As voted on by CroatianSports.com Nation, the 2011 ‘Bust of the Year’ will be shared by two Croatian soccer players: one capped and the other uncapped, respectively. Dejan Lovren and Srdjan Lakić did not live up to their potential in 2011.
Srdjan Lakić was supposed to have an electric year after starting the 2010-11 season on fire for German Bundesliga club Kaiserslautern. Lakić racked up 23 goals in 34 appearances in all competitions for The Red Devils before making it public on January 27th that he would move to Wolfsburg at season’s end. Karma bit Lakić in the ass when he was photographed in a Wolfsburg jersey while still playing for Kaiserslautern. It’s been all downhill since.
The German Bundesliga is currently on winter break and Lakić has yet to score for Wolfsburg in 2011; receiving only five starts while coming off the bench five times for Die Wölfe. At age 28, Lakić is no spring chicken. He was called up to Croatia’s squad in November 2010 by manager Slaven Bilić but was not used in the Euro 2012 qualifier versus Malta. Lakić is yet to be capped by the Croatian senior side, and at this pace, it doesn’t look like it will happen.
Lovren (#4) falls asleep against Malta @ 2:35
Croatian victim #2 of 2011 goes to 22 year-old Lyon defender Dejan Lovren. Lovren was supposed to be the new backbone of the Croatian defense, however, weekly errors at French club Lyon and a mistake against Malta in Euro 2012 qualifying have made Croatian fans skeptical. Sure, the kid is still young, but Lovren has played against some tough competition in Ligue 1 as well as the best in the world during multiple Champions League matches.
Lovren has developed the reputation of a hot-head in the process. He picks up silly fouls in and around the penalty box and is still a liability; even with all his future potential. At age 22, should we let Lovren mature into the defender we all need him to be or start looking elsewhere?
Lovren picks up ‘bust of the year’ however according to Goal.com he is featured in the Ligue 1 team of the year with the following summary:
Lyon may not be the giants of the French game that they once were, but they remain in the race to reach the Champions League. Their young side has been led from the heart of the defence by Dejan Lovren, who is now showing the kind of form that prompted them to spend so lavishly on the Croatian two years ago. When Cris was sidelined, he took the reins convincingly.
You may want to look on Lakic’s career stats. goals to games its good. Your talking like he’s gone through his career with stats like 20 games and 1 goal or something. thats not been the case. He did well in all the clubs he has played for so far except Hertha and Wolfsburg who have not played him. I will judge him when he switches clubs.
lets face it barely anyone on this site knew who Srdjan Lakic was until a year ago so its no surprise that people dont know how his career has been. Lakic tried to get an ex Bundesliga champion promoted. i dont believe he deserves discrediting for doing that. its not an easy thing to do. He made that transfer very fast. From Hertha after doing well on loan at Heracles he could have gone to another top flight club but chose Kaiserslautern.
@Goldenchild 1:10, you’ll see it. Too bad its not that clear on video
I didn’t see anything. What were you talking about Denis?
check out Lovren pick up some MMA moves from Pokrajac
ffd to 1st minute.
http://rutube.ru/tracks/5133022.html
Lovren still has time on his side in this conversation. He’s young and has plenty of time left in his career to turn into the top-notch defender we all hope he does one day.
Lakic, I feel dropped the ball on having any chance of making the NT again, barring a magical turn around. The dude is pushing 30 and just as he was on the cusp of maybe making it into the NT rotation, he switches teams, rides the pine most of time and when he does see action, does little in the way of showing he warrants more time out there. I don’t see him going to the Euro. Come the WC quals, Lakic will be 30 or so and I doubt Bilic or whoever is at the helm will try and integrate a 30 year old into the NT.
Lovren has been a HUGE dissappointment. He fell asleep gainst Malta, fell on his ass when he was the last man back against Latvia leading to a breakway in Rijeka, looked confused against the Greeks. Yeah hes only 22, but he needs to wake up. Our best defender is Simunic, and he has been since R. Kovac retired. Schildenfeld looked much more comfortable and confident against Turkey than Lovren did all of qualifying. We need to tighten up our back four or we’re in for a long tournament come June
@JerseyCro………..well said about Lakic. We had a good 3-month stretch last year and that has basically been it for his career when discussing if this guy is worthy for the repka.
Lakic was never NT material I’m afraid. He was a journeyman who had a good season at Kaiserslautern. Similar to what Jelavic will be, only Jelavic is a proven goal scorer in three inferior leagues (Belgium, Austria, Scotland)
Lovren is still young for a defender, but he will need to improve big time because after Euro 2012, Simunic is gone and he will be the “top” CB in the NT.
I heard a lot of good things from Lovren towards the end of last season. Clearly its this season where its mainly gone wrong. Lakic as well did decent towards the end of last season. I never claimed Lakic was a superstar. I dont think Wolfsburg was ever the right club for him. I already pointed out the similarity between him, Mandzo and Helmes and the lack of subtlety in their player. Rightly so Magath leaves out Lakic and wants another type of forward. Wolfsburg are also a biggish club. A club that can target big reputation players like Josue, Salihamidzic, Hleb, Diego, Kjaer and want Rosicky and Olic now. There is no place for Lakic at such a club. However below the Hamburgs, Stuggarts, Wolfsburgs there is a type of club like Hanover, Mainz, Hertha etc who are suitable for Lakic. If he went to one of them then i’d judge him. Wolfsburgs the wrong club for him. They can target a bigger name then that with the finances at there disposal.
Hot off the wire…. summary of Lovren’s play today for Lyon…
“In theory, Lyon should have been down to 10-men as Dejan Lovren practiced some MMA on David Ducourtieux. The Croatian defender was shown to have punched the Valenciennes player in the side of the head before attempting to kick him as he fell to the ground.
The referee did not see it, nor did any of his assistants, despite it being replayed at various angles for the benefit of those watching at home.”
I need to see this on video.
Nice video, brings back memories of my Hajduk-Birkirkara adventure a few years back. I’m cool with the Maltese, good people.
I cant explain what happened to Lakic. Ever since that picture of him holding up that Wolfsburg shirt hit the net he was cursed. Hasn’t recovered since.
Even though I bash Lovren on almost every Croatians Around Europe, the kid is still a kid at 22 years of age. He’s playing on the biggest stage in France, a top 4 league in the world. Give him time, let him develop. Lovren made Dinamo look silly so I’m a fan 🙂