Mario Pašalić is currently Europe’s best midfielder.
After netting a hat trick for Atalanta in their 4-0 thrashing of Venezia on Tuesday, Pašalić now has more goal contributions than any other midfielder in Europe’s top five leagues this season. In only 15 matches played, the 26 year-old has seven goals and five assists, exceeding all expectations set for him at the beginning of the season. Pašalić is the main reason why Atalanta currently sit only four points out of first place in Serie A.
Pašalić’s three-goal performance was awarded with an outstanding 9.8 SofaScore match rating. Only 10 days earlier, Pašalić received a 9.2 rating after scoring a brace and assisting against Spezia. When do you ever see a midfielder putting up these kinds of numbers?
The Vatreni now have some good problems to deal with in 2022. Who should Zlatko Dalić start in the midfield going forward? Modrić, Brozović, Kovačić, Majer, and Pašalić are all in fantastic form. Vlašić, Jakić, and Sučić are always options too.
Croatia really does produce the best midfielders.
That header against Spain ….
Watching barisic playing for rangers and he has had only 2 touches in the whole half
I get the feeling he is wasting his talents playing in Scotland
The footballing style just doesn’t suit him
I think he would do well in the bundesliga instead
It’s official; Cro vs Srb in Davis Cup semi final in a couple of days’ time.
dalic is one of the worst coaches we ever had despite being given the best generation ever. during the euros the answer was; perisic LW, budimir Striker, kramaric CAM, and rebic RW. But you cant expect a half gypsy with downs to think of anything intelligent. Currently, it looks like the smart move would be to play krama and pasalic uptop. but it doesnt matter to discuss this because by the time the next tournament comes around dalic will just play a random formation with players out of position who are also out of form. for example, we are in search of a winger, meanwhile we have a man who scored two hattricks in european competition, yet he rots on the bench every game, scumbag dalic at his finest
pa ti covjece nemas pojma.
Pasalic has a nose for the goal and always has dating back to his Hajduk days which is why Chelsea bought him. The question is how to integrate him with so many other great midfielders. A lot can and will happen b/w now and the world cup but this is my current proposition (at least until Vlasic can regain form);
——–Krama – Pasalic
————-Modric
Sosa-Kova-Brozo- Perisic
—Josko, DCC, Lovren—
A lot of players back to positions they normally play for their club. Plus gives Krama, Pasalic, and Modric ability to use their main strengths; roam and create.
I also like how Sosa would be crossing to Perisic back post w/ this line up…
putting things into perspective here. Pasalic scored 3 goals and I’m happy for him and I hope he keeps going with this form. To me, this is a bit of a misconception…if he scored 7 goals in 7 different games I’d be more inclined to agree with the headline but Pasalic scored 3 goals against a team thats at the very bottom of the league. Lets say he scored 1 goal and his tally for the year is 5…does that still make him the best?
Mario has been improving month after month, game after game and if there’s anyone in this group of people that has never seen the value in him as our future, its me. I’ve respected him as a sub but I’ve never once considered him any type of solution but maybe now I’ll pay closer attention. At this pace he’s way ahead of Vlasic and maybe this is who we need to open our door to…time will tell!
Vlasic and Pasalic are completely different players.
When Vlasic is 100% fit, then you can rely on him to create something out of nothing (like he was doing at Euro2020 qualifying).
However, when you have your midfield and wingers creating chances, and you need a support guy to position himself to reap the benefits of these chances…then Pasalic is great for this.
I think if you ever want to rest some of your starting creative midfielders (like Modric or Broz) then you can’t replace them with Pasalic. A fully fit Vlasic may be better as your starting CAM in those games.
Mind you, this is the fully fit version of Vlasic I am talking about. Not this recent 2021 version, lol.
I agree man, Vlasic has more tools but let me ask you this.
if you have a choice between a better player vs a not as good player but he scores…who do you choose?
I clearly remember the attitude of my coaches stating, “čovjek je završio svoj posao” – if your job is to score and you play 89 minutes of shit soccer and then you score and your team wins…you did your job!
I am not asking who’s better, I’m asking who’s more effective.
I believe in solving the puzzle.
Your game by game strategy is a puzzle that you have to solve, but you can’t solve a puzzle with only the big pieces. You need pieces that fit.
I think Vlasic is a bigger piece than Pasalic, but Pasalic fits better in certain scenarios (especially now since Vlasic is out of form).
Pasalic definitely fits when we have our creative players out there creating chances for him to scoop in.
It’s tough because now that we have Kovacic back, and Majer being red hot right now…we can’t just assume that our three biggest midfield pieces (Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic) are the right combination for every game.
This is where we need an elite coach, who can see what works for which opponent…and where it makes sense to put in a Pasalic or a Majer or a Vlasic (if he ever gets back to 2020 form), in place of Kovacic.
They all bring something different from one another.
Maminjo, we will be solving “the puzzle” forever! This is why we need an experienced coach, one that understand his players. One game a guy can be on fire and then 3 days later, for no apparent reason he can be garbage. This is when the coach has to keep shuffling the pieces of that puzzle. Also, it really does matter how “effective” some of our players are. In some cases, one type of player can player against any type of opponent, in other cases certain players cant!
This is why debating sport is fun because it’s a conundrum and this is no right or wrong answer until the game is finished.
My view is that Pasalić is actually a kind of striker who has the bonus skill of being very good at recovering the ball in the midfield. When he was at Elche, he was usually playing as one of a three-pronged attacking line and was very effective both at scoring and assisting. He had a few years being shuffled around and then was brought to Atalanta as a midfield anchor. However, he is now playing in a three-pronged attack once again with Duván or Muriel and Illičić. The result is that he is contributing to the scoresheet on a regular basis and against all kinds of competition. That’s why I said in a previous comment that Pasalić will likely win a starting spot as one of the forwards in the 2022 version of the team. He isn’t actually a midfielder so much as a striker+
Agreed
I’ve never been his biggest fan (he’s always seemed lazy to me), but results are results. He has a real nose for the net. His 2nd goal yesterday in particular impressed me. He received a tight pass near the top of the box and slid it over to a teammate. A lot of players would have been too busy admiring their own pass and would have just stood there, but Pasalic snuck in behind the defence and put himself in a wonderful scoring position.
His biggest strength is that he is always moving, and does well to play off guys.
Great support player, but not a guy that can create things on his own.
Needs to be paired with a Modric or Brozovic type.
If we are ever resting Modric or Brozovic, then you can’t play Pasalic. That was obvious when Pasalic was starting without them in the UNL games and he couldn’t do anything.
Luka and Broz are the sharks 🦈 and without them the bottom feeder “pasalic!”doesn’t eat is what you’re implying ?
Yes, he is a parasite, lol.
We have a lot of guys who can create in the midfield and wing (Modric, Kova, Broz, Krama, Perisic) and even in our back four (Sosa, Gvardiol).
It’s good to have a freeloading parasite lingering in the background to pounce on these chances.
Personally, I think he does better at no. 8 for the NT instead on him being an attacking midfielder.