Andrej Kramarić made his season debut for Hoffenheim Sunday; returning from a knee injury. Kramarić got the start and played the full match against Schalke, who would have taken top spot in the Bundesliga with a win over Hoffenheim. Instead, Kramarić broke the deadlock in the 71st minute, cleaning up the trash in front of the net after a blocked shot. Hoffenheim would add another for the 2-0 win and are now five points behind a packed Bundesliga leaderboard.
With Kramarić back, does he automatically get his starting role back from Petković against Slovakia? I think the answer is yes. Although Petković has been scoring goals against the likes of Hungary and Slovakia, one striker plays in Croatia. The other plays in the Bundesliga. On top of that, Kramarić will have six months to gel with the national team again leading up to Euro 2020.
Kramarić Scores In Return (3:35)
Outside of Kramarić, it was pretty quiet this weekend for Croatian players. Nikola Vlašić had an assist in a 1-1 CSKA draw vs. Ufa. Luka Modrić sat out Real Madrid’s 1-0 shock loss to Mallorca due to the knock he picked up against Wales. Perišić sat for Bayern. Kovačić played 50 minutes for Chelsea. Brekalo played 75 minutes for Wolfsburg. Rakitić played 10 minutes for Barcelona. Brozović assisted in Inter’s 4-3 win over Sassuolo.
Champions League Day 3 kicks off this week so many of these clubs held back at the weekend to go full force with heir best lineup. I’m looking for a big game from Perišić vs. Olympiakos this Tuesday.
Oh I seem to remember zivkovic giving away that penalty against mexico at 02
Never saw him play ever again haha
So many contenders for silly defending over the years
Tudor was overrated I reckon and mixed in with not playing with passion for Croatia was a bad mix
Never saw what juve saw in him I was he was a ball watcher
Jerkan was trying to play basketball in ’96 as well so he was kinda dogshite to go with Tomas
How about the Niko red card against English
2009? Deserved?
My personal favourite was stimac half way line tackle that got him sent off against the Germans at euro 96
Yeah let’s not forget the shambolic deep defending against the Aussies 06 and against Mexico at 2014
Gut wrenching moments
Can you imagine if this piece of shit did something
Like this during our war of independence.
What an ape
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7596607/Model-films-twerking-burning-Barcelona-street-form-protest.html
Where’s Gordie Schildenfeld when u need him?
It’s a shame that Leicester didn’t let Celtic have Benkovic for another season.
Now he’s rotting on the U23 team while Leicester is a top team in the EPL, with all their defenders in great form.
He was the best defender in the Scottish league last season, and it would have been better had he been playing there this year.
If Barisic can start for us, playing for Rangers…then Benkovic would have definitely started for us, see that he was considered better than Barisic even last year.
He probably would have been ready for next month’s game, and would’ve make a strong case as a starter for next year’s Euros.
Lovren gets my goat every time he gets beat for a goal then immediately looks up and points at someone to deflect the blame the coward
The all time bone headed defender would have to be without question Stjepan Tomas and his volleyball display against Australia in the 2006 World Cup
This dude had to have $ on Australia and I’m still shocked nobody took him out for attempting to punch the ball multiple times on head balls.
He deserves at least a good kick in the sack!
In retrospect, Mitrovic should have been on the World Cup roster over Duje, just out of respect for what he’d done in qualifying.
Who deserves it now is not as much the question, as much as “who is gonna step up and be the face of our future backline?”
Igor Tudor should’ve had a better career.
Be cool with Corluka and Srna back
BRING BACK STIMAC AND BILIC !
Kramaric with another rat goal …clearly stealing a goal from a teammate again
Skoric and Peric does not seem like a good CB combo to end our qualifying campaign. I’d start Caleta-Car and Katic. Both have been getting some minutes at decent teams;
https://www.sofascore.com/player/duje-caleta-car/257091
https://www.sofascore.com/player/nikola-katic/831488
Bring back oh no one we never really had a world class defender to begin with
I guess the up and coming defenders couldn’t be that bad compared to boneheads Lovren and vida
BRING BACK CORLUKA.
🙂
.
Nah we’re not in deep doo-doo. It would be a huge boilover if we lost at home to Slovakia and on the miniscule off-chance we do, then it still requires other results to go a certain way for us to miss out, and then even if all of that does happen, we’ll prolly get in via play-off like we usually do, so we’re all good. We effectively have a triple-chance to get in.
I remind you all when we struggle like hell to get in we do great (98, 2018) and when we cruise in winning every game and bashing every opponent like 2002 we suck at the finals. I think it’s about playing without expectation cos we know it’s a mental game for our guys. So it’s not all bad to struggle to get in, we all know as supports of the Vatreni you do not want a cardiac condition or anything since it’s always a nailbiting and anxiety-inducing experience. Lol i could hardly sleep during the WC i was so nervous all the time and then the games, as we all saw, were about as bloody nerve-inducing as they could possible be, such a difficult team to follow.
I think someone in another thread said we’re all gonna live a few years less for following this team haha and he’s prolly right u know~
Let’s just cap Dinamo’s backline that they used against Atalanta. The Frenchman, the Austrian, all of them!
We are in deep doo doo my friends.
Deep doo-doo.
@Ivo – to je istina.
That’s a back line that would strike fear in any U-12 girls squad
I think Mitrović was injured, and just recently came back from injury (he started the last game against Anderlecht).
He’s an option too.
We have a bunch of CBs who are decent but we don’t know who is better than who (because we always have Vida and Lovren available).
Perić, Mitrović, Katić, Uremović, and Jedvaj are all in the same boat. Dalić needs to figure out the best duo.
Hopefully, Benković recovers from his injury this season and fights for playing time at Leicester. He’s our biggest talent in defense.
What’s mitrovic doing?
Maybe caleta will get back in good graces
……………………………Petkovic………………
………………..Kramaric…………………………
perisic/rebic…………………….Brekalo/orsic
……………..brozovic………mordic…………..
barasic………katic………jedvaj……bartolec
…………………….Livakovic…………………….
Just gotta get through qualifying. That’s all.
Our back four will probably be very different at the tournament, with Vrsaljko back by then and if one of Lovren or Vida fall out of form.
I could even see Krama lighting it up in the second half of the season and winning his starting gig back.
Vlašić, Brekalo and now Oršić just get better and better, yet guys like Rakitić, Rebić and now Perišić are not playing regularly.
Just gotta get through this last game.
Whoever is playing in good form right now, needs to play.
Perić seems decent enough. Katić and Uremović consistently play as well. Hopefully they give us something to think about when they get the start.
Worst case scenario for me would be for Dalić to slide Jedvaj over to CB, and start Bartolec at RB… and give Škorić a chance for the other CB spot. Yikes!
BZ if it goes Rakitic for Vlasic
And vida Lovren Bartolec out
That’s almost half of the lineup change from the Slovakia game
One can argue Bartolec is gone and that’s ok
But the other three are kind of major
As much as sometimes I hate Lovren
I’d still take him and vida over any other two at This point
So prob the back line is Barisic katic Peric Jedvaj
Entirely diff then the World Cup
And diff goalie
Now that’s a big change
Other than Bartolec, and suspended Lovren/Vida if Dalic makes any changes to the core lineup that throttled Slovakia and Hungary 8-0, I’d be surprised and confused. Only remaining decision to make is Rakitic or Vlasic.
Of course one player can make a difference
That’s why the role of a coach is important to ensure the right players are being substituted depending how a particular game is panning out
Drawing a game from 3 0 up is just bad coaching
Is that Krama first game back??
Pk or something diff
He and Rakitic Prob have to be our first choice pk guys going forward
Will be interesting to see how Kramaric form is and what Dalić does
If he is in form I would think he will get the start?
Can they Play at the same time? I don’t think they would combine together??
kramaric gol. don’t hassle the hoff.
Meh.
Pašalić, similar to a guy like Rog, is behind like 8 players in our midfield (with younger U21 guys like Moro likely to add to that growing list).
It’s almost not worth keeping tabs on him.
Good to see Mario Pasalic getta lotta minutes for Atalanta.
Atalanta have continued their fine form from last season, as this year they’re 3rd in the table. I didn’t watch Atalanta’s match, so I don’t know why Pasalic was taken out.
Could it be to save him for the Man city match on Tues? We’ll soon find out.
Marko Rog played the full 90 with Cagliari today and has been starting regularly. The Sardinian club is competitive this season, as they made some good acquisitions this past summer.
There are 21 other players on the field.
I highly doubt that not having Pasalic out there resulted in three goals against.
Ha ha Atalanta’s coach took off Pasalic in the 60th minute 3 0 up and it ended up 3 all
Maybe will think twice next time about taking Mario out of a game
ne sranje Mateo is hurt
Perisic sits, Kovac fails, Jedvaj’s lowly Augsburg ties Bayern.
Oršić kicks off the weekend with a Hat-Trick for Dinamo vs. Gorica. (The dude looks badass with that freshly cut faux mohawk.)
This guy is in the form of his career. A late bloomer, but if he keeps this up, he could be a great option off the bench…providing some additional firepower.