Photo: Bayern Munich
It wasn’t Friday the 13th, but on this night, Mario Mandžukić bicycled in a 36th minute goal, helping Bayern Munich earn a 2-0 win over Wolfsburg. The bicycle kick makes it 15 goals for him in the Bundesliga this year- good enough to take the lead going into Saturday’s games. If that didn’t surprise you, as most of Mandžukić’s goals come from tap-ins and headers in front of the goal, Sevilla’s Ivan Rakitić scored off a header in their 3-1 win over Deportivo. After getting plenty of criticism from Croatian fans for not heading down Luka Modrić’s cross against Spain at Euro 2012, Rakitić did exactly that against Deportivo for the opening goal.
Mandžukić bicycle versus Wolfsburg
The question is: have you forgiven Rakitić for what could have been Croatia’s greatest sporting moment: possibly eliminating the reigning Euro and World Cup champions in one foul swoop?
Ivan Rakitić header to open the scoring for Sevilla
@CvA
I agree. I am optimistic about the lineup.
Strinic played well enough during the Euros, and hopefully he will continue to improve. Perisic and Vida could also be a concern, but overall I am pretty excited about the squad.
@ Jack V.
Overall, we are just as good as that Dutch side. And it just so happens that this was the Dutch starting lineup in the 2010 WC. The too lost too Spain 1-0.
Therefore if that team made it to the finals–so can we.
My only concern is our left midfield. Persic is starting to sub at Wolfsburg, and I don’t know if Kovacic will be ready to assume a starting role.
@Hladno Pivo:
Why can’t Srna play RM?
He plays end to end for 90+minutes every week for Shakhtar.
@Croatia vs. Antwerp:
That Dutch side was talented, but played like a bunch of hacks.
DeJong’s kung fu kick was the icing on the cake. He must have been hanging out with Ibrahimovic.
@Matesic Method:
LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IRqgUnEe74
Pletikosa Srna Carli Lovren Strinic Rakitic Badelj(Vukojevic)Modric Perisic Mandzo Eduardo Subs Jelavic Vida Kovacic Petric Radosevic.
@Matesic i agree with everyting you said! i just put ammir there because i know he will call him even if i agree that he doesnt deserve a call up.
@ Mr Black that dumbass coach of inter i have to say it that way put Kovacic as a dm deep lying playmaker where hes actuallya attacking mid. why do these coachs play our players out of positon than bitch they dont play well Boze Moj.
What about Perisic. He didn’t do bad as left midfielder but now he’s even on the bench at Wolfsburg. Should we pick Kovacic over Perisic?
About Radosevic. Great that he’s one of the best players of the U19 of Napoli but I want more from a player of the Croatian national team. Badelj should play as DM, no doubt.
I will need a “Hladno Pivo” if he calls up Sammir.
I am as progressive as a Croat can be.
Ma pickati materina!
For this one we need to only call players who feel the fire of Croatia in their heart.
Badelj should be at DM.
After that we need to have an attacking crew at home.
Srna needs to play right back and have some support on that side.
Mandzukic is getting better and better. He has a bit more to grow as a player. He has that essential quality of the real striker who goes after the ball like he hasn’t eaten in a while.
Never seen him not run in a match. He reminds me of Alen Boksic when he was healthy at Marseille.
I’ve watched the first half of Fiorentina against Inter. Kovacic didn’t do great but he wasn’t that bad at all. He didn’t look good at the second goal but as coach I would have keep him on the field. If Kovacic keeps on playing like this, he’ll be our left midfielder for years, no doubt.
Livaja played the second half for Bergamo and didn’t score while Vukusic only played for 15 minutes in their loss. So lets hope Mandzukic or Jelavic don’t suffer injuries.
SRNA IS A RB NOT RM he isnt a good RM anymore hes a RB, Pletikosa -Srna Carli Joe(Lovren) Strinic Rakitic Vukojevic (Radosevic Badelj) Modric Perisic(Kovacic Kranjcar Sammir(only because of mamic stimac still calls him) Mandzo Eduardo(Jelavic Olic Petric)
SteveDave,Thanks!!
@lika joey
Luka pratio Dinamovo gaženje Rijeke: Čop je zabio hat-trick
http://is.gd/5aA3Vd
@lika joey
Modric is suspended for this match due to yellow card accumulation and I did not understand the Kovacic substitution as he was one of the few bright spots out there for Inter. Fiorentina is mopping up the floor with Inter and outplaying them in every possible way. It is now 4 – 0.
@ Jack V
I too want to see how Mandza leads the line in latter stages of the CL.
Also, I agree with the starting players in your line up above. I would go with this formation though:
Pletikosa–Vida, Corluka, Lovren, Strinic–Modric, Badelj–Srna, Rakitic, Persic–Mandzukic.
Now another smaller talented nation fielded this side a couple of years ago:
Stekelenburg–Van Der Weil, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Bronkhorst–Van Bommel, DeJong–Robben, Sneijder, Kuyt–Van Persie.
Now Question for Everyone, how do you think this Dutch side compares to the Vatreni side above?
Luka is not even on the bench? Kovacic is off in the 46? Anyone know anything?
@Steve Dave:
451/433/4141 (whatever you want to call it) looks good to me as well.
———————SMM——————-
Perisic—–Modric——Rakitic—–Srna
———————Badelj——————
Strinic——Lovren—-Corluka—–Vida
——————-Hobotnica—————
Hopefully Perisic and Srna can produce Ribery and Robben like service.
@Croatia vs. Antwerp:
Mandzukic seems to play better against stiffer competition. I can’t wait for Bayern to progress through CL this year and see what he is made of.
With the exception of Barcelona, Bayern is looking strongest of the remaining clubs.
Jm, that’s a line up!!
mandzukic
perisic modric rakitic
badelj srna
strinic lovren corluka vida
pletikosa
@Steve
you are absolutely right, the best things about mandza is he scores, no matter what team he is on.
Matesic Method
Your line-up is way too offensive. Every team should have somebody in the midfield who thinks defensive. If we’ll play your line-up, Modric will have to do the dirty work. 1/ And I don’t think he’s any good as number 6 and 2/he won’t be able to do something magic.
I think Badelj should play. Even Vuko isn’t a bad ideo. Radosevic could be a possibilty if he starts to play in the first team op Naples.
About Perisic. I’ve noticed he only cami in after 65′ in the game yesterday. If Kovacic keeps on playing at Inter Milan, perhaps we should start thinking of him as a Left Midfielder.
Defense looks okay.
badelj needs to start
Olic off Mandzukic is not the worse idea. Olic will be good for a half and his big game experience is important.
4-3-2-1
Mandzukic
Olic – Perisic
Modric – Kovacic – Rakitic
Strinic – Lovren – Corluka – Srna
Pleti
Subs –
Jelavic, Eduardo, Badelj
@Antwerp
Well, piss on my balls.. Mandzo scored a goal with a SHOT in that clip !!! Now i’ve seen it all (^__^)
Mario scored goals for Dinamo, he scored goals for Wolfsburg who had a beyond anemic midfield and he was one of the top goal scorers at Euro 2012 without the Bayern players at his disposal.
Add better players to the fold for help and of course he will score more goals but Mario will score wherever he goes.
Put Messi on Wolfsburg and let’s see how many goals he scores. Messi will get his goals, but I assure you it will not be over 90 goals in one season. And no I am not saying Mario is better than Messi in anyway. Come on now.
@Jack V @Horvat
Early rumblings’ coming out of the HNS is indicating that Stimac is going to start Olic and Mandzukic up front for our game against the Serbs as he did in the S Korea match recently.
Personally I would go with a 4-5-1 but I don’t see Stimac going that route.
@ Jack V
I’m not really going to compare what Mandza is doing now to what Olic did in the 09-10 season…
But all I know is that Mandzukic is one of the Best Strikers in the game at the moment.
@ Anonymous
I couldn’t agree with you more.
most prva generation members here gave no credit to Mandzukic back when he was even with DZ. i still see some don’t. clear idiots here.
Oh this is exactly what I expected of Mandzukic. Ever since back in 2007, when he demolished Ajax and Luis Suarez by winning a penalty and scoring two spectacular goals in extra time. Giving Dinamo a historic victory away. I knew then, he was destined for big things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gppxxuDuDK4
@Horvat:
When was Olic in is prime?
Personally, I think it was with Bayern when he had the 2nd highest CL goal tally behind Messi. It was all downhill after that.
I don’t know if Mario is at that level yet. Olic scored HUGE Champion’s League goals that year against elite competition.
Re: Mandzukic
As far as traditional center forwards go he is riding high. He seems less Frankenstein-esque than Gomez.
Are traditional number 9’s a thing of the past?
Supposedly Germany is not thinking of fielding a traditional #9 in the near future. I will believe it when I see it.
However, Spain and Barcelona seem to be keen on the lack of a true #9.
IMHO Jelavic would do well at Bayern as well. Everton’s style of play or lack thereof is physically demanding. He constantly has to hold up long balls from Tim Howard. Additionally he seems most potent from the edge of the box, where he doesn’t get much service.
I just caught the Spurs Lyon game. Lovren looked composed, skilled and solid.
I think Mandzo is good, not great. I don’t think he is one of the best in the world. However, he has done a lot better than most of us expected. I do think he is better than Olic was at his prime.
That is the beauty of Mandza for us, all we need is for him to lead the line and attack the box.
Lets flood the midfield and show the world why we are the Brazilians of Europe.
S svi HRVATI !
Sad ne trebamo vise.
Rakitic will score a bomb against Serbia.
@Croatia vs Antwerp & Ivica:
I agree about Mandzukic, but we have to wait and see until the later stages of the CL to see if his top shelf.
Gomez does awesome in the Bundesliga and looks stiff against elite competition.
Rakitic is young and has a bright future for Hrvatska. He has consistenlty played well since the euros both for country and club. You guys have to get over that missed header.
I’m not comparing him to forwards or Number 10s, such as Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney, Suarez, Zlatan etc.
I’m talking about something else here…
I’m talking about pure, ruthless, predatorial Striking. Pure Strikers just score with any means necessary.
“he is the best at what he does (positioning, poaching, winning the ball in the air, etc).” –IvicA
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. This is the Iconic Number 9! Not a forward who plays outside of the 16 yard Box and drifts around. But rather the finisher in the Box.
And right now Mandzu is one of the best traditional Number 9s. He’s up there with Gomez, Dzeko, Klose, and Lewandowski. Who all get great service as well.
@ poglavnik i don’t get why all the hate for rakitic. he missed a header. people mess up at times. i was upset. i’ve gotten over it. he should be given more praise by croatian soccer fans or at least respect. he picked croatia over switzerland, which wasn’t easy for him. he’s played well for croatia on the whole. most notably in our recent qualifier against macedonia where he assisted on one goal and scored an awesome goal to take the lead. we wouldn’t all be feeling so great about qualifying if we had lost or tied to macedonia would we?
@ ziva . what constitutes a top forward then? are there that many forward that are out there that could have had a more efficient scoring record than mandzo this season??? I’m not so sure. when it comes to finishing service, one has to think he’s up there with the best in the world. when it comes to heading balls in, he could very well be the best. he’s not a ronaldo or messi type scorer that is going to beat his guys off the dribble, but when it comes to his craft of playing like a true number 9, right now he’s making his claim
amazing efficiency thanks to the players around him. He still has to finish and that is to his credit, but Mandza is no where near the top class of forwards. Take away the playmakers at Bayern and see just how many goals he wuld score and have to work for.
@Iggy
I agree with you. It’s tough to rate a striker who has no shot and average technical ability as the best in the world, but man, he is the best at what he does (positioning, poaching, winning the ball in the air, etc).
It would be a shame if Mandzo doesn’t win the Bundesliga scoring title. The guy is leading the pack by one goal and (unlike many others) has had zero penalty shots and has played the equivalent of FOUR full games less than the next leading scorers. That’s some amazing efficiency.
Am I wearing homer goggles?
I just caught the RM-MU game on my DVR. Modric played well. He earned a free kick in a dangerous spot and provided a decent pass in the 6m box to Ronaldo all within 15 minutes.
When I read zonal marking and other sites, it was only mentioned that he was used as a questionable late sub.
To quote Ziva, I hope he is lighting $100 cigars with $100 bills because money is the best thing for him from this last transfer.
That’s all true.. everything u said.. i dunno about one of the best on the planet that’s the only thing i would dispute..
He’s good tho don’t get me wrong.. i like him.. and he’s the best we’ve got for sure..
it’s just that i’ve never seen him score a goal from outside the box.. actually now that i think about it i dont think ive seen him score a goal from more than a few metres out.
That doesn’t mean he’s not good – he’s good at positioning, anticipation and finishing, but it’d be nice if he could kick the ball more than a few metres into the opposition goal, if u kwim ?
Without question, Mandzukic is one of the best strikers on the planet.
Even more impressive is that he scored all of his 15 goals from open play–none from penalty kicks.
Some have said that it’s easy to score goals with the service provided at Bayern. But scoring goals ain’t that simple. If it was, strikers would score over 30 goals a season and football would be a high scoring game.
It takes composure, class, and a touch of ingenuity to score. All the other great strikers in the game have great service. But what sets them and Mandzu apart from other forwards, is their ability to convert their chances at a high rate.
Mandzu, keep it up, and save some of those goals for Serbia.
unload on arsenal?
that just sounds wrong man..
I really don’t rate Jelavic tbh
If he plays…
mario going to unload on arsenal. 2 goals!!
Wait a minute, Raketa learned how to head the ball…….svasta!!!!!
Who would have guessed that SMM would score a top league bicycle kick before Jelavic?
Hhehehe.. Raki did a header!!! awwww what a widdle cutie pie ! (^__^)
I’ll change my mind about Rakitic when he starts performing for his country like that. And it’s much more than just one missed header for me. The guy plays soft!
Mandzukic and Rakitic are in fantastic form!
Everyone stop talking shit about rakitic, he’s playing really well as of late, as for mandzu he’s an absolute beast!!!