Albanian team this summer lost two totally important players - center forward Hamdi Salihi (16 goals in all tournaments) and flank midfielder Liridon Latifi (12 goals). As a result of last season, it was the team's top two scorer. Salihi went free to Austrian Wiener Neustadt, who is torn from the first league to the highest, and managed to score for his new team eight goals in ten games. And for the Latifian Puskasha Academy paid one million euros. It is interesting that before his departure he managed to score for Skenderbue this season four goals and give two assists.

It is clear that in such conditions the team needs time to play. As in the championship of Albania was played only one round. Let's talk about the leaders of the team, based on the matches of the League of Europe, whom Schenderbeu gathered for eight.

Experiment in the attack and a stable line of defense After the departure of Salihi and Latifi, the head coach needed to find a football player who would score at the level of the departed. So far no answer - experiments are continuing. On the edge already played Vujovic, James, Plaku and Sow. But no one showed stability.

The most stable line is the protective one. There they are almost always played in the unchanged composition: on the right is Vangeli (remember him by Chernomorets Roman Grigorchuk?), On the left Mitzi, and in the center - Yashanitsa and Croats Radash. Interestingly, the longest among them in the team is just the legionary Marco Radas. Basically, he plays the central defender, but in the return game with Zagreb Dynamo played right-back.

Radash is already 33 years old - before Skenderbou he played for little-known Croatian clubs. The last was NK Vinogradar. For Skenderbeu played 200 games, in which he scored eight goals, gave five assists and earned 51 yellow cards. It is he who is the leader of the protection of Albanians.

His partner in the center of defense Bayram Yashanitsa in the team from 2014. Last summer made his debut for the national team of Kosovo, though, that match so far and was the only one.

Flank defenders Christian Vangeli and Gledi Mitzi came to the team only a year ago, in the summer of 2016. True, for Vangeli this is the second parish in Skenderbuee. After Chernomorets he returned Greek Aris from where he appeared in Odessa, but after six months he moved to Skenerbau, where he played two years. In July 2016 he moved to the Romanian Astra, but two months later he returned to the Albanian team.

Who will play the playmaker after Nimagi's disqualification?.

Another stable zone is the support zone. Here, in the majority of cases, a clean breakwater is played and the former player of the Albanian national team Tefik Osmani and the acting box-to-box Sabien Lilai. Both experienced - 32 and 28 years, respectively. However, if we talk about the level of their creativity, then it is not high - they score and give not much. In fact, more play for selection, interceptions and deliver balls to the playmaker acting on them. Lilai, by the way, according to transfermarkt the most expensive footballer Skenderbeu and costs 500 thousand.

If the coach chooses 4-2-3-1 tactics, and the team plays in away matches, this playmaker is mostly the young Malian Bakari Nimaga, who only this season began to regularly appear on the field. In the past the same season, the main was the Nigerian James. Surely, he will play against the Dynamo, as Nimaga is disqualified because of the removal in the match against Zagreb Dynamo.

However, in order to more clearly clear the picture of Skenderbeu dependence from Latifi and Salihi - these two were not only the best scorers, but also the best assistants of the team - eight and five assists, respectively. But James, who played last season in the championship of Albania two and a half thousand minutes, gave only two programs.

The main patriarch of Skenderbeu, of course, is their goalkeeper - Orges Shehi, who is already 39 years old, seven of whom he plays in Skenerbau (274 matches). Clear leader in the number of playing minutes and actually playing coach. He spent his entire career in Albania. He played for so long that he managed to become a legend not only Skenderbeu, but also Teuta, where he spent the first ten years of his career and played 168 matches.

Football. ua.