Albanian Football Forum

Yeah, so we are a better team than before because of those 3 factors.

This team is definitely better now. But before, the domestic players were better. If the old team had Switzerland popping Albanian players like popcorn, they'd be better.

Berti wrote:Very hard game to watch and obviously understand majority of analysis and comparisons from you all. My opinion is this is a pool of players who are so equal in quality that we shouldn't worry who's out or in, or who's in form and who's not. Their club form means nothing. The expansion of the scouting pool over the past years has brought something priceless and that's pride for the shirt and massive self belief. Before we had better quality imo but pathetic mentality and no public backing whatsoever and often even used for dodgy things. We finally have an identity. And overall is creating a sense of pride for all so this is reflecting on the players.

Spot on.

Berti wrote:Very hard game to watch and obviously understand majority of analysis and comparisons from you all. My opinion is this is a pool of players who are so equal in quality that we shouldn't worry who's out or in, or who's in form and who's not. Their club form means nothing. The expansion of the scouting pool over the past years has brought something priceless and that's pride for the shirt and massive self belief. Before we had better quality imo but pathetic mentality and no public backing whatsoever and often even used for dodgy things. We finally have an identity. And overall is creating a sense of pride for all so this is reflecting on the players.

Berti speaking the truth


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Migjeni wrote:I don't get this "our earlier NT's players were better" Who the f are you trying to kid, or is it just nostalgia getting the hold of you guys?

We've never had a better NT. I agree with artan has said thus far.

Which quality are you guys talking about? - Always fighting for existence and not finishing last in the group or what?

Our players now and our NT as a whole, its tactics, our coach - everything is better than before.

We are glorifying the days when Klodian Duro would start even though he was without a club for two years. It's nostalgia for sure. This team is better in a lot of aspects. Ok, I'll grant to the nostalgics that Skela was better and we don't have a midfield maestro of his type which we have had historically (Demollari comes to mind before Skela). Yeah we had Lala in the old guard but now we have Mavraj, Hysaj and I think Gjimshiti will be immense in the coming years.

Let's not forget about Cana. No other Albanian player has had a more illustrious career than he has. While we're glorifying Tare who played for Karlsruhe and Lazio his accomplishments pale in comparison to Cana who captained Marseille and Sunderland, and played for Galatasaray and Lazio. Berisha is also an improvement over Strakosha. Cikalleshi plays just like Tare and Bogdani played in the old days, hold on to the ball and do absolutely nothing with it.

I mean we have Kace coming off the bench while in the olds days we had Superliga scrubs in the starting lineup.

This nostalgia thing is all bullshit. Those players can't compare to the ones we have now. Ne il Dede was our starting center back. Bogdani sucked. Fuk everybody else says. He was wack. The white Emile heskey
Skela was so frail and weak. He was wack too. They were all garbage

Look to the bench and we have the amazing alban bushi. Mehmet dragusha and Devi muka to bail us out of trouble


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We're not glorifying the Kuzhe years, we're "glorifying" late 90s to mid 2000s era. Apart from the defence, we had better players. K Duro wasn't even mentioned ahead of Lala, Skela, Hasi, but don't forget this guy had the ability to score free kicks against Bosnia and Man City in official games.

We can't even put 2 passes together, and scoring 1+ goals in 1 game is a yearly event. Let's not confuse organization, teamwork and motivation, with individual talent and football iq.

Zemi wrote:Bogdani sucked

The guy who could get 10+ goals in a top league, and score braces against Shevchenko's Ukraine away from home? Our top scorer of all time? Yeah, complete shit. Get real.

They were garbage. Physical ability alone doesn't make you a great player. You are referring to skill moreso it seems. As players these guys were garbage


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Make a XI with players from 1997 and onward, and see who makes the top XI. Only the defence is better. And 2/4 of those defenders actually peaked in mid 2000s and are part of the old guard.

--------Bogdani---Berisha/Tare----
--------------Skela-----------------
--------Hasi---------Murati--------
---------------Lala------------------
-----Agolli - Cana - Mavraj - Xhaka

If these players today were playing the same style of football with the same motivation as the old players, we would be behind Armenia right now.

Aurora Bulkualis wrote:We're not glorifying the Kuzhe years, we're "glorifying" late 90s to mid 2000s era. Apart from the defence, we had better players. K Duro wasn't even mentioned ahead of Lala, Skela, Hasi, but don't forget this guy had the ability to score free kicks against Bosnia and Man City in official games.

We can't even put 2 passes together, and scoring 1+ goals in 1 game is a yearly event. Let's not confuse organization, teamwork and motivation, with individual talent and football iq.

That mid-90's team has probably one of the worst records in our history. A pernenial Pot 5 team that scarred us for life and gave us the psychological complex we suffer from today. That team would play an amazing half against a top team and then concede in the dying minutes of a game or they would collapse against mediocre teams like Georgia or Belarus, sometimes at home. That team made me appreciate the win against Armenia at home as I gave up hope after we went down 1-0 and said to myself "Typical Albanian lossers". These guys clawed their back to victory like very few teams have done in the past.

The mid 80's team beat Belgium at home and was one win away from qualifying for the 86' world cup. Yes I agree that Skela is a more skillful player than any of our current players but all I remember from Skela in the NT games was how he would try to run circles against a couple of opposition players and slow down the game. We play very differently now, a more high tempo high press game.

Aurora Bulkualis wrote:The guy who could get 10+ goals in a top league, and score braces against Shevchenko's Ukraine away from home? Our top scorer of all time? Yeah, complete shit. Get real.

I will say that our best forward has been Rraklli. Tare and Bogdani are no suited to our style of play and always felt out of place.

What it comes down to is results. We used to be a Pot 5 team and now we're Pot 2. We used to get a tie against a top team every once in a while and lose to mediocre teams most of the times. Now we're undefeated in a group with Portugal, Denmark and France. The results speak for themselves.