Andrej Kramarić scored the game winner for Hoffenheim in a 2-0 victory over Hertha Berlin Friday night. Following a ‘dummy’ from his teammate in the box in the 20′, Krama slotted home an open shot past the keeper through a deflection. This is Krama’s second Bundesliga goal of the season as we enter the international break vs. Malta and Russia in two weeks. It should only build his confidence as Hoffenheim now sit three points behind a Champions League spot 10 games through the season.
Luka Modrić supplied the game-winning assist to Vinicuius on Saturday in Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Elche. He received a 7/10 grade as “Modrić put in a lot of hard work in this match, and he deserved an assist for Vini’s goal after setting up Mariano Diaz in the exact same situation in the first half. The Croatian icon finished the match with three key passes, as he was composed at retaining possession and finding the open man. Modrić did well defensively, too. It wasn’t one of his best performances, but it was another quality display from the center midfielder.”
Ivo Grbić nearly posted a clean sheet against PSG on Friday night as Lille were up 1-0 73 minutes through the match. However, his six saves were not enough as his defense fell apart in the 74th minute to let PSG equalize before Angel di Maria’s game winner in the 88′ fot the Parisians. Nonetheless, PSG would have scored 1-2 more goals if it wasn’t for Grbić’s goalkeeping. Playing full matches in France, Grbić should absolutely be Croatia’s #1 goalkeeper in front of Livaković moving forward.
Mateo Kovačić has been ruled out with a hamstring injury and is expected to miss one month, 90Min reports. This means Kova will not be able to play for Croatia in November’s World Cup qualifiers vs. Malta and Russia.
Ivo Grbić looking like a hockey goalie on that first PSG goal, and looked like Livakovic on that second goal, lol.
I didn’t watch the game or full highlights, so he may have made some good saves.
Hopefully he’s better than Livakovic for us (if he plays).
His defenders were so off on the first goal that you can’t blame him. He was defending the same kind of shot that Di María had tried on him earlier in the game (which he defended successfully), only this time, there was a PSG teammate completely unmarked in front of goal while 3 lille defenders were clumped around Icardi. At least playing on a team like that, he should learn to develop superpowers 😀
We still got LM10
He finally looked like himself against Shakhtar and was just as brilliant in a big win over Shakhtar. The Croatian picked up an assist for Vinicius Junior this weekend against Elche, and he could have had another assist if Mariano Diaz were just a tad more composed in a similar situation. LM10 should have a fantastic month of November on the horizon.
Rating: 7.0
Kovačić will be back in time for Russia.
This BS.
Croatia should send their doctors to evaluate him before team camp.
We need him for Russia.
This is his ZDS moment.
Hajduk sacked their coach.
Is he better than Dalic?
I said we’d get past our next two games and I said it before Kovacic got hurt. I think he’s a big loss for us…he’s been very solid for a long time and we don’t have anyone at his level to replace him.
I do think we are lacking up front on the right side and I don’t really feel we have a good option. That, along with having to find a place with Krama is making our current situation challenging. We’ve had troubles at the right side and with our striker and behind the striker position and it’s still not resolved. Dalic is gonna have another experiment and I don’t think it’s good that he does.
Juranović provides us with what we need offensively on that right side. He should start.
We should have been trying out a 5-3-2 (or 3-5-2) with Sosa and Juranović out wide.
Kramarić is fine. We’re only now starting to see him play up top more regularly, and we’re judging him off a small sample. If VAR wasn’t around, we’d be praising him these past two games.
Ideally we’d have Rebić off the bench if we ever want to revert to our more familiar formation with him on the right side.
I know Krama is fine and can score goals, I just think we are trying to help him catch fire and while doing that we have to play some players where they aren’t at their best.
I don’t want to see Vlasic on the wing, Ivanusec has dropped in form for us, Livaja isn’t effective enough or often enough. This is gonna be a bit of a crap shoot!
Yea, if we had tried the 3-5-2 then we would just have Juranović running the right flank without having to rely on Vlašić or Ivanušec playing there.
They’re both central players anyway.
I’d still try the 3-5-2 against Malta.
I think having Sosa and Juranović on each side (without relying too heavily on them defensively) would be great.
Gvardiol, Duje and a third CB (like Stanišić or Pongračić) in the back would be fine.
Modrić, Brozović and Vlašić (subbing in for an injured Kovačić) would work, and Vlašić would be back in his most comfortable position.
Remaining two spots go to Perišić and Kramarić.
Cilic just won his 20th ATP tournament in Russia, played very well in his last couple of tourneys so that’s a good sign ahead of Aussie Open. Donna Vekic is also playing in a final and up one set atm, so today could be a very good tennis day with two separate Croats winning tourneys if Donna can maintain her play.
Just to update, Donna did indeed win so 2 top-level tourneys won by Croats today!
Ha, look who was there to celebrate with Marin:
https://www.facebook.com/croatiantennis/photos/a.654813601248592/4628547237208522/
Quick!
Someone text Čilić to kick Lovren in the knee!
Haha, a solid whack with the frame of the racket ought to do it 😉
https://www.boxingnews24.com/2021/10/boxing-results-alen-babic-destroys-eric-molina/
Wonder if him and Hrgovic ever fight top ranked guys. Since stipe isn’t fighting anymore, get some of these giants on the map. They beat overweight porkos.
Hrgovic’s camp has been slowly and safely working him up toward that level. So there is a chance that he can get a big money fight like Joshua or maybe even Fury.
Hrgovic is seen as a big prospect and has all the tools, but he’s not really fought anyone significant. Also, there are some slightly better guys out there now too like Tony Yoka who are up-and-comers like Hrgovic…so there’s competition out there that could ruin his chances.
I think Hrgovic’s team has gone almost too safe of a route to try and build him up with hype and fighting much weaker opponents.
There’s probably a better chance that he will have to fight one of these other strong candidates (like Tony Yoka) before ever being given a big purse fight with Joshua or Fury.
Alen Babic, however, is a guy who fights with nothing to lose. He was never considered a good prospect for boxing. He’s small for a heavyweight, doesn’t have a long reach, and isn’t seen as anything special…but his mindset is amazing.
The guy’s a brawler, fights with no fear, and a HUGE fan favorite with a big following. He’s climbed up a lot over the past couple of years, wanting to fight anyone and anything, and his press conferences are legendary.
He bashes Hrgovic because Hrgovic has been more ‘privileged’ in the boxing circuit (being give great physical gifts, plus a management team who is taking very good care of him and lining him up with safe fights), whereas Babic has had to do things the harder way.
I think Babic is making some noise, but I’m not sure if he’d ever get a fight at Joshua or Fury level.
It is more likely that he gets a fight with guys like Yoka or Hrgovic…but neither Yoka or Hrgovic would have anything to gain against Babic. Babic is too big a wild card and might actually hurt these guys with the way he fights (or at least make them look weaker if he gives them a long and painful fight). Who knows, he might even win.
It will be harder for Babic to get that big purse fight because of this.
The guy is literally like Mr T (aka Clubber Lang) in the Rocky 3 movie. An angry, hungry fighter who hates that guys ranked better than him are soft and protected from guys like him, lol.
Hmm, I forgot all about Tudor being coach of Verona and they’re in a decent position in the Serie A table (with a lot of goals too). Just beat Juventus too.
We have Tudor and Juric coaching in Serie A now. Two candidates for our future NT coach. Vladimir Petkovic could be one too if he gets canned from his French League gig.
I want zero part of Tudor as an NT coach. Look at the headcase he was as a player…
Anybody notice that nearly every club team now is playing with a back 3? All of our CBs are now playing in back 3 formations. Lovren is back in the starting lineup and is playing 90 minutes for Zenit. My guess is that we see him on the right, Gvardiol on the left and DCC in the middle against Russia. Perisić as the LWB and Juranović as the RWB. Brozović and Modrić in the middle. Kramar
I’d like to see us try a 3-5-2 as our players our suited for it and it’s become in vogue, but like most things with the savez, there is about a 2-3 year delay before it becomes painfully obvious with media pressure and bad results that we need a change. How long did we stick with 4-4-2 while most other successful teams shifted to 4-2-3-1? Now we’ll wait until after the Dalic gets canned after the next major tournament to try 3-5-2.
Sosa is the key my brother
Luka Modric—7: Played higher up the pitch in Madrid’s build-up, meaning he saw less of the ball in the first half. Gradually grew into the game and grabbed an assist on Vinicius Junior’s second goal.
We dont see rebic until he apologizes.
Simic will probably debut league of nations.
Watched lille psg the comentar was saying the second goal grbic could have done better. He did make a save on icardi one on one but it didnt xount as save because ref didnt see him save it gave a goal.kick.
Well see what mrmic dalic choose as number one for 2 games. I see lovren being in 11 pushong cc or gvardiol out which is sad too me gotta build for future id rather see cc gvardiol as stopers but dalic likes lovren.
What happens happens thats life
Yeah. I’ve seen some great keepers such as Keylor Navas, Iker Casillas, Gianluigi Buffon, Jan Oblak, Thibaut Courtois, and Claudio Bravo make saves on plays like that. Grbić isn’t at that level yet, but there isn’t any other Croatian keeper at that level either. And when his defense let’s PSG set that goal up to begin with, it’s hard to blame the guy. I mean they let Neymar take the time to place the ball for his teammate with spin on it, which is like a checkmate for the keeper.
The thing is Livakovic couldn’t even save a word document at this point so any option is better, a stationary pot plant would prolly be better.
Kovačić hamstring strain has BS all over it.
ZDS
He will be back and ready for Russia.
He is a pro that can keep himself sharp and in shape.
If anything these two weeks will have him fresh.
Sučić gets called up for Malta?
Rebić in from the cold?
Kramaric has played well and is due for a goal or two in November.
Doctors gave my relative 1 yesr to live- he lived for over 18 years from that day. I would not count Kovačić out yet either.
Good to see Kramarić score a goal, especially a sharp finish like that one. Note also that he was involved in all of the other potential scoring opportunities too. No question that he leads the line for Hrvatska. The question is just who else and what attacking strategy to complement those skills.
Did anyone watch PSG v Lille? I watched the highlights, and Grbić looked better than what we’re used to seeing with Livaković. He made some good saves. It wasn’t his fault they lost: some poor finishing from his teammates and a clear penalty (possible red card) that was not called. The Lille defense is very poor. Both PSG goals were due to lazy marking. I would love to see Grbić for the repka. He’s athletic and big. A bit like Lovre Kalinić was before his meltdown.
I didn’t see grbic
But good to hear
Does he actually play against Malta and then what do you do if he plays fine. Go back with liva? It’s a huge decision. I really wish we didn’t even have this question.
We need a keeper to step up
Let’s hope it’s grbic
I mean goalies by committee can work like it does in hockey but we need a clear number 1
So how do we line up with kova gone?
That’s so shit for our depth
What’s raketa up to these days;)
We have nuff depth to cover but I was gonna ask why was nikola moro on the Stand by list over majer?
I guess he could be potentially be used as he knows the Russians some
Anyways let’s hear some new line ups and subs
Also of course great to hear on krama
He gonna bag us two like against Ukraine
Perisic modric and krama gonna put Croatia on their backs!
Let’s hope for health going into November
Ajmo!!!
Jakić is a good player. He’s everywhere on the pitch. Possible sub for Kovačić. We also have Pasalić in very good form. Different kind of player but offers the possibility of a more offensive 4-4-2. Another option is to call up Čolak as the second striker and have Kramarić play as the 10.
Actually, scratch that. Ante Budimir has returned from injury, so he should be called up if anyone is unable to play.