Dinamo looked golden to start their Champions League playoff round against Norwegian champions Viking Tuesday night at Maksimir. Beljo and Lisica both scored inside of 10 minutes and it looked as if Dinamo could run away with this one. Instead, two Viking goal (one from a Dinamo defensive blunder) put them back in the tie to force a 2-2 draw in Croatia. Now, both clubs have all to play for next week in Norway.
Winner plays Champions League football while the loser will move down to Europa League.
I thought pandur was huge for hull city promotion
Why did he leave??
Seems to me he deserved a shot
Anon,
Not to move away from Croatian Sports or anything . . . Far be it from ME to do that . . .
But I think there’s some guys on the listserv who just couldn’t squeeze in the Tottenham game today, no time to even check on the results, life is busy . . . But since it’s opening day in the Premier League, and as people here are no doubt feeling absolutely overwhelmed with generosity, what the heck . . . we thought we’d invite you to fill your boots on this one occasion, tell us the results . . . we insist, fill us in on how the greatest team in the world kicked off 2026-27.
The floor is yours . . .
Ha !
Shambolic
But 8 of starting XI didn’t play today so need to give it time
MART, don’t kill me, I’m just the messenger . . . But here are the Sofascore and Fotmob ratings on Franjo Ivanovic . . . For what they are worth . . .
Lens 5-2 win today. Franjo scored to make it 2-0 . . .
Sofascore
Lens 7.29
Franjo 8.3
Fotmob
Lens 7.4
Franjo 8.2
He was tied for the second highest rated player out of all players on the field on Fotmob, and third highest rated player on Sofascore.
Yes, it is early going but it is a good sign that he is fitting in well and adjusting to his new team/coach in a different league. It is important he gets off to a good start after last season’s disappointment.
Franjo has scored in the 49th minute!
Really nice goal as well
Watched the Real Betis v Real Sociedad highlights. Don’t have access to full game.
Luka Sucic started the game and figured in the highlights . . . He hit the post square on with a good strike, the goalie was clearly beat, and Sucic was unlikely not to score and tie it up.
Final: 1-0 Betis.
Hoping that L Sucic can get back on track this season.
Look at his pass map
90% of the passes were backwards or sideways
Needs to be more progressive
Typo above. Not “unlikely” . . . should be . . . “unlucky not to score . . . “
Anon, I see what you mean looking at the Sucic pass map. I have never looked at a pass map before. Interesting. Thanks for the tip . . .
Busy day ahead.
Franjo, Baturina, Smolcic, Petar, hopefully Frigan and Mlacic, and others . . on deck.
Hull defended well. Big win for Jakirovic.
Hull is rocking . . .
Watched the entire 2nd half
So happy for Jakirovic
Hull are so well organized, drilled on the ball/off the ball, impeccable
Not one Hull player made even one mistake in the 2nd half – it was incredible – no errors – all of them locked in
People should watch McBurnie – a proper proper #9 – leading the line – couldn’t even get into the Scotland squad – would take him in a heart-beat for Croatia – he would be our best striker – if MLS Musa wants to be taken seriously (or ran away from Bundesliga Beljo) join a Premier League team and lead the line like McBurnie
They play Coventry next – massive massive match for both games
P.S. for all the MORONS that think possession matters as a predictive for winning – Man U had 72% possession today and lost 2-0 – MORONS
A good first half for Segecic. He scored on a free kick from just outside the box, blasted a hard shot that seemed to get a bit of a deflection off the wall.
In terms of his height, stature, quickness, and acceleration on the field, one gets a bit of a Luka Modric/George Best vibe.
Segecic, picking up where he left off last season, has scored in the 16th minute against Lincoln.
Late in the first half Portsmouth is leading Lincoln 2-1.
Hull 2-0 Man U after 39 min
OMFG
1st goal Maguire has his arms locked around Mbeumo (teammate) instead of Ajayi (Hull player) the whole time – it’s the worst corner defending Anonymous has ever seen in their live – never seen that in my life where the CB is holding their own player the whole time – watch it it’s really funny
Poor Franjo could have been park of this – but he didn’t believe in Jakirovic – although I don’t think he would start ahead of McBurnie anyways
Starting XI of Hull has only three new players from the Wembley promotion game – the other 8 players are all “2nd division English crap” players – new players: Tzolakis (keeper) 23M fee, Nobel Mendy (CB) 23M fee, and Elliot Stroud (midfielder) 2M fee
If they can hold on 2nd half – that would be massive – as more players will want to join them and jump on the Hull bandwagon before the transfer window closes – so so much at stake in the second half
CB Mendy off injured 64′
18 y/o CB Herrington (15M from MLS) – 6 caps Australia – replaces him
Going to be tough without Mendy there for the
The other CB Ayaji came off too for Paddy McNair
Dear Diary ….
Zzzzzzzzzz
regarding Josip Sutalo and his last season at Ajax. I keep seeing people mention how poor he was and although that might be true, you can’t criticize a guy that played on a good team that finished 5th (they’re always expected to be a top 2 team), had 3 different coaching staff’s (in 1 season), he was probably their best and most consistent defender while the team was in a shambles.
we need to keep these things in mind when critiquing a player.
I think it’s also due to the fact that he seems to always get priority on the National Team despite having some visible weaknesses (not dominant in the air, has his “kiks” moments like many others) yet plays in the weakest league.
It’s good that he’s in Serie A now. Better league and in a distant team. Glad he (above our other veteran defenders) made a club move as he’s still got some youth left.
I don’t really care for Duje or Pong anymore since they’re already older and we should have some new guys taking steps forward.
on a different* team
With Gattuso in charge of Lazio, Sutalo may be playing Serie B next season.
Vidovic considered an excellent Croatian prospect when he was a teenager in the Bayern system, however some of that early excitement about his potential has quieted down over time.
I am not sure what his potential is at this point, though others who have watched him play for Dinamo on a regular basis might have some insight.
Article on his recent move from Dinamo to Paderborn:
https://www.sofascore.com/news/gabriel-vidovic-to-sc-paderborn-07-3me-move-set-for-bundesliga-push
From what I have seen of him playing for Dinamo and youth teams, Vidovic is a highly intelligent player in footballing terms and also very skilful.
However, in modern football you need speed and a bit of physicality and unfortunately, he lacks both. Spent most of the time at Dinamo playing on the left wing and did OK in HNL, but lack of speed was evident.
With Orsic coming back he was moved into midfield but lacks aggression/physicality and recently was benched and lost his place in the starting 11.
Good move for him going back to Germany to play at a higher level. As far as speed is concerned you either have it or you don’t and there is not much you can do about it, it’s in the genes. However, he should do a lot more gym work to improve his overall muscle bulk and strength.
Looks like Sutalo is joining Gattuso at Lazio on loan from Ajax? This might be a good move for him as he struggled at Ajax last season.
1 down 2 to go
🚨⚪️ BREAKING: Tottenha reach verbal agreement with Manchester City to sign Savinho, here we go!
Club to club verbal agreement in place tonight with Sávio set to travel for medical at #THFC.
Fee will be over £75m, details to follow.
Separate talks for Omar Marmoush continue.
What exactly does this have to do with croatian sports? Anyone else bored of this moron?
Interesting article on Brighton and Vuskovic.
https://www.fotmob.com/en/topnews/29121-luka-vuskovic-ready-jump-up-premier-league?utm_source=fotmob
Luka Vuskovic.
Heck of a good start to the season . . .
Top ranked Brighton player today on Sofascore by some distance, second ranked on Fotmob.
Sofascore:
Brighton 6.87
Vuskovic 8.1
Fotmob:
Brighton 7.1
Vuskovic 8.0
These Sofascore rankings are a joke, always inflated and I’m not sure how they come up with them? is it by computer or some fools who have no idea about soccer ?
BBC had Vuskovic as fourth best Brighton player with a ranking of 6.05 and they stated that he had by large a quiet game although he picked up a yellow card.
I saw 8-minute highlights on Youtube and on two occasions Tromso players had one on one with the Brighton goalkeeper, but they missed.
First one was a ball over the top that caught Vuskovic and the other Brighton defenders high up the field. The second one on one was from what I could tell Vuskovic ? losing possession of the ball near the halfway.
Mistakes like this will be punished in EPL.
@mart. Sofascore et al use statistics from the match for their ratings. While statistics can never capture what really happens in a match they are at least neutral. The bbc ratings on the other hand are created by voting, so they are completely worthless. Whichever type of noob thinks it’s worth their time to vote on player performances is reflected in the scores. For example English players usually score high because the bbc is English and English kids think they should vote up their favourite players, as of by doing so they are helping their careers somehow. The BBC is worthless
BBC has a terrible terrible track-record – they didn’t want to air Are you Being Served? LMAO – MORONS !
***.youtube.com/watch?v=iNWkdZhCjys
The highest rating for a Brighton player was 6.45 or 6.40? this makes sense because the match was a 0 – 0 draw.
I’m used to reading match reports and player rankings in Croatian newspapers such as SN. Match reports and player rankings are done by experienced soccer reporters attending the match or at least they used to be.
Ratings are given in intervals of 0.5 and usually start at 5.0.
If you have had a bad match, you get a mark of 5.0 or 5.5. For an average performance you get 6.0 or 6.5.
7.0 and 7.5 means that you have had a very good match. To get a rating of 8.0, it would mean that in all probability you were one of the best players on the field with no serious mistakes.
The two mistakes that I saw from Vuskovic would mean that he would get a rating of 6.0 which is what he was given on BBC.
Had Tromso scored from those one-on-one situations than Vuskovic would get a 5.0 or 5.5.
That is why I think the Sofascore is BS and always gives inflated player ratings. I would always give more credence to player ratings on BBC than Sofascore.
Mart. I’m telling you exactly how player ratings works on the BBC. It’s a voting system
Any idiot can vote even if they didn’t watch the game
Are you free Mr Humpheries?
@Crnkovic, I understand what you are saying but I’m telling you that I have more trust in those people voting on the BBC than the rating system on Sofascore.
Hajduk concedes a goal in the 95th minute to draw 2 – 2 with Rakow at Poljud.
Just unbelievable, for the third time in Europe this season we concede goals in stoppage time.
It was 1 – 1 at HT and Hajduk came our strong in the second half and Dallison made it 2 – 1 with a nice shot from the edge of the box. Hajduk then had a couple of chances to make it 3 – 1but instead of scoring Pajaziti got a straight red card for a studs up challenge in the 55th minute.
It was a dumb challenge by Pajaziti as it happened 15 metres in Rakow’s half of the field. Hajduk defended well with 10 men but unfortunately conceded with the last kick of the match.
Toni Silic Hajduks goalkeeper is making too many mistakes this season, and I think he needs to be dropped. He should have done better with Rakow’s second and equalising goal. It’s time to bring back Ivusic.
Advantage Rakow, but I think Hajduk can compete against Rakow and you never know.
Rijeka lost 2 – 0 in Denmark and were lucky that it was only 2 – 0. On what was on display I do not give them much of a chance in the return leg unless there is a red card or something like that that goes in their favour.
73′ Jaga came on 2-0
82′ Anonymous started watching
95′ Game ends 2-2
Hradec K scored two of the luckiest bounces goals ever
Otherwise – Jaga honestly seems like he’s getting his balls drained too much – not enough aggression and impetus to make something happen (he only had 2-3 touches in this period, but still, there was one aerial duel he went in half-assed and got pushed easily off the ball)
I’m sure PAO fans are pissed off by throwing away the lead – but the two goals were both one in a million goals
16 y/o CB Bartol Levacic to Atalanta
Big games for Rijeka and Hajduk today.
Let’s get two wins, more teams playing in Europe, and start moving that coefficient higher for the HNL. As Maminjo says, the HNL seems to have more teams on a good track, and maybe we can have multiple teams in Europe over the next season or two.
@Slavonac. I would like to follow the HNL closely, but the games are not carried on any of the services I subscribe to. I watch the highlights on YouTube each week, the games seem pretty exciting, and I enjoy the quality. I am hoping for more of our teams in Europe this year as we get the games on DAZN and can at least watch them compete against European competition. (BTW, if you are still in the Thompson-Okanagan, hope the smoke is bearable . . . )
@Bart1912. Appreciated that update from France on Ivanovic. The comment reflects what we have seen in Ivanovic, but less so last season when things went awry. We need quality strikers and we need him back on track . . . And yes, it was Bruno Petkovic on that list I posted . . .
@gbvh. For the sake of tvoj stari, let’s hope Hajduk has a rip-roaring game today. It would be great if he and the Hajduk fans had the opportunity to watch the team compete in Europe this season. And btw, keep needling him about Hajduk . . . when he hangs up the phone on you like that it is good for him, you got his blood pumping a little . . . you want to get him worked up a little bit, from time to time, as he nears 80. It keeps him going.
@Donji Zagon. As per your recent post, I took the time to watch Darko Nejasmic play for NEC Nijmegan against Bodo Glimt in Champions League playoffs. The game was carried on DAZN in Canada. I can’t claim a 100% eye test like Anon, and never played the game at a good level like, say, Crnkovic, but my untrained eye tells me that Nejasmic is playing well, and with some confidence and authority in the midfield. I thought he got better as the game went on. I was impressed, and am satisfied my assessment was not far wrong as I see he was player of the match on Sofascore (8.3 rating), even in a 3-1 loss. Let’s see if Bilic brings him on board for NT matches this fall. . . .
MAXSport has great highlight packages of every HNL game on YouTube.
That’s how i stay caught up.
D.
100 percent agree with you.
Those are the highlights I watch. A great way to stay caught up.
hmmmmm….”BTW, if you are still in the Thompson-Okanagan, hope the smoke is bearable . . . ” – Identify yourself please!
regarding watching HNL. if you go to Amazon and buy a MAG box for an IPTV, there are several people that will set you up for all Croatian channels as well as tons of channels, movies and tv series from several other country’s. once you have the box its approximately $15 per month. I even watch UFC events, I watch FC Como, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, several international and HNL games.
HNL has some crazy games…nail biters that are absolutely nuts at times. I used to love watching Sibenik and Istra take on big teams and get results going a few years back. watching Hajduk can give anyone a heart attack at times. if you’re the opponent and winning against Hajduk…in the past they always seem to know how to score in the last minutes BUT, they’ve also lost games they should have won. its never a cakewalk watching them play.
LOL!!!!
You said so yourself, in a post here, 4-5 years back! 😂
And you were much more specific than the vague and vast 70,000 square kilometres I referred to . . .
As for Hajduk, another nail biter today in Conference League playoffs. They were carrying the 2-1 lead into the final minutes, and a very late goal scored by Rakow at 90’ +5 to tie it up . . .
Ended as a 2-2 tie . . .
Thanks for the Amazon/MAG box tip . . .
As predicted
Luka V starts at 1pm
It’s hard being this much of a GENIUs
Erlic bench LMAO
Jagusic on the bench for the second game in a row. That’s not good.
Sorry (not Sorry) Crnkovic – enjoy the title while u can !!!!
And we’re adding Gapko too 😉
@City_Xtra
#ManCity and Tttenham have agreed a deal for Savinho worth €93.3M up-front plus €5.7M in bonuses. The expectation is the player will soon be cleared for a medical, according to @cahemota. Adding a deal for Omar Marmoush, the total is expected to be around €151M. 🇧🇷🇪🇬
When will Bilic announce who is being called to the NT for the NL matches?
National associations must notify players and clubs in writing at least 15 days before the first day of the international window.
Dalić always released his players much earlier than required (and also had that standby list he would share too).
I don’t know if Bilić will be doing the same thing. He will probably just do the same thing as other international coaches do, and call up the players right before the deadline.
The games are in the last week of September, so he still has a lot of time.
Thanks.
SN said Sep 7th (there is an article about his coaching staff)
Not sure why so early – should be done Sep 18th or even 21st (like when England and others will do)
Some players will have 4 more games before then
Hopefully it’s fake news and Bilic gets in-line with England
And please no more stupid standby list
It makes more sense to wait, since it is early in the season and you really want to give more fans to assess who’s really on form or not.
It’s also important that we hit the ground running, as it is a new phase with new players, and we’re in a tough Nations League group.
Sutalo Lazio only worth 7.5M (that’s if they even buy him after a year)
Modric begging AC Milan to buy Pong to save him from the bench
Duje no news whatsoever
But Dalic blamed and benched 50M Luka Vuskovic LMAO
Anonymous would like Bilic to call up Mario Vuskovic for the NL – to help support brate Luka – but also I’m sure he can give a good motivational speech or two to rally the team
When is Mario’s first game?
Late November?
Sep 15th training – two months before first game Nov 15th
Would rather Mario gets a spot on the NT – if nothing else then for vibes – than the rat-pack of Duje, Erlic, Pong and Sutalo
Just show him Croatia hasn’t forgot about him
It’s not like the 23rd or 26th man in the squad is getting minutes anyways (see Erlic)
Looking at HSV schedule – must be Nov 21st vs. Werder (after the November international break)
Let Mario train during the international break with Croatia – he needs the comradery and actually training against other players – rather than spending more 1-on-1 with Josko Vlasic
Would be a nice touch by Bilic
Anon,
They say add-ons and other clauses could push it to 12M-15M.
Ajax was also careful to secure a 10 percent sell-on clause, so perhaps Sutalo is valued a little higher than initial reports indicated.
I think it’s a good move for him, he is in a top-5 league . . . Let’s see how he played at Lazio.
It’s definitely a good move for him.
He’s still young enough to salvage his career (after going sideways for years) and he gets to do it in a better league too.
Hopefully it works out for him and he improves while playing in Serie A.
Sorry guys
Anonymous almost made a boo-boo
Beyond Hajduk, Rijeka and Jaga playing Thursday
Luka V is the Brighton squad
And Sergej Levak is in the Atalanta squad
Luka V will either start tomorrow OR Prem Sunday vs Villa
While the game tomorrow is higher stakes it would be an “easier” game to start Luka V as opposed to throw him in the Prem – let’s see what the manager decides
Crnkovic player ratings:
Nevistic: not much to do. Had to pick the ball out of his net a couple of times but no chance with either. Looked fairly confident in his basics. Average (6.0)
Valincic: spoken about by some as a possible NT call up. He still hasn’t found his best form since move coming back from injury few months back. However, he is very hot and cold. At times going forward he looks a quality player. Pacy, with good technique, movement and link up play. Defensively he is rash. Both his positioning and some of his decision making is simply not good enough. Gave away the second goal by booting the ball straight to the Viking midfielder when anywhere else would do. (5.0)
Dominguez: the kid is talented. He moves well, reads the game well, is aggressive and has good technique. Still shows signs of his immaturity with lapses of concentration and over commits. A good prospect. Dinamo will make good money for him. He did ok. (5.5)
McKenna: was solid. Good simple decisions, key blocks and Ariel duels won. Dependable unlike some of his teammates. (6.5)
Perez-Vinlof: the young swede looks very shaky at times. Slow on the turn and lacking power. Grew into the game and showed his talent on several occasions. Needs to improve his speed of thought, and his athleticism if he is to fulfil his potential (is he better than Goda?)(6.0)
Misic: dear oh dear. Club legend and captain. Misic has been spoken about as a potential call up for the NT. every time I watch Misic play he makes a schoolboy error gifting the opposition the ball on the most dangerous situation and under zero pressure. His all round game is excellent. The game goes through him and he does so much for the team. But if you are the most experienced player, the captain and playing as CDM you simply cannot be making those mistakes. Ok maybe twice a season is acceptable. It’s every game. First he thrashed the ball straight to the opponent, under no pressure, then he completely ignored the player to his right so focused was he on blocking a potential shot when there were already two defenders ready to block the shot. That left the guy free in the box and he scored. That is proper bone head play. (4.0)
Stojkovic: very quiet game by his standards. Took a number of excellent positions. Still
Managed to create. Dinamo first goal came from Stojkovic through ball which was weighted perfectly allow Perez-vinlof to beat the defender with ease. Played on Zajc who hit the post. However, with Stojkovic level of talent he should be doing more. Demanding the ball in deeper areas to effect the game and being more aggressive. We all know he has a rocket shot, but we didn’t see it. He will know he can win the tie. He must step up and make it happen. (6.0)
Zajc: busy as usual. Lots of running but not much quality. Relatively poor performance by his standards. Looked tired (5.5)
Lisica: looks to be gaining form this season. Very hardworking, responsible player. Decent pace and ability. Scored second goal with composure (6.5)
Beljo: scored the first, assisted the second. Battled hard to hold the ball up. Just needs a touch more speed or power or quality and he is a very good player. (7.0)
Orsic: looked leggy, as did nearly all the dinamo players. Perhaps dinamo got their fitness schedule wrong, or maybe it’s just early season still. Still able to cause problems for the opposition with his crossing and shooting. Not his best performance but promising signs for the new signing (6.0)
Subs:
Kacavenda: confident, energetic and technically proficient. One marvelous run nearly ended with a super winning goal. Immediately brought an improvement to the team after replacing Zajc. (6.5)
Galesic: didn’t get long but nearly set up a winner with beautifully disguised through ball after powerful run. He can be a bonehead. But for me he is potentially better than Dominguez or valincic and should be playing from the start. (6.0)
Preveljak: the big guy came on. Tried his best. But his only chance he fluffed. (5.0)
Hoxha: tried to impact the game. Did well (6.0)
Mudrazija: looked ok. Has a good physique. Would probably do exceptionally well if given more time. But dinamo has too many players and they all need minutrs to accelerate their progress and retain their value. Not an easy job for the manager. (5.5)
Manager: set the team up to cope with Viking physicality. Stayed compact and mixed up the game. Not his fault certain players let him down. Bit it is his responsibility so I’ll be watching the second leg to see what the approach is. Dinamo could have been out of sight. There is no doubt if the tactics are right, the players are fit and talented individuals turn up, dinamo can go through.
Thanks for this Crnkovic! Much appreciated insight. I watched most of the game myself and, given how Dinamo started, the end result was disappointing.
Carlos Baleba to Man U from Brighton
Terrible terrible news for Luka V
Anonymous was hoping he would be providing cover in the #6 for Luka V
Poor Luka V will be exposed in the Prem
Luka will do great. Don’t worry
I’m going to be worried until he has played and settled at Brighton – if he makes too many mistakes first few games he could see himself on the bench
Only 10% risk but still a risk
Wellness check on Crnkovic please
Not sure he’s going to be able to handle the Marmoush PLUS Savinho PLUS Gapko front line
We’re SO BACK !!!
Have spuds signed any of these players?
David Ornstein reported
Last 8 players he reported going to Spuds – all ended up at Spuds
n.b. no Europe – so can focus on ONE GAME PER WEEK !!! 😉
Don’t fret – you got Konsa today – it’s not like he got PANTS by Pero or anything at the World Cup for Baturina’s goal 😂😂😂😂
Yeah. We needed some stardust at Arsenal in this window. PSG and Bayern have shown the levels of talent required to dominate European football. Huge talents like olise, Diaz, musiala, Kane, dembele, Doue, these guys are different level talents to anything we’ve got. I was hoping for Yildiz or yan Diomande, Alvarez, guys like that, Ofcourse I wanted Croatians too. Baturina, Stojkovic, Petar sucic. Instead we got tzolis and konsa smh. BUT we also got Bruno G who is a top player. And we just dismantled Man City. So I think we will be fine. Spuds can sign whoever they like you’re not catching Arsenal anytime soon
Liva signs with Barcelona. Who loan him to Dinamo
He’ll take over as #2/back-up for Joan Garcia next year when the Polish boy re-retires
Incredible work by Andy Bara – what a f-ing GOAT
Guess it could help the NT when we face Spain as Liva will know their penalties by heart (but they will also know Liva strategies too)
I did not have that on my 2026 bingo card.
1st team play is the key for him and I like him being loaned to Dinamo, but if he’s recalled to Barca for 2027/28 season only to ride the bench, that doesn’t work well for our Euros in 2028.
There will probably be a some reduced buyout amount that Dinamo can trust next year.
It seems like Dinamo and Bara like to work with Barcelona rather than the Turks.
Come on Dinamo!! Oh man I’m sweating over this one. I really felt that Dinamo needed to take an advantage from their home leg. Really hope Stojko will be available next week.
***
@Stjepan V.
croatiansports.com/hajduk-and-rijeka-through-to-the-play-off/#comments/531193
Same here, I would like to see Franjo starting up top, reason being I don’t really think he’s that effective as a winger and our repka usually doesn’t play a starting formation with two strikers.
Based on l’equipe.fr article published today, it seems Franjo will be deployed on the left wing… see Lens starting lineup below.
lequipe.fr/_medias/img-photo-jpg/-/1500000002555261/0:0,1431:954-828-552-75/8a3fb.jpg
Said article also described Franjo as a player to watch at RC Lens. Here’s what Lens captain Florian Thauvin said of Franjo (from Google translate):
“We could see very quickly that he’s very skillful in front of goal. Technically, he can beat defenders, shoot with both his right and left foot. He makes runs in behind the defense, with excellent movement off the ball,” explains Florian Thauvin. Extremely versatile, he can replace Odsonne Édouard up front or support him on the wing or just below him.”
lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Ligue-1-2026-2027-la-saison-de-la-confirmation-pour-lens/1711701
***
@A Tin U
croatiansports.com/hajduk-and-rijeka-through-to-the-play-off/#comments/531196
I think I would have fallen into despair if Sofifa didn’t rate any of our young forwards with a potential score higher than Budimir lol😂
Yep agree it’s time to move on from Budimir… I’m keen to know what Igor’s potential score would be after their next update.
Btw Tin, the Petkovic at the bottom of your list – that’s Bruno, right?
Let’s all hope ivanovic comes up
I think we will be ok for the next while with matanovic and musa
We will see soon enough how bilic rates them
Thanks for sharing that. A little discouraging to have him at LW as I think that’s Baturina’s position to lose in the future. Assuming Perisic stays committed to LB as been reported.
For the NT, it’s obviously preferable that our players play the position they have been playing at their clubs. Franjo still has to prove himself at Lens anyway, so let’s see what shakes out. Maybe he makes his way up top through teammate injury or performance.
Come on Dinamo!! Oh man I’m sweating over this one. I really felt that Dinamo needed to take an advantage from their home leg. Really hope Stojko will be available next week.
***
@Stjepan V.
croatiansports.com/hajduk-and-rijeka-through-to-the-play-off/#comments/531193
Same here, I would like to see Franjo starting up top, reason being I don’t really think he’s that effective as a winger and our repka usually doesn’t play a starting formation with two strikers.
Based on l’equipe.fr article published today, it seems Franjo will be deployed on the left wing… see Lens starting lineup below.
https://www.lequipe.fr/_medias/img-photo-jpg/-/1500000002555261/0:0,1431:954-828-552-75/8a3fb.jpg
Said article also described Franjo as a player to watch at RC Lens. Here’s what Lens captain Florian Thauvin said of Franjo (from Google translate):
“We could see very quickly that he’s very skillful in front of goal. Technically, he can beat defenders, shoot with both his right and left foot. He makes runs in behind the defense, with excellent movement off the ball,” explains Florian Thauvin. Extremely versatile, he can replace Odsonne Édouard up front or support him on the wing or just below him.”
lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Ligue-1-2026-2027-la-saison-de-la-confirmation-pour-lens/1711701
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@A Tin U
croatiansports.com/hajduk-and-rijeka-through-to-the-play-off/#comments/531196
I think I would have fallen into despair if Sofifa didn’t rate any of our young forwards with a potential score higher than Budimir lol😂
Yep agree it’s time to move on from Budimir… I’m keen to know what Igor’s potential score would be after their next update.
Btw Tin, the Petkovic at the bottom of your list – that’s Bruno, right?