goals in 10 qualifying games, being undefeated away from home in an entire qualifying campaign, playing fast, attacking football to barely being able to score more than a goal per game let alone winning against pretty much anybody.

 

I disagree. It pretty much is over considering we will be drawn into either pot 3 or pot 4 and have a more younger inexperienced team.

This is why we need to integrate younger players into the first team so that by the time the Euro 2024 qualifiers kick off in 2022/23 guys like Dedic, Gazibegovic, Demirovic, Hasic, Hadzikadunic, Ahmedhodzic etc.. will have grown into more accomplished players by then.

The days of when you could qualify for an international tournament after a string of lucky results or when you have a great motivator like Ciro come in are over. You need to have a good team that follows modern trends in the game and a system. That takes time and considering that we need a lot of young players to cover the positions we are deficient in - RB, CB, LW, RW etc.. our first priority should be to build experience and cohesion.

We have to start from rock bottom whether you like it or not.

 

We didn't qualify for any tournament with Ciro, we didn't even get a record a single win or good result against any good team with him. We qualified for the playoffs and called that a success for weeks before and months after.

 

We were a pot 4 team who finished above Turkey and Belgium in our group and made our first ever play-offs. That was definitely a successful cycle.

 

Those two sound like they’d be great and ideally could have time to implement their system in the U21s and under while preparing for Euro 2024. I agree with you that WC is a pipe dream and we should go out there with the next generation and give our best. Also, why the hell do we save players that can play for the A team for U21s, I don’t think any other good team does this. Call Hasić and Dedić up and let them play. Switzerland trotted out Omeragić and started him but we probably offered him a U-19 spot. Call them up, put them in the team and figure that shit out.

Sadly I think we’ll end up hiring some old timer (or statue as sudzuka said haha) from the jugo glory years because that is what we do. Muslin should’ve gotten the nod earlier but it appears we’ll get him or a clone. I don’t think a foreign manager would touch this savez with a twelve foot poll knowing all the bs they’d have to deal with. I think that is the main driver of why we hire like we do. The old jugo guys probably don’t think it’s as bad as it actually is.

 

Rock bottom? Bosnia drew 1-1 away to Italy as recently as September, and 0-0 with Holland a few days ago. These are not the results or indeed performances of a rock-bottom team.

If the tactics and selection are at least semi-rational – as they were against Italy and Holland – then BiH can rapidly progress. It doesn't matter what pot you end up in if it turns out that you are better than the other teams in your group.

However, if the coach is intent on setting up the team so that nine outfield players are essentially facing their own goal, then no soccer team on Earth is going to be able to withstand that hyper-defensive lunacy.

In terms of integrating younger players into the team, this is indeed a policy weakness which must be remedied, as must irrational selections more generally.

For example, it is madness to deploy Tatar as an alternative to Visca when Menalo, Hasic and Hajrovic are all far more talented and available. Demirovic has been profiled in World Soccer as one of the top 10 talents to watch out for in this season's Bundesliga, but somehow he can't make the BiH 'A' squad. The obviously brilliant Turkes is continually blanked. Etc., etc., etc.

Whoever the new coach is must look at the situation with a fresh pair of eyes.