It was an evening to forget for Serbia as they were totally taken apart by a rampant England, and Strahinja Pavlovic struggled.
For Pavlovic, the switch to a three-man defence at club level with Milan is a change to something he is more familiar with, at least at international level. That is because he is now playing the same role for both – the left-sided centre-back – but that doesn’t mean it will always go well.
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An evening to forget
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanPress) recall, Serbia lost 5-0 yesterday against England in a 2026 World Cup qualifier, and it means that the Three Lions have almost certainly qualified. The Milan defender started, and let himself down with two mistakes.
Serbia had started the match positively, and the former Salzburg man threatened from a corner taken by Lukic, which he headed just wide. However, he was then at fault for England’s second goal as he allowed Noni Madueke to get into the box and score with a direct run in behind.
Marc Guehi’s goal to make it 4-0 also came from a lapse in concentration by Pavlovic, leaving his opponent to ghost in at the far post. It’s worth remembering that Serbia were down to 10 men at that point following a red card for Nikola Milenkovic.
After a positive first performance against Latvia, Strahinja Pavlovic returns to Milan to reclaim his place at the heart of the Rossoneri defence. The Serbian has no real alternative in the role, so Massimiliano Allegri will have to coach confidence into him.
hes not very good. simic is probably better
He’s another trash 20 million player who we signed, what do you expect?
he is a fighter and good in corners but when it comes to passing he is terrible but yeah we were to dumb to get a new Centre Back that was cheap enough
Maybe a change of position? Looks like a DM-ish role would suit more of his character.
Bro, his passing is so off. He is trash
We won’t finish top 4
We will manage 6th position ,I dont see this squad good enough to get a champions league spot ,our defence is trash ,with pavlovic included in the squad milan will be an empty basket and expect lot of goals in our net;: as a matter of fact milan formation with pavlovic is :: 2-5-2 we have a minus one in player
Saw the game. Before that goal he actually had some decent clearances and interceptions. But on the (second) goal he was completely unravelled. First off he was caught way too far upfield and England saw that and capitalized immediately (almost as if to plan). Secondly he still Madueke to his right. To minimize the risk and to have him shoot with his weaker foot he should have shown him a free shot to the right. Instead, somehow he ended up on the other side of the player 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️. I don’t know if it’s the Serbian coaching staff to blame or him or both but he should know the strong and weak foot of opposing players. Even with that said, he still chose the wrong movement on a basic level.
The fourth goal was just atrocious defending. Had nothing to do with the red card as it was a set piece and you can man to man on those plays (England wasn’t going to throw all their players up ofc).
Don’t even know what to say really!
He doesn’t position himself well when playing against fast players. He’s not very fast.
When he was playing in Austria I thought he could become a high quality CB, but at this point it has become clear that he does not have the tactical awareness and mentaliy to play at high levels.
he is a good sub, should not be starting
Pavlo is what he is at face value. No more. No less.
Couldn’t put my finger on it but this describes him so aptly
Tare with another piece to sell next mercato.
Pavlovic brought more problems than resolve the defense.
Tomori doesn’t seem to be settled on the right either, put Pavlovic on bench and move tomori on the left.
Trash player our defense dis season is trash
I have said it over and over – he is so RAW. He doesn’t understand POSITIONAL marking. Definitely should not be starting for us. Why we sold Thiaw over this guy is a fkn mystery. An EPL team offered 30M for him – we should have jumped on it immediately.
Our D will get shredded this year. Max has his work cut out for him. Tomori Gabbia Pavlovic back line with Sales and Estipan as wing backs does not inspire defensive confidence – even with the defensive minded system Max employs.