The English, Spanish, French, and German leagues kickoff this weekend! Here are your headlines:
- Luka Modrić assists as Real Madrid defeat Deportivo Alaves 4-1 Saturday
- Mateo Kovačić assists in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace Saturday
- Andrej Kramarić records 3 assists on Saturday as Hoffenheim beat Augsburg 4-0
- 21 year-old Josip Stanišić got the start for Bayern Munich Friday night and played 82 minutes at right back in a 1-1 draw vs. Borussia Monchengladbach. He said he will switch over from the German U19 team to the Croatia U21 side next month. This is great news!
Sosa should be called up.
It would be a statement of forgiveness and intelligence by HNS that we do not allow our talent to pouched by other nations.
Would we ever be able to play a 3-5-2?
We seem tactically predictable.
Be nice to be able to switch it up for certain match ups.
Sosa would be an ideal LWB.
They may not be some sort of all star assists but he gets the ball in there and nicely
You can’t tell me he can’t cross it in as good as say srna
If we play barisic instead of him someone please shoot dalic
A couple notes…
First sosa is worth a call up for sure but secondly, i didn’t see anything crazy in those assists
Secondly
I find maminjo a really good poster. He seems well informed, smart and rational and i look forward to what he has to say. The kind of guy i could have a beer with
I think markus and niko/u14 have also been making some contributions and i enjoy hearing their insight on the youth that i just can’t keep up with anymore. They have a little bit of too much bright eyed homerism where every 18 year old that puts together 3 dribbles and scores a goal is the next messi but that’s ok…theyll hone their craft over time
L:I)_ you don’t even mention me
– who are really vocal for kicking Dalic!
and put Sosa _ into the starting eleven _o)
LAknat is always right!
you have to remember that
No more God of Halilovic??
Well putting up that many assist consistently is quite a feat, regardless of if they are impressive or not.
On another note, what’s wrong with a team full of Messi’s 😉
The assist on the fourth goal was impressive.
That was a lost ball, on the verge of being out of play, and he one-times it (without hesitation) and places it perfectly into the danger zone.
Sosa got that Pranjic game!
Luka Modric—8.5: Luka Modric may age, but no one can catch up to him in terms of football quality. The Croatian was class once again, the engine of the midfield and the player that made the team tick. 2 key passes, 1 assist, 100 touches (team high), 3 completed dribbles (team high), and two interceptions.
15 more months with the greatest nogometaš of all time.
Mother of God .. figure out the best supporting cast for Modrić.
Sosa plays a a lwb not lb his d isnt strong so hence i believe he will get a call but not in 11. Really wonder what dalic does
True.
But this is why Dalić needs to try different formations that are better suited to the talent we have.
Rather than experimenting with obscure player callups that would never play in a tournament, the idiot should have been trying to get the most out of his best players.
3atb gives us more men at the back to defend as we are weak there, Sosa is amazing as a LWB/LM and Stanisic is great going forward so he can be RWB/RM. Gvardiol is also best utilized in a 3atb as the LCB, DCC in the middle and one of Lovren or Vida as the other one until Pongracic regains form.
Looks like Rebic is on the shit list with Kalinic.
https://sempremilan.com/from-croatia-milan-star-rebic-will-miss-out-on-international-duty-after-criticising-manager/amp
Now for the even harder question
Are we going to continue to cover rebic
Of course. He’ll eventually (probably sooner than later) find himself back in the equation.
I agree with the criticism Kramarić has made of the HNS: players who already compete in the top leagues are there for a reason and should be considered the first-look candidates to play for the repka. It’s cool to play HNL players and second tier leagues in friendlies, Nations League, etc. But the main squad should be all of these guys from the top leagues. Bradaric, Budimir, Sosa, Stanisic, Vrsaljko, Grbic, Pongracic… All of these guys are from top leagues and play in positions where we have struggled…
Defence and goaltending looking way stronger development wise. I’m worried Dalic will extinguish the future and prospects of this team.
Sosa with three assists
Yes I get it he has a big Serb to pass to
But the kid can cross it in that’s half the battle
Somebody will come by soon enough and be able to head it home
Ya I agree about stanisic and not over hyping him but not like he is on the second squad or something
And ya juranovic is going to Celtic
We can have lb from rangers in barisic and fb from Celtic
Or lb from Stuttgart rb from Bayern
On paper it’s an easy decision
The big Serb ain’t even there anymore. Sosa just proved he can do it without a 6’6 striker. 1 goal 4 assists in 2 matches.
How is a defensive player with these stats not getting called
Sure he ducked up but everyone does at that age
Give him some time to prove himself
Sosa’s a stud. On his way to being one of the best fullbacks in Europe. 23 years old, Zagreb born, tearing up the Bundesliga for over a year now and dumb ass Dalic didn’t want to cap him?! Way to go HNS..
https://www.goalstube.online/2021/08/stuttgart-greuther-furth.html?m=m5
He’s a delivery machine.
Exactly @poglavnik! We need Sosa now. Better be in the lineup in September.
The future of our defence looks brighter than ever…Stanisic as a possibly starter and long term at Bayern. Josko with RB, Sosa with Stuttgart, Pongracic with Wolfsburg. These boys are gunna hopefully tear up the German league.
Too bad none of them will be playing for us this year.
Yep..Dalic still going to rotate Lovren, Vida, Vrsaljko and other guys. Such a shame.
I can’t emphasize how much I missed the weekend water cooler. Erlic popped in a beauty header yesterday for Spezia’s opening goal in the Coppa Italia. Kova had an assist in Chelsea’s victory. Karma with three assists. Sosa better play for the national team or I’ll be livid. He put up 3 assists and is a machine. Good day for the Croats. Cheers to a good weekend. Qualifying starts in a few weeks! ZDS
https://www.goalstube.online/2021/08/augsburg-hoffenheim.html?m=m3
Krama’s assists were actually all very nice.
Calm down about Stanisic until we actually see him playing consistently for Bayern. Yes we need a RB right now. But, we need to see more of him before we say he is ready for the main national team. I was watching the match yesterday specifically to watch him play. He was decent, but was partially at fault for the goal as he did not track back to cover Plea. He seemed to just assume Upamecano would cover for him.
Should we try to cap tie him? I guess. But I know there was a change in the rules where you need a few caps to confirm your nationality. I forget the exact details, but I’m not sure if maybe he is already old enough that 1 cap would do it.
That’s kinda harsh on that goal, he was at half field when the ball was turned over, he tracked back another player but didn’t get there in time for that one. He played well, I think he had the best game out of any of the backs yesterday. And no I’m not trying to hype him up but he played well. He did run out of gas though.
That’s why I said he was partially at fault. I wouldn’t say it was mainly his fault, I would say Upamecano should have anticipated that better, but for me, if your team at all looks in danger of a goal you need to be sprinting back. Maybe even then he wouldn’t have gotten back, but then it shows that you at least put in the effort. He looked like he was jogging back as if there was no danger at all. Those things kind of just rub me the wrong way.
He definitely had a pretty decent game, but I want to see more of him before we crown him as our savior for the RB position.
Well our current RB rotation is a perpetually injured player who can’t get a game at Atletico (Vrsaljko) and a Polish League player (Juranovic) who is at fault for his team being knocked out of Europe and is about to be sold for a measly $3 million.
I’ll take the 21 year-old RB who is starting at Bayern, thank you very much.
Under the circumstances, he easily deserves a callup.
There are only 7 competitive matches left until the World Cup.
It would be such a Dalic move to not consider calling him up for now…then deciding to call him up a couple of weeks before the actual tournament, then throw him randomly into the formation (without developing any sort of chemistry with his teammates).
Now is the time to plan for the World Cup (not two weeks beforehand).
Get these guys playing together in practice, phase them into the first team, and develop that chemistry.
Sadly, we’re going to roll with our 2018 World Cup team against Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia in these upcoming matches. May as well try and get Strinic out of retirement.
I 100% agree that we need to figure out the RB position as I have said that for literally years back even before the World Cup when we were complaining about how bad our LB position is. I said that we had a ton of LB talent coming up, but virtually no RB talent and now it shows. I didn’t think it would come this early because none of us thought Vrsaljko would be not playing at all at club level.
Now for Stanisic. Wasn’t he supposed to be a CB when he first came onto the scene in those friendlies in the US a few years ago? The guy looks decent, but as of now, he isn’t actually a starter for Bayern. He’s playing because he had a good pre-season and because Bayern has a few injuries in defense. Also, Bayern is so dominant in the Bundesliga that they are not scared to put a youth player in for a game or two. If he keeps playing regularly and playing well for the next couple weeks then sure I’m on board with calling him up. Juranovic was actually quite decent at the Euros in my opinion. He’s weaker defensively, but has a very nice cross. If we were to go 3 at the back, he would be quite a good player for us.
Everyone here that knows me since I was ‘vuki’ knows that I’m all for getting young guys into the team, but I don’t like the idea of calling players up just because they are young. Borna Sosa, as much as a lot of us are upset that he tried to go play for Germany, deserves a call up the most out of the younger players. He’s been performing nearly every single week. Yes he’s weaker defensively, but you can’t deny he has excellent passing ability.
What I personally wish Croatia would do is just call like 30+ players to training camp and take a look at a ton of fringe/younger players and try different ones out in friendlies, Nations League, or weak opponents like Malta and San Marino. You would obviously only be allowed the 23 players on the roster on game day, but even just seeing what they can do in training would be worth a shot. We just need to find a system that works the best to fit most of our good players in and then fill the rest out with people who best fit the system. I believe Italy did something like this and they went from not qualifying for the tournament to winning it in 2/3 years. If we did that then sure I’d be all for Stanisic being called up in September.
So out of all the fringe players who do we want to see the most? Maybe some guys like Sosa, Stanisic, Ivanusec, Majer, Jakic, Uremovic, Pongracic, Sucic, Bradaric, Biuk, Moro, Basic, Livaja (as bad as he was before, he’s killing it right now for Hajduk), Franjic, Erlic, Vuskovic, Semper, Grbic…I could go on and on with guys who maybe could/should be given a shot or more of a shot.
Again, I’m not against calling Stanisic, I just want to see more than just one game from him. Even like Biuk had quite a few good games in a row, but I don’t see Dalic calling someone that young. He’s gotta make sure that Biscan looks good and gets all the good U21 eligible so that he can make his replacement look good.
If luka retired from everything at the end of the year and says I want to coach the repka, do you just let him?
Under normal circumstances, absolutely not.
You tell Modric to fuck off and gather 10+ years of successful coaching experience elsewhere first.
Andrea Pirlo was a Juventus legend, and he just got fired after one year of coaching Juve. Doesn’t matter how ‘genius’ he was on the field. It doesn’t mean anything re: coaching a team.
However, if it is to replace Dalic…then I dunno. I guess so. Anything is better than Dalic right now.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.bavarianfootballworks.com/platform/amp/2021/8/6/22612656/stanisic-omar-richards-bayern-munich-davies-sule-upamecano-pavard-sarr-hernandez-messi-sabitzer-left
Says he can play all through the defence.
I’m not going to homer hype train but damn this may be really good for us
That a boy Josipe:)
So, here is the question. Do we question his sneakiness to use Germany and bayern to get to play for us? Or it’s all good cause he is choosing the right way
Like this is big, a RB that actually can play for Bayern coming back home
What’s his playing style like?
Yes and someone please figure out how to play kramaric?
Or let’s just start playing Dinamo as the repka to make it easier
Are we really going to continue to cover kramaric are we
Well he’s Croatian and tears up the Bundesliga so yeah. Shame he can’t do shit for the NT.
Sure he can.
But our incompetent coaching staff refuse to do their homework and have likely never watched a single game of his.
They may as well call up Stanisic and put him in net.
I agree with you to an extent. Yes, our manager and coaches and incompetent and tactically inflexible, however we’ve given Krama countless chances and in his regular position too. There’s just something wrong with him.
I would not say he’s had countless chances in his regular position. He’s almost always played as a solo striker which just doesn’t fit him at all. And when he played in the attacking mid role at the Euros we played the donkey version of Ante Rebic up top.
Think back to the World Cup 2018 qualifier and the World Cup itself. Did Kramaric score loads and loads of goals? No. But he definitely played better then than now. You know why? Because he has Mandzukic either next to him or in front of him. A target man striker who can actually hold the ball up and create space with intelligent runs into the box. Remember the game against Ukraine that we needed to win to get to the playoffs? Mandzukic started up top and Kramaric on the right. Then Mandzukic decided to switch with Kramaric and Kramaric scored twice to help us win the game.
To me, Kramaric definitely CAN play better for us. This narrative that he can’t play well for Croatia is wrong in my opinion. Yes he likes to have the team revolve around him, but you can see that he does care about Croatia and wants to do well. Had Unai Simon not made a great save on his shot in extra time, we might have a different narrative on Kramaric right now. Should Kramaric have done better? Maybe, but first time shots are not always easy to place right where you want them.
I genuinely think if we found a system that fit Kramaric he would score loads more for us. Look at the positions he was playing when he scored for us a lot of times:
https://www.transfermarkt.us/andrej-kramaric/nationalmannschaft/spieler/46580
7/14 of his goals came in matches where he was playing on the wing, as a second striker, or in attacking midfield. He can definitely perform, we just need to figure out a way to unlock him. It will be a damn shame if we never see him scoring at a higher rate for Croatia, because it is definitely possible. If Dalic or the next coach finds a way to do it without creating other problems, we will have another deep run in a tournament.
The funny thing is that (despite being played all over the place) there is a legitimate argument to be made that Kramaric actually HAS been delivering.
If you filter out the friendly games and only focus on games that matter (qualifiers and tournaments)…
Krama has scored a total of 10 goals in 43 matches.
That looks like a bad scoring rate, but he’s only ever started in 15 games (and came late off the bench 28 times, and many times very late in the game).
Overall, he’s played 2,047 minutes (a little over 22 games) for us in competitive matches.
Scoring 10 goals in about 22 games, while being played very irregularly (mostly in his non-preferred position) is actually pretty good.
You get inconsistency with Kramaric. He steps up for clubs still but now never for Croatia. Scored the equalizer against Russia, Greece playoff match, two against Ukraine in that do or die game. Then popped a few in the nations league. Ever since then..nothing. He’s a beast for Hoffenheim but then disappears for Croatia now.
Stanisic is coming home. Fuck off Bayern you pouching cunts! ZDS!