Luka Modrić played another 90 minutes in a HUGE 1-0 AC Milan victory over Roma Sunday night. Milan had no business winning this match as Roma were the better team in the 1st half with superior chances. Dybala’s late 2nd half penalty kick was blocked by French #1 Maignan to keep the clean sheet. With the win, AC Milan are pacing well with the top dogs in Italy; already beating Napoli and Roma while drawing Juventus 0-0. They have not yet played city rivals Inter 10 matches into the season. AC Milan currently trail 1st place Napoli by only one point.
Modrić was given a 6.5 grade from Sempre Milan as “It wasn’t the best of starts to the game for him, often blocked out by Roma and with a lack of precision in his passing. Having said that, he did improve as the game went on by tonight, it was perhaps more so a case of opening up space for his teammates.”
Joško Gvardiol started and played the full 90 minutes for Manchester City in a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth Sunday at CB. The win moves city to 2nd place; 6 points behind leaders Arsenal. Gvardiol received a 6.9 grade for his efforts as he “Put in some big tackles and won four of his six duels. Pep Guardiola said that Manchester City will wait on Mateo Kovačić ‘for the last part of the season’ with the midfielder sidelined again with an ankle injury. Looks like we won’t see Kova again until 2026.
Andrej Kramarić came off the bench for Hoffenheim at half time and supplied an assist five minutes later to make it 2-1. Hoffenheim would ultimately beat Wolfsburg 3-2 to climb up to 6th on the Bundesliga table. Krama received a 7.5 SOFAScore rating for his efforts.
Luka Vušković and Hamburg lost 4-1 to Koln on Sunday which should have resulted in a horrible player rating for the 18 year-old defender. Even with his side conceding 4x, Vušković received an impressive 7.2 SOFAScore rating with 3/4 aerial duels won and one dribble past. No matter what happens with Vušković this season while on loan, Hamburg will be fighting to stay out of the relegation zone.
U17 WC
Croatia v Senegal 0 – 0
Good result against physically stronger and quicker opponent.
When the teams lined up for the national anthems some of the Senegal players looked like 20 year olds?
Not many chances in the match but we had the better chances in the first half and should have taken the lead when Benkotic missed a sitter on the stroke of half time.
Some good prospects in the team especially Leon Jakirovic left footed CB who looked very good.
There is no way most of those players for Senegal are 17 years old lol. Team looked tactically very disciplined didn’t give Senegal almost nothing. We had some good chances in the first half should have scored one. A bit to selfish from the attackers trying to much individual one one one stuff.
Thanks to @Mart and @Cro911 for the U17 reports.
Much appreciated!
I will not sit here and listen to this racism!!!
😜
African teams used to cheat player birth certificates for under age tournaments. It’s no longer possible as players have bone scans to check age. So they are 17
Vrijeme je da se zakopa sjekira. Vrijeme je za Luka Sucić.
Igor Matanovic was named MOTM by kicker for his performance in last week’s German Cup match vs Fortuna Dusseldorf which saw him make his first start for Freiburg. He was also named MOTM by kicker in his first appearance for Freiburg back in September when he came off the bench to score twice in a come-from-behind win over Stuttgart. All these while being on limited playing time. I would like to think Igor is slowly but surely making progress at Freiburg… hope he’ll keep working hard to convince Schuster to use him more.
With Kova now out once again, it remains to be seen who will be called up from the standby list and who will play for him in his place for the final two WCQ matches.
But I myself hope that Kova doesn’t go down the Juranović/Vrsaljko route and becomes constantly injured throughout the rest of his career. We really need Kova for the post-Modrić era and to start for us, otherwise without him (and Modrić) we’ll very likely be weakened in our midfield (Moro and/or Jakić won’t really compensate for us I’m afraid).
It’s too bad that Toma Bašić is not on the standby list. He is playing very well as a regular starter for Lazio, a team with a number of internationals for other countries. He also plays the same position as Kovačić and has speed. He would be a better backup to Kovačić than Moro, Jakić, Vlašić or either of Baturina or Luka Sučić on his current form (normally Sučić is a top player, but he hasn’t been playing). I guess Mario Pašalić instead of Kovačić? Or Moro starts and Petar Sučić plays more attacking-wise?
Good shout about Bašić!!! I’d like for him to be called up to the NT sooner than later!
Also, if we put Mario Pašalić next to P. Sučić again, we’ll witness the same struggles that we saw against the same upcoming opponent (Faroe Islands I mean) back in September this year. So, I’d kinda rather start Moro and see how this “experiment” works out there. But it’s up to Dalić and what he’ll come up with, so let’s see.
Celje 2-1 Aluminij
In the Slovenian league Saturday, Franko Kovacevic opened the scoring with a straightforward goal in the 22nd minute. 25 goals in 22 games across all competitions from the new NT stand-by forward. Celje sits atop the league with a 9 point lead over Maribor.
youtube.com/watch?v=ifdCvUCkDN4&t=87s
FIFA U17 WC starts today.
Matches can be seen LIVE on Maxsport or on FIFA +
KO times are Croatian Time.
03.11. 14:00 Croatia – Senegal
06.11. 14:15 Croatia – UAE
09.11. 15:45 Croatia – Kostarika
Player List:
Goalkeepers: Matej Grahovac (Osijek), Petar Nemet (Istra 1961), Vito Kovač (Rijeka)
Defenders: Petar Zvonimir Kostelac (Lokomotiva), Leon Jakirović (Dinamo), Raul Kumar (Istra 1961), Karlo Pajsar (Parma), Lukas Murica (Rijeka), Mateo Čupić (Hajduk), Nikola Radnić (Dinamo)
Midfielders: Roko Vojvodić (Hajduk), Krešimir Radoš (Dinamo), Pavle Smiljanić (Lokomotiva), Niko Horvat (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Duje Slišković (Union Berlin), Jona Benkotić (Dinamo)
Forwards: Tino Kusanović (FC Nürnberg), Patrik Horvat (Dinamo), Andrija Burcar (Parma), Ivan Križić (Hertha BSC), Gabrijel Šivalec (Slaven Belupo)
Coach: Marijan Budimir
Niko Horvat is the one to watch from this age group.
Real talent there
Gvardi vuskovic whoever and stanisic will be pretty flipping awesome to watch
If livakovic can go all world again
I like our chances
Like I told a friend
I always bull speak and say Croatian gonna win every tourney
Call me crazy, the doctors already do, but we can do something special again
Modric playing very well. AC Milan leading Roma, 1-0.
Should be 3 or 4-0 . . . Roma missed a penalty kick but Milan have missed some glorious opportunities to score.
About 15 minutes to go.
through 8 games vuskovic stats have been so impressive that he definitely warrants serious consideration for a starting spot
I do have some fear on his foot speed but not like the other cbs we got our Usain Bolt
Dalic is comfortable leaning on older cbs though. We cringed as he kept lovren in there at the 22 wc, and the guy did pretty well
Lovren was a beast in Qatar.
Bad week for many of our players.
Focusing on players who are more concerning below…
Stanisic benched for crucial match, not even sub in..gurreiro boey laimer are all on form..with davis waiting in the wings
Sutalo, DCC, baturina, ivanovic and luka sucic: benched and not subbed in
Vlasic: subbed off at HT
Stanisic is just back from injury. Kompany clearly likes him. There is nothing to worry about
DCC is a good player. Very underrated by everyone including people on this site. But he lacks pace which is massively sought attribute in the modern game. Every club he plays at he is dropped for someone quicker, before the coach realised DCC is a better player and he gets back in the team. He will be fine
Baturina is super talented and I’m glad that fabregas is taking time with him. He needs this. He has the number 10 position at dinamo and could afford to slack off and still play every week. Now he is away from home, he needs to grow up quick and work very hard. If he does that his talent will come through and he will become a top player. Patience required
Ivanovic is a slight concern. Mourinho is not the type to rotate. He finds his best 11 and sticks to it. But again it’s a challenge for Franjo. Let’s see if he can push to become a better all round player. His strength and fighting spirit must improve for mourinho to pick him. Let’s see
Luka sucic. Let’s see what he does now. If he sulks he is finished. If he is determined then it will improve him. Like baturina he has the ability. Time to wake up and smell the coffee
Agree with @Crnkovic. All good points.
Agreed on DCC, smart defender. Rarely gets beaten, positional awareness similar to Corluka. Both slow as molasses but rarely caught in bad position.
I dont watch UFC since it’s basically a nazi convention at this point but what was the controversy with Delija fight? He thought he won and the fight was stopped for a replay or something and he ended up losing?
Dinamo really lack a creative player in midfield since they sold Baturina. Fruk was by far the best player on the field today creating multiple chances for Rijeka. Dinamo need to go get Jagusic in the winter transfer as they have no creative player in there midfield.
No Jagusic for Dinamo
They could just start Luka Stojković…
He’s probably their most creative midfielder but Boban seems to think he’s “too wild” (whatever that means)
Mudražija should also probably get a chance too, though I haven’t seen too much of him (so not sure how creative he is).
Misic should have been sent off when the score was 1 – 1 with 15 minutes to play. Stojkovic is currently injured but he definitely should be in the starting 11.
Pink Pandur 2-0 v. Norwich
3 saves – but easy saves (only 0.23 xG combined)
His passing and long-ball stats still suck though
Hull on 22 points – only 3 points back of guaranteed promotion to PL
Obviously if Sergej Jakirovic gets Hull into the PL – that’s a crazy accomplishment – HNS has no choice but have him on a short-list of potential NT managers (not saying he should be the manager – saying he will be on list of candidates)
Then he can start his son Leon Jakirovic (just like Cico Kranjcar did for Niko) and we can hype him up and sell him to Spurs later
Then he can start his son Leon Jakirovic (just like Zlakto Kranjcar did for Niko) and we can hype him up and sell him to Spurs later
Then he can start his son Leon (like Cico Kranjcar did for Niko) and we can then sell him to Tottenham later
Lol!
I have no idea what triggers comments get thrown into moderation on this site
Lol!
10:30 Sat Igor vs. JJ’s team
Let’s see if the manager let’s Igor build on that impressive performance in the Cup with a start today
Similar to the below (but in reverse) – as soon as Dalic calls up Igor – Freiburg decides to start him in the next game (albeit a Cup) – the club might now be thinking – well if their is a chance Igor can make the NT and go to the World Cup – we should be starting starting him – as we could 3x or (way) more our $$$ by summer 2026
Dalic 4D chess
Marin Ljubicic too I guess (although zero minutes this year at UB)
Both Lazy & Soft and Wedding Boy’s teams play Saturday
Anonymous wonders if their clubs might start playing them more – as it doesn’t help the re-sale value of their asset if they actually get kicked off the NT – i.e. the value of their asset declines in value and the club will lose money
Wonder if it’s some 4D chess Dalic is playing – i.e. he’s actually trying to help them get playing time – so he’s playing the clubs if you don’t play them they get kicked of the NT – if they get kicked off the NT and don’t go to the World Cup the value of your asset declines by [50%] – card
Obviously not that simple – as the clubs want to win games in the league – but there is a balance there
To monitor
Luka Vuskovic Sunday 09:30 vs. Koln