Fan blog of Partizan Sports Society (JSD Partizan) in Belgrade, Serbia. Football, basketball, volleyball, handball, ice hockey, water polo, news, players, all that are a matter of curiousity.
A subjective blog. English is not my mother tongue.
English version of http://jsdpartizanfan.blogspot.com/
This game was back on Wednesday. Today is Friday. I’ve been thinking whether I should write about this game or not, because writing (and remembering back this game) would just make me pissed over again. As usual.
Finally the chronicler overcame the instinct for life. Shit happens…
No one should be mislead by the final result. This old Europe has surely hardly ever seen such a shit. It was cold and rainy and the game level was the exact mirror of the crappy weather. The first half brought 1 (one) serious chance, and even that was by Rad, hitting the goalpost in the 24th minute. From us Đuričković shot the ball twice towards the direction of the box, but it was something like ‘hey, fucktards, don’t tell me I didn’t even try’. Two unmotivated teams were flipping the ball around on the soaky pitch in front of (allegedly, as the official match report says) 1000 fans. (I’m not even sure there were more than 500 people there.) The number of spectators matched the game level perfectly...
Watching Tošić caused physical pain. Rad’s defenders easily tackled him. He is slow, sluggish and predictable. Who brought him here (back)? Why? For his free kicks? (Really nothing else comes to my mind. And well, let’s be honest, he is far from being Nikola Drinčić.)
Saša Ilić joined the game for the second half as a substitute. From then on Partizan contained some football, in tracks. (photo: partizan.rs)
Yes. You all see it well. The 40-year-old veteran has to join to make the team play and act like a fucking actual team. And this 40-year-old veteran still sweeps off youngsters with his game.
Rad came to the pitch for the second half being totally apathetic, with hands up, as if they had been sure to get defeated, they just want to get over it all as quickly and painlessly as possible. It didn’t raise the level of the game to say the least… 22 lame ducks were hanging around on the pitch with no idea at all. I almost fell asleep.
I thought to make some coffee, then I gave up on that. It was past 19:30 and it’s not really healthy to drink coffee at that time. No need to be the late-late-late-late night owl.
Nothing ever happened. It was raining and even the goal didn’t speed up the sluggish pace. Neither the first goal, nor the others… The first one came in the 61st minute, The ball dropped to Tošić in the middle of a goalmouth scramble. Defenders forgot about him, Tošić shot, the ball rolled into the box among the legs. (1:0) The second one was brought by the 68th minute, Partizan-counterattack, after a depressive Rad-defender lost the ball. Again Tošić was the lucky winner. (2:0) The game level was still rubbish, we possessed the ball, playing on Rad’s half mostly, but we did nothing, Rad-players were just standing, while I whispered the mantra the 1000th time: why am I watching this shit?
Finally Janković scored our 3rd goal in the 80th minute. He got a pass at the half-line, ran up all alone, tackled the goalkeeper by passing the ball above him and bye. (3:0) He even got a pat on the head from the Boss, it was already worth to get up from the bed that morning. (photo: partizan.rs)
Head coach Miroslav Đukić’s post-match press conferences would deserve a separate blogpost. He makes it look as if we won a CL-semifinal against Atletico Madrid in Wanda Metropolitano in front of 65 000 people, not a shitty, forgettable domestic match against a team sitting on the 15th place of the league table (out of 16), playing soullessly, with no useful ideas.
I have seen the same too often in Hungarian football. It never ended well.
Did you know that His Majesty Lord Fat Pig I. (alias Miloš Vazura) and The Former Politician Who Used To Be The Bestie Of Milošević (aka Milorad Vučelić) and co. are served by a waiter in the VIP-section?
You didn’t know?
Now you know.
A waiter. For fuck’s sake. A WAITER
While in a silent corner of the eastern tribune there was someone sitting there all alone...
Yes, it’s him. Nikola Drinčić, humbly, by himself
(photo: Facebook/Bianconeri di Belgrado)
Some rumour about Škuletić being there as well, if I find any photo about that, I’ll upload, of course.
Talking about the game, we attacked right in the first minute, Stevanović crossed, but nobody was fast enough to catch it. The reply came in the 3rd minute through Čečarić and his attempt, Kljajić caught it. Two minutes later he (Kljajić) had great luck, when he made a goal-kick, and the ball dropped to a Novi Pazar-player (Dimitrijević). Dimitrijević ran up, shot, Kljajić ran back to the goalmouth and could catch the ball just before the goal line.
Novi Pazar had a strong start, then Đurđević shot the ball into the goalkeeper in the 9th minute. Marjanović did the same in the 17th. In the 24th Stevanović crossed from the left, Đurđević was too slow, the goalkeeper caught it.
We took the lead in the 26th minute. Marjanović passed to Stevanović. Stevanović ran up, dribbled inside the penalty area, then passed to Bojinov, who was (again) slow like a sloth. But not Janković. He appeared out of the blue behind the Bulgarian and shot the ball right into the box. 1:0
27th minute, corner-kick for Partizan. Guess whose head flew the ball above with just two millimetres?
a) Bojinov
b) the Sloth
c) the Bulgarian, who is proven to be too small
In the 30th minute Alivodić had a try, too wide. Afterwards a very thick smoke covered the pitch, too thick to be able to see anything. Even the commentator was just guessing whether the fouling Novi Pazar player got a yellow card or not, because nothing could be seen, maybe only silhouettes.
The next goal was a fail by Novi Pazar. Goalkeeper Zogović surely regretted in that moment to end up at the goal line instead of being e.g. a rope-dancer. Stevanović ran up, passed to Miletić, Miletić passed it back to Stevanović. Stevanović shot, it was a powerful one, the goalkeeper saved, but the ball dropped out of his hands and slowly rolled into the box. 2:0
Discreet happiness
In the 41st minute Janković shot with a fantastic bicycle-kick. Pity it was too wide, had he scored, he could have stood in line for the Puskás-award.
By the way, this was the southern tribune. What a crowd, isn’t it? Oh, wait...
Well, what did we expect, only 2500 spectators were present officially.
At the beginning of the second half Marjanović crossed the ball from the right, Bojinov was too slow again, missing it with just half a centimetre.
Bojinov was his own shadow at this game. I don’t even remember when was the last time he had so many screwed-up situations. He was always too slow to reach passes and crosses, he shot the ball into the opponent players, kicked into the ball just to make it roll out through the line and so on. Sometimes I had the feeling he was doing it on purpose. This kind of fooling around may do on a gala match, but it’s just fucking no funny on a championship game.
In the 54th minute Janković got a pass. He ran up, dribbled a defender and shot, it ended with a corner-kick.
It was still the 54th minute, we scored our 3rd goal. I have never seen such a comedy so far (It wasn’t the funny type, rather the pathetic one.)
Marjanović arrived on the right and crossed the ball to the other side, where Bojinov and Đurđević were both waiting.
Both of them attempted, making this weid, ballet-alike scene...
...nevertheless the ball dropped to the box, Bojinov ran out to the tribune to celebrate himself...
...the only problem was that the slow motion replay showed Uroš Đurđević scoring the goal, from every possible angle.
It wasn’t you, dude
The stadium speaker nevertheless mentioned Bojinov as the goal scorer, while the official match report named Đurđević. Meanwhile ArenaSport’s commentator couldn’t find his breath from laugh over this situation.
Oh well. A goal is always a goal and it must be celebrated
It made me laugh though when the commentator mentioned the goal scorers. He said, "first goal, Janković, second goal, Stevanović... then, well for me it’s Đurđević here, for Bojinov... it’s Bojinov".
In the 57th minute Đurđević got a pass (probably from Miletić), he shot, right into the goalkeeper.
Novi Pazar’s first and only attempt in the second half was in the 82th minute. Đoković shot from the right, Kljajić saved, corner-kick.
It made me raise my eyebrows to see Everton kicking everyone to the ground who just approaches him - he does not do it this often with the ball though... - but when he gets a kick, he collapses, rolls up and down on the field and plays the dying swan. Someone should tell him that he should focus on actual playing instead of being a pussy, because sometimes I can count on one hand how often he touches the ball during a match.
Đuričković’s score in the 84th minute settled the final result. It was a smooth thing, the ball dropped to the midfielder, he sent a cannon shot from 18 metres and scored. 4:0
A minute later Micevski tried the same trick on the other side, just he shot from 30 metres and it was too high. Alivodić had an attempt, too, trying to score one just for the honour, but Kljajić saved. Then in the 89th minute Ostojić headed the ball to the box, but it was too wide. The last attempt was in the extra time, Janković had a distant shot, but this too was too wide.
Saša Ilić. He didn’t play a minute, still he got a loud applause
Highlights:
Facts:
Venue: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 2500
Official: Nenad Đokić (assistants: Vladimir Jovanović, Slobodan Pavlović - 4th assistant: Marko Popović)
FK Partizan: Kljajić, Vulićević, Milenković, Ostojić, Miletić, Everton, Marjanović, A. Stevanović (Đuričković, 79.), Janković, Đurđević (Đurđić, 72.), Bojinov (Mihajlović, 70.)
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
In the 5th minute Everton tripped over the ball and fell so hard to the ground that he had to come off the pitch.
Kljajić made his first actual movement in the 10th minute, but even then he just had to run out from the goalmouth to catch the ball. That was all the action in the first 15 minutes. Like a low mediocre Hungarian championship game.
In the 16th minute the guests had to substitute, too. Stojanović walked off the pitch limping.
The 17th minute brought the first actual attempt. Leonardo crossed from the left to the goalmouth, but the goalkeeper was quicker than Đurđić.
The 27th minute brought the next action. Đurđević was about to get a pass, but again the goalkeeper was there earlier than him.
It was saddening to see what an idealess football we played. Players were running up and down, all over the field, we possessed the ball, too, but we couldn’t come up with one single useful attempt. The same goes for Radnički as well.
The guests took the lead out of the blue in the 31st minute. They got a free kick about 25 metres from the goal line. Arsić crossed it, Kljajić jumped and saved, but he dropped the ball out of his hands. And before he or any other Partizan-defender could have caught it, Pavkov arrived and pushed it to the box. 0:1
Some attempts could be seen at the end of the half. It was already the 3rd minute of the extra time, when Kljajić saved a cross coming from the right, then Radnički’s defense made a huge mistake, but neither Đurđević, nor Đurđić could take advantage of it.
Stevanović was the player of the day, working hard, taking a huge part of almost all attempts (when we had any)
We quickly equalized at the beginning of the second half. In the 48th minute we got a corner kick, and after a goalmouth scramble Đurđić kicked the ball into the box. 1:1
We made another dangerous attempt in the 61st minute, Radnički’s defenders headed the ball downfield almost from the goal line.
In between nothing much happened, maybe one thing is worth to mention, Radnički played the offside-tactics very well. Not as if we could make it up to their penalty area that often, but whenever it still happened, it was almost immediately flag up and the referee whistled it off. All slow motion replays confirmed the offside every time. It was a hard, struggling second half.
In the 70th minute Đurđević missed out a huge chance. Marjanović crossed from the left, Đurđević headed it, the goalkeeper could barely save it, with fingertips. In the 74th minute a Radnički-player headed it to the box, being all alone, our defenders were behind somewhere, but Kljajić saved. A minute later came the upcoming chance, now for us, but we missed it out... First the ball rolled out missing the box with just centimetres, the attempt ended in corner-kick. Balažic headed the ball to the box, but it was too high. In the 78th minute we got another corner-kick, this time Ostojić headed it, the goalkeeper saved from the goal line.
Enter Saša Ilić: this time was the 792nd time he wore Partizan’s jersey. With this he is the absolute record holder
The last 15 minutes brought a bit more speed to the game, with attempts that were quite dangerous sometimes. In the 84th minute Arsić crossed from the left, Kljajić caught it. Two minutes later Jevtović had a distant shot, the goalkeeper saved. In the 89th minute Pavkov shot, this time onto the side net. In the very same minute Marjanović fell to the ground inside Radnički’s penalty area, but the referee didn’t whistle (there was no slow motion replay afterwards).
At the end Bojinov missed out two attempts (first he was on offside, second he - as usual - shot into the sky instead of the box, from just a few steps), then at the very end we got one last free kick. Ostojić wanted to forward it to the box with his head, but the goalkeeper was quicker.
No applause, no singing by the fans after the match ended, just sparse whistles.
Disappointed players from the bench walking back to the locker-room
Gregor Balažic is not happy
Something’s wrong. No matter how hard Marko Nikolić is trying to bring the team back to life, no matter how many times we win, something is still out of order. We have a minimalist, soulless performance on games, there are no strong or just unique characters among players. Most of them have serious ups and downs in their performance, I could count on one hand how many members of the roster are doing it smooth. The low number of spectators speaks for itself... We may be third on the league table, but the stadium is still empty.
Facts:
Venue: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 3000
Official: Róbert Kis-Csepegi (assistants: - Dejan Petrović, Dejan Potočan - 4th official: Novica Anđelovski)
FK Partizan: Kljajić, Vulićević, Balažic, Ostojić, Miletić, Jevtović, Everton (Marjanović, 12.), A. Stevanović, Leonardo, Đurđić (Bojinov, 68.), Đurđević (S. Ilić, 79.)
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
That's how the Southern Tribune looked outside the stadium
(photo: kurir.rs)
...and that was from the inside
(photo: Facebook/partizan.net)
...and the game hasn't even started...
(photo: partizan.rs)
After the kickoff the two teams started to strangle each other. It was a very heavy start, the first 10 minutes brought a great fight, it was in fact spectacular at some moments. Players went hard on themselves as well as on each other, there were lots of fouls, yelling (with each other and with the referee). The atmosphere was of a true, real football derby.
The first attempt came in the 10th minute. We got a free kick at Zvezda's penalty area line, after Ristić kicked Jevtović to the ground
some complained for penalty kick, but ArenaSport’s slow motion replay made it clear that the foul happened just outside the penalty area. Had Ristić slided in just half a second later, it would have happened inside the penalty area
Leonardo stood behind the ball to do the free kick. He shot, the entire stadium was on their feet shouting "goooal", but finally the ball rolled out of the pitch, missing the box with just half a centimetre.
(photo: hotsport.rs)
Zvezda could not reach up to our penalty area. The truth is that our defense line was on top. They blocked the hell out of the opponent. (If Zvezda could get to Partizan’s penalty at all...)
Gregor Balažic was again the axis of the defense line, just like in the good old days
(photo: partizan.rs)
Great battle. That was on the pitch, though with barely any goal attempt. In the 22nd minute Đurđević had a distant shot, the goalkeeper caught it. In the 25th minute it was again Đurđević trying. He shook off the defender constantly hanging on him, then shot from 16 metres, it was just a bit too wide.
Đurđević had a fantastic performance at this derby. But not just him. The entire team brought the best out of themselves.
Đurđević with the defender-in-charge chasing him
(photo: hotsport.rs)
We had another chance in the 27th minute. Leonardo got the ball after a free kick, he forwarded it to Đurđević. Đurđević shot, right onto the side net.
In these minutes Zvezda had to play it defensive. Partizan-players played it brave and combative, they ran a lot, attacked, there was no idle moment at all.
Zvezda could reach our penalty area in the 29th minute, when Kljajić had to interfere for the first time. Srnić had a shot from a sharp right angle, Kljajić pushed it to corner kick.
In the next minutes Zvezda possessed the ball more, another thing is that they could just pass it around in the background. Partizan’s defense line locked up. Zvezda pressed us hard, but they could not force out one single attempt (maybe only piles...). Finally Ruiz shot in the 33rd minute, but the ball hit a defender. Kljajić didn’t even have to make any extra jump or save, the ball fell right into his hands.
Filip Kljajić
(photo: partizan.rs)
Zvezda struggled ahead, with clenched teeth, but they could not break through our defense.
In the meantime fans made a fantastic coreography on the Southern Tribune.
Remembering fellow fans who passed away
(photo: hotsport.rs)
Partizan attacked. We spent much more time around Zvezda’s penalty area than they could reach our half at all. They managed to do it once, in the very last minute of the first half, when Petković shot from 16 metres, but Kljajić saved it easily.
Coreography in the first half
(photo: partizan.rs)
Zvezda tried to speed up for the second half. In the 50th minute Gabonese midfielder Kanga shot from 18 metres after a counter-attack. Kljajić easily saved it.
It’ll be the worst joke ever, but I just have to. Did he leave Baby Roo in the locker-room? I hope though, Winnie The Pooh is a Partizan-fan...
In the 52nd minute Ristić was dribbling on the left side, then crossed to Vieira. The Portuguese shot - and the ball flew out of the stadium. Three minutes later Ruiz wanted to cross to the middle, Srnić was waiting there, but it was flag up.
The slow motion replay made it clear that it wasn’t offside. Srnić was a half step backward compared to the defender. It didn’t matter much anyway, because Srnić shot, but just like Vieira, he kicked the ball out to the tribune.
A minute later the same scene happened at the other side, with Đurđević being offside.
In the 59th minute Stevanović crossed from the right. Đurđević headed it, the ball hit the crossbar. In the 62nd minute Baby Roo Kanga shot again from 18 metres, it was way too wide. The game was very combative, with lots of clenched teeth, not that spectacular as it was earlier, but it brought a lot of fight. Players ran a lot and clashed a lot on both sides. In the 74th minute again Đurđević shot, it was too high.
Enter Saša Ilić, 77th minute
(photo: partizan.rs)
With the arrival of Saša Ilić the pace sped up. We attacked, but we still couldn’t develop an attempt, until the 86th minute. From that moment on Partizan played a dream game.
Leonardo ran up on the left side. He made a big solo, dribbled, finally defenders blocked him. But we didn’t stop for a moment. Zvezda got stuck at their penalty area, while Partizan kept on searching for the gap on Zvezda’s defense line like a tank steam roller. In the 89th minute their defenders wanted to kick the ball downfield. They did so, but the ball dropped right to Saša Ilić. The Captain sent it ahead to Đurđić in the middle. Đurđić headed it ahead to Leonardo. Leonardo made a fantastic, amazing, flying bicycle kick and scored a huge goal right into the middle of the box.
GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!
1:0!!!!
In the 89th minute!!!!!
Leonardo makes the bicycle-kick...
(photo: Facebook/Partizane naš si ponos)
...and it’s celebration time
You scored it! Yes, you
(photos: hotsport.rs)
Those who regularly read this blog know, that I haven’t been the fan of Leonardo, so to speak. But this time the Brazilian was absolutely the best. He scored a fantastic, beautiful, spectacular goal in the 89th minute, settling the final score of the derby as well, and he worked a lot during the entire game, too, running, passing, dribbling, while Zvezda’s players continuously kicked him to the ground. Great job, Leonardo, keep it up! Also big respect and hats off for Đurđić not just for the great assist, but for working hard for the whole time he was in the game. He too ran a lot and took his part in the attacks. The former ball-phobiac Đurđić was gone, instead we had a brave, combative, dauntless, team player Đurđić on the pitch. Well done, boys!
Nikola Đurđić
(photo: partizan.rs)
There was one last attack by Zvezda in the 90+2th minute. They ran up for a counter-attack, Kanga forwarded the ball to Ruiz. Kljajić ran out of the goalmouth, Ruiz dribbled him and shot. Half the world watched it breathlessly
Average Fan fell on the floor screaming
but Kljajić ran back and caught the ball with a cat-alike jump.
(photo: partizan.rs)
Then in the 94th minute referee Mažić gave the final whistle to the game.
WE WON!!!!
WE WON!!!!!!!
It was time to celebrate.
They deserved it.
We deserved it.
(photos: partizan.rs)
(photos: hotsport.rs)
(photo: partizan.rs)
SOS Kanal’s 37-minute-highlights:
Facts:
Venue: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 25 000
Official: Milorad Mažić (assistants: Milovan Ristić, Dalibor Đurđević - 4th official: Srđan Milutinović - additional assistants: Igor Stoilković, Marko Popović)
We interrupt our Olympic broadcast to report about a scandalous, shitty football match, just to get on your nerves.
I really like it (not!), when everyone is so full of themselves before a game, showing off for the media about our chances, then comes such a cold shower that we can't recover from that for a week. Afterwards there is always a bullshit-tsunami in the press about "how very much we didn't deserve this defeat" - yes, you idiots, we did, absolutely, because since when can anybody win with such a terrible, soulless game?... We should be happy to survive with only 2 goals received... This crap would be unacceptable even in the Hungarian championship. Better to pull out your faces from your asses.
Not mentioning the fact that we sold out our Partizan-kids quickly before this round (Golubović signed to Sinđelić, Miladin Stevanović is sold to Turkey, while Brašanac was given away to Guimaraes for 1 million euros). As an encore Iliev announced he would sign a few more players in the near future.
That’s how you destroy a renowned football club. After all these is it still a miracle we got defeated by Spartak?...
Our matches look the same, with the same eleven talentless morons starting eleven and probably the same tactics. And every single game we attack heavily in the first 20 minutes, then we got deflated, the team becomes one grey mass that plays alibi football. We score if one of these bastards is lucky enough to push the ball into the box, then usually in the last 10 minutes we wake up and start to do something that already reminds of football. More or less.
It might be enough in Prva Liga or in the Belgrade league. But not in the superliga.
Even Saša Ilić didn’t have anything extraordinary in his performance. Only his brand-new, yellow armband with that Nike-logo made him come into sight
So, in the first 20 minutes we attacked. We wanted so much to have a quick start and a goal, but we failed. The first really big chance came in the 15th minute, when Mihajlović crossed from the right, someone headed it to the box, but the ball literally slipped on Radović’s head and flew out of the pitch.
It was so bizarre that it might even get to some New Year’s Eve compilation of football flubs, with the usual Benny Hill theme.
Saša Ilić had a try with a distant shot in the 16th minute (too high), Mihajlović missed out another in the 19th. Then after the 20th minute Spartak, which played defensive footbal until then, started to play with more and more courage, while we slowly started to deflate.
Question of the day: why the hell does Đurđić have to be in the starting 11 every single time? The dude is a big ZERO. I don’t know what performance he has on trainings, but on matches it’s less than nothing. He had no memorable moment so far at all, I could count on one hand how many times he had any encounter with the ball during Partizan’s 8 games in this season.
In the 36th minute Mudrinski had a try with a shot to the target. (Between this and the previous one NOTHING happened.) Then Vulićević sent a distant shot to Spartak’s goal, too high.
Fans were again much more spectacular than the game
At the end of the first half the picture of the game showed a square fight
if we can talk about "fight" at all...
with no attempt on goal though.
Nor in the second half. Okay, there were two shy attempts, one by Farkaš, the other by Everton, but both were way too high. Other than these only minimalist football happened, at least by Partizan. No run. No fight. If this is the maximum they can provide, then all of them should leave ul. Humska as quickly as possible.
We made routine attacks. No fighting spirit, or just the slightest idea about what they should do. Spartak didn’t risk anything. They had one shot on target though in the 59th minute, it was distant and weak, it was maybe enough to wake up Šaranov. In the 61st minute Everton shot from the distance, the goalkeeper had a great save. Right then Bojinov shot, it was too high.
Then in the 68th minute Makarić tackled Everton, then ran up and shot from 17 minutes. Šaranov was wandering around (maybe searching for four-leaf clovers in the grass) in the goalmouth. The ball flew above him, he couldn’t even touch it and landed in the box. 1:0
In the 74th minute Balažic headed the ball on target after a corner kick. Radović pushed the ball just a bit near the goal line - nobody knows why... because this way the ball just missed the box. Plus Radović clashed with the goalkeeper (who needed medical attendance).
In the 79th minute Leonardo suddenly shot from the distance. Spartak’s goalkeeper probably fell asleep, because the ball fell into the box while he was just watching it with amazement. It pretty much looked like a "soft snap goal", but it was inside. 1:1
We couldn’t be happy with the draw too long.
And it says all that we were happy with the draw...
In the 82nd minute Milić scored Spartak’s second and winning goal. He ran up, left Partizan’s defenders behind, Šaranov ran out of the goalmouth, but Milić easily lifted the ball above his head, then he could run to celebrate. 2:1
In the last minutes Partizan desperately attacked, with absolutely no result. Just like at previous games, all our attempts were blocked by defenders. If we could somehow get through the defense line, then goalkeeper Janošević saved with a wide grin. We should say a prayer if we can stay in superliga for the next season.
Highlights:
Facts:
Venue: Stadium "Karađorđe", Novi Sad
Number of spectators: 4000
Official: Milorad Mažić (assistants: Milovan Ristić, Dalibor Đurđević - 4th official: Nenad Minaković)
What the fuck was this?...
Scandalous. Shame. Anti-football. A bunch of impotent, talentless idiots fumbling around for 90 minutes. Seriously, it would have been better if the entire team (incl. coaches and staff) go out to the city to hunt for Pokémons instead of this crap.
More than 30 minutes passed when we could send the ball to the target for the first time. In the meantime Bačka had numerous attempts, they were courageous, they attacked - and they did it well. They at least played football... In the 9th minute Bjeloš hit the crossbar at the end of a quite cool attack. Šaranov again had Lady Luck on his side...
I wished I could kick more than one Partizan-players right in the ass (for their great luck I was more than far away from the Novi Sad stadium...). I don’t know how Radović could make it to avoid touching the ball for 45 minutes. Gogoua was a pile of misery, he again lost the ball near our penalty area and it almost ended up with a dangerous situation (finally Šaranov saved, but it was a cardial-arrest-situation). While Milenković’s ball control, well, needs a bit of improvement. (With other words, the defender's only activity was kicking the ball as far away as possible. Direction didn't matter.)
And we didn’t attack.
WE DIDN’T ATTACK.
We were impotent. We were fumbling. Like a horde of pensioners. It’s impossible, for fuck’s sake! It can happen only in the 5th league, and even there it is allowed to happen only when half of the team still have hungover after the previous night’s party. But you are professionals, for fuck’s sake, this is what you make your living of!!! Go and live from hoeing on the cornfields, all of you!
Meanwhile Bačka had attempts. Not too many, but compared to what we made as "football" they played with determination and heart. Finally in the 31st minute that magical moment came when we could first push the ball to the direction of the goal line
it would be an exaggeration to call it "attempt"...
after a corner kick Bačka’s defenders kicked the ball downfield, but Đurđić could somehow send it back to the goalmouth. There Radović... well, Radović kicked big. No, not into the ball. Into the air instead. While the ball rolled out of the baseline. I’m sure it was crying while rolling out.
Raging Partizan-fans were chanting louder and louder. First it was "igrajte fudbal" (approx. "come on and play football), then in the 40th minute they were singing Saša Ilić’s name. At the half time whistle they started to throw hisses and curses on the team so much that Brašanac had to go to the tribune to calm them down.
Honestly, a lot of people, who love Partizan spent their money and free time to watch this shit. Not to mention all the crap from the past weeks/months... Who wouldn’t be angry while being in their shoes?...
Partizan started the second half with double substitution. Mihajlović came off (he was like his own shadow for the whole first half) and finally Saša Ilić entered the game. Miroslav "Pensioner" Radović was also substituted by that Leonardo, who was introduced with huge media attention.
Let’s clear a few things here.
I don’t know which one was worse, Radović or Leonardo. The Brazilian picked a quarrel with the opponent’s players at the very first minute, while his alleged football knowledge was surely confiscated at the Serbian border.
No need to embellish the story: Leonardo showed the image of a talentless idiot mixed with a primitive asshole at this game. What an amazing pair he'll make with the other Brazilian jerk, Everton. I can already envision them to have a nice collection of yellow and red cards and they have a quasi-competition on who have more.
Leonardo - his only function was to complete the obligatory number of 11 players on the field
(photo: hotsport.rs)
The only slightly questionnable situation was in the 49th minute, when Brašanac was thwarted at Bačka’s penalty area. The referee gave a free kick for Partizan. Some complained for penalty kick, but the truth is (the slow motion replay showed it clear-cut) that the foul happened outside the penalty area line. Yet I have to admit, Brašanac performed a fantastic trajectory path while falling inside the penalty area. Leonardo came to do the free kick with a Hollywood-style entry. He ran up and gave a full-force kick to the ball - which then hit the wall.
He made it again a few more times. He did all the free kicks and screwed up all of them. I started to see why Anzhi kicked him out of the team...
The 70th minute brought the biggest Partizan-chance
missed out...
Brašanac got the ball and kicked it into the goalkeeper from 2 steps. The ball dropped to Đuričković, who shot from the goalmouth, but it was too wide.
Not as if we had deserved to score, based on the image of the game we performed. Not to mention a possible victory... Then the lowest point came for us when Bojan Ostojić on the bench got a yellow card for complaining loudly. The team is improving morally, isn’t it, Ivica?...
Then, when in the 74th minute Đuričković was substituted by Bojinov, I almost turned off the stream. It’s the impossible of impossibles. It just can’t be. Shit for crap. This substitution was probably the most perfect cross-section of today’s Partizan.
During the remaining 15 minutes Bojinov - better to be safe than sorry - missed out a few chances, then Bjeloš got his second yellow card, which automatically brought him the red one. He clashed with Everton at our penalty area line, he even fell, but the referee decided that he was just a counterfeit by him.
In the last 5 minutes we desperately tried to attack, with absolutely no result.
And here I take a deep breath and say it out loud: congratulations to Bačka to gain 1 point from this game. They deserved it. This was their first ever game in the superliga, they got the top gun team right in the first round and they didn’t shit their pants, they played, attacked, tackled and they were enthusiastic.
They were at least playing...
Saša Ilić after the game
(photo: hotsport.rs)
Highlights:
Facts:
Venue: Stadium Karađorđe, Novi Sad
Number of spectators: 5000
Official: Novak Simović (assistants: Srđan Milutinović, Ivica Stojanović - 4th assistant: Nemanja Gajdobranski)
FK Partizan: Šaranov, Vulićević, Gogoua, Milenković, Bogosavac, Everton, Brašanac, Mihajlović (S. Ilić, 46.), Đuričković (Bojinov, 73.), Radović (Leonardo, 46.), Đurđić
Head coach: Ivan Tomić
Yellow card: Bjeloš (24.), N. Ilić (49.), Ostojić (71.), Rogač (90.)
Red card: Bjeloš (80.), second yellow card
Current championship standings:
1. Mladost 3 points
2. Radnički Niš 3 points
3. Metalac 3 points
4. Napredak 1 point
5. FK Javor 1 point
6. CZ 1 point
7. Mladi Radnik 1 point
8. FK Voždovac 1 point 9. FK Partizan 1 point
10. Spartak Subotica 1 point
11. OFK Bačka 1 point
12. Novi Pazar 0 point*
13. Vojvodina 0 point*
14. Rad 0 point
15. Čukarički 0 point
16. Borac 0 point
*The game between Novi Pazar and Vojvodina was postponed
