Common for Vasilija Adžić i Arona Zelea is the name of the club - Juventus. With the Montenegrin pearl playing for the giant from Turin, and the guy who brought Liechtenstein to the lead under Gorica for Young Fellows Juventus, a team from the fourth tier of Swiss football.
And this perhaps vividly shows the difference in quality between our national team and one of the weakest in the world, although it is clear that the composition Mirko Vučinić there were more players from Serie A, League 1, the English Championship...
On the other hand, most of the players play for the best domestic team, Vaduz (playing in the Swiss Second League), and some in the second tier of Austria, the third and fourth leagues of Germany...
It may be unnecessary to compare the strength of these two teams, but if it seemed to someone that the "falcons" looked good against the 204th national team on the FIFA rankings (they certainly did to the coach), we should still be realistic and emphasize that this duel (a 2:1 victory) also showed all the flaws of our national team.
Modest and realistic, although inexperienced
Montenegro needs to be modest, as Vučinić requested, but we shouldn't make a big deal out of a tough victory against amateurs or semi-amateurs.
The desire of the "falcons" not to allow another embarrassment, competitive "strain" in the second half, can be encouraging, but if that is the most positive thing after the match with Liechtenstein, then I guess it only speaks to where our national team is today.
Montenegrin football has taken many steps back and is currently in a more difficult moment than when, after the restoration of independence, it was not even known who would wear the red jersey.
If nothing else, then it is at least clear that things can't get any worse, that after the debacle against the Faroe Islands, the tough wins over Gibraltar and Liechtenstein, things can only get better. How quickly and to what level will depend, logically, on the coach.
Vučinić currently has enough time - until the next important matches and the Nations League next fall, provided his contract is extended. He has time - but he has no coaching experience. Neither do his assistants on the coaching staff, none of whom have been coaches on their own for a long period of time.
If these two matches, with the Farani and Gibraltar, are not a warning to do something about this issue, even to believe in Mirko for a longer period - then it is difficult to determine what could be a warning at all.
Relationship with players and media
Vučinić immediately experimented, just as his tenure - as a debutant coach on the national team bench - is an experiment in itself.
Every game is a new lesson, and after the shipwreck in the Faroe Islands, Vučinić learned (I guess) two - never to publicly call out his players (if he attacks them in the locker room, he should protect them at conferences), except of course in special cases, and not to attack the media. As Mirko put it after four games in northern Europe, it turned out that the journalists were the biggest culprits ("making masters out of players who are anything but masters").
After Liechtenstein, Vučinić stood by the players ("I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world"), which is, of course, a good sign and the first lesson learned (as for the media, they shouldn't praise us).
Being a successful coach, and even more so - the coach of a national team, therefore the coach of all coaches - is a very complex and multidimensional job.
The attitude towards players, fans, and the media is usually a mirror - of the attitude towards work, of the attitude towards the game itself.
"Bold" defense without any solidity
In both matches, even at home against a total underdog, Vučinić "thickened" the defense with three players in the last line, who are his predecessors, Miodrag Radulović i Robert Prosinecki, usually used as a model in the game against stronger selections.
I guess with the idea of playing hard, we got everything except hard work - it was so easy for opponents, even outsiders, to get to our goal, that in the matches with France and Liechtenstein, our net shook five times.
This is a crucial detail that Vučinić and his current and, I guess, new teammates need to work on in the coming period. A team that easily concedes goals is doomed to failure, so talk about possession, dominance and attacking play should be, at least verbally, phased out.
Paradoxically, our team had the most possession, and some kind of play, under a coach who never mentioned possession and dominance - Ljubiša TumbakovićMontenegro is at Cica Kranjčara was as solid as concrete, while at Miodrag Radulović It could lose, but not fall apart on the field - the way it fell apart under Prosinečki and under Vučinić on the Faroe Islands.
Some new kids
Vučinić survived two tough blows at the start of his coaching and national team career, but for starters, his faith in young players, as well as the courage to send them out on the field right away, is encouraging. Something that his predecessor lacked, December.
How important it was for Vučinić that some new "falcons" feel his trust is also shown by the fact that he wanted them in the A team at all costs, even though the young national team was playing very important qualifying matches.
In days covered in gloomy clouds, young players are the ones who give hope that our football could one day finally come out of the tunnel - Vasilije Adžić, Andrija Bulatović, Viktor Djukanovic, Marko Perovic, Andrej Kostic Others have talent too, now they need to work hard, if necessary, to plow, as the selector would say.
The youngsters are certainly one of the two positive things from the October matches - the other is their desire to redeem themselves at all costs against Liechtenstein, on the edge of the abyss, for which they received great praise from the coach.
It was also nice to see Mirko Vučinić rejoicing again under Gorica - like he used to when he shook the nets of Hungary, Wales, Switzerland... It would be nice if that moment against modest Liechtenstein was just the beginning of an escape from the bottom. Because, it can't get any lower...
Bonus video:
