Bojan Djordjic




Beyond The Pitch show

Summary: Phil and Anto are joined by the always entertaining and insightful Bojan Djordjic for his thoughts on Euro 2012 as he covered the tournament for Swedish media to examine how the team performed and where it seems headed in the future. Of course, all the attention descends upon Zlatan Ibrahimovic and how the team adjusted under Erik Hamren as first team manager and we discuss how some of the new players performed, what fans can expect in the pipeline for emerging players and how some of the younger internationals like Rasmus Elm and Ola Toivonen showed in Poland/Ukraine. Still most of the conversation surrounds Zlatan and how perceptions are largely shaped based on several matches a season while he has racked up titles throughout his career, even while delivering the goal of the tournament against France. We also examine the job placed before Erik Hamren who took over from a coaching institution in Lars Lagerback to consider whether his ideas may ultimately become undermined given the few instances that national team managers have to work with their players and the type of changes that Hamren wants to bring to this team. This, of course, always brings Ibrahimovic back into view as well, given that Sweden will always be faced with the same dilemma that his professional club managers are faced with - namely - does Sweden play him as the target man up top or does Zlatan move deeper into the formation to provide the passes to his teammates. As discovered many times along his career, Zlatan does flourish more in the role, keeping him engaged and minimizing the potential of keeping him isolated when the service does not arrive. Also discussed is the nature of football itself, which is always interesting with Bojan, gauging whether this Spanish side is the best ever, taking a look at the sheer genius of Andres Iniesta from the eyes of player who would know and who were the emerging players of this tournament overall. Always a fascinating and entertaining discussion with Bojan Djordjic whose interesting career with some top clubs will give you a level of insight that cuts right to the heart of the matter.