Tomorrow at 3 p.m. EST, Croatian juggernauts Dinamo Zagreb face off with Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt.
Much uncertainty surrounds this year’s Dinamo squad as they have loads of depth and some new talented additions in Martin Baturina, Boško Šutalo and Josip Drmić, to name a few, however, former National Team coach Ante Čačić has yet to put together a true starting XI. Dinamo have dropped points to newly promoted Varaždin as well as barely squeezing by an inferior Macedonian squad.
But, did that magical performance in Maksimir just two nights ago change the tide? Martin Baturina is already an elite playmaker, Mislav Oršić may be back in form, and Dinamo’s back-line is back to the fortress they’re known to be (keep in mind, they’re still missing their strongest piece in Josip Šutalo). If Čačić plays his cards right, Dinamo Zagreb may very well be off to the Champions League group-stages.
Baturina will never be on the National Team. Not good enough
Your expert opinion is capable of deciphering this after one performance, eh?
Yes
Lol, he is very young and I think too soon to say give him a year or two and we will see. I never write a player off this soon it is too quick to tell. These are challenging games and it poses a challenge when they experience this kind of tournament for the first time, I am sure that even Modric, and players at his level had bad games to start where people were doubting him.
So again it is too soon to tell.
Martin “bustarina” 😉
🤣
Hilarious. This site never fails to give me the giggles. Its official, Z has called it early. Baturina is a bust, in his first season as a senior pro, wearing the 10 for dinamo, after like 5 games, he has 1 bad game and is a bust!! I’m dying here
Agreed. Keep in mind it’s not the site it’s certain people who look at one game which to me is absolutely stupid.
All things considered, Dinamo can still take this round but its not going to be easy. This Bodo/Glimt team is very well organized and the difference between them vs a BIG team like RB Leipzig is that Leipzig has very talented players while this team has good players that can execute the coaches plan very well…but their overall talent is average or below.
Bodo was super disciplined…I couldn’t even believe how well every single player pressed high and NOBODY was caught late for their pressing responsibilities. They also spread out Dinamo and attacked in numbers…they were fearless and worked hard all game long!
Dinamo lacked imagination in the first half and more importantly, both Ristovski and Ljubicic should learn to take some chances going forward and send the ball in the box. It was God awful to watch! Moharrami is really good at sending in balls so I was kinda surprised he didn’t get into the game.
Baturina had his first forgettable game as a Dinamo player…losing the ball all game long. Misic and Ademi both looked underwhelming. Did Spikic even play?
Better 2nd half for Dinamo but not good enough. This will come down to work rate, mind over matter and 100% discipline and patience. Dinamo have more quality but Bodo are structured and disciplined…I can understand why they beat Roma!
We’ll see if that miss by Petkovic in the 86th min will be costly for Dinamo. Dinamo was poor in the first half going forward, things improved in the second half when Petkovic and Ivanusec came on. Ivanusec for once I thought played well when he came on. Baturina struggled today as did Ljubicic at left back.
All to play for in Zagreb where I expect Dinamo to play a lot better and win by a two goal margin, even if its in extra time.
They are still in it
And a loss is Europa
Not a terrible outcome regardless
https://www.ibroxnews.com/2022/08/16/rangers-player-ratings-for-psv-eindhoven-showdown-in-champions-league/?amp
Barisic according to this is really struggling
Nice to have him inform for a back up at euro, even tho Gvardiol sliding in if needed with other cb options ain’t bad at all
Colak not doing a lot but scoring?
Hard to ignore his form
I watched the Rangers game instead of Dinamo because I figured it was a more exciting matchup. Barisić wasn’t bad at all. He actually saved his team on a few occasions, and he was good going forward. His crosses are virtually undefendable because they curve so much. His biggest weakness, and why he gets criticized so much in Scotland, is that when he goes up, he doesn’t always drop back in time. The commentators were relentless about it throughout the match, though the real weaknesses in Rangers’ defense are the center backs, who are relying way too much on Barisić to cover for them. Basically, if Barisić were playing in Spain or Italy, instead of Scotland, he would get higher ratings. Anyway, Čolak had a great match. The guy has gotten a lot better since we last saw him for the repka. He could pip Budimir and Kramarić for the starting spot. His play tonight reminded me of Mandzukić. He played tough for the full match without ever seeming tired. He scored when he had the chance. Drew some fouls, and held the ball up well for his teammates. It isn’t his fault that the Rangers midfield doesn’t have any clever Croatians to do something with what Čolak gave them. I’m optimistic about the Croatian striker situation after seeing that performance.
Don’t give Dalic any ideas about Gvardiol being a left-back again lol, easily our most important defender.
Antonio Colak scores again for Rangers
Anyone have a link to the live stream?
I’ve just read a few articles and looked up results about Bodo/Glimt and they seem like they’re a really good team…extremely well coached and they know how to get results! Without really knowing much about them, all I can say is teams that have good coaches can punch above their weight…this is why I see Hajduk in a positive way lately. Their coach seems like he’s done well getting the team united strategically and mentally…believing they can achieve…and trust me, it really matters when you have those elements!
It going to be a very tough match for Dinamo today. I just hope they put in their best effort!
Good luck to Dinamo.
On rebic. Like his biggest supporter, the one and only Soul Champ, I’ve always liked Rebic, his fire and physicality and bravery were a huge part of our 2018 run. He has got flair too. An underrated finisher. I think he will have a good season for ac Milan and will certainly score way more than 10 goals and a bunch of assists. He has two problems, his attitude can cause problems and he lacks consistency with his first touch. I say call him up next month and take a look.
Sucic and ljubicic both with assists this weekend for their clubs. Ljubicic again was brilliant, creating 3 golden opportunities for his team to score, showing vision and passing technique. A constant goal scoring threat as well
I don’t think Rebić makes the team for the two reasons you have given and the fact that there are too many other good players on the team who are wingers for Dalić (or anyone else) to feel a great need to put Rebić’s pitfalls aside. He’s already behind 3 dependable players for left wing. There are going to be 5-6 players competing for the right wing spot, and there are another 6 options at the central striker position if you count Pasalić. Dalić is trying to get the team to play as one unit right now, so I doubt he brings in Rebić. There’s just too much competition for that to be deemed necessary.
I hear that. It’s a good point. And there is risk involved with rebic. I just think that at his best he worries even the best defences in a way that none of the others do.
Doom, who exactly from our current squad is better than Rebic when he is on his game? Perisic owns the left so lets not even go there. On the right we have Brekalo, Vlasic, Majer…neither of them have his pace, his high pressing or his constant attacking down the wing.
I’m not a fan of guys that call out the coach and I feel he needs to apologize for his comments but other than that, if he’s firing on all cylinders…he’s wayyyy more effective than anyone else we have available to us.
Majer is the only really good playmaker, Brekalo is hot and cold…better used as a sub and Vlasic can’t play anywhere except in behind the striker which is Kramaric’s spot. I’d probably even try Livaja in the position before I’d start Vlasic!
Yeah, I don’t count Vlasić. If I were the selector, he wouldn’t have been called up since the Euro. Personally, I also like Rebić’s way of playing, and I agree that at his best, he brings something none of those others have. However, he put himself in a situation where he can’t be trusted, so I doubt that he gets called up. Remember, Nikola Kalinić lost his spot on the repka when he, too, was at the peak of his football form. Dalić isn’t going to want anyone screwing up his take on the game. My guess is that the central striker position in September will go to Čolak based on how he’s playing right now (unless Budimir or Musa turns it on in the next few weeks), and right wing is up for grabs between Sučić, Majer, Kramarić, and Livaja. Not that any of those players is an elite right winger, but they all are fundamentally skilled players who can create scoring chances from that position. And more importantly, Dalić counts them as his players. If Rebić wants to compete with them, he has to commit to playing according to Dalić’s instructions, no questions asked.
Good points bro!
Perisic is a difference maker and my thought was that if Rebic could catch fire and apologize to Dalic then maybe we can have a kumbaya and move on?! Rebic is super hard to defend against when he’s in form!
who knows the inner dressing room stuff with these guys. Maybe there are other guys on the team that don’t want Rebic around. I have no proof but i get a sense of it being about Rebic and if that is the case, Modric and company definitely will have none of that. He’s good but not a team player apparently so it’s about the team first and I’d say we have lots of guys maybe not as good but mean more to the other guys so let’s see what happens- I do agree it’s going to be weird not having a set guy who puts the ball in the net so maybe we may have to score by committee-something different for Croatia but what the hell-let’s go.
That Spain dynasty that won three tournaments in a row didn’t have one particular player who led the attack. Sometimes it was David Villa. Others it was Fernando Torres. Daniel Güiza was the go-to point man off the bench. Even the defensive line rotated players. It’s probably a better way to prepare just in case of injury. And I’m sure the older stars like having all of these hard-working younger players around. Not enough behind them to get arrogant, but when they’re on the field, they hold their own.
True, but we have to remember how fantastic Iker Casillas was as a goalie for Spain. Again to play this scoring by committee you need to have a solid goalie along with a solid defence. We just don’t have the goalie right now and we have a decent but developing defence of young and promising players. So I don’t think the score by committee works for us right now. What’s more, based on the international performances, aside from Modric, Mandzukic, and Perisic who has really scored for us, or created scoring opportunities?? Everyone keeps saying Rebic but even he had the ball handed to him for that one goal in 2018.
To be frank Perisic is the typical person who scores goals for us, and creates those openings down the wing, Rebic doesn’t have that, and few other players on the squad do, unless they start to develop.
FYI for those in Canada, Dinamo game is on DAZN here.
The perennial debate. Where does Dinamo belong? CL or Europa. They have had tons of success in Europa the past few years. It’s really a win-win for them if they lose to these Norwegian guys I have never heard of. Dinamo guaranteed a European season. All good with me whatever happens.
Question is: does Villareal flop against Hajduk so they can focus on their La Liga season? It wouldn’t be the worst move.
Spikic is kinda growing on me these last few games and if Petkovic and/or Ivanusec can get into form, Dinamo can do alright. I’m just concerned about left back (Ljubicic isn’t a left back and Bockaj has been poor this season) and waiting for Josip Sutalo to return to defence.
We don’t know anything about this opponent so Dinamo are going to have to be smart and play a good tactical game.
I never heard of Bodo/Glimt till last year. The name caught my attention when they eliminated Celtic in the play-off for the conference league. In the group stage last year they beat Roma 6 -1 at home and drew 2 -2 away in Rome. They play on artificial grass and that is their biggest advantage.
Dinamo will need to be strong defensively, and that may be a problem ? Dino Peric at CB had poor matches against Ludogorets and also Ljubicic at left back is a liability that someone sooner or later will exploit.
Draw would be a good result for Dinamo, if they can avoid defeat they should complete the job in Zagreb.
could be many reasons why Roma faired poorly, I didn’t watch the games or see the lineups….also, we don’t know if Roma underestimated them or if the game was played in some weird environment?
I just noticed they smashed a team from Lithuania 5-0 at home and tied them in Lithuania…so there’s gotta be something strange about playing at their home
Roma lost because they hired “The Special Once” after over half a decade of unmitigated disasters in England.
Bockaj hasn’t been that poor. He’s certainly lacking defensively but if utilized as a wing-back, he’s extraordinary. He’s had two or three amazing performances this season, but I do agree that it’s a risk in a game like this. Ljubicic at LB is the safer pick.
I remember when Bockaj was at Osijek and I watched him…he seemed to be involved in everything AND, he was lethal with his crosses. Last season Bockaj started out pretty good and slowly tailed off…and this season, he’s been ok but not that same player I used to see at Osijek!