THE GOOD
The godlike creature named Dusan Tadic
Dusan Tadic returned to the national team in May after former Serbia manager Radovan Curcic left him off the squad for months because he wasn't good enough (If you're wondering Curcic is still unemployed, I have no idea why). Since Tadic's return and Slavoljub Muslin's hiring Serbia's attack has been reborn. Tadic has played fantastic and his performance vs Austria was a masterpiece. He assisted Serbia's first two goals and scored a beautiful winner late in the 2nd half. He is undoubtedly the leader of this team and if he keeps this level of play he can carry Serbia to Russia. Tadic is a joy to watch and is simply dominant on the pitch right now. Thank you Dusan!
The central midfield, finally
Serbia's central midfield has been ineffective in recent games so Slavoljub Muslin decided to change things up a little by replacing Nemanja Gudelj in the starting lineup with Ljubomir Fejsa. The move payed off and things looked much better vs Austria as Fejsa and Luka Milivojevic meshed very well. Both worked very hard, won tackles and played intelligent passes. The duo won't be together for long though as Nemanja Matic will be back from suspension for Wales. Muslin will have to decide which one of the two will work best alongside Matic.
Mitro's on fire
Well. well. well, look who's joined the party. Aleksandar Mitrovic's struggles for the national team have been well documented but he finally came good vs Austria. Mitrovic scored two well taken goals, ran his tail off, held the ball up well and fought bard all night, This was one of his best performances in a Serbia shirt and should do wonders for his confidence. He was far from perfect (missed a few great chances and looked tired in the 2nd half) but it was a encouraging display and hopefully he can translate this into more success.
A big win
This is a very important victory for Serbia but it's also our first competitive victory against a strong side since we beat Germany at the 2010 World Cup (unless you count Albania as a strong side which I don't). Yes it;s been that long. Those that don't consider Austria a strong side should note that this was their first defeat in their last thirteen qualifying matches, that stat speaks for itself. This victory puts Serbia on top of Group D and gives our players a huge confidence boost heading into another big match vs Wales next month,
Continuity
Slavoljub Muslin has undoubtedly brought a plan and a system to the national team and that's something that Serbia has lacked for many years. This team and his tactics are still a work in progress but you can see what he's trying to do and the players know what their roles are unlike during previous regimes. He also hasn't switched the entire lineup and formation every other match which is a nice change. Muslin has brought Serbia much needed stability and most importantly results, These players are basically the same ones from previous failed campaigns, Muslin is the only difference. So far so good but it's a long road to Russia.
THE BAD
That defending
Oh boy that was hard to watch. Serbia's defence was very bad vs Austria and made it a extremely stressful evening for all Serbian fans. There were many nervous moments and we made some big errors that resulted in goals or good scoring chances for Austria. Some of these errors were individual ones and some of them were due to bad positioning. It's also worth mentioning that Austria's 2nd goal was clearly offside and should not have counted. There is clearly tons of work for Muslin to do on the defensive end. He needs to find a way to shore up Serbia's defending because I don't think our hearts can handle watching another defensive display like the one vs Austria.
Stefan Mitrovic
I don't like to single out players and I could have included this in the previous heading but Mitrovic's performance was so poor that I think it warrants special mention. Stefan Mitrovic was Serbia's worst defender vs Austria which is saying something since Ivanovic and Nastasic also played poorly. He assisted Austria's first goal with a poor clearance and looked very unsure and nervous every single time the ball came near his feet. He won a good amount of aerial battles but not enough to make up for his mistakes. Mitrovic can't start vs Wales, Muslin has to look at other CB options.
Kolarov's yellow
Well that was unnecessary. Aleksandar Kolarov received a stupid yellow card late in the match for time wasting and will miss the match vs Wales since he also received a yellow card vs Moldova. Just as we finally get Nemanja Matic back we lose another one of our key players. It's very unfortunate as Kolarov is Serbia's best left back and always a dangerous attacker for us. Filip Mladenovic will take his place in the lineup. He played well vs Ireland in September and hopefully he'll be able to duplicate that performance vs Wales because we'll need it.
Stojkovic 7.5
Ivanovic 5.5 Mitrovic 5 Nastasic 5.5
Rukavina 6 Milivojevic 7.5 Fejsa 7.5 Kolarov 7
Tadic 9 Mitrovic 8 Kostic 7.5
Subs
Katai 6.5
Gudelj 6
Maksimovic N/A
Hello.
ReplyDeleteI like Serbia(because I like Nagoya Grampus, Pixy!!) and Wales.
Do you know hotel where Serbian team stay in Cardiff?
If I can, I want to get sign to my serbian shirt that I bring from Japan.