Luka Modrić had a solid day at the office Saturday night in 3-0 Real Madrid victory over Girona. The win puts Los Blancos two points behind leaders Barcelona with a game in hand. Modrić supplied Bellingham with a “hockey assist” pass in the 2nd half as the English international sent a perfect through-ball to Arda Guler to make it 2-0. Moments later, Modrić would use his patented “trivela pass” to put Mbappe on a break-away to make it 3-0 Madrid. Goal.com had this to say about the Modrić performance: “Had some shaky moments early on, but rather turned it on in the second half. He was involved in the second goal and assisted the third with a lovely through ball.”
Ante Budimir remains on a 2024 tear as he scored his 10th La Liga goal of the season Sunday in a 2-2 Osasuna draw vs. Alaves. Budimir has now scored in eight of the last 11 La Liga matches he has played and only Barcelona’s Lewandowski and Raphinha have scored more goals in Spain than him. Even more impressive, Budimir scored three goals in three separate matches this week for Osauna. One against Sevilla on Monday. Another vs. AD Ceuta midweek in Copa del Rey action. And then #10 vs. Alaves Sunday. The man is on an absolute tear! What will 2025 have in store for him in Croatian checkers?
Joško Gvardiol got the rare start at center-back for Manchester City Saturday in another disappointing 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace. Gvardiol was not at fault for either Palace goal. Yahoo Sports gave Gvardiol a 7.5/10 match rating as he “Looked much better playing at centre-back. A polished performance from the Croatian. Kovačić is still out with an injury for the rest of December.
Budimir is at the peak of his powers.
Start him in March against France.
He provides a presence up top.
Hopefully we our RB’s back to whip in some crosses.
Osasuna feeds him all match.
World-class goal by Jarrod Bowen to win the game for West Ham today
Emotional game for them given what’s happened to Antonio
***.youtube.com/watch?v=PnHkoA_6v6I
There’s the jadranski derbi this weekend in Poljud. My Rijecki bijeli will rightly clobber these majmune from Split and continue to make the HNL great again.
Hajduk will win that one I think (after that crappy loss to Gorica)
True that. Last season, and this season thus far, have been great. How Rijeka lost last season at home to Dinamo after being up by a goal was very dramatic stuff. League becoming compelling viewing when the top 4 are involved against each other.
Rijeka might be selling high.
Lindon Selahi, Niko Galešić and Toni Fruk are rumored to be transferring to Dinamo this winter.
Ante Budimir should have been our clear cut starting striker for the last several years and Dalic is probably still undecided about him. Really makes me wonder what is going on behind the scenes.
Yep, people in here still think he’s not the guy as well. Too slow, all these excuses, yet he consistently scores in La Liga. We believe in a slow local striker instead. Not sure what the poor guy has to do to get a fair shot with the senior team. 20 minutes isnt a shot.
Dalic is a pretty simple and predictable guy.
#1. He has loyalty to his Russia 2018 squad (they are his “senators”)
#2. He doesn’t like to be criticized by the fans and media (and generally will do the opposite of what they say when he is pressured to do the obvious)
#3. He is diplomatic and likes to unite Croatia (by playing to the home crowd with local players)
Unfortunately, Dalic is not running a meritocracy.
He’s allowing seniority, relationships, and equity (based on geography) influence his decision as well.
Re: #1 above…
In the case of Budimir, he was never a part of the Russia 2018 squad. Despite being a veteran player and one of the top La Liga scorers, Ante Budimir is not considered a “senator”.
Senators must always find their way into the starting lineup at almost all cost. Even when they are at the end of their careers (like Perisic) they still need to be given game time and accommodated.
For example, Playing Kramaric as the sole striker up top (which has never ever worked for us) is still considered a higher priority than starting and giving Ante Budimir 90 full minutes in that role (something we have yet to really see).
Even though Krama is better suited behind the striker…if we are going with another midfielder in that position, then it’s gotta be Budimir that hits the bench just so that Krama maintains a starting role (even if it’s a position he does not thrive in).
Re: #2 above…
We’re still seeing Dalic mess around with the winger positions and refusing to simply just try out some classic wingers with Budimir up top. This is largely because the media and fans have been calling him out on this non-stop since the Euros. He’s dug his heels on this, and won’t try it now. It would be too embarrassing if he started some wingers with Budimir and then we get a ton of width and Budimir goes on some scoring streak (with Perisic and Krama on the bench). It’s better to simply stick to your guns…and if we lose to France in the quarters, then claim that France is just a better team than us and that we should be happy to make the quarters because we are a small country, and mediocrity should be accepted, blah blah blah.
Re: #3 above…
Getting Mario Pasalic, Ivan Perisic, and Nikola Vlasic game time during the Nations League quarterfinals in Split against France will also be a priority. IMO, none of them should be playing significant minutes.
He’ll also probably jerk around with the standby list and include some Hajduk guys like Prpic, Uremovic, Hrgovic (but not actually play them).
Here’s another one from the referring committee
https://x.com/CroatiaFooty/status/1866160283275743331
Slaven could have been given a penalty vs. Dinamo
But because it’s Dinamo – the refs look the other way and try to protect / help Dinamo
Now add up ALL of these PREFERENTIAL CALLS in favour of Dinamo and Hajduk
It’s happening ever game – multiple times – all the calls are in favour of them
The game is often won / lost by small margins
If every call goes in favour of Dinamo and Hajduk – that means they desperately need the help – imagine of the preferential treatment went away ?
Dinamo and Hajduk would probably end up mid-table HNL teams
BTW: is Baturina planning on showing up vs Celtic tomorrow ? Remind Anonymous again – NINE GAMES – Dinamo haven’t won without Petar Sucic – NINE GAMES with PREFERENTIAL REF TREATMENT – where Baturina has been anonymous
As Anonymous previewed Dinamo and Hajduk “superior” performance to the lower table teams comes down to preferential referring
Referee commission has come out to say penalty should have been called for this Sigur push in the penalty area
x.com/TheCroatianLad/status/1866156336662127079
Gorica would have been up 2-0 after this (but refs can’t let the game get too far out of Hajduk’s hands)
What Anonymous is saying is despite the preferential treatment STILL occurring – it’s occurring significantly LESS than previous years
LESS preferential treatment this year = less wins by Dinamo and Hajduk
Imagine if you could pro-forma for ALL the preferential treatment they have received over the last 10-20 years – that would likely be your explanation
It’s of course sad that even with the refs still favouring them (just less than previous years – given Toni Dadic and the like) – they still can’t win games and pull away from the rest of the teams
Leganes 0-3 Real Sociedad: Luka Sucic played the entire game.
His stats and performance ratings were rather weak on both Sofascore and Fotmob, so I went to watch the highlights. He had a big chance to score in the 36th min off a fast break: Sucic sprinted forward (he’s got pretty big strides btw) and arrived unmarked in the center of the penalty area and managed to connect well with Oyarzabal’s cross near the 6 yard box, but his shot was point-blank saved by the keeper, or rather the keeper’s thigh.
But I was glad to see he had a hand in two out of the three goals. For Real Sociedad’s first goal in the 14th min, Sergio Gomez put in a low cross from the left and Sucic made a smart, split-second decision to allow the ball to go through his legs for Brais Mendez to score from a great position. For their third goal in the 92nd min, he and Barrenetxea were involved in the build-up play on the left hand side of the pitch. Sucic entered the box and cut the ball back to Barrenetxea who quickly laid it off for Oyarzabal to fire home. In short, a hockey assist there for our guy.
Keep it up Sucic, and Budimir too! (see TGAD’s comment below)
Worth mentioning is that Budimir nearly won the match for Osasuna on several occasions in the final 20 minutes. Alaves’s keeper stood on his head to preserve the draw, but Budimir was there keeping the pressure on the whole match, including two long stoppage times. Unfortunately, his midfield teammates lost the ball too much in the final minutes. He’s really one of the best #9’s right now.
Go spurs!!!!!!!!!
OMG OMG OMG !!!!!!!!!!!
BOTH MICKY VDV AND ROMERO SHOCK RETURN TO STARTING XI vs. CHELSEA
CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY THIS YEAR !!!!!!!!!!
***.youtube.com/watch?v=3paNWQx8bSw
Thanks to you and your insufferable posts right here on the tottenhamsports.com website, I bet against them today and on Thursday. Winner, winner. Hvala brate !!
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I’m so happy that the spurs blew it today
@Mart and @Maminjo
You’re both right
Vuskovic had a medical and signed a PRE-contract with Spurs in Sep 2023
Since Brexit – UK clubs can’t sign EU under-18 players (pre Brexit they could)
That’s why it’s a PRE-contract – so he’s technically not a Spurs player until 18 (the weird thing is he is 18 in February – but Spurs initial announcement said he would join when he’s 18 in August 2025, lol)
So technically he’s on loan in Belgium from Hajduk (see above) – but in practice yes it’s Spurs managing it all – announcement from Westerlo (see below)
https://kvcwesterlo.be/2024/11/07/constructive-talks-tottenham/
Now
He can’t get a UK work permit until 18 (February 2025) AND has enough “points” through professional experience
Poland loan last year – X “points” earned
Belgium loan this yr – Y “points” earned [Belgium > Poland league points scale i.e. you get more points playing in Belgium than Poland]
Caps for Croatia would give “points” – unclear if same holds for U21 caps – Anonymous has sought the answer on this specifically awhile ago but – and couldn’t get a definitive answer (Anonymous even went through the rules – and based on the text – it’s unclear)
So Anonymous whole could Hajduk call him back (so he can participate in the title challenge / win) is open-ended as is it predicated on him already earning enough points via Belgium loan, Croatia U21 caps and Poland loans
Furthermore, unclear if the points are earned based on milestone e.g. for every 5 caps = X points or if once you get X caps w/in the year (e.g. similar to residency / non-residency rules for tax purposes) that triggers the full points – in either of those scenarios – it could be possible Vuskovic doesn’t have to stay until the end of the Westerlo season in Belgium to get the “points” needed for a UK work permit – so could join Hajduk with the “extra” time before he joins Spurs in August 2025 – that is if Spurs don’t ask for him to join them sooner than August 2025
Interesting.
Would be great to see Vuskovic in the backline for Hajduk during any title run…but at the same time, I would prefer he just continue to develop in Belgium and become a NT player for us (and we use the spot at Hajduk to further develop Dominik Prpic by giving him more minutes).
It’s all about the National Team for me.
Managing Madrid:
Luka Modric—8.5: The Croatian put in his best performance of the season. Took full control of the match in the second half. Finished the game with 1 assist, 2 big chances created, 4 key passes, 8/10 long balls, and over 120 touches. It was Modric who always took the risk to play the vertical ball and attempt to break lines.
HNS posted re: Alen Halilovic
Two World Class VISION assists y’day
Absolutely beautiful
***.youtube.com/watch?v=jGTlmEC3QMo
First one a la Bruno Fernandez vs. Croatia thru/over the entire defense (who know the pass that “got past” Pong – which led to Dalic pulling him at HT and ending his NT career)
Second one – we haven’t see a switch of play from right-side to left – from a left-footer since Niko Kranjcar made a similar beautiful pass vs. Germany at Euro 2008 – that kind of pass OPENS UP the entire field – by drawing / spreading the opposition to the other side
These are the kind of passes that if Luka Sucic made just one of them – we’d be hearing about it every other week on here non-stop
n.b. he’s 28 and on 5k p.w. (down from 60k p.w. a few years ago)
Imagine showing up for work @ >90% decline in ur “peak” earnings and still being motivated to keep pushing – a 34 y.o. Perisic was still pulling >200k p.w. at Spurs
Most people would fold – but he’s gritting and grinding it out
Love his body language v-a-v his teammates celebrating the goal
He’s getting more minutes at his club that a long list of Dalic favourites/call-ups including Vlasic, Ivanusec, Moro, Sosa, Perisic, Orsic and even Mario Pasalic (benched a couple times past month)
IMO his story is NOT complete until he gets called back up to the NT
Call him up put him on the right-side and let’s see what he can do
P.S. nice to see ex-Gorica’s Josip Mitrovic get his first 90 min this season (his minutes have been increasing recently)
Good to see.
But he really needs to get himself on a better club.
Hopefully he does, and he gets a career resurgence. Would be a pretty cool story of him going from huge prospect to mega bust, then back on the National Team again.
His Bosnian side messed up his career path. Poor decision making from his dad’s Bosanska glava and Alen feeling too much Bosnian pride over his Croatian pride (which is never a good recipe if you want to be a winner).
That’s my theory, ha ha.
Master class by Modrić today.
He is still 80% his peak at 39!!
His longevity is legend. No cliff in site.
Real Madrid need him more than Croatia!
Mind blowing.
It was a good game for Modrić, as expected. The better news for Real fans, is that he seems to have found a good connection with Bellinghan, and Mbappe. If Mbappe can start anticipating Modrić’s passes, and finishing confidently, then the goals will come.
Rakitic is Croatia’s best penalty taker and Hajduk has that weapon now yet somehow Livaja thinks he should take them. Aweful attempt!!
I was surprised to see Raketa just standing there while Livaja went to take it instead
As expected, Hajduk can’t even hold their position for a few days as they lose 1-0 to Gorica.
Such a frustrating club to support. They prove season after season that they have the quality to beat teams like Dinamo, but lack the focus/winning mentality to go the extra mile and consistently get results against teams like Gorica and Sibenik.
I’ve said last week I was cautiously optimistic about Hajduk’s title chances, but points have now been dropped against Gorica, Istra, Osijek, and Varazdin in the last 5 games. Embarrassing when you consider the resources available to Hajduk compared to those clubs.
Livaja missed a penalty in 95 minute, but in reality, they could have played another 2 days, and they would not have scored ?
How much of the “more even playing field” b/w dinamo and hajduk vs the rest
Can be attested to “greater scrutiny” of referees this year (including most recent “scandal”) vs other years (if any)
Eg hajduk penalty 95 min smells like refs looking to help hajduk salvage a point – maybe in previous years the refs were even MORE in favour of Dinamo and Hajduk ?
Putting it out there – don’t have a view – but there must be some explanation beyond dinamo and hajduk just playing poorly and the others all of a sudden playing much better
Come on, I’m no Hajduk fan, but that was a clear pen. He jumped up with both arms extended, and made contact with his arm. The fact that they needed VAR was the only shady thing about it.
Was the 5 extra minutes justified ?
Haven’t seen what led to the penalty (that’s not the point)
How many non-penalties have been awarded as penalties to Dinamo and Hajduk over the years
How many non-red cards have been awarded as red cards against opposition of Dinamo and Hajduk over the years ?
How many Hajduk games has Toni Dadic overseen over the years ??
etc etc etc
It can’t be that bottom end HNL teams – with no funds – relatively poor players/academy – crappy pitches – all of a sudden found a way to play this year vs. Dinamo and Hajduk
There must be a better explanation / something more to it…
To be fair, the pitch was bad. Durdov tried to crack a ball onto goal, but the ball didn’t bounce up when it came to him, and he struck out on it completely.
Even the PK shot looked like it bounced very slow off the muddy pitch (giving the keeper a better chance to save it). Livaja probably should have tried to crack it higher, but with a wet ball who knows what would have happened.
Saw the Livaja penalty replay
Yeah – the pitch was terrible – looked like he was taking a penalty in a pool during a water-polo match
That could be an explanation – if all the lower-end teams and ensuring their pitches are as bad as possible – that would indeed “neutralize” the relative difference in skill levels
Sibenik vs Rijeka today is the same thing. Soaking wet pitch.
Croatia gets very rainy during these late year months. Ideally, they would be building these new stadiums with a roof that could cover the pitch (or at least have proper drainage).
This scares me for our National Team, as we play critical qualifying matches during these months (like that very rainy game in Split where we narrowly won over Russia).
Our game is technical creativity. It’s our strength. Allowing for our pitches to be in such terrible conditions, actually plays to the strengths of other teams.
Dinamo still has better players, more experienced veterans, and more depth than Hajduk. Even Bjelica is a far more successful coach than Gattuso.
Hajduk took steps forward these past two years due to the improved form of Livaja, the addition of more Croatian vets (like Rakitic and Uremovic), and some youth players making good steps forward (Prpic, Durdov, Pukstas, Sigur).
Prior to this, Hajduk were just spinning their wheels aimlessly, signing all kinds of random B-caliber foreign bums and selling off their youth for pennies on the dollar (and firing coaches every 6 months).
They seems to be doing much better these past 24 months and are actually a decent team. They likely don’t have the depth to be able to maintain a top position in the standings (especially if Dinamo comes back healthy after the winter break), but even if they don’t win it all…they are on the right track and shouldn’t consider the season a failure.
Gattuso seems to be a good coach for these young guys. Focuses on discipline and fitness (which is always good for a team that will likely always be looking to integrate youth players in the starting lineup).
Hajduk would be wise to continue what they are doing. Shame they had to sell off such a young star prospect in Luka Vuskovic…but hopefully they won’t have to do that so early in future seasons. A guy like Durdov will likely become a star winger for us (and he needs to grow at Hajduk), and they need to keep players like this. I hope they keep Gattuso, as he seems like a good fit and it gives them stability. They should continue to add Croatian veteran depth over the years, especially guys who will be at the the tail end of their careers at their foreign clubs but could still offer service to Hajduk (guys like Kahlina, Ivusic, Budimir, Juranovic, Caleta-Car) and their already young squad.
According to Sofascore, it seems that Gvardiol is playing central defence today.
How did he do?
He was rated as one of the best players on SofaScore.
Mind you, since SofaScore is a Croatian app, I’m always weary of them rating Croatian players.
Wary.
Sorry. That was a snob response.
With “Anonymous” infiltrating this place with his non-stop posts (many of them having nothing to do with Croatian sports), along his/her/their willy-nilly hyphens left, right and centre …. this place is getting tough to read.
Lmao today is the day i learn sofascore is a croatian app
Yup. A couple of purgeri created it.
While we’re on the apps n’ tech subject…
The video game Serious Sam is Croatian. So is the Talos Principle. Starpoint Gemini too.
Lots of Xbox and PS4 games developed by random Croatian companies.
Also, a couple of guys from Istra created Infobip.
Also (kind of dated now) but Croatia also invented the ability to pay for public parking via SMS, and they continue to sell the tech to countries that still use it.
Lots of very talented technically gifted STEAM minds in Croatia.
The uhjeb government needs to create a better environment for talent like this to grow.
What about Rimac ? 😉
Mate Rimac is born in Livno. So, that makes his Bosnian. 😉
10 ET
Crnac starting vs QPR [23 of 24th in table] – next game Tue Portsmouth [24 of 24th in table] – crucial 6 points to make up ground into Play-off territory (6th or higher)
Pandur starting vs Blackburn
Igor bench ☹️ vs Jakic/Labrovic starting
Ashley Philipps CB started again Stoke – playing Sunderland now
On loan from Tottenham in the Championship (he’s actually playing every 90 last month)
Stoke play a back-3 where he’s playing RCB
For 1st Sunderland goal 7 minutes in – why is he (#26) backing up backing up backing up like that – instead of closing down the attacker before he gets shot off (especially as 3 other Stoke players around to back him up) AND then not blocking the shot (just lazily putting a foot out)
Weird
x.com/GoalsXtra/status/1865375319110066600
Watched 1st half
Not impressed by Ashley Philipps
Sunderland clearly targeting his side – every attack down their left towards Philipps side
Not sure he has the “brains” to keep up – looks step too slow in decisions (mean mentally), especially where there is a quick change/turn in play, his angles/closing down attackers are off too (a few shots got right past him as his angle / positioning (b/w attacker and net) off so attacker had room to shoot
Not impressed
Would be SHOCKED if Spurs call him back in January (despite 3 CBs being out right now) as don’t think he could keep up in PL (he’s barely keeping up in Championship)
Maybe for Vuskovic better to go to a League One side next year, Championship year after, Spurs at 20
Championship football isn’t a joke – it’s a very decent level (definitely a step up from Belgium league he’s playing in now)