Whoa! So Alen Stevanovic Is Now Playing For the Full Serbia team Today vs Croatia

[maninb]

And he looked so out of his depth with TFC...wow!

[notthesun]

His skill was always there to be seen. Sometimes certain environments just don't mix well with certain players. Didn't help that we played him together with Maicon Santos all the time, that's too much selfishness up front.

He's a regular starter at Torino and he's been doing well. Bright future.

[moralis]

Please remember folks that Alen Stevanovic was loaned to TFC by Torino. So, Torino decided to recall him back. That's there right, he was never owned by TFC.

[Gazza]

I believe he thought he would step in and "tear this league apart" and received a rude awakening. The skill was definitely there but he needed to simplify his game.

He was young though, and he's indeed showing the promise that was advertised when he came to TFC. I had to do a double-take in that Croatian/Serbian game.

[69Chevy396]

And he looked so out of his depth with TFC...wow!
Out of his depth. That pretty much sums up for me the ease for which history is remade when the facts get in the way. He was too good for this team. The service, formation, management, training, quality surrounding him were mediocre. Messi would have fucked up here as well.

[jloome]

Out of his depth. That pretty much sums up for me the ease for which history is remade when the facts get in the way. He was too good for this team. The service, formation, management, training, quality surrounding him were mediocre. Messi would have fucked up here as well.

No, he was out of his depth -- not because he wasn't more skilled technically than most of the players, but because he was so skilled and so highly touted that he was an individualistic, selfish player, and even against MLS defenders, that kind of behavior was quickly uncovered.

He was sent back to Torino because he wasn't going to be playing here; at Torino, he then behaved the same way and was promptly benched for 10 games; he went public admitting he'd been immature in his career and that he knew that if he didn't start being a team player his career was done. That was about a year after TFC.

So, this isn't history rewriting itself. He was awful for TFC, more often than not dribbling into crowds of players assuming he could skin the lot then losing the ball, the same kind of behavior that doomed Denilson in Dallas.

Yes, you're right that everything around him was substandard. But he was behaving like a prat, and that's why he failed. DeRo played an individualistic game but still managed to lift the team around him. So did Amado Guevara, particularly in his earlier days with the Red Bulls.

[[NBF]]

He was also recovering from knee surgery. I cant recall if he had both knees worked on or just the one, but he was recovering from surgery. As far as his time after TFC loan, he's been progressing along well from Serie B to Serie A, this year is his breakthrough year.

[Thomas]

He may be skilled, but he was not very useful for TFC. He was a ball hog, and invariably got beaten every time. Yes, fancy foot work, but not much else with us. I guess he has grown up now.


Out of his depth. That pretty much sums up for me the ease for which history is remade when the facts get in the way. He was too good for this team. The service, formation, management, training, quality surrounding him were mediocre. Messi would have fucked up here as well.

[ensco]

I watched the whole game. He looked lost and was pulled early in the second half.

Very very tough setup for Serbia. The whole Serbia team looked off. No surprise given the situation.

[Dv23]

Interestingly, he's one of the fastest players in Fifa 13. Like a 94 or something if I recall correctly.

[Richard]

No, he was out of his depth -- not because he wasn't more skilled technically than most of the players, but because he was so skilled and so highly touted that he was an individualistic, selfish player, and even against MLS defenders, that kind of behavior was quickly uncovered.

He was sent back to Torino because he wasn't going to be playing here; at Torino, he then behaved the same way and was promptly benched for 10 games; he went public admitting he'd been immature in his career and that he knew that if he didn't start being a team player his career was done. That was about a year after TFC.

So, this isn't history rewriting itself. He was awful for TFC, more often than not dribbling into crowds of players assuming he could skin the lot then losing the ball, the same kind of behavior that doomed Denilson in Dallas.

Yes, you're right that everything around him was substandard. But he was behaving like a prat, and that's why he failed. DeRo played an individualistic game but still managed to lift the team around him. So did Amado Guevara, particularly in his earlier days with the Red Bulls.

Sounds a lot like Plata too, he wouldnt pass and always thought he could dribble his way past everybody.

[QSIM]

He was too good for this league.

[Ajax TFC]

Rather than rewriting my opinion of him over and over, I'll just quote my post from the last Stevanovic thread

Stevanovic reminded me of playing little league hockey. There were a number of kids who also played in AAA who thought they were so good that they didn't need their teammates to tear the league apart (for the record some were good teammates as well). Some of them really were good enough to dance through and score shitloads of goals, but many of them ended up with fewer points than myself and their lines became useless because they never passed the puck, but they'd always get stoned by the other team's defense. If you were to tell them that they should pass the puck they would ask you "why, it's not like they'll do anything with it that I can't do" - That's exactly the attitude that Stevanovic came across as having when he played here.

[ag futbol]

the same kind of behavior that doomed Denilson in Dallas.

What do you mean 'in Dallas'? It doomed his whole career basically :)

Too bad, because if that skill was ever harnessed into something functional it might have provided a platform for an incredibly dominant and entertaining player.

As it stands his career highlight will go down as dribbling the ball into the corner against Turkey while holding off five guys... Well that and practically single handedly bankrupting real betis

[Jack]

It's nice to see a young player with tons of talent grow up and pull his head out of his ass. When he was here, you could see the talent, but you could only see it from the neck down because of the cranial-rectal insertion. It sounds like he's finally putting it all together and realizing his potential.

[ensco]

It's nice to see a young player with tons of talent grow up and pull his head out of his ass. When he was here, you could see the talent, but you could only see it from the neck down because of the cranial-rectal insertion. It sounds like he's finally putting it all together and realizing his potential.

I think we should be more thoughtful about the narrative here. It's more likely it's about the team, than it is about him.

This team was a grease fire when he was here. A minor league shambles, the worst team in a far off minor league. Sorry but the evidence is in - whether it was Winter, de Klerk, Mariner, or the setup, that team couldn't help anybody develop.

If he looked like he was just thrown out on the field in a pickup game, that's probably for a reason.

[Jack]

I think we should be more thoughtful about the narrative here. It's more likely it's about the team, than it is about him.

This team was a grease fire when he was here. A minor league shambles, the worst team in a far off minor league. Sorry but the evidence is in - whether it was Winter, de Klerk, Mariner, or the setup, that team couldn't help anybody develop.

If he looked like he was just thrown out on the field in a pickup game, that's probably for a reason.
Oh, no question that is the case, but there is also an argument to be made that he was immature and selfish (hence why he was here in the first place). His time here didn't help his development and it wasn't until he went through exile to Toronto, then benching back in Torino, that he finally seems to have woken up.

[Mango Kid]

I did a double take when I saw the camera zoom in last Friday. I was like "whoa...this guy is facing Modric et al?"