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i wanted cookies >=( not ballons
Yes, our first ever 100+ post on CSR.
BALLOONS FOR EVERYONE!!!!!
guys u can watch cro games live on hrt 2 live online
just register to saan.tv
more info just email me at
stanko@live.ca
thanks
I can't think of a Croatian coach worth appointing. we've tried all the successful ones and they are all too old now.
As i said Branko Ivankovic, Elvis Scoria, Zoran Vulic and Kruno Jurcic are the men you're looking for if you fancy HNL1 success, but the national team requires a bit more tactical ability than them four. Please nobody say Prosinecki cos we don't want one of our legends dying on the job. He's not a well man.
That's why i'd want Boban on HNS as am sure he can grab us a good coach with all his contacts. Hiddink is not gonna happen, agreed. I'm interested by Hitzfeld, Zico, Daum, Adrianse, Huub Stevens, Gazzayev. I would also maybe say Mancini, but he'd bring Sinisa Mihajlovic in as his assistant lol.
I think we would have seen Sablic yesterday if not for his injuries at Dynamo Kiev.
Bigger question to consider….who will replace Bilic once qualifying ends or WC ends? Do we go foreign or use a croatia coach. I'll say this, if we go foreign we better get an elite foreigner and not some 2nd or 3rd tier foreigner. That means a coach that has won titles at the club or international level. that would also mean paying a big salary and I am not sure the savez can do that.
As for left back i'd take Pranjic off left back and arrange some friendlies cos we need to watch Manuel Pamic, Mato Neretljak and Hjorve Cale to see if any of them can play that position. Otherwise we may as well move Simunic over there and search for a new centre back. By having Pranjic there continuously we are solving nothing.
I agree with you there is no difference between Krizanac and Simunic and that Biscan don't improve anything. However Vejic and Drpic should be nowhere near the national side. If i was Hajduk's president i'd release Vejic at the end of the season. He's only good enough to play with Varteks or Cibalia these days. He should be thinking about maybe a coaching career. His days are long gone.
As a Dinamo fan i must admit i used to dispute categorically that Biscan shouldn't even be in defence and only used as defensive midfield at best. But he has surprised me a bit lately. All i was saying was that i think there is a little up turn in form – not that it warrants a Croatia call up. Also just saying he is better than Vejic and Drpic. Next year though i'd consider Biscan past it as well as a Dinamo player so why would i want him in the Croatia team. I want Vida to replace him at Dinamo. Maybe also sign Knezevic to get that career back on track or a quality young foriegn
defender. Biscan and Kovac i'm hoping only with Dinamo for this season though. Biscan can go and play last year of his career in Japan or somewhere.
Lovren and Sablic are my calls for the national team as squad players and Mikulic, Knezevic and Mijatovic should be monitored.
I am not disputing that Biscan might be better than those two…but he threw away his achances when he walked out on the team.
to me there is not much differance with him and the other guys.
How can you say Drpic and Vejic are better than Biscan. They both played in HNL1 and Drpic and Vejic don't even shine in HNL1. Vejic had a half decent spell when he was aged 27-29 at Tomsk and thats about it. He was okay to select as cover for a short while back in 2007. However he's 33 now and well past it. Not only is he ridiculosly slow, he is not even in any sort of decent form. In fact he's playing bad for Hajduk. If we compare Biscan with Vejic he's better than Vejic. Do i even have to compare Biscan with Drpic as you're wasting my time. Drpic plays in second division. He plays poorly in the second division. Do i even have to say anything else. He's ridiculously bad. Maloca is better than friggin Drpic. i'll do a list for you of who is better than Drpic.
Corluka, Krizanac, Simunic, Knezevic, Sablic, Mikulic, Mijatovic, Lovren, Robert Kovac, Biscan, Tarik Ceric, Biliskov, Vida, Barbaric
Do you see how far down the order it gets before we talk of Drpic. The guy stinks. Is he one of your friends in the national team by the way.
I have no problem bringing in new faces. I just view friendlies as a waste of time. These guys are already playing games for their clubs and I presume are being watched by Bilic and his staff. I think you can get more out of them in national team practices than you do from friendlies. The reason you see England, Germany and Holland play regular freindlies is because of the money they can generate. That is not the case for Croatia. Nobody outside of Croatia really cares about seeing their national team play HRV.
back to Biscan….yes, he did play for Liverpool, but that was years ago. I just dont think he is better than anything on the roster and that includes Drpic and Vejic. Look back at the european matches dinamo played in alst few months and Biscan was not impressive at all. Too many holes in that Dinamo defense.
Not many teams can pick up the peices when dealing with multiple injuries. Look at England two years ago, the reason we beat them in Wembley was because they were missing multiple first choice players. The croatian media refuses to recognize that fact. yes, we played great anjd attractive soccer, but we lucked out with the injuries for England as well.
I agree Biscan yeah is not a first team Croatia player, but he form is 100% better right now than Vejic and Drpic. That's not even disputable. Vejic and Drpic would also have never played over 50 times for Liverpool. Just to make it clear, that's my only point.
I wouldn't personally confidently put Biscan in team, but had to agree with the comment that he is in his best form since he left for Liverpool. But really that says more about how bad he was rather than him being worthy of a Croatia call.
If Croatia had fully fit and fully prepared Pletikosa, Juric, Corluka and Modric and everyone in their same positions then the result would obviously been closer. Also if they rejuvenated the bench we'd have been more ready as well.
Whats your point regards friendlies and the squad members by the way. Do you think we can't freshen up with new faces. Is Dino Drpic and Hjorve Vejic who as far as i recall you said you don't even like at Hajduk the best Croatia has to offer? Is out of condition Jerko Leko best Croatia has to offer? Also do you think Pokrivac is at the peak of his powers right now. Having been dealt a blow to his confidence by Monaco's coach should he even really be selected in a Croatia squad.
Biscan???? r u guys on drugs. He walked out on the team once. He shines in the HNL because the quality of play is terrible. Krizanac and Simunic are 10 times better than Biscan on his best day.
You guys can schedule all the friendlies you want, but it does not prepare a team or a player for a game in Wembley. I'll admit that it is benficial for younger players for them to get thier feet wet on the international level. But it still comes down to talent and Pokrivac is not talented enough to play agianst teams like England.
I think Bilic has made some mistakes, but there was nothing he could have done yesterday that would have changed the result. I think we lose with a full squad yesterday.
i think Hiddink if the money was right would have come to Croatia, but after doing what he did at Chelsea i'm afraid its more likely he'll be the next coach of Manchester City or get one last crack at a massive club. We're talking Bayern, Real Madrid maybe again, Liverpool. I believe in Hiddink we are talking one of the great football coaches and i think he's through with international football. I think he'd like a crack at one more great club.
However there are plenty of other coaches that could do well at Croatia. We're talking all over the world good coaches having a go at international football after successful club careers. Trapatoni, Zico, Hitzfeld, Advocat.. all taking countries that have less talent than Croatia. I'm certain we can find a good foriegn coach. In Croatia we've basically gone through all the coaches with any sort of reputation or success. Ivic, Blazevic, Kranjcar, Jozic, Baric and Bilic. That was it. Only one left is Kresic, but i think Kresic is happy in small Spanish clubs. We should go foreign.
Neretljak has said he's in Far East purely for the money and also cos he has hero status over there. He had offers to come back to Europe with big Russian clubs and strong Bundesliga clubs, but earns so much out in the Far East. In my opinion that doesn't make him a bad player cos both he went over there he was a Croatia international that scored in a friendly against Germany. I think again a couple of friendlies would have done no harm at all to test his form.
@dinamofan There was a recent interview with Neretljak about have a couple of great seasons playing in Korea. I guess Bilic told Mato that he wouldn't be called if he didn't play in Europe. I think that's stupid because we don't have a huge player pool like Brazil, Argentina, Italy etc. Biscan and Neretljak are two players that no one has mentioned recently. There are other players that need to be given chances. We found Prso when he was in his late 20's and we can find others.
Croatia has never had a foreign coach but I think it may be time. Croatia does not have any solid coaches that I would recommend to take over the national team at the moment. Plus I feel that a foreign coach would pick the best players available. Croatian coaches feel big pressure from agents and clubs(Dinamo and Hajduk). I think a foreign coach would be able to concentrate on making the best possible squad. I would love to see what a coach like Hiddink could do with Croatia. There are only a few coaches in the world at that level and the Savez should pay for an established coach. They are currently paying Bilic nothing and need to spend some money to get big results.
I would prob agree with that actually. I don't feel Biscan greatly improves the defence, but his form is prob the best he has played since he was younger. He is also a tryer and willing to stick his head where it hurts.
As for Neretljak you have to ask yourself there must be a reason why this guy is famous and regarded as a legend out in the far East. Its ok to be regarded as a good player, but this guy is a legend. I think he prob deserved a glance when he is playing such so solid. When you consider that Vejic and Drpic are not good enough to be trusted on the pitch in a serious defensive crisis then its obviously better than having them.
I don't believe Bilic deserves to be sacked as we can still finish second and qualify and might as well get that out the way first. We may as well keep him for one more match against Kazakstan where we will prob learn nothing. Pranjic will play left back and play well, Kranjcar prob central mid and Rakitic left and we'll prob win easily. Bilic really should put together a line up not just to win that game, but which is long term gonna help us.
I'd like to see a foriegn coach that will work on our team. We should let Bilic go when his contract expires. Giovanni Trapatoni was a great appointment by Ireland. We need someone like that who will work at creating a team and bulk up the squad with stronger options and most importantly a plan B.
RE: Drpic
First why are you in the team and when you gonna sober up.
Secondly saying your not interested in Bosnia is a bit closed minded. Are you a Croatian nationalist or a football fan. Just cos Croatia stinking out the joint, no need to take it out the Bosniaks.
DinamoFan no disrespect but we are on croatia soccer report and to be true i could care less what bosnia did. In fact i could care less what anyone else did today its what we didnt do. If i wanted to go talk bosnia soccer i would go on there website
Give credit to England for playing a great match. I'm disappointed with the performance but I still believe we have a good chance of making it to the World Cup. Belarus helped us big time by holding Ukraine to a tie in Minsk today.
I agree with @dinamofan with his thoughts about Bilic. Leko, Vejic, Pokrivac, and Drpic do not deserve to be on the national team. It seems as though Bilic is content and is not even considering to look for real replacements. I think the best player we currently have to play center back is Igor Biscan. I know he's had his problems with Markovic but I don't really care because he needs to be in the top 18 players. He should be there over Drpic even if he doesn't start. I think Mato Neretljak(currently playing in Korea) would have played a better match at left back today than Pokrivac. I don't remember the last time Croatia was outplayed like this. The first half was a nightmare and could have easily ended 4-0.
I think the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half were excellent. Petric and Rakitic brought in a new dimension to the game. It was unfortunate that the referee didn't call the penalty on Eduardo. 2-1 with momentum going our way would have changed the game immensely. I believe Olic and Mandzukic are too similar to play together. There is no reason why Mandzukic should have started today besides raising his value before Dinamo sells him. If he scored one of his 2 opportunities my thoughts would be different. I guess Bilic wanted to go at them with speed but that didn't work out well because our midfield was outclassed. We were giving away possession way too easily and defending poorly. I knew we needed all of our players to play amazing for a good result but it was impossible today. Srna, Pokrivac, Pranjic, Kranjcar and Mandzukic all playing out of their natural positions. Modric is our engine in the midfield and its hard to change our game without him. I think Badelj has potential in this position but he needs to improve defensively. I'm still looking forward to seeing Anas Sharbini have a chance. As @AnteKvartuc and @Denis mentioned we are missing a vocal leader out there. Niko Kovac was our leader for so many years and now it seems like no one has stepped up to take control of our team.
We cannot have a national team with only 15 players that get playing time. There needs to be a solid 20-25 candidates at all times and another 10 on the national team radar. I disagree with @Zivaistina about playing friendlies not benefiting our team. If we play friendlies against teams like France, Holland, Spain etc we can see how players like Sharbini, Cale, Badelj, Ilicevic, Subasic do against top level opponents. It may be a friendly but those national sides will always have strong national teams even if they play their reserve squads. This would give us an idea who can come in and make a difference when they are needed. Overall it was a difficult day but as long as the English come to play in Ukraine we will go to qualifying.
JP,
Its Interesting now that you mention it, we likely would've been better off losing v Poland, since 3 of the 4 2nd placed group finishers ended up in the semi's…
Agreed, look at what Ciro is doing with some inspired Bosanci. Or perhaps he's inspired them. We wouldn't have lost 5-1 with Ciro at the helm, this is for sure.
Isn't the irony of this entire situation the fact that Bilic was a defender?
If he Bilic, believes in "the gods" so much, shouldn't he know better then, than to tempt them. Has he not read any Greek mythology? If the gods want to destroy a man, first they make him "mad", after which he destroys himself.
I believe that this all goes back to the Poland game at the Euro's. 3rd game in the group, after we had just beaten Germany, and Bilic plays all the second stringer's. We win, but at what cost? We embarrass the Poles, and go through unbeaten with our starters rested. So rested in fact that we are rusty against Turkey, and let an inferior side hang around through over time. Well we all know the rest now don't we. Pride and arrogance is the beginning of the end… and Bilic has no one to blame but himself.
JP,
Yes, Bilic seems to be trying to fashion himself as Ciro's successor- instead he ends up looking like a poor imitation. Anyhow, I believe there is only room on this earth for one Ciro, god bless him…
@Alex, and @Dinamofan
It's Bilic and his stupid choban superstitions and beliefs. In an interview yesterday to Jutarnji List he mentioned that Croatia didn't get any luck in the Belorus match, and that they were still "owed" luck from the fates for the Turkish loss. Well we certainly got it today didn't we!
It's been this way ever since the heartbreaking and unbelieveable loss to the Turks. Nobody has been the same on that team since. It started with the feeble loss in pk's. Perhaps Bilic didn't stop to think that we were "lucky" to even get to the Turkish match.
At least Ciro consulted astrologers!
The idea of Pokrivac at LB made sense on paper- and I give credit to Bilic for changing it when it wasn't working instead of sticking with it till the half. The simple fact was he didn't have a whole lot of options for LB. Why? Yes, we don't have a whole lot of LB's to choose from but Bilic didn't do himself any favours with his squad selection and the lack of any (friendly) matches in which to blood potential options (for instance, I wonder if Bilic would've started Cale if he'd had performed well in a friendly after the Andorra match(in which he looked nervy)?).
This team has never been the same since the turkey game, its bilic's job to make sure its a good atmosphere in the dressing room, its like he has no control of the team
exuse me for saying this but isnt Bilic sub predictable everytime, putting on Petric almost everytime
Re: Alex
100% agree that this is not a random result. We've been like this for a while. I do think we are sorted for widemen and strikers are fine, but defensive mid and whole backline apart from Corluka is a problem.
Regards Klasnic, Terry went through the back of him with an awful challenge. Klasnic raked his studs down his back and may have spat in return, but Terry started it so its fair enough. As least Klasnic didn't go around picking up England players off the floor every few minutes like Fecking Kranjcar! I'm surprised he didn't check for grazed knees and pull out his first aid kit as well. Team needs to toughen up.
If Klasnic really did spit at Terry, there will be video of it. Otherwise, it's just another whining, overpayed, Englishman.
As I see it, the operative word here is "complacency"- by the team for they're performance and for Bilic and his lazy squad selection and his lazy and somewhat arrogant attitude towards preparation and Friendlies, in particular.
There has been something wrong with the side this entire qualification. It's way beyond whether someone is being played out of position or lacks match sharpness. There is a psychological problem in the dressing room…If anyone has any concrete ideas as to what it is, I'd love to hear it…
i agree with anonymous above!
Bilic must go!
fire bilic now, he got the tactics all wrong (what kind of a jackass starts a center mid at leftback) also wat did mandzukic do to earn a start over rakitic? y was olic subbed at half? bilic has turned into an idiot as all he does before games is talk shit meanwhile his team isnt even prepared. he deserves a kick in the ass out the door
lets have are CROATAIN coach from bosnia back to Croatia i think that would work nice?
Believe it or not Ukraine were even worse than us. They were outclassed by Belarus who kept the ball for 90 minutes. Hey Belarus if you gets yourself some strikers you could win some games.
Look at Bosnia go. I think they are almost sorted for second place now. What an achievement. Did anyone see Sejad Salihovic's free kick tonight against Turkey. What a beautiful free kick. Go Bosnia!
http://www.jutarnji.hr/sport/navijaci/clanak/art-2009,9,9,,175775.jl
Thats what Eduardo needs,not some shitty ennglish media accusing him of stuff,
http://www.jutarnji.hr/sport/nogomet/clanak/art-2009,9,9,,175767.jl
Fans of today
Its sad to say but after this result we don't even belong in the World Cup. I cant see England giving its all against a hungry Ukraine that are playing at home. i hope im wrong but i think we are finished.
http://www.jutarnji.hr/sport/nogomet/clanak/art-2009,9,9,,175780.jl
Bilic after the game,also you can see Runje picking a fight with english goalkeeper go RUNJE!
Nah it was a hug just after Eduardo had scored. The guy looked like he'd been drinking all day and wasn't aware of loss. At least he'll sleep well tonight. English TV always turn away when a fan comes on the pitch as its supposed to not give the fan attention???
Okay basically Bilic gave us a taster tonight of all 5 strikers. To me Klasnic does not stand out as the worst. I think he'd have finished Eduardo's chance and he'd have finished Mandzo's chances. He's more incisive than some of the others with his movements. I don't believe we'd be greatly damaged in confidence. Raki definitely played well. That was also a lot better from Petric regards effort.
Kranjcar, Srna, Mandzo, Pranjic were all out of position so can dismiss their performances. I think Simunic and Krizanac have the most problems and clearly left back problem is no closer to being solved. I think we should bring an end to this Simunic in central defence idea and move him to left back. Not only does it solve our left back crisis, but Simunic is a terrible central defender. I think he brings Krizanac down to his level as well. Team does fall apart without Modric. I don't know how many times i have to say that Badelj is a direct replacement for him. Maybe not against England, but long term we have to edge him in. Looking at the conditioning of Pokrivac and clearly Leko was worse, Vrdoljak should have got called up.
I think we need to find a right back to cover. Three new centre back. A replacement for Modric. Defensive midfield cover. Marko Babic must be furious that he got kicked out for not playing much yet Drpic, Leko, Pokrivac and Vejic all are in the squad. I think Pokrivac playing in Austrian league has to put his position in question cos every Croat i'm aware of succeded in Austria and it doesn't particularly qualify to be in the squad.
WHAT THE HELL,TERRY I SAYING KLASNIC SPAT ON HIM,IF THIS IS TRUE I WOULD OF TO DIRTY ENGLISH SHITTER. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j9uddpkV2Lz0ag4sC2NkFDwOBhlg
so did they fight Eduardo or hug him?
@Croat,
They moved the cameras away not to encourage such actions in the future by other drunk English fans. This is standard operating procedure with all TV networks. No conspiracy here, although definitely a scary incident for a player.
I like the idea of Niko Kovac as the new coach. Perhaps we can salvage a trip to South Africa that way, through a victory at Kazakhstan and an English victory/tie?
Although I wouldn't bet on Capello/English doing us any favours at this point, considering that they could knock us out by not showing up in Ukraine.
Bilic has to resign if only to save face for the country and the players. What are we Andorra or something? Embarrassing!
I thought Eduardo got hit by that fan,so it was a hug or a figh??????? but if it was a fight that was planned by english becuase why would they move the cameras away?
We'll grab second place, even if England change their entire starting lineup against Ukraine. There are enough talented players on the bench that will want to make more of a name for themselves as to get more playing time in the world cup.
I'm just really worried about the confidence level of the team during the playoff matches. What does Bilic say to the team in the locker room after this match, "Uh, our bad?" There isn't a thing he or the team can say. There were bad tactics on Bilic's end and poor playing on the squad's end.
Even with Modric and Corluka back, I wouldn't want to run into a team like Russia with little confidence. I would love to think that our squad is resilient but even the best team would be shaken up for a while after a 5-1 defeat (the biggest defeat in the history of Croatian football).
Vejic – but you said he should not even play for Hajduk Split. I think this guy is on the downturn and prob be without a club in the summer and decide to retire. God knows why he plays for Croatia.
Ziva right, if Pokrivac plays poor against Norway or Scotland then you obviously learn something about his conditioning don't you. Pokrivac not only played poor just like 8 others, but his confidence was just gone.
This is not just about tonight. There were people who said we played bad against Belarus cos we played to the level of a poor opponent. Not true we have serious problems. Its clear Runje and defence is not happy with each other. They all clearly happier with Pletikosa. People have been giving Runje too much mouth during these last few games and seems a lack of confidence in him.
I think we have a serious deterioration in defensive areas. For this we have to find solutions. If this means trying guys like Vrdoljak, Lovren, Cale, Pamic, Mijatovic, Mikulic, Sablic, Jajalo out so be it. We cannot go into a game with four players who have been completely out of condition in the squad – Pokrivac, Leko, Drpic and Vejic all who have barely played for their clubs, been injured or away from there teams. Basically the selection of these players killed us. Its no just that they aren't great players, but there not even fit. I mean we could have gone 3-5-2 in this game, but when we have no third centre back or second central mid then its a bit hard to adjust anything.
For the left back spot I have said I would have moved Simunic out wide and inserted Vejic. That is a gamble as well. I doubt that move would have worked, but those guys would have been in positions they have played before. Pokrivac was put in a spot he is not accustomed to playing. This is not me talking after the fact. I have said it before that if we have players like Pokrivac getting PT then we are in big trouble. Any my words have proven to be true, that's all.
I am dissapointed we lost, but i was expected to be shelled by England, so this is no surprise to me.
Regards Pokrivac, basically if you don't play him or Leko you have no other defensive midfielder supporting Vukojevic. You also have a playmaker alongside your only defensive mid and a striker on right wing.
Pokrivac and Jerko Leko were a selection of Slaven Bilic and he had no other options. If you don't play Pokrivac – you have to play Leko who has not played all season for Monaco and trains away from the first team. Slaven Bilic did this to himself and has not searched for other options. He also caused himself issues by having only Drpic and Vejic as cover. The tactics and positioning of players was just a total mess. It can be improved, but he has to find new players. Basically if Pokrivac doesn't play in central mid who do you play? Cale can come in at left back or Pranjic at left back, but it still leaves Kranjcar in central midfield not assisting Vuko.
Ziva, why is it that you always seem to show your head after the fact? You never make any suggestions with regards the players available. For instance, you seem to gloat that people who recomended Pokrivac were wrong. But Ziva, where were your suggestions? What were your recomendations? I didn't see any, yet now you come around like you're the f**k*n Oracle of Delphi…
Anyway… Runje made one mistake and 3-4 fantastic saves. If the rest played like him it would've been a very different match. Whatever the players we were missing, the players on the pitch were mostly underperforming within their own abilities. That is a problem which is largely the province of the Coach. The sloppy passing, constant balls to the back, poor marking, etc., signify a lack of confidence and belief, the area's of responsibility for the Coach. It is not that we lost, but the manner in which we lost that speaks of real problems in the dressing room…It is impossible for me to believe that the team is still traumitized by the loss to Turkey-something else is going on…
back to the friendly arguments… well if you think playing Pokrivac and others guys against a team like Scotland or Norway or whoever else would prepare them for a game at Wembley, well, them more power to you.
i realize we had no chance in this game beause of the injuries. there was not much Bilic could do, but playing two guys at positions they have never played sure was not the correct move.
Oh haha, my mistake. Sorry to dinamofan! In any case that was a awful performance. We can all agree on that.
I'm pretty sure that was not directed at you Will, but rather a previous poster.
Seems somoene is looking for an arguement but i wont bite. Not today, never once did I say that was "all that concerns me". In fact if you look at my following post I referred to two areas of deep concern. The fact that Bilic the "brilliant tactician" as some claim, ran a formation with pokrivac at back and pranjic in front of him with Lennon attacking on that side. Olic would have been a much better option to muscle up and run with Lennon. In case you did not notice they attacked that side all first half and Bilic certainly didnt solve the problem by moving pranjic back there…clueless coaching.
Jutarnji List says it best.
"Hrvati skinuli gace na Wembleyju"
Runje has no fault in the matter, yeah the last goal was an awful matter, but it would've been 7-0 in the first half alone, without his heroic effort. The man was tired (and rightfully pissed-off)from all the work he did in the first half. I've never seen so many passes to the keeper in a half of football.
And I agree with @123 we'll probably see him in another uniform soon with the performance that he gave.
I also agree with Ziva, we're lucky to be even talking about qualification still. The sad part is we made England look like the best team in the world today. They made the most of every opportunity, no doubt about that. But unlike Bilic, Capello doesn't hope for results and luck, to take the day.
The Jutarnji List headline should've been:
"Bilic skinije gace na Wembleyju"
Lets recount Bilic's mistakes…
a) not preparing secondary players to play when starters are injured
b) not fixing the strategic problem from the first match in Zagreb where England exploited Pranjic all day long.
c) playing a 4-4-2 against an English 4-4-2.
d) Starting Mandzukic and Pokrivac (what was he thinking?)
more to come…
Re: Ziva
Why you gloating you jerk. You didn;t do anything. I didn't see any goals by Ziva Istina. Maybe you was that guy that ran on pitch and hugged Eduardo. When you gloat about saying Croatia is rubbish yadayada, with no solutions. You call that something to be proud of lol.
lets just face it…. bilic got it wrong. he needs to go now. give him a job in EPL.
bring on niko kovac as coach. i believe it was him that motivated the team when he played.
now who thinks we can qualify?
we can beat khazakstan, england will beat ukraine for sure.
who will we face in the playoffs if we reach them?
IF we do get second and make the playoffs, i am certain we will be a different team with our key guys back, we play well when the pressure is on and our backs are against the wall. today our backs weren't up against the wall because ukraine tied 0-0.
5-1 – we cant consider our goal differential a factor anymore…unless england really gives it to ukraine..but i dont see that happening
oh whoops.
lol so Pokrivac is the only thing that concerns you then is it. This guy was hung high and dry and his confidence just left his body when SIMUNIC gave away first goal. Pranjic also did no better either. First he is not a left back. Look back at my team. It says Cale! As i also said Leko and Pokrivac is all that was left in the squad SLAVEN BILIC selected.
If you think Croatia lost purely cos of Pokrivac you're having a laugh. Lets run through the culprits.
RUNJE – nice shot stopper, but scary coming for crosses and when given back passes. Arguably you cannot win much with this keeper.
CORLUKA – Moron got himself sent off. What more can you say.
SRNA – Good going forward, but absolutely terrible defender. Can play wing back at best defensively, but is clearly a right winger.
PRANJIC – Did nothing going forward and showed he basically cannot defend.
KRIZANAC – Struggles severely picking up players. Looks like a good man to man marker, but has poor organisational skills.
SIMUNIC – This is the main culprit of the night. Forget Pokrivac this guy is a total wally. He is only any use to Croatia as a left back in a strong defence cos otherwise he is constantly doing silly thing in central defence.
KRANJCAR – Completely out of position. Does not know how to close down opponents creative midfield.
VUKOJEVIC – A real surprising off night, but basically was left high and dry by Bilic's tactics.
MANDZO – Never started a game for Croatia and then suddenly he's on right wing. I have never seen Mandzo play right wing during his entire career. Dreadful tactics from Bilic.
POKRIVAC – Out of condition, no confidence. Has not played for Croatia since god knows when. Why now? Awful decision from Bilic. We could have seen Pokrivac's form early in a friendly and done something about it. Couldn't we Mr No Friendlies.
LEKO – Turned up to international duty out of condition.
EDUARDO – Looked a bit lossed and intimidated. Didn't even appeal when he was clearly fouled by Johnson.
OMITTED FROM BLAME – Petric, Olic, Rakitic and Klasnic as far as i could see did nothing wrong.
SLAVEN BILIC – Why drop Rakitic for Mandzo. Why call up out of condition and out for form defensive back up and defensive midfield. Why so many strikers on the pitch. Why Kranjcar central midfield. Why Runje? Why Srna? Why not Cale?
Ziva i wouldn't start being smug. Your opinion was that we should not play Friendlies to work on the team. Your opinion was do precisely what Bilic did which was throw it all together at the last minute, so basically Bilic's ideas are your ideas. Basically you should change your name to Mr No Solutions. Just keep sitting there saying with your no answers to solve the problem. Anyone can say we have nothing. England are better organised and coached than Croatia. Croatia think they can change everyones position and for it all to work. Go and find proper solutions to the problem Bilic. Find replacements.
There are many issues that this team needs to address but the coaching and leadership are the biggest ones that come to mind. I knew that once the Kovac brothers were gone this would happen…granted not to the extent it has reached. This team lacks organization and a vocal leader to make people get in line. We went from having two on the field at once to none at all.
Hey guys, I been following the site for a long while now and just decided to join after what we witnessed today. I'm Rob's bro, hey Ante and Dennis. quality work you've two done on the site. Ok to the match…well, i am at a loss for words. I was predicting a 3-1 defeat and for us to save face but we were horrifying. The formation unleashed at the start of the match by Bilic really had me confused. Pokrivac…really? You have Pokrivac on the defensive side of the ball against lennon? Why was olic the lone man up front as well? Olic should have been slotted in on the wing in midfield to run with lennon and at least try to contain him. Pranjic and Pokrivac on the same side was the best Bilic could come up with? Time for Bilic to go.
Dont blame Runje. Runje saved us from even more embarrassment.
He can be proud of his performance. He could well end up in the EPL after that match.
Once again he saved us but this time it was from an even bigger embarrassment
Yea our midfield was dominated. England held on the ball all first half and converted practically given chances to them in the 2nd. Eduardo's non-call was terrible. It could of been 2-1, but hell the way we were playing it wouldn't of mattered. Maybe their confidence and energy would of picked up, sad to say, but I still think we deserved what we got. We very well could of lost 8-1.
Well, i dont want to gloat, but I will.
I didn't think we would win because we lack the quality to compete with Engalnd, especially with the injuries.
And for those that wanted Pokrivac in the line up (you know who you are)…there you go….
we played England twice and Ukraine twice….no wins, two losses and 2 ties….enough said.
All that being said….Ukraine blows as well. England will tie them and we will still finish 2nd, but bow out in the playoffs..
ako ja to kazem onda to vam je ziva istina…..
That's just it, I love our country and team. But let's be honest with ourselves, that was pathetic. Pitiful. Awful. Right now we are a team completely devoid of any direction or leadership, and it starts with Bilic. That's a fact. The results (or lack there of) show this.
Runje was only at fault for one goal, other than that I can't blame him. It was pathetic play, our midfield got completely owned.
I will always love our team, but that was by far the worst display by Croatia I have seen.
Let's hope they have enough confidence to take out Kazakhstan and that Ukraine doesn't beat England.
I DONT SEE THE HEART WE HAD IN EURO…KOVAC BROS HAD HEART…WE HAVE TALENT…NO HEART
as they are saying on tv now, we looked out of energy within 20 minutes. We couldn't even loose with a bit of passion or style. our squad needs to be sorted out. we are better than this. our previous game in wembley you could see pace, energy and will to win.
we know we are better than this… we have been better than this and now with more players training for bigger clubs in 2 years we can show no improvement instead just going downhill.
bilic is too soft on his team. you cant have a team with an older brother figure. he needs to be boss and put some discipline in there.
this is just awful !!
wow that was ugly all around. You're right Bilic should resign tomorrow (or be fired) injuries or no injuries that team was not ready. He should be fired for his "varijant" alone. I'm embarrassed, how do his "mind games" look now. Awful. Desperate. His showboating and cockiness after the last game in Wembley, sure looks pretty "classless" now doesn't it. I bet you Capello doesn't do the same. He's gotta go. And I agree that he didn't groom other players in the case of injuries. Happy b-day Slaven, write a rock and roll song about that.
Who the hell blames Runje for this loss?
If it wasn't for him, the game would've been over in the first 45……at least at 2-0, we had a CHANCE.
Without Runje this game would have been 8-0. He put up some amazing saves. Go easy on the guy, he was facing a firing squad today.
Even when Croatia was MUCH shittier then this, they would never lose by this score…so yes, heartless….absolutely.
Well that was kinda harsh to watch.
As mentioned, Pokrivac was in our starting 11.
Well our only hope is that Ukraine don't get a win vs England……….that is what our hopes have come down to at this point.
To be honest, we haven't played well at all this qualifying campaign.
THey wont 'give it away' per say, but they will play second (or maybe third) rate players in a game that means nothing vs first string players for a desperate ukraine team. Ya sure, they'll still try, but will it matter? Lots of people try all the time, generally quality wins out.
I'll happily be here after the England and Ukraine game and take my lumps if i'm wrong, but will you?
i think Bilic is gona resign after this
soulless and heartless????
What type of nonsense are you typing.
We are not as talented as England, plain and simple.
Do you realize we started Pokrivac in our starting 11, that should tell you something.
fuck Ukrain we're better then ukrain. England will not let them win….r u fuckin retarted…why would a team give away goals????
Runje makes one mistake and you guys hate him? he saved are ass against england and belaurs
ukrain tied belarus they are gonna get their asses handed to them against england…we're going through no matter what….
Not me, Croatia is toast….we will probably beat the Kazaks like 3-0, and Ukraine will win like 2-1 or so.
good job runje, u idiot
@Ziva istina:
Ukraine need to beat england. who here really thinks england is going to put up a fight for those 3 points?
How many legs do the british have to break just to get some wins?
Runje is just awful…Slaven Bilic, goodbye.
What happened there they cut away? Obviously somebody attacked eduardo after his goal, english cowards cut the camera away and he gets subbed off right away….disgusting…fucking english cunts.
IVAN KLASNIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CROATIA
yes so what we're losing 4-1!!! WE mother fuckin scored LETS GO CROATIA LETS GO!!!!!
Even with Modric and Corluka, we still get killed today….a serious rebuilding is in order, this team is soulless and heartless without the Kovac Bros. steering the ship.
Just imagine how bad it would have been with Robrt Kovac in the line up.
The ironic part is that we are still alive for 2nd place. Ukraine has to defeat England, a tie will give us the 2nd spot.
And there is number three…….wait, we can still win 4-3 right??? lol.
we are being raped
Absolutely CRIMINAL foul on Eduardo in the box, and predictably no call..
Not that anyone is surprised tho, you know eduardo was not going to get anything called his way….but at least give us a chance and call it fair.
we have no depth because we have no talent after our first 15 or so….
I laugh at some of you guys who kept asking for Pokrivac….well, there you go.
ridiculous!!! U call ur selves Croatians!!! Support ur team niggas..We can still do it!
England 2 – 3 Croatia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you dont agree FUCK YOU!!!
PLEASE PLEASE
What happened to Cale? We need some more strength and hard work on that left back
Thats exactly what i mean Denis. I am a British Croat. We need something tonight.
I dont know how I am gonna go to work tomorrow amongst my colleagues.
Lets just pray and hope they relax and do a little bit of damage at least
We look absolutely, positively, dreadful. How many times do we have to give the ball away? Runje has saved any minute sense of pride by saving us from being down 5-0. What's worse, England don't even look that good. We are just awful…The 2 goals were completely avoidable. At least Belarus drew Ukraine. They must defeat-not draw-England, which I doubt will happen…
hey lets hope 2nd half Croatia realizes they have been outplayed, now since we're losing 2 – 0 we need to stop worring and now we have the opportunity to play our game. That means, dribble the crap put of englanf. and pass like brazil. We can still doit, hopefully bilic inspires croatia in the second half. Croatia 3- 2England LETS DO IT!!!
IDEMO HRVATSKA
Guys common we can still do this. We can push through. Its all about relaxation now. Bilic can make them buzz now at half time.
U boj
Pretty much the worst half of soccer I have seen Croatia play at any level ever, including the dark days of 2000-2004. Utterly pathetic.
If this game finishes 5 or 6 to nil (which it may), I truly hope Bilic gets the boot tomorrow morning. He has done NOTHING to develop any quality depth players..I know there are injuries, but Pokrivac gets the start at wembley out of his natural position and he has never even PLAYED there before? hell, he has hardly even played for us period!!!…Insane…how about a friendly or two, how about trying out some depth players during games that have been in hand???
Pretty much the worst half of soccer I have seen Croatia play at any level ever, including the dark days of 2000-2004. Utterly pathetic.
If this game finishes 5 or 6 to nil (which it may), I truly hope Bilic gets the boot tomorrow morning. He has done NOTHING to develop any quality depth players..I know there are injuries, but Pokrivac gets the start at wembley out of his natural position and he has never even PLAYED there before? hell, he has hardly even played for us period!!!…Insane…how about a friendly or two, how about trying out some depth players during games that have been in hand???
if not for Runje it would be 5-0 already. This is real bad, and will probably get worse before better.
I told you we would be crushed guys….our only hope is england does not roll over with ukraine (which they will)., which I have been saying for months now…england fucking hates us you can sense it through the tv…we REALLLLLLYYYYY needed a Belarus victory today.
this game will end 5-0
http://atdhe.net/9088/watch-england-vs-croatia
This one is a good feed as well
o-o ukraine belarus!
great feed here
http://www.atdhe.net/9107/watch-england-vs-croatia
Ukraine and Belarus tied 0:0.
This is a good result for us, now we have some more breathing room.
I'm glad he's going to start Mandzukic. He's a great player with alot of speed.
Starting lineup – Runje, srna, simunic, krizanac, pranjic, vukojevic, pokrivac, kranjcar, eduardo, olic and mandzukic. I have no idea what formation he intends to play with that. As if the overall team defense wasnt bad enough, he has 3 strikers out and a midfielder playing LB. This may be a long night.
http://www.zhibo8.com/english.htm
Go down to the match and there are a bunch of links. They will only work with internet explorer (not firefox, unfortunately). Use the pplive and ppstream links, they will work the best. Download and install the plugin (only takes a minute), refresh the page, and you should be good to go. If you are lucky you can find a channel in English.
Ukraine-Belarus
… I am watching live feed here, just click on game:
http://atdhe.net/
However, no audio