Dinamo Zagreb opened their Europa League campaign with a goalless draw away to Hapoel Be’er Sheva on Wednesday, with the “home” leg hosted at a neutral venue in Bucharest, Romania. On paper, this should have been the most winnable of their eight league-phase fixtures, but Mario Kovačević’s side never looked like scoring, and a result that should’ve been a routine three points instead raises real questions.
A Point That Solves Nothing
Dinamo (4-3-3): Kotarski – Galešić, Domínguez, McKenna, Goda – Stojković (subbed on 78. Kravcov), Mišić, Kačavenda (subbed on 23. Zajc) – Lisica (subbed on 78. Almena), Hoxha (subbed on 63. Prevljak), Oršić (subbed on 63. Ivanušec)
Hapoel Be’er Sheva (4-3-3): Marciano – Mizrahi, Baltaxa (subbed on 84. Nachmias), Vitor, Amador (subbed on 84. Davidzada) – Amankwah (subbed on 75. Kannan), Yehoshua, Ahmed – East (subbed on 75. Abu Rumi), Zlatanović, Malede (subbed on 69. Ganah)
A clean sheet in the first match away from home might sound like a decent start to a Europa League campaign, but the Croatian champions cannot be “satisfied” with this result and attacking performance. Kovačević was forced to play without his star player for the second game running, and this time opted to play without Prevljak as he chose to go with a front three of Hoxha, Oršić and Lisica. Three players who have been anything but threatening this season.
In the first half, Dinamo tried pressing early on before deciding to drop deeper and give up on their high line, as it proved ineffective in the opening 15 minutes. And the squad’s attacking problems continued, as they struggled to create much of anything and were as anaemic as they’ve been for the past few games. Kačavenda was forced off with an injury in the 23rd minute, seemingly a back injury. And just moments after Zajc was subbed on for the Croatian midfielder, Hapoel midfielder Forson Amankwah hit the woodwork from outside the box. One more chance worth noting followed right before the break as Ahmed forced Kotarski to make a save.
The “hosts” ended the first half with 64% possession, which tells you a lot about how Dinamo was playing. However, the Zagreb side showed some signs of life as Oršić forced a save from Marciano and Mišić shot wide of the target early into the second half. But after that, Dinamo didn’t threaten the Israeli side again; Oršić’s shot was the only shot on target of the entire match for Dinamo. Zlatanović had a header saved by Kotarski in the 52nd, and 20 minutes later Mišić made a last-ditch sliding challenge to deny Ganah a certain goal after McKenna gave the ball away cheaply inside the box.
And that was really all she wrote for the highlights of this game. Kovačević tried shaking things up to get some kind of spark going in attack, but nothing happened. And it seemed like they set up in a mid-block to get a point after evaluating the first 15 minutes of the affair. The Dinamo manager said after the match that he was satisfied with the point, much to the anger of the fans who rightly saw this as a must-win.
Mounting Pressure on Kovačević
Without Beljo, Dinamo look about as threatening as Hajduk looked every now and then in previous seasons when Marko Livaja was injured, although this Dinamo side has more quality than those Hajduk sides did. And it’s not just a final third problem; in this match, Dinamo struggled to comfortably progress the ball, as was evident in the possession stats. Nobody was there to connect the defenders and Mišić to the attack, which led to that chance Hapoel had when McKenna gave the ball away.
According to Sportske Novosti, Mario Kovačević’s job is expected to be safe until the winter break. But surely if Dinamo drop points or even lose to Lokomotiva on Sunday, a silent alarm has to go off during the international break, as Dinamo have looked terrible ever since the 2nd leg vs. Viking. Even with Beljo, the side struggled to a draw against Istra and barely beat Gorica, saved only by the woodwork and Kotarski. This is also due to players just not being in form; Stojković looked great in the first few matches of the season but has stagnated since. The only ones that can be talked about positively are Beljo and Perez Vinlöf, and Galešić perhaps.
Dinamo and Kovačević especially need a win against Lokomotiva, as the international break will serve as a good reset point for everybody at the club as they prepare for a gruelling schedule in October: Hajduk (A) – Anderlecht (H) – Slaven (A) – NEC (H) – Rijeka (H). Kovačević knows it too. “We want to go into the break with a win over Lokomotiva; we’ll give everything for that. Then we’ll prepare properly — I believe we’ll be better after the pause, with the players who arrived later and aren’t yet up to speed hopefully in full rhythm by then,” he said after the draw with Hapoel. The manager has promised improvements recently, and hasn’t delivered. But after the international break, there have to be improvements; otherwise, it’s tough to see him holding his post.
This was a terrible performance by Dinamo, and they were lucky to get a draw.
They struggled up front to create any chances, and this was one of the worst matches (in Europe) that I have seen them play in recent times.
They missed out on big money by not qualifying for the Champions League, however we need to be realistic had they made the CL they would have been
“Kanata za napucavanje”. On current form I cannot see them making the knockout stages of the Europa League.
The whole team is in poor form, and this international break might do them good? Domestically in HNL, I hope the bad form continues, however in Europe I hope that they can start winning again.