World Cup Selection Dilemma: Why Serbia must build their midfield around Milinkovic-Savic
When looking at Serbia’s midfield options, there’s no denying head coach Mladen Krstajic has ample quality to select from. The 44-year-old is able to call upon the likes of Premier League pair Nemanja Matic and Luka Milivojevic, Benfica youngster Andrija Zivkovic, Liverpool man Marko Grujic and wide stars Dusan Tadic, Adem Ljajic and Filip Kostic.
However, for all of their talent, a top quality link between the midfield and attack is required. Each player brings their own strength to the game, but if Krstajic is to ensure Serbia enjoy any success in Russia, his best bet is to build his attack around Lazio ace and Manchester United target Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Krstajic has recently tinkered with his setup, with the head coach using a 4-1-4-1, 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formation in meetings with South Korea, Morocco and Nigeria, respectively, with mixed results. Indeed, the game against Nigeria was the only one Serbia won and, incidentally, a match they started in a 4-2-3-1 system.
The Serbia coach has the midfielders capable of successfully implementing the formation, particularly with a base of Matic and Milivojevic. While there may be some debate on who should play in the central role ahead of the pair, Krstajic should look to Milinkovic-Savic.
The 23-year-old has just the two international caps to his name, a criminally low figure for a player of his talent. In this high-flying Lazio side, Milinkovic-Savic is one of the three clutch players. Luis Alberto is the creative fulcrum, while Ciro Immobile – prior to injury – was the forward firing Lazio up the table.
In the Serbian youngster, Simone Inzaghi has the ideal goalscoring, box-to-box midfielder that has seen Milinkovic-Savic score 11 league goals this term, that in the process returning a WhoScored.com rating of 7.40. He hasn’t shirked his defensive responsibilities either, as averages of 1.7 tackles and 2.4 aerial duels won per game notes.
However, it’s the goalscoring aspect of his game that can be best utilised in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Milinkovic-Savic behind the forward, most likely to be Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Lazio star has scored more goals from outside of the 18-yard box (5) than any other player aged 23 and under in Europe’s top five leagues this season. With Tadic, Kostic, Ljajic and Zivkovic, despite playing in a deeper central role for Benfica this term, all capable of creating from wide, Milinkovic-Savic could be just the midfielder Krstajic needs to ensure safe passage past Brazil, Costa Rica and Switzerland in Russia.
Despite his limited international experience, Milinkovic-Savic has the requisite tools to help Serbia to the knockout stages of the World Cup and increase his own personal profile in the process. This summer could well be the one the dominating midfielder takes his game to the next level.
