Croatia have concluded their relaxed international break in Qatar with a 2-1 victory over Bulgaria, following a 1-1 draw against Slovenia. Manager Zlatko Dalić experimented with a 3-5-2 formation in both matches, sparking a debate amongst Croatians about the Vatreni’s tactics going into the 2022 World Cup. Should Croatia continue with this new setup, or revert back to a classic 4-3-3 for the tournament in winter? Let’s dig deep to find out:
3-5-2
Pros:
- Andrej Kramarić can play as a secondary striker. This role compliments his fantastic dribbling abilities and gives him a lot more space to work. Kramarić is a creator, and this position allows him to drive the ball forward and take control of the attack. If Dalić can manage to field a reliable finisher at the highest striker role, Croatia’s offense will pose a serious threat in the World Cup.
- Josip Juranović will become a critical member of the attack. Since his days at Hajduk, Juranović has been known as an offensive fullback. His excellent speed, crossing, and ability to track back makes him perfect for the role.
- Joško Gvardiol can stretch his game out wide. Gvardiol performs at his best in a 3-CB formation, due to his unique capability to progress the ball up the pitch. His vision and passing is excellent, and could be put to serious use if he is given freedom on the pitch.
- Two strikers will be pressing the center-backs at all times. This limits the running that each forward has to do, boosting their stamina in the long run. The tactic will also apply much more pressure on a backline that enjoys knocking the ball around with no hurry.
Cons:
- Borna Sosa will almost certainly not be a starter. Sosa is a large part of the future of Croatia’s defense, and is currently one of the best wingbacks in the Bundesliga. Many large clubs, including Bayern Munich, Chelsea, and Liverpool, have been linked to the young left-back. Although the 3-5-2 formation suits Sosa perfectly, due to his wonderful offensive abilities, Perišić is a definite starter down the left flank.
- Croatia does not currently have enough reliable center-backs. Besides for Gvardiol, who is still very young, Ćaleta-Car, Pongračić, Lovren, and Vida cannot be 100% trusted due to lack of experience, skill, and game IQ. Although the next generation of center-backs looks incredible, thet Vatreni’s current conditions make the formation a bit risky.
- Ante Budimir would most likely take a starting position away from a more talented player such as Lovro Majer or Mario Pašalić. Budimir isn’t terrible, but he surely isn’t anything special nor a serious attacking threat on the biggest stage. However, Majer and Pašalić are hot prospects that know how to put the ball into the net and assist consistently. Sadly, neither Majer or Pašalić are suited for a sole striker role.
4-3-3
Pros:
- Majer and Perišić (or anyone else at LW and RW) can cover for Sosa and Juranović when they advance the ball up the pitch or make overlapping runs. As stated before, both wingbacks for the Vatreni enjoy spending time in the attacking third. This ensures that our backline is always strong in numbers and not vulnerable, as opposed to the 3-5-2 where the number of defenders is unpredictable at times.
- Sosa and Majer will both most likely start. They both offer a fresh approach to the net and a great range of skills.
- The formation is very basic, easy to adapt to, and has been used many times in the past by Dalić. There would be no need to make any drastic adjustments in the months leading up to the World Cup.
- Perišić and Sosa would make a fantastic duo down the left side of the pitch. Both players are extremely technical, excellent crossers, and pure creators. I would pay to watch that combination in the World Cup.
- Brozović would orchestrate the middle of the pitch, providing Kovačić and Modrić more freedom. As a defensive midfielder, Brozović would drop slightly above the two center-backs and act as a general while his two other midfield partners focus on offensive production and defensive duties. We all know how special Luka is when he has several yards of free space in the attacking third.
Cons:
- Kramarić would most likely start as the lone striker. This past week alone, Kramarić scored twice and drew a penalty as a secondary striker. Could he carry that form over to a new formation that leaves him isolated up top? His inconsistency for the Vatreni makes that very questionable. That’s the only serious con of this formation, but detrimental to the entire squad due to Croatia’s miserable striker problems.
Which formation do you think Dalić should field for the 2022 World Cup? Discuss!
Also call up Sučić, as a striker, kid is amazing, if young guys like mbappe,etc can play so can he, i hate dalic, very poor coach, very inconsistent on lineups, go with guys that are in form, he put in Oršić against Spain and he turned everything around
Orsic for Kramarić, sosa has to be in not juranovic, Bundesliga is tougher then cro league sorry, center back could have been nikola katic but poor guy is in rehabilitation mode, hes a beast
Budimir is actually very underrated. I think Dalic should give him a chance this world cup.
Gotta go with 4 at the back.
One of the better draw simulator sites for those that got the itch: https://draw.inker.one/#/wc/gs
The 352 suits a lot of our players natural positions/club playing styles. It also allows for more players to be near the opponents penalty box which has been our weakness of late. Plus shows off our defenders offensive skills. We need to work out the kinks though. If we’re playing tomorrow, this is my lineup;
————Krama-Pasalic
Sosa-Kova-Brozo-Modric-Perisic
—Gvardiol-Pong-DCC
——————Ivusic
Krama, Pasalic, and Modric have the freedom to roam in this lineup. However, one of Krama or Pasalic always have to be near the penalty box. Pasalic>Budimir all day.
I rate Sosa and Perisic higher than Juranovic.
If Vrsaljko or Lovren are healthy, I trust them more than Pongracic. I was really hoping to test Vrsaljko as apart of the back 3. Agree that they all look kinda shaky though.
“I rate Sosa and Perisic higher than Juranovic.”
Don’t we all? but taking Perisic, our best attacking player, who is a left attacking winger and putting him in a defensive role on the right side is a little odd. Maybe it would work “ok”. But the problem is, he is our best attacking option, and we would be taking him way out of position for the sake of adding another player sosa (whom i believe should start), while we can just start both of them. In terms of 3 in the back, we only have two solid CBs, and they complement each other well, so why try to add a third fringe defender? Sosa needs to start LB and Perisic LW.
“Pasalic>Budimir all day.”
Pasalic has the best chemistry with a very fast player uptop, yet kramaric is slow. but yeah i would like see how Pasalic/Kramaric uptop would work. Not sure why dalic is set on integrating budimir rn when he should have been years ago. We may still get some contribution out of him but its sad how he didnt get his chance when he was at his peak and we were starving for a striker at euro 2021.
Perisic has played LWB for Inter for the last 2 seasons, I’m suggesting RWB to allow Sosa to be integrated into the side. He plays on the right side at times and loves cutting in to shot with his left.
Pasalic would play more of a roaming second striker but he does like to make runs into the penalty box. This has been our issue w/ the 433; Perisic crossing it in towards one striker. This way Pasalic’s responsibility is link up play in the attacking 3rd along with being a target for crosses.
Pasalic isn’t a striker, that’s not going to work. I don’t like having to keep defending budimir but he plays as a striker, knows which space to take up, nobody else has shown that. Maybe Musa can do it, but putting pasalic up there isn’t going to work
4-4-2:
……………………………….Budimir/Musa…………………………………………
…………………………………………….Kramaric……………………………………
Perisic……………………………………………………..Orsic/Brekalo/Rebic?
……………………….Brozo………………………..Modric…………………………
…..Sosa…………………………………………………………………Juranovic….
………………………….Gvardiol……………..Caleta………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………….Ivusic……………………………………………..
I like this, but Dalić is going to figure out a way to get Kova in there somehow.
Which make me think 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 is Dalić preferred. The downside is we don’t have a striker that fits that or has shined as the tip of the trident yet.
I think we’ve seen enough of what we’ve seen over the last 4 years to want to tailor our offense to the strikers we have in form. Something that has Kramarić as second striker/false 9 is what we should continue to try in Nations League.
They need Rebic back in the team. He needs to suck it up and apologise
He needs to be playing and back in form to even be considered… šteta.
Rebic is useless he can’t hold the ball and cannot be trusted to provide results. He had 3 terrible games on the Euro campaign where he started more often than not. He also put of form and prone to injuries now. There are no positives with him. I am sorry but he should not come back and until he proves himself.
No mention of Martin Erlic for Centre-back option?
Also our current squad cannot play 3-5-2 ….the last 2 games proved it. End of discussion.
FYI you need alteast one pure ST and we do not have that yet….in future possibly with Šimić and Musa.
The team is still crap Maybe they make it out of the group stage at the WC.
Easy there Holiga
A DI je Livaja
I also think Livaja needs one more chance up front. I have no idea why him and Orsic were not paired together up front, Orsic is more forward thinking and on a striker position for Dinamo I personally think that Dalic made some mistakes with his pairings in the second match with Bulgaria. It maybe that people were missing and unable to play, and lack of options and wanting players to rest but it didn’t work.
The choices and pairings need to be more strategic than what they were in that second game. Maybe a 4-4-3 would have been better. These decisions and formations have to be decided based on the team that’s played, I think, as it may not be suited against every team. For example, would this work against France, or against a stronger team? If so how, our defence would be stretched out, and to top things off we would need a much stronger goalie to justify and hold that back line when things go awry.
Figure out the goalmen and the rest will look after itself- this is probably our worse class of WC goaltending ever and without some divine intervention , we can have a wall up in front of the goal and still lose-
That maybe the case, but you can’t just leave it open either. You have to compensate for that weakness, and until a better more suited goalie comes along that is all we can do unfortunately. Otherwise, you stretch the defence, like what happened with Real Madrid and Barcelona can happen (an utter disaster).
Why no one mentioned jedvaj? He is playing well in russia. Uremovic too who has moved to championship.
How abt sunic in birmingham?
Toni bokrenovic too.
We have issue with RW..robert muric is doing well at rijeka..with many goals and assists..he dares to take on players.
We have at least four CBs who are younger and better in Gvardiol, Duje, Pongracic, and Stanisic. Plus we still have the old guys in Lovren and Vida (and the locker room mascot in Skoric).
Only two will start from this group, and Jedvaj had a lot of chances already. CBs aren’t the problem anyway.
The only reason Jedvaj and Uremovic were really given time was because of our RB problem. But Juranovic has really stepped up this past year, and is a lock to start there. Vrsaljko will be backup. Stanisic can be the stop gap in case of suspensions or injury.
Should probably play 4-3-3 (or 4-5-1 whatever) due to the talent level.
Sosa is too good to bench. In qualifying, we played excellent and pounded a tough Cyprus team…then drew a not-so-impressive Slovakia in Osijek when we benched Sosa.
We need his creativity on the left side and his chemistry with Perisic is excellent (and we only got a small taste of it).
I would still call up Musa and test him out with Kramaric together. Maybe go with a 4-4-2 by swaping out Kovacic and going with Perisic, Broz, Modric, and Majer in the middle (with Musa and Krama up top so that Krama gets his strike partner).
But at this point, I think that would just be best used as a substitution change (like we did against Spain when we brought in the bench mob in Budimir, Pasalic and Orsic).
I think everyone likes the Sosa, Gvardiol, Duje, Juranovic backline.
What’s most important is that we play these four and don’t mess around with Lovren or Vida being starters.
Perisic, Modric, Broz, Kovacic and Kramaric are starters too…and it’s just a matter of whether or not we start Majer or Orsic on that right side, or try and tweak the formation (probably as a substitution tactic) to give Krama a strike partner.
We haven’t really given our tall strikers a chance to work with the Sosa/Juranovic combo. I have a feeling that Budimir or Musa would be very useful when used with our wingbacks. But I don’t think we’ve ever actually had them on the field at the same time.
We need to see this in the UNL games.
We also need to give Ivusic more time too. We need to see what he can do when under pressure from a good team.
3-5-2 did not look good even against Slovenia when we had our strongest team on the field. We did not create too many chances and our defensive set up was not really tested till the last 15 -20 minutes when Slovenia opened up a bit.
Against Bulgaria it looked even worse and our defence was often exposed for lack of pace and poor positioning. Bulgaria played a through ball for their goal with our three defenders positioned on the half way line. The central defender should have been 5-10 metres on our half of the field to intercept that pass.
WC is only 7 months away and there is no time to experiment any more with formations. I would stick with our 4231 or 433 depending on opponents.
Against France for example I would use 451 and hope to catch them on the break.
I worry about our defence. I don’t think that Dalic is any wiser in regards to goalkeeping position. Ivusic left a better impression than Livakovic. However, he only has three caps for the team. Ivusic needs to keep in NL against France, Denmark and Austria to see how he copes. Grbic is a goner unless he finds a club and starts keeping. This means that Lovre Kalinic would be our third choice.
As far as CB are concerned I think it is clear that Vida is the worst defender we have in that position. Lovren if fit and playing regularly in my opinion can still contribute with his experience. Gvardiol and DCC will carry the defence for many years to come. Pongracic has been a bit dissapointing for me. He has had a few injuries and glandular fever in recent years and does not play enough at club level and hence his development has stagnated. We also need to keep an eye on Josip Sutalo he is talented and looks promising as a CB.
I would also like to see Vrsaljko back on RHS, he is much better player defensively than Josipovic or Stanisic. On the LHS it is Sosa and Barisic.
Budimir
Perisic. Kramaric
Kovacic. Modric
Broz
Sosa. Gvardiol. Car. Juranovic
Ivusic
4-3-3 for me, Majer super sub….maybe swap Lovren for Car IF he transfers AND plays regularly.
[*] I have to say 3-5-2 without Lovren and Vida [*]
…………………….Budimir………………………..
………….Kramaric…………………………………
Sosa…….Modric………Kovacic…….Perisic
……………………Brozovic………………………..
……Gvardiol…CaletaCar…BornBarisic……
………………… Ivica Ivucic …………………….
Borna Barisic also can do defense well ~
and going forward _ with his speed …
this formation will be the answer! ||
Where is god of Halilovic?