DINAMO MANAGER KRUNOSLAV JURČIĆ
Dinamo Zagreb are out of Champions League for this season as they lost to Red Bull Salzburg 2-1 Tuesday night at Maksimir. Game highlights showed that Dinamo were the more aggressive side with better chances at goal; but as the game of soccer goes, you have to finish your chances to win.
Red Bull started off the scoring in the 33′ when Svento bent in a tricky free kick which completely ‘handcuffed’ goalman Tomislav Butina. Dimitrios Papadopoulos equalized the game minutes into the second half as he received a crisp ball on the right side of the box to find himself one-on-one with the keeper. With the game looking to go into extra time, Simon Cziommer absolutely crushed the ball in the 83′ for Red Bull which slammed against the post and deflected straight to Robin Nelisse who put away the game winner. Every single player on Dinamo was absolutely frozen on the play, including Butina.
It would have been nice to see Dinamo progress to the last qualifying round of Champions League but we all know that no good would have come to them should they have actually made the group stage. Dinamo would be playing against the best teams in Europe and could maybe squeak out a point or two at best. So what now?
Dinamo’s European season has just begun as they will now be entered into the playoff round of the Europa League where they can meet the likes of AS Roma, Werder Bremen, Villareal, Zenit, Aston Villa, Everton, Ajax and other European teams of high caliber and experience. The draw will take place August 7th.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
In other news, Panathinaikos roared back after a 3-1 first leg loss to Sparta Prague winning 3-0 in Athens. Mario Galinović posted an important shutout while Ante Rukavina was nowhere to be seen as he didn’t make the squad for his second straight Champions League qualifier. Panathinaikos are now one round away from securing a Group Stage birth.
Darijo Srna and Shakhtar have their work cut out for them tomorrow as they travel to Romania to take on Timişoara. The first leg ended 2-2.
This loss really p!ssed me off. I knew Zagreb would struggle without Mandzukic.
When you say deep run i may agree with you that we're gonna have to play much much better to make the last 8, but basically i'm just looking for improvements. Don't agree you about that we could get passed Red Bull. I'm not bothered if it sounds like excuses but we had injured players, had perfectly good goal disallowed and we were the better side so quite frankly i think we can beat Red Bull if we had made different selection choices. What makes me think Dinamo can do better – well its early in the season and we have shown promise. I think we'll get better than this as this season moves on. Hopefully Mamic is not finished in the transfer market yet and we can sign a centre back and consider offloading a few players that aren't up to it. We've also not seen Callelo, Ibanez, Tomecak and Kramaric get there chance yet so more still to come. We'll wait and see what happens. At least we're not sending out come and get out best players messages like Hajduk just now.
Just off topic i noticed something which has gone under the radar. A very recent Serbian international with 15 caps and who was a big Red Star fans favorite Marijan Markovic has arrived in Croatia at Pula. Was a bit of surprise to me to see Markovic wanting to play in Croatia. Seems a bit like Mihajlovic donning a Hajduk shirt. Wander if there is starting to become more willingness from Serbs and Croats to enter each others league. I mean a big thing was made of Radi Djalovic, but in the end he turned out to be a star and a Montenegrin despite being regarded a Serb in Croatia at the time.
I really doubt Dinamo can make any deep run in the Europa League. Red Bull is the the type of team that will be in the Europa League and Dinamo could not get by them. So what makes anyone think they will fare any better once the group phase begins in the Europa League.
The reason this season is progress from last season is cos we were hoarding a load of over the hill or injury prone players last season like Balaban, Sokota (as much as i like him) and Hrgovic. Last season also our side was an absolute mess with everyone playing in the wrong position. This season we've improved the standard of the team. We've changed the formation to include Morales, Badelj, Mandzo, Sammir and another forward and that has improved us creatively. Nobody can dispute that when you remember how poor in attack we were in Euro last season. We are creating far more chances this time around.
What we need to look at now is the defensive side of our game. If we look at the Red Bull game, yeah under normal circumstances Carlos would not be playing. Ibanez possibly would be in for Glavina, Etto would be at right back and Lovren would be in the centre. We need to talk to Leko about resigning to replace Vrdoljak as although he's a tryer he's not the right standard. Arsenal fans will tell you that a real decent defensive mid can make all the difference and that is what's wrong with our team. Then also we have to look at our defensive cover. Biscan personally i think isn't playing too bad at the moment. But there needs to be a partner for him. Kovac is only gonna last so long, but when he's not there really we have poor standard players to cover like Carlos and Barbaric. Ideally Kovac should be our cover. We need to fix that. If we're gonna improve we have to assess our team like this in small detail.
As far as i'm aware Dario Simic, Nikola Pokrivac and Jerko Leko are not in Monaco's plans. Monaco is becoming a smaller and smaller club and there three Croats are seen as expensive underachievers. You can say that all three of them are just picking up easy money and not playing for the love of the shirt. At Dinamo we could give them a revival. Pokrivac needs to kick start his career as he has lost his way. Leko basically is gonna be like Babic if he's not careful as he thinks he should earn more than he's worth. Badelj needs either a experienced guy alongside him or shifting over to the left. Badelj is an immense talent – we need to have a strong defensive base from where people like him and Morales can create for us. I 100% agree we desperately need Sharbini, but we have to do some fantastic moves in the market to offload some players to make room for him. When i say offload players i don't mean Mandzo, Badelj or Lovren – i mean Vrdoljak, Slepicka, Sammir, Tomic. Also waiting to see how good Antolic is as who know he may give us another option. I also have a lot of time for Callelo, but not ready for starting in Euro just.
Reason why i don't want us in Champions league is cos right now i don't believe we're ready. We make silly schoolboy errors cos of inexperience and doing that against Arsenal leads to 6-0 scorelines.
Against Red Bull we were still the better team and we need more games like this to feel more confident in Europe. Therefore back in the Europa Liga we go. If we don't make the Europa Liga group stage then yep there needs to be sackings. However we need to give this team more time. I think Mamic said Jurcic is not expected to reach the Champions League this season and Mandzo can't complain cos he was partly responsible for our exit. I noticed him looking annoyed during the match and over to the BBB cos he know he dropped a clanger. Regards us making Europa Liga through third place, i don't believe we will do this. We're just not ready. We freeze at the sight of big team. Let us develope in Europa liga first before we think about Champions League
Here's the bottomline people.
Should Dinamo make a deep run into Europa Liga this Red Bull loss will be forgotten as it would be the greatest 'blessing in disguise' the club could have received this season. It's still too early to debate on the topic as the end will justify the means and not vice versa.
However, we cannot sit here and say that we wouldn't want Dinamo in Champions League group stage. Why?
1. The road to Group Stage through qualifying for Dinamo was a cakewalk. I will be disappointed should Red Bull make it (and remember I'm not even a Dinamo supporter.
2. Remember that every 3rd place team in Group Stage makes Europa League Group Stage. That would have been ideal for Dinamo experience wise.
They could have played the likes of a Chelsea, Fiorentina and then maybe got another easy team they could squeak by for 3rd. That would have been ideal. At least they could have said they played for the best and were beaten by the best on their way back to Europa League.
Now let's see what they can do.
Mario Brkljaca was just sold to Cagliari. Good move for him, bottom feeder, they will need defensive midfielders to try and hold that 0-0 tie. Sienna was rumored to be monitoring him for the past 2 seasons.
I agree its not about losing to AC Milan or Arsenal or whoever because we expect that but Red Bull Salzburg come on….Be realistic they are not better then us or shouldnt be. The CL is where we want to be I understand Europa Cup is for us but once again who wouldnt love to see us playing against the best its still our team we are rooting for against the best of the best. We have no defense and yet we tried to play defensive for some reason to hold a 0-0 draw? why thats such a risk. When we were attacking 2nd half the passing and shooting looked pure class but the second we got of the gas we payed for it. I am sick and tired of this dont give Jurcic any excuses we didnt lose to a good team we lost to a bad team. Id like to act like this loss is nothing but its not we should be beating teams like this with the players we have and if we cant then someone is to blame because us fans deserve more then 3rd round
I'm sorry, but even though it would be like driving by the scene of an accident, I would've loved to see Dinamo in the CL- let's be real here, we're not about to light the Europa league up anyway. At least the Spectacle of the CL would've been worth remembering…
Dinamofan, as much as I'd like to agree, I just don't see this progression you're talking about. Every season, it's the same- we hit a glass ceiling at the CL 3rd qf round/ uefa cup group stage. Whats worse, Red Bull are-by some distance- the weakest CL 3rd round opponent we could've gotten, yet it's (still) not enough. That's not progress. Blaming officiating, suspensions, injuries etc, are just excuses-go to the board's of any losing side and you'll hear the same complaints. The problem is less the quality of the players than the simple fact that the HNL can't prepare them for playing quality sides in europe- and 7-8 matches in a European campaign obviously isn't enough. So long as the HNL exists as is, we'll be having this conversation every year…
@Andrej
Putting all the blame on the shoulders of the coach will not solve anything. Champions league is not for Dinamo…. like Dinamo fan said,
"but i certainly don't want to watch us getting smashed by AC Milan, Arsenal etc. Its like getting in a car which you've been told is gonna crash."
Dinamo can go far in Liga Europa as long as they keep Mandza
@Petar Radman
selling Mandza "didn't cross my mind until you mentioned" as well. For some reason, I still feel that Dinamo can get far in Liga Europa. Mandza has decided to stay with Dinamo "because of the fans" and wouldn't want to go behind his word. Another year at Dinamo wouldnt hurt if Dinamo can advance in Liga Europa..
@Nick
If Mandza leaves it wont make "the diluted Prva liga a bit more interesting this season." Ok, Dinamo wont beat Lokomotiva 7-0, instead it will be 4-0. Dinamo is miles ahead of the pack. AS far as Im concerned the season is already over. Sorry for the pessimism.
@Dinamofan:)
"If Mandzo goes i want Pokrivac and Leko arriving to secure the midfield, but otherwise Mandzo going will just leave us in trouble."
I understand Leko coming to Dinamo, but Pokrivac? He is supposedly an up and coming Croatian star. Transferring from Monaco to Dinamo is a huge step backwards. I was never a big Pokrivac suporter, however, he should be able to find a job in the Bundesliga or Serie A.
RE: the league is weak enough that Dinamo can win it without Mandzo and our reserves.
I agree with this comment, but HNL1 title no longer our main goal. We already know players like Tomic, Chago and Slepicka is good enough to win HNL1. However our aim is Europa Liga success for that we need Mandzo. I don't believe we aim to be in Champions League. Our club would have a real rough ride in that competition. We need to play more of these teams like Red Bull, HSV, Schalke these type of sides and learn how to beat them before we think we are even capable of being on same pitch as Real, Milan, Man Utd and Chelsea. I think we are definitely progressing. People may think not, but we are. Red Bull defeat was all about coaching mistakes, individual errors, ref mistakes and losing key players. We can't chuck out the game plan based on those types of errors. We certainly have ability in the side. We need to look at making a few signings in certain areas. Not big signings. Just little ones. A centre back definitely. If we could be smart and trade Slepicka and Sammir in order to get another good striker and to make room for Sharbini that would be perfect. Selling our stars like Mandzo, Lovren and Badelj is not an opportunity. Basically we should tell them look at their contracts. They are tied up to us and can go nowhere. We also don't need to sell. We should give Liberec a bell about a trade between Slepicka for Keric. I'm sure they'd love to have there Czech international and Keric would do more than Slepicka does.
Sammir i'm sure would be happy to go to Portugal. I'm sure we can offer him to a club to take him on loan. These things do happen in football so i can't see why we can't do this in order to make room for Sharbini.
I'll disagree about the Juric comment. He is not a coach and it showed yesterday. He played defensive and his team cant defend. Where is the logic in that. He was outschooled last night and the loss sits with him along with the players on that team that are HNL-worthy but shit their shorts when it comes time for european action.
Mandzukic will not be sold until our European fate is 100% decided, but whatever club takes him, cannot play him in Europe until next season. I would imagine when/if Dinamo fail to make Europa Group stage, he will be sold during winter x-fer window. The league is weak enough that Dinamo can win it without Mandzukic and our reserves.
Sharbini was supposed to xfer to Dinamo last season, but I believe Markovic or Mesic put a stop to it? Stating that it was not fair for Dinamo to buy everyone and leave no competition in the league.
A corroded pylon would've done a better job than Carlos did.
Regards Mamic not signing the right players. I believe Papa is getting better. a few games back he looked like little boy lost. Now he is talking to his teammates a lot more and looking more dangerous. If the idea was to sign someone better than Bosko, Sokota and Tadic then i believe we have done that.
Glavina is a decent squad players. He is a Croat so although he is not the finish article he should improve during the course of the season.
Villa and Pandza i'm not sure about yet. Not made a great start with Lokomotive. Slepicka agree was a bad signing. He can't play higher than Croat or Czech league. Regards Domo Vida – we can still sign him if we want to can't we? Don't we have the money in our back pocket for the type of fee he would command. Tarik Ceric is another player who is better than Carlos and Barbaric.
Everyone laughed at suggestions that Dario Simic and Tomas would be bad signings as squad players, but at least they would have been in position due to experience to stop these two goals. These were basic errors made by inexperienced players.
Anas Sharbini is a player we want. But we have Sammir on the roster and we can't afford both of them. Unless Sammir goes then we can't have Sharbini. Sharbini would improve us though. Also if we got Leko and Pokrivac and moved Badelj to the left that would also do the trick.
I can't believe the pessimism. We're not sacking Jurcic and not selling Mandzo. Firstly look at Lovren's header – its a goal. Carlos in not active. Europa liga is fine for us. You might want to see us in Champions League, but i certainly don't want to watch us getting smashed by AC Milan, Arsenal etc. Its like getting in a car which you've been told is gonna crash.
Europa Liga is brilliant as nobody plays to defend. Each team goes at each other 100% and its thrilling. We want to be in this competition where we have a chance.
We only need to do small things at Dinamo. We need a centre back. We moved Lovren out centre and we had nobody to replace him. Everyone will blame Carlos, but its not his fault he is not good enough. He was surplus to requirements last season. We need to buy a centre back. A rough guy with no real skill is what we need who can head the ball so (a) that first goal wouldn't have happened and (b) that second goal would not have happened as with no challenge on the forward. Bostjan Cesar would have been sufficient had we got him last season. We a defensive mid that is better than Vrdoljak. Someone that can tackle and pass. Vrdoljak can tackle, but is clumsy on the ball.
We also need a new wideman, but have to find a way to offload Sammir and cash in at same time or alternative to loan him abroad and hope he comes back a better player once a foriegn coach has got hold of him. Its little things that might Dinamo better. Forget losing to Red Bull. They were utter trype. We could easily have beaten them if we had Mandzo and Etto playing or Kramaric starting. This defeat means nothing.
Selling Mandzo does not give someone else the chance. All it does is leave a gaping hole in our forward line. Kramaric needs till winter to get the confidence to replace Mandzo, until then Mandzo is going nowhere. He has a contract and its simple as that.
If Mandzo goes i want Pokrivac and Leko arriving to secure the midfield, but otherwise Mandzo going will just leave us in trouble.
@ Petar Radman
About selling Mandzukic…that didn't cross my mind until you mentioned it but it's an interesting thought. Selling Mandzukic might be a great idea, it could bring him to a bigger European club which would give him the opportunity to play in a better league which would hopefully help him become a better player….and perhaps you can see that I'd like that to lead to Mandzukic being prepared to take over the responsibilities of striker for the national team when the time comes (along with Kalinic, I hope).
Not to mention it would leave room for someone else to step up for Dinamo….and it could make the diluted Prva liga a bit more interesting this season.
Now that Dinamo is out of the Champions League, does Mamic sell Mandzukic?
I TOTALLY disagree with you on the last comment. I think Juric is a great young coach. I was very impressed with what he did while at Slaven a few years ago. Butina was awful on the first goal, far too off his line on the second. Mandzukic was a great loss, whenever you lose your best player it will kill you. mamic has to look in the mirror and blame himself for not making the right signing during the off season. I am sick of the coaches being blames because they couldn't preform miracles. Sharbini and Vida should have been signed, as well as Pamic.
I thought we played amazing when we were attacking but when we went defensive it was pure crap. I am sick of this nonsense what the hell is going on we cant beat RB Salzburg now? I mean no Mandzukic alright but 1st game we played better and lost and this game i thought we played better and lost on kind of luck but regardless we should be in a position to lose. We should be destroying them and since we are not Jurcic is got to GO!