Stuttgart met RB Leipzig in Matchday 2 of the Bundesliga campaign, presenting a matchup between our top two left backs. Although Gvardiol should be utilized as a center-back, as we lack depth in that position, we know this is not the case when it comes to what Zlatko Dalić has in mind. This matchup presented the perfect opportunity to compare the two defenders and receive more insight on who to start come September 1st in Moscow.
A play by play analysis will follow, along with a more in depth analysis of the Croatians’ performances at the end of the article.
First Half:
9’: Gvardiol sets up a sweet pass to Forsberg, who lays it off to Silva, only for him to miss the target from up close.
10’: Sosa’s low cross off a free kick results in a shot on goal. Excellent choice of placement.
12’: So far, Gvardiol has looked very dangerous running up his left flank, while Sosa has been quiet, delivered two decent crosses and not much else.
14’: Gvardiol dribbles past 3-4 Stuttgart players near their box, lays it off to Silva, who unfortunately messes up another chance. What a play from the 19 year old Croat.
17’: Gvardiol has looked rock solid on defense, no one seems to be getting by him.
17’: Sosa gets a beautiful run on his left flank, almost turns it into a breakaway but shoots way too early and it flies above the bar. Wasteful, he could have really knocked one in there.
20’: Nice cross in a dangerous area by Sosa, his teammates are looking weak in the box as Leipzig’s center-backs are outmuscling everyone.
23’: Another nice Gvardiol set up that Silva almost banks in with a bicycle kick, what a beauty that would’ve been. Sosa needs to step up his game offensively because Joško Gvardiol on the other side of the pitch is really outplaying him in these first 23 minutes.
24’: Sosa is looking more solid defensively, his excellent gap placement is not allowing any Leipzig entry.
24’: Great passing by Gvardiol under pressure, very composed. So far, he’s looked like the best defender on the pitch.
25’: Gvardiol headers out a dangerous Sosa cross.
31’: Sosa tries to outpace Szoboszlai, gives it away and Leipzig counter-attack.
34’: Gvardiol is looking physically dominant, bullying Stuttgart’s right-winger Massimo on aerial duels as well as ground duels.
35’: Gvardiol fouls Massimo, who looks frightened every time he gets near Joško, cutting inside before they encounter. Gvardiol read it well, pinched, and fouled him far from the box. Great play.
37’: Poor Massimo, kid looks so scared. Gvardiol beats him to the race in Stuttgart’s corner and attempts a cheeky back-heel pass, but causes a turnover. Gvardiol then paces back quickly, forcing Massimo to give it up and it turns into a Leipzig counter-attack. Excellent pressing by the young Croatian international.
42’: Gvardiol is very comfortable with the ball at his feet. Makes a great run down the middle of the pitch, lays the ball off for a one-two, then drops it off to his teammate who makes a run at goal.
43’: A poor Gvardiol cross is headed away by Stuttgart. Sosa has been quiet lately.
44’: Szoboszlai dribbles by Sosa, creating a decent counter-attack opportunity for Die Rotten Bullen. Sosa needs to up his game in the second half.
Half-Time
Borna Sosa:
- 30 touches
- 58.8% pass accuracy
- 1 key pass
- 1/4 successful crosses
- 0/2 successful long balls
- 1 shot off target
- 1/1 successful dribbles
- 2/2 ground duels won
- 1/2 aerial duels won
- 2 clearances
- 1 interception
- 11 times possession lost
- Dribbled by once
Borna Sosa has had a relatively quiet game. He’s made a few decent crosses, is a bit shaky on defense at times, and doesn’t look completely dialed in.
Half-time rating: 6/10 – Okay performance
Joško Gvardiol:
- 46 touches
- 92.9% pass accuracy
- 1 key pass
- 1/2 successful crosses
- 1/1 successful long balls
- 1 shot off target
- 1/2 successful dribbles
- 5/9 ground duels won, although he recovered all 4 that he lost
- 2 clearances
- 1 interception
- 2 tackles
- 6 times possession lost
- 3 fouls
- Fouled once
Joško Gvardiol has had a very very good start to his Bundesliga debut. Offensively, he’s been dangerous; nice dribbling, decent crossing, showing quickness down the left flank and smart, progressive plays. Defensively, he’s been very solid and is displaying great tackling. Gvardiol has been bullying the poor Ghanain right-winger all match long. Excellent composure and passing rounds off Gvardiol’s great performances today.
Half-time rating: 8/10 – Alongside Szoboszlai and Forsberg, Gvardiol is definitely Leipzig’s top performer.
Second Half:
46’: Gvardiol is progressing the ball exceptionally well, leading to Forsberg’s goal in the first 20 seconds. Lazy defending by Sosa leaves Forsberg extra time to place his shot. Although it was not his man to run back and cover, Sosa could have stuck a foot out and attempted to block the opportunity.
48’: Gvardiol is once again demonstrating great pace, running back to tackle Förster.
52’: Nothing to do with Sosa or Gvardiol, but WHAT a striker from Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai… beautiful!
58’: Bad read and poor giveaway from Gvardiol, although he recovers well and steals the ball back. The few times in which Gvardiol has given up the ball, he has made a great effort to backtrack and get it back… excellent defending.
63’: Gvardiol slides to block an attempted through pass.
67’: Leipzig are excellently shutting down Sosa’s flank, he can hardly have the ball at his feet for two seconds before a defender or midfielder swarms him. Borna’s dangerous sauce bombs are being contained today. Although Gvardiol has been performing better, so has his team, as Sosa’s Stuttgart is very poor.
70’: Sosa is passing very well, trying desperately to create something from nothing. Leipzig is continuing to shut him down.
71’: Another good tackle by Gvardiol on Massimo, creating a counter-attack chance that leads to a Leipzig free-kick. Massimo looks fed up.
72’: Gvardiol leaps well off the corner but heads it over the bar.
83’: Another missed cross from Sosa. He’s delivering them well, but there’s no dominant presence in the box for Stuttgart.
Full-Time
Post-match analysis
Borna Sosa:
- 56 touches
- 24 accurate passes (66/7%)
- 1 key pass
- 1/5 accurate crosses
- 0/2 accurate long balls
- 1 shot off target
- 3/3 dribbles completed
- 5/5 ground duels won
- 1/2 aerial duels won
- 17 times possession lost
- Was fouled once
- 2 clearances
- 1 interception
- 1 tackle
- Dribbled by once
- 90 minutes played
- 7.0 SofaScore rating
Borna Sosa was shut down today. His crosses hardly ever found anyone, and his flank was always well covered. He did his best with the ball at his feet but couldn’t muster anything up. Okay defensive performance, could’ve been better.
Match rating: 6.5/10 – Picked it up a bit in the second half, but regardless, a poor performance by his standards.
Joško Gvardiol:
- 81 touches
- 42 accurate passes (85.7%)
- 2 key passes
- 1/2 accurate crosses
- 2/2 accurate long balls
- 2 shots off target
- 2/3 dribbles completed
- 7/11 ground duels won
- 1/2 aerial duels won
- 12 times possession lost
- Was fouled twice
- 3 fouls
- 2 clearances
- 2 interceptions
- 3 tackles
- 1 blocked shot
- 90 minutes played
- 7.7 SofaScore rating
Joško Gvardiol did exactly what was expected of him in his debut. He was excellent going forward, lots of smart dribbles, one-two’s and passes under pressure. Very composed performance, he looked like a veteran. He was also defensively sound, not even allowing a single player to get past him. He played a little rough, conceding 3 fouls, but they were all at smart moments and none became dangerous scoring opportunities. He was very physically dominant and bullied Stuttgart’s right winger all game long.
Match Round-Up
Gvardiol wins this matchup as he outperformed Sosa in almost every aspect of the match. I still believe Croatia should shift into a 3 at back formation, allowing Sosa to perform as the LWB with a tall Budimir in the box, and Gvardiol can play as a modern LCB, supporting Sosa’s side defensively. We already know he progresses the ball well. However, if Dalić were to start only one of these as a left back, Gvardiol’s performance was definitely more convincing. I think he is a much better left back than Sosa is in a 4 defender formation. He is more defensively reliable.
I’m a huge Vida fan so what do I know..
…”Someone like a Simunic or Corluka never had that athleticism but they were incredibly smart and made up for it with their brains”…
LOL, what?
Simunic made tons of gaffes in his career playing for us. You’re being biased because he is a diaspora Croat (like all of us) and he was a legend with the Sulejmani tackle, lol.
Simunic was far from reliable and had many many defensive lapses. It’s the reason why Ivan Krizanac tore into him after we failed to qualify for WC2010.
The only ‘safe’ and completely reliable CBs we’ve had were Robert Kovac and Corluka. Schifo was also good, but he was very slow.
Vida was also used to be one, but in recent years, he’s been making a lot of gaffes.
Simunic? Decent overall defender, but made plenty of errors all the time.
Gvardiol is easily a bigger talent and will do much much more than him both on the offensive AND defensive side of the ball.
Simunic didn’t have the talent that Gvardiol has but made the most of what he had.
Robert Kovac is a better example..
Robert Kovac was easily our best overall defender because of his reliability, and he wasn’t as slow as Corluka.
Tudor, talentwise, was our best…but he had a bad “kiks” factor that ruins it. Also, he had a short career too.
Gvardiol has at least Tudor level talent, but without the “kiks”.
His errors were largely from a lack of discipline, on account of being 18 and thrown into the fire by his coach.
I would rather a mistake like “drinking water on the sideline when the ref looked like he was allowing it”…than a Lovren-caliber mistake where he is a walking foul in his own team’s box (despite being a veteran player that should know better).
Until Gvardiol makes regular mistakes that lead to handballs, red cards and penalties…we gotta give him the benefit of the doubt.
Agreed
Bilic was our best CB and it’s not even close Wikipedia
Gvardiol gets a bit of a pass in that Spain game because it’s Spain and he’s young. But drinking water on the sideline and getting burnt cuz you’re out of position is inexcusable. I haven’t seen that in a soccer game since high school. The Scotland game I found more troubling. Watch it again. He was super sloppy. Athletically, all the tools.
Going forward, dribbling, looks great. But if he ends up being our CB for the next decade he needs to simplify shit and be way more consistent or he’s gonna be just another Lovren.
I get the criticism, but you’ve seen him for such a small sample size in the most pressured games of his career. He’s still a teenager, I think comparing a handful of mistakes in a few games to a Lovren-like career is a bit harsh 😂.
A Lovren like career is no joke. I’d just prefer some steady reliability over a CB that can dribble. Someone like a Simunic or Corluka never had that athleticism but they were incredibly smart and made up for it with their brains.
Steady reliability isn’t always great. If you have your entire defensive line as “steady and reliable” defenders, then who will progress the ball to the midfield? We’ll have to have Modric and Brozovic run back, pick up the ball, and bring it all the way up. Gvardiol is excellent with the ball at his feet and he can do this alone. Paired with Caleta-Car, who’s also a solid distributor, but probably more reliable at the back is a good option. If Gvardiol makes a mistake, Caleta is there to recover it. With that being said, you’re a bit harsh on the kid for one or two performances. Watch him throughout the season play in the third best league in the world and you will see how good he is.
If he’s a LB I don’t mind the swashbuckling. If he’s a CB he needs to be steadier. We would all love nothing more than If he were the next Maldini or Ramos or Ferdinand but even if he dominates the Bundesliga like say his predecessor there at Leipzig Upamencano I’ll still be holding my breath til he does it for us.
I’m sorry but it’s not going to excite me to see him dominate the Arminia Bielefelds or Augsburgs of football. Do it in the checkers. I’d be more impressed if he didn’t need a drink in the middle of the game! 😉
Modrić was sloppy too, and lost half a dozen balls in front of our own goal against Scotland.
Veterans and coaches will help instill discipline in Gvardiol.
Gvardiol had his first full cap DURING the tournament (which is inexcusable by Dalić) and he likely only met his teammates for the first time in his life just a couple of weeks earlier.
Look at the difference now with having a full preseason with his Red Bull coach and teammates. I’m sure he showed some sloppiness and discipline in practice, but that’s where they addressed things.
Pog BANG ON I re-watched both of those games and gvardiol really astounded me at his lack of defensive awareness and positioning.
I don’t know if you can blame youth I hope he learned from the Euro’s he’s obviously a talent.
Thank you! He’s got an incredible upside but he’s super raw.
Tudor went to Juve and nothing became of him. Gvardiol has that athleticism that will help him recover some of his mistakes but at the highest level (ko games against the elite) he isn’t ready.
Juranović scored a goal in Europa league qualifiers. With so many goal-attacking defenders, a 3 in the back makes a lot of sense. Someone, whether DCC or Gvardiol or Juranović, is going to be caught up field at the wrong timeon occasion. 3 in the back provides more safety against counterattacks. Also more strategic flexibility since you can switch out the 3rd CB for a forward and use the versatility of players like Gvardiol, Stanisić, and Uremović in different situations. Basically, what Croatia really needs is a coach who has ideas. I’d do it, but I’m just a commenter on an internet forum 😀
Well, if Pletikosa can become a HNS Director and Corluka and Olic (after he was quickly fired from his first coaching job) can become assistants…I don’t see why you can’t become head coach.
Where do I apply? 😀
Yea i gotta say i enjoy the analysis and extra content
I actually think the content might be coming too fast. I wouldve liked to let those Croatia best future talent at each position marinate and be discussed a little more before the next one came out
@maminjo
I’m surprised you would suggest a back 5 or really that anyone would. Our weakest talent, and least experience is at the back… why sub one of our better forward players for a weaker defender
@ everyone
Your true Croatian spirit is highly in question. I’ve never seen a group of alleged big hrvati so quickly forget that someone just quit the nt to go play for Germany as a business decision and immediately welcome this guy back and want him to start
I said we should “try” it.
Either in a friendly or the last 15 minutes of a game if we’re leading.
Our backline isn’t weak and inexperienced. They’re doing incredibly well in top 5 leagues. Who cares how old they are.
I would easily sub out an ineffective Kovačić to try that out.
Great commentary and breakdown Markus.
Does anyone think Dalić or his staff analyzed this match, let alone knew Sosa/Gvardiol played?
Not a chance
This coverage is a great way to build the existence player like Gvardiol
and it can tell Sosa – we have got | much talent in HNS team _
and even boost some talents – here that potentially deserve a call-up
very unfortunately |: Stupid Dalic _o) won’t listen!
|l I want you to see Halilovic and hope for his comeback |l
_o) he is our GOD of the prophecy .. believe me, LAknat is always right!
Markus “are we not entertained!”
This is what this site should be about.
In-depth analysis around all things nogometaši.
3-5-2 would be a good look for us.
I like they way you are thinking of how best to utilize our la liga striker in the form of Budimir.
Gvardiol game time was the best take away this past summer.
Old scrubs have to go.
Veterans have to be game changing ballers.
Role players can be younger.
We need energy these next three qualifiers.
Yea, this analytical component really sets it apart from other Croatian news portals. Tracking the youth with these high level stats is great too.
The Croatian ones are all the same and focus too much on trying to guess what starting eleven the coach is gonna play. First one that guesses it wins. No other analysis really…and NONE will track the up and comers at anything close to this level.
This site may actually inform some members of the HNS of diaspora talent (or local talent) that they missed.
Based off recent performance and fit…we should try out five at the back with the following…
Sosa – Gvardiol – CaletaCar – Stanisic – Juranovic
Bradaric, Vrsaljko, Pongracic, Uremovic off the bench.
“5/9 ground duels won, although he recovered all 4 that he lost”
This is something that I liked in Gvardiol when we watched him at the Euros.
He’s a very confident dribbler (sometimes a bit too confident) but he’s lucky that he has such good speed and strength that he can just recover from his mistakes so quickly. Our usual defenders are just so complacent and insecure of their technical skills. They just pass it back to each other until Brozovic or Modric come back to bring it up for them. With Gvardiol…so many times he went at the opposing players with confidence and didn’t care if he lost it. He knew he could get it back.
We’ve never had a defender like this before.
Our most talented technical player at the back was probably Igor Tudor, but he didn’t have this speed and he also had an unfortunate ‘kiks’ factor like Lovren does.
That’s precisely why I added that in. 5/9 ground fuels seems like a decent number, but nothing great. Felt like I needed to point out how he tracks back amazingly well. Needs to be careful when he encounters a winger who’s faster than him though.
Geez. This daily analysis put every single Croatian Sports outlet to shame.
Great post
I say play them both in that formation you guys say
At least we know sosa is responsible enough on defense and that side should not only be solid the danger of having gvardiol make an occasional run seems always present
It really doesn’t sound like anyone can cross as well as Sosa can potentially do for the repka
Somewhere mandzo is like where was this kid when I needed him
I just want to give a friendly reminder for about what nearly 10 years we never had anyone with the potential of these dudes
And now we have two!
We need a striker and a keeper
I think budimir will be just fine given more chances
Still not convinced on livakovic
I sure hope he proves me wrong
How much stronger is that left side now for us than the right?
How would three at the back look like on the right side?
It wouldn’t be bad at all.
Stanisic looks intriguing as an RB for Bayern.
Vrsaljko would look good as a RWB in a 5-3-2 if he ever gets back to 100%.
Juranovic would look better as a RWB than an RB, and we have Pongracic who can play RCB in that formation as well.
Caleta-Car as a CB should be standard by now.
Stanisic, Vrsaljko, and Juranovic (along with Pongracic and Uremovic as right sided CBs) gives us a very nice collection of young players (with Vrsaljko as the vet) who can play on that right side both in a 4 or 5 back setup.
Gvardiol, Sosa and Bradaric should be standard on that left side. Also a crazy young group of guys who are already playing regular football in good leagues.
We honestly have no need for guys like Lovren, Vida and Barisic anymore (unless they would accept the role of a depth player off the bench). I’ve been calling for their heads for over a year now, and the guillotine is getting closer and closer.
Lovren is having a bad year and will likely hit the bench at Zenit soon. Vida has diminished and plays in a weaker Turkish league. Barisic in the weaker Scottish league. All of them older guys who are going to get worse every year.
Dalic is too scared of his vets to bench them and deserves to get canned if he refuses to integrate the much more obviously talented youth.
Gvardiol is boss nevermind the slip up against Spain
He was trying to fit in with the loser croatia squad coach in particular back 4 and keeper
On that note I wish grbic all the best at his new club and excels replacing them I can’t leave my six yard box or catch a dangerous cross livakovic
I agree
I think grbic move to France may be the most important for us
We need competition at keeper
We just Can’t give Livaković this job indefinitely
Atletico obviously saw something in him
He has learned im sure
Now hopefully it’s a move like subasic had for Monaco and he puts up some good play in France
He will be challenged by the studs at psg which will be great for him