Oh boy, Hajduk Split is looking good!
Led by another fantastic performance from Marko Livaja, Hajduk Split embarrassed Dinamo Zagreb at Stadion Maksimir on Sunday night, 2-0. Hajduk’s victory extends their winning streak to five matches, as they continue to climb the Prva Liga table and advance deeper into the Croatian Cup. The Bili now sit two points ahead of Dinamo and three points out of first place in league standings, and everything seems to be clicking for the club at the moment.
Marko Livaja opened the scoreline for Hajduk Split in the 60th minute on Sunday night, beautifully chipping Dinamo’s Dominik Livaković to give his side a 1-0 lead. Hajduk doubled their lead in the dying moments of the match, as Emir Sahiti finished a cheeky ball from Livaja (who else!?) in the 94th minute to seal the victory. Despite shooting the ball 20 times throughout the match, Dinamo was unable to finish a single chance, a common theme for the club this season. Hajduk’s defense did well to limit Bruno Petković, Luka Ivanušec, and Mislav Oršić in Dinamo’s final third.
Let’s talk a little bit about Hajduk’s recent success…
Hajduk are yet to lose a match since appointing Valdas Dambrauskas as their manager in early November. This winter, Hajduk has beaten both Rijeka and Dinamo on away soil, and have crushed Istra and Hrvatski Dragovoljac in convincing fashion. The squad also put six goals past the mighty Lokomotiva Zagreb in the Croatian Cup, and are into the semifinal of the tournament. Future stars Stipe Biuk and Marin Ljubičić are back in form, and former Croatia youth international Filip Krovinović is firing on all cylinders again. Marko Livaja is the front runner for Prva Liga MVP, with 15 goal contributions in 16 matches this season. Defenders Nikola Katić, Gergö Lovrencsics, and the one-and-only Dario Melnjak have proven to be terrific signings for the club. Hajduk plays nearly every match with a championship mentality, and have finally found their groove in the attack.
Now, what’s up with Dinamo???
Issue #1: Dinamo is yet to recover from the departures of Lovro Majer and Joško Gvardiol. Josip Mišić has been unable to fill Majer’s boots, and neither Marijan Čabraja or Danijel Štefulj have done a thing for Dinamo at the left-back position. Dinamo made nearly 30 MILLION EUROS from the transfers of Gvardiol and Majer, and need to cash out this winter in order to have a shot at winning the title.
Issue #2: Former manager Damir Krznar fielded the wrong lineups for far too long. Young stars such as Marko Bulat, Dario Špikić, and Martin Baturina never saw the field for Dinamo during Krznar’s reign, despite playing wonderfully in their few chances. Krznar refused to bench veterans such as Josip Mišić, Mislav Oršić, and Kévin Théophile-Catherine, hurting his side in many occasions. Last week’s sacking of Krznar was the best thing the club could have done in the moment.
Despite Dinamo’s recent lackluster results, they only sit five points out of first place with a game in hand. All four teams at the top of the table have an equal chance at winning silverware this year. Rijeka, Osijek, and Hajduk should look to build on their current momentum, while Dinamo needs to adjust to new management and avoid dropping anymore silly points. It’s shaping out to be a barnburner, folks!
I thought Livaja looked sharp for us in his limited action recently. Who else are we gonna play?!
Lovro Majer and Mislav Oršić are better than him. They should both be ahead of him off the bench.
Luka Sučić is younger, plays on a better team, and plays Champions League football. I’d even give him minutes.
Josip Brekalo is doing well. Plays in a better league, is younger, and is obviously a bigger talent.
Nikola Vlašić may be out of form, but give me a break. He should not be behind Livaja.
Arguments can also be made for Nikola Moro, Toma Bašić, Luka Ivanušec, Marko Pjaca or Petar Musa.
Lots of players that should definitely be ahead of him in the pecking order. Others who you could argue as well.
Most of those guys don’t play his position
Well he’s a winger, or he plays behind the striker.
I would rather have Majer behind the striker. I would also place Krama or Modric over there instead of Livaja…leaving a spot in the midfield open for a player like Sucic instead.
Despite his great HNL year, I just don’t think he’s good enough to be a fringe starter/joker off the bench for our National Team.
moro, basic, pjaca , , musa. ti igraci nemogu livaji vode donit. Livaja u boljoj formi od ovih sviju. Trenutno Livaja izmislio nogomet za ove dinamovce u repki orsica, ivanuseca, i brunu. ocito tvoja sklonost prema dinamu zamagli tvoj vid i nemozes ponijeti da je igrac hajduka analno samario dinamo usred zg-a, te da itekako zasluzio mjesto na dalicevom popisu.
Planiramo za 2022.
Trenutno zasluzuje mjesto, ali ne kao nas “Joker”.
Livaja je trenutno u boljoj formi, da. Al ne bi igrao u Francuskoj, Italiji itd. Mozda u Grckoj (gdje je imao mal vrijednost).
All the players you’ve mentioned are midfielders. Livaja is a striker. A kind of false 9 type but still a striker
So, would you start Livaja over Kramaric?
Krama is a better false 9. I would put him there instead of Livaja.
Is Livaja better than Modric, Majer, Kovacic…or even Vlasic or Sucic?
Modric and Majer are definitely better #10s than Livaja. If we play a different formation, like a 4-5-1 without the second striker (false 9) type…do you put Livaja as your #10 behind the forward?
Or do you just push Modric or Majer there instead? You can slot in any one of the midfielders above in place of Modric (like Kovacic or even Sucic).
Right now…
We have Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic, and Kramaric who will all likely start and play the full game (leaving very little playing time for anyone else).
Majer, Vlasic, Sucic are on the bench. These guys play on good teams in good leagues and are probably worth 50+ million Euro.
I get that Livaja is having a good year at Hajduk, but there is no way we should be playing Livaja over these guys (especially when he’s older and playing in a league with kids).
I agree. I have liked the element of cheekiness and total jerk attitude that Livaja brings against our opponents. He played like a CF should in that match against Dinamo. If he’s a jerk in his footballing persona, who cares. With the way his teammates have been combining with him and feeding him the ball in his minutes with the Repka, I doubt that it matters what kind of stunts he pulls for media attention and fan adoration. After all, these guys are all professional footballers: they’re used to it.
I’m a Dinamo supporter first, but I also support Hajduk in Europe. I have zero love for Livaja, but who cares that he sang a song about his clubs number 1 rival after a huge victory against them? What’s the issue? Potential NT bench warming teammates? So what. They’re all adults. Get over it folks, nothing to see here. Move on………
Valdas Dambrauskas for NT coach!!!! 🙂
who is “more talented” than livaja in the same position?
@Crnkovic
So you think Croatia has no one “more talented” than Livaja for the position he plays?
Look at the list of players above.
Doesn’t have to be the exact same position, because you can always shuffle players around (like putting Modrić further up).
We have plenty of guys who are better than Livaja.
There’s a reason why Livaja is playing in the HNL on a free transfer, and others younger than him are locked into long term contracts with teams that want 10-20 million for them.
I saw the game and thought Hajduk was “BY FAR” the better team. They played with tons of energy and Dinamo looked like they had very few ideas in their transition game…was really bad.
One thing I’m still not buying into and the media seems to be over playing is the story on Livaja. Yeah, he’s done well in Hajduk and their fans should be happy for him but he’s still proven to be a good HNL player and nothing more.
I’m curious what some of you think about this. In today’s news, the headline:
Pojavila se nova snimka. Livaja i Subašić pjevaju “Mrzim Dinamo, srpsko ime to”
I’d be curious to know how Modric, Majer, Ivanusec, Orsic, Gvardiol…..all feel about one of their teammates shit talking? Its one thing for fans to do it, its another when a player does it!
Marko Livaja proving once again he’s not able to behave as a professional. He’s now the king of Split…and the village idiot!
I’m no Livaja fan. I don’t think his talent level or experience level puts him ahead of guys like Majer, Sucic, Orsic, etc.
I agree with you in that he is a good HNL player, but that’s it. Great performance against Dinamo that (unfortunately) will keep him ahead of several more talented players in Dalic’s squad.
As for Livaja signing “Mrzim Dinamo, srpsko ime to”…
He’s got a point, lol.
The “Dinamo” name is a commie name that should have been wiped clean in ’91.
In 1991, it should have been reverted back to Gradanski, and all that history would come back with it.
Instead Tudjman did that stupid thing with it being called HASK-Gradanski…then “Croatia Zagreb” that never really caught on, because it was a forced creation.
A lot of history was thrown away by trying to create this new “Croatia Zagreb”. Such a poorly named club, with westerners being confused by the team being referred to as “Croatia” for short.
Tudjman made the same mistake as Tito by trying to create a singular strong club team to represent the city, and in an authoritarian way, decided to wipe clean the history that preceded it.
Mamic tried to fix it a bit, recently, by adding the “Gradanski” in front of the name, so it can be called GNK Dinamo.
But it’s still Dinamo. Much like the Dinamos found in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Albania, etc.
Like a franchise for communism, lol.
It’s too late to change it now. But it’s definitely permanent stain.
I don’t think thats the point and I do think you know that!
Like I said earlier…you have two players singing a song thats hate-filled towards a club that your captain of the National Team and several other members played for. You are Marko Livaja, the village idiot…not Maradona…this is getting some traction in the press and now they brought out a photo showing Livaja when he was about to sign with Dinamo, kissing the Dinamo grb…what a shit show!
This is good news then.
Livaja is obviously a Dalic favorite, but he’s not as good as Majer and several others who are behind him on the bench.
If it takes a shit show like this to draw attention on Livaja, then it will take some of the shine off of Livaja and maybe take him down the priority list when it comes to Dalic’s substitution patterns.
Would love to be a fly on the wall when the NT gets together for the next friendly and you have Livaja, Orsic and Livakovic talking about this derby and the comment he made…
He has a point and you’re right, the name should of changed in the 90’s but I read somewhere (maybe here? social media somewhere else?) and this is also a good point, you have NT teammates that play there. You’re potentially sitting in the dressing room with these guys for a full month in Qatar next winter… why say an obvious (but retarded) thing when you have guys like that you play alongside internationally.
I think over time here, all that ‘dirty ink’ on ‘Look At Me’ Livaja is starting to circulate into his brain more…
But to give credit where its due, he’s been great this year. Player of the year for me, over my Drmic.
I’m curious have you been curious how did their teammates feel about this song?
https://youtu.be/y6cOu8HBHY4
or how did Niko feel about this song? https://youtu.be/cLGfXiHE2HY
Hypocrisy?!
2007 and 2009 both times inappropriate.
doesn’t change the fact Livaja is still a muppet and doesn’t belong anywhere near the National team…1st because he’s a below average player on the international level and 2nd because he’s a typical retard that acts like a complete idiot…over confidence can be a bad thing at times.
We’ll see next time the repka meets how this little event plays into things. Personally, I think Livaja is a showman when he has a chance but also quite a serious footballer when you get down to it. It’s unfair to write him off as a Prva Liga only player when he’s actually made most of his career outside of Croatia. Let the results speak. Commenters on this site have been talking down Pasalic for years because he often looks like a clown when he plays, but the guy is statistically the best right now. Livaja is downright irritating to watch because he is crude and aggressive, but he makes goals happen, which is his job. If he keeps playing like that, he will keep his spot on the NT and be a depth player at CF. Someone like that will keep the others on their toes too because he’s going to compete hard for his position, and we need some competition for the striker positions
Still have another half of the season to go. A lot can still happen, with all teams.
Hajduk run riot in Zagreb, love to see it.