WILL IT BE ANOTHER LONG QUALIFING CAMPAIGN FOR BILIĆ?
Although it felt like a loss to most Croatians watching the match on Tuesday against Greece, remember that Croatia is still in fantastic shape to top the group. The Vatreni dominated a defensive Greek side at Maksimir with possession and shots Tuesday night. However, Croatia only turned up the tempo for the first few moments of the game as well as the closing minutes. Greece bunkered well and Croatia couldn’t break them. Croatia played too much long-ball tactic instead of running at the Greeks with speed. Niko Kranjčar shot at least half a dozen balls over the crossbar and Ognjen Vukojević looked lost on the pitch. Nikica Jelavić infused some energy after halftime but was caught offside after he buried what looked to be the first goal of the game.
Croatia definitely has the talent to cruise through this group, however, are Slaven Bilić’ tactics in line with that talent. We shouldn’t be looking at a Georgia team to be helping us out; as they already took points away from Israel and Greece with draws. We know what the problems are, but what are the solutions?
MATCH PREDICTIONS FROM THE BOYS IN NEW YORK
GROUP STANDINGS
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
@Anonymous,
Thanks for the kind words and I respect your decision stay anonymous. However, if you would like to carry on this conversation privately, you can always reach me through email:
paluka81@yahoo.com
Ante and I are interested to hear your story and it doesnt have to be made public if you wish to stay private.
I have to agree with you on
HRV 2 – Isreal 1
Check back with us every now and then. Excellent take on the national team. Also, all of us here at CSR like you "don't panic" attitude.
I agree with all 7 points. Where is #6 ?
Former under 21 almost 12 years ago now, getting old…I'll will pass for now, maybe when I quit soccer…i will say that i have only been to this site 2 times and its nice to see a place where everyone can get togther. Great job on the site and the idea, keep it going…all the best for now and i'll check it when i have some time
My call
HRV 2 – Isreal 1
@Anonymous(the last one),
thanks for chiming in. I agree with you. No need to panic yet. However, anything but a victory in Israel will result in panic. Also, this is Croatia's last game until March of 2011(Not counting Malta of course). Thats a long time for Bilic to be on the hot seat if Croatia doesnt get the result in Israel.
"Guys take it from a guy who played at a professional level in Croatia and in Europe for 8 years and also played for the under 21 team"
Would you be so kind as to reveal yourself? Also, we would like to hear your story. Your English is superb for a former U21 Croatian.
Looking forward to hearing back from you.
Guys take it from a guy who played at a professional level in Croatia and in Europe for 8 years and also played for the under 21 team…there is no need for panic (not just yet anyway)
However I will say that there are some fundamental changes that I would also like to see and 1 big problem area which is the fact that we are 2 key players away from being a very solid team….provided that someone starts scoring consistently (like Suker way back when and Eduardo did for euro qualifying)
1. We are playing players out of place. Yes it happens on every team but Pranjic is NOT a defender and neither is Srna. We are 1 solid defender away from having a good back line (maybe that Lovren but who knows). Also Joe isn't that young either
2. Modric is a wonderful player and other than Boban the strongest CM we have had in 10 plus years. He does however need to play higher up the park
3.The strikers need to step up and score plain and simple. How many games did Suker win us just by 1 goal?
4. Still missing 1 solid CM. Vukojevic is not the guy
5. Bilic is not the problem and Croatia will never have a non-croation coach; its just the way we are. Plus nobody would take that kind of pay cut
7. Niko is slow. He depends on his passing ability but lacks what a true wide player is which speed and running at defenses. See Gareth Bale or Lennon for an true winger. Yes he makes the nice pass and has a decent shot but he slows down the game or runs 8 yards then is forced to stop as a result of his lack of speed. Not sure what our other option is
i could go on for a while bu you get the picture
Don't panic just yet but i will tell you that i worry about our game against Israel; the last time we won eduardo scored 3 goals; and he is not in that kind of form these days
i agree
Why not give young kids playing time? Why risk injury for starters in that game? Let guys feel what it's like to play on the national team and make an impact. I don't it's the worst thing possible. Yeah it's not much of a test but I am not saying bringing up like guys we never heard of. Maybe Jelavic and Mario on top with some young kids all around. Don't see what harm.
One more thing. There was on Greek defender who was outstanding- I think his name was Socrates. He saved his team on a number of occasions.
We may have benefitted from a little luck or sloppy defending but he didn't give anything.
Of course, no one has mentioned that we also drew home and away vs Russia a few years ago. Fact is, Greece are as good at the bunker as any side in Int'l football. It was always going to be a game of few chances- the problem was the one or 2 chances we didn't take (and no luck with the penalty). Yes, it was idiotic to start Olic vs such a deep-lying defensive side and yes Vukojevic was unnecessay with Greece putting 9-10 men behind the ball. The cold reality is that it likely didn't matter- Rakitic sitting at center circle instead of Vuk would accomplish what? Greece had a wall up in front of goal. Rakitic played a half and almost let Greece score twice. He had 1 decent shot. Jelavic also was on for a half- he had 2 good moments and then dissapeared. Any line up you now mention wouldve likely had problems scoring.
As I believe JP mentioned, this is the exact type of game where set pieces are required to win…
and what does playing our kids against Malta show. I do agree the veterans dont need to be called up for that game. But, playing the kids proves nothing either. Its not like you can place a kid as a starter based on what he did against Maltaor some other minnow. If that were the case then Petric should be a starter with no questions asked. Just look at the amount of goals he has socred for the repka against teams like Malta, Andorra, etc…
well said Ante. I agree a win against Israel will calm down all of our nerves. While I was pissed off about it for one day, it eventually wore off. Hopefully our strikers can restore faith in us. Then against Malta, try out most of the young kids and see what they can prove.
@vlad……well, you tell me what the brazilian born croat who previouslly resided in ZG has done in the last 3 years. His club team gave up on him, a club that is known for nurturing creative players.
and the comment about Simunic….last I checked, he was born in croatian household and grew up speaking the langauge and knew the culture well before he received a croatian passport.
Well said Ante. Everyone needs to take a chill pill and relax. next game Israel. Lets see what happens.
Everyone seriously needs to relax! One draw against Greece, who is the second ranked team in our group, should not have us talking like this; like our team is in complete shambles. Remember that Ukraine was the 3rd ranked team in the last campaign…so this isn't that big of a deal since they bunkered so well. Greece is scared and know they can't handle the heat in a normal paced game. So be it.
I would be worried if something doesn't go our way in Israel next month. If we get three points there, everyone is hunkey-dorey again and forgets about the Greece match. Yes we absolutely dominated but you have to finish in football. I still want Mate Bilic in the squad. We, CSR followers aka the most devout Croatian supporters there are, should not bitch and moan after every little let down. We are top of the group. Like I said, a win in Israel puts us in power again going into 2011.
As for everyone on CSR jumping on each other over this match; guys, seriously?
Hold your opinions and discuss them like men, backing them up with fact and not adolescent garbage behavior. We're all on the same page here. We can't let one little pesky string unravel the whole jacket.
CSR was in New York this past week to meet and mingle with the NY Croats. They (Ivica, Kreso, Allen, Robert Uvanovic, Mike) were all great hosts to us. I didn't make a 3,000 mile trip to return to everyone bitching at each other on CSR about nothing. Israel is the game to watch. If we roll them easily, everything will be fine. If not, changes need to be made going into the next year. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Simple as that.
Remember guys, CSR is here to Unite Croatian Fans Around The World
We've already met and talked with over 10 CSR personalities. Our little community here is working and it hurts me when I see that some followers don't want to take part due to other's immature behavior.
Let's keep CSR the legit place to come for Croatian soccer. We have the knowlegde and know-how, just like our Vatreni have the skill to make a cinderella run at a trophy.
@Emperorhasnoclothes
Well said! I especially love this part… "but he drank a cum-filled cup of English tea sprinkled with 9 goals!!! 9 goals!!! In two matches!"
I also love the "Brasilian born Ustasa" part too. Classic!
In the meantime my guitar gently weeps for me. Do you guys wanna hear my new song…? It's called "Bez zraka nema vatru"
Wow have you guys ever hit the panic button. RELAX! We are in first and we DOMINATED the game!
We were UNLUCKY, thats it. Everyone should just chill out.
These things happen sometimes.
It is practially impossible to go perfect in any qualifying campaign.
We tied the 2nd best team in the group. Is not like we had a draw with Malta. Relax we are in first, and lets get ready for Israel.
Mr. Bilic rock-star extraordinaire – once the darling of the entire Croatian nation – before he started, pardon my New York, sucking English c*ck – had another PR appearance – this time with none other than Hollywood A-lister, John Malkovich – must go.
Mr. Bilic, cult-figure (he gets his face on t-shirts these days – just like Maradona & Che Guevara) no longer has the lioned Kovac brothers to rely on; he no longer has the once hungry Lukica Modric, the "klasa" Kranjcar (who has returned to his disinterested ways), and, of course, he can no longer rely on the mutilated Brazilian-born ustasa, Eduardo Da Silva.
Mr. Bilic, to put it simply, rode the wave that Ludi Dzo, Robert Kovac, Niko "Vitez" Kovac, Lukica Modric, Niko Kranjcar and Dudu provided for him when the "going was right," and the chemistry was there. The chemistry is no longer there, and Mr. Bilic has no clothes – and there's nothing left to conceal his coaching ineptitude or simple lack of coaching talent.
Mr. Bilic did beat England twice (thanks!), but he drank a cum-filled cup of English tea sprinkled with 9 goals!!! 9 goals!!! In two matches! You'd think that Mr. Bilic would have gone defensive after the debacle in Zagreb, but no! He goes offensive against England in Wembley, and played to tie against the Ukraine!!! Make any sense? None whatsoever… Mr. Bilic helped make an English team that exited the WC in the group stage look like the World Champions.
Mr. Bilic, even Maradona, who has (we can all agree) a bit more expansive cult-status than you (sarcasm intended) stepped-down from the Argentine football helm. Can we expect the same from you? Probably not!
But, if Mr. Bilic does decide to step-down, please, Slavene, don't do it because the Croatian media (Yugoslav in reality) wants you to – or because Otto Baric and Tomislav Ivic are giving you fake support. Do it because it's the right thing to do. Do it because you have balls! Show us you have balls, Mr. Bilic. Methinks Fabio Capello still owns them, along with Pranjic.
If you tie in Israel (a loss is out of the question), you must step down and leave Croatian football. That will allow you to dedicate more time in chasing your celebrity or work has a UN good-will ambassador.
God knows you aren't getting hired in England (the reason you stayed-on with Croatia in the first place, no? 😉 ).
PS: Would someone please strip that faggot Srna of the captaincy. What a disgrace.
Hey ziva can you honestly tell me in your opinon which striker at the moment has played better than da silva. petric is none existent, olic is useless, jelavic is too fresh to judge, mandzukic sucks and also never scores.
You keep bringing da silva up as he's the only striker that has struggled. I thought he played terrible in latvia.But against greece, he did more and got more involved in actually contributing to the run of play than olic did for 70 minutes and petric for half the game, so your brazilian born croat does have a place on the team.
On a diffrent note ive stated my opinon on bilic on more than one occasion, even though i think he sucks, i will say, this croation team are a bunch of girls. I do realize and am not naieve that the quality is not as good as the 98 squad. But there is absolutly no fight in this squad. WE used be be a tough team, there are no balls on this squad, corluka is a typical zagrebcan sminka, along with his debali krunchie, srna has no fight except when it comes to swearing at the reff, thers no more of that za dom spremni mentality, those days are over when the kovac brother retired. sad to say but its true. I miss watching mean defenders like stimac and jerkan, bilic. WE used to be tempermental which we would always joke was our down side, but at least we had fire wher the hell did that go.
@AnteB
Your mom is retarded!!!! I understand that he is Brazilian and has no Croatian roots technically, but that's a fact we all know very well. Besides, to counter your point on American/Australian born Croats, I have never seen anybody here refer to Simunic as the Australian born Croat, not even once. I'm not saying it's racist because Dudu is Brazilian, but because he is not Caucasian.
And learn some manners you don't insult somebody for now reason, you are better than that. I Hope.
Are you seeing now, how our blessed apologists work?
We got an easy group at the Euro's… We got lucky against Germany… It took 119 minutes to score against Turkey… I suppose we got lucky that our uniforms arrived in time for the game to.
It took 119 minutes to score against Turkey because Bilic got out-coached severely. We beat Poland with our second string… but somehow we have no talent…!
You guys need to shake your heads.
I bet they'll win this tournament. Spain was lucky that Turkey won last time.
Some of you anonymous folks should consider the mob hits on Eduardo and Modric, the first being at the teams peak, IMHO. For all the amazing field chemistry the world won't see in a long time.
Maybe we are just not that good. Just a thought.
I am not a big Bilic fan, but watching the last two games it wasn’t the tactics or player selection that made us lose points. We just had a tough time scoring and I think that is due to a lack of quality up front. We played good enough to get 6 points but we couldn’t score in game 2.
Forwards/Attacking Players:
The Brazilian guy – Has struggled since his injury, and lost his status as a world class player.
Petric – Pretty close to washed up, even lost his place in Hamburg's line up.
Olic – Our best striker, but lacks the scoring ability, best suited as a number 2.
Jelavic – 12 months ago he was a nobody, and scoring goals in the Austrian league doesn’t make you legit. Maybe one day. Played great for the first 10 mins then just disappeared
Lakic – Most of us didn't know who he was until 1 month ago. I don’t think we tied because he wasn’t selected, but if he keeps scoring in the first division then he will earn a call. Still lots to prove, as he has only played a couple games in division 1.
Mandzukic – I think he is officially an outside midfield player. He doesn’t score enough to play striker, so maybe this new position (which he plays in Germany and for the national team) will make him a valuable player…one day.
Attacking Mid
Modric – Lacks power to score. I barely noticed him against Greece or in any of the Tottenham games he has played in (where Bilic is not the coach).
Kranjar – Had his chances and blew them well over the net, way to inconsistent. Has lost his spot as a Tottenham regular.
Pranjic – ???, don’t know what to say. Got taken down for a penalty, but the Ref was sick of us at that point, and wanted to reward Greece for the horrible soccer they play.
All these guys need to play better and score goals against good teams, until they do we won't get the results we want.
E
I agree with ziva istina, we got the easiest group in Euro and I would call that tournament a failure. Although we never struggled to qualify for that tournament, we have some unconvincing results (struggled at home to Israel, away to Estonia, almost threw away points at home to Macedonia etc..)
We were lucky to win against Austria who absolutely dominated us in the second half, in fact the penalty kick was the only chance for Croatia. Germany was the one good match, but then again we usually step up against these big sides. Poland doesn't really count because we won the group and played a "B" squad. We played well in that game but by then the group was basically wrapped up.
Croatia is a second tier NT, which is not horrible, but could be considered underachieving. We will qualify for most tournaments (4 of 5 every decade, please lets at least keep this record) but at those tournaments we probably won't do too much damage
"ziva istina" is the only blogger here who refers to dudu as "the brazilian born croat". He says that because he's a cynical dick. You're not the only one to bring this up.
its my term….and its factual.
the Brazilain born hrvat is just that, he is technically a "hrvat" (received his cro paperwork years ago) who was born in Brazil.
and judging the last few years, the brazilian born hrvat should not be playing for lijepa nasa.
I'm not shocked by his play or the play of the repka. Go back last week at this time and I said we would win at Latvia 2-0 (we won 3-0) and we would tie against Greece (we did).
People point to the loss against Turkey and say we have not recovered. I'll take another angle to it. We played in a weak group at those Euros and some how got lucky against a German squad in transistion. Poland and Austria are weak sides, their recent history says so. By taking advantage of a weak group we made it into the QFs and took on a Turkey sqaud that was no world beater. We needed 119 minutes to score against them even though we had a huge possession advantage.
My point….maybe we were never as good as some people like to think. Lets take off the homer glasses. The proof is right in front of us.
Racist? Are you retarded? What is racist in Brazilian born Croat? What about American born Croat?
Is that racist? Come on, you're better than that
Why do I see people calling Dudu the "Brazilian born Croat". Yea we all know he's Brazilian wouldn't it save alot of time to write DUDU or Eduardo. It seems kinda racist.
The only reason we're all quick to jump on Bilic and hit the panic button is because we missed out for World Cup and the last thing any of us want is to miss another big tournament.
I understand it.
Olly,
You answered your own question to why Bilic needs to leave in each paragraph you wrote. He does find something better that works and then he doesnt want to change it. He keeps experimenting new things and or reverting back to old ways that have failed. Its simple modric, kranjcar and pranjic do know how to pass. But when they pass it to players like vukojevic, pokrivac, leko, olic, who have no idea what to do besides run or defend then it messes the flow of the game up. He has no consistency these players have played 25 games together and never play in the same positions or formations how do you expect anythign to develop from that he coaches like its a fu$%ing video game. He is a moron mock my words if we drop points next month we are not finishing 1st. Our confidence is low as it is and we have a cocky mentality and now leadership. Some players are in above there heads and Bilic has to much friendship and favortism to have control over players in this team. Thats why we still have mandzukic, vukojevic and co. and thats why it took so long for juric and leko and pokrivac to be left out. Plain and simply he is an idiot as bilic would like to say.
i'm not purely blaming bilic. that's short sighted. i see no reason why those players in those positions can't produce.
Er.. why wouldn't the new players be in over the guys who are in. Sorry but if your failing then you come out.. simple as that. if Petric and Olic don't know where the net is during these key games then why should they start. lets see what someone else can do.
to keep doing the same thing is stupidity. also to leave pokrivac and mandzo in when they have nothing to offer is stupidity. those two have flopped. pokrivac's performances have been shambolic in a croatia shirt of late. what pokrivac has been doing is shanking shots wide and misplacing passes. that doesn't justify a place so try some one else. on the other hand we know Perisic can score a goal when needed so why would you not have him as an option over Pokrivac.
you don't just like sit there when its not working. you try new things. what new things have we seen exactly. we saw mate bilic – he helped defeat austria when may i add this lot was struggling then bilic removed him. same with dujmovic. dujmovic added control to the central mid whilst vukojevic was struggling. but bilic sticks with vukojevic.
we've seen these current players. lets see others have a try at least. then we know if they will do a better job. people just judge whilst not giving them a chance. anyone can hide someone and say oh he isn't good enough. REALLY based on what evidence. lets see the failure first before we call them not good enough.
So far we've seen Petric and Olic fail as a partnership. So how are they the best options. That needs changing for a start and never to see that partnership again.
You also say they couldn't string passes together. So we're talking about a midfield of Pranjic, Modric, Kranjcar can't pass to each other. How is that Bilic's fault. Those three are technically good enough to manage to pass to each other. no excuses for that at all. They need to get themselves sorted as these are failings which shouldn't be happening. Its got to be the players first who improve things.
Olly,
It is absolutely all Bilics fault I would understand if Mate Bilic was head over heals better then any of the available strikers but he is not he is just an option he still isnt 1st choice. So what if pokrivac and manzukic were in the squad they arent good enough to start so they are once again just an option. Even if they are replaced with new faces they are not being started over anyone in our starting lineup. Bilic had the strongest squad against greece that was available to us in 2 years and wasted it.
He plays modric so far back that he is picking up balls infront of our CBs what is he supposed to do dribble it 100 yards up and create. I am sick of seeing modric playing holding midfield it seems vukojevic is more attacking then modric sometimes this is all tactics and thats all bilic. When our best creative midfielder is so far back we have nothing upfront. I am tired of arguing about this Bilic is a terrible coach I just cant understand what people see in him. We beat England 2 times lets not forget the stupidity of those the goals in both games! Thats not Bilics wonderful tactics its an 2 goalkeeping errors. We beat Isreal both times in qualifying to Euro 08 but 1-0 and 4-3(4 out of 5 goals being scored by eduardo) so i am not excited to see them next month as they are no pushover! But regardless if we drop points in israel there are no more excuses i dont care if we were 1000000 times better and got "unlucky"
i think the 0-0 was a missed opportunity but not a disaster. I don't think this is Croatia's best squad at all. During the course of the season it will show us who the best players are.
I think Pokrivac is a wasted slot and Mandzo's proved nothing so how can it be the best players. We've already seen Mate Bilic do better than Mandzo and he was omitted as was Klasnic. I think Croatia can go to a higher level with some fresh faces. If we're talking about the players who were out there yes that's prob best they can manage at moment.
Maybe everyone will raise the level of there game in a month or so, but for now Modric has not shown us that he can threaten the goal. Kranjcar, Petric and Eduardo look a little short of there best.
I'm not sure another coach would do so much better. I'm actually against foriegn coaches. Shouldn't be allowed in my opinion. Its like having a foriegn player. International football is supposed to be representative of a country. Any team with a foriegn coach always feels a bit rotten. In England they're a bit embarrassed about it all.
So if its not Bilic then really nope Soldo won't be good and neither will Jurcic or anyone like that. I think the 0-0 is annoying but not the end of the world. Lets just see what happens after next match.
Bilic can be blamed for some things like leaving out a guy who scores 3 in 4 for one who scored 1 in 14, but players have to accept some responsibility. Kranjcar, Eduardo, Petric and Olic have all played those positions before. They have to do better.
Olly,
This is our full line up! We have no injuries to worry about. Last campaign you could make that excuse but we were at home with 100% healthy lineup he had every player at his finger tips. Oh and not to forget it was in Zagreb to an almost sold out crowd. I am so sick and tired of excuses its not like we look good out there its not just the 0-0 tie that annoys me. Its the constantly wrong tactics they are never right! You have to be F&(&(*()&*$$$$%&^*( kidding me to leave Rakitic on the bench and play a 442. We looked slow and sluggish and to be honest we couldnt put together 3 to 4 passes. I saw Srna make a sprint come to a stop and do a back pass 50 times. There is no defending Bilic he just does not know how to coach offensive football and thats what kind of team we have now. He has had 5 years now and has not even taken us to the next step. He has no idea what he is doing tactically ever i mean he is so predictable with formations(442 wow what a wild guess and the 4231 rarley) but so unpredictable with which players he will out of position. You have to be kidding me when you put simunic as a left back in a 442 who does that?!?
Could we honestly have done worse last WC qualifying campaign? We didnt make it so I would say no. Any coach we have had in the past would have the dignity to resign after that not to mention some would resign just after being handed a result like 4-1 at home or 5-1 away after saying things like i know a way to beat england i have a special surprise blah blah blah. He talks to much gets us fans behind him and then screws up and I cant do it anymore I dont have respect for the man and I can say its almost impossible to get it back.
I think everyone should take a step back before talking about sacking Bilic cos of the sraw… at the end of the day Greece were very close to losing that game. I personally think that the squad just needs a little topping up and it will win these games more regularly.
However this is not like Ukraine. Ukraine were doing everything right last campaign to keep up with Croatia. Ukraine did not slip up like Greece did with Georgia, so Croatia still has the advantage and should not implode by getting carried away with small disappointments. Jelavic offside and a clear penalty on Pranjic is fine margins between victory and a draw.
In my opinion this is not the best Croatia squad that can be put out. There are players who could get Croatia a goal here or there which they are missing currently.
I think it just needs a little more tweeking. As a start its okay. The question is… okay Greece are fine at containing side, but can they go out and get the victories when they need them. I'm personally not sure they have the talent to defeat Isreal, Latvia and Georgia comfortably. I think they'll drop points
Insult to injury, we can't even beat a Greek team in disarray!
http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=reu-greecegekas
catching up on some of the comments over the last 24 hours…..talent on this roster to be a top 5 team???? No way. Now, we do have talent and it is underperforming, but we are not a top 5 country. We do not have one player that is a star. All the teams that are top 5 historically have a stud player. Look at the 98 team, we have nobody that matches the accomplishments or ability of Boban, Suker, Boksic, Zuti when they were healthy and in their prime.
I like the optimism, but lets also be realistic in expectations.
^^^^
He was a candidate after Cico was sacked in 2006. I don't know if he wants to job, but he was successful with Ivory Coast, but as we saw, these African sides all sacked their coach 3-4 months before the World Cup to get "greats" like Eriksson and Lagerback (haha).
I think he is one of the better managers in the region. I understand some people will be against him but I personally won't.
Most Croatian candidates are not good enough, not saying all of them, but most. And I am almost certain if Bilic goes, Ivankovic will be the next coach. I don't know how much he is making in China but I think its almost no debate
i have to agree there as didn't Vaha say about Blazevic that'd be does not want a Croat anywhere near the national team spot of Bosnia Herzegovina. I imagine Halilhodzic would not coach Croatia even if he was asked.
the brazilian born croata was actually scoring goals and producing for both club and country during the Euro 08 qualifying cycle. that is no longer the case. What has he done since his return from injury….the answer is zero. The brazilian born croat has done nothing. I can only go by what my eyes see. And I have not seen anything from him in the last 3 years. Have you????
As for the comment about bringing in Halilhodzic as the coach….great, that is what i want is a mujo to lead our country. I rather fail with a hrvat than win with a mujo.
All I can say is that this campaign is looking alot like the euro 2008 and wc 2010 qualifiying. Bilic is continuing to put down unorthodox lineups. Was hoping for a seamless and easy qualifying, but as usual this is not the case. All but strengthens the fact that were are in noway a top 10 team.
I say why not hit the panic button. We are considered to be in a easy group and yet already we are showing signs of faltering. I mean were have more then a decent line up yet is is evident that the team lacks chemistry, passion and leadership.The games are now amazingly boring, it's like I'm watching a tape on repeat.
If I were the savez I would give bilic around one more year to prove himself. If by this time next year were are still struggling to take command of the group he should be sacked. Finding a new coach is not hard as there are plenty of young cheap decent coaches around such as ladic and soldo. I know most of you will think that they are in some way shit, but if think about it bilic is not really any better then these blokes. They took a risk in taking bilic, they might as well take it again when choosing their next coach.
Tudzman we don't have forwards who can score? Maybe you are right but with the tactics bilic uses not only does it not allow our strikers not to score by playing them out of position but he also plays non scoring midfielders in formations that not only fail for croatia but even teams with talent like england who has all the ability to play that 442 but yet get walked over. Bilic was a defender in the 90s and is trying to play that way now. It does not work he is just not football educated he will not have a job when he is done with croatia that is a guarantee and its because he refuses to open his ears to others opinions.
Alright let's not start name calling in here. I left this website for a long time because it became personal attcks. Everyone is entitled to their opinion even if we disagree. Diva and company can think what they want its a discussion forum nobody in here is god ffs. Its ok to disagree but don't be jackasses towards others we are all croatians rooting for the same team and we all want the best for the team but we all see a different way of archiving this.
ziva istina
i bet you wouldnt have said eduardo was overrated in the euro 2008 qualifires idiot u cant judge players over one shit game besides kranjcar who barely preforms well.
Yikes, I can't believe people want Bilic out.
We don't have any forwards who can score, so all of a sudden a new coach is going to get a guy like Petric to score against quality teams? Come on.
Mishko, yes, Klasnic is the kind of strong striker who can break down the parked bus. After all, that's how he scored against another parked bus team..Turkey. Him and Mate Bilic would be a wrecking ball against the human pylons.
I lost all faith in Bilic a long long time ago, I predicted a 0-0 scoreline for this match, & as i said before this Euro campaign kicked off, its not going to be a cakewalk, Somehow i still feel Israel will hold on to top spot leaving Greece & Croatia fighting it out..
On the return leg in Athens, you might as well take your pen out & tick off a Grease Ball win, Cause i can tell you know, they wont be so lenient on us when we play at there home, Its going to come down 2 what the results are V Israel to see who will qualify & wont..
Bilic its time for you to go buddy, need a fesh new face with new tactics & ideas to get somewhere..
We wont have to wait long to see another loss, Cro Cop is fighting Frank Mir on Sep 25 ,id love to see 1 of those devastating high kick knockouts, but highly unlikely,Cro Cop hasnt got the same hunger & confidence as he once had, he was almost unbeatable during his pinnacle days,anyhow best of luck mirko..
peace..
razor5556 aka RAPTORE
I don't know why Klasnic isn't on the team, that guy makes magic out of nothing.
Or am I missing something?
Bilic please resign tactically naive coach
Greek cunts they are sacks of gouvnajust like serbs cheats and aholes referee was a pakistani by his calls. waiting for cellphone to ring with next instructions.
I've wanted Halilhodzic to be the NT manager ever since he was unjustly sacked by Ivory Coast, if he does something at Dinamo then I'd take him in a heartbeat
Bilic should have resigned after the Wembley defeat, at this point I'd take Branko Ivankovic in all honesty, even Otto Baric defeated the likes of Belgium and Bulgaria at home, Bilic would draw these games 0:0 with his cautious tactics. He can say all he wants how it was an "attacking formation", but the style of play wasn't attacking, basically its
– pass the ball at the back 50 times and launch a hopeful ball up field
@Andrej
Yes, he is on crack or blow rather, as I have stated before.
We sacrifice because Bilic is a moron and a superstitious apologist. He's been snakebit ever since the Turkey game, he lost his mojo there (not to mention the team then too), and it's long gone I'm afraid.
Lets remember that this team was 10 seconds from the Euro semis without their best striker. Ever since we've barely been treading water.
The record doesn't lie… who's the best team that we've beat since the Turkey game? Bielorus? Latvia?Powerhouses for sure. Seriously…! Think about it!
He's got to go now!!!! And he can take "walk in the park" Joe with him.
I wonder what the excuse will be when we lose to Israel next month?
Anonymous,
You are wrong I have been watching Schalke games for a while now and last season Rakitic was having a hard time starting until he got a good look into the CM spot. He has been a CM player there and rarley plays out wide he has even stated he does not enjoy play out wide. He drops from very deep which is what I like to see because then modric does not have to do it. But you are wrong if you dont think that he cant play that role because francally he is the best we have at it….because what does any of the other CM we have provide us that he would not!? Would you like me to tell you our line up for england wooping our so called defensive teams ass 5-1!!!! Yes you guessed it right both pokrivac and vukojevic in CM! I dont want to hear that it wont work because the second rakitic came in for vukojevic it freed modric up so much that we acctually started looking good for a short part of the game. Size does not matter look at spain they dont play anything near defensive football they have all attacking players and even brasil tried to go defense with dunga and got ousted out of the world cup. its 2010 and attacking football is that way to play no more of these useless CM especially the croatia CDM because they are NOT EVEN GOOD AT WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING! Modric and Rakitic defense is on par with what they can do defensively and they are 50x the player offensively so why sacrifice…
@ziva
Schalke's coach Magath doesn't hold him in the DM position if that's what you mean…quite often he plays Rakitic on the wing as an attacking midfielder or as a purely attacking midfielder behind the strikers…in any case Rakitic does not belong on the wing especially in a 4-4-2 formation. In my opinion he is a completely central midfielder/playmaker. I only watched the last 30 minutes of the game against Greece and it seemed to me that he played the number 6 position that Vukojevic usually plays, which is fine against greece because you don't have to be defensive minded against a team like this.
Bottom line is we need a new formation where both Rakitic and Modric have some sort of creative playmaker role (I would even throw Pranjic in there as he does not belong on the wing either).
You know who Vukojevic reminds me of Palacios from Tottenham! He has same features and just like at Tottenham he holds them back from there potential. The second they play modric in middle they beat chelsea arsenal and city they put palacios there and get wooped by manchaster! they play without modric or kranjcar get beat by wigan. Its plain and simple we have the same problem in croatia.
We need to play attacking fun to watch football. We are not a team built to defend anymore we dont have those players. If we had a coach who could recognize that then we could forward ourselves of course Bilic(former defender) will never understand that. I dont care if we allow 3 if we have the players to score 4(which i feel we do). I just am so sick of playing these useless CM who do nothing but slow down the flow of the game(pokrivac, vukojevic, leko) I rather see a 5 man midfield with no pure cdm like (kranjcar, modric, rakitic, pranjic, perisic, jajlo, badelj, illevic) whenever if ever some of these guys become ready…and if it really comes down to holding the midfield then both modric and rakitic are more then capable to keeping firm possession under the right formation and we wont sacrifice creativity because we will have it elsewhere in midfield and not have to soley rely on modric. Kovac wasnt the greatest in his day but he was at least a leader on the field. But at that time he also wasnt surrounded by as much talent offensive talent as we are now. In those years we had the grit to battle for wins. Now we have to class to make it look attractive.
Vukojevic not starting I can understand…But Rakitic not starting??? I mean the guy has shown nothing but class in his last international game as well in his club in Germany. You can't keep a guy that's playing soooo well on the bench SMOTO!
Anyways, our ball possession alone shows that we are of a high standard then Greece….and other then them I don't see a serious threat. But if we keep this up we're going to get knocked out of Euro in the first round.
Anonymous, you're right there's huge talent on the field and bench that aren't functioning as well as it should.
Andrej L, none of us here on CSR are fans of Vukojevic. He's useless, offensively. Rakitic can attack, make plays and defend very well. At best, Vukojevic defends ok and that's all.
Two things to stress;
VUKOJEVIC????still starting????????
RAKITIC?????? not starting????????
is Bilic on crack????????
I was at the game last night, it was a solid atmosphere and I'm still suprised Cro didn't grab all 3 points. Greece played well defensively and we were unlucky, but I agree with Andrej, its time for a coaching change. Imagine if Cro had Hiddink as a coach, we'd for sure be a top 5 team. We have enough talent, Bilic cant find the right spot for players, he only used Petric on the right wing after HSV coach did, same goes for Rakitic in the middle, we have coaches like Spaco and Ivic who are ancient but know every formation in the book, and that is why Hajduk is in the Europa League this year. Croatia has too many good coaches to watch this ultra talented team barely qualify, we need a change.
Slaven,
Top 5? ehh Top 10? Probably…
We do have talent we don't have the coaching especially if we go domestic. Markovic and co. are to cheap to go out and spend money but if we fail to qualify for another major tournament they are losing out on more money then they would have had to pay for coaching…
Like you though I agree Bilic does need to go and after last night reading all the articles i think markovic is not very satisfied! I personally hope he is keeping it on the low and looking for a replacement but I also hope he knows he is one of the problems himself and needs to be replaced.
Look at Argentina beating Spain with the only change being a coach. If we lose another game, it's time for the HNS to shop for new coaching staff. With the talent that is on the field, team Hrvatska should be amoung the top 5 teams in the world.
The other disappointing games were not all about close calls or missed chances…just a disfunctional team with no real vatreni.
Slaven,
Unlucky…bad calls…missed opportunities…its been happening for years and there is no excuses for it anymore its been like this for years. All we need is one of those to happen against Georgia, Malta or Israel and we can here it again. Well we dominated the game but….blah blah blah blah blaaaa…
On the better not HNS requested to give Split the next 5 home matches including 2 friendlies against Czech and Norway. I am for this move as Maksimir cannot sell out a single match while we through friendlies is Osijek with 20,000 people and sell out with people still wanting to go! Split wont have a problem selling out and Poljud is gods gift to earth when you compare it to Maksimir. This also may benefit Zagreb in the run as if Split accepts the offer then Zagreb may push for a top of the line stadium.
It could be worse….
LISBON, Portugal (AP)—Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz’s job is in danger after his team took just one point from its first two 2012 European Championship qualifiers while he sits out a six-month suspension.
A Portuguese Football Federation board meeting Thursday is expected to discuss Queiroz’s future amid growing demands for him to be replaced.
A 1-0 loss at Norway on Tuesday came after a 4-4 draw at home against lowly Cyprus last week and constituted Portugal’s worst start to a qualifying campaign since 1996.ADVERTISEMENT
Queiroz is also set to miss Portugal’s next two qualifiers in October after he was suspended for disrupting an anti-doping test ahead of the World Cup.
The coach is fighting possible dismissal, denying wrongdoing and saying he will appeal the suspension.
Portugal’s dull performance in Oslo suggested the players are feeling the strain of what daily sports paper O Jogo called a “soap opera” surrounding Queiroz’s stewardship. “That’s enough disasters!” the paper’s front-page headline said Wednesday.
The team, missing injured Cristiano Ronaldo, looked unsettled and uncertain in both matches. With Deco and Simao Sabrosa both recently retired from international football, the Portuguese lacked an inspirational playmaker.
“I don’t think things are going very well on or off the pitch,” captain Ricardo Carvalho said after the Norway game where Queiroz’s assistant Agostinho Oliveira was once again in charge.
Bruno Alves, Carvalho’s partner in central defense, said, “We just want everything to be fine again, we just want someone to make a decision for everyone’s sake.”
The 57-year-old coach, Alex Ferguson’s former assistant at Manchester United, is just over halfway through a four-year contract.
The only thing I agree with him is that Greece were lucky. The Jelavic offside, the Dudu header deflection to the crowd when he had an open net, Kranjcar's typical misfire, the ref not calling a PK, etc.
King Bronk,
I am sorry but I think you are absolutely wrong about everything you wrote. The reason we are hitting the panic button early is because Bilic did this last qualifying campaign. There was nothing to worry about but then wait till the end of the campaign when we finish 3rd with 2 ties in hand against Ukraine and beat belarus on nothing more then Runjes amazing save and a lucky deflection goal by Rakitic from distance!!! Oh do i even have to say the 90+ minute goal we beat Kazakstan on the final match(regardless of it not counting it brought moral to all time lows).
If we took 6 points in the 1st 2 matches then we are cruising but now we once again cant slip up. We cant afford to tie matches nonstop we were handed the easiest group(not that any of these teams are runovers but man we were 1st in the pot and we avoided the huge teams) and we need to finish 1st place in it so we can avoid doing a playoff match!!!
The worst thing is you think we played good. How? Were our tactics right on did we use the right formation with the perfect choice of players? I dont think we had anything right about this match. We played 4-4-2 with a CDM in Vukojevic who offered absolutely nothing going forward! Infact because he cannot pas it disrupted to flow of the game even more then the Greeks park the bus tactics. What we kept possession of the ball and moved slower then the turtle. Our great long balls?
I am not trying to be mean I am just curious as to what you saw last night that I didnt see… I can tell you I know Greece are good at what they do and they could do it again very easily but when we dont get the tactics right against a team who we are 100% sure of what they are going to be doing then that worries me. Bilic had forever to know what he would do he knew they wouldnt change there playing style and he could have done much better but he didnt and he hasnt done much better the entire 5 years he has been here.
Guys, you are all hitting the panic button way too early. These things happen. Its very hard to go perfect in a qualifying campaign. We dominated the whole game and were very unlucky not to score. Greece and Israel have already dropped points and we lead the group. What more do you want? We played very well, we just had bad luck. its not like we played poorly. I am not the biggest Bilic supporter, but I thought at the end of the game he had the strongest squad out there. It just didn't happen for whatever reason. Time to move on to the next game. We are in first and thats all that matters.
I'll put ilicevic aside for the moment as we have a lot of guys like him.
but as for Lakic why not. Its not a good two weeks. its a good three seasons and a strong hnl1 career despite being with little Kamen ingrad. The only blip was Hertha cos he was injured.
As for your comment about him in Bundesliga 2 thats rubbish as would any other Bundesliga 2 club have been able to get him apart from Kaiserslautern. Absolutely not. His offer was to become a number 9 at the ex German champions. That is totally different to being a second division player.
In Holland he impressed in a quite small club. I watched lakic for a while and its not fluke. you can see if a player is gonna be good or not in how they finish.
If we remember Mandzo's goals in HNL1 some of them were dodgy. I remember strike V Hajduk which was poorly hit which went straight in and that dodgy goal V Osijek u was going on about. Lakic is better than Mandzo so why can't he take his place.
I don't understand the logic here at all.
Look at the end of the day we are talking about these guys taking the place of Pokrivac, Gabric and Mandzo. NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS. I think Perisic, Bilic and Lakic have a case for being in squad.
Svircic NAILS IT!!!
ZIG
ZAG
MEDVESCAK!!!
ZIG
ZAG
MEDVESCAK!!
I SAD SEM TU I PAK SEM TVOJ! SERBUS DRAGI ZAGREB MOJ!!!!
Ziva,
I wasnt thinking that the U-21's deserved call ups I was just saying they had a great campaign and if I was going to do call ups I would prefer looking there first before Lakic and Illevic who have just started a season and made a few decent matches out there…
What do you think about the GK situation though? Would it be a bad idea to call up some younger talent for the smaller matches?
Olly,
I personally don't rate any of our strikers super high. I think we have a decent strikers but the problem is they are all good at 1 thing but none not even Eduardo is a finisher anymore. Olic has good speed…Petric great set pieces and dribbling…Eduadro best technical abilities…Mandzukic has nothing really that catches my eye besides heart but that does not win you matches…. We just dont have that striker with a killer instinct! I would rather see a single striker played with kranjcar behind them like we did in the Euro. I think we need to play 5 midfielders as our midfield is stronger that our strikeforce! Kranjcar is just to slow out left and his defense 90% of the time is nothing worth mentioning. I am not a coach I cant tell you what we need to do I just know we need to change something. Even when we play 4231 we use 3 strikers it seems and we still dont score…Lets play players where they feel comfortable not where bilic thinks well we can play eduardo as top striker olic out left petric out right and blah blah blah it does not work dammit its been 5 years and every time i start talking about it it just pisses me of more…He has experimented enough I am tired of hearing his name now he has got to go….in my opinion
so let me get this straight..a guy who played in the 2nd division last season and had a wonderful two weeks to start a new season is suddenly a national team player.
all the other comments you guys have are correct. We struggle scoring and i dont see that changing, but to say the two guys from Kaiserslauten deserve to be on the repka is absurd. If they continue playing this way, then yes. but not now.
Why is mandzukic on the team…..because he played at dinamo. Fair??? No, but that is the way the game goes. Hajduk and Dinamo players always have an easier time getting into the repka.
And lets lay off claims we need to get a bunch of u-21s on the team. There are only 2 or 3 guys on that roster who will become quality players and their time will come. If they produce on the club level, then they will find a way to the repka.
The reason i'd give Lakic and Bilic a shot is they are proper forwards who can head, shoot and battle a defender. They offer variation to Eduardo, Petric, Olic and even Jelavic is smaller.
Perisic is a goalscoring midfielder which is something Croatia don't have so he should take Pokrivac's place. That's a no brainer. Perisic could be useful.
I'd remove Gabric as well as Mandzo as i think we have enough players like Gabric. I'd take SIX strikers to every game and select who seems right for the occasion.
Eduardo, Olic, Petric, M Bilic, Jelavic and Lakic.
Now that is what you call options. Not what Slaven Bilic is doing. Of course i'd still keep an eye on Kalinic and Klasnic.
From the under 21's apart from Vida, Lovren who will come in for Buljat there's Jajalo. I'd like to see Jajalo do a little more at club level first. But apart from the already mentioned Kalinic and Perisic no need to look at anything else in under 21's as nothing down there to help us. Tomecak and Vrsaljko are good but not better than Srna.
Olly,
I do want change dont get me wrong but I would like a look in for some young players for the U-21's that just what I was thinking. Those players played a full campaign and did very well. I mean for god sakes there coach is Ladic and they played together(or what better then the seniors) I watched every televised match!! I agree Pokrivac and even Vukojevic dont need to be in the team. Does Vukojevic ever do anything in his defensive role that Rakitic can't do himself. I mean we sacrifice to much offensively when we play players like that and realistically are not that much better defensively!! The pure CDM is far to overrated and seems like be a dying position in modern day football at least in teams who actually want to play football**cough not greece haha**. I am not saying we need to wipe our team clean but to be fair what have players like Mandzukic done 1 goal 14 games? If he got a look in almost any single player in the HNL should get a shot haha
Davor,
That is a mistake in fact I when you look at the players he started its impossible to line them up anyway without it being a 4-4-2. I think when Bilic found out that Greece were trying a 4-2-3-1 that he made a formation change to 4-4-2. Bilic claims that its most attacking formation there is but I beg to differ. The problem is we don't have a prolific scoring striker(Eduardo pre injury) and his goal scoring record is great still. I think what Nikica is the only player with the size and strength who could play as the lone striker but I am not sure about his ability to hold the ball up. We say Eduardo isnt doing anything but to be honest none of our strikers produce enough especially against bigger sides! All I know is I want all this experimenting to stop! We have no identity anymore and that is what hurts us. When people think of Croatia what comes to mind nowadays is Modric but he cant do it himself especially when the coach cant even field a normal squad some games. Simunic is a LB!! give me a break. We need to some identity as a team we have plenty of talent maybe we are not brasil or spain but this generation is gifted with some good players. We have to not be the Bolton(long ball) team we should be able to play at least some decent attractive football. 4-4-2 is dead!!! Look at what is happening to England when they play it and they have pace something we dont have and it still does not work.
To summarize what I have just been ranting about all I want to say is Bilic has been in Croatia for 5 years!!!!! How have we not established so identity to our play! We have no idea what he is going to do next game(neither does he). There is no team chemistry it seems. I would point a finger at Srna there too. I know its hard to go into the shoes of Kovac but he did a really good job he was a smart captain. What happens to Srna after our first to games he is suspended for the 3rd!! Please why pick up a stupid yellow in the 90th when you are up 3-0 against latvia!?! I am sorry but we need some new leadership on this team we have not established anything over 5 years. We have the same squad but its always a new experiment and this has to stop! We need to figure out who we are.
THE END
What has Mandzo done that Ilicevic and Lakic haven't done exactly?????????????????? Also Pokrivac he surely as hell deserves his place doesn't he lol!
you seen the two draws against Ukraine and now Greece and you still want to not change anything BIZARRE! You know what if Mate Bilic hadn't intervened i bet this group of players would have drawn with Austria as well. The goals do not flow in the tougher matches from these players so change it!
You seem to forget that Kaiserslautern are EX GERMAN CHAMPIONS. When a player goes to Kaiserslautern its a big club. Why should Ivo and Lakic be punished for dropping down a level to join a big club. They could have joined plenty of middle ranked top flight clubs. There is a vacancy for a Perisic, Lakic, Bilic in the squad. ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT!
Why do I keep hearing Lakic and Illevic? They had a decent start to the season if they can continue like that till winter break then lets see what plays out but to think they deserve call ups this quick…I think it would be the wrong call.
I don't think its terrible playing Rakitic in a holding role but what I do think is terrible is the 442 which just does not allow Modric or any attacking player to push forward enough. Our play is sooooooooooooo slow which could be fine if our attacking player were advanced forward but then we have players like olic and vukojevic who are just not good enough technically to keep the flow of the game going. The new coach for Argentina stripped Messi of his defensive roles and they go and beat Spain 4-1 yesterday. I know its pushing it by saying lets do the same with modric but my thoughts are we are playing him right infront of simunic and corluka!?! He picks the ball up to deep and then we have nobody to create up front. We need to play attacking football and these long ball tactics are not football and this is bilics fault.
Lastly, I like Runje but he is getting old and Plentikosa who knows what will happen with him. We really should put in a younger keeper for some experience against some of the lower sides…..would you agree?
Oh, boy. On the HNS website, they're claming that we played 4-2-3-1 and not 4-4-2. Is this a mistake on their part or are they trying to make people believe that we did?
http://www.hns-cff.hr/?ln=hr&w=vijesti&d=a_reprezentacija&id=2189
I'm a fan of Ilicevic, but i think Perisic is the one. Perisic is the player Croatia need. He gets goals and that's what Croatia need.
Ivo does run at players, but his scoring record is no better than Modric or Kranjcar or Pranjic. Ivo is prob a same type as Modric, Kranjcar, Rakitic so i think we need a different style attack midfielder to take the Pokrivac slot and that is Perisic. He'll score headers, he'll create, he'll run at people. That's just what we need. I say bring him in now.
As for Billc resigning, I think it should have been last November. I am not sure how he still has a job but whatever. This game did piss me off, but in reality what more could we have done? The long balls were not working and Srna really pissed me off for the first time in a long time. The guy needs to cross it, stop with the low balls dammit. He also almost cost us early on as Samaras nearly scored for Greece only chance.
How Rakitic didn't start was just laughable, enough with the super sub shit Slaven start him!!! You saw Rakitic nearly score right when he got in with that blast. I like to see Illevic and Lakic get a call up, as those guys are looking good so far. Petric was invisible, Olic was just taking a beating, and Kranjcar had a really bad 2nd half other than one shot. The offside sucked, but it was the right call. Eduardo shouldn't get called up for the next game to be honest unless he is in great form. The missed header was a joke, when you see the goalie miss it and your not that big just put a leg on it. Then point blank range, you can't let a defender put a leg in. Very frustrating, this was a match they should have won. I still don't think Jelavic is that good, he is complaining too much although he had a nice play when he gave someone a hard shoulder. He is tougher than Mandazukic. Can't complain about the defense, Corluka who nearly scored and big Josip were perfect back there. Right now a consistent striker is what is keeping this team from reaching it's potential. I have lost a lot of hope in Eduardo, Petric was always overrated in my book, and Olic is Olic if you get what I am saying.
Last but not least YEAH my interview got up. I was totally off my prediction sadly. Great atmosphere and hanging with the CSR. Come back next year or in 2012 lol!!!!
I think some people overestimate the talent on this team. Are we good enough and should we qualify for the Euros? Yes. Are we good enough to win it, hell no.
Let the qualification play out. This might have been a sign of things to come or this might be just a small bump in the road.
Is Bilic a good tactician? No…. I dont like the idea of Rakitic as a holding midfielder, but guess what. Shalke's coach is using Rakitic in the same way and this guy (Mcgath) has more experience than Bilic.
He has faults just like the players do. If he were to quit or be fired, who takes his place. its not like people will be lining up for the small pay the national team coach receives.
If only half of Kranjcar's wild shots were on net he'd be a superstar. He seriously needs a fucking shooting coach or something. Every game he shoots the ball wildly off target like an amateur.
@DinamoDennis
How many more years will that take?
I don't know about you, but I've only got one life.
Bilic should've resigned after he blew the Turkey game for us at the Euro's. He got out-coached there too.
He should stick to trite rock music instead.
I agree with Bronk.
Although it we shouldhave won, no reason to panic. We are clearly a class above every team in this group. Bilic just has to smarten up a little bit.
I don't think we need to hit the panic button….I think it was bad luck to be honest. Pranjic should have had a PK call…Eduardo's chance just got blocked and Jelavic was offside by a hair. These things happen sometimes. Look at Spains 4-1 loss. We head the group and if this is all our main rivals can muster we are in great position to qualify and thats all that matters.