Written by Slavonac From Canada
Mislav Oršić has caught fire with Dinamo Zagreb this season and although it has taken him a few weeks to gain some momentum, he’s proven once again that he can score BIG goals in BIG games.
So far, Oršić has scored five goals in eight Champions League games while tallying six goals in 10 HNL matches. Oršić has bagged goals against AC Milan, Chelsea, Hajduk and Bode/Glimt this year; putting his finger print on nearly every important game Dinamo has played in the young season.
The Croatian national team has struggled with an “all out” striker. The Vatreni have three ‘False 9’ attackers (Petković, Kramarić, Livaja), but none of them are true strikers that can draw any attention to themselves in the final third. They all play better away from the 18-yard box anyways.
I’m curious to know if Oršić can be the type of striker that causes defenders to concentrate on him at all times, no matter where he goes on the field. Oršić can score goals from distance and he can also beat defenders one on one. It’s proven. We’ve seen him do it against elite competition in Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham, AC Milan. He comes through in the clutch. Simple as that.
Oršić is most dangerous on the counter-attack so I can’t imagine why Dalić wouldn’t offer him an opportunity considering Krama, Budimir, Čolak, or Livaja haven’t stepped up to the plate to fill the true #9 role since Mandžukić left in 2018.
I think Oršić would get the job done. Why has Dalić not pulled the trigger on this option?
I like Orsic at 9 although its a bit late to experiment. I like having our most talented players on the pitch and he is certainly one of our best. Majer should be at right wing.
@ Slavonac
Most of those guys have powerful legs that explode into space.
Pioli knows a guy who has good size and powerful legs:
https://sempremilan.com/mn-pioli-delighted-rebic-injury-time-needed
I think you and I are on our own island bro!
😉
Playing Orsic as a striker will never happen. The man is small in stature and physically he cannot compete against tall and strong central defenders. He would be lost in that position. I would go for Petkovic, despite him being lazy. The man is tall and has a physical presence on the field. He can hold and shield the ball, he is not bad in the air and can score goals. He also has the skill to set up other players like he did Orsis against AC Milan and Chelsea with that header.
We need him to be fit and able to last 60 to 70 minutes before replacing him with fresh legs.
Petkovic has everything, except speed and endurance.
Such a shame because it seems like those two things could have been improved upon if he got himself a trainer and got into fitness.
If he did this after his breakout moment (when he was scoring a goal per game for us during Euro qualifications) he would’ve been on a big club by now and got himself a nice fat contract. Those Barca rumors probably would have actually came true and we wouldn’t be talking about our striker problem anymore.
Not sure I want to get into this conversation again….Kun Aguera, Carlos Tevez, Messi, Walcott, Chicharito….these are a few off the top of my head…all great goal scorers. There’s more to scoring that being tall!
True.
I guess in terms of tactics, since we are playing against two teams who we will be dominating possession against (Morocco and Canada), I am going to assume that we won’t be needing a speedy forward for pressing or counterattacking purposes.
Bruno Petkovic probably makes the most sense since these two teams will probably try and pack the middle to limit Modric and Brozovic, and just take their chances with whatever happens when we decide to go wide with guys like Perisic, Sosa, or Juranovic.
Bruno loves to operate in those tight spaces, and will create space using his body, and nutmeg a few Moroccans and Canadians with his futsal skills to create scoring chances.
If we lose possession, I assume it will be for short spells and our team probably won’t be relying on counter attacks from our striker.
Belgium is a completely different beast, and in this game I’m not sure who exactly is the best striker option here.
We may opt to play them the way we played France in Paris in June.
We’re good at defending when we want to, and Belgium’s defense has dropped off a lot over the past several years.
Springing counters against them would be a good option. We could also probably dominate possession against them too…but possession would be pretty even (similar to our recent France win).
I’d be worried about Petkovic not doing his part defensively though, and whether he would be effective when we do not have possession.
Orsic, I think, would be great on counters…but at this point, I’d hate to experiment during a potential do-or-die match that will determine our knockout round path.
Dalic will probably opt for Kramaric or Budimir against Belgium.
Yes, but Orsic is not in their class.
STRIKER/FORWARD
PETKOVIC/KRAMA/BUDIMIR/LIVAJA
PASALIC/BREKALO/IVANUSEC
^^^^
Rebić better than all these options as a #9.
I wonder when he comes back and goes on a tear which he is capable, there materializes an opportunity?
Unfortunately for Rebić his health has been the real issue.
Musa ?
U21 options ?
Marin Ljubicic
Šimić
We need speed and aggression up top.
Hard running.
———————Orsic—————————————
—————————————————Majer———
Perisic————————Modric———————
——————Kovacic—————————————
——————————-—-Brozovic———————
Sosa———Gvardiol———————-Juranovic
————————————Sutalo————————
—————————Livakovic—————————
This is the most dangerous team we can field at the moment… This is how we should operate on the field… ABCD… it ain’t that hard to see it.. Dalic will bring it!
Writing is on the wall.. the guys he called up now are the guys he is interested in the most…. if all were to stay healthy this is starting team he should choose for World Cup… I doubt he will call COLAK because it is the Scottish league after all and if he thought so high of him he would have been there for NATIONS LEAGUE….(Still think he should have gave him a chance)…MUSA was well on target but got screwed with COVID during JUNE CALLUPS (if he can get hot I’d rather see him as Portugal League is much higher class then Scottish). We need depth in positions and from previous NATIONS LEAGUE AND EURO basically we need to cover guys for our starting trio especially (MODRIC/KOVACIC/BROZOVIC) and he has historically used the players listed below..
STRIKER/FORWARD
PETKOVIC/KRAMA/BUDIMIR/LIVAJA
PASALIC/BREKALO/IVANUSEC
MIDFIELD
VLASIC/SUCIC/JAKIC
DEFENCE
BARISIC ERLIC STANISIC LOVREN VIDA
GOALIES
KALINIC/IVUSIC
THIS SHOULD BE THE PICK BASED ON EXPERIENCE AND QUALITY period from what DALIC has utilized up to now..
Jebi ga it’s the WORLD CUP…. some veterans have to be there it is vital for team spirit and unity!
That’s 28 players listed above here.. I forget what the max call up can be but I believe 2-3 players will be dropped from above.. now the question is who would you drop from above??
Injuries to any of the above in my eyes will warrant calls to the following based on most current history with the team and form
Colak Musa
Biuk Moro
DCC Pograncic
GRBIC
I like that starting 11 but idk about the formation and don’t get why sutalo is pulled back closer or if that was a mistake
I would try Pasalic- only player who knows how to position himself in the box, and excellent on headers.
Anybody notice Kramaric in the last two matches playing with the ball on the wing and trying to cross the ball into the penalty area – where he was supposed to be?
https://bleacherreport.com/post/croatia-international-football/4cd9ab46-fb1a-4657-8301-6e034c93f38b
Infinity Modrić . Lmfao !!
Why can’t we produce one Haaland in 20 years ?
Tall and explosive scoring beast.
Something needs to shift in our production line.
Somehow Serbs got a killer striker. How the heck can’t we
I’d rather have Slovenia’s Benjamin Šeško over anything the Serbs have.
They have two excellent strikers – Vlahovic and Mitrovic, who right now is in better form.
This is the best team Serbia has ever had as a stand alone country.
Agree with your comments. Mitrovic is a goal scoring machine, super strong in the air. Serbia has a very strong team, with a good coach in Stojkovic. Their weak point is the defence. With Brazil, the Swiss and Cameroon in the group, this in my opinion is the group of death.
Serbia plays Brazil in the first match which is not ideal and if they lose as many predict it will be hard for them to progress from the group. Historically, teams losing the opening match more often than not don’t make it out of the group.
Serbia is always touted as some dark horse but they never deliver.
They’re only relevant by association (with us). People still consider Croats and Serbs as the same thing, and it trickles into sport.
It’s the reason why Real blew all that money on Luka Jovic. Probably blew their load at having another ‘Luka’, ha ha.
I agree that their striker with the Croatian last name (Vlahovic) is absolutely elite. I do like Mitrovic as a target man up top too. They have great striker options.
Unfortunately, the striker options are kind of wasted if you don’t have a good midfield…and I feel like Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is like Serbia’s version of Mateo Kovacic.
Both are extremely talented but both also have a ‘beta’ mentality. Neither are the alpha male types who can take their country to the next level.
Maybe it’s because both were born and raised outside of the Balkans into friendly little Western European societies, and were raised without ever feeling that hunger.
Kovacic is lucky because he is just a role player with us (with Modric and Brozovic taking the leads in midfield) so expectations from him are minimal. But Serbia really needs Milinkovic-Savic to own that midfield and finally take them out of the group phase of a tournament. Unless he has an amazing tournament, I can’t see it happening.
I don’t know as much as some of you with regard to football strategy and tactics but I like the idea of having a speedy front line putting relentless pressure on the opponent, especially with the deft passing of Croatia’s world class midfield. How do you think a front line of Perisic, Rebic and Orsic (all of whom can finish as well) would work?
that looks like a high energy attack…who knows but I think it would be nice to see…but we never will!
Especially now that we have an insanely speedy backline too
Dalic as our manager should take every option into consideration for our starting forward. The last Euros we had no striker that was consistent besides Perisic..but he’s a winger. I would go with Pasalic. It’s an easy choice. Ever since him being called up the national teams he’s made quite an impression on me. Not to mention he equalized the tying goal against Spain un the 5-3 loss. Pasalic has had a slow start with Atalanta but it’s only been a month into the season. He’s perfect for our striker. Kramaric is too inconsistent, Rebic has the skills but refuses to listen with his behavioral issues. I could see Brekalo on the wing with Perisic paired with him. The Orsic or Pasalic in the middle. That’s just my two cents.
Can you list Rebic’s “behavioral issues”? Honestly, I’m only aware that he posted a mean tweet after the loss to Spain.
If Rebic can help the team, let alone if he’s good enough to start, it would be a CRIME for Dalic to put his stubbornness ahead of at least extending an olive branch to Rebic.
When we played Spain, Rebic decided to change his soccer shoes while Spain was on the attack…and then Spain scored. After the tournament Dalic mentioned something about that play and the media started the “turmoil” rumours…things got worse from there. Rebic then went to Instagram and posted comments about how shitty we did qualifying for the Euros and our shitty results in Nations League (he wasn’t wrong)…he simply called out Dalic publicly! Since then, Rebic never apologized and Dalic has never invited Rebic back to the team!
Bla, bla bla. Who cares? I don’t really think it matters who we put up front. All our forward options have different strengths and all of them are at about the same level from a quality standpoint. I’d advise Dalic to tailor the attackers to the opponent. If our scouting points out a defence that has trouble with high balls, corners and set plays send in some tall, physical guys; if the defence is slow, send in our speediest; if the defence lacks skill send in our dribblers. There’s no this guy, that guy anymore, Mandzo is gone…it’s time to be tactically astute. Play to your strengths and your opponents weaknesses!
It’s not our forward line that will get us anywhere this tourney (defences win trophies, and an awesome midfield also doesn’t hurt). Our forwards just have to pop a few in when the chances arise. These guys are professional athletes. Any one of them should be able to put the ball in the net if called upon to do so.
Bog i Hrvati
true
…but sometimes it’s not just about the striker scoring goals.
A major part of why Mandzo was so useful was his pressing and defense.
I see a lot of people wanting to put Pasalic up top, but he isn’t technically gifted like the other options…and it could mess up our ability to make quick accurate passes if we defend and counter.
I agree with tailoring our striking to our opponent, but it also sucks if the player negatively impacts all the other elements of our game.
“Play to your strengths and your opponents weaknesses!”
Those two things don’t always jive though so in certain instances if options A, B or C doesn’t provide an advantage over the other, then it’s probably best to go with your best team/do what you do best and throw caution to the wind.
I would agree with every part except the Livaja stepping up he just did in the past game not sure how you could miss that, however I am not against Orsic having the shot he is great player.
At this point trying Orsic up front would be worth a shot and isn’t a bad idea. He has a knack for coming up big. The only problem is that it’s too little too late for that experiment. Many on this site shit on Dalic for various reasons and although not perfect, he has been trying different combinations. Back in 2018, Rebic and Perisic often swapped sides on the wing. Both were LW players. There’s no reason why we couldn’t do that again. It confuses the D and also gives each player the ability to play a bit on their preferred wing to get them going.
Obviously taking Perisic off his preferred wing isn’t ideal, but he’s also had games where he hasn’t been ‘on’.
I too am a Rebic fan. Although a bit of a headcase, his skill set is something we could really use at RW or as he’s proved a little bit with Milan, even playing up top. He won’t be back though.
So now that Sosa is regularly our LB, having a target man up front who’s an aerial threat is more important than ever. Sadly, we don’t have that player either.
I watched the U21 games this past week. Romo Simic will likely solve our problem as our striker in the future. He’s tenacious, technical and has decent speed for a tall player. Love his game. He has that fight than not all players have.
If only he had a few more years of experience….
At the very least, Roko Simic appears to be a poor man’s Mandzukic.
Roko is a bench player at the moment and he needs time to keep developing, I don’t think he’s ready for a call-up just yet!
No not yet. Maybe during the next cycle, since he fills a need for a tall striker up top.
I think this season is a learning year for Roko, until Benjamin Šeško moves to Leipzig next season.
Budimir is older now, and not scoring for his team either, so we may as well begin to transition to the younger tall strikers we have. Roko and Musa will probably be brought in slowly, once they get more club minutes.
that would make sense
You fuckwits might enjoy this:
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/sport/article/best-world-cup-football-kits-of-all-time
I see the “eye roll” comment regarding Lovren’s goal has been edited out of the article about Croatia’s victory over Austria. WTF was that about? The sycophant toady Stockholm syndrome mentally of the lynch mob: Lovren gets labeled the heretic villain on this site and all the morally weak people just join the crowd and start hating on the guy; it’s the fashionable thing on this site. Like wearing a Ukrainian flag pin on your lapel, WOW! that takes so much courage!
I understand you think Croatia has better options at that position but one guy actually uses the pseudonym “Lovren is Sh##” on this site – you don’t talk about your own people that way unless Lovren is a traitor. And Lovren doesn’t do player selections. Should he stop trying?
And what is the big blunder that Lovren has made that cost Croatia some big game? You do realize the other team is trying to score and that the nature of the center back position means they’ll get blamed for goals more often than other players, right?
In 2018 Lovren was the starting center back for Liverpool who made the Champions League Final and he was actually the best player for Liverpool in that Final. He then went on to have a stellar WC for Croatia.
I hear what ur saying, but when was the last time you watched lovren? Most people are just scared dalic will think because he scored a goal he deserves to be back in the squad, but in truth, our youngsters deserve the spot more for multiple reasons…
Okay, but is that an excuse to join the “Lovren is Sh##” lynch mob of sycophant Stockholm syndrome moral coward toadies like “Iggy”? e.g. only a complete moron and total moral coward would say the Ukraine-Russia conflict is as simple as “Duhh, Russia bad, Ukraine good”.
I deal with people like “Iggy” all the time: I EXPLAIN to a person how his certain point of view is moronic or cowardly and dishonest, and then he’ll just proceed to prove he’s a cowardly moron by essentially repeating the view I just proved was moronic or cowardly and dishonest; and he does so completely oblivious that he proved my point.
I despise people who NEVER go against the crowd when the crowd is wrong and/or has taken the side of horse####.
Remember when our guys sang Glory to Ukraine or whatever just before the Russia QF and we thought they were not wrong but silly for the timing lol, looks like they were spot on and good on em in retrospect
No, they were wrong. You are utterly ignorant of geopolitics, and all your comments on this site show that you are the ‘sycophant toady with Stockholm syndrome’ that I described in my comment above.
100%. Our national team has always played with slow strikers cause we never really had a person with pace to put up top. Players like Modric are used to feeding faster players anyways and it could make for some really nice through balls. Orsic has enough value with his speed and potential counter-attacks whereas we get nothing out of our strikers like kramaric it feels
Orsic is best used as a sub. Perisic doesn’t move. Period. He is World Class where he is, only good in other positions. Why move him? And for the love of everything holy, please stop with the Rebic nonsense. He stinks and is always injured.
Bećar, the comment wasn’t to reinvent the wheel, it was regarding our striker problem. So far, we really don’t have a true striker other than Budimir and he’s not scoring. The question was, now that we only seem have have a bunch of guys that play the false 9 (Krama, Petkovic, Livaja) would it be a good idea to try Orsic as a striker?! That’s all, nothing more. We never said to move Perisic, quite the opposite because he’s most effective where he currently plays!
I hear ya, I guess I’m just tired of the contradictions. A lot of people here slam Dalic because of his ill timed experiments, yet here we are begging for one in the last warmup game before the big show.
I actually still believe that Budimir is best suited for the role. I like his effort and tenacity and he’s shown in La Liga that he can deliver. He really hasn’t been given a fair shot yet. I think that most would agree that Sosa and Juranovic will deliver better service than Barisic and Stanisic, yet that’s who Budimir had to play with.
Two words…
Marko. Pjaca. 😉
Ok this is my final offer. Zlatko my brother, try this formation first half against Saudi Arabia, if doesn’t work go with whatever you know best.
3412
Sutalo, erlic, gvardiol
Perisic, modric, brozovic, sosa
Majer
Petkovic, orsic
This team has everything. Pace, width, power, skill, creativity and control. Even height! Plus no one is beating the back 3. Too good
Livaja for petko, krama for orsic, vlasic for majer. Kova for broz or tired luka. Sorted. Perisic at right wingback is not a problem. He will deliver. His best goal last season was from the right side, stunning nutmeg and left foot finish into top corner. Orsic and petko? They know how to make each other better.
It’s a good lineup, but it’s just a 4-4-2 with Perisic playing RW. 🙂
A lot of the formations revolve with Perisic on left side obviously
We can all agree he is basically Ronaldo there
But I still feel I’d take Perisic on right and petko and orsic on left
It would be still so bloody dangerous
Somehow we have to get Orsic and Perisic on at the same time if possible
But if we have to take orsic as the super sub. His reputation now will rattle many
Imagine we play England and he comes on in the 70th minute fresh
They would shit their pants
Crnkovic I agree with your line up. Forgot to add a goalkeeper. I think Ivica Ivusic should be our number 1. Livakovic nema mudu. Guy won’t come out of the 6 yard box. For once we have a solid defense. Unfortunately Livakovic is a huge liability
Sosa gvardiol sutalo
Broz luka kova majer
Perisic. Orsic. Vlasic
Too thin on defence is my guess?
we aren’t the best at 3 in the back bro!
Forced rest for luka and broz
Not the worst thing
Gives some other rest for other potential stressed joints
They will both come back hungry
2022 world champs brothers!
I wish we had more time to try orsic and colak but we all know more or less the line up will be krama up top
Sosa chose Germany and was denied on technicality.
Rebić makes boneheaded post and he is banished for life?
@ Slavonac
Thank you for your Rebić evaluation.
He brings a dynamic skill set we lack.
No one is saying he is prime Alen Boksic.
But he has scored 26+ goals at AC Milan who are the reigning Serie A champions.
Oršić needs to get on the field and if by circumstance our most dynamic attacker plays in his position on the LW, in the form of Ivan Perišić, then he has to find a new spot.
We are 4 years removed from peak Mandžukić and will still have no one even close to his production.
I’ll take Oršić speed over any other slow weak alternatives.
Have I mentioned Ante Rebić ?!
😉
Would it be fair to the team for him to apologize now and come back?
We all know he won’t apologize… but I sure wish I was wrong
He could cause some problems for defenders no doubt
Sosa apologized, Rebić did not. End of story. I’m a Rebić fan, but if the guy hasn’t begged for forgiveness yet, he must be an idiot, or a trouble maker. We don’t need either in our dressing room.
I still don’t think Sosa had anything to apologise for but that’s just me. Rebic on the other hand has a lot of growing up to do.
Speed kills- play Orsic to push the D back and as many have already noted- this will open up the mid field- you have to look at starting Orsic- take the Rimac out of the garage and let it go.
Ok, but only if you pronounce it like the Limeys do.
Re-MACK
Beauty car- regardless how the manga-cakes pronounce it.
https://twitter.com/Football__Tweet/status/1575155359848824836?s=20&t=hafAoRMdqqq34WC3bU_GuQ
so I saw this on another thread, figured someone was just putting up BS. But seems its true, Modric indeed is hurt. Doesn’t seem serious (they say he’s out for 10 days, 2 weeks), but still, something to keep an eye on.
https://therealchamps.com/2022/09/28/real-madrid-luka-modric-injury/#:~:text=Modric%20seems%20to%20have%20suffered,the%20El%20Clasico%20against%20Barcelona.
I like Orsic because he’s been red hot these past two years. I really want us to find a good role for him (whether it’s starting or as our main joker off the bench).
He bailed us out in the Euro2020 Spain game (that impact off the bench was all Orsic) and he’s been doing this for Dinamo in both Europa and Champions League.
Orsic is arguably the single biggest reason Dalic wasn’t fired after the Spain game. Had it ended 3-1, he would have probably been let go (especially after all the disappointment in him from key players).
Problem for Dalic is that he’s usually pretty set on sticking with the status quo.
Unfortunately, the status quo are Kramaric and Budimir…and neither are scoring for their clubs this season. Since both are 31 years of age, maybe this is the start of their decline.
I like that Colak is hot right now, so he’s definitely worth trying in friendlies…but it’s a small sample. Orsic has been doing this for the past several years.
Petkovic suddenly playing better is another option, but he has his negatives too.
But form is everything, so trying out Orsic in another role so he can get more time would be worth trying in the next round of friendlies.
Petkovic and Colak are also two players we need to try in these friendlies.
I wouldn’t bother trying out Krama and Budimir, as we know roughly what we’re getting with them.
I would try Orsic up top with Perisic and probably Majer at RW.
Since Orsic and Majer played together at Dinamo, maybe their chemistry will shine (like it did when they score the winner against Denmark last week).
If he’s out of place at striker (and Majer doesn’t impress at RW), then I would try him at RW and see how it goes.
If none of it is a success, then I guess his role is to be the first man off the bench when we sub out Perisic.
Playing Orsic, Bruno and Majer together (as bench options) is not the worst thing in the World and we all saw what they did to Denmark together.
Would be great if we could integrate some of that technically gifted magic into our starting lineup (especially in those two positions of need at RW and Striker).
Also, I no longer see any difference between Kramaric and Orsic anymore (in terms of negatives).
We’re fine to play Krama up top in key Nations League games, but we’re completely against trying Orsic?
Krama hasn’t been scoring for two seasons, and has admitted that he’s not keen on playing up top.
Maybe we just look at the data and listen to him.
However, Orsic does seem like he’s strictly a LW player.
If that’s the case, then fine, we’ll use him off the bench…but it’s worth trying him out as striker in a friendly (Colak too).
Anything else will probably have to wait until Euro2024 qualifiers.
ANDREJ KRAMARIC
Pros:
– Elite technical/dribbling ability
– Excellent finisher (when in scoring position)
– Very underrated header (something we do not take advantage)
Cons:
– Club scoring has gone down dramatically (start of his decline at age 31?)
– Physically weak (easily pushed off the ball, always trying to avoid contact)
– Overdribbles (always looking for the perfect shot that never comes)
MISLAV ORSIC
Pros:
– Elite technical/dribbling ability
– Excellent finisher (both inside and outside the box)
– Very impactful; Presence is always immediately felt when he’s out there (in the LW position specifically)
– Makes the most of every opportunity (doesn’t overdribble, and knows exactly when to take the shot or pass it to the open teammate)
Cons:
– Seems to be invisible on the field, unless he’s playing his favored LW position
– Physically weak (although he doesn’t seem to try and avoid it as much as Krama does)
– No header (or at least I’ve never seen one from him)
only prob is, the next “round of friendlies” is just 1 game, against Saudi Arabia (unless there is another open date we don’t have an opponent for yet?). I suspect Dalic will prob not institute any major changes to try out in our final friendly. We’ll see
Hmmm…I thought there would be at least two games from now until World Cup.
Guess not.
Oh well. Dalic’s hesitation to try new things may cost us. 🙂
A few other teams still have 2 friendlies left. So there may be an open date where we can still schedule someone. But I haven’t heard that anything is cooking on that front
Slavonac, put the trava down. 😘
Orsic is a sub if Perisic goes down, but I think that’s where it ends. After seeing what Dalic did against Austria, I think Orsic becomes less of a 2nd option and more of a desperation play.
Majer and Vlasic have something special when they play together that brings out the quickness we need up top. Throw in a traditional CF in there, and life is good.
just brainstorming. we have a terrible problem with our attack so I’m asking the question
We’ll only have the problem for the first 60 minutes of the game.
Then, you sub on Orsic, Petkovic and Majer and watch them take the opposition by surprise.
😉
Why not consider playing without true striker given our midfield talent? Spain did it and won 2 euros and a world cup! I wouldn’t mind seeing the set up below as starting 11.
Ivušić
Juranović – Šutalo – Gvardiol- Sosa
Brozovic
Modric Kovacic
Majer Pasalic Perisic
Nah. We have the ability to play both Gegenpressing and Tika-Taka.
We have some strong, fast physical dudes (like Gvardiol) and we have creative, technically elite dudes (Modric, Brozovic)…so why not use both styles?
If we go full scale Tika-Taka, then you can never play Pasalic (who you have in your lineup) because he’s better as someone who presses and joins the play without the ball. He’s not elite enough technically to play Tika-Taka.
Petkovic or Kramaric would be the technically gifted striker you want for this.
So you would pretty much have to remove players like Pasalic from your team entirely or never ever play them (like how Spain never plays Adama Traore).
We had a lot of success at the last World Cup by playing our pressing game and making use of the pressing talents of players like Mandzukic and Rebic (for example).
We have been pressing well in the most recent Nations League games to immediately win back the ball (Gegenpressing) and once we have it, we’ve been making good use of our dribbling ability (Tika-Taka).
It’s not full-scale tika-taka, but it’s a healthy combination of ‘gegenpressing’ and ‘tika-taka’ that takes advantage of both sets of skills that physically strong (yet technically creative) Croatian players produce.
It’s an attractive brand of football too, so we need to keep going with it.
This is also why I was concerned about Biscan eventually becoming coach one day, as he doesn’t seem to play like this with the U21s.
That said. Your lineup isn’t bad and would probably work.
But Pasalic’s role would simply be to try and get his head on the end of those Sosa crosses, or clean up any messes that other players put on goal…and wwen we don’t have the ball, he should just be nonstop pressing.
I wouldn’t have him touch the ball otherwise.
No
Unfortunately, he has many negatives as well as the other guys we’ve tried at striker.
It’s so dissapointing that we’ve had 4 years to groom a replacement for Mandžukic and haven’t come close.
What’s up with all this Rebic talk??? He will never play under Dalic again. Never going to happen. The guy went full “high school drama” on Dalic and blasted him on Insta. And then pulled the post. Not going to happen.
Krama, Budimir shooting blanks. But I really did want to see Colak this international break. Shame he didn’t get his shot.
I confess, I’m a closet Rebic fan and I do wish he would have apologized to Dalic and put the past behind them.
I’ve said this many many times in the past and I know many disagree with me but Rebic has tools that few have…especially when he is in form!
Ante Rebic has speed, he can kill defenders with his quick turns and his high energy, constant desire to keep trying to win every duel makes him valuable. Defenders can’t rest when he’s on the field.
Now, the complaint is that he loses the ball, it bounces off of him and he can be erratic at times but ask yourself this. How often do we see a player that thrives on 1 v 1 all the time? Rebic never quits which means the defender marking him has to be aware for the entire 90 minutes…and…the opposing defenders can’t play around with the ball because he’s super fast and sees every loose ball as his ball….only Olic did that for us in the past. I’ve seen Rebic at his best and a good Rebic is pretty much better than anyone we’ve had…whether he loses the ball or not. His quick turns and 1 v 1 explosiveness is something we lack right now…this is why he has been soo important at AC Milan…when he’s in form and healthy.
Kvartuc is right, he won’t be coming back and I really wish he did come back. Only Majer can compete with him for a spot on right wing, the rest can carry his shoes!
Dalić gave him a chance as a striker at the 2020 Euros. He spent the whole game vs Spain walking…and decided to change his shoes during the match.
Once he was subbed, we came back from a 3-1 deficit to score two late goals.
He really has no one to blame other than himself. Great athlete? Yes. Not the brightest bulb and low soccer IQ.
Yes Colak should’ve got a shot this month since he is on fire this season. And Petar Musa should’ve started playing for the Vatreni in March
Orsic cant play alone up top. He can play there if he has another with him to do the bits he cant do. Same for all our strikers, they are each brilliant at some of the striker role but lacking in others. That’s the problem with 433.
Orsic can: dribble, finish, shoot, has pace, movement behind defence.
Cant: head the ball, play with back to goal or link play
Krama can: finish, dribble, link play
Cant: no pace, weak presence, win headers
Petkovic can: hold up the ball, win headers, physically strong, link play, great flair and vision.
Cant: no pace, cant finish, poor work rate
Livaja can: finish, create, imposing and confident attitude, link play well.
Cant: no pace, poor stamina, hold up ball.
Budimir can: run all day, win headers, finish, hold up ball.
Cant: dribble, link play, create.
So there is our problem. Musa is probably better all round than any of the above but hasn’t played enough top football yet. Same for simic, matanovic, ljubicic.
For me it has to be petkovic or livaja because despite lacking pace they can make themselves useful with strength and skill and link with the midfield. The only other way is to drop one of our 3 midfielders and put two of the front men in together. Or play 352 with perisic at wingback
between Petkovic and Livaja I think Livaja is the better true striker option. As I say that I just can’t stop thinking that he’s not effective enough so we are back to looking for a secondary solution where we ask ourselve’s who is our best option as a false 9….which is why I brought up Orsic as a possibility.
you mentioned:
Orsic can: dribble, finish, shoot, has pace, movement behind defence.
Cant: head the ball, play with back to goal or link play
Orsic can head the ball and when it comes to playing with his back to the goal….to be honest, I don’t think any of us have seen him in that position because every week I watch him play he always finds the room to turn forward as he receives the ball…or, he quickly passes back and makes his run. As far as linking the play goes….watch him on the wing, he’s always making short passes and then looking for the holes to run into so he can receive a pass.
Playing as a striker is definitely difficult and he’s not the “hold up” type….but neither are many strikers that like to play with the ball in front of them. Stretching the defenders out to the last millimeter and playing the offside trap, making runs outside to create space for the attacking midfield or wing player. I don’t think its impossible for Orsic to play a deep lying attacker…he has stamina and can get back and he also has wheels and he can counter attack well!
If we keep reverting back to what we’ve already tried then this conversation is going to go in circles.
Good thinking Slavonac
I have wondered about it before.
Maybe it’s his aerial ability? Guy has a nose for goal No one scores as much as he has the last couple of years, especially in big games
For that reason I would think perisic has the advantage of converting to a striker
But as you say he is king on the wing
If I’m not mistaken we only have one friendly or are there two?
I agree we already know what krama/budimir bring.
Livaja has shown he could be a good sub but let’s keep him there
I wonder what luka thinks
Surely he knows better then pretty much anyone including dalic
Perisic is a creator and a scorer from left wing. The day we remove him from that position is the day we expect to see less scoring chances….he’s simply world class!
I bet Modric would like Dalic to have a little less tunnel vision. Dalic has done a fantastic job for us all but he does tend to stick to his guns, even when everything points to him being wrong…and only then will he consider changing his mind.
Thanks Kvartuc, for posting my question and comments.
We’ve been talking about our striker problem since Mandzukic retired and its recently been all over Croatian media, how Dalic has a striker problem.
I bet most here have played the game at different levels. Playing at one club is different than playing at another…with different players lining up along-side of you. My preferred position was always as an attacking midfielder or right wing but many teams would use me as a striker. I’ve played with many different types of players in my life and while playing with them I form an opinion. Funny thing about that is that once I quit playing and eventually started coaching, I noticed my perspective drastically changed. As a player I really got pissed off at the Olic, Rebic type players because I felt they had limited vision and skills and I didn’t value their work rate and the ability to win back the ball as much as I do now, as a spectator.
I would never suggest Orsic play at striker if we actually had an effective striker but since we don’t I thought I’d throw the idea out there. Overall, I like Orsic but truly he’s never really made me think about him as our starting left wing, that spot is reserved for King Perisic! Right up until last night I never once thought Orsic could be a striker and then I asked myself “why not”? Orsic bangs in goals from 22 yards out….and…he does this regularly. Orsic just outran a 70 million Euro defender to score on a breakaway vs Chelsea. Orsic also connected on a brilliant wall pass with Petkovic, scoring a phenomenal goal. He’s scored against West Ham, Tottenham, Chelsea, AC Milan…damn…he scores in soo many BIG games I have to ask myself why he wouldn’t be able to score as a striker? Scoring is an art in itself…soo many players freeze and stress when they’re about to score (Kovacic) and this guy Orsic scores from 22 yards out against massive EPL teams….scoring is scoring…finding the way is the key!
I don’t know if we even have time to experiment with Orsic at striker but in my opinion, I’m really tired of Krama and Budimir shooting blanks. It seems like they don’t even get close enough to attempt to score while Orsic makes his own chances from distance!
Orsic is a limited player imo not hating on him but he just is player of prostor tight spaces he has no air skills and such been watching him since he came to dinamo if you watch football you would understand he is not an number 9
My question is why didnt he try ljubic colak musa out thats the problem i think euro 2024 and nations league 2023 who ever the coach is sould try some od the new stikers from under 21s if the amount to anything simic beljo matanovic ljubicic musa
Not even Hajduk felt Ljubicic was good enough and Musa is on the bench at his club…not sure about Colak.
I think Simic and Beljo both need more time.
Actually ..
I’ll take Rebić up top.
29 and in his prime.
AC Milan
https://youtu.be/j32cR3F_EpE
Love you soul champ
But it’s like an old ex. That rebic chapter is done
Dude has too much pride to apologize. But would be amazing
I feel raketa would be welcome back quicker IMO
@ Slavonac
Yo .. I realized you have been writing article quality posts the whole time! Much better placement for your perspectives.
As always you are bringing an intelligent question to proceedings.
Given Rebić is still banished.
I would definitely get Oršić on the field up top.
As Perišić looks every bit of his world class athletic self at LW.
Our false 9’s are just too slow and not athletic enough to compliment our Luka living legend.
Oršić runs like a gazelle and can finish.
We need something up top to have the D take a little pressure off of Modrić.
Bring in the false 9’s off the bench given what the match calls for?
I agree – I’m an Orsic fan and I somehow think he will play a role in Qatar either off the bench or as the main guy- quick, equal leg left or right, pushes the tempo better than anybody else at that position- as they say – speed kills and this guy has a good motor
he has surprised me a lot…I think he’d do well even just because he loves scoring!
looks like only you and me rate Rebic bro! I love the guy but I see that the majority don’t!
I wish he would come back as the prodigal son but he won’t he has too much growth to do as a person
Love if he came back and used his power and fight
I can see simic giving us that fight we need up top one day
It seems he doesn’t shy away from grinding