Is it too late for Petar Musa? Musa received a rare start for Benfica on Sunday and scored the game’s opening goal as Benfica thumped Estoril 5-1. Musa headed home a sharp cross from the corner to beat the keeper. This is the point man Croatia needs. But Dalić did not short list him for the World Cup. With Kramarić now in hot water, will it be a decision he regrets? With he win, Benfica sits eight points clear atop the Portuguese standings.
Luka Sučić received ‘Man of the Match’ honors for his assist Saturday in a 2-1 Red Bull Salzburg victory over Wolfsberger. It was a Modrić-esque trivela that travelled nearly 50 yards. Signs of more great things to come from the wunderkind. He received a 9.0 rating from FOTMOB for his 90 minutes of effort on the pitch.
Antontio Conte started Ivan Perišić as striker alongside Harry Kane in Spurs’ 2-1 loss to Liverpool on Sunday. Perišić played well and nearly scored as his header hit the post. Football London gave Perišić a 7.0 rating as he “Gave Alexander-Arnold plenty of problems in the first half and should have got a firm header on to Kane’s first half cross and it would have been the equaliser. Fired an effort against the crossbar early in the second half and put in some dangerous crosses and set pieces as Spurs chased the game. Lots of quality on the ball in both of his positions during the match.”
Borna Sosa assisted Friday night as Borussia Monchengladbach defeated Stuttgart 3-1. It was a simple pass to teammate Tiago Tomas after dribbling past a defender on the left flank. Tomas did the rest as Monchengladbach was the much better team on the day.
Zlatko Dalić will have quite the striker decision to make in Qatar. If you thought Andrej Kramarić was a lock as the #9, think again. Krama has not played much in the Bundesliga the past month and has lost his starting role. He came off the bench again Saturday in a 3-1 loss to RB Leipzig; coming on in the 18th minute for an injured Grischa Proemel. Krama played 72 minutes this weekend, 33 minutes last weekend, and 29 minutes the week before; with no goals to his name. His last start was October 7th when he played 66 minutes for Hoffenheim. That’s a total of 200 minutes in a full calendar month. Not a great confidence boost for Krama going into the World Cup.
Mateo Kovačić came off the bench in the 78th minute Sunday as Chelsea lost 1-0 to Arsenal. Chelsea have not been in good form and now drop to 7th position on the Premiership table.
Luka Modrić and Real Madrid play Monday night.
Marcelo Brozović returned to the bench for Inter Milan Sunday after picking up a hamstring knock for Croatia at the end of September and played the last 10 minutes. This is a great sign as Broz needs some reps before the World Cup kicks off. Hopefully he’s back to 100% and gets some playing time next week as the domestic season approaches its pause.
Like all of us I’m not happy about luka leaving but i with young luka and majer I feel we could somewhat fill in
Like old luka wasn’t quite as impactful as young luka at the same age I feel?
Course what gives old luka his character is his hardships which young luka didn’t face anything near it but hey he looks like he has talent galore and let’s hope to develop I like how he has stayed in Austria to develop Then hopefully the next move, possibly to Germany? Language, culture are more or less same but higher quality league. Then to maybe Spain or England… with a top 10 in world team??
I could see majer being the leader of the mid field one day
Just looks more level headed then broz but much more fire then kova…
We know he isn’t fast but seems like a crafty bugger
This experience with him and sucic hanging with luka is amazing for them
Sucic needs to be on the plane
But, musa is really pushing it isn’t he
I just hope Dalić doesn’t give the keys to Kovačić after Modrić retires.
Kovačić is not that guy, despite having everything given to him on a silver platter.
Sučić will probably be better than him at the next World Cup.
I hope not
If he doesn’t light it up at the World Cup I think his star will fade
Time to look past kova
Too soft for mind
Not enough grit
Sucic looks to have it and majer too
With all respect to Him and basically winning almost every Championship possible he has never truly panned out how we had all hoped
With that being said, kova is still only 28.
As that article stated. Prso only started he is repka career at 30;)
But definitely can see sucic and majer over taking kova.
I think it is already a done deal, Kovacic will be our next captain. Modric himself has stated in the past that he thinks that Kovacic should be the next captain.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Two years is a long time in the footballing world.
Within two years, I fully expect both Majer and Sučić to be transferred to big clubs, and Brozović to continue to be Serie A’s top midfielder.
I could also see Kovačić remaining at middling Chelsea without taking any further steps.
We’ll probably be calling for a midfield trio of Brozović, Sućić, and Majer…while Kovačić continues to get an automatic starter role.
This will be interesting as we prep for Euro2024.
I don’t know about that. Keys were given to Niko Kovac and his brother who were foreign born as we all know. Oh, Sucic is foreign born too… Never mind
It won’t be a smooth transition dannyj unfortunately. It will take awhile before we get our legs under us again. That brilliance and leadership is hard to replace. Be patient.
I’m not sure if this has been discussed yet.
UEFA’s president Aleksandar Cefrin, and Zvonimir Boban are optimistic, and will help in plans to rebuild Croatia’s soccer infrastructure. The plan is to build a new Maksimir, and to renovate Poljud. There are also plans for other smaller stadiums around Cro. There’s been talk about Maksimir for decades, but maybe Zvone can pull some strings at UEFA, and get things moving?
https://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/rubrika/nogomet/novi-maksimir-i-obnova-poljuda-koliko-je-to-realno-evo-sto-najvise-bode-oci—750023.html
That’s awesome stuff. Our stadiums are disgusting for such a powerhouse in the world of football. We embarrass ourselves to foreign nations when they come in for a match.
Long overdue in my estimation.
After they got the EU to fund the Pelješac Bridge (that the Chinese government built at cost)…
Croatia is getting quite skilled at scamming these large organizational bodies for free stuff.
If we manage to scam UEFA to build stadiums for our private club teams, then hats off to them lol.
Quite possible, Nothing is for free.
Pelješac bridge was
Maminjo, Regarding payment, it is literally water under the bridge at this point. What I meant, the payment was made, with our signature on the Treaty of Accession on 9 December 2011, when Croatia as a country agreed to join the EU. The price was not money, but compromised autonomy and sovereignty in return, a hope of a better material life, for the croatian people, of which the bridges represents. It is a price croatia was willing to pay, and will continue to pay, for good or for bad. I am sure communist china also executes projects for cost from the goodness of their hearts and for the betterment of croatia. The more we receive, the more croatia will be obliged to others, to do their bidding.
That’s a different conversation.
Joining the EU is both good and bad. We will see how Croatia takes advantage of the good, and if they can avoid the bad.
Re: Commie China’s intentions…
They built that bridge at cost because they’re trying to showcase their infrastructure projects to Europe as part of their Belt and Road initiative.
Croatia scored themselves a great bridge because it was China’s flagship project. China wasn’t doing Croatia a favor. They are selling this to other EU countries (and Cro just happens to benefit).
It may have backfired on China though since China royally screwed Lithuania, Montenegro, and several other countries’ infrastructure projects to get Pelješac completed.
No it was not. EU paid around 360 million euros and Croatia around 60 million.
The bridge says made in China on it tho 😂
😂 spoken like a true Dalmatinac
Maybe, if it is a push, regarding talent, and who to play upfront, I would play the best penalty shot takers, especially near the end of tied games. I think Kramaric is like Rakitic, ice blooded. I think the timing of the world cup, this is going to be his sweet spot of his career, not old, but has huge experience. Definitely, should come off the bench if we are tied. Livaja has a very interesting, strange unorthodox method, but seems to work in the HNL.
Krama is our best PK taker. Even during 2018. That goal on Schmeichel said it all. He could have done that blindfolded.
To make some of you guys feel better
There is constant worry about goal scoring, but just remember you all have short memories. Mandzukic for many years was a disaster as a croatian goal scorer. There were long calls to replace him and especially headed into the 2018 world cup, the majority felt kramaric should serve as the primary striker. mandzukic ended up drinking from the fountain of youth and had a tremendous tournament.
Croatia has arguably been on one its best streaks of performance ever.
Since Euro 2021, Croatia has played 15 matches and only lost 1 (a shocker to austria).
Croatia is 10-4-1 in those 15 games and have recently reeled off a 4-1 record beating france, denmark twice, and austria to top nations league.
In the last 15 games, they have a +15 goal differential
For once, despite a bit of drama, Croatia actually qualified 1st in their group. They snuck in past Russia on an own goal, but they were actually dominant in that game despite being massively slowed down by the rain
The introduction of Borna Sosa and Gvardiol into the lines-ups, as predicted, has dramatically changed Croatia’s effectiveness.
I recall the debate being Mario Mandzukic vs Nikola Kalinic as our main striker. But your right, Mandzo had some turbulent times before WC2018, and many fans weren’t convinced the he was up to the task.
I recall Ziva Istina saying Mandzukic was just a tap in merchant, and we need someone who could score from outside of 5 feet.
Olic too
Remember the running bet ziva made was it a Croat would score outside the box
Now it’s crazy how many we gey outside of the box…
We are overall better than ever my friends especially in the depth department
Kalinic vs Mandzo wasn’t really a serious debate though.
However, Krama vs Mandzo was a real thing especially since Krama was scoring like 25+ goals a season and scored the two goals against Ukraine to get us in.
I wanted him to start in 2018, but Dalic made the right call with that aggressive trio up top (Perisic, Mandzo, Rebic) as he wanted to play that pressing game. It was a good call, and was the best thing he did for that tournament.
My worry is that a trio of Perisic, Krama, Majer may be a bit slow and not aggressive enough (although there’s an insane amount of technical skill between them).
But this is probably why Dalic will try to tinker with it at RW and CF. Hoepfully things work out during preparations, and we’re not seeing some knee-jerk experiments up top during the tournament.
Musa can bring some of that aggression and not sacrifice technique going forward for euro
The truth brings up valuable points here
I do remember we were harping on mandzo. He was goalless for a while.
But I guess the thing with mandzo even when hE wasn’t scoring. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t try
His pressure and ability to defend as a striker was top of the mark
Agreed also, our form is strong.
This winter cup maybe helped us to get in better form overall as a team
Benfica might be even better than Dinamo at evaluating and capitalizing financially on young talent.
For them to go after Musa says something especially him being a foreigner.
The more I see of this kid the more I think he’s the real deal.
Great size,hops and a few hi lites of him dribbling defenders for a goal far cleaner and crisper then mandzukic ever could even his prime.
My money is on him to be our striker of the future unless Simic comes on strong the next few years.
Musa has been playing up the Mandzukic angle in the media.
He knows that it’s his best bet to crack into our lineup since a Mandzo caliber striker is what we need.
Benfica (and Portuguese teams) are lucky because they get first crack at South American talent (specifically Brazilian talent) due to language and culture.
Dinamo is a special breed where they somehow do things on a shoestring budget, but Benfica’s success is what Dinamo would have if they had more funds.
Not to take away from Benfica’s ability to assess talent (I think they legitimately were impressed with Musa and saw something there talentwise).
I just hope Ljubicic, Musa and Roko continue to develop.
We’ve got a really young (and proven) backline.
Central midfield is always there for us.
All we would need is a striker to become a tournament favorite.
I know it’s been mentioned before, and everyone deep down knows it, the will be no single answer for goal scoring! If we were to win the World Cup, we would need about 4 guys with multiple goals. It almost has to come from the mix and match pot of players like Majer, sucic, Petkovic, Pasalic, brekalo, krama. We will need goals out of our starting lineup but also off the bench. Defenders will need pop one in to occasionally as well as modric, brozovic and Perisic. If we can get above average production out of that mix and match group of players everything will be ok!
I think Sucic or Majer have the ability of becoming a Modric replacement. If anyone it will be on of them I think.
I think sucic will get the closest, Majer is super talented but lacks top end speed and motor, almost prosinecki like
Yea, Sucic and Majer will be like Boban and Prosinecki 🙂
Pasalic at the moment is our only option. Wtf is with Musa shit?
Pasalic is great off the ball, when you only expect one touch from him.
Can’t really pass the ball to him, and expect him to do something with it (unless it’s a header, cleaning up someone else’s attempted shot, or a quick one-touch pass to someone else).
He hasn’t been scoring this year for Atalanta, but he’s still a good option off the bench for a late goal. I wouldn’t start him though.
Pasalic is more than up to the task. He lurks, I love that. Not as good as Eduardo but damn close. He at least deserves a look. Looking at our striker situation it might not be a bad option.
I like Pasalic but If pasalic is are “Only option” wouldn’t you need more scorers/strikers than that if you were planning on doing anything at the WC?
Other wise the only option is changing the Musa shit 💩 in our pants when we get knocked out of the group stage because we can’t score goals? WC is only every 4 years! This is Lukas last dance… we finished 2nd 🥈 last WC
CROATIA needs to represent!
We can’t come looking soft especially after euro21. WE NEED FIREPOWER!!
Last in the alphabet and the last one to realize musa has far more potential long term then pasalic Z!
https://streamable.com/okqcae
In the 58th minute of Estoril v Benfica, Musa also hit the post after beating his marker (see video above).
Read in an interview some time back that Musa’s mum was also a footballer and that his favorite player (or striker) is Mandzukic.
We have 34 players in the preliminary squad but 35 names are allowed… so if Dalic wants to, can he still add Musa I wonder.
Vida won’t miss out on WC, read somewhere he’s recovering well.
Best quote yet. Vida won’t miss the WC. He will start the 1st game. Warriors needed and as usual for his nation will deploy.
I don’t know if he can still call Musa after the list was sent, if he can he should and should officially after the comment made drop Kramaric. These negative comments need to be expelled from the locker room.
https://streamable.com/okqcae
In the 58th minute of Estoril v Benfica, Musa also hit the post after beating his marker (see video above).
Read in an interview some time back that Musa’s mum was also a footballer and that his favorite player (or striker) is Mandzukic.
We have 34 players in the preliminary squad but 35 names are allowed… so if Dalic wants to, can he still add Musa I wonder.
Vida won’t miss out on WC, report says he’s recovering well:
https://www.tportal.hr/sport/clanak/provjerili-smo-u-kakvom-je-stanju-domagoj-vida-i-hoce-li-biti-spreman-za-svjetsko-prvenstvo-20221104
Would love to see Livaja get time at #9 in the tune up game next week. Livaja (& Orsic ???) are best options to sub on when petkovic and / or Budimir do nothing.
Krama is useless … I hope his lack of playing time at club opens opportunities for Livaja (Colak ???)
Hope we are open to playing Perisic as striker if needed. He gives us our best chance to score and it’s not even close ….
I would love to see at some point next week.
Perisic (Livaja)
Sosa – JJ (Majer / Sucic)
Kovo – Modric
Broz
Josko – Satulo – Erlic – Stani
And YES to SUCIC !!
I think kramaric lacks heart and we need to look elsewhere before another campaign is screwed up
His comments are evidence enough
Drop him
Unfortunately, Dalic waits too late for these decisions and it costs us every time. Kramaric shouldn’t have been picked up with the lack of results over the past 3 tournaments for the National Team, a selfish player who lacks consistency in putting the ball behind the net for Croatia. This is a bad combination and Dalic doesn’t seem to see it.
I don’t mind Dalic with some of the decisions, but his unwillingness to look at stats, goals scored, in certain cases is just in acceptable. Kramaric has not done enough to justify his spot this year, and he certainly didn’t do enough last year either, he has been off. In this I mean primarily for the National Team but also for club especially this year. Consistency is key here, especially as far as the striker is concerned. Kramaric is not a true striker in my view not at this stage, and he is not a fantastic back up striker either.
And to be honest, we have enough people creating issues in the backroom for the team, to have him say what he said he should be dropped. This is why I argued Ljubicic, Colak and Livaja up front. With potentially Petkovic and Orsic helping as well, those are you players putting the ball in the net right now. Musa should have probably been picked over Budimir, and Ivanusec has not been playing well either these player choices are going to cost us problems in the long run as they are all playing poorly.
To put it simply Dalic, whether young or old, newer player or player that’s been around, you look for consistency and who has the stats at present to put themselves in that position. In my view merit and not pecking/seniority order. This isn’t a Union position. Very few players on the team deserve to be called up as a pecking order scenario and I often call them the big three or four and that would be Modric, Brozovic, Perisic, and in most cases Kovacic. But that’s it really. Anyone else who doesn’t play as consistent as these guys have, with the awards to show for it either Champions League victory, a Leyenda award, or Serie a midfielder of the year award, should be stats based primarily. Whatever league, preferably a top five league but if not a top five league in many cases than that is okay too.
Dalic needs to change this and soon. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have another way through this I don’t think.
Dalic really should have tinkered more with the front line.
100% agree
I’d rather he wake the hell up and do something then just drop him in the trash. Predicting another winner ? Who does that? That’s so lame.. someOne needs to slap Kramaric and let him know that people are expecting him to score goals for Croatia and he needs to snap out of it big time and stop looking like a confused fool on the field. He’s the reason everyone is scrambling to find a damn striking option because no one believes he will do shit or look like he’s even trying!!! Think about it, If Kramaric was on point and could score the way he is supposed too, none of this nonsense would even be discussed and we would be in a really good position. Are biggest problem is Kramaric is broken… He needs to figure out to fix his shit really quick or don’t bother going. That’s better than wasting a spot and wearing a diaper on the field. If that’s the case he should go become a commentator for Univision and he can give his loser predictions all he wants…..
Has the vatreni becarac come out yet for 2022? Sunka je u pusnici! Ajmo!!!!
Petar Musa
4 goals in 388 minutes (one goal per 97 minutes)…
in the sixth strongest league in Europe…
and now starting in the špica role for the best team in this league.
Small sample, I know…but still, he’s pretty much exactly the kind of striker we need right now.
I have faith in our ‘scoring by committee’ strategy, but I think he would have complimented guys like Sosa, Perisic, and our central midfield trio well.
The striker role isn’t make or break for us, but it’s nice to have these options up top.
I don’t know Maminjo, I think the striker role is a make or break for us. Yes defense and midfield win games but strikers help also. We do need Dalic to pay attention to those selections a little more I think.
@Z
I’d rather he say zero about who’s going to win it. Stay humble and NEVER talk down your chances.
At the same time NEVER give any other team ammunition by saying you will win all. It’s not that hard.
Krama is such a dumbass. Why say Brazil is going to win it all? For those who haven’t seen it, there’s an interview/article where he says this. Being pragmatic when it comes to the World Cup is one thing, but actually saying this even if you think it is plain idiotic.
Just for that I hope Dalic gives him the boot from the team. He’s always been a bit arrogant but this bs isn’t needed weeks before the tourney….budala.
Would you rather he said Croatia wins it all? Either way he’s no good
He seems to have a tendency to talk down Croatia. Remember in Nations League two years ago when we got whipped by Portugal and France in successive games? Modric missed those games and afterwards he said (not in as many words) that even with Modric in the team, we will still lose to France most of the time.
I agree Mali Ante I think Krama wasn’t thinking straight and comments like his are not necessary, it puts a bad omen on the team. Livakovic talking the way he did about Livaja was bad after Livaja won the best player on HNL, Livaja saying things about Ljubicic were bad all because Ljubicic is a younger player. Corluka talking the way he did about Livaja and Hajduk again we’re not necessary, especially to the Croatian press. Players potentially talking unnecessarily about eachother and each other’s teams the way they do is not helping either. As Croatians we can sometimes be our own worst enemies really.
I know I say this after blasting Krama above, but it’s with good intent, Dalic should make these players think about their comments and earn their call up not just give a position to them willingly over some dumb allegiance to players I think it’s not right personally.if it is how he is doing things.
As a player you need to speak in a positive way, what Kramaric should have said is that I think Croatia can do well, not which team he thinks are currently favourites to win. What player should do is congratulate one another for what awards they each win, this is not at all helpful to the National Squad.
What this tells me is just how essentially Modric is to this squad in and outside of the locker room. When he leaves those are going to be incredibly heavy shoes to fill. Not just on the pitch but a person who exudes the exact qualities you would expect as a leader. A lot of these players just don’t have that, they are like little children really.
It’s the defence and midfield that wins tournaments!
Most of our goals in Russia were not classic goal scoring centre forward type goals and they came from everywhere.
Us beating France and Denmark in the Nations League are an indicator as to our identity right now.
Hold the ball, score on the counterattack, score by committee, set pieces send all your tall guys in.
Colak, Budimir and Kramaric should be able to pop some in on set pieces.
The WC is a different beast. So many things need to align for a team to go deep.
3 things worry me.
1)Group stage team cohesion and mentality (but I think Luka will inspire and motivate in that department). First game is huge, Morocco are no pushovers and sometimes it’s tough to score but if we start with a win (not a draw) we’ll probably top the group.
2)Avoiding Spain in the first knockout round game. They out possess their opponents 70-30% consistently. They’re probably the only team that can really cramp our style.
3)Brazil for sheer athleticism and quality at every position. They’d be a great scalp to have but I’d rather avoid them if I had my choice.
Not saying we can’t beat either of them on our day but they would be the toughest tests for the team we have. Any of the other big teams England, France, Germany etc. we’ll beat hands down (they don’t respect us) and that’s when we shine.
Bog i Hrvati
Yes it does. But we have to frigging score! My biggest fear.
Can’t go to penalties every knockout game. Eventually, odds will win. Know what I’m saying?
Topping our group is a must.
If we finish second behind Belgium, we have to go through Spain and Brazil in the next two rounds.
Finishing first is not an easy path either (likely having to go through Germany then Portugal)…but that’s a bit of an easier path since Brazil are injury-free, in form and odds-on favorites for the tournament.
Yes it’s critical to top the group
Here’s hoping the HNL keepers and strikers can take us to the promise land
Who cares if Kramarić doesn’t play much at Hoffenheim? After a down period, he started scoring goals again for the Repka, dribbling entire defenses, drawing penalties, and finally finding good communication with Perisić. He doesn’t need to be a starter, but he doesn’t need to be off the team either. I think Petković or Livaja will be the main striker. It sounds crazy because their characters seem more HNL than WC, but they are both playing really well this season.
Ok TGAD I will hold to that
One of the few times I make a bold claim on here. But having watched all these guys play at their clubs and for the Repka, Petković and Livaja stand out.
…………….…..Perisic…………………..
Sosa…………Modric…..Majer/Vlasic
………..Brozovic…Kovacic….
Gvardiol..Lovren..Sutalo…Stanisic
……………….Livakovic………….
There’s the problem. You have perisic up top. Shouldn’t have to be that way, but here we are
Either him or Pasalic. What else?
Pasalic has value but so out of form it seems
Colak and musa way hotter
They ain’t much better dannyj. We have problems and nobody is addressing them. Midfield is fine but up top is a mess
Danny if we have to rely on colak and musa to finish we in deep shit that’s what I’m saying bro. I hear you though, it will have to be midfield scoring or it’s over. Back to Zagreb for plan 73.
That lineup gave me an aneurysm
Awesome lineup – Ive thinking the same set up – baffles me why Dalic never considers Perisic as the lone striker – he has the complete game for it
Not enough people are putting Sucic in the mix, I would like to see him in the lineup atleast as a sub.
As stated below I am not in favour of Perisic at the top either he is best on the wing, and does the most damage for us there. It really should be a mix of either Colak, Musa, Petko, or Livaja up front. In my opinion,all four of those guys have proven they can fill that role, and proven that they can score. Ljubicic hopefully one day gets the nod and call up, he should atleast have a go in a Nations League tournament since he is not getting the call up now.
Gee, i’m feeling rueful over Musa again.
Dude is showing he can bury those headers… he’s also pretty athletic for his height.
Again props to Maminjo for calling his scoring streak.
BEĆAR was suggesting taking out one of the guys with Covid, lol.
I think Bartolec1912 is Maminjo’s burner account 😉
Damn wreath
@Dannyj
Yeah I read somewhere Krama said he is a fan of Messi and wants Argentina to win. What the heck?! Really annoys me that he said something like that.
@horvat on your formation below
What about gvardiol and Sosa stay where they go
Orsic in for Perisic and Perisic at striker??
Fun to think of these formations but we all know krama gonna start
I hope he brings the goods
Let’s be honest. We are going in the World’s biggest sporting event without a legit striker.
Fellas this does not bode well. We are not going to the final, semi-final, quarter-final. We are going to be lucky to escape the group stage.
I’m not negative Nancy but I’m not feeling this team. Good Lord I hope I’m wrong but without a legit striker, not bandage covered Strikers we gave but a legit dude.
We don’t have a legit dude. It won’t be as fun an exhilarating as 4 years ago.
Yes, that’s how much Mandzukic meant to the squad.
In other words, we are fucked.
That head of musa is about as close as we will get to mandzos right now
Two nice headers two weeks going
Kid has jumps
Maminjo called musa getting on a hot streak
Who said krama said something about Messi winning the cup??? Get rid of that bum
He’s already stated before how other teams are better and blah blah blah
Get rid of that self defeating attitude
Musa the way he is playing (I know nothing of his attitude) and colak the way he has been scoring and his attitude is what we bloody well need right now
Bring Musa to Qatar !!!!!!
Kramaric isn’t going to score
Remember the Euro21 ? or did you already forget
We need firepower
Kramaric is a rusty gun.
If dalic blundered the roster thats really an amateur mistake. Hopefully he can put Musa on the next roster as a switch out for an injured player or whatever the reason.
I don’t think this is possible?
But isn’t there a bigger list we don’t know about? Or has that been taken down to the 30 something?
Wasn’t there supposed to be a 55-man list? If Dalic had submitted the 55-man list to FIFA, I’m sure Musa would be on it.
Maminjo was guessing one way for Musa to get in is as a replacement for the injured Vida. We have way too many CBs in the squad now, Jakic is doing well as a CB at Eintracht.
Yes
But they want lovren and vida for vets and leadership
Just give him a temporary assistant coach job like everyone else and bring musa
Agreed we have stanisic Jakic who can play the cb role if necessary and play rb
Jakic also defensive mid and also stanisic can do it as well as he has before in club
Speaking of Liva and it’s already Been talked about but
I finally watched the captains thing on Netflix
We all know the lack of confidence of liva almost cost us the qualification and it was pretty awesome for luka to say it how it is but also telling him he is still great
Also, who else pretty well fast forwarded all the other Bums to get to luka and co?
@The Great Anonymous Doom
Thanks for your insight on how Budimir operates at Osasuna!
@Dannyj
“I think they can get the job done on rb by committee”
Yeah I guess you’re right, luckily Stanisic has shown that he can still play well without consistent minutes at Bayern.
@MART
“A few weeks back in Croatian media somebody jokingly stated that Stanisic does not play for Bayern he only trains there. Jokes aside but in reality, that is a fair assessment.”
Lol, prolly one of the best places to train on earth then.
Watching Juve v Inter 1 – 0. Brozovic comes on in the 82 minute.
Juve v Inter 2 – 0. Brozovic had about 14 minutes on the field. He had a few touches with the ball, seems to be running OK. Let’s hope that he has recovered fully from the injury.
Yes, that is key. If Marcelo isn’t 100% then we really cooked if not already
Musa with the start and a goal. I recognize the chance at the WC is zero but pretty excited with the prospect of having target men who can score (Musa, Ljubicic, and Colak) with Roko and Beljo developing.
https://streamin.me/v/06e74c5f
Musa starts for Benfica and he scores early on with a nice header. That’s exactly the type of service Sosa would give him. How can Dalic get him on the roster? Can Covid help? Is there even a way?
This is the first tournament I am not looking forward to since 2004.
Yes, we have been playing very well since the Euros, but out lack of attacking options will be a huge problem past the group stage.
How about trying Perisic as striker, Sosa on the left wing and Gvardiol as Left back?
If Dalic doesn’t try something like this, we will definitively not make it far this tournament. At the moment, Croatia has by far the weakest offence we have ever had.
Hahahaha, I can’t believe ur going to consider Gvardiol at LB when he’s the best CB we got and he is also one of the best young CBs in the world currently. What are you on about.
Gvardiol is also a good leftback and we are desperately weak in the final third.
Rangers lose
Colak plays, no goals
Not sure how he did tho overall
So it seems like the behind the striker wasn’t ideal
I know some have said we should play him as striker
And I think we have tried him there very minimally, correct me if I’m wrong
He did ok, but his team was missing him on the wing. In the second half, Kuleševski came into his position, Ivan went back to left wing. Spurs instantly started to threaten more, especially down the left flank. All you need is 11 Perišićs and you will have an unstoppable team (I’m not sure if he can play keeper, but it wouldn’t surprise me)
I think Perisic and mandzo with like two years training are better then liva
LOL!
Ivan Perisic, 7. Pressed into action as a forward and almost scored a header but not involved enough first half. Started the second by rattling the bar when he should have scored, then went wing-back where he was always Spurs’ first point of reference for build-up play.
Gave Alexander-Arnold plenty of problems in the first half and should have got a firm header on to Kane’s first half cross and it would have been the equaliser. Fired an effort against the crossbar early in the second half and put in some dangerous crosses and set pieces as Spurs chased the game. Lots of quality on the ball in both of his positions during the match
Perisic rated a 7
Interesting….Perišić starting in the middle behind Kane today… I don’t remember ever seeing him in this position?
Davies is apparently ok for Qatar. He’ll miss Bayern’s next 2 matches but will be ok.
Not sure if it has already been posted. An interview with Colak, interesting article.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/9715642/rangers-antonio-colak-world-cup-dado-prso/amp/
I like his attitude from the responses in the article.
I was thinking the same thing. He knows his place, and that he needs to work really hard to get his chance. It’s a good attitude for our team…he doesn’t have an entitled ego. He’ll be happy to sit on the bench and give full effort if he gets an opportunity to play. I think he should at least be on the plane to Qatar.
He’s exactly the player this team needs. The others can’t get complacent with the top scorer in Scotland vying for a role.
Yes, all of what you’ve pointed out in addition to believing the team can go far like last time, that his lifetime goal has been to contibute, and that his best is yet to come.
A potentially great story in the making?
All we need is a guy to catch fire for a month… service will be there
You know mandzo and Olic looking at sosa wishing they had him to serve up those juicy headers
No doubt Dannyj,
We have a lot of grest players, and alrhough Čolak may not be world class, great players make good players around them better.
As others here have pointed out, his attitude and responses are great. And I really echo with Franjo’s comment that “although Čolak may not be world class, great players make good players around them better”.
Someone here also mentioned he can be our Schillaci of WC 1990.
Colak really loves our national team, I remembered him saying he was at Copenhagen with his girlfriend (now fiancée) cheering our boys on in the Round of 16 game against Spain last year. That’s despite not getting selected for the Euro 2020 squad.
https://www.goalstube.online/2022/11/hsv-regensburg.html?m=1
Vuskovic doing his best to get Hamburger SV promoted.
Those of you who have watched Osasuna this season… does Budimir play a specific role in his team which goes some way to explaining his goals output? 550 La Liga minutes, 1 goal. Maybe to knock down high balls or hold up play for teammates? Believe he has no assist so far but he did earn a penalty at the beginning of the season (although I clearly remembered that prior to drawing the foul from the keeper, he took a clumsy touch and failed to control an inviting ball in the penalty area).
Would really boost Budimir’s confidence if he can pop one in against Barcelona next week. One can always dream.
His role at Osasuna right now is just to hold the ball up and win divided balls. He plays at the halfway line and goes sideline to sideline. Then the midfielders do the scoring: Moi Gómez, Abde, Brasanac, Mocayola. Those are the players who are more involved in scoring chances. Budimir is putting a ton of pressure on the defense and opening up space for his teammates. The thing is that the manager Jagoba Arrasate likes putting out a new lineup every week, so the strikers and midfielders get rotated all the time.
Note that Osasuna usually wins when Budimir plays. That’s because he is a relentless force of pressure against opposing defenses. He may not be the most skilled player, but he is a threat.
Does anyone know why our RBs, Stanisic and Juranovic, were not included in the matchday squad for their respective clubs yesterday?
Read on a Celtic fansite that Juranovic’s starting RB position is now under threat from Anthony Ralston who has been doing great, including in yesterday’s match. Definitely doesn’t help that Juranovic missed his spot kick in the CL this week. Luckily we are so close to the World Cup it doesn’t matter if Juranovic starts to warm the bench from this point.
As for Stanisic, I really hope he gets to play some minutes in Bayern’s last 2 games before the WC.
I think they can get the job done on rb by committee
Stanisic I don’t believe was playing much when he took on mbappe
Hopefully JJ keeps his spot
Having a good WC will help greatly
A few weeks back in Croatian media somebody jokingly stated that Stanisic does not play for Bayern he only trains there. Jokes aside but in reality, that is a fair assessment.
Well if he moves next year he had some proper development at Bayern and could maybe move to another club and reap the work and experience he had
That’s a huge blow for Canada. Too bad…they were playing well with Davies they always have a shot to win. Not the same team without him.
Just read on a Canadian source
Davies injury looks like at least a muscle tear
Bayern doctors said
Went and saw the reply when the injury happened in the 62 minute. Definitely hamstring injury, he was able to walk off the field and was not limping like Brozovic 6 weeks ago. I doubt that he will be fit for the start of the WC.
Hmm our game against Canada is on 27 November, about 3 weeks from now…
Tactics v moroko and kanada keep possession hide the ball from them.
Vs belgium let them olay and counter attack score then hide the ball
We have the best midfield imo
Gvardiol is fast but Davies is other level fast. You’ve obviously not watched enough of Davies to know. Danny is spot on, he is very injury prone. Would love to see Perisic with the choke slam!
Well… Gvardiol is faster now.
Looks like fake news about Krama.
What isn’t fake news is that Davies for Canada looks to have been hurt today. Hamstring by the looks of it.
He makes them tick and is one of the fastest players in the world. That would be a huge blow.
He seems like he always has some sort of Knock
I’m Canadian, but screw them. Time for a Perisic choke slam;)
Gvardiol is faster anyway. He would’ve shut Davies down.
The only unfortunate things about Davies’ injury is that he would’ve caused Belgium more problems than he would caused us.
Was hoping Canada could snag something from that game from them.
If he’s out of the World Cup, then they’ll probably finish behind Morrocco.
Kramaric out for WC ..
Honestly i really dont care about him after saying he wishes argentina win because of messi instead of saying croatia for modric ko ga jebe.
Now its Dalic with whos the number 9 i guess colak will be at katar now. Shame maybe he sneaks musa in somehow now.
Petkovic Budimir Livaja Colak never had a worse stike crew in our history. Even the low period of 2002 2006
We had prso olic klasnic maric mornar
I did not hear the question given to Kramarić, but I think that his response is only acceptable if the question stated: besides your own team, who would you like to see win the World Cup?
I don’t like his response primarily because he is admitting to having no confidence in Croatia.
Yes, the odds for Argentina are listed as far better than ours. However, I am of the opinion that if you believe you can win, you have a chance, but if you think you can’t, its much more likely that you won’t.
Perhaps it’s the main reason Kramarić does not perform as well for our national team as he has for his club?
Its fake news he came on in 18th min not off
Regardless of who’s injured or not playing. Sosa, Gvardiol, and Erlic should all start. Erlic is aggressive and I think he’s ready. Use and prioritize our fresh legs. Midfield wise..it’s an easy choice. Modric, Majer, Sucic. Maybe throw Pasalic or Misic in there? Kovacic can’t play with Modric. Too much of a similar style. Our lack of scoring is very concerning. I think we need a 4-3-3 formation. Vlasic, Perisic, and perhaps Orisic. Put Vlasic in the middle. I think that’s a solid 11 right there. Let’s face it, we’ve been lacking a consistent top notch striker like Mandzukic. We’re constantly changing our offence and shuffling pieces. Perisic and Vlasic upfront is a no doubt. Perisic, not scoring as much but he’s 33 and had four assists in CL. Vlasic has been improving and settling in Serie A.
Who is your dm there? I’m no expert but I don’t feel sucic or Majer are suited too well for that role
Broz will be ready! He has iron lungs He’s not a super muscular guy anyway to lose sooo much
Hopefully he has been working out what he can
Pogba out, Chilwell out, Lukaku in a race to get back to form.
I hope Broz comes back at 100%. Gotta take advantage.
Broz has not played in six weeks. Unfortunately, he won’t be anywhere near 100%. Hopefully he gets some time on the pitch this weekend against Juventus to at least test his hamstring.
When does Sosa not assist?