Serbs Across Europe Roundup

This was not a very productive weekend for our players across the continent. Dusan Tadic was the only Serbian national team player to score while all three of the strikers on Slavoljub Muslin's squad for Moldova and Austria failed to score for yet another week.

ENGLAND

Nemanja Matic and Branislav Ivanovic both played the full 90 minutes in Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Arsenal. Neither played very well especially Ivanovic who continues to struggle as Chelsea's right back.

Aleksandar Kolarov played the entire match in Manchester City's 3-1 win over Swansea. He has had a superb start to the season in his new centre back position.

Dusan Tadic played 80 minutes and scored a goal in Southampton's 3-0 victory over West Ham. He had a fantastic performance and has been the best Serbian player in Europe so far this season.

Vladimir Stojkovic started in goal in Nottigham Forest's 2-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday.

Aleksandar Mitrovic came on as a substitute in the 80th minute in Newcastle's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. Unfortunately it seems like he has fallen out of favour with manager Rafa Benitez.

GERMANY

Filip Mladenovic came on in the 84th minute while Milos Jojic was a unused substitute in Koln's 1-1 draw vs Leipzig.

Aleksandar Ignjovski played the full 90 minutes for Freiburg in their 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund. Neven Subotic did not play.

FIlip Kostic came on in the 67th minute in HSV's 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich.

Gojko Kacar played the full 90 minutes in Augsburg\s 1-0 victory over Darmstadt.

Mijat Gacinovic was a unused substitute in Eintracht Frankfurt's 3-3 draw with Hertha BSC.
Slobodan Medojevic did not make the squad.

Milos Veljkovic started at centre back and played the full 90 minutes  for Werder Bremen in their 2-1 win over Wolfsburg. This was his first start of the season and he played well which is great news,

Matija Nastasic played the full match for Schalke in their 2-1 loss to Hoffenheim. Nastasic is still trying to find his form after being out for so long with a injury.

SPAIN

Zdravko Kuzmanovic started and played 59 minutes for Malaga in their 1-0 loss to Real Betis. Darko Brasanac came on as a sub in the 64th minute for Betis.

Nemanja Radoja played the full match in Celta Vigo's 2-0 win over Espanyol. He seems to have secured a starting spot this season and should get his first call up to the senior national team.

Antonio Rukavina was a unused substitute in Villarreal's 3-1 win over Osasuna. Goran Causic did not make the squad for Osasuna.

Aleksandar Katai was a unused substitute while Nenad Krsticic came on in the 87th minute in Alaves' 3-1 victory over Granada.

ITALY

Filip Djuricic was a unused substitute in Sampdoria's 2-1 loss to Cagliari.

Aleksandar Pesic did not make the squad for Atalanta in their 3-1 win over Crotone.

Slobodan Rajkovic is out injured and did not play in Palermo's 1-0 loss to Juventus.

Nikola Maksimovic was a unused substitute for Napoli in their 2-0 win over Chievo. He continues to not get any playing time after his much publicized move from Torino. Ivan Radovanovic played the full 90 minutes for Chievo.

Adem Ljajic and Sasa Lukic were unused substitutes in Torino's 3-1 win vs Roma.

Darko Lazovic did not leave the bench for Genoa in their 1-1 draw vs Pescara.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic played the entire match for Lazio in their 2-0 win over Empoli while Filip Djordjevic was a unused substitute and Dusan Basta was out due to a calf injury. Uros Cosic came on in the 33rd minute for Empoli.

Nenad Tomovic played the full 90 minutes for Fiorentina in his usual right back spot as they drew AC Milan 0-0.

FRANCE

Pavle Ninkov did not make the squad for Toulouse in their 2-0 win over PSG.

Milan Gajic remained on the bench in Bordeaux's 0-0 draw vs Caen.

Milan Bisevac played 90 minites in Metz's 1-0 win over Montpellier.

Denis Petric was a unused substitute for Angers vs Monaco.

NETHERLANDS

Nemanja Gudelj was given a rest for Ajax and didn't play vs Zwolle.

Danilo Pantic came on as a substitute in the 58th minute for Excelsiot in their 3-1 loss to PSV.

PORTUGAL

Lazar Markovic came on in the 73rd minute for Sporting in their 4-2 win over Estoril. Lazar is struggling but hopefully he will improve with more playing time. Radosav Petrovic did not make the squad for Sporting.

Ljubomir Fejsa played his usual 90 minutes for Benfica in their 2-0 win over Chaves. Andrija Zivkovic and Luka Jovic did not make the squad. Nemanja Petrovic was a unused substitute for Chaves.

Nikola Stojiljkovic and Lazar Rosic both played the full match for Braga in their 2-1 win over Vitoria.

BELGIUM

Uros Spajic started at right back for Anderlecht and played the full match in their 2-1 loss to Westerlo. Nemanja Miletic played the entire match at centre back for Westerlo.

Filip Markovic and Luka Stojanovic played the full 90 minutes for Mouscron vs Club Brugge. Nikola Gulan came on in the 81st minute while Fejsal Mulic did not make the squad.

Marko Miric came on in the 27th minute for Lokeren in their 1-1 draw vs Waasland-Bereven.

Aleksandar Bjelica played the full match at left back while Dalibor Veselinovic came on in the 60th minute for Mechelen in their 3-2 loss to Zulte Waregem.

Stefan Mitrovic played 90 minutes for Gent in their 2-1 win over Sint-Trudense.

Bojan Nastic came on in the 40th minute for Genk in their 4-1 loss to Kortrijk.

RUSSIA

Zoran Tosic played 75 minutes and recorded a assist in CSKA Moscow's 1-1 draw vs Krasnodar.

Nemanja Pejcinovic played the entire match while Petar Skuletic was a unused substitute in Lokomotiv Moscow's 1-0 loss to Rostov.

Radovan Pankov remained on the bench while Dominik Dinga was not in the squad for Ural in their 1-0 win over Orenburg.

Darko Lazic played the entire 90 minutes in Anzhi's 2-2 draw vs Zenit.

Aleksandar Miljkovic played 90 minutes for Amkar Perm in their 0-0 draw vs Ktylya Sovetov.

REST OF EUROPE 

Predrag Rajkovic played the full 90 minutes in Maccabi's 5-0 win over Hapoel..

Andrija Pavlovic started and played until the 67th minute for Copenhagen in their 2-0 win over AGF. Aleksandar Jovanovic was in goal for AGF.

Nemanja Maksimovic started and played the full match for Astana in their 1-0 victroy over Ordabasty.

Nemanja Antonov started at left back and played the full match for Grasshoppers in their 2-1 win over Vaduz.

Jagos Vukovic played the entire match for Konyaspor in their 1-0 loss to Trabzonspor.

Dusko Tosic played all 90 minutes for Besiktas in their 2-2 draw with Galatasaray.

Luka Milivojevic started and played the whole match in Olympiacos' 1-0 loss to AEL.

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and Milos Krasic started and played all 90 minutes for Lechia Gdansk in their 2-1 victory over Ruch Chorzow.

Aleksandar Sedlar played 90 minutes in Piast Gliwice\s 1-1 draw vs Slask Wroclaw.

The road to Russia begins

Serbia kicks off 2018 World Cup qualifying on Monday evening vs Ireland in Belgrade and I have no expectations. It's very difficult to feel confident after three consecutive unsuccessful qualifying campaigns and endless disappointment. However, it's also difficult to look at Serbia's squad side by side beside Ireland\s and not see the clear advantage that we have in quality.  That little dilemma is what long suffering Serbian football fans have been wrestling with for years. Why can't we beat teams with less talent than ours? 

In many ways the Irish national team is the polar opposite of Serbia. They don't have many players playing for big clubs but they play together as a team, work hard and leave everything on the pitch for their nation. On the other end, Serbia has players at well respected clubs across Europe but they can never gel as a team and rarely show the same type of fire that the Irish show on the pitch. Ireland has continuity, they have a system and they know how they want to play. That's why they made it out of the group stages at Euro 2016 while we haven't even qualified for a European Championship since 2000. We need to adopt the qualities that they have and mold them together with our talent. Only then will we see consistent results and return to major tournaments on a regular basis. 

This will be Slavoljub Muslin's first competitive game in charge of Serbia. During the three friendlies in May and June, Muslin implemented a new system and showed that he has a clear vision of how he wants Serbia to play. His 3-4-2-1 formation looked very good in the friendly matches vs Israel, Cyprus and Russia. Serbia created plenty of chances while remaining organized defensively but now it's time for the real test. Monday is not a friendly, the intensity will be raised to a whole different level and the team will have to prove that they can play in that system when it matters. 

Muslin is faced with quite a few issues heading into this match. He won't be able to rely on Serbia's midfield rock Nemanja Matic who is suspended for the first three matches. He also can't count on one of Serbia's main attacking weapons Aleksandar Kolarov who is also suspended. Those are two very troubling absences, particularly Matic who brings shape to Serbia's lineup and holds the midfield together. There is no doubt that Muslin has spent many sleepless nights pondering which duo to insert into the central midfield instead of Matic. 

Another major concern for Muslin  is the lack of playing time and match fitness that many Serbian players are dealing with right now. Most European leagues have just started their seasons and the majority of our players are either sitting on the bench  or not playing a full 90 minutes. Serbia's top striker Aleksandar Mitrovic hasn't even seen the pitch yet due to suspension and injury while starting  goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic only found a new club last week.  This is only going to compound Muslin's problems and make it even more difficult to choose the starting XI.

Serbia usually does well against British/Irish sides and their style of play. The main reason behind this is  that we have big, strong players that are good in the air and can neutralize the long balls. We tend to struggle against sides that run at us with a lot of pace and keep the ball on the ground and British/Irish sides aren't exactly known for that type of play. The cautious and physical play that they're known for plays to our strengths. In recent years we have played in qualifying groups with Wales (won home and away), Scotland (drew away, won at home) and Northern Ireland (won home and away). Hopefully that trend continues. 

  I think that Monday's game will most likely end in a draw or a tight Serbian victory. It will be a very hard fought match and the key will be defending set pieces and not getting caught on the counter. Ireland is very dangerous and hard to break down so we can't afford to miss our chances. At this point I am not interested in how we play. If we bunker up like Greece during Euro 2004 and squeeze out a ugly 1-0 win I will be ecstatic. Results are the only thing that matters, playing pretty football is great but if we lose it means nothing. Wins and losses are the only thing that is going to determine if Serbia goes to Russia or freezes to death somewhere in Siberia while trying to get there. 

Lineup prediction:

Rajkovic, Ivanovic, Mitrovic, Rajkovic, Mladenovic, Rukavina,Fejsa, Maksimovic, Kostic, Tadic, Pavlovic.