Sasa Ilic stays on Partizan bench after Pancevo loss

Sasa Ilic picked up a yellow card in Pancevo just before halftime for protesting referee decisions, and after the match told reporters he “very much” likes how his team plays. Partizan lost to Zeleznicar 1-0, the club issued a statement the same day lodging its “sharpest protest” over the refereeing, and the board, according to Telegraf, has no plans to change coach for now.

How did Zeleznicar win in Pancevo?

On October 18, in round 12 of the Serbian SuperLiga, the hosts took the lead in the 13th minute at the Mladost Sports Center in front of 3,000 spectators. Pedro took advantage of hesitation in Partizan’s defense and sent the ball to Ankeje, who scored the only goal of the match from five meters.

Partizan came to life toward the end of the first half. In the 36th minute Ze sent in a cross, but Cumic could not put the ball into an empty net. In the first fifteen minutes or so of the second half the visitors pressed harder, and chances fell to Simic, Cumic and Ze, but none ended in a goal.

The match turned largely on a moment around the 74th minute (Danas gives 74 in its report and 75 in the match record). Defender Mario Jurcevic first received a yellow card for pulling Kuljanin back, and after an intervention from the VAR room referee Stefan Jeknic of Subotica showed him a red. Milan Mitic was in the VAR room.

Zeleznicar held on to its lead, collected its sixth win of the season and sits fourth. Partizan has suffered its sixth defeat since the start of the league campaign and, according to B92, has 11 points from 11 matches, which leaves it tenth.

What does Partizan demand in its statement on the refereeing?

On its official website the club published a statement expressing its “sharpest protest over the refereeing of Stefan Jeknic and the (non)action of the VAR room.” The tone is set in the first paragraph:

“The level of refereeing shown would not be acceptable even in the lower ranks of the competition, let alone in one of the derbies of the round. We do not wish to diminish Zeleznicar’s victory, but we will not stay silent about the scandalous criteria and a series of decisions by which Partizan was directly wronged.”

Partizan then lists three specific complaints. The first is the decision to upgrade Jurcevic’s yellow card to a straight red after the VAR intervention, which the club says went against the criteria in the Laws of the Game and concerned an incident that took place at least 30 meters from the goal, with three Partizan players nearby. The second is the yellow card for Ze, who, the club claims, was not involved in the clash he was punished for. The third is a handball by a Zeleznicar player in his own penalty area: the referee waved play on and VAR did not intervene.

The club therefore asks a question and demands the release of the footage:

“How did VAR referee Milan Mitic find grounds to change the decision on Jurcevic’s card, but not to intervene in this situation? We demand that the relevant footage and the communication of the refereeing team be released for both situations.”

Partizan also cited figures from the season: in 11 league matches its players have been shown four red cards, and not a single penalty has been awarded in its favor. “We cannot view this data separately from the decisions we are pointing to,” the statement says. The club adds that the Football Association of Serbia has remained silent on its earlier initiatives, and it ends the statement with these sentences:

“Football should be the most important of the unimportant things in the world. In Serbia, unfortunately, it is increasingly becoming secondary to those who should be ensuring its fairness.”

After the statement, the club also posted on social media a clip of the situation in which it believes a penalty should have been awarded: one of the home players, while on the ground, touched the ball with his hand in his own penalty area. The clip carried a short caption: “New rules of the beautiful game.”

What did Ilic say after the match?

Partizan’s coach talked about the football, not the referee, at the press conference. About his players he said:

“I am extremely pleased with the performance and effort of my players. They played much better than against Novi Pazar, and I believe they deserved more.”

Asked whether the red card affected the outcome, Ilic replied that he would not talk about the refereeing:

“Partizan is in this kind of situation this year, and in previous years too. After the derby I talked about the refereeing, and then I got messages saying I was not right. So I will not talk about it now.”

Asked what Partizan needs to play better and get better results, he answered: “I noticed enormous effort, we had more of the game, even with one player fewer. I am satisfied, everything was good except the result.” He finished with these words: “I like today’s Partizan very much. If we keep repeating performances like this, the result will certainly come.”

So on the same day the club publicly demanded the footage and the referees’ communication, while the coach, asked about the red card, declined to discuss the refereeing.

Why is the board, according to Telegraf, sticking with the coach?

According to Telegraf, as relayed by B92, there is dissatisfaction in Humska with the results and the play, both inside the club and among fans, but the board believes Ilic deserves more time. It particularly values that he took over the team at a difficult moment, after the turbulent assembly in early June, and it is believed his role in stabilizing the club deserves special credit.

Partizan’s leadership, Telegraf reports, sees signs of progress in the performance in the Pancevo defeat and hopes that a few wins in a row could improve the league position before the winter break. During the winter the club could also change its squad, through sales and departures of players who have not lived up to expectations. For now, according to the same source, there is no indication of a parting with Ilic, nor that the coach plans to leave the post himself.