Mateo Kovačić is officially on the board as a Chelsea player. The Real Madrid loanee made his Stamford Bridge debut Saturday in a 3-2 victory over Arsenal; coming off the bench in the 59th minute with the game level at 2-2. Kovačić was rated an ‘8’ in his half an hour of play as he “made some crunching tackles after his introduction and looked a brilliant bit of business by Chelsea. Helped the Blues dominate midfield as they dragged themselves back ahead.” Kovačić impressed in his introduction as Chelsea are now perfect through the first two matches of the season. Although he did not assist on the game winner, his presence on the pitch helped guide Chelsea to victory.
Perišić cross to Icardi
The Inter Croazionale experiment got off to a slow start Sunday as the Italian Serie A season opened up. Last year’s fourth-place finishers in Italy lost to Sassuolo 1-0 through a first half penalty kick with Marcelo Brozović playing 86 minutes. Ivan Perišić started on the bench but came on at halftime and nearly assisted on a 2nd half Icardi goal with a sharp cross from the sideline. Defender Šime Vrsaljko remained on the bench as an unused substitute.
Mario Mandžukić came off the bench for Juventus in the 64th minute in a 3-2 win over Chievo Verona. Milan Badelj played 68 minutes for Lazio in a 2-1 loss to Napoli. Marko Rog came off the bench in the 86th minute for Napoli.
Ivan Rakitić played the full 90 for Barcelona in a 3-0 victory over Deportivo Alaves while Luka Modrić came off the bench in the 71st for Real Madrid in a 2-0 win over Getafe Sunday.
Given Strinic’s heart, sad to see Barisic and Sosa didnt play.
Balkan Bumrushed! Perisic not starting and Vrsaljko on bench=important early loss for Icter Milan…lame i know.
@Mishko- Kovacic is already better than Modric in certain aspects of the game, but that said, when Kovacic wins his 4th CL titles and the Golden Ball, we will revisit this conversation (he already has 2 CL titles, but…)
Kova’s biggest weakness is his shot. No power. He also will never be as composed as Luka. Kova can get out of tough spots incredibly well, but Luka is so good, he doesn’t get into those tough spots as often.
Kova is great, but will never be as good as Modric.
Dalic put out the squad for the upcoming games. Not sure if Strinic will ever be back considering his heart problems.
Everything makes sense when you look at the U21 squad;
https://twitter.com/HNS_CFF/status/1031541943199776768/photo/1
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlCRvf7W4AIh5Lt.jpg
I’m going to make a daring call. I’ve long said that josip bustalo was on my players to watch list given his advanced stats through his youth where he rated very highly on take ons and expected goals created
My models keep flashing green on the kid, so going forward i will refer to him as josip brekalo. I think he’ll show some of his big potential this year even though his team will likely be terrible again
Well Modric was 22 at Euro 2008 and was good.
Time will get, he’s 24. I pijanci nemaju pojma u nogomet
@Mishko je ludjak pijanica dont think Kovacic will be better than Modric. Modric was already named in team of the tournament at Euro 2008 while Kovacic is a bench rider.
I think Kovacic is going to be better than Modric. Mark my words.
Lots of injuries, out of form players (resting from the World Cup), and a few retirees.
Hopefully Dalic can get these guys ready for that clash with Spain in three weeks.
Lovern has a pelvis injury from World Cup. He is not
Currently starting for the scouse.