What changes should Dalić make for the Nations League match against Poland in Warsaw Tuesday? Not many.
The “3 in the back” defensive line should remain the same. DCC and Šutalo had good games against Scotland and were not at fault for the lone Scottish goal. Although Gvardiol had a disaster of a match, he is our best defender and will rebound quickly. There is never a question if Gvardiol should be in the Croatian XI, even after a bad performance.
Mario Pašalić had no business filling in for Kovačič (wife having 2nd baby) Saturday vs. Scotland. Pašalić is not a CDM. He is not a holding midfielder. It was a horrible decision to put Pašalić next to Modrić in that spot where he is more of a #10 than anything else. On top of that, Pašalić’s role with the Croatian national team should be a super-sub off the bench late in games when we need offensive threat. Other than that, it shouldn’t be a question. For Poland, Dalić can start Petar Sučić in the #6 spot behind Modrić. The Vatreni played much better in the midfield against Scotland once P. Sučić came on for Pašalić at halftime anyways. That was obvious.
Sosa looked lively against Scotland even though none of his crosses were a threat in the box. He can start against Poland even though I would like to see a Mislav Oršić sighting off the bench in Warsaw. Ivan Perišić has to start. The guy had 1.5 assists vs. Scotland even though he looked pedestrian in multiple build-ups and it’s obvious to the naked eye he has lost a step since coming back from knee surgery. Still, it was Perišić that laid off a perfect ball to Matanović for his first goal. You have to give the guy credit for that.
Luka Sučić had a weird game, but he will rebound. He was liable for the Scottish goal after a horrendous clearance attempt but should have been awarded a goal from 24+ yards out (it would have been hist 1st for Croatia). Instead, the play was whistled dead by the referee with no explanation. Sučić should get another start against Poland, however, if Baturina gets in at the #10 spot instead…completely fine with that change as well.
Kramarić scored the game winner for Croatia after having a relatively quiet game by his standards. But he will start vs. Poland. Budimir vs. Matanović is a 50/50 coin flip. Either can start at the #9 but I am in favor of Budimir for Poland since Matanović got the start in Zagreb. Both are interchangeable for each other in the 2nd half.
The pieces are slowly coming together going into 2025; especially with the injection of fresh blood from the Sučić cousins, Baturina and Matanović. Dalič still has to figure out his winger situation and who will be 100% ready to go in World Cup qualifying. That still remains Croatia’s Achilles Heel for the time being.
I’ll be honest, this is getting hard to watch. I’m almost at the point of not tuning in anymore. I’ll say it one last time. This team is not designed for 3 backs. It need 4 defenders, period. You want Gvardiol to pinch and move forward like Man City then play 4 back. You can’t expect him to pinch with 3 defenders. This is just brain dead coaching.
Anyone watching the U21 game- Zvonarek assist to Vuskovic to take a late 3-2 lead vs Greece
I like your lineup Ante except I would use Orsic instead of Sosa. I also think that Matanovic is more dangerous than Budimir.
Gvardiol plays a hybrid attacking position for Man City often finding himself in the box running on goal.
Now he is asked to play CB and he has forgotten his responsibilities.
Maybe we replace Sosa with him and allow him to go forward.
Maybe Gvardiol becomes a Gareth Bale type for us.
Once Stanisic comes back, we’ll have three capable CBs in the back (Sutalo, Duje, Stanisic) not to mention Luka Vuskovic within a couple of years.
Sosa is too slow, weak, and passive to really be a long term solution for us on that left side.
Maybe this is the long term solution.
Dalic says he’s refreshing the line up
Here comes Moro 2nd cap !!!
Big congrats to Vicario on his first Italy cap vs Israel today (previous 2 caps were in friendlies in March)
Quite the story from going down to Serie D and working his way all the way back up to Serie A and now PL (as u know very rare for a keeper that ends up being good being overlooked earlier in their career)
What a story of perseverance and grit and self-belief
Udogie got 16 min too and recorded a nice assist (these are types of the runs Gvardiol some aim to make in the box for us tomorrow)
And of course Mickey VDV for his 10th cap and finally first start in his natural CB position
Never doubt Anonymous eye-test they are never wrong
Ps of course Porro is back in Spain squad (and starting every game) while Kulusevski already captain for Sweden
Every single one of Anonymous predictions in September 2023 which Spurs players would make their national teams and start proved 💯 correct
What really bothers me about this comment is that the same guy who was putting down excellent Croatian keepers for playing in Cyprus and Greece now praises some non-Croat who used to play in Serie D along with a bunch of other non-Croats… This is CroatianSports.com. Why are you posting this stuff about non-Croats?
Personally, I think Dalic wants some defensively responsible wingers in the 3-5-2. If we are trailing then he will make changes to sub in more attacking players. Ie Baturina.
Hence the reason he played Perisic and Sosa. Baturina I haven’t seen play much aside from the national team games but wonder if he does back track much. He adds so much going forward that he will get some time tomorrow. I’d like to see Orsic get a run tomorrow. He hustles and adds some speed and creativity.
My guess is we see Jakic on the right given he’s also played some RB in his time in the Budesliga.
Rewatch it the VAR non goal
Baturina had an excellent track back w his man – looks like he’s learning the defensive side m
The only player that followed the play better was Modric
Poor Jakic had to cover Andy Robertson and che Adam’s (them being 15 yards apart) bc of DCC non-mans-land not covering anyone (the defensive should have been shifted over by one – but got dragged over bc of DCC)
After gbardiol gave ball away – the responsibility of the goal is 💯 on DCC
Perisic and Sosa are probably worse than Baturina defensively now
Baturina is young and smallish…but he’s on a strong upward trajectory and visibly getting better every game.
Sosa and Perisic have regressed and neither of them looked good AT ALL defensively last game. Both are pretty big liabilities there, especially when you consider that our backline players like to push forward sometimes and all that we have to track back on defense to give them cover is a 39 year-old Modric.
Every time we scored Perisic seemed to have his hand, (foot), in it, albeit he is not up to his old speed.
He’s one of our all time greats, and he hasn’t lost his skill.
If we are dominating possession against a weaker team (like Scotland) he will find himself in the opposing third quite often, and he will eventually create a few good scoring chances with his creativity and skill alone.
HOWEVER…
When we are playing against opponents on par with us, and are battling them for possession…Perisic’s lack of speed and his inability to defend now will kill us. We are setting ourselves up for disaster if we don’t start trying other players on the wing.
Good example of VAR being ridiculous. Germany get a goal taken away for no reason by the Slovenian ref Vincic. Says there was offside, when the German guy wasn’t even passing the ball to his teammate, he was just trying to stop the ball, and the teammate didn’t get near the ball anyway. Just awful.
Agree, looking at the line drawn across the field I could not see how that was offside. In the end Germany deservedly won.
I’d like to see both Sosa and Perisic benched.
Work the lineup a bit to see if you can get Baturina in there, and drop Luka Sucic deeper.
Yes please.
Looks like Dalic listened 🙂
What does Baturina have to show to get a start? I’d rather see him where you have perisic slotted. He’s got the speed to play down that side
……totally agree with John and Maminjo. When Baturina came on as a sub against Scotland he was immediately an impact player. Dalic should reward Baturina with the start against Poland given the way he played, and shuffle the deck as needed to make that happen.
Mart makes a good point that Peresic is probably a bit out of gas as he is coming off an injury….It may be better to rest him and bring him on for the last 20-25 minutes….
Modric is a great talent but more importantly, he always impresses with his leadership and hard work, he is such an intense competitor on the field, game in and game out. It is amazes me how he competes at his age. Others here have commented on it. I think it is good to get the young stars like Baturina and the Sucic cousins on the field with him, he shows them what it takes to compete and win at the highest levels.
Looking forward to the game!
Yeah, I think Baturina demonstrated last game that he can play very, very well as a right-winger if needed. The play where he broke the defender’s ankles was simply amazing. He created a lot down that right side in a short time. As much as Perišić contributed, it makes you wonder if Baturina would have helped Croatia put the game away if he had started.
Yo Dalic –
Do you follow “Football Meets Data” on twitter ?
As you have no doubt seen Croatia now has a 99.9% chance of WC Pot 1
x.com/fmeetsdata/status/1845766338603524512
As such, can we plz finally see Marko Pjaca LW and Marco Pasalic RW start together for the Poland game ? Please pretty please.
What’s the worse thing that can happen – they get in behind the defence and score / create a goal ?
Love
Anonymous
From what I have read the only way we can miss out on WC Pot 1 is if we do not finish in top two in our group and for the same thing to happen to Spain and Holland in their groups.
Spain play Serbia at home on Tuesday with Spain missing a lot of players due to injury, so an upset is possible? however, you would still expect Spain to come first or second in the group having beaten Denmark the other day albeit due to poor goalkeeping by Schmeichel.
Holland are second in their group behind Germany and the two meet tonight. Even if they lose, they should come second ahead of Hungary and a poor performing Bosna & Hercegovina.
I think that we will have 3 or 4 changes for the match against Poland.
Perisic despite having his best match for club or country since his injury is not fit enough yet to start again against Poland so I would drop him for either Pjaca or Marco Pasalic although Dalic may opt for Jakic ?
Petar Sucic should replace Mario Pasalic and I would not be surprised if Baturina replaces Luka Sucic. Upfront Budimir might come in? however, I would start with Matanovic.
Defence will be the same despite the fact that Gvardiol did not play well.
Tomislav Ivkovic commenting on the weekly HRT program STADION pointed out that Gvardiol for some time now is making too many silly errors when playing for Croatia and needs to go back to basics. Ivkovic is correct, for a player so highly rated and playing so well for Man City he just seems to make too many mistakes with poor passing and poor positioning when representing Croatia.
The good news is that Jakic scored on his own net, so that may trigger Dalic to try someone else there (not sure why he’s hung up on Jakic at RW in the first place).
I think we are closer to seeing Petar Sucic and Baturina in the starting lineups. Baturina had a great 25 minutes off the bench last game, and if he had started, we would have won against Scotland by 2+ goals.
The Gvardiol thing is a strange issue. He’s had quite a few bad games for us. When Stanisic comes back and we decided to play four at the back, it would be interesting to see if we can get him back to WC2022 form as a LCB.
After how Baturina played, I would like to see him get the start. It sends the message that if you work hard, you’ll get playing time.