PODCAST: Bilić Names Croatia Nations League Squad!

Just wait till Bilic gets ahold of Vuskovic and tells him he’s the greatest CB of all time

The World is not ready for Luka with Bilic coaching to gas him up to Mars

Kangwa with his first PAO goal

Jaga warming up – looks like no balls drain for a few days (thanks GF!) – blue balls card territory

@maminjo, I agree with your clear sighted logic on striker heirachy.

With one caveat:
Each team has a different dynamic, I learned this lesson as a young man watching and also playing football. Watching the game it struck me how certain players would be considered flops then go to a new team and become world class very quickly and also vice versa.

As an Arsenal fan the biggest examples are bergkamp and Henry. Bergkamp was the next big thing at Ajax, went to Inter Milan, flopped, then went Arsenal and very quickly became world class. You could put that down to the learning curve, but more importantly it was the style of play.

Henry also struggled massively in Serie A for juventus, having been consistently brilliant at Monaco, before reaching his potential at Arsenal. The biggest difference is the more vertical play in England at the time compared to the slower, more compact defence and possession based play in Italy. Henry likes to run into space often in wide areas and take on retreating defenders on the counter attack. Bergkamp likes to pick up pockets of space by dropping against the dynamic movement of the team in the counter.

In Italy they like their forwards to stay within the width of the penalty box, leave the wings to wingers and fullbacks. Just focus on minimal touches in build up play and be focused on the decisive finishing moments in the box. So neither bergkamp nor Henry suited the roles they were given.

In fact at juventus Henry was played as a wingback in a 352 as the coach considered this the best way to utilise his pace and dribbling ability. Despite obviously being a striker. (People credit wenger for reinventing Henry into a striker at Arsenal,, but the truth is he was part of a front three at Monaco and obviously an out an out attacker already).

I was a number 9 in my early career, before moving back to a 10 and eventually an 8. Finishing was never my best quality but I was putting up good numbers 15/20 goals a season playing club football in England. I went to university, was supposed to be the star player for the university team. Scored 6 goals in 4 years despite starting every match up front. Couldn’t understand it.

At the same time weekends I was continuing to bang in goals at a HIGHER standard than the university league. The club side had a different dynamic. Some older heads who knew the game and knew how to get the best out of my qualities (speed, movement and flair).

For the university team everyone was the same age, plenty of talent but very little structure or nous, chaotic football.

Similarly when I played in Italy for a season, I struggled. The spaces were so compact, I kept making runs into the channel and the ball never came.
Different rhythms, different styles, different culture, different group dynamics can have a huge effect on individual performance.

So when a manager picks his team it’s really important that it’s not an All Star game, type situation. It’s not about honouring the players who are having the best club career. It’s about having the vision to pick the players who will work well together to create something bigger than the sum of their parts.

So from that perspective you can understand seeing a guy who maybe plays at a lower level, doesn’t score as many goals, but seems to play his best for the NT. so there is an important balancing act there for any coach.

Maybe I have some sort of tunnel vision but as much as I feel badly for saying this, I just don’t see Budimir as a starter for us.

I really liked what I saw from Matanovic and my hopes are he progresses and becomes a goal every second game (its extremely hard to score at a pace of 0.5 goals per game and I don’t want to be unrealistic).

I think Ivanovic can be interesting but he’s had his set-backs.

Musa is also proving me wrong but I wish he played in Europe…I understand why he’d stay in the US, after all, money matters.

Beljo? I’m a Dinamo fan but I’m not convinced he’s capable to score many goals in a stronger league with tougher defenders so I’m hopeful but not expecting much.

Marxo Pasalic offers some width, speed and service into the box and I like him for that.

we have to respect Krama since he’s been great for us since Mandzo left. He was injured and recently had an operation so lets see if he is in form.