How Dragan Stojković has given Serbia a clear identity and made them one of the most exciting attacking teams in Europe
Serbia, as a football nation, is known for its excesses. The scale goes from perennial underachievers, directly to potential World Cup winners. No middle ground.
Led by the legendary Dragan Stojković ‘Piksi’, the team is riding a massive high and Sweden was the latest opponent to feel the wrath of the offensive juggernaut that is Serbia these days.
In this blog I’ll look at certain aspects of their game and try to dissect what it is, that makes this team tick.
Preferred formation
Stojković has continued where his predecessor left off, with several variations of 3-at-the-back formations. This is partly due to Serbia struggling to produce quality fullbacks - albeit more so on the right - but also because it fits the current player profiles.
The only real question has been whether to go with one or two strikers up top.
With Aleksandar Mitrović as a consistent goalscoring machine, his position has been undisputed for the longest time. However, in recent years, Luka Jović and Dušan Vlahović have added depth to a position Serbia was previously struggling to produce players in. Vlahović’s rise has even been meteoric, leading to more calls for a two-striker set-up.
The regista
One of the key factors in Serbia’s successful run is Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinković-Savić. While previous managers have (unsuccessfully) searched for a way to incorporate both Milinković-Savić and Tadić in the starting eleven, Stojković found the solution. He moved Sergej back a line and made him part of the double pivot.
Not only has that improved progression from the back, it’s added a valuable tempo-setter and playmaker from deeper areas. Milinković-Savić is playing in a role that is akin to one of a regista.
Now, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, as he does have his defensive limitations. But in his case, the risk-reward trade-off is still very much positive and part of Stojković’s core philosophy of wanting to entertain fans and outscore the opposition.
Building from the back
Not surprisingly, under Stojković’s guidance, the build-up has also been fully transformed. Serbia is no longer a nation that is afraid to play out from the back.
One aspect that’s aided to this positive development is having one of the pivot players drop into the back-line to create a back 4.
This also happened against Sweden, albeit less frequently, as the Swedes defended in a 4–4–2 formation and there was already a numerical advantage with the 3 centre-backs.
While Lukić is a pivot player who can progress play in fairly basic ways, Milinković-Savić is one who can play decisive through balls and line-breaking passes, even from his own half.
Plan B in the build-up
Although Stojković has insisted on Serbia becoming a team that aims to play out under pressure, he is pragmatic enough to realize the limitations of his players in certain situations. But it’s not just about limitations.
In Aleksandar Mitrović, Serbia has one of the best headers of today’s game and a player who is able to act as a target from long kicks. At the same time, Vanja Milinković-Savić is more comfortable on the ball than any Serbian goalkeeper before him.
Add one of the best progressive ball carriers in Europe — Filip Kostić - and a striker who likes to play off the shoulder of the last defender - Dušan Vlahović - and you get the following sequence.
The roaming connector
In the absence of the other half of the pivot - Nemanja Gudelj - Torino-midfielder Saša Lukić took his place. Normally a box-to-box midfielder for club and country, he was asked to play a more conservative role defensively, which he did well. But it is without the ball that he truly shines.
While Lukić is not a creative hub like Sergej is, he is great at finding pockets of space all over the pitch to help connect players in different phases of the attack, as you can see below.
The Serbian pivot duo was therefore more fluid than is usually the case, as Gudelj - although a better defensive player — is much more static in his movement. This performance will have given the manager some serious questions in regard to his starting 11.
Tallest national team on the planet
Serbia was already the tallest national team at the previous World Cup, and that won’t be any different in Qatar. But where the previous generation failed to exploit that advantage, this team does not.
With a combination of volume and quality crossers like Filip Kostić, Darko Lazović, Andrija Živković and Dušan Tadić and some fantastic aerial threats — including Aleksandar Mitrović - it’s no surprise really that 7 out of the last 11 Serbia goals have been headers. And that includes two versus Sweden.
Conclusion
All these aspects have contributed to Serbia’s convincing win over Sweden and their newfound winning ways in general. However, with great attacking intentions come even greater defensive risks. Stojković, though, is not flustered. Not even a bit.
He’s a man who is not afraid to play a winger as wing-back (sometimes even two of them), or two #8’s in the middle of the pitch, with a #10 and 2 strikers in front of them. Some would call it a kamikaze-like approach, but so far it’s worked like a charm.
Nevertheless, there are defensive issues that can be improved upon, and I’ll cover those in one of my next blogs.
