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

Discussion in 'Bosnia & Herzegovina' started by Sudžuka, Sep 21, 2017.

  1. Young Zmaj

    Young Zmaj Member

    Juventus
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Oct 7, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Probably the first time we ever won a game we deserved to lose. The defense was so shaky but that was to be expected as our two best LBs were out (Kolasinac, Nastic) and our two best RBs (Todorovic, Vranjes). Bicakcic was also injured.

    Todorovic will be back for the Austria game, and hopefully Nastic will be fit.
     
    Keno repped this.
  2. bosna10

    bosna10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 23, 2009
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Sehic is so much better than Begovic. Not even close really. Without him making a few amazing saves that game is over and fairly early.

    Even though we didn't play well, this was never the type of game we were going to dominate since NI play the style we absolutely hate(always pushing the pace and being quite aggressive on both ends). Our team currently built is more about skill, possession and structured game. We should be much better against Austria.

    Also we used to dominate some teams and still lose games so it's nice to get a win while not being the better team.
     
  3. Sudžuka

    Sudžuka Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 27, 2013
    Prosinečki says that we'll play a more offensive game tomorrow. Panic even though injured int he last match is ready to play.
     
  4. podrinje

    podrinje Member+

    Borussia Dortmund
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Oct 10, 2013
    Bay Area!
    Club:
    Alemannia Aachen
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Besic needs to play in the middle alongside Pjanic. His tenacity and aggressiveness will be needed against Alaba and Gregoritsch.
     
  5. Young Zmaj

    Young Zmaj Member

    Juventus
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Oct 7, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Prosinečki’s lineup:

    Šehić; Ćivić, Zukanović, Šunjić, Todorović; Bešić, Sarić, Pjanić; Duljević, Džeko, Višća

    My only real complaint is Sarić still being in the lineup. Krunić or Prcić should be starting ahead of him. Ćivić was obviously really bad but we have no one else at LB.
     
  6. podrinje

    podrinje Member+

    Borussia Dortmund
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Oct 10, 2013
    Bay Area!
    Club:
    Alemannia Aachen
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Saric, if I didn't see him on the line-up sheet, would've thought was on the bench as he is nowhere to be seen. Civic started horribly but got more comfortable towards the latter part of the first half. Dzeko needs to score there, just make contact with any part of the body and it's a goal.
     
  7. thedragon10

    thedragon10 Member

    Oct 15, 2013
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    To be fair to Saric, in the second half he actually had a really slick little run with the ball and then to Dzeko for the nice assist. Civar looks absolutely abysmal, but as was said, we're completely depleted at LB and once Nastic and Kolasinac get back, hopefully he's not anywhere near the team sheet; we probably have a better LB somewhere on the youth teams.

    I agree with whoever said Prcic and Krunic should be starting, that's what I want to see, particularly Prcic. But Zakaric also looked pretty solid in his short time on the pitch and made a nice little run with the ball that had the crowd oohing.

    Todorovic looks fantastic, and I thought Duljevic has played really well these first 2 games, so for the most part the new guys look really good. There is a lot to be excited about in a couple months when we can have Kolasinac/Nastic-Todorovic as opposing fullbacks and a midfield of Pjanic, Besic, Prcic, and Krunic. With Dzeko up front of course.

    But what about Deni Milosevic? He should play over Saric; his ceiling is way higher, and he'd most likely even contribute more now. Not to mention dude plays in China lol and Milosevic has started the season off well with Konyaspor
     
    Young Zmaj repped this.
  8. thedragon10

    thedragon10 Member

    Oct 15, 2013
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
  9. Young Zmaj

    Young Zmaj Member

    Juventus
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Oct 7, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Pretty good game actually. Several good performances from the players.

    If Duljević could improve his decision-making and first touch, I could see him playing for a solid Bundesliga side for the prime of his career.

    Great to have earned 6/6 possible points against two decent sides. Nations League is more important than many fans think, particularly because it determines the seeding for Euro 2020 qualifiers. We need to finish Pot 2 (winning our group guarantees that).
     
  10. Bosanski Bomber

    United States
    May 20, 2018
    Dallas, TX
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Saturday was a bad performance from us, but we adjusted our tactics well to cope with NI's aggressiveness and hit them on the counter. We ended up creating more dangerous chances than them despite having 4x less opportunities.

    Today was much better in every regard from us. Love the energy and industry guys like Saric, Todorovic, and Duljevic bring to the team, pretty much exactly what we lacked in the last 4 years. Zukanovic had his best ever game for the NT too, didn't put a foot wrong. Sunjic, Sehic, Dzeko, Pjanic all solid as well. We can still get better in our transitions from defense to attack but this is how we all wanted the NT to play against good teams for years. Finally we have a coach who has the acumen (and the common sense, I should add) to pull it off.

    We've let in just 3 goals in 8 games under Prosinecki, 2 of which came from set plays too. At this time last year, we were letting in 3 goals in about 10 minutes against Cyprus. Shows what a difference a good, competent coach can make. And Robi's delight when we scored showed that he really cares about this team too. So happy that he's doing well as our coach and making the NT interesting again. This can only get better, especially when everyone that was missing this time is back in the fold.
     
    Young Zmaj repped this.
  11. bosna10

    bosna10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 23, 2009
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    I don't remember last time i disagreed with you as we're usually on the same page but i disagree with almost everything you wrote here. Zukanovic shouldn't be anywhere on the team(been saying that for a long time and he always shows why) and i was basically praying for him not to screw up again(he got away with some terrible passes and barely got his guy on a few occasions..pure luck on some plays).

    The way this team is playing giving up so much room is not going to work against some of the bigger boys with better finishers..Now maybe this is part of his tactics but it's taking a huge gamble imo. Our first game was pretty similar and we won by luck basically...The only reason Austria didn't pounce on us in this one was because they tried the approach of controlling the tempo more instead of go go go like NI did. A lot of luck in these 2 games and we're basically playing Susic system.

    Good thing is that we do have better defenders especially once Kola and few others come back(Vranjes, Nastic also looks decent). But yea i don't like these types of back and forth chances games at all and no smart coach should do that as you are playing with fire and count on luck quite a bit. I cringed at how many misplaced passes we had..Wtf happened with dictating the pace and having the ball more? Yikes..
     
  12. Bosanski Bomber

    United States
    May 20, 2018
    Dallas, TX
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Hey, I'm not the biggest fan of Zukanovic either and I've been vocal on my criticism of his performances in the NT over the years, but I have to give credit where it's due. He was very good today. Looked more composed on the ball and tried to switch the play often, won the majority of his duels, and didn't get caught of position as we usually saw in the past. I'm still not convinced that he should be a first choice defender for us anymore, but if he keeps playing like he did today, I'd have no problem with him continuing to start.

    The reason we're giving away some room is because we're trying to play passing and pressing football on/off the ball. That inevitably is going to leave some holes but there was never a point where we didn't have at least 4 or 5 players covering at the back for the CMs who pushed up to join the press. Not only that, but we don't play like that for 90 minutes, we clearly go through some periods where we adjust, sit back, and try to hit on the counter. We basically played a long ball game on Saturday because our passing game wasn't working. Even today we saw some of that. Comparing Austria to NI is pointless because they don't play similar at all, they aren't capable of pulling off the style that NI played with the other day.

    We're not playing gung-ho football at all. If anything, we play it too safe when we do have the ball. Duljevic is the only one who's looking to make forward moves every time he gets it, everyone else is content to pass it around and wait for an opening. The main goal seems to be to make sure the structure is right and that we have enough players back in case we lose possession. That doesn't sound anything like what we saw in the Susic days where it was always an attack first mindset.

    I think our defense has been good if not solid. 3 goals conceded (2 from set plays) in 8 games against teams like S. Korea, Austria, NI, Senegal, USA, and Mexico sounds more than decent, can't just pin all that down to luck, especially when we didn't really concede that many clear cut chances in any of these games. The problem with our defense is that we're trying to build out of the back but we don't have the personnel to do so. Sunjic is not Pique and Zukanovic is not Ramos so we don't have master passers back there to bail us out. Even Sehic doesn't inspire much confidence with the ball. I think Robi is trying to continue with that approach, but is finding ways to adjust when it doesn't work against certain teams and play differently. That alone confides me that he knows what he's doing and will get the best out of this team unlike his predecessors. And as we already established, we had 3 if not 4 starters from that back 5 missing in these games so I'm sure that it will only look better with time and more games for our core group to play together and gel in this new system. 6/6 points from 2 games and a solid defense in 2018 is not a bad start though, however you look at it.
     
    bosna10 repped this.
  13. bosna10

    bosna10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 23, 2009
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Yeah a lot of that is true. We were definitely better in this one but it's not surprising and i already mentioned after last game we would do better vs Austria as they don't play the same style as NI. Still certain parts of this team bother me as we don't look the same team that played in those friendlies and looked more poised with the ball(not rushing plays which we seem to do now quite a bit). Not sure if it's injuries, different tactics being applied due to playing these oponnents(i'm sure they did their homework) or maybe a bit of both. I guess as long as we keep winning you can't be too upset but hopefully Robi has more in him(especially if we move on higher and play with better teams).
     
  14. Bosanski Bomber

    United States
    May 20, 2018
    Dallas, TX
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    I think we actually looked better today than we did in any of those friendlies sans the Korea game but that was an opponent who played a tactic and style that didn't suit them and went gung-ho which left us with plenty of space to play with. Just look at how open they were on the goals we scored, we never got room like that in these two games. I find it encouraging though that we can mix it up between a slick passing display like the Korea game and a tough grind like these last two games and still win. The performances can improve, but the depth and flexibility of the team tactically now is important to note and will come of use in the future. We're not a one-dimensional team anymore under Robi and that's a good thing.

    If I had to compare the way we play now with any other team, I'd compare it to Klopp teams. He tries to play with high energy and pressing which invariably leaves holes in sectors of the team and tries to make sure there's enough structure at the back to not allow his slow CBs get overrun and he always has a good shot stopper in goal to ensure that the opposition aren't as successful at scoring on their chances. Sounds a lot like what we're doing except we're also trying to play out of the back which more or less isn't working right now with all the bad giveaways but I'll reserve judgment until the Euro qualifiers start, which is around March so plenty of time until then.
     
  15. Keno

    Keno Member

    Mar 7, 2014
    Club:
    PSV Eindhoven
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Guys can we please start praising Zukanovic and Sunjic holy shit these last 2 games it's like watching bonucci and chielini, they play so well together absolutely nothing comes by them... amazing tbh
     
    Young Zmaj repped this.
  16. ChaDuRi671

    ChaDuRi671 Member+

    Dec 30, 2010
    Club:
    FC Seoul
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    #116 ChaDuRi671, Sep 12, 2018
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2018
    Isn't it a bit unfair to judge a player based on where they play? It's the same as judging a car solely based on it's badge.

    Also it's not like Saric did not contribute anything to the NT either. He did contribute 1 goal and 1 assist in two games.
     
  17. Bosanski Bomber

    United States
    May 20, 2018
    Dallas, TX
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Whether people like it or not, Saric is an important player for Prosinecki and this new team. Someone on the SS.ba forum compared Saric to Brnovic and I think it's spot on. For those who don't know who Brnovic is, he wasn't the most talented player in the team but his energy and work rate provided a great deal of balance to the last star-studded Yugoslavia team prior to the war and Osim always played him because of that. People would always say that even though there were more quality individuals in the team like Pape, Piksi, and Prosinecki himself, Brnovic was the most irreplaceable player in that Yugo team because without him, the balance they had was gone and those players couldn't enjoy as much freedom without having someone like him around them working hard on both sides of the ball.

    I'm not saying that Saric is irreplaceable to this team, but it's obvious that Prosinecki values that sort of player because he saw first hand how important it is to have someone like that in the squad to create a balance in the structure and tactical plan, having learned from someone as smart as Osim in his heyday. And let's be real, players like Saric and Brnovic will always have a place in ex-Yu teams because high energy, high work rate midfielders in those countries have always come in short supply no matter what era we're talking about. This trend has existed for decades and probably will for even longer for as long as it takes for these nations to develop more modern practices in coaching education and move on from their outdated, old school ways but this is another debate altogether.

    Those clamoring for Milosevic, Krunic, Prcic, etc. to start over him have every right to do so, but most are missing the point of why Saric is in the team to begin with. He brings bundles of energy and has a physical side to his game which balances the technical qualities we have in our midfield quite nicely. And he was as productive in his output as anyone else during this NT break as a bonus. Hard to argue against him being in the team anymore. His inclusion at first came as a surprise, but now I expect him to always be there because he proved with his performances so far that he deserves his place in the squad, regardless of whether he plays in Korea or not.
     
    bosna10 repped this.
  18. bosna10

    bosna10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 23, 2009
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    For sure. I liked him already the first few times i saw him play for us so i'm happy with his play. He brings a lot of what we had in Lulic in terms work ethic and physical play(even though Lulic had flaws in other areas he was quite good at those things..Saric isn't as quick but i get a sense he's got better decision making abilities..so far what i've seen anyways). If you go with all skill and no work ethic(or maybe not enough work ethic), you're risking losing games to NI type teams who are more physical and play fast.
     
    Bosanski Bomber repped this.
  19. Hadzjia Sven Susic

    Aug 7, 2011
    Club:
    Cardiff City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Crazy that we won those games.

    N. Ireland coming up again.

    Hopefully the defense won't be as porous
     
  20. Young Zmaj

    Young Zmaj Member

    Juventus
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Oct 7, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Imo there is no way Northern ireland plays as well as they did last time around, especially now that we are home.

    That being said, it will still be a tough match Kolašinac is still out so we have the same weak link at LB as we did in September. I except a tight game, but we’ll grind the victory out. 1-0.
     
    Hadzjia Sven Susic repped this.
  21. Bosanski Bomber

    United States
    May 20, 2018
    Dallas, TX
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Kolasinac got called in for Bicakcic who's injured again. Begovic in for Piric too and the rest of the squad is the same this time around.

    I'd like to see some rotation against Turkey and save some of the starters for the N. Ireland game. Begovic should start the friendly and begin rebuilding his relationship with Prosinecki hopefully. Nastic, Prcic, Krunic, Bajic/Kodro, and Zakaric/Milosevic should all be in too. Dzeko, Besic, and Pjanic should play a half at most on Thursday.

    A win against N. Ireland and we've not only got promotion to League A of the Nations League pretty much locked up, but also a guaranteed Pot 2 spot for the Euro qualifying draw. I think we should be able to manage it at home, especially given that we won away by playing at barely 30% of our capabilities.
     
    Young Zmaj repped this.
  22. thedragon10

    thedragon10 Member

    Oct 15, 2013
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    First half (thru 25 min):

    Duljevic our best player. Pjanic with his best NT game in a LONG time...

    Civic is the worst player in the history of BIH and really the only one struggling so far. Our defense is getting shredded, NI should have scored 2 goals... but on the flip side, our offense/possession is night-and-day compared to the first game. Finally holding onto the ball and completing passes. Almost got caught twice on the counter, though.
     
  23. thedragon10

    thedragon10 Member

    Oct 15, 2013
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    That goal was all Duljevic!!

    Needs to go to a bigger club
     
  24. thedragon10

    thedragon10 Member

    Oct 15, 2013
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Wow sick volley from Dzeko should have been 2-0 but linesman called offside. Very questionable call.... that was SO close, how the hell can he call offside on that? lol
     
    Ronaldinho321 repped this.
  25. Young Zmaj

    Young Zmaj Member

    Juventus
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Oct 7, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Struggled the first 25 minutes but played well after that. Džeko should have a brace if he wasn’t wrongfully flagged offside.

    Pjanić has been excellent. Džeko, Sarić, Duljević, and the CB pair have been good.

    I’m tired of Višća at this point... consistently average, sometimes bad, rarely good.
     

Share This Page