Luka Vušković scored Hamburg’s 1st Bundesliga goal after promotion Saturday afternoon in a 2-1 victory over Heidenheim. Hamburg’s last goal in the top flight was in 2018. Remember, Vušković is a defender. He’s only 18. And he’s on loan from Tottenham. We CANNOT wait for him to team up with Gvardiol in checkers! The kid is delivering on every stage he has been on thus far in his young career. He was given an impressive 8.7 FOTMOB rating.
Franjo Ivanović scored his 2nd goal of the season for Benfica in a 3-0 victory over AVS Futebol. Ivanović played 72 minutes and received an 8.1 FOTMOB rating.
Luka Modrić got the start for AC Milan Saturday and played 81 minutes in a huge 3-0 victory over Udinese. Modrić had a wonderful ‘trivela’ pass into the box which should have lead to a goal. He was given an 8/10 grade from SempreMilan as “It feels like we will say it every week, but his ability to find space and, above all, find his teammates is so impressive. It sounded like some of the Udinese fans applauded him as he was subbed off as well, which isn’t surprising at all given how important he was today.”
Joško Gvardiol played the full 90 minutes for Man City in what will be considered a disappointing 1-1 draw for them at Arsenal. City were up 1-0 the entire match and then decided to park the bus in the final 20 minutes of the match. The Arsenal equalizer in the 93′ by Martinelli beat Gavardiol to the ball, however, Donnarumma was caught like a deer in headlights coming far too off his line. Manchester Evening News gave Gvardiol a 6/10 grade. “Apart from one slip that let Eze nick the ball when City were attacking, he was very good again – especially in the air. Undone at the last though.”
Ante Budimir converted a penalty in a 2-1 Osasuna loss to Villarreal Saturday.
Dalic called up 6 CB’s and an injured Stanisic.
I think he figures he is so good it does not really matter who he calls up. Why does Moro keep getting called up? How are they related?
lol hopefully Vuskovic grows out his 18yo attitude where he basically breaks his own finger from
frustration. just read about it lol
Marco Pjaca
Can someone do a wellness check on him today to make sure he’s ok?
Poor guy didn’t even make the 12 standby list after 2 G+A so far
Imagine all the players who thought they might be close (eg Valincic) and you wake up and your not top 36 (24 squad + 12 standby)
Especially when guys like Stanisic and Kova are injured and guys on standby like JJ have played 6’ this season due to injury
Wonder if Dalic considered this consequence?
To be fair to Dalić, Pjaca is out of shape and has had to come off the bench because of it, even though he is pretty clearly Twente’s most valuable player. I am definitely a fan of Pjaca and his style of play, but the guy is not in shape right now, and Dalić has made it pretty clear that fitness is part of his criteria for selecting players (he has applied it pretty fairly too, for example by leaving Bruno Petković out when Bruno was not all the way fit, cutting Rebić as Rebić’s fitness declined, not calling Livaja up until Livaja returned to form, cutting Ćaleta-Car when he was obviously a step too slow, etc. We haven’t seen any overweight players in the checkers since Euro 2021 as far as I can remember).
I think this is only partially true.
The focus is moreso on playing first team football. There is also a bias toward players currently on the team (as Dalic doesn’t like to add too many new players at the expense of players already on the team).
Livaja had a beer gut at WC 2022, and Dalic was begging him to play for us before the last Euros (with Livaja turning him down). Dalic has also called up Petkovic when he was not 100 percent.
Unfortunately, Dalic gets a bit too comfortable with his existing players (especially veteran players) and he tends to continue to call them up, and even start them despite not being fully fit or performing (like Broz at the last Euros).
Even with this current callup list, he called up Stanisic who is 100 percent injured for this international break. He won’t be able to play, but Dalic wastes a spot to call him up, simply because he doesn’t want to call up anyone new.
I think with Pjaca, it’s moreso about him not having a club and playing first team football just yet. Dalic will call him up once he gets a starting role and continues to play regularly.
@Maminjo
https://croatiansports.com/luka-vuskovic-scores-first-bundesliga-goal-and-named-motm/#comments/520007
Looks like Bradaric is back under Dalic’s consideration, hehe. Agree that Sosa doesn’t bring anything to the table these days, it’s a shame how his career has plummeted.
Regarding backups for RB, I hope Valincic will have a great year with Dinamo and eventually catch Dalic’s attention. I think Juranovic is serviceable, unfortunately he’s injury-prone these days while Smolcic doesn’t play regularly for Como.
The only thing with Bradaric is that he plays as a wingback in 3-5-2 formation for Verona (and not as a LB with 4-man backline like we do on the National Team).
Sosa also played this way the majority of his club career too…and my only concern with Bradaric would be whether or not his defending will be up to par (as Sosa’s definitely wasn’t).
Two days ago
Kompany: Stanisic out till at least after the international break
Today
Dalic calls up Stanisic
That’s further proof Dalic doesn’t watch the players and isn’t keeping up on injuries – just guessing !
Kompany/Bayern will call Dalic and tell him to F off you’re not getting Stanisic he needs to stay in Germany until he recovers
This will come out in next day or two probably
Then we’ll see the Bradaric call-up
Dalic is living the #NONEWFRIENDS life.
He doesn’t like calling up new players, unless he intends to call them up for the rest of their lives.
Not sure why he would waste the spot on calling up an injured Stanisic.
I guess he just wants to have Stanisic with this closely-knit team for social reasons?
It makes more sense to just call up Smolcic and Bradaric just to have that insurance (in case Gvardiol or Jakic need to come off).
Not that Smolcic or Bradaric are world beaters…but at we at least need a backup for every position just in case.
Re: the callup list…
Glad to see Borna Sosa off the team. But it’s also a big risk that we didn’t call up any replacement LBs or RBs. We probably should have just tried to call up Valincic to give him a 20 min run at RB.
We’re going with Gvardiol at LB and Jakic at RB for both these games (better than going with Sosa), but we don’t have a backup for either Gvardiol or Jakic in case of cards or injury.
The Vuskovic callup is great. I expect him to get some decent backup minutes behind Sutalo and Duje.
I don’t like the Pongracic callup. He’s bad luck when he plays for us, plus I don’t see the point in having him since we already have Vuskovic and Erlic on the bench. It’s a wasted spot.
We probably should have used that Pongracic spot, to give to another LB/RB like Smolcic, Bradaric or Valincic.
Also, I think we need to start looking at having a backup target man to Budimir. Petkovic has been ‘okay’ in the Turkish league this year, but we need to keep a close eye on the Beljo and Kulenovic thing. I think one of them could emerge as a good backup to Budimir…since Dalic doesn’t like giving Budimir the full 90 minutes, and keeps playing Ivanovic as his backup (whereas Ivanovic should be starting).
My guess is that we’re going with a familiar and safe lineup below:
……………Budimir
Perisic..Kramaric..Pasalic
………Modric..Sucic
Gvardiol..Duje..Sutalo..Jakic
I really think we should bench Mario Pasalic from that RW position and give it to Franjo Ivanovic.
An Ivanovic/Budimir tandem would work better and would be more potent offensively.
I wish we had Stanisic in the lineup so that we could pair Gvardiol with Vuskovic as CBs…but I still expect to see Vuskovic get some solid minutes off the bench.
I completely forgot that we still have Matanovic. So, yes, I would look at one of Matanovic, Beljo or Kulenovic getting a call to play backup to Budimir.
There are 24 names on the list. Maminjo, do you happen to know the maximum number of players that can be called up? Stanisic will definitely have to be replaced, most likely with 1 of the standby fullbacks. I’m wondering whether Dalic can call up 1 more player, perhaps another fullback..?
You can call up 100 players if you want to as there is not a limit. Only limit is number of players who can dress on day of game.
https://www.croatiaweek.com/croatia-squad-for-october-qualifiers-named-no-place-for-luka-sucic/
Squad list for October is at the bottom of the link.
Dalic has just announced the squad for the October qualifiers, and it includes surprisingly Stanisic and Kovacic. Luka Vuskovic is also on the list however he won’t be starting against Chechia on the 10th October, more likely he may get a chance against Gibraltar 3 days later or be sent to U21 for the clash against Ukraine on the 14th of October?
Standby list has almost dozen players on it Lol.
Not sure why he could not have waited another week or so before announcing the squad.
ANONYMOUS IS THE GOAT OF ALL GOATS !!!!!
Dalic announced his squad – quick thoughts:
x.com/HNS_CFF/status/1970065626602537038
– VUSKOVIC called up (as Anonymous (and @Maminjo) have demanded – not the U21s like many morons on this site have suggested – they should stop watching football and posting as no clue what your watching – your eye tests are terrible!)
– However, why is Smolcic (and JJ (injured)) dropped to standby, instead of one of DCC, Pong or Erlic ? That’s dumb.
– PANDUR on standby (as Anonymous has called for and predicted over the last 12 months – 12 months – please check the tape – Anonymous is only one and the GOAT – Anonymous can even eye test keepers!)
– BRADARIC on standby (as Anonymous has called for and predicted (before anyone else) Anonymous eye tests are the best!)
– Stanisic called up (lol – Kompany/Bayern going to be pissed off – Dalic getting a call his morning saying WTF)
– Kova called up (guess Man City want Kova to regain fitness on international duty)
– Sosa on standby (lol – why? Completely undeserved. Terrible last time. Not playing for Palace)
– Baturina should have been dropped to standby list (zero playing time)
– Luka Sucic on standby (lol – why? He’s barely playing (24′ off the bench). But if Dalic keeps calling up Baturina (who is playing zero) I guess he has to standby the wedding boy)
– Matanovic and Musa on standby (makes sense)
P.S. Yes – twelve on the standby list – is a record !!! LMAO
P.P.S. 36 players – and none from Dinamo – wow
That goal wasn’t Gvardiol’s fault. He was playing the offside trap, but Ake was 1 meter back, putting Martinelli onside. Gvardiol did well to catch up and block Martinelli from shooting towards his left. Donnaruma closed down his angle too. All that was left for Martinelli to do was lob and he did so brilliantly.
Ivanovic goal Benfica. 3 nothing win.
O DINAMOOOOOOO, MI VOLIMOOOOOOOOO!!!
Bravo Luka!
Anonymous gonna need some ciste gace.
Vuskovic a goal and named man of the match. Very impressive display!
Vuskovic starting 09:30 EDT ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Did you realize 50% of HSV’s defence was out last game ? Doubt it
LCB (Elfadli) and RB (Gocholeishvili) are starters and are back
Anonymous can barely type, so excited until the match starts
Vuskovic is playing like a bust. He’s too tall
All hype;)
Relax I joke. I hope he will be a stud and a half for us
Him gvardi and stanisic and whoever else we can have on that back line will be very dynamic and powerful