With the Greece tie now only two weeks away, it would be ideal to see Croatian players at optimal form with their clubs. But that didn’t happen this weekend. Instead, defender Domagoj Vida was the only Croatian international to find the back of the net in a weekend that was uneventful for the Vatreni. Vida headed home a cross on a rain-soaked pitch against Karpaty in the 12th minute of a match that would end 1-1. Vida suffered a scary head gash 10 days ago in Europa League but never sat out because of the gash.
Vida Goal
After a horrendous match for Liverpool last week, Dejan Lovren was left off the squad this week in a 3-0 win over Huddersfield after suffering a thigh injury in warmups. It does not seem serious and Lovren should be available for Greece.
Ivan Strinić played the full 90 minutes for Sampdoria in a 4-1 win over Chievo Verona this weekend. He has been receiving minutes at Sampdoria in an efficient defense and could very well be used in Croatia’s defense against Greece. Would you put him in your starting XI?
Vida gave head on his girl while she was on her period
Oh dont worrý Croatia will . Prevail
@Zee – I hear what your saying. I think on paper – Argentina is better – on paper, but Uruguay have been delivering when it counts which is most important so yes I think Uruguay at the moment is performing better and is therefore a better team. Argentina have better individuals. Huge difference. France and Netherlands had fantastic players and couldn’t muster shit as a team for a few years.
@ Bobby V – I don’t know about Uruguay always having good strikers. They missed the world cup for 50 years or something crazy mind you they are small like us. I will say however we can take a page from them. Every guy on the Uruguayan national team will bite (Suarez), deliberate handball (Suarez) kick (Godin, Rodriguez and pretty much any player) and even take a concussion and run back on the field (Periera) ok stupid for your health but you get the point.
Here’s the video below. The crazy f&$ker went back on the field! Corluka showed we have some of it when he split his head. Vida is a fighter as well but this is pretty much the mentality of the entire Uruguayan national team!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ED6jDdNooA
Now I get it, playing dirty isn’t pretty or a good thing to be associated with BUT every team needs some dark arts. Drastic times call for drastic measures. No one better examplifies that than Uruguay who fight tooth and nail.
Portugal did it to us in the Euro (stomps galore). I get it there should have been yellows and maybe reds but you play the whistle not stop and stare at the ref. Mandza has it, master of knowing when to be greasy. Usually it’s teams/players who are limited with skilled players because that’s all they can resort to – Portugal (have good teams in ebs and flows) Turks, Mexicans (are technically good but small) Greeks, Chileans, Uruguayans (actually have talented players as well but playing hard is in their DNA). All teams we don’t like playing.
We need some dirt if we can’t win with pure skill and using the same old tactic everyone already knows about.
Midfield hold, overlap cross for big man tap in from 5 yards/header then repeat.
Uruguay always had good strikers – Enzo Francescoli and Diego Forlan were two of the best
@Croatian person. Sure they are in a similar boat. But Uruguay is better. Not as good as us as long as we got our heads on straight.
Agreed Iggy – Guys Argentina has been at the last World Cup finals and 3 copa America finals in a row and just can’t close it. I agree they should be winning but runner up in those 4 tournaments is still pretty good and better than what we’ve done. Had they won they may have been considered better or at least in the same sentence as Spain’s Euro, World, Euro winning team if they won and had a Copa, Copa, World, Copa titles to their name. There will be people who think it’s harder to win a Euro Cup than World Cup or Copa America (I am one of those people).
Also good point Zee – Mandza is given orders from his club coach and he does what’s asked of him.
Argentina is in a somewhat similar boat as us where they don’t have big name coaches to match their talent but they still have on average coaches who are coaching in higher/better clubs. The last Copa America had 4 Argentinian coaches in the final four.
@iggy. Where is the copa america win. Ain’t none. All i say Uruguay won in 11. And they will produce again.!I
Ok iggy agreed. No winner with this generation. Just like us. Screw the final winners win.
Didn’t argentina make the last WC final? I’d say they’ve produced, you know, just a tad more than us…
Ya somewhat agreed Bobby v. But mandzo does what his coach and system tells him to do. He is very versatile!
@Bobby v. Cavani and suarez are better than higuan and messi. Uruguay has produced. Won copa america in 2011. Where the hell is Argentina with this so called generation? Nowhere. Uruguay had more points again. And they will produce more than this argentinian generation. Easy.!
@Zee – Messi was tied for second in South American qualifying with 7 goals, behind Edinson Cavani (Uruguay) who had 10.
You are correct about Higuain (who was actually born in France – his father played for a French club). He had 13 goals in 2016 for Argentina, but did not score in qualifying.
Similiar numbers as Mandzukic for both years playing for their national teams. Probably why Argentina struggled to qualify – definitely the reason Croatia has as well.
Vrsaljko benched it today.
@ Maminjo – Vida Mitrovic at CB and Strinic at LB?
Would you guys rather have Strinic or Pivarić at LB? If Vrsaljko goes LB who plays RB?
Bobby v. What has higuan and messi done for home country. Just scored for juve but what has he done for Argentina? Not much. They much like us. Generation might have passed.
CB… Anybody but Lovren
LB… Anybody but Pivarić
Actually it was Lovren.
Lovren was at fault for BOTH goals in that game against Greece.
If Lovren was a little more humble (like Modric) I don’t think people would give him such a hard time but I think he thinks he’s better than what he is. It’s one thing to screw up make mistakes etc It’s another to do that and then take a selfie of your new tattoo hours after a loss or demand to start or you won’t play (Cro NT). People may cut you some slack depending on your attitude but you can’t be screwing up while carrying yourself as some diva. It doesn’t work. As much as I don’t like it, the only players who can be demanding, selfish etc are the stars who produce which Lovren is not.
Who starts at CB for us vs Greece? Who do you guys want starting on defence for us?
@ Truth – We’ll see how those CB’s perform against Greece. The smallest player for Greece scored a header in our box to make it 2-0 last time we played. I think it may have been Lovren’s man but I could be wrong but I’m probably not.
This guy must not watch Liverpool
Cb has seemed perfectly fine. As far as i can, 4 goals were given up in qualifying. One by perisic against Iceland. One a botched save by subasic against Turkey. 3 a mess up by pivaric against Finland. 4, a free kick deflection against Turkey
That being said, let’s not pretend our cbs faced any quality opponents the whole cycle
While striker can be a issue our true problems are at LB RW and Cb until Charlie gets back….has anyone been keeping tabs on Caleta Car
@ Maminjo – I agree, Rakitic is ok against teams that bunker – he doesn’t need to run as much.
Mandzukic would be effective only if he positions himself to score along side another tall striker like Perica. Let the Greeks try to double-team two tall strikers trying to knock in headers from crosses.
Playing him any other way or alongside anyone else would be a waste and lead him to play like he has been lately.
I honestly don’t remember the last game where we really pounded the wings and launched half decent balls in
Past games wer barely beating the first man on balls in
Mandžo against Greece nay not make sense, it’s true.
Kramarić makes all the sense in the world.
We need highly skilled technical players who can operate in tight spaces and NOT lose their cool when fouled.
As much as we bash Rakitić, he’ll be useful against Greece. Mandžo will only be good if our game plan is to send in quality crosses all game.
Hopefully we do that. I’m not looking forward to a game where we hold 70% possession, and do nothing with it because we’re waiting for the perfect pass that never comes.
…the last thing I want to see is Mandzukic hanging out with the defenders against a team that is most likely going to bunker.
I’m an old man and have been a fan of AC Milan for many years.
To see Kalinic playing now in the same role as Marco van Basten is really hard to believe.
First of all, Rakitic and Mandzukic would make excellent substitutes if you are protecting a lead.
Their offensive days are numbered or over with.
Against Greece, all you can do now is use a single striker – Kramaric.
If we make it to the World Cup, I’d call up the next set of forwards that have not yet been capped – whoever they may be in the system.
Stipe Perica, Robert Muric, along with trying to convert Josip Brekalo and Nikola Vlasic would be what I’d start with.
You’d have 6 months to find a partner with Kramaric.
@Bobby
I see you highlight a problem, fair enough. Could you propose a solution a little less vague?
My favourite Perisic goal is the one he scored for Dortmund against Arsenal.
This goal against the mastiffs, all though good, is something a player of Perisic’s quality should always be putting away.
https://youtu.be/_Ti4RaPbglE
http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/nogomet/liga-prvaka/juventusov-trener-se-naklonio-mariju-mandzukicu-allegri-objasnio-zasto-mu-hrvat-uvijek-igra-pa-on-bi-mogao-igrati-i-stopera/6701448/
…and one week earlier, I stated here that Croatia cannot afford to use Mandzukic the same way Juventus does.
..have to add, don’t get me wrong, I’ll absolutely be the first one out of my seat if either one scores goals against Greece.
In the long run, some coach has to have the guts to address it.
Glad to see that most of you have come around to not having Lovren or Pivaric in the starting lineup against Greece.
Now, adding to my other main point from last week.
Go and watch the ACMilan-Juventus match from Saturday and you’ll see what a World Class striker – Gonzalo Higuain – looks like.
In that same game, watch our two inept strikers, Kalinic and Mandzukic run around the field without a clue. Mandzukic was Juventus best defender, inside his own penalty box making great plays – never in position to score the entire match.
Kalinic missed an absolute sitter at the end of the first half, hitting the crossbar from 3 yards out, among other chances. It prompted the owner of AC Milan to say after the match- “We wanted to bring in a $100 million dollar striker over the summer, but when you are not in the Champions League, it is impossible to do”
Time for a change – bring in totally new young players who are hungry – don’t care about their club form – it is the national team form that counts.
Perisic with a SCREAMERRRRR!!!
@ mr black
Thanks for sharing that story. I agree, rakitic should be given a free pass for life on the repka because of the hardship his family endured after he picked Croatia including nasty phone calls
It reminds me of a story my brother told me about during the homeland war. First each soldier was asked if they wanted to pick Croatia. Upon doing so, they would be congratulated
It came with grave consequences though. From that point on they were subjected to nasty phone calls from the opposition. These phone calls are still being investigated in the hague to this day
But for enduring those nasty phone calls, the soldiers were given a free pass from giving maximum effort and fulfilling their duties
man utd dominated the prem for a while with mark hughes and cantona as the strikers neither quick. one a physical beast, the other with touch and vision. for it work there must be pace on the wings. man utd had giggs and kanchelskis. there are many tactical combinations which CAN work, and COULD work, but at the end of the day, they got to do it with belief, fire and a bit more arrogance. This IS going to work. We ARE the better team. We WILL win this game
yeah, would be amazing. there are reasons for it though, rakitic needs space. he needs the space created by quick forwards with good movement. Cacic to his huge credit played rakitic close to mandzukic alomost as forward pair against the Czechs. taking rakitic out of the congested midfield allowing him to play with his back to the opposition goal, using his touch to play first time flicks around the corner to mandza, who is also slow meaning they are in snyc. it was a creative solution to the rakitic conundrum and if the finishing had been more clinical we would have put 5 or 6 past the Czechs with it. that would have been a major confidence boost for the team and for rakitic in the cantona role…..but wasn’t to be…we await the people in charge to bring us something to cheer into the night
His chip against the Czech Republic at the Euros was pretty sweet too.
He has been very inconsistent for us. Imagine though if a manager can finds a way to get the best out of him on our NT… If we can get Rakitic, Modric and Perisic all playing near their best it would be a beautiful thing.
For the people who hate Ivan Rakitic:
http://arhiva.nacional.hr/en/clanak/37195/rakitic-family-terror-in-switzerland
Filip Krovinovic slowly manages to play for Benfica after his injury. He was subbed in after 84 minutes for Benfica in their 1-0 victory against Feirense. Krovinovic is only 22 and plays as a real number 10.
Nikola Vlasic wasn’t even on the bench for Everton against Leicester (2-0 for Leicester). Apparently due to some stomach problems the night before. He should be okay for Everton’s next game.
The reffing in that game was simply the worst.. I mean we didn’t expect fair reffing, and we prolly knew it would be biased, i think it was just HOW bloody bullshit it was that shocked everyone. I have some HRV vids on YouTube and at the time there was a bunch of brazilians even saying, man that was total bs and u guys got fucked, that’s how bad it was, even they were apologetic!
That comment mostly for rakitic and a little bit perisic
I know rakitic isn’t the same one as Seville but he led that team
Wasn’t he captain when they won Europa. That’s some game changing stuff
It’s all bout the effort we put in.
No one will debate our talent is not nuff
Fact of the matter this is ours to lose
Yes Greece ain’t a pushover but if we show up like we can we got this
Where is King Bronk when you need him
Idemo – ya I am surprised they even let the own goal stand. Surprised they didn’t invent some bs rule. Although they did do a preliminary World Cup draw and then had a second one because Brazil had a stacked group. Google it if you don’t believe me guys. First time ever there were 2 group draws for a World Cup. We’ll see if they have it in Russia.
Expecting anything for the refs against Brazil in Brazil…..
Ya Maminjo you’re right. The ref didn’t even budge and it was a clear foul. Not to mention the Neymar foul on Modric and the Olic “foul” on Julio Ceasar. Disaster reffing that game.
Don’t forget that suplex that he received from a Brazil player which led to Oscar’s goal on us, lol
I hear ya pog. But that touch pass to Kramaric in our last game was sweet!
Sad that the only things I’ll remember him for are that give away in the 120th against Turkey and missing that header against Spain.
Rakitic is our Ozil, but less productive.
Classy on the ball but that’s about it.
He should be done after 2018.
@ Soul Champ – you said it right for there – If he is in the mood.
@ Maminjo
We need some range passing from the back now that Modric has taken his rightful position upfield.
Badelj is good and has tidy technique.
But Rakitic has vision and more power.
He is not fast but he takes the space in his own way and especially when he is in the mood.
I would never call rakitic to national team. Honestly his club form to national team form is the biggest drop off out off all the players, and it’s not even close. And it’s to do with effort and that’s it, rakitic does ALOT of running in Barca and helping out the defence probably runs the most, yet with Croatia he just goes out for a casual stroll. Everyone for years would say he Always plays out of position for hrvatska. He’s played behind striker cdm left right wing all the same nothing changes he simply sucks in the checkers. Don’t understand why he’s always guaranteed a starting position with such lacklustre effort.
Anyone know anything about this budimir kid from crotone in serie a?? Seen his name pop up a few times on the s scoresheets.
Badelj will be CDM.
He runs way more than Rakitić (who is also slow as fuck).
Rakitić is skilled, but will be off the team in 3 years time.
lol yeah i remember that, but i also used to call for Modric to play keeper and Pletikosa and Lovren as the 2 strikers LOL
We need to be powerful with Greece.
But we can’t come out pressing and give up a cheap counter goal …. we also can’t knock the ball around our defensive half all match either.
Dalić needs to strike a balance.
I love Vida and Mitrovic at the CB, they attack set pieces and that’s where Greece will focus their goal scoring intentions.
Pray Rakitic can give us a World Class CDM performance where he also initiates offense and maybe bangs one or two from deep.
He was so effective for Sevilla in this role.
His range passing will be key to stretching the bunker.
@ Iggy
Remember you used to call for Lovren to play striker when he used to shoot from distance.
I always thought he should of been a defensive midfielder.
We needed a CDM to free up Modrić at the time.
When healthy he is great athlete that likes to run forward. His little brother is an attacking player.
He just does not want to play CB and he loses that focus.
He has good foot skills and can make decent basic forward passes.
I think fundamentally he does not like playing CB.
His body his rejecting the position.
He needs to find a small club to redefine his career and be happy.
He has money for life.
Go play and enjoy the rest of your career as CDM.
Greece won’t be attacking us the way Ukraine did in that first half though of course. Ukraine had a really solid first half and we looked like GOBSHITE. I thought we were goners for sure at HT, we all did!
I honestly thought Vida and Vrsaljko swapped looked terrible Vida was taken for a ride that whole game
@Soul- would love if Dalic would play that line-up. Not my ideal, but I would feel very confident with that lineup vs Greece.
Attacking and one v one skills galore. People forget Rebic was Pjaca before Pjaca was Pjaca.
Shame that Corluka and even Jedvaj are injured.
The goal is to keep Lovren and Pivaric out of the starting lineup.
A back four of Vida, Corluka, Mitrovic, and Vrsaljko would be best for us right now (with Vida and Vrsaljko being played on either fullback position).
I would even put a young player like Tudor or Jedvaj at RB if it meant keeping Lovren and Pivaric out.
I don’t really like Strinic or Leovac, but I’d take them over starting Pivaric.
Too bad we can’t clone Vida. I would put him at all four positions in our backline.
Soul champ i like it.
Anonymous. Don’t know nothing about that sport. Hè was a golden glove boxer so i really dunno.
4-1-3-2
_______Kramarić__________Mandžukić
Perišić ________Modrić_______ Rebic
_____________Rakitic_____________
Strinic______Vida________Mitrovic__Vrsajlko
_______________Subasic
Subs : Kalinic, Vlasic, Rog
^
The guy Miocic wanted to fight, I would advise against that.
I see. Thanks man.
Anthony Joshua see best heavy weight boxer
Who the heck is joshua anon? What sport is it mma?
Joshua headbutted by Takam in rnd 2
sorry, this article:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jurgen-klopp-explains-exactly-what-11426668
rolf at this article:
I read one sentence:
_The Serbian centre-back was meant to start the Premier League fixture, and was training on the pitch alongside his Reds teammates at Anfield_
LEL, and i thought The Mirror is such quality. Still the way Lovren is playing let them say he is a serb lmfao
We can’t have him start against Greece in this state
Lovren getting absolutely destroyed on social media.
edit*** against Hoffenheim good call @bz ill take betting advice
remind me to never take betting advice from @bz
2-2
1-3
lol
I’d also bet against Hoffenheim. Whenever a coach calls out his best player (Kramaric) for being selfish, despite positive results, things will never end well.
I’d take West Ham vs whomever they might play this weekend. Bilic ain’t going down without a fight. That is my lock, lock her up and make some money.
Yeah injury, sure! He tripped over his own feet? Ok
Wow that’s a ballsy bet to take…late change lovren doesn’t start due to injury
^
Leipzig to beat Bayern
Anyone have any locks today?
Lovren starting
Think last week was Lovrens last game in a Liverpool shirt.
When you’re own coaches throws you to the wolfs there’s no hiding.
Any comments on Ladic situation or is that Hajduks fault?
Can’t see Lovren starting but who knows i guess!