From June this year until our first Nations League match against Serbia, Ivan Jovanović’s potential tactics were (and still are) of great interest to me.
Against Sweden back in June, we saw a 5-2-3 with Christos Tzolis and Andreas Tetteh playing what looked like inverted-winger roles, supporting Vangelis Pavlidis as the striker.
This made me wonder: will Jovanović use the same system against the calibre of opponents on the horizon for September and October?
Then came the squad announcement for this quartet of matches, five strikers selected, and fans worldwide raised their eyebrows in unison, wondering how this would work formation-wise.
To my great surprise, before kick-off against Serbia, I saw a 4-4-2.
If I was intrigued before seeing that, you could imagine how much that intrigue increased in the moment, wondering how this would work.
One thing was certain: Ivan Jovanović’s willingness to take this team in a new direction by accommodating this new wave of attacking talent for all fans to see.
The Serbia game showcased a new lease of life in attack for this team.
We’ve seen this against, let’s say, present-day Nations League B, C and D-ranked nations, but never League A teams.
Our coach has taken his “Fear nobody” attitude to another level.
I loved seeing our coach give our attacking stars the license to flourish this much; I applaud him for it.
Pre-Germany, I did wonder if Jovanović had Eminem’s famous “I’m Not Afraid” quote in his mind, tactics-wise.
Yours truly would’ve absolutely admired the bravery in wanting to have as much possession against Germany as in the Serbia match.
But I was simultaneously petrified that this attitude would result in Germany’s galaxy of attacking stars ripping the Ethniki to pieces in transition.
Or if we weren’t able to convert most of our chances, which Serbia almost did more than once.
To my surprise, it was the same formation against the four-time world champions, with some personnel changes.
My eyebrows rose when I saw Dimitrios Kourbelis in a warm-up tracksuit and a central-midfield partnership of Christos Zafeiris and Thanasis Androutsos.
But my fears eased as the game progressed.
The plan in this game was to frustrate the crap out of the Germans with a system that was simultaneously so rigid, complemented with energetic animals in central midfield and in attack, that it would even get under the skin of the current world champions, Spain.
Jovanović can have an attacking formation and at the same time a starting line-up of buses, some of which are Ferraris in disguise.
What we need to see against the Netherlands is more of the same structurally, along with the magic words and confidence our coach is giving this team.
I’m all for further experimentation with who partners Vangelis Pavlidis up front; clearly there’s no perfect solution yet.
You’d imagine that Manolis Saliakas will get the nod at right-back as the one forced change due to Georgios Vagiannidis’ injury.
No fan would or should scoff at the same eleven bar those changes.
Long may your “I fear nobody” attitude continue, Ivan, albeit with the necessary tweaks depending on the opponent.
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