A tough opening match at the World Cup against strong opposition. Jude Bellingham’s early goal in the second half really swung the game and took the momentum away from us, and from there the second half was just poor overall.
Dominik Livaković — 8/10
Man of the match. Without him this game could’ve ended 8–2, he made some unbelievable saves to keep us in it and basically saved us from a much heavier scoreline. Unlucky with the penalty situation as well. VAR has ruined football at times, it’s ridiculous to be that strict over something like a 1mm movement.
Martin Baturina — 7.8/10
Best attacking outlet. Confident on the ball, scored a great goal, and just looks ready. The future number 10 for our Vatreni when Luka retires.
Petar Sučić — 7.2/10
Solid first World Cup game. Not perfect, a few mistakes here and there, but overall really composed. Him and Baturina look like they’re going to dominate our midfield in the future.
Ivan Perišić — 7.1/10
Still performs for us when it matters. That assist to Musa was beautiful and he continues to deliver experience, energy and quality.
Marco Pašalić — 7/10
Added energy and directness off the bench. Honestly needs to start, everyone wants it.
Petar Musa — 7/10
Worked hard and scored in his home state of Texas. Needs to start against Panama and get the ball to him more because he’ll cause problems if you actually use him right.
Mateo Kovačić — 6.5/10
Had his moments on the ball and looked comfortable in midfield given his lack of minutes this season.
Josip Stanišić — 6.2/10
Put in a shift, got forward at times, but defensively the back line was too open. Kept Anthony Gordon fairly quiet on his side, but still part of a defence that struggled overall.
Mario Pašalić — 6/10
Struggled to make an impact, don’t really know why he’s starting.
Luka Modrić — 6/10
That penalty he gave up really ruined the start of the match for us, but he still tried to control things and get us playing. Just wasn’t his night overall. We shouldn’t be worried. He’ll be back.
Luka Vušković — 5.5/10
Tough first big game at this level. Some good moments, but a few mistakes too. Also becomes Croatia’s youngest-ever World Cup player.
Joško Gvardiol — 5.5/10
Looked off today and not fully fit. Just didn’t dominate like he usually does.
Josip Šutalo — 5.5/10
Struggled throughout. Looked unsure and never really settled.
Andrej Kramarić — 5.7/10
Not really enough time to judge him properly, but feels like he should’ve been involved earlier.
Nikola Vlašić — 5.7/10
Short cameo, brought a bit of pace and directness. Came on too late to really get involved.
Igor Matanović — 5.5/10
Didn’t make enough runs or offer enough up front.
Overall, a frustrating opening game at the World Cup, especially with how it got away from us after a decent start. England took control after the break and we never really recovered, but there were still positives in terms of young players stepping up and showing they belong at this level. Not the result we wanted, but there’s still a lot to build on going forward, and no reason to panic.
I’ll say it again:
Stani-Gvardiol-vuskovic-Jakic
Correctamundo.
But you’ll never see this.
250m strikers Isak and Gykores didn’t score in 90 min
Does that mean they are bad shouldn’t play next game I mean they FAILED today
Sweden tbags Tunisia (coach gets fired)
Next game Sweden gets tbaged by Netherlands
Every game is different. Next game is all that matters.
Applies not only to Croatia as a team but Luka V is an individual (although he was fine vs England)
Am i goi g to get tvalgag
Ante –
Why is my response to Mart re: Luka V in moderation ?
There is no mention of Igor’s ex-team, only Crnkovic’s favourite team spelt out
At least the moderation is picking up both North London clubs equally 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
All board the Luka V train – next Stop – Brighton – destination Madrid – choo choo
#####
De Zerbi has been pushing the club to sell Vuskovic this summer.
Their valuation of 70-80M has dropped because of how adamant De Zerbi is of him not playing for spurs this season,
A package of 60M and some form of future sale percentage would be enough
#####
Vuskovic should have been vetted throughout the qualifying but Dalic didn’t trust him because he needed to make the world cup. You either believe in your guys or you don’t . What Dalic is doing to Vuskovic is a disaster. Not surprised by Dalic and his 50/50 proposition on this kid. If he played him steady and told him , you are our guy and we’re going to use the qualifying to get you ready. I don’t blame the kid, I blame a political coach , always saving his own bacon.
Vuskovic isn’t ready for the spotlight at this point he’s a bench warmer trying to learn man
How is Vuskovic getting flamed and not sutalo?????
Name 1 performance sutalo has better than Vuskovic? A motm? He plays in a worse league than Vuskovic too, genuinely no excuse. We took out Vuskovic and then conceded anyway, Vuskovic won the ball for our first goal, sutalo didn’t block the 2nd goal and marked Gvardiol instead of Harry Kane, he literally flinched away from the ball. He didn’t help with England 3rd goal and is slower than Vuskovic. And Vuskovic off the pitch sutalo caught out way out of position and forced stanisic in a 1v1, didn’t track back to support him, infact Perisic did before him.
These defensive issues have been here for years before Vuskovic, the only consistency has been sutalo as our cb and Gvardiol not in cb to save us. Now with Vuskovic we can drop sutalo and run Gvardiol and Vuskovic CB’s which we’ve never tried once even though they’re the perfect pairing tactically and cover each others weaknesses.
It is very unfortunate that we haven’t yet tried our two most valuable CBs together in a back four.
Here’s my take on Vuskovic.
I simply cannot believe that Dalic started experimenting with 3 at back months out from the WC just to cater for Vuskovic. Foolish decision imo, what he should have done is to try out Vuskovic in 4 at the back formation to see how the kid fits in.
Switching and changing our formations has not helped our cause in the last 5 matches resulting in 3 loses and two wins. The two wins over Colombia and Slovenia it has to be said were a bit fortunate on balance of play.
After the England match, at the press conference one of the Croatian journalists asked Dalic why he did not try out the 3 at the back formation during the WC qualifiers. Dalic said that he went to it because Vuskovic joined the seniors from the U21 team and he tried the formation in the first half against the Faroes.
We all know that Faroes took the lead in the first half and had a couple of other chances in the first half to double their lead. We did equalise in the first half from memory ? and Dalic than reverted to 4 at the back after half time and we won 3 – 1.
Dalic has indicated that for the next two matches we are going back to 4231 or 433 meaning that Vuskovic in all probability won’t start. Dalic should have never started the kid against England in the 3 at the back formation despite his great season at club level with HSV.
At HSV they play 5 at the back and they don’t defend to high up the field like for some crazy reason our seniors do, meaning that lack of speed is not so critical when you defend deep.
Vuskovic lacks experience especially at international level. He lacks speed when turning, and from a standing start and importantly he also does not read the game well which leads to poor field positioning.
This was discussed last night on HRT 2 WC Americana show and Tomislav Ivkovic pretty much said the same thing that the kid should have never been thrown into the deep end and now discarded.
Vuskovic has great potential and I would like to see him given an opportunity to play for us in 4 at the back formation.
I agree with your points. Maybe Coach Dalic bought into the hype about Vuskovic. This site made him the second coming of Messi/Ronaldo. Perhaps he thought he could be like Gvardiol was at the 2021 Euros. He may become the special one as time goes on. But at least he got a baptism of fire last Tuesday. Will Coach Dalic start him on Tuesday?? I just want a win!
The thing is
People need to remember
It’s not a decision made in isolation/on an absolute basis
It’s made relative to other CBs available
Brighton are preparing to make a FORTH BID for Luka V (above 52m)
None of the the other CBs have ever (or will ever) be worth anywhere close
If we had prime Lovren available – then of course he would start over Luka V – but that’s not what we have available
We have Sutalo (who Ajax is selling this summer – and you wont find one Ajax fan that speaks well of his last season – although I thought he was decent vs. England but that’s also bc they don’t attack much down that wide and Stanisic was outstanding), Duje (who Sociedad didn’t buy for 3 million buy-out and returned to his parent club), Erlic (who Bologna sold to his Danish club after one year at a loss bc he wasn’t good enough for Serie A) and Pongracic
At best – these are “average” CBs options – people acting like Luka V would be taking a spot from Gabriel, Saliba or Virgil (who by the way ALL made at least one error in the first match – leading to a goal – as e.g. look at Gabriel for Morroco goal – terrible positioning/terrible read/wrong decision making and slow run back – and he’s a decade older than Luka V – and starts for Arsenal the PL champions and CL finalists)
A loss vs. Panama isn’t going to come down to Luka V being the CB over one of the other 4 options – BUT – a win vs. Panama could come down to Luka V being the CB due to his elite aerial ability for headers/finishing in the offensive box
Dalic should just say Luka V is staring in a back 4 vs. Panama and end this distraction – gives Luka V time to get mentally prepared – and takes the air out of the topic – otherwise it’s going to be a distraction every day – Dalic should have no problem doing this as he LOVES (for some retarded reason) telling the media days/weeks/months in advance his formation and who he is starting
My advice to all Croatian FUTBOL fans don’t listen to maminjo when it comes to vuskovic he’s at the equivalent of a college freshman playing in the Super Bowl man
But Vuskovic still better than any other CB we have that isn’t named Gvardiol. And in this past game Gvardiol was actually worse.
Yes.
Everyone should just listen to a wigger libtard “Croat” who calls himself Ice Cube. 😂
We Croatian fans have been spoiled the last 9 years by Coach Dalic. We have come to expect the higher standards than other nations. It’s not like we have had talent of the bigger nations. And yet, we have punched above our weight. I hope we move past the group stage, but I will miss Coach Dalic even it was the Krunica that got him through the 9 years. Viva Zlatko!
turkey eliminated paraguay had 1 less man whole 2nd half should show our defence that wave after wave just held them out.
They’re not mathematically eliminated.
They can still squeeze through if they finish third in their group, with one of Australia or Paraguay narrowly winning (with no draw) in their game against each other…
but they need a massive multiple goal win over the USA to fix their terrible goal differential (and still hope that there are four other third place finishers from the other groups that couldn’t get more than three points).
So, yea, they’re pretty much finished.
Turkey are out even if they beat USA by 10 -0.
Head to head counts and since they have lost to both Australia and Paraguay, they cannot finish third.
Yea I just realized they curbed the rule for this tournament.
It’s now head to head.
wow
I guess the careers of all their young attacking stars like Guler Madrid 90 Yildiz Juventus 75m Uzun Frankfurt 40m Gul Porto 5m is over – they are not NT material – and will also get dumped by their clubs today (not sure anyone wants to buy them) and will never play for the NT again
I mean they didn’t score in 180 minutes, including 45 vs. 10 men, they must SUCK !
See how silly that sounds ?
Now us Croats and UK/Tttenham media should review their assessment of 19 y/o Luka V bc they are applying the same logic, but in reverse as he’s a defender, on him
It’s interesting that the alleged best future center back in the world in vuskovic only has his coach’s faith to play in a 3 back formation
Super weird considering how he played in a 4 back for hajduk, u21 and multiple Hamburg matches this season. Hes the archetypical RCB stopper where Erlic played and Gvardiol is the ball playing LCB where Pongracic played in our 4231 vs Slovenia. Would be one of the best cb pairings in the entire tournament covering each other’s weaknesses.
Hes gotta stop forcing sutalo with Vuskovic and let him partner Gvardiol in cb.
Let Jakic be a fullback, he was one of our best performing players in qualifiers.
I dare say it says more about the coach than the player!
Did fifa just admit that the firt penalty Kane took shouldn’t have been retaken. The communication between referee and upstairs wasn’t working properly.
lol turkey absolute garbage if they win this game joke Paraguay leading 1-0 so they drum up a red card bs.
3-0 win over Panama on Tuesday 😉
It would need to be a win of at least 3 points just to put the goal deferential up.
With regards to the other comments, if Dalic dumps Vusković for this than he is an idiot. Most of us were saying this should have been a back four.
If he swapped the formation at half time the outcome could have been different. But he is typically a plan A kinda guy which is the problem.
Toronto has a long standing history with Croatian soccer. As a child , over 50
years ago, my father would take us to see Toronto Metro Croatia play Serbian White Eagles at Varsity stadium and it was insane. Flares, rocks, slingshots , weapons, cars being smashed – and that’s before the boys hit the field. Trust me, Toronto has a long standing legacy for Croatian soccer and I expect it will be in full display. The fans will show and in big numbers , let’s hope the team shows up as well.
Sounds good, kind of support they need behind them hope they put in a shift.
Interesting reading the post-match comments from Aussies about how starting a 35 year old was absolutely ridiculous and the guy needs to hang up his boots.
As i say, everything about this world cup keeps pointing to athleticism and speed over all else (technique included). Speed is king and we are gonna be continually exposed, i fear.
People criticizing Vuskovic are mistaken.
He won the ball well in a dangerous area that England tried to protect desperately, that interception gave us the first goal and back into the game out of nothing. Šutalo, Erlic, caleta are not doing this, almost no one on our bench are. It’s all just tactics, he had the most defensive contributions for us and he played 30 less minutes, he should had stayed on and took off sutalo. Dalic is forcing him to defend large gaps and slotting a CB who is also slow and doesn’t support him (Šutalo). We don’t have any fast Cb’s other than Gvardiol, stanisic and kinda Pongracic, fielding any other Cb instead of Vuskovic ruins our build up, reading of game, clearances, our offensive set pieces which Dalic should invest in an prepare plays with Vuskovic, etc.
The Faroe islands own goal was not his fault, it was Mario pasalic losing the ball in the worst possible area, Vuskovic had an amazing game that day too and was amongst our highest rated. 2nd goal vs Belgium was Dalic forcing Vuskovic to defend giant gaps again especially late game with Moro losing the ball in a horrible area although it was probably a foul not called, system issue don’t do that, Gvardiol there with stanisic staying back a bit fixes it. 3rd goal vs England was also Mario pasalic and sutalo being slow too, and Gvardiol and stanisic being forced into going wingback attacking too far up the pitch again, if Gvardiol is back beside Vuskovic in cb, then Gvardiol is stopping that Bellingham goal, but he was too far forward. Dalić’s system forcing Gvardiol to be attacking when he’s our best player defensively, man city figured it out at the start of the season and thrived, hope dalić agrees now. Also notice how when Vušković came off vs Brazil, we concede 2 goals in 8 minutes, with Šutalo and Pongračić proving they’re not dependable enough as our CB partners.
Erlic, Šutalo and Čaleta are all slower than Vuskovic but offer less in other areas. The problem was systemic, not Vuskovic. All of those players would have done worse vs England than Vušković, some of yall are searching for a type of Cb we do not have, like Khusanov or Van De Ven with 37 km/h top speed or more. We don’t have that, so we must play a more compact 442 in defensive transitions, 4231 in attack, possible 31213 diamond shape when building up, many options in possession for build up with such versatile profiles covering us.
England deliberately abused the giant gaps and wouldn’t cross or play in the air near Vuskovic. The corners all avoided Vuskovic and went to the back post where sutalo was. Why did sutalo dodge the ball and flinch away from Kanes 2nd goal? Block it! As for the marking error it’s still not on Vuskovic, his man didn’t beat him, he covered his guy, he didn’t lose any aerial duel, he just didn’t have any on the corners since they avoided him and didn’t cross to his marker. As for open play they never crossed near Vuskovic once. Just sutalo at back post and he struggled. Bench sutalo so Vuskovic can play in the RCB spot that sutalo takes from Vuskovic, put Gvardiol next to him on the left to balance it.
It doesn’t matter if we have 1 really good CB, if the opposition targets the other CB, any quality one cb has is effectively nullified as he cannot overcompensate positionally for another CB, if the other cb loses a duel, the other one would have to create a giant space to go help them, which will be exploited if they moved. Both CB’s need to hold their own.
Still don’t know how people don’t see it,
We played a back 4 with Petar Sučić RW vs England again functionally, just like vs Brazil and had the same problems vs fast wingers and midfield overload. Gvardiol and stanisic were wingbacks vs England and sutalo and Vuskovic stayed back as CB’s with Mario pasalic attempting to be the dm functionally, it is very important people recognize this, and Petar Sucic essentially our RW and stanisic always going forward; bad idea. The 3 slowest players on our team defending wide gaps, it’s the one thing they shouldnt do. We don’t have players who can effectively defend like this, it cannot be our defensive gameplan. Especially forcing our fastest defenders Gvardiol and stanisic forward leaving Vuskovic, sutalo and Mario pasalic to defend large space without the pace, bad plan.
Very simple, we bench Mario Pašalić who was doing the makeshift DM/Centre half role and put Jakić RB which fills the gaps that Šutalo and vuskovic were struggling to cover without much pace so it’s more compact anyway and our cb’s can focus on the box and have more support defensively. Don’t force Mario pasalic to do it from midfield, he doesn’t have the pace to manage midfield and defensive duties with a back 3, especially vs fast opposition. Instead of relying on Mario to track back to defend, just put Jakic but in RB who’s already gonna be back to give cover, focus on breaking up play and defend it head on instead of chase backwards; it’ll give more value to him and allow our other players to focus on their roles better, we’re just offloading a duty to a player better equipped to deal with it, plus solving the back 4 system.
Now that Mario is out, we slot Petar Sucic beside modric where Mario vacated instead of forcing Petar at RW. This solves modrić’s problem of being exposed defensively more and fields our strongest CM’s with balance. Jakic and Petar Sucic stamina, energy and workrate supports him. No it does not overwork Petar Sucic. When it’s sutalo, Vuskovic, Gvardiol and stanisic back 4 then yes it overworks Petar Sucic in double pivot. Šutalo, Gvardiol, Vuskovic won’t give jakić’s engine in midfield, benching sutalo and letting Gvardiol be the Cb allows Jakic to give energy on the right holding midfield areas in possession opposite to Petar Sucic on the left, so modric is surrounded and protected by hard working ball winning midfielders in transition and Gvardiol and Vuskovic finally elite and balanced cb pairing behind him, stanisic covering with pace too, with all 4 ready to make a compact back 4 to defend the box when defending our final 3rd.
Now that Petar Sučić is in midfield, the RW slot is open for Marco Pašalić who as I’ve said improves everything, he helps modric escape pressure, he helps tracks back, defend, supports wide areas, he helps Musa score more, it’s a win all across the board, not to mention his long range goal scoring ability and pace pushing defences back.
At least when it was Marco Pašalić on the right and Vušković back like vs Colombia they could carry us.
How is Vušković getting the blame and Šutalo is getting off free again, idk.
Our best CB’s are clearly Gvardiol and Vušković, doesn’t take a genius to see that, I know we don’t have any fullbacks like Gvardiol other than stanisic but I’d rather Jakić at fullback than any backup Cb we called up. Either clone Gvardiol or just put Jakic RB.
Dalić’s 4231 that he used against Slovenia, perfectly implements Gvardiol and Vušković in CB. That is what is important as he’s prepared for this, it’s clear Gvardiol and stanisic both fullbacks doesn’t do us any favours defensively nor offensively. So why force it? It lost us the game vs Spain in the euros because it forced pongracic and sutalo to anchor us when Gvardiol and stanisic were forward which they couldn’t and has screwed us many times since, Gvardiol in man city had the same problems defensively from LB, we just can’t afford him anywhere but in CB, the 4-2 result vs England should be the last straw for Dalic and realize Gvardiol CB in back 4 helps us from such sloppy defensive structure like vs England. Only Gvardiol on occasion going forward with a solid back 4 works but he’s also recovering from injury so CB is the clear and obvious choice to put him in, instead of athletically defending wide areas and tricky wingers, also why England started Madueke, Gvardiol isolated vs him screwed us.
People complaining Gvardiol isn’t the same like he used to be, well that’s because he isn’t being used in CB for Croatia like 2022. The first half of the season he was CB again for city because they realized they needed him there and they were doing amazing.
Jakić and Stanišić were brilliant vs Montenegro in qualifying, many of stanisic highest rated matches this season had been from LB, he only stopped playing there because Davies and Laimer returned.
It seems Stanišić is able to be a better playmaker on the left side too even from deep areas, good if Petar Sucic or modric goes forward. At Bayern he swapped to different sides of the back 4 mid game whenever to better influence the match, his reading of the game defensively made wherever he plays in a back 4 irrelevant in a fluid versatile back 4. The only thing you lose from stanisic going LB is he won’t cross, but we have Perisic on the left and Marco pasalic on the right for effective crossing, stanisic isn’t as effective at crossing as those 2 so I don’t see any problem, we haven’t gotten much from Stanišić right sided crosses or cutbacks anyways, especially since he can play through passes into the box even more effectively from the left side like he’s done earlier this season many times, he’s gotten most assists and key passes like this. Also considering England targeted our left side, if Gvardiol ever steps up from LCB then we’ll have stanisic to cover with pace at least, 2 fast defenders in strong positions that we’ve prepared and Dalic knows how to implement, it’s a win win.
People talking about how we should have the best defence this tournament, well duh, we’ve just haven’t used them right, they’re box defenders, Gvardiol, Vuskovic not specialized 1v1 lockup fullbacks or covers giant space with pace cb’s (although Gvardiol not too bad vs space when he stays back). Play our 4231 system that we used in the euros, qualifiers and nations league with Gvardiol and Vuskovic CB’s and we’ll be fine, not Pongracic or sutalo, it’s a straight swap.
Summary:
Jakić makes sure Petar Sučić isn’t overworked like vs England, he also has the engine and ability outwide which makes benching Mario Pašalić for jakić at Rb effective and Sučić and Modrić double pivot work. Jakić also isn’t out of position since at Augsburg he drifts wide behind a winger and drops into his teams 3421 from midfield to make it a 4 at the back constantly, so he isn’t out of position he’s extremely familiar with the role and position. Box to box, engine and ball winning midfielders have the same skill sets as normal fullbacks usually, Kimmich, Valverde, Lahm, Trent, even Szoboszlai able to slot into DM or RB no problem because of their profile.
With Petar Sucic in midfield we can put Marco Pašalić in RW, which supports modric better all around.
With Gvardiol in CB, we can drop Šutalo.
Stanišić plays better LB playmaking wise, instead of him crossing or cutting the ball across the box with his right foot, we let stanisic do more deeper or even advanced playmaking while giving us coverage defensively with pace which actually improves stanisic for us, not out of position. This lets stanisic defend more than attack, I’d rather Marco pasalic on the right attack and stanisic defend. Plus we don’t score or attack that much from stanisic right sided crosses and Marco pasalic and Perisic can do the crossing for him anyways.
Vuskovic is now supported better with Gvardiol cb and stanisic Jakic more defensive fullbacks, even Petar Sucic deeper helps with modric able to help more with him being supported more. Plus Marco pasalic can now add pace even on the right when defending. Still keep Baturina and Musa and Perisic while effectively fixing our midfield and defence.
Only other option is Pongracic but Jakic was much better in qualifiers and helps everyone more, plus Gvardiol at cb will always be best.
So I’ll list it again, if anyone can point out anymore flaws in it to iron out this lineup, I can see it only solving our defence, helping modric and keeping our great attack vs england but improving it further with Marco Pašalić.
4231
GK Livaković
LB Stanišić
LCB Gvardiol
RCB Vušković
RB Jakić
LDM Petar Sučić
RDM Modrić
CAM Baturina
LW Perisić
RW Marco Pašalić
Subs:
1. Luka Sučić -> Modrić
2. Fruk in the Majer role -> Perišić (Baturina goes LW)
3. Matanović/Budimir -> Musa
4. Kovačić/Moro – any midfielder if defending or Mario Pašalić in if chasing
5. Literally whoever for resting someone
6. (kramarić and Vlašić for penalty shootout).
It’s not too much different but Mario Pašalić and Šutalo out, Marco Pašalić and Jakić in, objectively better lineup than vs England, which solves all problems. Not even that Mario Pašalić is bad, he’s just more effective off the bench when chasing goals, it’s his specialty which supports his playstyle, and we require a different defensive profile in our back 4. Plus Šutalo overlaps too much with Vušković when fielded at the same time, it’s either or and should be Vušković starting, these mistakes have been here before him even joining us, mostly since euro 2024. In our 2 cb’s it’s either Gvardiol or Pongračić in one slot, and either Vušković, Erlić, Šutalo or Čaleta-Car in the 2nd slot. Obvious best choice is Gvardiol and Vušković and with a 4-2 loss with defensive problems, this is the time to make the tactical shift.
When Dalić uses his 4231 system like this, it’ll give us better defensive coverage.
Should also say Vušković has obviously played RCB in a back 4 before, he did this season for Hamburg for some games and obviously u21 and hajduk.
Gonna take a break from the essays lol. Hope it’s forwarded to Dalić.
Dalić admitted that this was his worst defending set pieces. He said they will need to regroup and not panicking.
Croatia put two past an England squad that has made two consecutive appearances in the finals in a European tournament. Let’s not forget, they didn’t concede more than a goal in the last European championship until loss against Spain. Not many teams have put two goals last England in any tournament whether it be group stage or knockout stages.
Iceland
Italy
Uruguay
Croatia X2
France
Belgium
Italy
Spain
That’s all the teams that have scored more than a goal against England in the last decade in major tournaments. We did it twice.
Offensively we were set and ready and defensive not. It will be tweaked and better next game. It can’t get worse than what we witnessed against England.
We got Arsenal’d!
Terrible defending on Kane’s 2nd and unlucky not to get away with that pk save.
No need to worry.
A lot of teams lose that first game and still have good tournaments.
Samo naprijed momci!
I don’t understand how some fans on here call for Luka to be benched. They know nothing about futbol. These are the same people who call him the greatest Hrvat futbol player ever. But yet call for his benching. He made a major mistake in the game however he deserves some leeway. According to WhoScored “Modric completed all 22 of his passes in the first half vs. England”. They said “He was the only player with 100% pass accuracy in the first half”. Idi Naprijed.
Luka is a soccer player not a War veteran or fighting fires on the coast. He’s old and he looked old. No one cares about the PK or a mistake the guys looked 41 and you can’t just turn on a switch and turn back the clock.
If he and dalic actually believe in God and the family like they promote then he should give someone else a chance.
Modric gets another 45 and if he stinks he should bench himself all these old timers are acting selfish how many tournaments do they need?
Modric started his cro career in 06 and it took him till 18 to win a game in the knock out round. Just trying to point out he had many opportunities time to let some other guys get some.
Look at baturina scores a goal first WC game against one of best teams in world.
P sucic with nice assist P sucic running like a 1000 km kids are hungry the seniors guys aren’t.
Easier said than done. It’s easy to write that but to be in charge and bench the captain is hard to do. The coaches look at form and how everyone has been playing. We’ll see if Dalic makes the switch. Maybe he makes the switch at 60 minutes.
Passes completed is one of the most ridiculous and useless stats in all of sports..how many of those passes were 6 yard lateral or pass backs to a fellow teammate completely wide open?
Did you see when he was almost overpowered by two players and just barely managed to get the ball passed? Prime Modric would have kept the ball and created space. It was sad to see, but it exemplified his current state.
We will see how he plays in the next two. I doubt they bench him. The leadership are too enamored with him. Like the 2002 WC, when the leadership stuck with the old guard. It’s the same with Ronaldo.
If only we can get our defence to click. I’d love to meet England again in the final! And bloody smash dem chirpers!
Idemo!!!
Bog i Hrvati!!!
Right on, Stari!
Bog i Hrvati!!!!🇭🇷
@Vlad
Brighton just submitted their 3rd bid for Luka V
It’s 52m euros
It would SMASH their transfer record
They obviously think they can turn him into 100m player to sell to Madrid, Barcelona, Madrid, PSG
Brighton have BY FAR the most sophisticated data analytics and scouting in the World
If you think you know better than Brighton don’t know what to tell you 🤷♂️😉😊
100% Luka V should start vs Panama in a back 4 (if Dalic doesn’t do this he’s a MORON)
None of the other CBs not named Josko have ever or will ever be worth anything close to that
Hell Sociedad didn’t even exercise a 3m buy option on DCC and they need a big squad for Europe next season lol
im going to put it out there lets play the team that beat Colombia performed adnirably!!!
We also got to start showing some nuts ,alot of these teams are rough (argentina australia england etc)get away with it,if its intense you need to show you wont tolerate being pushed around, lets see some aggression controlled but fire!
What is ironic and sad of the whole situation with England match, is Croatia should have a great lockdown defense, and we should dominate set pieces both on defense and offense, or at the very least not be dominated by other teams.
This improvement can be achieved simply based on a new focused intention to detail, tactical change, and a renewed Vatreni spirit.
What is great is this is within our reach and ability to change. This should be truly our natural strength.
We just over-corrected to be offensive dominate. We got the engines upfront if you keep Musa, Baturina, P & L Sucic, Marco Pasalic., and Perisic in play to develop an attack.
I agree with the observations and analysis from @Stanojevic-Donika. (I would be willing to give Budimir the start against Panama, but that is a side point . . . ).
We showed we can score against a team that has not conceded any goals of late.
We have to tighten up defensively. And “this is within our reach and ability to change.”
We have the highest quality on defence. This should be our strength. Tightening up on defence is the key. Stanojevic-D exactly right.
We have quality defense, but we need a quality DM too, to help out. Who would that be?
I would think Petar Sucic would be a great candidate. Still young, but developing into a world class midfielder.
Covers a lot of ground in every game, and has the quality to fill that role.
If he does Petar Sučić beside Modrić that covers him well but also back 4 with Gvardiol and Vušković as CB’s fixes our box defending, then Jakić RB and Stanišić LB like in the qualifiers. Jakić and Petar Sučić were our hardest workers in qualifying and had the highest distance covered, tackles committed and succeeded and highest pressing numbers, it gave modric enough coverage to focus on intercepting and reading the game.
Jakić was the 2nd highest rated player for us in qualifying and not only covered a lot of defensive duties for modric but contributed well in goals and is still a decent dribbler under pressure. I think he just struggles in build up but Gvardiol, Vušković and Modrić are masters in build up so it balances out.
When Dalić took out Jakić for Mario Pašalić in higher positions and leaned on Šutalo to win the ball it but it didn’t work, those 2 are not strong enough defensively to anchor us.
Stanišić’s best games have already been from LB this season, instead of crossing he’s playmaking from deep or final 3rd which he’s better at and we still have Perisic and Marco pasalic to cross the ball, even modric. Not like we scored much from his crosses. Stanišić broke into Bayern’s A team as a left back and only swapped back to RB when Davies came back.
4231
Backline Stanišić LB, Gvardiol LCB, Vusković RCB, Jakić RB, LDM Petar Sučić, RDM Modrić, CAM Baturina, LW Perišić, RW Marco Pašalić, ST Musa
This way Vuskovic gets coverage instead of defending giant gaps, Jakic can step into midfield in possession at times and anchor midfield opposite to Petar Sucic around modric, or even Jakic stays back and Gvardiol steps into midfield at times for build up, this is because modric needs options out wide and 3 in midfield so he doesn’t get pressed like vs England, you could tell he was just trying to play the ball and had no options, same thing happened vs Brazil, it’s not modric being old, it’s tactics, he got pressed like that
10 years ago too when targeted, he just always had winger options, not stanisic forced RW and Petar Sucic forced to be wing, awful tactically.
Stanisic covers our left side with pace and specializes in locking down wingers unlike Gvardiol who defend our box better, now we get 2022 Gvardiol back defending our box, Vuskovic is covered and has enough pace in defence beside him, our wingers can also track back and double up with our fullbacks as Perisic and Marco pasalic add more security, Baturina still free to attack and Petar Sucic/modric to support him with coverage of 5 players back now.
Instead of just Mario pasalic, Vuskovic and sutalo back who are too slow like in Bellingham’s 3rd goal,
We have Gvardiol covering Vuskovic for pace and stanisic covering Gvardiol if he’s too far forward as one of stanisic and Gvardiol stay back and go forward at a time, Jakic anchors the right side with energy and ball winning as our only true dm and highly capable RB (not cb, just RB in back 4).
Dalić knows how to implement all 4 since he did it vs Slovenia in qualifying.
If he wants to fix our defence he has to drop Šutalo and have Gvardiol be our CB again. Šutalo will never be a good partner for Vušković and Vušković has performed better than Šutalo every game for Croatia and club this season so far.
Genuinely cannot figure out why sutalo keeps starting, he doesn’t give us much stability at all and just messes other players up, he’s blocking Gvardiol on englands 2nd goal, took the space to block the shot instead of marking someone, then flinches away from the ball when he has to block it. Not only did he screw Gvardiol and didn’t mark Harry Kane, but he didn’t block the shot. 3rd goal he gets outpaced too not helping Vuskovic or Mario pasalic. 4th goal he is way out position screwing stanisic to defend 1v1 and doesn’t even get back in time which he could had, Perisic got back before him from LW and almost blocked it, sutalo did absolutely nothing.
No clue why he subbed out Vuskovic and not sutalo, Vuskovic had more defensive contributions than anyone on our team and played 30 minutes less, and we concede even after Vuskovic was out. Also England targeted every corner to sutalos backpost, he lost almost every duel, they deliberately avoided Vuskovic who didn’t lose any aerial duels because England never dared try that. They played the ball away from Vuskovic.
We won Colombia game without sutalo. Marco pasalic and Vuskovic carried us. Šutalo subs in and we immodestly concede vs Slovenia and he gave the pass to Baturina under pressure without giving him a pass option back.
It’s just Šutalo. Ask any Ajax fan. How has no one recognized the pattern, our defence has been poor since euro 2024, when he became a starter and Gvardiol was LB instead of saving us in CB.
Zašto bi mislija da je ova obrana nešto posebno? Jesi li ti uopće gleda Euro 2024? Gvardiol nije isti igrač kad igra za Hrvatsku. Vušković još nije spreman za ovu razinu. Previše je spor.
Nadan se da će atmosfera u Torontu bit puno bolja. Govore mi da bi tribalo bit uglavnom Hrvata koji pričaju naš jezik. Dallas je bia sramota.
Lucky this team has a guy willing to run as much as P sucic did. where we be without you petar. I pray dalic doesn’t put Petar alone next to modric like many suggesting please dalic dont ask any more of petar he isn’t superman.
@ anon
In 5 matches vuskovic committed 3 stupid decisions in OPEN SPACE that led to a goal.
1- Faroe island firat goal.
2- Belgium 2nd goal
3-England 3rd goal
Columbia was his best game
brazil he was ok made alot of late challanges poor decisions.
But if in only 5 matches you directly make a poor decision all the same manner open space theres a problem, again 3 goals in 5 matches. In all cases there were other factors also that lead to the goals however im saying the deciding one was Luka poor play in open space.
Luka isnt gonna start in the WC anymore, he still will get expierence and value. He is a talent that does some great things however i still dont see how he can play in the best clubs unless he improves his first few steps. You can do 30 things right but if the one thing that is wrong about you is a big wrong well then you have a problem.
100% right on Petar Sucic.
Petar had a great year at Inter, and is becoming a world class midfielder. He covers an incredible amount of ground in every game.
Here’s a reddit thread critiquing Luka V
***.reddit.com/r/coys/comments/1u91qat/luka_vuskovic_pace/
All this over a 19 y/o
There is one comment I actually agree with – Luka V needs to get out of his comfort zone – Dalic has done him NO FAVOURS by not playing him in a back 4 during the four friendlies in March and June – that was the time to give him a couple of games in a back 4 and GROW and learn – he’s too comfortable in a back 5 – give him a chance in a back 4
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Hamburg’s not necessarily going to help his development though. Their priority is to stay in the Bundesliga and playing Vuskovic in the center of the back 3 and telling him to focus on aerial dominance and aggressive tackling (the two areas where he already excels) while the other two CBs clean up everything else will likely be their best option (again). He needs to get out of his comfort zone and be forced to do things he’ll have to do in the Premier League or the deficiences will never improve.
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Let’s not get to carried away guys….England for past 3 years is a top squad….they are on of the favorites to win the tourney…..they are better then us…this does not mean we can’t beat them….this means we can’t have mental lapses and start the game off conceding a penalty….against the “better” teams or teams with “speed” 4 in the back is necessary. We will adjust and continue fighting. First half was epic.
@Mart
Thank you for your note re: Vuskovic and Tttenham
De Zerbi is only going to play “senior pros” this season – he has said it himself – that means Lucas Bergvall and maybe even Archie Grey are gone (even though they’ve been good for the last 2 years)
He only wants players 26-28 and above (Robertson, Senesi, Tonali (TBD)) – there might a young player or two – but they will have to have 2+ years of OUTSTANDING PL experience (e.g. Mattheus Fernandez at West Ham)
De Zerbi has convinced ownership that they can challenge for the title next year
So 95% Vuskovic won’t play (only 1 game a week – no Europe) and will leave
But
It doesn’t matter – as Luka already decided months ago he is leaving – the PL is too risky on his knees – and Igor’s ex-team medical team sucks – Luka V is never going to be the fastest CB in the World – he won’t be as fast at Gvardiol – that’s not going to be his game – he is better suited for Italy (replace Acerbi at Inter), Spain or Germany – no clue where this Brighton rumours coming from (his agents probably) but he should just avoid the PL – I mean unless Brighton think/know they can improve his speed (he was almost 30km last game – Gvardiol is 34km – Mickey VDV is 37km I think) – if that’s the thesis – and they can increase his speed even 10% – than WOW – he will be the best CB in the World – and it’s worth being exposed in the PL at Brighton if in 1-2 years he’s going to be the best in the World
@Crnkovic – the reason I’m pointing out “mistakes” of other players – is that EVERYBODY is pilling up on a 19 y/o Vuskovic (especially the UK / Tttenham media) – it’s disgusting – they say he’s slowest player ever (stats show his top speed was faster than either England CB) – everyone is trying to cut down the tallest poppy – so if people want to nit pick about Luka V – Anonymous is going to respond by nit picking on the rest of the team – Vlad telling us Luka made 5.5 defence mistakes and everyone made zero – that’s not what the re-watch actually says (I’ve only made it 10 minutes through) – poor Luka V hasn’t posted anything on IG after the match – he probably doesn’t want to deal with all the negative comments that people would throw at him – his agents are also responsible for continuing to gas him up – but at the end of the day he’s a 19 y/o kid that stepped up for a WC opener (4th youngest WC CB EVER – most England CBs aren’t capped until 24-26 Rio, John Terry, Maguire, none of them !) – so we as CROATS should be coddling and insulating him from any negativity (like he’s Punch the Monkey facing bullying from the bigger monkeys jealous that he gets special treatment and treats from the zoo keepers) instead of pointing out any of Luka V’s “mistakes” – that’s what is annoying Anonymous big time
Luka V continues to learn – the experience playing vs. England is like Modric, Rakitic, etc playing Euro 2008 – if Luka Modric and Dalic really cared about the future of Croatia – they would start Luka V next game in a back 4 – and SIMPLIFY his role and tasks and say “you do this and focus on this” – it’s f-ing Panama – if we can’t beat them with a combined squad value of 40m euros (42th rank at WC) with Luka V at CB – we ain’t going to beat them with any other CB instead of him
Vuskovic is nineteen years old and this is the biggest stage in the world. He has hardly had a chance to play with these teammates before. People need to give him some time.
@Anonymous is 100% right in defending Vuskovic from unreasonable expectations and overly critical comments.
Is Livakovic part of the problem on the corners?
Different topic, but I liked Dalic’s reactions to the goals against (first 3) that I saw on twitter – he is really passionate and was angry – maybe he needs to ‘bust some heads’ or break things in the locker room – can’t have these missed assignments and mental breakdowns
Koliko god je dobar u šuteva, toliko je loš u čitanju centaršuteva i kornera. Stalno ostaje na crti.
@Crnkovic
Re: “form is temporary, class is permanent”
Unfortunately class isn’t permanent as it relates to biology
Peripheral vision reduces 1 to 3 degrees per decade of life
By the time people are in their 70-80s they’ve lost 20-30 degrees of peripheral vision – that’s biological and based on medical research/observation
Modric and Perisic are more than half way there – so they’ve lost 12-18 degrees of peripheral vision – that’s BIOLOGY
In the first 8 minutes – Modric and Perisic missed THREE players in their peripheral vision and/or behind them – that’s what the eye test shows us
Unfortunately – those 12-18 degrees aren’t going to return next game or the game after – that’s PERMANENT – in could be worse given prolonged/extreme exposure to sun exposure (without sunglasses/protection), immense levels of stress (competing at high level, coming back from injury, fighting for spots at club, etc)
Now peripheral vision is one aspect of eye health – there are other factors whereby their eyes aren’t as good as when they were 20 or 30
Anonymous doesn’t fight biology – it doesn’t matter if Modric and Perisic do “eye training” 24 hours a day – that peripheral vision has gone by by – and they are blind on the field now
***.theeyeassociates.com/how-aging-effects-the-structure-of-the-eye/
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Loss of peripheral vision. Aging also causes a normal loss of peripheral vision, with the size of our visual field decreasing by approximately one to three degrees per decade of life. By the time you reach your 70s and 80s, you may have a peripheral visual field loss of 20 to 30 degrees. Because the loss of visual field increases the risk for automobile accidents, make sure you are more cautious when driving. To increase your range of vision, turn your head and look both ways when approaching intersections. You also can read more tips about vision, aging and driving safety.
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Anon, you are sometimes really extreme. I really like and appreciate that you care enough, and that you believe in your own intelligence and perceptions. In a day and age where most people just lap up whatever opinion is prevalent in their echo chamber, to be a guy saying “wait a minute let’s actually try and figure out what’s really happening here!” I love it. But peripheral vision?? Seriously. 😂. On the edge of your own box, against England, you don’t need peripheral vision to know you don’t have time to f**k around. Ball watching is a symptom of nerves and lack of team rhythm. You see players doing it all the time. Especially young players. It’s a psychological state not a eye issue 😂
And I get your point about defending Luka vuskovic. This habit people have of building people up then tearing them down is really a projection of their own mental midgetry. And also us Croats are really funny. The way go crazy when there is a draft. “We gonna catch a cold we’re all going to die!!”. This whole site goes into complete meltdown the minute one of our players rides the pine for one match at inter Milan. It’s a bust we’re all going to fail we’re no better than the Albanians trump help us be great again!!” 😂🥱😊
TBAG is getting the start looks like on Tuesday
Oh boy..
who is tbag?
I would start Stanisic (LB), Gvardiol, Pong and Jakic (RB) as our back four.
@anonymous. Your forensic analysis is somewhat interesting. However, in football mistakes are very common unless the team is working well. These things don’t happen in isolation they happen because of psychological pressure and changes in muscle memory. That’s why sometimes a team can win 15 matches in a row, at any level, then lose the next 3/4. Does that mean the players (the same ones that were brilliant not long before) are now not good players? No. There is a saying “form is temporary, class is permanent”. There are reasons we are struggling:
1) important players have been injured and are neither fully fit nor in form YET
2) Dalić has tried to change our formation and style of play just before the tournament.
BUT. Livakovic is great. Stanisic plays every game for BAYERN MUNICH. Gvardiol is Manchester City BEST PLAYER. That’s no exaggeration. Pep has said it himself. Until he got injured he was their most reliable player, brilliant in defense and going forward. Modric is one of the greatest players of all time and has proved he still has it with an outstanding season in Serie A. Perisic is still very good and a leader who is capable of being clutch. Baturina has far exceeded expectations and looks ready to be a genuine top player in everything he does. Petar sucic is a top player technically and mentally. All 3 strikers can contribute. Sutalo despite his shaky form is a wonderfully talented player who is capable in the right conditions of having a breakout tournament. Mario pasalic is dependable and well rounded. Kovacic is slowly gaining fitness. Kramaric is still a good player and will certainly score at some point at least one goal if not more. Marco Pašalić is great every time he plays. One bad result, a few shaky performances doesn’t all of a sudden mean the players or the team haven’t got it. This team is better than 2022 and just needs to gel properly. They need to stay positive and work hard and faith. So do we
Well said.
It is well said, Crnković, but you do need to look at when certain people get substituted or under what conditions they will give you the maximum output.
None of the players are bad, this is true. But some of them, as you said, play better in certain situations or will more closely give you maximum output. This is why some of us are saying, for example, that Mario Pašalić is best suited as a substitute at 60 minute mark because he tends to break oppositional defense best later in the game. It doesn’t mean he is bad, it just means he is best used in this way for maximum output.
Maybe, Šutalo is best with Stanišić at his side. This could have helped during that goal that Bellingham scored, maybe Vusković would have been more free to run in and assist the other player who was trying to defend against him.
Formation is key, I still think a 4-4-2 would have been best in this game. It would have also allowed Dalic to play Marco Pašalić as well on the other flank. This would have given England problems on the other side.
I also think that Luka Sučić could play a false nine role really well. That is where I see him succeeding the most.
I could also see how Baturina and Luka Sučić, in the final third, could work really well under the right circumstances, or in the right formation. They are both aggressive in their style of play.
You could even have Baturina and Luka Sučić both swap out in those false nine role as well.
Look in the end, had Croatia’s game ended in a tie we would be giving him way more Kudos. Honestly, I am dire his audacity to go with this formation against England. He wanted to go for a win rather than a tie. Many of us, including myself, said he would try to play it safe and he didn’t. I also think he is showing that he tactics are changing so these are some positive signs.
It is weird tho that he wouldn’t start Marco Pašalić, whom many of us think would have been instrumental in this lineup. Along with Stanišić playing the back three.
8:10
Modric gives up penalty (can’t see what’s behind him anymore – so sad)
So to recap
In the first 8 minutes – Perisic (once) and Modric (twice) can’t see anymore in their periphery/what’s behind them – that’s age for you
Perisic can post as many washboard ab pictures as he wants but he is LEGALLY BLIND now – so is Modric
Age isn’t just a number – no Ophthalmologist is going to be able to fix their macular degeneration and restore their full vision at 40 years old – it’s over – it’s done – the eyes are washed up – that’s life – hang up the boots – ur career is over
Gvardiol sign contract extension..really dont understand..he maybe benched next season..o reilly and guehi are LB and LCB for sure. English players are prioritized
7:07
Worst touch by Modric in his career – just terrible – in front of his box
7:18
Luka V is ready to clear it and takes a swing at it – but Mario Pasalic decides to do the same and slices the ball up still in the box (if he let Luka V clear the ball – the pressure would have been relieved)
Ball slices to Kane – Stanisic is on him – but lets Kane take the ball down and bounce a couple of times (lol) move back a couple steps and turn and shoot – why didn’t Stanisic stay with him and let him roam (that’s ONE BIG DEFENSIVE ERROR by Stanisic) – also Modric is right there but lets the ball fall to Kane and move back (another Modric mistake)
Then Kane shoots and Mario and/or Luka block it – why did they block it ? The shot was WILD and going 20 yards out of bounds – just let Kane shot go out of bounds it was obviously going out of bounds (again Modric and his age can’t judge what is in his peripheral/behind him anymore)
Instead it’s a corner for England (that’s four needless England throw-ins or corners conceded in the first 7 1/2 minutes)
That’s THREE DEFENSIVE MISTAKES by Modric in 12 seconds lol
TWO DEFENSIVE MISTAKES by Mario in 12 seconds
ONE DEFENSIVE MISTAKE by Stanisic in 12 seconds (thanks for telling us Stanisic made zero defensive mistakes in the first half lol)
Zero defensive mistakes by Vuskovic
*Mario and/or Luka Modric block it
FYI
Izbornik Zlatko Dalić, koji je ranije izjavio da će Vušković biti jedan od stupova reprezentacije u sljedećih deset godina, povukao ga je s travnjaka u 66. minuti pri zaostatku Hrvatske od 2:3.
Tijekom utakmice u Dallasu, engleski napadač Harry Kane pobjegao je Vuškoviću kod drugog pogotka nakon udarca iz kuta, dok su se pitanja o njegovom postavljanju otvorila i u nastavku kada je Jude Bellingham probio liniju za treći gol Engleske. Unatoč tim pogreškama, Vušković je statistički zabilježio pet otklonjenih opasnosti, više od bilo kojeg igrača na terenu, dok je u engleskim redovima samo Elliot Anderson osvojio više posjeda od njegovih šest.
Velika konkurencija u Londonu i realnost nove posudbe
Analitičari bliski Tottenhamu ističu kako Vušković posjeduje iznimne fizičke predispozicije i skok-igru, no susret s elitnim napadačima u Dallasu razotkrio je njegov nedostatak brzine prema natrag i sporije okretanje. S obzirom na to da se Spursi trenutačno suočavaju s prenatrpanim kadrom u defenzivi, borba za mjesto u početnom sastavu u Londonu čini se nerealnom.
U klub potpuno besplatno stiže Marcos Senesi iz Bournemoutha, a pred realizacijom je i transfer Jana Paula van Heckea težak 52 milijuna funti.
Iako se Cristian Romero i Radu Dragusin spominju u kontekstu odlazaka, Tottenham i dalje na raspolaganju ima Mickyja van de Vena i Kevina Dansa, dok povratnik s posudbe Kata Takai i iskusni Ben Davies dodatno zaoštravaju konkurenciju.
Bardi, analitičar popularnog Spurs podcasta “The Extra Inch”, zaključuje kako bi zahtijevanje statusa prvotimca u Londonu u ovom trenutku bilo preuranjeno te da bi privremeni odlazak u neki stabilan klub iz Premier lige bio najbolji razvojni korak za mladog Hrvata.
5:55
Josko throw in to Baturina
Bati chests it down and turns right, but isn’t comfortable with his left foot, so takes awhile to get it back in right foot – by that time Anderson is on him (Bati needs to learn how to use his left foot)
Then inexplicably Bati kicks if out of bounds – I mean he was trying for Perisic – but it was nowhere near
England throw in
That’s twice in 1 1/2 minutes that Baturina heads/kicks the ball out of play – and Perisic standing still waiting (for the THIRD TIME IN FIVE MINUTES) – no connection/synergy between them – and England throw in
You can’t keep kicking the ball out of play and giving away throw ins to England
That should have been dealt with in training/sessions
5:05
Elliott Anderson body check/elbow Josko off the ball
No foul called – 1000% should have been a Croatia free kick
4:25
Vuskovic perfect 50 yard long-ball to Musa with his left foot
Why did Musa stop running ?
If he’s awake and anticipates and goes FULL SPEED a la Olic to chase that (with Pickford out of the box) – he could have caught up to the ball and scored – or even better make Pickford act rashly and draw a red card
Instead he gives up and is scared of contact – instead of using his brain and drawing contact from Pickford and drawing a red card – way to passive – no killer instinct there from Musa – he just pulls up and gives up
Croatia should have been up 2-0 in the first 4 1/2 minutes (or 1-0 and England down to 10 men)
Sutalo terrible shot from Perisic corner
Musa from this Luka pass
btw – Pickford did mis-hit it – and Baturina headed it out of bounds (no clue why – instead of heading it forward) – Perisic again was sleeping and standing still and let the ball go out of bounds (for some inexplicable reason) and England throw in
So that’s TWO defensive mistakes in 4:25 by Perisic (vs. Vlad’s claim that Perisic made ZERO defensive mistakes in 45 min lol)
Vlad – maybe watch the first half again and try counting them again ? 😉
@Vlad
In the 5.5 are you including Luka’s pass at 4:04 to Perisic ?
Perisic is standing there waiting for the ball – completely oblivious to Madueke sprinting back from touchline and zipping in front of him to pick off the pass
That’s both Perisic and Modric completely oblivious to Madueke coming from behind/over their shoulders in the first 10 minutes
Maybe in the 38-41 age cohort they have lost all their peripheral vision ?
Being serious – if both of the geriatrics made the same mistake (not able to scan the field and danger BEHIND them) in the first 10 minutes – it follows that all the running and fitness training – can’t compensate for BLINDNESS
Anyways, that’s not on Luka – he had 3 England players in front of him (and no passing options/lanes in front of him) and Perisic was open but STANDING STILL and oblivious to the danger behind him and WAITING for the ball
That’s a defensive error on Perisic – not Luka
So ur 5.5. Luka defensive mistake vs. 0.0 Perisic in the first half has been disp-proven after 4 minutes of tape
Anonymous can keep going – but the fact you don’t want to provide the times of the 5.5 means u just made it up – similar to the Hakimi and Partey “rape” charges
Dalic had the team try to compete with England all over the pitch. This was impressive as we don’t usually play high intensity dynamic football across the pitch. It’s never been our strength. We’ve always been a counter attacking team who defend quite deep and then keep possession if the counter isn’t on. We have also struggled with creating chances other than crosses. So Dalić really tried to push our level up to match the big teams. That was impressive and but for the sloppiness might have hit us a result. England’s first three goals were all gifts caused by individual lapses in concentration. The lineup was fine. The tactics were bold. England were extremely well drilled to move the ball quickly and intelligently and execute on their chances. It was pleasing to see us press high up the pitch and score beautiful goals. We were very brave to take on England in that style. However, I believe in order to be successful you have to play to your strengths. Especially against England who find it difficult to know what to do when we just keep ball in the middle of the pitch. We never sat in a low block through the game. Which is also something England struggle to break down. So Dalić started the World Cup by going toe to toe with one of the favourites. That shows belief and confidence. In the end we couldn’t keep up. Not a surprise. We just need the right balance between that new dynamic game and our more traditional game, some of the players to get fully fit, modric to not have a stinker and I think we can still beat teams and progress forward. Don’t forget we beat Colombia with our B team. The game with Brazil we should have tied. We put 5 past Czech. We are absolutely capable of having a good tournament. We lost to England, big deal. The boys are working as we speak 🙏🏻❤️
Well said, Crnkovic!👍
The team is working hard, and we are capable of a good tournament.
There is far too much negativity. You’d think we lost to Qatar 6-0.
I don’t get it. It was a 2-2 tie at half time with England getting a lucky penalty, and getting two kicks at the can. It was a one goal game until the 85th minute. England is the fourth ranked team in the world folks.
When I was a young boy, my dad took me to see Toronto Metro Croatia play the Vancouver Whitecaps. I had been to many sporting events, but this one was a stunning and unforgettable experience. The TM Croatia fans were on their feet the entire game. Though they could not have been more than a thousand or fifteen-hundred, their chanting drowned out the Whitecaps fans in old Empire Stadium. They took the place over. Every time Metro Croatia had a scoring chance, the roars were booming. I had never seen anything like it.
What has happened to that?
Okay, some constructive criticisms are fair, but the level of over the top doom and gloom from some of our fans is mind boggling.
I hope the roars and chants in Toronto will be deafening when the team hits the field, and that our people stay on their feet a while. Make sure the team hears the support.
And let’s see what happens.
2:10
Perisic first corner
This was actually brilliant from Croatia – as they knew they’d focus on Vuskovic
Sutalo COMPLETELY OPEN and UNMARKED on the far side – and Perisic beautiful corner right into him
Sutalo of course has no technique to shoot it and he hits it widely into the stands
All he had to do is strike it cleanly and not complicate and it would have been 1-0 Croatia
Actually – no clue why he even tried to strike it – he had space and time to put his head onto it – maybe Sutalo doesn’t know how to head the ball?
Or Baturina free at edge of the box (if he wanted to knock if back to him for a strike)
Really flubbed up play by Sutalo – so many options – and he chose the worst one and execution 0/10
Now Hakimi will stand trial for “rape” in France – announced Friday
In the match against England, Vuskovic’s fastest speed was 29.7 kilometers per hour, and if we compare it to other defenders, he was OK, although that’s not impressive. Namely, Joško Gvardiol reached 34.2 kilometers per hour, Josip Šutalo 29.1, and on the other hand Ezri Konsa 29.0 and John Stones 27.0.
you tube there is video taken from.behind English goal Perisic draws 3 english defenders then gets the ball out then Goal! classic.
4-4-2(4-1-2-1-2)
————Musa————————Marco.P———
—————————Baturina—————————
—————Kovacic————P.Sucic——————
Perisic—————Vuskovic—————Stanisic
—————Gvardiol————Sutalo——————
I think this would function well next game… need stability and more attack.. believe this is the perfect balance
Subs
————Budimir(Matanovic)Kramaric———
———(Fruk)———L.Sucic——(Vlasic)———
—————Modrić—————Pasalic—————
Pograncic———-—Moro——————Jakic—
—————Gvardiol————Sutalo——————
————-—(DCC)—————(Erlic)——————
not a bad team!
Watched the Dalic press conference and he indicated that we are going back to
4231 or 433 with Budimir starting against Panama.
He was very disappointed with the way we defended set pieces despite working on it at training and knowing well that this was one of England’s main strengths. Our left side was also a problem with the England third and fourth goal.
It will be interesting to see how many changes he makes to the starting 11 and in particular who will play in the back four.
Does he drop Vuskovic and brings in DCC ? or possibly move Gvardiol to CB to partner Sutalo with Jakic and Stanisic as the two full backs?
4231
GK Livaković
LB Stanišić
LCB Gvardiol
RCB Vušković
RB Jakić
LDM Petar Sučić
RDM Modrić
CAM Baturina
LW Perišić
RW Marco Pašalić
ST Musa
Subs usually:
– Luka Sučić -> midfielder 70th-80ish min, probably modrić
– Fruk -> Perišić (Baturina goes LW) later
– Budimir/Matanović – > Musa when tired
– Kovačić/Moro if defending or Mario Pašalić if chasing -> anyone tired probably modric
– Last sub for resting someone, could be Pongračić for Gvardiol, Čaleta/Erlić/Šutalo for Vušković, basically no one for stanisic or Jakić, seems like they just shove Gvardiol back to fullback and throw a CB on, Pongračić could maybe be a RB who stays back
– Vlašić and Kramarić only for penalty shootouts or if finishing has been a problem
This is the best possible lineup to fix our defence and midfield.
Modric only struggled because he wasn’t built around and given proper midfield support. He had a bad game but notice how we kept coming back in the first half despite the setbacks, he slowed it down and didn’t let us get scared or nervous or give up, notice how Madrid had that for years and lost it when modric left, he’s the one who orchestrated the comeback. After modric left there was no playmaker to get us control of the game and make plays, there was no promising build up or intention after the 60th minute, all the micro decisions he makes is Croatias identity and allows us to play like an elite experienced intelligent team. Obviously modric shouldn’t be tasked to cover acres of space alone with pace or defend corners well, but he can prevent the turnovers in the first place and gets us back into the match, just needs to have passing options always unlike what he had vs England and Brazil friendly. Don’t let him be outnumbered in midfield, have runners, Mario pasalic is too slow to help modric in a double pivot alone. Jakić RB or even Kovačić 3rd CM will add that in addition to petar Sucic. If this were an elimination match modric would stay and we’d make the comeback, and with better preparation and cover defensively with right wing wide support, we wouldn’t concede so much anyway.
Modric always needs 3 in midfield with wide options at all times. We know teams will target him and press him relentlessly, if he has Marco pasalic and Perisic wide options with plenty of midfield support from our backline and Petar Sucic beside him and Baturina amazing under pressure, he’ll be fine. Dalić did the same tactic from the Brazil game and had the same issue, when modric had 3 in midfield like vs Belgium and Slovenia he was fine, infact Gvardiol was stepping into midfield from LB and it was helping modric control everything, but when Gvardiol had to go back to LB it’s exposed again, he’s better centrally.
Gvardiol also has to stay back more as a CB, we can’t afford him going forward so much, with Jakic and stanisic fullbacks which Dalic was successful with in World Cup qualifying and knows how to implement, they will further anchor modric and cover the large gaps in behind for Vuskovic, with support from Perisic and Marco pasalic too, defending in a compact hard to break down low block 442 out of possession, this is Vuskovic and Gvardiol’s strengths. Not a wide open defence but a more dedicated and invested backline focusing on covering spots instead of tracking back large gaps.
Vs England with sutalo and Vuskovic on; they were our cb’s with Gvardiol and stanisic basically wingbacks vs England despite the back 3 which never worked even back in the euros. Gvardiol and stanisic cannot both be our fullbacks, we just don’t have the cb’s to afford Gvardiol wingback attacking so much, especially against top teams like England, Gvardiol and Livakovic saved us so many times vs Brazil, Belgium, japan, Morocco, and Canada in 2022, Dalić has to return to that.
England identified the vacated space from Gvardiol being functionally our wingback and had Bellingham and other wingers outpace and abused that area in their 3rd and 4th goal. Our 3 slowest players sutalo, Mario pasalic and Vuskovic were the only ones back, which isn’t doing them any favours when they have to defend the entire half themselves, they can’t be tracking back so much open space. Not much support in defence and pace, when it was Gvardiol or stanisic back we were safer but we can only field sutalo or Vuskovic and I’m choosing Vuskovic everyday. He did well to win the ball for our first goal, he adds so much more in defending the box in a low block, plus the goalscoring and possesion play. If we keep modric and Vuskovic central with plenty of wide coverage with Gvardiol helping Vuskovic in their strongest positions defending the box, we’ll be fine. Marco pasalic defends so much anyways from RW and Jakic is a good tackler which offloads many defensive duties for modric in covering space.
Need to reiterate, Gvardiol defends central areas better than wide areas, quite simply, he struggles a bit vs tricky wingers, he’s always gonna defend better when facing the ball then chasing it.
Petar Sucic needs to be modric midfield partner too, Jakic possibly on modric right side in possession staying a bit further wide or back in our rest defence. Not in build up but when in the final third so he can break up play before it gets you our box. Petar Sucic on his left when in possession for our rest defence shielding modric.
1 player can step up from the 4 back at a time usually so we have at least a back 3 in possession but maybe they can afford 2 back at times but the 2 back will have to cover counters and long balls behind like vs England so it’s a calculated risk to use sparingly at certain points in a match depending on the score and opponents. If Petar Sucic goes forward then stanisic and Jakic cover wide DM/fullback areas for modric, if we need help in buildup and Baturina is a bit forward Gvardiol can do a John stones 2023 at man city role and step in midfield with Petar Sucic and modric like he did vs Slovenia, except easier to track back to cb from DM to make the back 3 a back 4; rather than track back from attacking wingback positions vs fast wingers. Pep Guardiola used to do this in Barcelona when playing under Johan Cruyff, inspired by Beckenbauer, Gvardiol like many manchester city fans believe he is the most equipped successor in this tactical innovation to best balance a back 4 as a natural CB and Libero, given the circumstances and our defence and midfield recent performance, I fully back him to make the change back to CB. Especially when Vuskovic is covered by stanisic and Jakic in a temporary back 3 in possession at times. Otherwise at other points in the match we’ll have normal cb build up duo and 2 fullbacks around like Dalić has used many times. We have options and versatility that makes it possible in certain types of matches with this back 4.
Give Vuskovic Gvardiol as his cb partner to lock up the box and give a little pace, stanisic and Jakic focused defensively and supporting modric as wide options support and support the cb’s. Marco pasalic and Perisic can track back and help the fullbacks effectively too, and must give modric the winger outlets of Marco pasalic and Perisic.
This setup helps modric play effectively and control matches, it covers the space for our slow but dominant CB’s fixing our defence issue, gives us an actual right winger to further help Musa too in creating chances for him, and Baturina and Petar Sucic still play in their most effective positions still like they did vs England so we can score goals well still which was a major issue before. Our goals and attack fixed by Musa, Baturina, Marco pasalic, Perisic with Petar Sucic occasionally attacking, supporting Baturina and pressing like he did vs England yesterday, not to mention how modric will be free more with a solid back 4 making it 5 in rest defence at least, although he’d be totally free beside Kovacic and Petar Sucic but that’s its own thing, Jakic is probably needed more for ball winning and covering the backline.
Obviously Moro or Kovačić can sub modric later for control and anchoring midfield but Fruk or Luka Sučić should be there too at the 10 when modric is off, Baturina going LW when Perisic is off. Probably around 70th-80th minute depending on the game and their stamina levels.
Dalić knows how to run this system too, vs Slovenia Erlic was doing the Vuskovic role and Pongracic was doing Gvardiol’s role, Gvardiol and Vuskovic are a straight upgrade in this system so they can flourish in their best roles. Plus we have 4 effective wide players at all times without forcing Gvardiol to be one.
Don’t be fooled, Modrić is still our best player, just need to build the midfield around protecting him and always giving him a passing option out wide and midfield bodyguards with good midfield technique still, we cannot dominate a team like we did at times vs England without him, let’s not panic like some are in this chat and act like it’s because he’s old or something, some of the same stuff happened vs France in 2018 final as today, penalty and all, stuff happens, modric also recovering from injury, I said months ago this would happen that people would turn on him when not given a more secure and supportive system for him, right after the Brazil game.
Also build around Gvardiol and Vuskovic to cover their needs and vulnerabilities as CB’s so we can have a stronger defence. Both defend centrally and the box better than defending out wide. Vuskovic is one of the best at defending the box but needs a pacey cb partner which is Gvardiol. Also notice how fast stanisic was yesterday it was crazy, he hit 35.9 km/h top speed, the fastest in the tournament so far.
Gvardiol and stanisic can cover Vuskovic well but not if they’re so far up the pitch, Dalic keeps doing that mistake since the euros, same way Spain scored 3, even Brazil got 3 like that, those 2 too far up not defending. Man city also struggles when Gvardiol is too far up, he was cb in the first half of this season and playing amazing saving them, that’s what we need and it’ll unlock Vuskovic ability further. Plus Gvardiol playing CB mitigates his fitness problems recovering from his injury.
Dalic should train set pieces with Vuskovic too and make some plans defensively and offensively, he can study up on this England game where to fix defending the corners quite easily so I’m not too worried there, it was a technical issue, not like we don’t have options to defend corners like other teams, we had plenty. Vuskovic, Gvardiol, Perisic, stanisic, Musa, Jakic even; all good in the air. Just needs better prep which I’m sure they’re already hard at work analyzing.
Marco pasalic starting fixes everything too, from being Modric’s passing option, creating for Musa and unlocking him further, defending wide spaces effectively supporting our defence, being a long range scoring threat, frightening opposition defences and pushing them back in their box so we further dominate matches and get the ball away from our half making less transitions to defend. Absolute must start for the rest of the tournament, Dalic should have called Segecic as his sub but what can we do, Fruk it is I suppose, although Fruk would be better at CAM in the Majer 2022 role.
Calling Juanović or Valinčić even to be quick fullbacks to defend wide areas would have been effective, mostly because of how defensively solid a cb duo of Gvardiol and Vuskovic would be. But hopefully Jakić is enough, I supposed Pongračić could possibly step up in a Čorluka type role, but I’m unsure about that, only because Pongracic is also quite fast and will stay back more, but at that point he’ll put Gvardiol lb which we shouldn’t force. Jakić is first choice in my opinion just from how good he did in qualifiers and how he can help modric in midfield even from fullback.
I trust Dalic since we’ve seen him deploy this defence before and his experience should show him this is his defensive solutions.
Our attacking play was much better though, Musa and Baturina are must starts and we must keep Perisic to support them, Marco pasalic will just make it incredible.
The only other option is maybe starting Kovacic instead of Jakic and doing the back 3 Gvardiol, Vušković, Stanišić with Perisic and Marco pasalic as wingbacks and make a point that our midfield will not lose the ball or get pressured like in the Belgium game, also forcing Gvardiol and stanisic to defend Vuskovic with pace, but considering how open we were defensively vs England and their fast attackers, Jakić’s tenacity combined with Petar Sučić on the pitch at the same time should give that extra layer of defensive solidity for modrić that we may have needed vs England. The technique of Gvardiol, modric and Petar Sucic should remedy any build up weakness Jakic might have, more of a plug and play thing, maybe vs weaker teams like Panama Kovacic might get away with it in that system, but the England game may have proved that we will need the defensive support more. Probably best to just start Jakic and he can make adjustments with 1 sub whenever.
Main problem with 2nd goal and many chances in 2nd half was the plan defending corners that needs to be reviewed and fixed, I think Šutalo particularly didn’t do well on corners, or any ball played into the box with pace and quality makes him struggle to react to it , Gvardiol and Vuskovic are the only cb’s we have that can effectively deal with box defending if they’re our cb’s, while offering quality in other areas and phases of play, but they need support, not a cb who shares that lack of pace like Vuskovic and can struggle with defending in the air like Gvardiol. Ironically Gvardiol has the pace Vuskovic needs, and Vuskovic is the physical defensive dominant cb in the air that Gvardiol needs.
Although they weren’t bad and Mario had a good ball in behind, I feel we should bench Šutalo and Mario Pašalić to start Marco Pašalić and Jakić to better support Modrić, Gvardiol and Vušković, which sutalo and Mario pasalic simply couldn’t do vs England. I feel Marco could have played that ball Mario did in the same area but offer more in other areas. When we build our system around supporting Modric in midfield and Gvardiol and Vuskovic in defence + our attack around Baturina like we did vs England, we’ll be fine. Šutalo and Mario simply cannot help Vuskovic defend large spaces like that, all too slow to field and don’t do modric or Vuskovic any favours, only highlights their only vulnerabilities, Jakic and Marco pasalic unlock them and directly support their playstyles and Gvardiol cb helps Vuskovic and Petar Sucic helps modric when he’s his midfield partner, Baturina I suppose will aswell now but not in deeper areas, one of the 4 back will do key build up work in deep areas which is likely Gvardiol, keep Baturina the same attacking positions like vs England but listed as CAM.
I’m confident Dalic will figure this out, I just hope he doesn’t turn on modric, I back him to start this whole tournament as long as he’s fit and ready, but we all know modric will put everything into this tournament from this point on. He just needs a few weeks of warming up into the tournament after that injury, I did see some online stats that modric and Musa wear these chest pieces that monitor and measure their fitness with data and it said their fitness levels were still recovering from their usual standards from before their injuries a few months back, they need more game time to get back to full match fitness, the same will go with Gvardiol, Vuskovic and Kovacic, they’ve had the rest, now they need the game time and minutes to get their muscle mass and fitness back in full form. It’s a long tournament, they’ll be 100% match fit soon I’m sure.
Summary: Gvardiol defend as a cb with vuskovic, make it more compact with Jakic winning the ball early and anchoring midfield from fullback areas too, stanisic locking up wingers, do the same attacking with Perisic Musa and Baturina but add Marco pasalic RW, Marco helps defend width too and gives modric a passing option and creates more for attack, Petar Sucic and modric in midfield with Baturina being press resistant too gives better support, Gvardiol supporting build up for modric and Jakic covering. Don’t force Gvardiol and stanisic to be wingbacks in a back 4, we need them defensively.
I am a bit worried about the pace with Vuskovic and Jakic on the right, but Croatia will have to play to their strengths here with the back 4, John Terry used to say he’d communicate with his defence constantly and give himself a few yards more of space to rely on his defensive iq to read the play quicker since he wasn’t too quick. Vuskovic is an expert in this but just needs a more compact system, Jakic will have to be on his game working really hard defensively and Marco pasalic will likely bail them out with his pace at times. Someone like Juarnović or Valinčić would be ideal but Jakić is the best we got and might be more beneficial if he plays like a dm just covering our CB’s and breaking up the play before it gets to them instead of another wingback desperately tracking back challenging for the ball and leaving our cb’s open. Hopefully a more compact system defensively like this will fix the pace problem and play to our strengths better. I have a feeling stanisic will step up, we should be much faster and safer on our left side with stanisic there, and Gvardiol lcb.
Petar Sucic can still high press and attack the box when in a double pivot with modric if our back 4 with Jakic, Gvardiol, stanisic and Vuskovic holds our rest defence structure. Probably Jakic and modric holding midfield with Gvardiol, Vuskovic behind with stanisic on the side, Petar Sucic going box to box to return and support modric. Perisic and Marco being like left and right mids out of possession.
Sorry for long comment,
Kinda rambled but yall get the idea. Just my opinion, I feel this is the only way for Croatia to play the way they want to while being a highly competitive team without dumping our best players. Dalić just needs to build around modric, Gvardiol, Vuskovic and Baturina. This lineup is how. Don’t force players without pace to cover so much space give them more back 4 coverage, make Gvardiol cb, and start Marco pasalic.
I think you set the record for the longest comment. But it was well thought out and I agree with most of it.
I am concerned about Dalić figuring it out though. I also prefer 4 in the back as opposed to 3 with the group we have. I approve of the lineup you posted at the beginning.
And your point is? …lol. Excellent write up. Hope this gets forwarded to Olic, Corluka, and Dalic.
Holy dissertation
@guest. Excellent analysis
I don’t like that lineup, Stanišić was our best player and at least gave us one side that was shut down. I know he plays sometimes for Bayern on left but for Bayern he mostly only the field and running into open spaces. For us he needs to do more and he’s way more comfortable on the right. I don’t like the idea of a back line where
1- Stanišić plays out of position
2- Luka Vuskovic plays in back line of 4 which he doesn’t usually.
3- Jakic is playing a position he didn’t play all year for club.
Also Vuskovic is 19, we shouldn’t be looking for players that can help him defend in large spaces.
Peter sucic ran way more than he should yesterday for game one of WC. that’s not a good sign. He did way too much,
having players make up for others deficiencies is how you get sloppy team
Defence.
Does anyone know when DALIC’s contract is up ? I don’t want him running euro qualifiers or nations league. The team needs a complete and total rebuild. We have potential and some players we can build around . We won’t winning anything with him
Calm down. Always some pizdarija on this site when we lose. It’s match 1 and one we lost to a better ranked team. We will be fine.
Why is Dalic already saying Budimir is starting vs Panama ?
He also said back to a back 4
What’s the upside in telling ur opponent who is starting and who isn’t
Especially in a must win game
Just keep ur f mouth shut as it comes to formation or personnel
There is no upside MORONS is disclosing any of it
If anything u should be feeding MIS-INFORMATION so they aren’t prepared
I did always find it strange that he shows his cards like this
Another reason why he has to go.
I wasnt at the game so wouldnt know, how was our fan support?just read Dalics.press.conference he wont drop.Luka you can tell( even if he has another bad game )oh well lets see how he tries to put a positive spin on all this .
Sramota, basically got graped by the English, the English controlled possession, twice as many shots on goal, it was way to easy for them, nothing like the 2018 game, croatia def not a top 15 team, id say top 25 and that’s being generous
We had problems with defending counter attacks for a long time, and it was never addressed, other than to seemly ignore it, sweep it under the carpet, and make it worst.
I was enthralled with the idea of a foursome Marauding Hajduks for our backline. It isn’t working right though. Thinking we need to stay at home more and till the land.
We had problems with defending counter attacks for a long time, and it was never addressed, other than to seemly ignore it, sweep it under the carpet, and make it worst.
I was enthralled with the idea of a foursome Marauding Hajduks for our backline. It isn’t working right though. Thinking we need to stay at home more and till the land.
We need that 20 year old Gvardiol from World Cup 2022 to come back for us.
Big time! We also need Vuskovic to step it up a bit too.
I am a little annoyed that Luka Sučić never gets the start ever. He would even been an amazing choice next to Baturina. He loves to pres son and try and score, we need that up front.
Gvardiol was terrible yesterday, giving him slight pass as he probably shouldn’t be playing.
Only thing is he needs to play smarter, he won’t be athletic like he usually is given circumstances but he needs to play like a vet.
I think the only way he can bring that 2022 world cup defensive solidity is if Gvardiol is back to CB like at the beginning of the season for Manchester City, slot Vušković beside him and that’s an elite cb pairing. Jakić RB was our 2nd best player in qualifiers behind Perisic, it’s still his natural position, he plays wide as a cm behind the winger even in midfield, same regions as fullbacks since Augsburg plays in 3421. Jakić always drops from midfield to make his back line a back 4. Plus Dalic knows how to use Jakic RB and he helps modric and Vuskovic out from all the things that screwed them in England game.
Stanišić LB plays there better than RB, instead of crossing he’s playmaking from deep or even advanced, most of his assists and goals this season was from LB. We won’t be missing his crosses so much with Perisic on the left and Marco pasalic on the right.
This backline will also help modric more so he doesn’t struggle under pressure and has better cover. Push Petar Sučić back beside modric, him and Jakic give modric energy and runners, Marco pasalic RW, Perisic LW, Baturina CAM, Musa ST.
Keeps our amazing attacking play like vs England but fixes our backline and deep midfield.
In 85 seconds Livakovic had to make 5.saves from 3 different English players including Kane,often double saves, this Is not .ddm$&$& good enough. We need changes other players defensive and.midfield players deserve a run, after what could have been a 6-even 8 -2 disgrace!
‘Croatia weren’t as good as we thought they might be given their experience but we beat them quite comfortably which was really promising.’ said English coach . What he should have said is that” Croatia was bloody awful and had no idea what they we’re doing”. ” How did they think they would be competitive with such horrendous coaching and lack of direction”. “They had 4 years to get they’re crap together and that is the best they can do- bloody awful”. Even the English coach is sorry for us.
This quote is from pundit Ian Wright. Good Lord.
Tuchel was much more realistic/respectful.
Too be fair, when we hear of Vuskovic its mostly because of his scoring abilities from long range shots and headers. However, there were multiple times where he would get the middle of the pitch and you cam see he was hesitant to shoot. Was he instructed too just pass? If we have him on and in a dangerous position he needs to just shoot. He did it against Columbia. Also Marco Pasalic probably should have came on a little sooner.
He should defend the net period, same with Gvardiol. I don’t care if either can shoot. We need defense.
Hundo. Those half looks at the net from Vuskovic from 30+ meters would’ve resulted in nothing.
After re watch First half
Stanisic – 0 defensive mistakes
Perisic – 0 defensive mistakes
Suatlo – 0.5 defensive mistakes
Gvardiol – 2 defensive mistakes
Vuskovic- 5.5 defensive mistakes
Vlad will never let the media 2nd guess himself again.
Modric, mario pasalic and Vuskovic were 3 players who never should have started.
Time stamps of the 5.5 defensive mistakes ?
Hopefully, you’re not counting Kane dropping back to their own box and Dalic telling Vuskovic to follow him all the way downfield and then not being able to run back in time to deal with counter-attacks?
It’s retarded that Dalic tasked him with that (and it was obviously coming – everyone knew it) – Anonymous assumed that’s why Mario was starting as he would shadow him whenever he dropped (that would have made sense)
The last European Championship we allowed 15 shots in three games. We didn’t have an easy group but 15 shots is horrendous.
We got pumped with 11-12 shots yesterday and that’s in one game. I don’t care if it’s Argentina or Spain. You don’t allow that many shots.
Last World Cup we allowed 32 shots in 7 games. That stat alone is mind boggling. Grant you, 11 of those shots were against Brazil and we won by a fluke deflection goal and perfection on penalties. 2018 we allowed 28 shots in 7 games. Slightly less than Qatar. The only game we outshot our opponent was England and France I believe.
It seems every World Cup we concede a penalty now. It happened on the Liva challenge on Alvarez…never a penalty. Then the penalty we do concede gets saved and of course to has to be taken again when it was saved fair and square. But let’s look at both those penalties now. The Alvarez one was getting caught by pinching by our defenders. Then the Kane one was a poor challenge by Modric. Our faults for putting ourselves in these positions. France got a penalty in the final of course and Neymar with Fred’s bitch dive. Four straight world cups and of course all the top teams get one in crucial matches.
I’m confident we win the next game. We have to or our federation is a disgrace. We have the youth. Gvardiol and Vuskovic aren’t ready. We need troopers like Corluka and Srna in these moments. Even Vida hell!
No passion from our defenders yesterday. I feel for Liva because he has bailed us out countless times and we can’t do the same for him. It’s now or never on Tuesday!!!!! Score first or we are done.
I agree no passion no leader on back line. Someone has to step up and be a leader. Srna was vocal lovren who not perfect was vocal. Stanisic or gvardiol have to be that guy.
You’re comparing Shots on Target?
We let 11 Shots on Target (22 Shots) yesterday….
While flawed I would compare xG as reflects quality of shots allowed
Hint we let 3.20 xG (including 0.79 xG for the penalty)
Yes those are all shots on target. Even the one on that one corner could’ve been another goal. I think it was Rogers who missed. Doesn’t matter…letting that many shots is brutal.
The kafic talk this morning was that the fans at stadium were even worse then the score l? Is that true
Evo ja san u Dallasu. Bolje san se proveja sa englezi nego sa našima. Naši ne znaju HRV jezik. Znaju jednu ili dvi pisme i na tome sve staje.
Or for most of you…..you croatians in America are bad fans.
Ali BBQ van je stvarno top.
Aj ne seri…volis previse brbljati…ja sam bio na paradu i na utakmicu bilo je puno navijaci sto su govorili nas jezik. Ti si taj lik sto je uvijek pesimistican…aj Molim te uzmi medicinu da ne seres toliko vise…al si reka jedna istina bbq je top!
Glad you wasted your money for an experience you said would be bad before you came.
Dumb person continues to do dumb things.
lol
🚨⛔️ Ivory Coast striker Elye Wahi has been denied visa into Canada to face Germany.
This happened due to of an ongoing investigation into match-fixing allegations, which falls foul of Canadian immigration rules — reports @TheAthleticFC.
Remember Anonymos asked you all if you would be willing to lose all three games in 2026 of it meant we had a chance of winning in 2030 ?
Anonymous still on board with it
Next game all 25 and younger must start – this is cost of education with 2030 being the payoff so
Vuskovic
Baturina
Petar Sucic
Luka Sucic
Fruk
Igor
Josko
Start them all and give them the experience
Stanisic has to start to
Fill the rest of the team with seniors
If Perisic can replicate the performance again (and isn’t gassed) start him to
Liva starts
So that leaves one other CB might as well stick w Sutalo he was good yesterday and the youngest of options
So
Liva
Stani Sutalo Vuskovic Josko
Pero Bati Fruk
Luka Sucic Igor Perisic
Marco should get minutes too
Either start or sub don’t care
For the corners – why didn’t Dalic just tell them go man-for-man every corner – and neutralize the “Arsenal tactics” ?
It was all reactionary – Kane is free and scores – so Dalic puts someone man-on-man on him going forward – but then O’Reilly is free and still not marked and got two headers from corners away
Just go man to man from the first corner – there is no mis-understanding/hiding this way
I’m sure Crnkovic will tell Anonymous why he’s being a MORON suggesting this – but seems like the best solution – as they had one focal point/runner on each header – and the rest of the players were just NFL blocking the defense
It seemed like we were doing a combination of zonal (two players in from of Liva) and some man-to-man – but was all over the place
Really inexcusable – we knew that was coming
Surprised nobody has pointed out yet – if Dalic was looking for steal and defence in midfield (as he thew 41 y/o Modric in the center of the park – which was crazy) – then why didn’t Moro start over Mario Pasalic ?
I mean if he’s in the squad as the DM (and Kova ain’t ready for 90) why doesn’t he get the nod to play in the #6 (which he is) as opposed to Mario who is more of a #8 with slight #10 tendencies and slot him in the #6
Rhetorical of course
I think one of the midfielders should have been tasked with tracking Kane everytime he dropped deep (like a hundred times) instead of Vuskovic chasing him all around the field – it was stupid – and should have been dealt with differently/better – if he drops deep Mario should have shadowed him step by step
Anon that was the plan that Mario Pasalic drops back for Kane when he goes deep to pick up the ball… same thing when Kane is in offence Mario should have been the one covering him on the corner that Kane walked in on… Vuskovic out of position on the third goal as he did not think the ball was to be lost there… everyone got burnt to far up… on the Harry Kane corner goal not sure who Stanisic was in convo with who to cover in regards to Kane? Need to go back to watch who Stani was conversing with I believe it was Pasalic or Musa… As when the goal dropped he was ripping in that same individual…anyways it is what it is now…
The players were not able to communicate on the field what was asked of them.. the only goal that was otherwise defensive blunder that the team can’t be blamed on is Modric goal as the unlikely individual to be had was not aware what was around him at the time of contact…. Can’t really blame anyone on that one..
There are positive and there are negatives. It’s not all gloom and doom. I do see a path forward with the current croup of players to still get out of group and win a game or two.
Lets start with the negatives
1- Dalic was terrible, as coach you gotta have a better feel for you’re team and clear the noise from the reality. Modric was terrible you gotta be able to tell the guy the truth. Just say bro you’re now a player coach it’s over. Also to insert a slow player next to modric like Mario pasalic was a total blunder.
We had two slugs in the CDM role. Perisic can’t play wing back you can tell a difference with a young stanisic who went up and down with pace and perisic who choose his moments. Perisic and modric are done. People will say it’s just one game guys he’s 41 he can’t play anymore and unfortunately he didn’t do it himself time for dalic to be a man and tell him it’s the kids turn. If there a real family it should be hard.
And lastly the tactics of going back three was all on dalic. As a coach you can’t believe and fall victim to the hype of Vuskovic. Luka may be better in a few years but he’s not ready and is overrated. Your number one job as a CB is to be a good defender not score goals. How many times am I gonna watch him pause in middle of field and run into his own net. That’s more than “ he’s young and he’ll learn “he doesn’t trust himself in open space that’s a big big problem for him and repka.
2- Set pieces again a problem WTF. Find a CB pairing who can defend it I don’t care who it is make it happen. Only gvardiol and stanisic are starters everyone else is what have you done for me lately Dalic needs to find the proper back line ASAP.
3- We need to run more collectively, way too passive and soft. Need to foul more and play harder, we were soft.
4- Subs were bad, kramaric and vlasic classic dalic subs pick one not both again WTF, L sucic needed to be thrown in game. We lacked a player in middle of field to be our playmaker.
Positive
1- Livakovic was great.
2- Baturina was good he had fire in his eyes to me best player on field future is bright.
3- P sucic was ok/decent needs to be better but again I think future is bright and he can carry us in future.
4- Musa scored the one chance he had positive.
5- I think Marco pasalic played ok which is good. He didn’t look like a liability which is important.
6- Stanisic best defender he looked like a player who’s playing for a top club.
Why I am optimistic I think we played one of the best teams in tournament. We played for 60 mins with basically 10 men and a bad coach. Our young kids looked the part and didn’t look like the moment was too big for them. We still have some pieces in bench to help correct this.
I’m my mind how to correct
1- Play back 4
2- Play Marco pasalic
3- Bench modric , no one is bigger than the jersey.
4- Play with a true # 6 our defence needs it. We play with only # 8 and it shoes . P sucic is not as good as Brozo was at defending at least not yet. Time to start Moro let him run play physical and let him be a true #6 with only # 6 responsibilities. I believe our team needs it. Soldo played in 98 teams, Niko kovac in the early 2000s teams needs these type of player and we are no different.
5- Start baturina P. sucic and Lsucic and musa. It’s time if not now when? Don’t waste a tournament they only come every 4 years.
Stanisic. ……….Erlic…..…Pong …………..Gvardiol
……………………..…..Moro…………………………….
….…………L sucic ………………….P sucic ………
.Marco pasalic …………………………..Baturina……
…………………………………Musa……………………………
4-1-4-1
Play with a 6 have your two 8 in middle and Marco on one side with baturina on other. Baturina not a true winger but he has quick feet and is a player that won’t be scared in tight spaces which is the wing and take
guys one on one.
CB pairing honestly I don’t know anymore but Vuskovic was terrible yesterday and sutalo who wasn’t bad, I am just punishing cause it was another game where we were weak on corners, throwing darts at the wall here.
Kova was better than Modric but I didn’t see enough that makes me wanna start him.
Some excellent points. But we have to be a little patient with Vuskovic, nineteen years old playing in his first World Cup game.
On the one hand, people want to go with the youth. On the other, there also needs to be some patience around the fact that there will be growing pains. He made a great play, a super, well-timed interception, that led to our first goal, deftly breaking up England’s drive upfield and starting our counterattack that led to Baturina’s great shot.
I remember when Vuskovic signed with Hamburg and even continuing early in the Bundesliga season, when there was some doom and gloom, that he was going to be in over his head, and the concerns grew louder after Bayern Munich walked all over Vuskovic and Hamburg, it was 5-0 or 6-0 in that lopsided match in September. It was a bad day.
In the rematch later in the season it was a tie game and Vuskovic scored.
We have every reason to have confidence in young Vuskovic. He has hardly ever played with the national team before, or with these other defenders before. Yes, maybe Dalic should have played him a little more in the qualifying. Fair criticism. But we beat Panama, and we will have something to build on as we get ready for Ghana.
Any competent coach will watch the game tape and not start Vuskovic rest of tournament. And I expect that his tournament is done.
Yes I agree the first goal he had a part in it. It was good but a lot had to be done after that wasn’t like he solely made the play.
When he has time to read the play and it’s in front of him he’s good. But this is soccer that’s not always the case esp international soccer.
I don’t care about youthful mistakes or mistakes in general. That third goal isn’t a mistake it was a choice and exactly what you don’t want in a CB. Were there other players who had a hand in that 3rd goal for sure, gvardiol out of place etc etc however as a confident CB in the middle who was right there to make that tackle on Bellingham and stop that play you need to make it. Vuskovic played it safe running into his net as he doubts his timing/speed. I don’t know if he will fix this with age. That goal was the goal the sealed the game and it was first goal from open play for England.
Most Croatian portals are like the guy played terrible WTF did he start.
Trust me these portals like Vuskovic and his family and praised him all year.
Remember Josko going for a drink against Spain in ’21 or getting torched by Messi in ’22? Vuskovic will be fine. Let him learn. Not like we have great options there.
This is all on the coaching staff. The squad is good. The tactics and selections, not so much.
Spain 21 is a remark that you can actually say that was a youthful mistake.
22 gvardiol played as one of the best defenders all tournament as a 20 year old. Even on that goal he never let Messi beat him it’s not his fault his teammates were just standing and ball watching. The guy who scored shouldn’t have been that open. But again you can say he was a kid against the greatest player ever who played.
Experience and age can’t fix speed.
Jedno Zlatno Rule: You can be a patriot and still disagree with Dalic.
For a long time coming, Marco and Petar should be playing 90 minutes tell the cows come home.
There is a difference between going to MLS for consistent playing time to advance your career, meanwhile receiving top money, vs being relegated there to extend your career, like Olic and others did in the past.
Musa has been are best striker option for some time, as well as Marco are best right winger option.
They both have the Vatreni spirit.
The counter attack goals with us scrambling to get back on defense have been going on for too long. As someone mentioned since Argentina game in 2022. It’s linked to Gvardiol who advances recklessly and no one covers for him. And it was predictable it would happen especially against a fast team like England. Dalic should have told his back line to stay firm, not advance too much and let the the offense do its job. It was crazy not to have predicted this. Gvardiol is not playing for MC, he needs to stay on defense. Also, should have started. Modric was slow and spaced out. He watched that ball, didn’t move his feet then tried to flick it and got the penalty. Really bad.
Excellent tactical analysis of England performance
How Croatia shut them down in the first half
What tactical changes Tuchel made at HT (invert one/both FB + send Declan Rice to the #10 position)
***.youtube.com/watch?v=hcQ30X0-Yhg
Another good video to watch
***.youtube.com/watch?v=omwRicfl_ak
It’s good to watch these – to improve your tactical analysis and how things unfold and tactics – impossible to pay attention to this while watching as too emotional
Last video to watch
***.youtube.com/watch?v=Syl3BoRyAxo
This was a problem even in qualifying, with lower competition, picking up counterattacks, whose genesis goes back to Argentina in 2022. Never really resolved, even after getting rid of Sosa, the perceived problem child.
Seems as though we have addressed and solved the old anemic offensive attack with the likes of Sucic, Sucic, Musa, Baturina, Pasalic, etc., etc..
We need to re-focus on defense basics again.
I’m calling it now, if Dalic plays a back 3 yet again and refuses to start Marco P. on the right wing, we will lose against Ghana and draw against Panama. If he plays a back 4 and starts Marco P., we will win both matches. In any case, if Dalic loses the next match, he should get the Tunisian former coach treatment after the Sweden match.
Love reading the comments including Ante of how we can end up 3rd . It’s hilarious. Ghana and Panama are 3rd world countries and teams. Are we really going to hit rock bottom that fast. We had 4 years to pull the trigger and make major changes, and HNS did nothing. You can’t delay the inevitable that this team is tired, old, uninspired. Players from 1998 should be allowed to hit the dressing room and slap these guys.
How hard… how freaking hard is it for Dalic to just open his eyes for once and do the fucking basics?! Before the WC, you watch your team perform like shit with a back 3. In the last Euros, you play multiple players out of position and don’t play a winger at all. As a result, you get dismantled and crash out of the tournament, wasting everyone’s time and energy.
How hard is it to just fucking start MARCO PASALIC on the wing? How hard is it to put FOUR players at the back, 1 left back, 2 center-backs, 1 right back, which has proven to work very well for us? How many games does this guy have to sacrifice before he realizes something as basic as this? How many bad performances until he realizes a back 3 doesn’t suit Croatia AT ALL?? Where the hell is the rest of the staff trying to drum some common sense into this stubborn doofus? Where are Olic, Corluka, etc.? Don’t tell me nobody sees what everyone else is clearly seeing.
Oh, I get it. We need to wait until we waste another big tournament and crash out once again. The last Euros weren’t enough. Sacrifice a World Cup too, like it’s guaranteed Croatia will always participate. I’ll say it for the 100th time, Dalic should’ve been let go after the Euros. Instead, we get to see him fuck everything up again by failing to do the basics that even a child could get right.
The good thing about the Panama game is both teams will be in desperation. There should be a lot of open play. If we can’t beat Panama, it will be time for a reset. Vuskovic on Hamburg and Vuskovic on the National Team with the world watching is worth considering. I like him but let’s not make him a superstar just yet. That third goal still haunts me seeing Vuskovic not go after Bellingham.
Mistakes and some bad luck cost us. Luka’s foul for the PK was weak. He didn’t even see the player making a play for the ball but letter of the law says it’s a foul and PK. Liva’s foot being 2 inches off the line for a retake is what it is. If it’s any saving grace, Gvardiol was in the box well before the box was struck so even if Liva’s foot was on the line, there still would have been a re take.
How do we leave Kane unmarked on a corner?? Isuse.
I don’t get the Mario Pasalic hate. I’d agree he isn’t the most dynamic player, but his hockey assist on the Musa’s goal was perfectly placed. Even on Bellingham’s goal, he was backtracking and pressured Bellingham’s shot (which was a bit lucky as he scuffed it and it went off the post and in). Where was Gvardiol? Why did Vuskovic not close in on Bellingham once he saw him beat Pasalic? Those two were a bit of a mess.
Playing Mario Pasalic wasn’t the reason we lost. The above ratings gave him the same score as Luka? That’s a bit harsh. As much as it pains me to say it, Luka looked awful out there and looked his age. Really hoping it’s a one off and he bounces back for the next game. Gvardiol was bad. Vuskovic wasn’t great either.
gvardiol deserves to be dropped or not played from start needs to buck his ideas up get his head in the game was a defensive liability he can have shockers.Perisic of older players was most reliable and like the actual Captain yesterday.
im going doomer, but even our young guys dont have the pace to keep up with ghana and panama. were dropping points and not getting out of this group. there is not enough fight in this team. i’d love to be proven wrong but I didn’t see a lot of hope for a deep run in this match.
We may not have the pace, but I am confident we have more technical skill to find a way to outscore them. let’s see.
this is a fair statement. I agree that we have the skill set advantage. we could play the possesion game, move the ball all around the field and score. my worry is a good ball over the back line could burn us badly because we dont have the pace to be first to that ball
We have strong young attacking players.
That is the biggest take away.
We can actually make a generational shift in a tournament as opposed to waiting till the Fall.
Let the young studs take on Panama.
We can all say should’ve could’ve
But 3 at the back was never the answer
Musa
Perisic baturna Marco Pasalic
P sucic Modric
Stanisic. Gvardiol vuskovic. Jakic
Should’ve..
Absolutely agree.
You can be a patriot and still disagree with Dalic.
For a long time coming, Marco and Petar should be playing 90 minutes tell the cows come home.
There is a difference between going to MLS for playing time and top money, vs being relegated to extend your career.
I am concerned england will deliberately get a draw with ghana to kill us to 3rd spot. They are trying to eliminate the dark houses and powerhouses as much as possible. As a result we need a win against ghana to secure 2nd spot.
Doubt it. They will want to win. It’s unlikely they will deliberately go for a tie.
3rd spot in our group with 3 points and the right GD to get through is the play now. It is a much favorable draw if Colombia win their group. 2nd place in our group will have to go through Portugal and Spain to reach the quarters. Crazy.
Thankfully we are just shitty enough to pull off 3rd. Small mercies.
So they would need to get a high goal average against Panama is my understanding.
But I think they still need to aim to win both games. There are a lot of draws in different groups right now. Does that still affect us?
they already deciding who they beating in the final the poms
As an English man I’d like to say Croatia always give us a run for our money, and if you said at half time it would be 4-2 I would assumed we would have lost.
As for the England drawing, that would only because of our incompetence and Croatia’s future wouldn’t even make it into a conversation. The only time we will meet again in 2026 is in the final and no one expects us to get that far. We wouldn’t even draw to knock Scotland out of the competition.
If England or Croatia don’t beat Ghana then they don’t deserve to be in the last 32.
My brother and I were thinking the same exact thing . Totally see this happening .
I find when our backs against the wall though we always play well.
If we come out flat footed against Panama , I will be shocked . That means then there’s a deeper issue within the NT.
Two wins , 6 points , lets go .
After we ensured England didn’t make Euro 2008 (beating them 3-2 at Wembley) – England ensured we didn’t make WC 2010 (playoffs) when they went to Ukraine and let them win 1-0 on Oct 10, 2009 (England was ahead like 9 points with two matches to go, so could afford to lose) and Croatia missed out by 1 point below 2nd place Ukraine
Point being it’s not crazy what ur saying – but I don’t think it will be so Croatia misses out – it would be to ensure both England and Ghana get thru to KO
Maybe we can try a back line of:
Stani – Gvardiol – Vuskovic/Sutalo – Jakic
Can someone please tell me the last time Josip Sutalo played a good game for his Croatia. Highly overrated player.
Like Maminjo said, I will agree here, Dalic’s seniority rules is the problem. What I saw in this game was the impact that the younger players had in the game against one the the favourites in this tournament. Namely Musa, Baturina, and even Marco Pašalić. Why was Mario Pašalić picked to start?? I simply don’t understand this decision by Dalic. I am not suggesting he is bad player but he is not a solid starter. He is more of a useful substitute and that is where he has the most impact in a game.
I said that I was worried about Perišić being the only one to drive the attack on the left side, but thankfully Baturina is on fire. Baturina was the next best player to Livakovic. I still think that both Perišić and Marco Pašalić need to start in the same game.
Whatever negatives I had toward Livakovic in the past are completely gone at this stage. He was absolutely phenomenal in this game despite the goals. Best player for us by far.
Šutalo has not been good for us for a while. Why Dalic calls players up that are not in form instead of taking younger players that are performing well is beyond me. Plus we have players on the squad that are bench warmers. Is Erlic the better option, or should Stanišić have been at the back this whole time? Is Camera Car a better option. It’s too late to tell now.
Marco Pašalić sitting on the bench was just nuts. Arguably if Stanišić was in that back three with Pašalić on the wing, things could have been different. That’s a big maybe. Mario Pašalić didn’t seem to make an impact either offensively.
We had a very terrible backline and I was saying before, that we needed a back 4 and it turns out I was right here. We do not have the capacity to play a back three against this kind of opposition.
I will say it again it needs to be a 4-4-2. We have a lot of players that can play a supporting striker. This provides enough defense for us. There is also enough support in the middle. Perišić and Marco Pašalić on either side.
The seniority issue is my concern as well. It reminds me a little of 2002… we were coming off a great performance in ’98 but the old guard cost us in 2002.
both you and Maminjo tend to make several assumptions and you’re all over the place. just look above…on one hand you want youth and Dalic decided to use that youth in the back line to try to strategically create a better attacking situation for us and then what happened….. Vuskovic & Gvardiol were our two worst players on defence while both their teams constantly play with 3 at the back….but you call out Sutalo while there’s no mention of how bad the other two were. Sutalo was the best of the 3.
I don’t like 3 at the back but it is widely used by many teams with intelligent and capable players to help strengthen the midfield and Dalic most likely figured we have the personnel to use this system…why you blaming him instead of putting some blame on our defenders?
when it comes to the starting lineup, it seems like you’re only gripe is with Mario Pasalic starting…right? this was an attempt at a tactical move, trying to include a responsible defensive player to help relieve the pressure and also have a guy that can challenge in the box for head balls and scoring attempts.
considering that Mario Pasalic and Josip Sutalo are the only players you really complained about for the starting lineup, why are you avoiding the elephant in the room…Modric, Vuskovic and Gvardiol? this doesn’t make any sense to me.
one last thing! give credit where its due. Kovacic was excellent when he came in but is this some kind of taboo for you and Maminjo to admit that? you are unrealistic.
Petar Musa — 7/10
Worked hard and scored in his home state of Texas. Needs to start against Panama and get the ball to him more because he’ll cause problems if you actually use him right.
?
Firstly, no clue why Maminjo including him as a “young gun” – he’s already 28
His goal was nice and it was beautiful to see him over-come with emotion
But
HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE 2ND AND 3RD GOALS
2ND GOAL – Harry Kane was his man to cover in the corner – Stanisic told him to go cover him – he switched off and didn’t bother – and Kane got the free unmarked header – 1000% it’s Musa’s error – watch it again
3RD GOAL – Musa was strolling to close down Kane – who received a pass and passed it downfield (for the 20th time in the game) – Kane should never have been allowed to get that pass off in the first place – it was Musa walking over to “cover” him – Musa never got there – Kane was free – and then we have the mess at the back – watch it again – again it’s 1000% Musa’s laziness that allowed Kane free reign to get that pass off to begin with
Musa also didn’t do any pressing – it was poor Pero playing “RW” – needing to press the entire back 4 and keeper lol
But that’s what you get with an MLS player – in the MLS he doesn’t have to press – he can just stroll around – and I’ve never seen an MLS goal from a corner EVER so they probably don’t practice them or have any clue how to defend them
Igor wasn’t much better when he came on – just body-checking and causing fouls
Perisic – outstanding
Liva – over-rated – many of the saves were easy as the ball was hit right at him (e.g. Bellingham shot, that double save) – the Declan Rice save was good – but the rest were right at him – so yeah he should save those – he should know to stay on his line and not get put off by a little stutter steps and cause a penalty re-take – 3rd goal his angle was terrible
Modric – a shadow of himself – the game went right by him
Sutalo – thought he did well (and you know I’m not a fan) – there was one play in the first half when Madueke crossed it in – behind Vuskovic (who switched off) – and it was a perfect play by Sutalo to prevent Jude from scoring an easy one
Stanisic – completely shut down 100m Barca Anthony Gordon – and was good going forward
Josko – still not fit
Baturina – wonderful goal – wanted to see more from him – he didn’t really grab the game by the scruff of the neck and IMPOSE himself – was a bit timid – in the first half beyond the goal – can you think of anything else he did ? Frustrating as he has more in him to give
Mario – that pass to Perisic was sublime – perfectly decoyed – perfect weighting – perfect trajectory – perfect placement – everything was perfect – if that was Luka Sucic who have one pass like that the whole game Maminjo would be telling us about it over and over again for the next decade – I thought he was serviceable in midfield – he certainly had more impact than Modric, objectively speaking – I was surprised he kept up with Jude so well on that 3rd goal (why was he even there – where was Perisic or Gvardiol) – Vuskovic made a poor decision not to join Mario and go 2 v 1 and try to tackle him way before he reached the goal
Good break down.
Agree with most of this.
It pains me to admit I agree with most of your breakdown anonymous
Too many here are over the top negative. Way too tough on our team, and brutal on individual players, including Luka Modric who after more than 20 years, and nearly 200 caps, deserves a little more generosity and respect from Croatian football fans. Respect our brother Luka.
Anonymous has taken an appropriately balanced view. A very good post.
We are playing the fourth best team in the world, from a country that has more than 15 times our own population, whose starting lineup up has a collective market value of 700 million Euros.
And yet, if memory serves, it was 2-2 at half time, with England looking unsettled as they left the field at the half. In the 75th minute Marco Pasalic made a good move, and with a little luck could have made it 3-3.
It was a one goal game until the 85th minute. We gave that fourth goal up, in part, because we were pressing for the tie. It happens. In hockey they basically call that an empty net goal.
But the reaction here is such that one might have thought we took a 7-0 beat down, and had been knocked right out of the tournament.
If anyone expects we are going to be coasting to nothing but wins at this level, then you have to rein in your expectations a little.
A reminder: we are very much alive in this tournament.
Any battle at this level is going to have ups and downs. We can absorb a loss in the group stage and learn from it.
I saw many good things, even great things to take away.
We pressed them early.
Then England got a flukey penalty never to be repeated by Luka, and then got not one but TWO penalty kicks, on the narrowest of calls, to take their 1-0 lead. Talk about getting a break! They got very lucky to get that kind of momentum builder.
Our first goal . . . saw our three youngest stars, who all worked hard in their first ever World Cup game, combine for a fantastic goal that tied the game 1-1. Vuskovic with great anticipation, 19 years old against a world class team, challenged for the ball as he intercepted a pass, then to Baturina and Sucic . . . what a play, with Baturina unloading a wicked blast.
To watch those three youngsters step up and answer England to tie it 1-1. Wow. No one was mentioning any of them at Euro 2024. And yet there they were, a fantastic effort. Beautiful goal.
Dalic gave them all the start. A good decision on his part, not just for this tournament but with an eye to the future. All three of them should—and will—get even better as this tournament goes on.
On the second England goal, there was just enough interference on Vuskovic that he didn’t get his head on the corner kick. The English player had both hands on him and nudged him just enough that he did not get his head on the ball. Had it been our goal, the call might have gone the other way. Call it a technicality, but it looked like material interference not off to the side but right on the play for the ball. I’d like to see it again in slow motion.
Overall, Stanisic was very good. He was a force out there. Perisic, after what he did to his knee two years ago, was sublime at 37. A warrior. A legend. Livakovic stopped Harry Kane’s first penalty kick and was sharp.
Kova looked like he was rounding into form. Gvardiol is going to need one more game or two. And that is exactly what we will have before the knockout stage starts, if everything comes together.
I thought Sutalo was fine. I didn’t see any disaster there. Modric will be better.
That last goal saw England almost have a five on one. So we need to tighten up defensively. There will need to be some adjustments. Dalic will know what needs to be corrected, and veterans Modric, Perisic, Kova, Krama, etc will give the team stability and calm as we get ready for the next game.
Many of our mates here will be in Toronto: DannyJ, Slavonac, I am sure gbvh will be there, he is from that area, and many others . . . C’mon guys, get that place rocking in TO! The chanting Croatian fans have to be on their feet, turn it into a home game, rally the team, build some momentum, a win will change how everyone is feeling and then it comes down to a one game showdown with Ghana.
I like our chances.
Oolombia 3 -Uzbekistan 1 Colombia flying.
Colombia are our likely opponents if we get out of this group are they? Maybe we should be looking at who we play if we finish third is my thought tho.
could be Portugal.who drew with Congo this earlier.
great, 2016 all over
I sometimes think if we didnt have Liva we would be a very average Euro side
I find maminjo funny
He’s actually very sharp and well informed in many things
But at heart he’s still a homer in the end
Deep run? In what world is deep run the base line?
Croatia has a solid team but a deep run still remains a tail outcome rather than a median outcome based on the talent just like it was in 18 and 22
Bad result for us with Ghana winning 1 – 0 against Panama with a stoppage time goal. Draw would have been better for us.
Both teams are physically stronger and quicker than us, especially Ghana and that will be a problem for us if Dalic plays 3 at the back again.
Cannot believe that Dalic started experimenting with three at the back months out from the start of the WC. I thought that he was a fairly predictable coach who was going to stick to tried and tested. Instead of trying to fit Vuskovic in 4 at the back formation he changed the team formation and tactics to suit one player.
To play 3 at the back you need three reasonably quick CB’s especially the central defender who has the responsibility of going across and correcting any mistakes on the flanks.
With the England third goal, yes you can blame Gvardiol and Mario Pasalic however you have to ask where was Vuskovic ?
19-year-old Vuskovic has great potential, however he lacks experience at international level. His positional play is not the greatest and he is just about our slowest CB.
Gvardiol has lost a lot of muscle bulk due to his injury and is way below his best.
It would have been nice if had one or two genuine full backs in the squad.
I think the problem is there is not enough Aussies on our team, bring on Seg lol
Just saw Ghana get a 94th minute winner too or whatever. Even worse for us. If those two fuckers had drawn that would have been some relief but nope. Anyway i can see us struggling to beat both Ghana AND Panama at this rate.
This is the risk you take when you have three defenders at the back. Especially in an opening game against a team like England for the first time. Croatia took risks and pressed a lot which created chances and two beautiful goals. However, it bit them in the ass with our horrendous defending.
This is what happens when you conceded first always and chase games. You will never win. No effort by our back line whatsoever. Caught in lala land for all the goals but the penalty.
Move on and start learning from the mistakes. If we don’t win against Panama or score first, I think it will be an early exit and lots of questions and a dark future.
Dalić shuffles the lineup and it wasn’t his fault our defence were sleeping. The only players fang stood out were Liva, Stani, Baturina, Musa and Sucic. Everyone else should have a long hard look in the mirror with that effort. Don’t disappoint me in Toronto.
Gentlemen of this forum , tell me how in the holy heck that Fruk, Moro, or Vlasic would have helped us at 3-2.
Really . Tell me how .
As I said , Stojkovic , Segecic and Ivanovic should have been there and tbh , maybe even Petkovic , but it’s all about family and this gluposti.
I’m tired of Dalic . I want him to go , please . If we had lost 5-0 maybe he would have , like the Tunisia coach .
That being said , I do think we will beat both Ghana and Panama and crash out with any opponent we meet in the knockouts .
Sad way to end things , especially for the old timers , but I do blame Dalic , and his staff, for eveything.
Guys , deer in headlights . Did you see olic and corluka. Had NO IDEA what to do at 3-2. NO FREAKING IDEA.
However , if they had some wild cards (like the 3 fastest Cro footy players !), they would play that hand .
What a s***Show
Disagree with the rankings. Liva was a 10 everybody else was a 5 or less. Mario Pasalic how can you give him a passing grade? He was 0.5 and should have been given papers to enter a trade school. That got was bloody awful. You forgot to rate the coach. That imposter deserves a bus ticket to Halifax and then a row boat to get home. Worst performance you can imagine .
England 22 overall shots ,11 on target ,Livakovic is the mantus if there is one good thing ,we have a good keeper,now he deserves some.guys that will help.protect him.
I dont share the positivity.
We are FUCKED.
We cannot defend at all. Ghana even are gonna be too fast for us. Just wait we’ll see some Ghanian running thru 1 on 1 with a keeper after 1 simple long ball exactly like Bellingham today. Always the same story, the opponent just needs one long ball and we’re fucked.
Remember Euro 2024, Albania hit one long ball after another and repeatedly got one-on-ones with Liva; it was fucking embarrassing. Looks like nothing has improved.
Will the positivity comes from the fact that Musa has a good game and it looks like our young midfielders are legit.
So, now we don’t have to struggle to figure out who we start on offense.
The backline can be improved with four at the back, plus I assume Gvardiol will not have such bad games as he rounds into form.
Dalić might still f us over by glueing Marco P to the bench, but we should still be able to handle Ghana and Panama.
I blame vuskovic for the loss to England after reading your posts on him I thought for sure he would have scored 5 goals man
Yes I am not optimistic either. It was nice to see some offensive creativity which we lacked in the past but had a solid midfield and defense. Today our defense was horrific, made England look like some offensive team which they are not even known for. Since when did England ever score so many goals in a major competition?
I didn’t think Ghana or Panama looked good at all today, very chaotic, so I’m hoping we can pull off a win.
How you give Modric 6 lol
Guy was worst player in the World Cup so
Far. Modric 0
Mario pasalic sucked besides nice pass 5
Vuskovic should be a 4 that third goal reminding me of why vuskovic is a limited player. I thought he was supposed to be our saviour for corners and set pieces.
Sutalo amd stanisic were our best defenders
Baturina by far best player should be a 9
Vlad, you are so right.
Let’s not judge Luka too fast though . Something was off . I don’t know what .
My biggest concern is Vuskovic . I mean , I am beside myself at how bad he was .
Im no football coach but that second half had some.of rhe worst defending ive ever seen from a Croatian national.team,Livakovic ,deserves some sort of Croatian award for what he managed to do, remarkable, Shitalo and.co. maybe need a bit of a rest and lets see what other guys can do
First half was Croatia advantage … giving up that goal to start the second half hurt – dalic went for it and i tip my hat to him- positive showing , let’s get out of the group and figure out the strategy in the process
You tip your hat to him?
Dalić started the wrong Pašalić (AGAIN) and it cost us.
How many tournaments games do we need to sacrifice as a grace period for the retard to finally get it?
I give him credit for starting Musa, but Mario Pašalić is one if the last guys you play in a match like this.
Modrić and Gvardiol let us down, but Dalić didn’t help us either.
The second I saw Mario Pašalić’s name in the starting eleven, I knew we were going to lose (it was just a matter of how much).
Thankfully, Dalić started BATURINA (who is our actual best player, yet is still a questionable start in Dalić’s eyes) and our young guns (Baturina, Sučić, Musa) led the way for us.
I was hoping to see Luka Sučić come on, but of course he didn’t because he doesn’t have the “seniority” that guys like Vlašić has (which cost us another goal).
The silver lining in this game is that we at least now know that Baturina, Petar Sučić and Musa should be unquestionable starters for the full 90 minutes.
We need Modrić and Gvardiol to play at the level that they can, and we should be more than good enough for a deep run.
At this point, Coach Dalic has to realize that the back 4 is our best bet. It will keep it low scoring, but we have to accept who we are. I am just worried now as in the three World Cups where we lost first game, we didn’t advance. Maybe the third place advancement takes the pressure off. On that third goal Vuskovic backed off on Bellingham. Perhaps call it inexperience, but it was a decisive play for a 19 year old. I have been loyal to Coach Dalic for 9 years and it is not stopping now. Hopefully, we recover with a big victory on Tuesday.
Your loyalty is justified.
A second and a third in successive World Cups is a record that one would think speaks for itself. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to.
Thus, your posts and voice over the years have been very necessary.
Agree about Mario Pasalic and I feel sorry for the guy because Dalic always plays him out of position.
Luka Sucic went to Qatar WC and did not get a minute, could be the same for this WC ?
MART, I think if things go according to plan, Dalic will get Luka Sucic in there for some quality playing time in this WC during the group stage. If he plays really well and seizes the opportunity, I believe he will get a chance during the knockout phase.
It would be nice if we could build a bit of an early lead against Panama, and make liberal use of substitutions, as Ghana comes up four days later with very little rest.
100 percent .
Pasalic, Mario is not a starter for us. Period .
Marco should have started absolutely .
I predicted this . Gvardiol and his future contracts and stupid skydiving and IG posts . It’s all a show .
Maybe Vuskovic too. Quite possibly a move to Barcelona and just don’t exert yourself .
I have more faith in pongracic , DCC and Erlic .
And Luka Sucic
Your right about Pasalic, when I saw Mario was starting , I hoped it was a mistake and he meant Marco – I’m talking more along the lines of dalic opened up and asked to see who’s willing to bring it ..
I was there, haven’t re-watched yet- but I was encouraged from the first half
Mario should never start on the wing – period
Assumed set pieces would be our strength on both defense and offense. Seems like this is a very correctable weakness, which can be addressed by focus and effort going forward. This seems to be an issue that can be addressed successfully immediately.
Wow that’s rough on Vuskovic lol.
Nice recovery.
I would love think by mathematics a draw for the other 2 in our group would be good
Who gives a crap about player ratings when we just got pumped
another thing, I see so many mention on here…
with a back 4, something like today’s defense performance would be much less likely to happen right?
if so, easy fix- go back to the familiar Croatia way
Maybe Dalic felt the back 3 vs England was our only chance, who knows
what you guys think is best Panama Ghana result for us? 0-0 at half
I think so
If we win out it’s fine we secure 2nd easy
4 points should be more then fine
Hoping England just goes and pumps the other two now
You forgot Luka Vuskovic. I didn’t think he played well. I put part of the blame on him for Bellingham’s goal. I know Vuskovic was trying to cover the England player running up the middle. But it was clear Bellingham had run by the other Croatian defender (I don’t recall who it was) — Vuskovic needed to close out Bellingham at that point. Overall, tough World Cup debut for him. But he’ll be the better for it (just like Gvardiol was after he had a rough debut in the Euros in 2021).
Where are the Dalić glazers now?
How much longer are people going to defend a coach who keeps making the same mistakes over and over again?
He went with a back three yet again, despite the fact that anyone with functioning eyes could see throughout the recent friendlies that the system simply wasn’t working. Croatia looked poor, exposed defensively and, for the most part (especially in the 2nd half), completely toothless going forward. We saw exactly the same thing today.
The worrying part is that this isn’t new. Dalić made many of the same mistakes at the last Euros with wrong lineups, wrong formations, questionable subs and subs that often came far too late. Those mistakes contributed to a disastrous tournament and yet here we are again, watching the exact same movie.
This is a coach who never seems to learn. He doesn’t adapt. He doesn’t make meaningful adjustments. Instead, he doubles down on ideas that clearly aren’t working and Croatia keeps paying the price.
How much longer can people defend a man who rode the coattails of Modrić in his prime and one of the greatest generations of Croatian footballers ever assembled? He should have been sacked after the Italy game at the Euros. Instead, he’s still here once again sabotaging Croatia’s chances at a major tournament.
As for Vušković, he was dreadful today. If people genuinely think he’s worth 60 million Euros, they need to watch that performance again. The warning signs were there from the start. On England’s corner, he unnecessarily conceded a corner instead of clearing the ball for a throw-in. For someone supposedly dominant in the air, he completely lost Kane for the goal and left him with far too much space. He wasn’t the only defender at fault but he was certainly the main culprit. The third goal was even worse. He completely misread the counterattack, left Bellingham with acres of space and essentially gave him a free run into a dangerous scoring position. It was a horrible piece of defending. His lack of pace was exposed repeatedly and to top it all off, he was beaten in the box by Nico O’Reilly, who is smaller than him. Seeing Vušković lose aerial duels like that doesn’t exactly scream “€60 million centre-back.”
Modrić was poor as well, but the main issue remains Dalić.
His presence is actively holding this team back. I genuinely don’t understand the optimism among sections of the Croatian fanbase anymore. It’s time to face reality, Dalić is clearly out of his depth and has been for far too long now. Croatia needs a new manager ASAP!