Mario Mandžukić and Juventus overcame a huge hurdle Tuesday night, thrashing Barcelona 3-0 in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal round. It was supposed to be played alongside Borussia Dortmund v. Monaco, however a bus attack prior to the game suspended the match. The match is now scheduled for early Wednesday night.
Mandžukić and Ivan Rakitić played the full 90 minutes for their respective clubs with Mandza assisting on Dybala’s second goal and getting rough with Lionel Messi while Rakitić had a night to forget. Barcelona came back from a 4-0 first leg deficit last round against PSG, so if anyone can do it again, it’s them; with a much tougher club in Juventus.
Lionel Messi VS Mario Mandzukic Fight…
Wednesday night, Luka Modrić & Co. came back against Bayern Munich to win 2-1 in Germany. Vidal scored a header off a corner kick in the first half then fired a penalty shot well over the crossbar. It was all Real Madrid in the second half as Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice for the win. Modrić got the start and played 88 minutes, passing the ball well and connecting with teammates in the final third. Mateo Kovačić came on for Modrić in the 88th. Real Madrid now control the leg with two away goals heading back to the Bernabeu.
@Saleem Khan
Safet Susic would obviously have to be vetted before he could apply for such a position.
Best choice for us is Safet Susic
I think that has more to do with will and desire than cardio.
The dedications to fitness have definitely been cranked up since the 21st century though. I think being fresh and healthy has a lot to do with fitness in tournaments. I’d be willing to bet that the French national team players played more league games than the Portugese seeing that most of the Frenchies are at the top clubs in the world. Long gone are the days of the 40 a day smoker (Prosinecki). But even with his smoking habits he could run a sub 4 minute mile.
You ever seen this?
One of Conte’s training drills.
http://www.espnfc.us/english-premier-league/23/blog/post/2954921/what-its-like-to-train-as-a-chelsea-player-antonio-conte-fitness-regime-examined
Not easy to do!
Poglavnik, watch the tapes. They out hustled everyone. Remember the final game without Ronaldo? Are you kidding me?
He’s a good fresh start for a club that’s looking for one.
Good likable players coach.
Seems like after a good start though his ideas go stale.
Maybe he’s not the most tactical guy.
Bilic is an idiot. Running around like a little girl and celebrating with the players before the game is over!! Turkey gets the ball and scores.
Enough with him, Failure in Russia, Turkey and now West Ham.
Move on from him. No need for him to touch the national team again. He had his chance.
http://sportwitness.co.uk/croatia-bilic-didnt-get-targets-wanted-west-ham-led-current-situation/
I hear West Ham are looking at Mandzukic, this is a more realistic target in my opinion, and I believe Mandzukic will help them to avoid relegation by at least 12 points. West Ham is one of those teams I was talking about last time, just happy to participate and more than likely will never win anything, very hard for a team like that to attreact quality players.
Bilić pushed for Zaza. Zaza has always been a mediocre striker,even at Sassuolo. It was a loan deal with obligation to buy for like 20 million Euro. They luckily avoided the obligation, but they still owe 5 million for the few games he played.
Bilić pushed for Ibričić back at Lokomotiv Moscow, which flopped badly. Bilić pushed for quite a few others that weren’t that great.
I’m not sure if it’s really him or if he’s just being supportive of club management, but as the coach, you gotta step in and stop these stupid purchases.
Bilić is a decent coach, but he made quite a few gaffes in the past when it comes to recognizing which of these players are actually useful for him.
Bilic wanted Carlos Bacca or Lacazette, but neither of them wanted West Ham.
Zaza was good at Sassuolo, but was only ever on loan at West Ham.
Zaza was a panic buy from what I remember, I forget who they were tracking but it failed bad for them and they needed a forward bad
If cardio is that important the Ethiopians would be a power house. Any monkey can train themselves to have elite cardio.
@Idemo
Bilic wasn’t ok in Russia. He humiliated himself there. It was bad.
Turkey he was good. It looked like he was about to do something great, but it didn’t pan out in Europa or the Turkish Superlig. He was still good overall.
With West Ham, he did fantastic at first and (similar to what he did for us) he took a step back this year as things didn’t go as planned.
He did get an injection of cash when he took over, and he (along with the Hammer brass) made some very poor decisions in their purchases. He was pumping up Zaza and was trying hard to get Halilovic last year. Everyone knows that Zaza sucks, and Halilovic wouldn’t have worked out for him either. However, he did pump up Payet too and was right on that one (too bad Payet left). Either way, he’s still a worthy coach for them and they made the right decision keeping him.
Anyway, my point is that he’s a good coach and he’s learned a lot in these past few years…but he’s still growing. He’s the type of coach we should be going after now (and not where he was 10 years ago when he had 1.5 years of youth coaching experience).
Perisic is also another stud who never quits.
Portugal beat Croatia in the last Euro because of their elite cardio. The future of this sport is no longer possession, it’s physical fitness. Pjaca and Mandzukic have what it takes. Kovacic showed great speed and passing at Milan.
A foreign coach is critical for the success of such a talented team. This team is better than the 98 team. Lovren and so many cocky players need to check their ego.
Easy on Bilic, ok in Russia and Turkey, what have West Ham given him to work with? Lose Payet and buy Snodgrass
@ Rob I- Awesome simple comment about foreign coaches.
Remember when the USA went out and got a foreign coach! The list goes on and on.
If Cacic is not the answer, I believe we need a coach who is willing to play more offensively. For example, if we play a 3-5-2 half of the arguments about who should start VANISH. No worrying about which scrub sucks less at LB. I am serious. I would much rather lose 4-3 than 1-0 after keeping Portugal shotless for over 90 mins.
That said…if we go foreign, it makes sense to go Italian.
A lot of good coaches to choose from, and coaching a team that is one short flight or ferry ride away from their home country of Italy, makes us more desirable. They will cost a lot, but that’s only if you go with huge names like Capelli and Allegri. Even a guy like Edoardo Reja would do well for us, and cost only a bit more than what we’re paying Cacic.
Italians share the same relaxed mentality as Croats do. I don’t think the authoritarian German discipline works on Croats too well. Kovac tried that, and failed miserably. They would also try to restrict our technically gifted style of play (that the whole world loves) with a disciplined short passing game style. I’d never go with a German coach.
I don’t think a foreign coach is what matters.
We need an experienced coach who has been largely successful in his coaching career.
Vladimir Petkovic is a Croat, who has done very well in the Swiss League, Serie A, and now with the Swiss NT. I’d totally be down for getting him.
Matjaz Kek (who I barely consider a foreign coach as he’s got Croat citizenship) has been successful in the Slovenian League and VERY successful with the Slovenian NT and HNK Rijeka. I’d totally be down with getting him.
Guys like Bilic, Stimac, and Kovac, were hired with almost ZERO experience. That’s such an incredibly huge gamble that it’s irrational (as you can get even an average coach for the 250K that the HNS pays).
Now, we all see that guys like Bilic and Kovac (despite the experience they achieved so far in their coaching careers) are still learning. Bilic (who many of us thought was a prodigy) still has a largely unstable and up-and-down coaching career. It will take some time before either of those guys become that experienced AND successful coach…yet we hired them as the NT coach as their first gig, lol.
At least Ante Cacic HAS coaching experience…and it shows. He actually does a great job at picking the starting lineups (even his biggest haters can admit that). His substitution strategy leaves much to be desired, and his in-game tactics are largely untested…but he’s a HUGE improvement over guys like Kovac and Stimac, just from his HNL experience alone.
Experience AND success is what we should be aiming for. If we don’t want to pay for both, then at least get one.
If that’s with a home grown or foreign coach, it doesn’t matter.
Hey Zee,
Greece also had ranieri and lost to Faroe Island at home.
A foreign coach is not so great.
Cacic has done well considering how we were travelling in the fianl games with Kovac.
And to another thing Greece did it with a foreign cuoach. Still burns my ass. My greek friends still bring it up. We just need a foreign coach. Ya you cacic fans are great. But. Ir ain’t happening with that guy. We gotta wake up!
@maminjo
Well said. In my opinion Aleggri should be our national coach. If he was or is we raise the trophy iñ my mind. Coicentenly i just talked to an Italian friend of mine who agreed. We both have moms in the the sane home. Its our only way to keep sane.. he a tually said same thing. Only thing he he said you need italian coach. I agree. With the dude.
Great to see that overhyped overrated baby Messi lose. I fucking love it. Can’t stand people talk how he’s the greatest ever, only people who are ignorant can make such stupid comments . You really think he’s a better player than for example Paolo maldini was???? No way, but because he scores the goals he gets all the glory. It’s bullshit, he not better than iniesta either.. wake up people.
@ Armada
Polako …
Thought the interview was great.
You think you can just act like a pissed off adolescent and gain access?
They have the whole weekend ahead of them and maybe 2018 in Russia (wouldn’t be caught dead in Putinville).
Real Crodrid was awesome today.
Manuel Nauer is a juggernaut in goal.
Ante Kvartuc = Mamic Jr.
Hot News:
Modric will headed his career to Juve, plots himself resemble to Nedved
Nainggolan will be in Barcelona next season makes Rakitic pinch on the bench
Once Man U gets Perisic, Chelsea retreive their player from milan and keep their pace on the top table
MANdzukic is a BEAST!
He challenges us to see his qualities on the pitch.
Runs for days
Owns the air
Better technically than you think (assist from left wing to Dybala)
If given service can score (Iguain had him open the left and shanked a BS shot)
Comes up aces in all the big moments
Allegri is a GENIIO!
Rakitic needs to find a new role with new club.
They ask TOO much of him on the pitch.
He can still play but his running box to box days are over.
He needs young legs behind him to support him.
MSN do not track back.
Iniesta is done.
Mascherano can no longer play midfield.
Find a club that can use your current skills and keep it moving.