2019 Europa League | Know Your Opponent – FK Partizan

2019 Europa League | Know Your Opponent – FK Partizan

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Who doesn’t love the Europa League? Where no-one knows who they are playing and you’d be hard sold to find a fan or team who loves dancing across Europe to play teams that no-one really knew even existed. But that’s Manchester United’s fate and in FK Partizan they face Belgrade’s’ legends.

History

More famously known as the other half of the Eternal derbies, alongside Red Star Belgrade, FK Partizan have so much more than that about them. In October of 1945, just months before the creation of the Yugoslav league, and named in honour of the Partisans a communist military formation Partizan Belgrade or FK Partizan was born. The Yugoslav league was created a few months later and it saw FK Partizan dominate and walk out as the first ever Champions. It was all thanks to the introduction of Iles Spitz who brought about complete change for the club and transformed them.

He introduced European training methods, playing tactics, and combined it with a gifted squad which saw him win the first Yugoslav double. He would win another title at the end of the 1948/49 season before toiling it out for five years. That became even harder after their split from the army and FK Partizan became an independent club in 1950. However, that saw them struggle with the club winning just three league titles in 1952, 1954 and 1957. It did bring about their first European tournament, via the Champions Cup and that would prove to be just the start.

However, their success so far hadn’t impressed anyone let alone their fans and owners which saw radical changes take place. First, they changed their kit to their infamous black and white ones and then made dramatic changes to their playing squad. FK Partizan brought younger players into the ranks and it won them three consecutive titles, making it four between 1961 and 1965. It also saw them improve dramatically in Europe, beating Nantes, German Champions Werder Bremen and Manchester United reaching the 1965/66 European Cup final.

Real Madrid would go on to eventually win the cup despite going 1-0 down and condemned Partizan to a crisis. It took Belgrade ten years to recover from that and only another dramatic change squad helped them move on. They once again radically changed their team and won two titles between 1976 and 1978 alongside their first and so far only European crown in the Mitropa Cup. Crisis struck again and another switch to youth saw them dominate Yugoslavia once again. Not only that, it produced their incredible comeback against QPR despite walking into the second leg 6-2 down.

Titles in 1982/83, 1985/86, 1986/87 titles despite controversies of fixing that saw the 1985/86 title taken and then handed back to them and the 86/87 title being subsequently made theirs. Tensions in Yugoslavia did not seem to affect them with FK Partizan winning four league titles between the 1992/93 and 1998/99 season. However, a blanket ban on Yugoslavian teams meant that once the ban was lifted, UEFA ensured that FK Partizan had no history in the tournament. That saw them struggle to perform in Europe and with a brand new league to play in, the Super Liga Srbije, FK Partizan have dominated yet again.

They continued winning league titles between the 2002/03 season and the 2009/10 adding five to their name. It also saw them make the UEFA Cup, the Europa League’s predecessor, regularly between 2001/02 and 2008/09 with six appearances in the competition. It included a run in the Champions League group stages in 2003/04 where they won plaudits for performances against Real Madrid, eventual winners Porto and Marseille.

Things haven’t gone to plan since 09/10 with them winning just five titles since. FK Partizan have also made the Europa League group stage four times between the 2010/11 and the 2019/20 season losing out in the qualifiers more often than not. The Champions League has proven a lot harder for them with the club making it all the way to the group stages just once in 2010/11.

Formation and tactics

A turbulent 2018/19 saw FK Partizan struggle to finish even close to eventual Serbian Champions Red Star Belgrade with Partizan finishing third and 18 points behind their rivals. That combined with three changes at the helm caused them more problems than it ever solved. However, eventually, the club settled on former striker Savo Milosevic and gave 48-year-old a chance at his first job. He struggled quite a bit in his opening months and while his preferred formation is a 4-2-3-1, the former Aston Villa man often switched things up.

He went on a 4-4-2, a 4-4-2 double-six and even a 4-3-3 in-game a couple of times in the hopes that something worked. Things became so bad at one stage that Savo Milosevic considered leaving the club. However, a change in tactics, with the club now no more insisting on keeping possession but they won’t back away if given the chance to do as much. That’s exactly what AZ Alkmaar realized but FK Partizan couldn’t make the most of their chances missing five clear cut opportunities.

However, they changed it up in the second game and it worked for them against FC Astana. The Steamrollers ran over Astana with a convincing 2-1 win despite not dominating the ball. Now FK Partizan promotes youth prospects, stick to their 4-2-3-1 and while they don’t dominate the ball, they’re more often than not doing well on the counter attack. They play offensive football, averaging anything more than a 2-0 scoreline at home and more than a 1-0 away. However, their defensive shape relies a lot on the players combined with some tactics.

Key players

Umar Sadiq, who’s on loan, has done remarkably well for his new side and has finally hit a fine vein of form for once. That’s been the 22-year-old’s biggest struggle over the last few years with loan spells at Rangers, NAC Breda and even Torino all failing to show just what he could do. But in the Super Liga Srbije, he’s finally found his place. Five goals in the league alone and two against FC Astana, means that he has now scored more goals than his opponents have in the Europa League.

But he isn’t alone and Zoran Tosic regularly plays alongside him it makes things fun especially given Tosic’s history. The former Manchester United made only three appearances for the Red Devils and failed to find the net. That spell demolished the 32-year-old but then a move to FK Partizan and Tosic found himself. He’s contributed to sixty goals in just over 120 games for the club and that includes an 11 goal season.

The final man on this list and it’s a defensive midfielder but when it comes to Sasa Zdjelar calling him just a defensive midfielder is an insult. The 24-year-old is arguably one of their best players right now and with time has the potential to become a consistent presence. But he’s not just a player but a leader and on the field, he runs the game.

Manchester United’s approach

On paper, this game shouldn’t be a contest because on paper Manchester United have the better team, the better players and maybe even the better manager. But when two former strikers clash in the managerial battle, it makes things very interesting. Anthony Martial is back and Marcus Rashford is in the process of finding his groove, which means that the Red Devils need to just keep calm and go through the motions.

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