Is Hajduk going to “Hajduk” again in 2025? It looks like it.
They beat the top HNL clubs and then immediately drop points to the bad teams. What is the deal?
Hajduk currently trail Rijeka by one point but should have a firmer grasp on the table following their recent poor form. They have already dropped 7 points to start 2025. On top of that, they are entering a tough part of their 2025 calendar where they will face Osijek (HNL), Rijeka (Cup), Dinamo (HNL), Gorica (HNL) and Rijeka (HNL) over the next month.
Hajduk already have two wins over Dinamo and two draws vs. 1st place Rijeka, but they just can’t seem to beat teams like Slaven, Istra and Lokomotiva when it matters. Will the Hajduk conundrum continue this year or will they find their form?
I thought this was going to be their season. But right now, my money’s on them finishing 3rd.
Perišić is a hell of player to come back with that kind of an injury and play this way at his age is the exceptional!
I have to give you this one Eric. I would have never guessed this kind of a score line for Real Madrid.
City are in a terrible slump, and Real are finally starting to play like Real. The score line didn’t surprise me…but the complete and utter dominance throughout the entire match was unexpected. I thought City would have at least given them a bit of a challenge.
Perisic playing on the right-hand side and crosses the ball into the box for PSV to take a 2 – 1 lead against Juve.
It would be very good formula if Perisic continues with this form, we were missing that from him when he came back
Whoever on this thread said that Mbappe was not in form is probably eating their words right about now!
A couple of “in form” games doesn’t mean he was “in form” earlier on. (He wasn’t.)
Ivan Perisic scores a wonderful goal against Juve
Real Madrid 3 – 0 Man City. So far their defence has been a mess. Gvardiol seems to be rotating between lb/cb?
Perisic makes it 1-0 for PSV v. Juve in the 53rd minute.
Is anyone watching the Real Madrid and Manchester City game? Gvardiol is having a good game so far but Mppabpe floored Gvardiol before scoring.
Modric and Kovacic on the bench
Good to see Stanisic get a start for Bayern against Celtic. Playing well so far on the right-hand side of the defence. HT 0 – 0.
Andy Bara does it again
Guess the plan (best case scenario) is Cardoso Varela develops and he is convinced/eligible to join the Croatia NT at 21 (same same age as Eduardo)
Yep, there’s only three things certain in life: death, taxes, and Hajduk are going to disappoint.
We really need a “DOGE Hajduk” to figure out what the constant financial issues are.
There has to be tons a waste if they constantly have to sell players at every transfer window, just to keep the lights running.
They put no money into that terrible pitch, that stadium (which is falling apart even though it isn’t even that old), they don’t buy players, and they have the highest attendance in the league (and all of their gear from their stores and webshops are constantly sold out).
You would think they would at least be able to survive half a season before having a fire sale.
Curious to see how many fired coaches and executives are still collecting checks, and what the salary of everyone in the front office is.
While cost side important (and wouldn’t be surprised that there is (significant) “leakage” in these clubs)
It the revenue side which tells the story
– 10 m p.a. from TV rights (this is basically nil compare to PL, Bundesliga, etc) which I understand is filtered down thru
the pyramid) – this won’t change unless lots of folks outside of Croatia want to start watching HNL
– Attendance for HNL is few thousand on average (this is 10% of PL attendance) coupled w relatively low ticket prices (double negative multiplier) – this change change if new stadiums are built but issue is always who pays for that (eg Dinamo vs Rijeka) vs Government grants
– Merchandise sure they sell some jerseys and concessions on game day
-Other commercial revenue (not sure how many HNL teams actually own their stadiums vs not) but this is limited by ownership plus ability to generate concert revenue (bands, raves, etc)
Given the above is so low that’s why we end up situation is only way to keep lights on / absorb costs is to sell players – there will a no other option for these teams….
Hajduk never had any good form to begin with. From the get go all they did was play tight boring soccer. Gattuso isn’t a good coach and hajduk don’t have a good squad.
Dinamo most likely won’t have a season like this again. Hajduk didn’t have to do much to win this season, all they had to be is just above average and they would win the title.
Dinamo had a bunch of injuries and played in champions league and had one of the worst sporting directors that they finally fired. Dropped countless points and hajduk couldn’t take advantage.
It’s hard to to tell with this one. I think it’s going to go to the final games. It’s been a back and forth kind of debacle.
But I mean it’s possible for Dinamo to win this all again.
Going back to late October, Hajduk has only won 3 HNL games (out of 11).
One of those wins were against Dinamo, but the other two were very narrow wins against Varazdin (won by PK) and Sibenik (who had two red cards).
They’re only ahead of Dinamo because Dinamo themselves have also dropped stupid points to inferior teams.
However, Dinamo has the excuse of having multiple injuries to key players. But now these guys are coming back for Dinamo, and they also added a few players on top of this (while Hajduk’s form still hasn’t recovered).
Unless, Hajduk’s form suddenly turns around (with their hopeful new signing Michele Sego finding his good form with them), they could already end up behind Dinamo in two weeks when they play in Maksimir.
We all now Hajduk is run poorly by the people on top. I don’t know that I would blame Gattuso, I don’t think he is entirely at fault. Supposedly there are transfer options and players that could be purchased by Hajduk to bolster their team.
They are held back by many reasons, I don’t think poor coaching is the reason here, or at the very least entirely the reason.
I think it’s due to the fact that they mismanage their club funds, and their talent.
Had they hung on to Vusković a little longer he could have possibly been sold for more and the club could have been more successful as well. It’s worth asking how well their defence is playing recently?
As much as I think Livaja helps the team in some ways he is also a detriment in others if sold he would provide more funds to the club and give them options. 6 million euro is not a small amount and could have helped here, but he refuses to leave, so I think Hajduk was pressured to seek Biuk, and and even Vusković so quickly.
Apparently now some are saying Rakitić has not been that good for the team so that transfer is may be questionable.
I think their only option is to develop and focus on their youth, I think they might be lacking in that department. The Hajduk youth has some success in years past maybe start from there.
In all actuality they have to look at selling players like Livaja because his presence while helpful in one respect is problematic in another.
Pressured to sell Biuk and Vusković I mean
Those two sales were at least for decent money.
12 million pounds (even for Vuskovic) is no joke. Can’t blame them for taking it…but they probably will end up spending that just to cover that Frenchmen (Vitali) and Gattuso’s salaries.
This is the problem. They just waste whatever money they make.
I like Gattuso, but Hajduk’s coaching also isn’t the biggest issue right now. They need to focus on developing their talent and trying to score a young ambitious coach who will work for cheap (rather than hoping some expensive outsider will come in and fix your team by himself).
Same goes for hiring that Frenchman as president. He isn’t going to make a major difference by himself unless you’re committed to cleaning house and re-hiring from top to bottom.
These are all just expensive stop gaps moves, that end up eliminating whatever money Hajduk does make.
What was the point of selling Vuskovic then?
To give Gattuso a chance to coach?
To give Vitali a chance to ‘try’ and bring some players in during the transfer window (which he failed to do so far)?
Way too much money to just throw away on coaches and executives.
This is a sport that relies on TALENT. That’s where the money needs to go.
Dinamo just used a little bit of money to snag a huge Portuguese talent (in Cardoso Varela) and they’ll probably flip him for tens of millions in a few years.
This is what Hajduk should be doing.
Those two sales were at least for decent money.
12 million pounds (even for Vuskovic) is no joke. Can’t blame them for taking it…but they probably will end up spending that just to cover that Frenchmen (Vitali) and Gattuso’s salaries.
This is the problem. They just waste whatever money they make.
I like Gattuso, but Hajduk’s coaching also isn’t the biggest issue right now. They need to focus on developing their talent and trying to score a young ambitious coach who will work for cheap (rather than hoping some expensive outsider will come in and fix your team by himself).
Same goes for hiring that Frenchman as president. He isn’t going to make a major difference by himself unless you’re committed to cleaning house and re-hiring from top to bottom.
These are all just expensive stop gaps moves, that end up eliminating whatever money Hajduk does make.
What was the point of selling Vuskovic then?
To give Gattuso a chance to coach?
To give Vitali a chance to ‘try’ and bring some players in during the transfer window (which he failed to do so far)?
Way too much money to just throw away on coaches and executives.
This is a sport that relies on TALENT. That’s where the money needs to go.
Dinamo just used a little bit of money to snag a huge Portuguese talent (in Cardoso Varela) and they’ll probably flip him for tens of millions in a few years.
This is what Hajduk should be doing.
Rumors of Hajduk replacing Gattuso are floating around now.
If true, they are probably thinking Željko Sopić as a replacement.
It turns out it was Mario Kovačević, but Hajduk just denied it on their Twitter
In media reports last week, it was reported that Roma were interested in getting Gattuso.
I don’t think that Hajduk will sack him, they don’t have the money to pay out his termination contract. Gattuso is on a 2.6 million pay contract till 2026 from what I heard a while back on Maxsport.
If he does leave for Roma ? Hajduk will actually get some monetary compensation.
Gattuso would get fired by Roma within three months.
He has a good thing at Hajduk.
He’s better suited for managing a young team (with some Croatian vets sprinkled here and there to help him along).
Chances of Hajduk winning the title are slim if not zero. As a Hajduk fan it is very frustrating watching them play. They rely too much on Livaja and that is the main problem, they simply do not have enough quality in the squad.
Rakitic has been a huge disappointment from day one, not sure why media are saying that he has gone off form ? he has been useless from day and I’m not sure how much he is being paid ? but so far whatever he is being paid he is not worth it.
Apart from Livaja who has been OK, the best player for me has been Uremovic in the middle of defence. Some of the younger players are promising but making too many mistakes like Prpic in defence.
Biuk is absolutely hopeless and Durdov had some good matches at the start of the season, however he is only 17 and lately he has been coming on as a sub and not doing much and often when he comes on it feels like we are playing a man down. Pukstas has stagnated and I think Hajduk should have sold him a few years ago when they had some decent offers for him. Now nobody wants him, and they will be lucky to get a couple of million for him.
But does Pukstas even play?
Gattuso isn’t really giving him a chance.
From memory Pukstas was a regular starter for the first 6 or 7 rounds.
He was Ok but nothing special in those matches. From then on, he lost his starting position and has mostly been coming on as a sub sometimes not even as a sub. When he comes on as a sub he has not impressed but then other players coming on as subs have neither.
For sure, Gattuso definitely does not like him, especially after Puskas was caught 3 or 4 months ago training with his personal trainer in a park in Split a day before the match. Gattuso was not impressed and Pukstas was dropped from the squad for a week or so.
Pukstas was keen on leaving Hajduk and so was the club on selling him in the January transfer window however from what I have read there were no clubs interested since he is not playing a lot.