The clown is gone but the circus is still here

Feels good, man. Feels good.

Despite his consistent refusals to step down even as everything we’ve been building for years burned down around him, Safet Sušić is no longer in charge of the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team.

In the end, he was removed by the same group of slack jawed yokels who appointed him in the first place and didn’t have the sense or decency to remove him after his poor performance at the 2014 World Cup. Instead, they decided it was appropriate to extend his contract and pay him even more money. But after a series of increasingly humiliating debacles, they were left with little choice and finally removed him yesterday. He’s finally gone. Say that out loud. Let it sink in. It feels good.

Anyone who follows me on Twitter or reads this blog will know how little I think of Safet Sušić the football manager. He’s armed me and his other critics with endless ammunition over the years. The reasons for his sacking are numerous; he was a failure in every aspect of modern football management and the fact he lasted this long will tell you everything you need to know about the Bosnian FA.

The results of his incompetence are staggering. To put it bluntly, we stink. We stink badly. And we’ve stunk for a while; the national team has been in bad form and under performing since our 3-1 win over Greece in March of 2013. Out of our last seven competitive matches, Sušić has won one. One victory. Over Iran. We stink.

Argentina – Bosnia-Herzegovina 2:1
Nigeria – Bosnia-Herzegovina 1:0
Bosnia-Herzegovina – Iran 3:1
Bosnia-Herzegovina – Cyprus 1:2
Wales – Bosnia-Herzegovina 0:0
Bosnia-Herzegovina – Belgium 1:1
Israel – Bosnia-Herzegovina 3:0

Last night our stink reached its eye watering zenith as underdog Israel put three goals past us without reply and inflicted upon us the most humiliating defeat this generation of players and fans has ever suffered. We now have 2 points out of a possible 12 in our Euro qualifying campaign. The second highest scoring team of the 2014 World Cup qualifications has now scored 2 goals in the last 4 games. In a group we were supposed to dominate.

God, we stink.

The reality is that Bosnia-Herzegovina’s chances of qualifying for Euro 2016 are now so small they may as well not exist at all. Has Sušić apologized to the fans and truly accepted the responsibility for his failure? No, not really. Instead, he’s decided to leave us with one last insult just to remind us that he too thinks very little of us:

“I don’t feel responsible if Bosnia-Herzegovina doesn’t qualify for Euro 2016” – Safet Sušić

Two points out of a possible twelve and you don’t feel responsible? Competitive losses to Cyprus and Israel, and you don’t feel responsible? Going into a decisive qualifying match without a striker because you refused to call one up, but you don’t feel responsible? In the Balkans, this is known as having no “obraz” (honor, dignity, “face”). In the English speaking world it is generally known as being a delusional coward.

Compare this disgraceful behaviour with the actions of Dick Advocaat. The Dutch manager was in charge of Serbia for three competitive matches and after failing to defeat Armenia and Denmark in the Euro qualifiers he not only agreed to step down but even refused to accept the payout.

“After the match against Denmark I knew there was no sense staying. I decided not to accept any payout. For me this was the logical move and in the best interest of Serbian football. My decision was unbelievable to them, they didn’t expect it.” – Dick Advocaat

But lets be honest here: Dick Advocaat is a serious football manager. Safet Sušić is not. He has never been able to hold down a job anywhere; before taking over the Bosnian-Herzegovinian national team, his longest run in charge was 13 games with Turkish club Caykur Rizespor. Sušić has never shown an ounce of tactical shrewdness or understanding of how to use the squad at his disposal. A manager is supposed to inspire and prepare players tactically, physically, and mentally. Sušić does none of these things. His man management and communication skills are so bad he can only be described as a pathological asshole. Our players’ club form and international form could not be more different. Everything in the vicinity of Sušić’s radiating mediocrity seems to go to hell.

We all know the job is not an easy one and everyone makes mistakes, but you have to learn from your errors and not repeat them. You have to adapt and improve. You have to take responsibility. Sušić did not. He doesn’t know how. Further proof of this was provided during the match against Israel when he subbed off Bešić, our only defensive midfielder; this led to some desperate defending which earned Bosnian centre back Toni Šunjić a red card. Did Sušić react to the sending off like every normal coach would? No, instead he put on yet another midfielder. We played the rest of the match with one defender and eight midfielders. I think even those of you who have been watching football for decades couldn’t say you’ve ever seen something like that before.

@BiHFootball I was sitting about 20 ft from him during the match & he had really no clue what to do with his team. Scary.

— Sports Rabbi (@thesportsrabbi) November 17, 2014

Now the nightmare is finally over, but the sad truth is that there is no guarantee the reality we wake up to will be much better. The same FA that chose and inexplicably propped up Safet, will now be selecting our next coach. They are the ones most responsible for our troubles; the true “big bad” that appears after you think you’ve won, like the post credits scene that reveals Thanos at the end of “Avengers”. If they have the opportunity they will do it again.

Then there’s the fans. Ah yes, the “true” fans. The ones that “love Bosnia equally in victory or defeat”. The ones that chose to ignore all the warning signs when there was still time to save ourselves because they “trust in Safet Sušić, the greatest Bosnian player of all time!”. The ones that won’t allow reporters and writers to offer legitimate criticism because it “destroys the atmosphere in the team” and because “Sušić is the hero that took us to the World Cup”. The fans who could watch Sušić drink the blood of a freshly murdered nun on live television and still find a way to absolve him of any blame. The same fans who are now suddenly spitting on Sušić and repeating the same things I’ve been saying for over a year. The same things they used to attack me for saying. Yeah, those fans. As far as I’m concerned they are just as much to blame for where we are right now.

Most of his peers were no better, refusing to man up and openly criticize their old friend’s obvious tactical errors and destructive behaviour. Instead, they just whined about the negative influence of the media and the unrealistic expectations of fans. Slovakia is first in their group, three points ahead of Spain and Ukraine, but they think we are being unrealistic because we expect to defeat Cyprus, Wales, and Israel. This is the kind of loser mentality that will continue to hold us back, and not just in football.

So by all means lets celebrate the fact that Sušić and all the madness that accompanies him is history–believe me, I’ve longed for this day more than most–but don’t celebrate too long because the FA hasn’t changed and very soon they will be announcing his successor. Pray that they aren’t as stupid and corrupt as we all think they are because on the odd chance they make the right choice we might still even claw our way to Euro 2016. If nothing else, we may rekindle that which has became so rare in recent months — the feeling of fun and excitement to watch our national team play.

I fucking told you so

Goddamn it. I’m doing it again. I’m writing about Safet Sušić.

I have no choice. He’s still here and he’s more incompetent than ever. Still completely out of touch; still suffocating the increasingly disillusioned fans and holding the national team back with his loser mentality; still making statements so counterproductive and obscenely stupid they make England’s Roy Hodgson sound like Christopher Hitchens.

The last time I wrote about Safet was right after the World Cup, to briefly lay out how we should proceed forward after his sacking. I warned that sticking with him could cost us a trip to Euro 2016 in France. I was sure he would be gone by now. I was wrong. I underestimated our FA’s unprofessionalism, lack of pride, and talent for self destruction. They not only gave the Sarah Palin of football managers a new contract but even a raise. He is currently the least skilled but highest paid Balkan coach.

We are now three games deep into our Euro 2016 qualification campaign and we have carved out a staggering two points — out of a possible nine. Despite having the second best squad in the qualifying group with talented players like Dzeko, Pjanić, Bešić, Begović, Medunjanin, and Lulić, our mighty tactician only managed a 1-2 home loss to Cyprus, a 0-0 away draw with Wales, and a 1-1 home draw with Belgium. Of the three results, only the last is acceptable. Unless of course you are Safet Sušić. He is satisfied.

I’ve always wanted to create a compilation of all of Sušić’s greatest hits; all of his bizarre statements and decisions, compiled in one place so that one could take a look and really get a sense of just how tragically useless and stupid this man is. But a ‘project’ of that magnitude would require more time and work than I’m willing to devote to someone like him. Instead, let’s just take a look at his latest insult to Bosnian fans and the sport of football.

Two strikers, one striker, no strikers

“Backup strikers? I don’t need those. Bitch, don’t you know I’m the greatest player in PSG history and the first to take Bosnia to a major tournament?”

Despite the desperate pleas of fans, Sušić has always refused to call up another striker, putting all his trust into Manchester City’s Edin Džeko and Stuttgart’s Vedad Ibišević . And so it was that our Machiavellian tactician decided to go to the 2014 World Cup with only two forwards. We complained, he didn’t care. Then Ibišević picked up an injury and Sušić became the only coach in the Euro 2016 Qualifications to call up only ONE striker — our talismanic captain Džeko. We complained. He didn’t care.

When asked what we were supposed to do in the event that Džeko also suffers an injury and can’t play, Sušić replied with his unique but all too familiar brand of idiocy and defeatism:

“If Džeko does get injured we have to accept that our chance of qualifying is minimal. After Ibišević was injured, now I’m supposed to think will Džeko be injured too?”

Apparently Sušić believes it outrageous to expect the highest paid coach in the region to think ahead and have some sort of backup plan. How dare we expect him to meet the bare minimum responsibilities of his job. A job he should’ve lost long ago.

Dear reader, you’ll never guess what happened next. Earlier today, on Saturday, November 8, our only striker Edin Džeko–a player with a nearly spotless injury record–was injured minutes after being subbed on by Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini. Only eight days before we face Israel in Haifa. We will know the extent of the injury tomorow, but according to early reports it is the hamstring. This means Džeko will most likely miss the match against Israel. We are now left with no strikers.

Sušić has no “Plan B” and he’s not ashamed to admit it either. He simply plans to wait and pray that Džeko recovers in time. This is our manager. This is what some Bosnians still defend and support.

And it gets worse.

Sušić was also naive enough to reveal that he already knew that Džeko was having some issues with his hamstring prior to today. This means that even before today’s incident against QPR, Sušić was aware there was a significant possibility Džeko wouldn’t be 100% for our next qualifying matches. This makes his decision to not call up another forward even more irresponsible and infuriating.

Sušić added that there is no Bosnian striker out there as good as Ibišević or Džeko and therefore no one worthy of a call up. By this logic all the other national teams in the qualifications would only call up strikers that are as good or better than Džeko, and if there wasn’t any, they wouldn’t call up anyone.

Our tiny neighbour Montenegro (population: 620,000) has called up four forwards. Would Sušić have us believe that Montenegro has four world class forwards and a bigger talent pool to choose from than us? Any Bosnian football fan can name at least three or four potential names to call up while Ibišević and Džeko are out. Our coach, apperantly, can’t.

Sušić doesn’t seem to understand what a backup is, or that less talented forwards than Džeko score goals all the time. He seems to have forgotten that Cyprus defeated us on our own turf using players most of us have never even heard of.

Most importantly, Sušić is becoming increasingly detached from reality and it is destroying our national team. His tactics are from a different age, his key decisions are catastrophic, and his logic is very different from our Earth logic. There is no future with him as our coach.

Regardless of how soon Džeko recovers, this episode should serve as yet another warning to show just how dangerous and careless Sušić can be. Even if by some miracle we qualify for France 2016 he will only underachieve and humiliate us. Again.

Sack him. For fuck’s sake, sack him now.

It won’t hurt our chances one single bit.

Bosnia Must Call Up Defensive Reinforcements

Emir Spahic is not going to save our ungrateful asses anymore. Retired from the national team because of his age, because of Safet Susic, because of the media, whatever, it doesn’t matter. He’s gone, and we’re in trouble.

The Bayer Leverkusen centre-back was our undisputed leader on the pitch and our most experienced defender; on the rare occasion that he was substituted off early, what usually followed was a complete loss of defensive organization and confidence on the pitch. For years we simply couldn’t do without him.

To make matters worse, our only reliable left-back Sead Kolasinac (04 Schalke) is injured and ruled out for the first half of our Euro 2016 campaign. His role is currently covered by winger Senad Lulic (SS Lazio) and central midfielder Sejad Salihovic (Hoffenheim) but both are desperate temporary solutions that cannot last.

Our starting right-back Mensur Mujdza (Freiburg) has been struggling with injuries and at 30 years old it’s clear that his best days are behind him. His replacement is Safet Susic’s pet squirrel known as Avdija Vrsajevic, a player who boasts impressive pace and lttle else. Many want him gone from the squad, but he has managed to stick around, as Alan Moore would put it, with a “herpies like persistence”.

So, just when our backline was starting to look respectable, we lost two crucial pieces of the puzzle and are on the way to losing a third. That leaves us with the three centre-backs Bicakcic (Hoffenheim), Sunjic (Kuban Krasnodar), and Vranjes (Free Agent), and the right-back Vrsajevic (Hajduk Split).

Like I said, we’re in trouble.

It’s obvious that reinforcements are needed but there aren’t lot of options out there for us right now; certainly none as good as Spahic and Kolasinac. There is, however, a handful of defenders we should consider. If nothing else, they may improve our depth.

Gordan Bunoza (Wisla Krakow) (LB/CB)

Bunoza is a 26 year old left-back from Polish club Wisla Krakow. Not a top league by any means but Bunoza has the attributes to play at a higher level and he has been linked with moves to better leagues.

The reality is this: if Kolasinac is not available, we do not have an adequate replacement. At 6 foot 4 inches, Bunoza is a powerful player but possesses surprisingly good pace for his size; while he may not have the same quality as Kolasinac he will at least provide a similar physical presence on the left. In any case, he’s a better option than anyone we have right now.

Once Kolasinac returns, Bunoza could stay on as much needed depth for this problematic position. Bunoza definitely wants the call. You can check out some of his highlights here.

Ivan Martic (Hellas Verona) (RB)

Martic was considered one of the best right-backs in the Swiss league and has recently moved to Serie A. He made his winning debut a few days ago in a 2-1 win over Palermo.

Much like Bunoza at left-back, Martic would provide much needed depth and competition at right-back, and may even prove himself to be first choice considering his competition is Vrsajevic and injury prone Mujdza.

Martic has said he is open to playing for Bosnia and it would be downright foolish not to offer him a chance.

Ervin Zukanovic (Chievo Verona) (CB)

Zukanovic was deeply disappointed to be cut from Bosnia’s World Cup squad but he has made it clear he would still wear the national colours if called upon in the future.

I admit, I’m not Zuka’s biggest fan, mainly because of his lack of pace, but at this point we can’t afford to be picky. He’s a loyal servant and will give us his all. There is no other CB playing in one of the top five leagues that we can call upon. If we begin to play in a more balanced formation and with tactics that actually suit our players–which we should be doing anyway–Zuka’s slow movement won’t be as big of an issue.

It is no coincidence all of our defensive players preform better at their clubs than they do in the national team; Susic insists on playing systems that expose our weaknesses instead of mitigating them.

Dino Arslanagic (Standard Liege) (CB)

The 21 year old 6’3″ centre-back is undoubtedly a big talent but has not completed the necessary paper work to play for Bosnia and he cannot be counted on yet. If our FA has any sense they will do everything in their power to make sure the promising defender’s Bosnian debut comes sooner rather than later. Our options at CB are so slim that losing Arslanagic to Belgium would be catastrophic.

Perhaps in the future, when we have found more than one good defensive midfield option, Muhamed Besic (Everton) can move back to CB, the primary position he played in Germany and Hungary. There are also others to look forward to, such as 19 year old right-back Adis Omerbasic of Schalke, and Ali Suljic, the 17 year old centre back who currently plays for the Chelsea U18s. Promising talents indeed but that’s all they are; we need solutions now, and we must look for the answer elsewhere, and fast.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: What Happens Now?

Our World Cup adventure is over. Cut short by the naivety, inexperience, and utter incompetence of our soon to be former manager, Safet Susic. As soon as I saw his bizarre and unbalanced lineup, I tweeted my congratulations to our Nigerian opponents. Then I told my father to prepare himself for a loss and early elimination from our first major tournament.

I won’t waste time analyzing Susic’s many unforgivable errors; there is already plenty of that online and there will be plenty more to come. All I will say is that I sincerely hope this bumbling fool will never have anything to do with Bosnian-Herzegovinian football again. The real question is, where do we go from here? How to move forward and best prepare for the Euro 2016 qualifications? That’s all that matters now.

A SERIOUS MANAGER

Our FA will have to make a decision soon. Who is the right man take this team to the next level?

Vahid “Vaha” Halilhodzic is probably the most respected and sensible choice. Vaha has plenty of managerial experience, both in international and club football; he led Ivory Coast and Algeria to the World Cup; won the CAF Champions League with Raja Casablanca; took Lille OSC from the second tier of French football to 3rd place in Ligue 1, and won the Coupe de France with PSG in 2004.

Dusan Bajevic has already been rumored as a replacement for Susic. Bajevic does not have any international experience but has been successful in club football, particularly in Greece. The “Prince from the Neretva” has won the Greek Championship eight times with two different clubs, not to mention his six cup trophies. Bajevic is part of the ‘normalization committee’ created to run the Bosnian FA and save it from FIFA suspension.

Sergej Barbarez is the popular and “patriotic” candidate. The former Bosnian captain made his name in the Bundesliga and was one of the first post-independence footballers to earn legendary status among Bosnian fans. It is undeniable that he was a great leader on the pitch, but it remains to be seen how that would translate to his management career. Barbarez might provide much needed inspiration to the squad and a more modern approach, but his lack of experience makes him a very risky choice.

Slaven Bilic, Meho Kodro, Vladimir Petkovic, Faruk Hadzibegic, Mehmed Bazdarevic, and many other names have been thrown around by fans since our elimination. Most of these are either wrong or unrealistic or unavailable.

I won’t act like I know the perfect choice, because no manager is perfect, but what we need is an experienced professional to instil real discipline into our squad. Most importantly we need a coach with tactical intelligence because that is what we currently lack the most.

My choice is Halilhodzic. I believe he has the qualities we desperately need right now.

THE PLAYERS

After so many years of loyal service, it’s hard to imagine a Bosnian team sheet without the names Spahic and Misimovic. The reality, however, is that they will be gone soon. Spahic will be 35 by Euro 2016, and Misimovic, while still technically gifted, does not have the physical condition to be a starter anymore. Their best years are behind them. We simply can’t rely on them anymore.

Others, like Anel Hadzic, inexplicably appeared in the national team shortly before the World Cup, despite doing nothing to deserve the honor, and need to be removed as soon as possible. Vrsajevic is another example. These players are just not good enough for a team that wants to leave a strong impression at a major tournament.

Promising young talents such as Dino Arslanagic (Standard Liege) and Sanjin Prcic (Sochaux) will fill their spots nicely. Armin Hodzic should be considered as a third choice striker. A serious effort should be made to bring in Branimir Hrgota before we lose him to Sweden or Croatia. Others such as Semir Stilic, Mario Vrancic, Nermin Zolotic, Jasmin Scuk, Emir Dilaver, Eldin Hadzic, and Ermin Zec also deserve a chance. If nothing else, they might prove good enough to improve our depth.

THE NEXT CAPTAIN

With Spahic and Misimovic on their way to retirement, the general expectation is that Dzeko will become the next captain, having already worn the arm band when the two veterans were not available.

Some will brand me a blasphemer but in my opinion Dzeko is not a leader. It’s not that he would be terrible, but there are less moody players who would be more suited for the role — players such as Asmir Begovic. Begovic is a disciplined professional who never seems to lose his cool and preforms with almost inhuman consistency. He will demand the same from his teammates.

My second choice is Pjanic. He has proven he is a genuinely special player who can command the midfield, create chances, score goals both from open play and set pieces, defend, tackle, and everything in between. He could become our Gerrard.

EURO 2016

We have been given a qualifying group from which we must qualify for the final tournament in France. There is no traditional powerhouse team to oppose us. Belgium will be our biggest obstacle and we don’t even have to finish first in order to qualify directly. Failure is not an option. We must learn from our World Cup experience and never again allow ourselves to so cheaply give up everything we have dreamed of for years.

We should never again leave a tournament feeling like we beat ourselves. It is not acceptable that teams who have inferior players have made a better impression than us. Every team loses and so will we, it is inevitable, but how you lose matters. It matters a lot.

This is the make-or-break moment for Susic and our World Cup campaign

Bosnia-Herzegovina has lost three consecutive friendly matches, and in the last two we haven’t even scored. For an attacking team that earned a reputation for “scoring goals for fun” in the World Cup qualifications, this is worrying. Our latest loss came yesterday in a friendly against Egypt, in front of a large Bosnian crowd who quickly realized what they were witnessing wasn’t worth coming out for.

The loss itself isn’t as important—it is a friendly after all—as is the manner in which we lost. Once again coach Safet Susic has not learned from past tactical mistakes, he has not listened to legitimate criticism, and once again we have put on a truly lethargic and embarrassing display far below what our team is capable of. Most of our starting players play for clubs in the top five leagues, but you wouldn’t know it by today’s performances. We were outplayed by players who mostly play in Egypt. Players who wanted to prove themselves. Players who had a coach with a solid game plan.

TAC.. TICS? I DON’T NEED TACTICS, MY BREATH IS FINE

I would call yesterday’s formation bad, but it’s hard to even know what the formation was; players were running all over the pitch, out of position and getting caught out by the Egyptians on the counter attack. It was just one big mess that was painful to watch. Susic could have done something about this at half time, like any competent manager would, but instead our team came out for the second half with no real tactical changes and played even worse.

Susic continues to face every opponent—be they minnows or world champions—with the same4-4-2 formation and two striker system that has backfired on us almost every time we have faced quality teams. Something has to change soon or we are not going to win any games in Brazil.

Susic refuses to go back to the 4-2-3-1 formation we used with great success in the past. With that formation and Dzeko as the lone striker, Bosnia outplayed France in Paris in the last Euro qualifiers and put on one of our best performances of the last two decades. Certainly the best under Susic. That game eventually ended 1-1 when France equalized with a shady penalty, but it didn’t matter, our players made us proud. Fast forward a few years, and we’re losing 2-0 against Egypt and can’t score at home against Slovakia.

The two new players, Anel Hadzic and Tino-Sven Susic, who were chosen by Susic as the solution to our defensive midfield problem, were useless defensively. If anything, we were more exposed in this friendly than we were in any match in recent memory. Tino can hardly be blamed for his poor defensive display; as Blaz Sliskovic pointed out, he is more an attacking midfielder and not suited for defending. Safet Susic doesn’t seem to understand this. Tino worked hard, wanted to prove himself worthy of the call up, and he may have a place on this team, but not as a defensive midfielder. Hadzic is a patriotic kid who you can’t help but like, but it would be a gross understatement to say that today was not the positive debut we were hoping for. He was a non-factor. I’m sorry to say I was right when I said that he simply does not have the quality to be a starter at the World Cup.

So you can imagine my shock when Susic appeared after the match and said the following:

 “There will be those who are angry and disappointed but the competition in our squad has increased, and we have two new players (Hadzic and Tino) who regardless of tonight’s defeat have shown that they can be counted on in the future”.

If it wasn’t for this beard I’m sporting right now, my jaw would have shattered when it hit the floor.

The only player who can cure our defensive midfield headache is Muhamed Besic, a young talent who has already proven himself against quality opposition like Mexico and Brazil. Susic, however, has not shown any signs of calling him up. His neglect of Besic is becoming absurd at this point. I could understand it if we already had other quality players to replace him, but we don’t. We are desperate. Susic doesn’t seem to care.

I should also add that even Sejad Salihovic, whose magnificent recent displays for Hoffenheim saw him listed as one of WhoScored’s top 20 players of the month, and who has been very consistent for his club this season, was absolutely terrible today when Susic got his hands on him. That says a lot. Kolasinac and Lulic were the only players to put in a real shift, with Kolasinac in particular once again showing what a talent he is.

AND THEN IT GOT WORSE

By far the most bizarre moment of the match came in the second half. In the 63^rd minute, Susic decided to take out the more active Ibisevic, and leave Dzeko on. Edin was clearly struggling and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this was one of the worst games he’s ever had for the national team. At one point, Dzeko even went to ground with an injury and asked to be subbed off but Susic did nothing(!?). Turns out he was injured even before the match started and was only supposed to play one half but for whatever reason, Susic changed his mind and forced him to play the full 90.

“I came to the to game injured and still played, which the coach was aware of and we had an agreement that I should only play one half! Why the coach did not substitute me at that point or even when I asked to be taken off from the field, only he knows! Every loss pains me, because I have a winner’s spirit and nobody can deny or change that! I have always played my heart out for the national team and always will in the future”. – Edin Dzeko (SOURCE)

Dzeko is the man who is most of all responsible for taking us to the World Cup, not Susic, and for him to be treated this way is truly unacceptable.

SUSIC’S POST-MATCH COMMENTS, OR, “THE SARAH PALIN OF COACHES”

Susic has proven time and time again that he doesn’t have the slightest clue as to how to instill discipline and inspire the players. In fact he does just the opposite, by spreading an unhealthy atmosphere of negativity and defeatism by making extremely counterproductive public statements. Behold, the great motivator’s latest gem:

“…if any of you think I am worried about this loss, you are wrong. This is just one of many friendly games we have lost, and maybe we will lose the next two as well, but I have seen some interesting things which will help me for more important games.”

Baffling. Just baffling. Instead of doing his best to lift everyone’s spirits, he has already announced two new defeats, for games we haven’t even played yet. He has already planted the idea that we will, and probably should, lose the last two friendlies before our first World Cup. He’s not worried though. After every setback Susic assures us and comforts us, tells us everything will be okay, because according to him, he “learns from every loss”. He’s been saying this for years and yet we are still losing winnable games because of the same mistakes. How long exactly does it take him to “learn”?

Many of us are quite seriously beginning to question Susic’s intelligence. One fan called him “the Sarah Palin of coaches”. Sadly, this could not be more accurate. I am not trying to be mean spirited; I am simply stating the cold hard truth that this man might not have the heart or the brains for this job. If he still wants to prove that he is in fact the right man to lead us, he needs to make drastic changes and soon. It’s time to get serious. We’re only a few months away from Brazil. We do not need to be humiliated in our first major tournament.

SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE, NOW, OR WE’RE F#%$*D

Change the formation to the more manageable 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 and put an end to this unorganized circus we saw against Egypt and Argentina. Two strikers against top teams is suicide. It barely worked against Lithuania, it’s not going to work against Nigeria and Argentina.

Leave one striker on the bench so we actually have someone to bring on when we need to, and so both of our strikers aren’t exhausted throughout the entire tournament.

Call up Muhamed Besic. He is the only player who has shown real quality in the defensive midfield position for us. Taking Besic to the World Cup would not only make this team better and more balanced but it would also help his career. This is important because talented youngsters like him are the future of Bosnian football. Same goes for Sanjin Prcic.

Stop making counterproductive statements that weaken us mentally and ensure our defeat before we even step out onto the pitch. Instill real discipline and a fighting spirit into our squad. Give them vision and the belief that they can beat anyone, no matter how unlikely.

Study our opponents like any real coach would. Fans never want to hear their coach say “we didn’t know enough about our opponents”. This is your job. Your job is to spend every moment pondering every detail, no matter how small, that can increase our chances of successes.

Do your job, man.