KILLER HAS BEEN UNSTOPPABLE THESE DAYS
Ivan Klasnić scored a screamer of a goal in the 20th minute of Bolton’s match against Hull City on Tuesday. He took in a header, made one touch on the ball and struck a rocket into the bottom right corner of the net. Klasnić absolutely seems possessed at the moment in England. He has now secured his starting spot at Bolton and is averaging 60-75 minutes a game while scoring six goals in 13 Bolton appearances.
Relegation candidates Bolton took a 2-0 lead only to see it evaporate in front of their eyes as Hull’s Stephen Hunt scored two late goals within eight minutes of each other to force a 2-2 draw.
Only six months ago, Ivan Klasnić looked to be out of favor as a Croatian national striker and moaning about his situation at French second division club Nantes. A loan to the Bolton Wanderers of the English Premier League has seemed to solve all his problems and rejuvenate his career. His stock is quickly rising but can ‘Killer’ remain consistent in the rough and rigorous Premiership? And where does he currently stand on Croatia’s striker depth chart?
GOAL #6 FOR KLASNIĆ IS A BEAUTY
MODRIĆ CELEBRATES AT WHITE HEART LANE
Luka Modrić made his first start for the Tottenham Hotspur since breaking his leg in August in place of fellow Croat Niko Kranjčar Monday against West Ham United. Modrić didn’t miss a beat as he got on the scoresheet only 11 minutes after the opening whistle. Modrić started the play by bringing up the ball from his own half before making a mad dash towards goal and firing in a missed connection from teammate Aaron Lennon off the turf. Modrić looks like he hasn’t been away from the game for a minute as Tottenham beat West Ham 2-0 to take sole possession of fourth place in England. The Spurs will have a legitimate chance of qualifying for next year’s Champions League should they remain healthy. All three Croatians are currently firing on all cylinders; will more join in January?
Vedran Ćorluka once again played the full 90 minutes for another Tottenham Hotspur clean sheet. There isn’t much to say about Ćorluka at the moment, and for a defender, that can only mean good news as he’s doing his job. I expect Ćarli to get some rest this Saturday when Tottenham take on Peterborough United in FA Cup action.
CAN MODRIĆ AND KRANJČAR CO-EXIST ON THE FIELD FOR TOTTENHAM?
Niko Kranjčar made a brief cameo appearance coming into the game for Modrić in the 83′. But the question still lies, will Kranjčar and Modrić get a chance to play together side-by-side for Tottenham during the final stretch of the season?
MODRIĆ FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON
Nikola Kalinić was inserted into Blackburn’s match against Sunderland in the 73′. Kalinić was on the field for the Rovers equalizer as the game ended in a 2-2 draw. Kale is still struggling to find the back of the net in England. Will he pick up his game when the clouds overhead part? If that’s the case, don’t hold your breath!
Eduardo fights for possession
Arsenal defeated a lackluster Portsmouth side 4-1 from Fratton Park with just over 20,000 fans in attendance. Eduardo notched the first tally of the contest in the 27′ after drilling a low free-kick, with the ball deflecting off Portsmouth defender Kaboul and past goalkeeper Hermann Hreidarsson on the right-hand post.
Eduardo fires a free kick for the first goal of the match
Arsenal made it 2-0 when Song fed Eduardo in the left of the area, who in turn pulled the ball back for teammate Aaron Ramsey, who picked out Sammir Nasri to drill a low strike into the bottom corner of the net. Eduardo would be subbed after a stellar performance in the 72′ for Tomas Rosicky. Skysports.com gave Dudu a rating of 7, as he appears to be “nearing top form.” Let’s hope so!
Eduardo Goal
The win keeps Arsenal in 3rd place of the English Premiership standings as they head into their first contest of 2010 on Sunday at London rivals West Ham in FA Cup action.
The only way Redknapp will play both simultaneously is if he switched to 4-4-1-1 with Kranjcar in the hole, as "anonymous" said. I just can't see Modric being used in the EPL as a CM in straight 4-4-2- it's become a cliché to say but he just doesn't have the size to do it on a regular basis. Opponents will exploit this. Yes, he can do it as a one-off or similiar, but considering that Redknapp has made a consious effort to get rid of the "soft touch" reputation that Spurs have long had, I don't see him going with Modric as a CM.
My personal feeling is that Redknapp bought Kranjcar with an eye towards Modric'(very profitable ) sale in the summer. Kranjcar wasn't a gamble at all, Redknapp knew exactly what he was getting and the fact is that unless Spurs can surprise everyone and claim 4th, It would be hard to keep a player of Modric' pedigree(and transfer value) at a club not playing CL football.
If you look at Uniteds depth its a bit weak this year. Nani?? Anderson?? Carrick?? i think Modric is better than these players. Giggs is 36 and can't go on forever so Modric at 24 is the type of player they'd need. They've tried buying their players of potential like Zoran Tosic and Nani and it hasn't worked. I think they'll be looking for a few more established guys in the winter or summer.
Liverpool – Benayoun can be shifted over to the right cos Dirk Kuyt is useless. Modric can go over to the left to replace an injury prone Riera or inconsistent Babel. I think Modric fits in these teams fine. Liverpool can't afford Modric though cos they wasted 35m on Aqualani and Johnson.
Modric to Inter would be great.. Juventus have also got to start building a new team soon cos Del Piero, Salihamidzic, Trezeguet are last decades players..
As a Spurs fan, I have to say that Huddlestone is too inconsistent for me, and his weaknesses are shown up badly against pacy or top-class teams. For a supposedly attacking player he doesn't score or assist, and despite his size he is less physical than Kranjcar so far. I think either Modric or Kranjcar would do better in CM. I don't believe Harry really cares about English players, he never tried to get them at Portsmouth and in fact seems to have a hard on for Croatian players, if the Lovren rumor is true! He's always talking about how professional Croatian players are, whereas he slags off English players for drinking and partying too much.
Another possibility I really hope we try is Niko playing in the hole behind Defoe, because Niko has stated that his best position is there. Crouch works hard for the team but rarely scores (in fact Niko has a better goals-to-games ratio right now), probably takes fewer shots than Niko from what I've seen so far, and hasn't really linked up with Defoe. Harry had that idea last season when he tried to play Modric behind Bent last season, but Modric's finishing isn't as good as Kranjcar's. I think Harry will try to fit them both in the same side, if only Crouch and Huddlestone weren't pressuring him to start since they want to make the English squad for South Africa.
I don't think Modric is ready for the step up to CL football yet, at least at a top-tier CL team like United or Barca; maybe after another season or two, but not at the moment. I wouldn't consider him on a level with Fabregas or Arshavin, and even displacing Benayoun at a woeful Liverpool side wouldn't be certain, considering how brilliant Benayoun was in the second half of last season.
Re: Eric
But that means Niko Kranjcar will be on bench and i don't think you'll get best from Kranjcar as a sub. Kranjcar's a starter. I wouldn't actually be too fussed if Modric left your club and went to Inter Milan or Manchester United. Croatia really could do with becoming the box to box central midfielder that he was progressing into during 2007/2008. If Kranjcar played every week at Spurs and Modric every week at United or Inter that'd be the best thing for Croatia. If even one of them was benched that wouldn't be ideal.
I can't see Modric taking Huddlestones place. That's not the best thing for English football and Redknapp is a England fan and tries to do his best for England players when he can. I think Huddlestone and Palacios centrally is the best thing for Spurs just now. Can you just imagine if Modric goes central and Huddlestone drops to bench and Jenas drops further down pecking order – everyone will be like what the hell you doing. At the end of the day this isn't Dinamo Zagreb – Spurs have to do their best by England players when they can.
As a Spurs fan I think it is absolutely vital to have Modric in the lineup as much as possible. If you look at our matches without Modric Spurs have a horrendous time of trying to create space. Even with Niko on form, we run into this problem (particularly against bottom teams that play 11 behind the ball.) Luka opens up space better than just about any midfielder in the prem.
The Fulham game is a great example of what im talking about, but you can also look at the Bolton and Wolves games as well.
I don't agree with the comment 'Klasnic should start all the adversity he faced'.
What adversity? he got ill – yes that's not nice, but could have happened to anyone. You can't select someone on a sympathy vote. Personally i think Budan has had a rough ride with injuries destroying his national team career, but i don't mean with give him a go just cos of that.
I also believe Ivan had his chance in 2006 World Cup and didn't make the most of it. Whilst we can let him off cos he was ill not long later, still he had a chance then. In 2008 i think Bilic could have used him more and in 2010 qualifiers he definitely should have been used more. I actually feel 2004 should have been Ivan's year, but we went for Sokota. Whilst i am actually a Sokota fan – it was curtains for him when he broke his heel so that should have been Klasnic's hour. However he's 30 now – has suffered a major illness that changed his game and has won German titles, played many games for Croatia and started in major tournaments so i don't believe Croatia owe Klasnic anything. I actually feel Eduardo deserves more time and respect considering he's yet to slip up for Croatia. I also reckon Olic deserves to stay and Mate Bilic deserves a chance. At the end of the day Bojan Vrucina got the call ahead of Mate Bilic so Mate is definitely owed some time.
Klasnic's form has been great, but talk of what he will do with the national team 9 months from now when qualifying starts is way premature…..His health is a big factor and I somehow doubt he will be able to handle the extra duty of national team play with play in the EPL.
Honestly, any talk of what will happen with the national team is still way too premature with so many months to go before the qualifiers for Euros begin.
Bolton sacked coach Gary Megson. Mark Hughes is a name coming up early in the media outlets as his replacement. I wonder how the move in management is going to affect Ivan's position in the lineup.
I would like to see klasnic start for the NT before september so we can see if his quality is not limited to just "off the bench" opportunities for the NT. The guy deserves a chance considering the adversity he has faced.
And i do believe that Dejan Lovren of Dinamo has been rumored to get an offer from Spurs as well. Personally, he should stay in the HNL and move this summer. Unless you are a major star, it is hard to crack the lineup of a new club when you join them in the January window. I would hate to see Lovren regress in development because he had to see the bench for 6 months at spurs (or lyon when he could have easily stayed active in Dinamo's starting XI.
@ dinamofan
And if Niko doesn't drop form? because he has really showed no signs of letting up in recent games. What to do with Modric then?
Kalinic has really been robbed on a few occasions, unfortunately one of those times the goal was disallowed from a offsides call that wasn't there. He's playing decent, but he hasn't produced and he needs to.
Regards Modric and Niko playing together i think they shouldn't at the current moment in time. Modric should stay on bench. Kranjcar should start. I think Niko's been playing better than Modric did the other day. Niko shoots a lot more and reaches the forwardline with his passing a lot more. I also don't think you remove Tom Huddlestone at the moment as in England you need that type of big powerful midfield player. When the boots are flying in Huddlestone backs up Palacios and i think that's working very well. I think at present Modric should be in no rush and should take his time to find his best form. He also got kicked on the same leg which shows he's learned absolutely nothing in the time he's been out. I think Kranjcar learned ages ago and Eduardo has recently learned that you shift the ball around as quick as possible in England. Modric leaves the ball in a 50-50 positions far too much. I think Spurs would be foolish to change the line up at this moment in time to cater for Modric. They should just let him build his fitness and use him as a sub and for whenever Niko drops form.
Regards Kalinic i'm not sure what to say about him. I don't think he is playing as bad as when Bosko was in Prem. But his situation is not great. He has to do something with his sub appearences as Klasnic was in same position at start of season. Kalinic can't afford to be missing the chances he's been missing. This will all benefit Kalinic in the future, but as to whether Sam Alladyce will ever give him a run in team i highly doubt it. The fact he plays a misfiring loanee ahead of Kalinic says it all really. That does not suggest he believes in Kalinic.
The Klasnic strike was technically outstanding. I've seen 70% of shots around that area fly off into the crowd, but Klasnic's just flew in. I think whether Klasnic starts for Croatia is going to have to be the subject of discussion between him, his medical people and Bilic. Not sure what his health situation is long term and how much football he can tolerate going into his 30's. International football and club football is a lot. I still think Klasnic will be better off on bench.
Regards the pecking order – i personally never doubted Klasnic's ability to do this if he was healthy. Even during the qualifiers i never understood why Mandzo was selected ahead of Klasnic in times when we needed goals. Even during the Euro's Klasnic prob would have got us further. I also think Olic is playing very well at present and i think we still start Olic over Klasnic. Basically i think you go on what suits for the particular match. Bilic has i'd say 6 strikers all capable of doing a good job – Eduardo, Olic, Klasnic, M Bilic, Jelavic and if his head is in the right place Petric. Budan is also still a player. Mandzo, Cesarec, Ruki and Kalinic also still there in emergencies so i think the depth is a lot better. If ones goes down this time hopefully we won't see any more tears from Bilic like when he lost Eduardo and Olic. He should be able to put together a new forward line in a crisis.
I've still seen enough from Eduardo to think he starts for Croatia. I think perhaps Klasnic, Olic and M Bilic are fighting to partner him. Jelavic is like the Joker in the pack that you can turn to when all else is failing. I think Petric really is the guy who needs a performance. We not seen a performance from Petric for Croatia for so long now that i think its his time to go on a scoring spree..