After being sacked and slightly humiliated by his Bayern Munich exit in 2019 – right before Bayern went on to winner every club trophy known to man – Niko Kovač is back on track in Monaco.
Kovač has Monaco sitting fourth place in the French Ligue 1, only four points behind leaders Lille, with 11 matches to play. Monaco have not lost a game since December 16th and have won 10 of their lost 11 games. That run includes a 2-0 victory over mighty PSG.
Maybe Bayern Munich was too big of a bite to chew on early in his coaching career, but Kovač is back on track with a Monaco side that finished 9th during the 2020 campaign in a mediocre French league.
This will only boost Kovač’s profile as he tries to get his team back to Champions League football.
^
You don’t believe Markus when he says he’s French? I believe him, he’s not a full blooded Croat and I got no problem with that, happy to have him on the site as a jocksniffer to us full blooded Croats.
Lol no way a French person is on this site. Good troll job.
Ziva? Is that you boy? Back from retirement??
@Markus
Did you not read how I referred to them as our African players?
Do you have a problem with our African players choosing to play for France, or the heads of French football for allowing them to play for France, whose your problem with?
@Slavonac from Canada
“Tell me again about how the French team isn’t African based?!”
.
Can you point me to where the Frenchie said that “the French team isn’t African based”?
^that was me
@Frenchman
You’re arguments are so counter-intuitive. Why should Star or we give credit to Serbian blood. It wasn’t just Subasic who brought us to the final, and even then, he’s PART Serbian. You’re squad is 87% non French, and you still haven’t given credit to that African blood.
.
You like talking about us avoiding questions but you avoided mine about the French question. I think you are a serb. Whatever you answer to this message I want it in French. Everyone else can google translate, I wanna see if you really are French. Montre-moi mon p’ti champion!
Slavonac from Canada comes across as a mongolian in this exchange!
@Slavonac from Canada
Where did I call you racist, I asked a question, “The white Mexicans you’d call Spanish wouldn’t you?” You didn’t answer it, why? We both no why, you saw how fucking dumb you looked by banging on about France’s African players.
.
@Star
“I don’t think anyone’s arguing that these players aren’t French, because they are. The argument being made is they arent French BLOOD.”
.
Slavonac said, “87% of the French team are really not of French descent…the majority of the squad are definitely not French and its noticeable on the field.”
.
No, Slavonac is saying “are definitely not French,” how did you interpret what he said there, I understood not French to mean not French? How is it noticeable that they’re not French when you yourself say they are French?
.
Also you’re saying that Serbian blood got you guys to a wc final, 2 penalty shoot-out wins, Serbian blood came up big for you guys twice. Give credit to the Serbian blood for your wc run.
@Markus
Slavonac’s stupid question “don’t you think coaches have to start somewhere” can’t be answered any other way but in the affirmative.
When and where did Bijelica get his start? We know he’s back coaching at Osijek now, is he back where he started lol, the HNL?
You say it’s all about the results, so judging by the results, Kovac or Bijelica?
He probably has head trauma from the riots a couple summers back! Maybe PTSD
What’s your point? You say he coaches in shit leagues then when we say he’s gotta start somewhere you say obviously. You’re contradicting yourself!
@Slavonac from Canada
.
“Frenchman, don’t you think coaches have to start somewhere?”
.
Of course they have to ya fucking dope.
.
@Markus
I never said Bijelica is shit. I said he’s a shit league coach, meaning he can only coach in shit leagues. He’s not the type that will get Eintracht Frankfurt to beat Bayern Munich, or a Monaco to beat PSG.
Rebic was the reason you did so well in the wc, and you can’t argue Kovac wasn’t the one that got him going.
.
@Star
.
“Shut up you ignorant fool.
.
Who said there aren’t black people with French blood?”
.
Someone wrote that under my username as well? Probably you hey?
Hahah that’s probably Frenchman commenting as me^ 🤣🤣 has to resort to that ouch who hurt you
I’m half Serb like Slavonac from Canada so I can say Serbs are just stupid Croats.
@Frenchman
Serbs are just stupid croats 😉 nice try, that’s one Croatian player (not even in the current squad) who has a few drops of different blood… try 87% of your squad huh! Also, why have you ignored Slovanac’s comment for the fourth time?? What you scared of?
@Frenchman
I’m partially French (actual French blood) as my descendants immigrated to Quebec in the 1600s. I’m fluent in French and if you want to convince me you are French go on and answer me in French, let’s see if you’re using that google translate grammar 😉. Explique-moi pourquoi vous êtes pas une bande de racistes?
@Star
Subasic has Serbian blood.
@Slavonac
Third time you mention it 🤣
Ajde opet jedanput
Ufff jebote, ovaj je tupav!!
He avoided the Bjelica conversation star and went directly into calling me racist! He’s a fool!
Shut up you ignorant fool.
.
Who said there aren’t black people with French blood?
You still didn’t answer the question!
.
Why the riots, murders and looting at the celebration?
.
We can’t talk about a topic without you calling me racist? Is France a racist country?
.
Did Spain enslave Mexicans like France enslaved Africans?
I don’t think anyone’s arguing that these players aren’t French, because they are. The argument being made is they arent French BLOOD. Whereas the entire Croatian team is Croatian blood. France is relying heavily on immigrants and African blood to propel their national team. Same can be said about the English, Germans, Americans, etc. You just can’t deny that a team of French with French blood would be much much weaker. Whereas the Croatian squad is Croatian by blood, therefore making our actual people stronger in this given sport. If you come up with any sort of strange rebuttal you’re just wrong.
@Star
Not raging at all.
.
Do you find it interesting that Slavonac believes that a white Spanish person can be Mexican, but a black person can’t be French?
87% of the French team were foreigners…this is why there was a riot, looting and murders during the celebrations. They weren’t united, they were revolting!
.
Tell me again about how the French team isn’t African based?!
Haha Frenchman, got your panties in a bunch? You wanna stir the shit and you end up raging. Not a very good internet troll you are.
@Slavonac
The white Mexicans you’d call Spanish wouldn’t you?
…and you avoided the question about the riots, murders, looting…during your celebration of unity 😉
I guess I struck a nerve!
.
My kids are white BTW! There are white Mexicans you know…or are you dumb?!
@Slavonac
Most of our African players were born in France you idiot, I think only two were born in Africa. Please tell everyone why they shouldn’t have the option to play for France?
.
Josip Illicic, why did he choose to play for Slovenia? Is it ok for him to play for Slovenia because they’re white and he’s white, lol and it’s not noticeable on the field that he’s not Slovenian?
.
You know what you should do idiot before you want to start shit with me, next time that racist guy comments here you tell him how your half Mexican kids are Croats even though they’re not white. Maminjo mentioned once that your wife is Mexican? Is it noticeable that your kids aren’t white?
.
Didn’t @The truth mention once how when Thompson started singing half the people left the celebrations, why so divided over a singer?
Wait, fellow diaspora hating on other diaspora!?!
.
Who was talking about self hating Hrvats again…?
I have a question for Frenchman…an honest question.
.
we all watched the Croatian National Team (made up of players that are from a Croatian heritage) return back to Croatia after the World Cup and they were welcomed home by hundreds of thousands of fans, all cheering, singing, tears of joy…the streets all throughout Croatia were jam packed and the celebration was a joyous event that the entire world watched and admired Croatia for our patriotism and love of our Nation. the celebrations carrier on for days, not a single bad incident, no broken windows, no riots, no protests….just a united celebration of all Croats from around the world!
.
in France, on that same day, there were riots, murders, looting…described like this in the media:
.
“Celebrations turned to chaos in France with riots and looting as millions of French fans had been celebrating their team’s 4-2 victory over Croatia in the World Cup final.
More than 500 people were arrested during the evening after the win and around 100,000 police officers were out on the streets as well as 44,000 firefighters”
.
87% of the French team are really not of French descent…the majority of the squad are definitely not French and its noticeable on the field.
.
since you seem to have an opinion of football topics, explain how it feels for you as a French man, knowing your people are soo divided, plagued with racism, criminals take advantage of what should have been a celebration…this list goes on and on….how proud do you really feel about winning a world cup with a team made up of several African Nations? do you truly believe France would come close to being a competitor were it not for their history of slavery and the make-up of a team filled with ancestral slaves? if you fielded 11 French players who’s roots belong to France, would your team even qualify for the tournament?
Lots of fellow Croats on here are completely emotional morons. Kovac is a fantastic coach who preaches top fitness and effort. Man, what a foreign concept to you out of shape, smoking & lazy clowns.
I hope he continues to do well and Maminjo can continue to be upset about it. Kovac > Bjelica, hands down. If you cant see that then you’re an idiot. Full stop.
@ Anonymous
boli me kurac co…
@ Maminjo
You addressing me in one of your last comments?
Frenchman, don’t you think coaches have to start somewhere? Do you only appreciate coaches that manage the biggest teams throughout Europe? Does this mean that someone like Avram Grant or even Steven Gerrard…Frank Lampard are all considered great coaches because they’ve managed BIG clubs???
.
I find your comments very ridiculous and you are definitely an armchair quarterback thats never played the game and do not have an appreciation for coaches taking the steps to improve their career.
.
Several of these up and coming coaches in bigger leagues have abysmal stats and yet they get the opportunity to manage BIG teams because of their relationships due to their playing career or in Avram Grants situation…nobody really knows what made him an expert and afforded the opportunity to manage Chelsea!. Bjelica may not be as fortunate that way and it seems quite obvious you do not understand the mentality and politics involved in a managers path…sometimes it takes knowing certain people, other times you are fortunate to have been born in a country with a strong league and you were a decent player…you get the opportunity!
.
If we look at the record of Bjelica and take a close look at his performance as a manager, its obvious he’s a very smart guy with an excellent aptitude for the game.
Frenchman is a serb
@Velebit
How did Frenchman put Maminjo in his place? All he had as arguments was “Austrian league is shit” “bjelica is shit” “Europa league is shit”. Maminjo proved why Bjelica is a good coach, and Frenchman refuses to change his narrow mind, his loss!
France ? A country that has a street
Named after Stalin?
@Frenchman
Well done in putting Maminjo in his place. He got served well. 🙂
He loves to put up certain figures for his position(s) while holding back on the ones that don’t support. Odd!
Bijelica is a joke. Reason is apparent why he keeps getting sacked wherever he goes.
Caine
Yea it’s fucked. Greece just got hit a few hours ago. 6.0 magnitude.
@Markus
Austria Vienna beat shit Zenit in the last game of the group stage (Zenit were already on 6 pts) to end up 1 pt behind them. All of Austria Vienna’s goals were scored after Atletico Madrid had already gone 2 nil up against Porto. So you see that Austria Vienna only scored goals when Zenit players stopped caring for the result, lol let’s make Bijelica Croatia’s next coach on the back of missing the rnd of 16 by a point when they actually never had a chance of making the rnd of 16 before the game.
.
There’s a reason Bijelica is coaching Osijek, it’s because he’s a shit league coach.
Sorry guys! This is not sports but why is
EARTHQUAKE kicking our homeland ASS like shit. Just read on CROATIAWEEK. May the dead RIP.
Frenchman is Australian
How would a Frenchie know about bradbury hahah
It doesn’t matter if it’s shit or not, it’s the results. It’s probably even more impressive to pull results in a shit league, especially bringing an Austrian team to Champions League and within a point from qualifying for the RO16. So, if anything, you are only building onto Maminjo’s point :D. If you think it takes a better quality coach to win bundesliga with Bayern or Premier league with Man City you’re deluded 😂.
Share with us, since you know so much, who should be the Croatian NT coach then?
@Maminjo
.
Europa league is shit, you just got to look at all the weird results in that league to know that some teams just don’t care.
Austrian league is shit.
Polish league is shit. Lol, success in those leagues can get you a gig in the HNL coaching Osijek!
If Osijek somehow do win the HNL title everyone will know that they’ve just done a Steven Bradbury and Bijelica may get a gig in the Czech league.
Bijelica knows he’s not ready for your nt, only an idiot would think otherwise.
@Frenchie
.
I’ll answer your stupid question (since I like Bjelica so much). 🙂
.
Seeing that you follow my comments enough to know that I like Bjelica as a coach…it’s a shame that you didn’t read them closely enough as to WHY I like him as coach.
.
Bjelica is proven. He has experience, and he’s generally very successful wherever he goes.
.
Most of the time, we’ve been hiring inexperienced and untested former players (Bilic, Kovac, Stimac) or coaches with mediocre experience or mixed results (Cacic, Dalic).
We got lucky with Dalic, but most of the time this doesn’t work out (as per the list of coaches above).
.
Bjelica winning the HNL with Dinamo is NOT the reason why I consider him good (so, thus, ends your argument).
I think a monkey in charge of Dinamo could win the HNL.
However, Bjelica does get bonus points for winning the HNL so damn easily, despite going deep into Europa with them.
.
Bjelica is a good coach because he has been successful at pretty much every coaching gig he’s had, despite being put in a few no-win situations.
.
He’s currently doing well at Osijek…a team that started the season with 3 losses before he took over. Their roster IMO is worse than Hajduk’s.
They might actually win the HNL, despite his three loss handicap (which would be crazy).
.
He did very well at Dinamo and Europa. No big deal winning the HNL, but did so very easily while juggling Europa at the same time (where they went far, and fell out in extra time to a strong opponent).
.
He did well at Lech Poznan. He won their last title with them, going on a crazy win streak at the end of the 2018 season to snatch the title away from heavyweights Legia Warsaw.
They haven’t come close to winning since he left.
.
He took a garbage Austria Vienna side to the Champions League before that. A team filled with balkan Austrians from Bosna who sucked, and they knocked out Dinamo to get there. Shockingly, they fell short by a single point to get into the Round of 16 (in a group with Zenit, Porto and Atletico Madrid!).
And…you guessed it…Austria Vienna has not won anything since he left them (except for a couple of appearances in Europa over a span of 7 years, finishing dead last both times).
.
The guy has regularly taken very weak teams, and punched WELL above their weight.
Our NT will never drop big money on a coach, so they will always have to get creative in finding good value talented coaches. Bjelica is exactly that.
It’s Ante causing shit for us to talk about;)
LOL
.
Seriously. This guy follows HNL and Cro football to a tee.
.
He might just be a self-hating Hrvat or something.
@Frenchman
If you’re trying to say Bjelica can’t be considered as a great coach because he led an obviously dominant Dinamo squad to the HNL title, then fine, however this season he proved himself as a very talented manager leading a much much weaker Osijek team neck and neck with the Dinamo squad at the top of the table.
You seem to know and care an awful lot about us buddy, if we’re not all that why you so obsessed with us. Living in your head rent free? 🤣
No doubt Bayern had a great squad, they’re a great TEAM, and great TEAMS win.
.
Dinamo have dominated the HNL for how long?
What about when Bijelica won with Dinamo (the guy Maminjo wants as your nt’s next coach), did they have the best squad in the HNL, could Maminjo of coached Dinamo to the league title? Should we diminish what Bijelica did there or should we rate him highly because of the “parity” in the HNL at that time?
@Frenchman,
.
last season, the top 6 paid players, and 7 of the top ten, played for Bayern. Do you think that had anything to do with them dominating the Bundesliga?
.https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/10-highest-paid-players-bundesliga
@Maminjo
So what you’re saying is Felix Magath has done more than any Bayern manager has when he won the league with Wolfsburg?
.
Even an autistic incel like yourself could win the league and cup with Bayern Munich.
.
There’s no parity in that league, although the gap has been closing in recent years.
@Maminjo
He did win the league and cup double with Bayern?
.
Why do you believe that you never made it to the highest level when you care so much about football, but guys like Kranjcar and Kovacic who didn’t/don’t care made it?
I think that you prove sporting talent isn’t in the genes with you Croats.
@Armada87
Shut up you idiot. Keep your comments to the HNL lol!
.
Do you believe you’re the biggest HNL fan on the site lol?
Speaking of Sammir, it looks like both Sammir and Jelavic have officially retired from football.
.
Both were on Lokomotiva, and have told their coach Jerko Leko that they will be retiring.
He shoulda gone to jail after that 2014 World Cup fiasco, playing Pranjic and Sammir
I’d rather Niko stick to coaching vs. mass killing. Coaching pays better and he won’t go to jail for it….
Kovac would look very dapper in a black uniform defending the Drina
Rebic out for blood today
Kovac is just another Felix Magath.
.
Great coach for the Stuttgarts and the Wolfsburgs of the world, but not so good with teams that have elite players on them.
.
Glad to see more Croat coaches on big clubs out there, but I wouldn’t ever want Kovac as our NT coach. His Germanic style is just a bad fit for Croatian personalities and skill.
Interesting cup game, Rijeka v. Osijek. A lot of handballs and potential handballs. Rijeka won 2-1. Nevistic with a HUGE PK save off Mierez, who is arugably the best goal scorer in the league this year.
.
How does this work with the SF now? Who plays who? Or is it a draw? I’d LOVE a crack at Hajduk again and be the team that ends their chase for European football.
.
KREPAT MA NE MOLAT
Robert needs to venture out on his own instead of following his little brother around like a lost 🐶
Kind of embarrassing actually
In another life, i see Niko as a ranking officer within the Crna Legija. Walking up and down the line formation of his soldiers giving a pep talk
I think his methods of extreme effort and maximum fitness work with squads with a little less talent, and who can see first hand the results of the hard work and discipline. Sort of like a college basketball coach, where all players are always subservient to the coach. Slightly different for the truly elite teams. Whipping the horse only works for so long before there are negative returns.
Niko does far better with young aggressive ponies then the show horses he had at Bayern.
They refused to bend to his ways especially the old guard…Niko’s style of play demands his players to be in top physical shape and his training methods did not go over well in Munich.
They were even complaining because Niko liked to take them on a bike ride after practice.
They did not complain in Frankfurt nor are they complaining now in Monaco.
Monaco cannot sustain their current form but it would be something to see him match up with Bayern Munich in next years champions league.
Kovac is doing good…I like his disciplined ass but that’s what cost him at Bayern.
wish him well and hope he gives some of our talented youths a chance at Monaco.
But as i said before! can’t support Monaco soo sad…BREAST ( BREST ) is my new found team in the ligue 1.
Love the sarcasm Maminjo
Good for Kovač.
.
Glad things worked out for him, by using the National Team as a launching pad for a coaching career that would have never happened otherwise.
.
And all it cost us was one World Cup with all of our stars in their prime.