Was the key to Mateo Kovačić’s success Frank Lampard leaving Chelsea? Yep!
Kovačić and Chelsea are on absolute fire since Lampard was sacked and that showed Tuesday night in Madrid as the Premiership club squeaked by Atletico 1-0 with a 2nd half Olivier Giroud bicycle kick. Kovačić was praised in yet another match with an 8/10 rating as “Chelsea’s best player by a country mile, the Croatian never put a foot wrong and ran the show in the middle of the park as he helped link attack and defense and dictated the tempo of play in what was yet another midfield masterclass from the 26-year-old.”
Kovačić is heating up. Chelsea are on fire. And now the club is 90 minutes away from the Champions League quarterfinals with an all-important away goal bagged in Madrid. Atletico’s Šime Vrsaljko did not dress for this match.
Luka Modrić and Real Madrid travel to Italy on Wednesday to take on Mario Pašalić and Atalanta in the Champions League Round of 16 – 3PM (ET). Modrić has been absolutely carrying the Real midfield all season long and more will be needed from him against a tricky and unpredictable Atalanta club.
AmaZing our two captains were blonde guys.
Exactly
Even the players don’t know why sometimes
When you have captains like luka and rakitic who are obviously great with tactics themselves… you have to listen to them
But even then sometimes they can’t see it
Thank God luka is still going strong till the new guys can step up
There won’t be another modric but there will be something different
We will never be without talent
You can’t mess with genetics
RE: Modric and Rakitic
I remember Raketa saying in an interview after the WC, that the first time things really clicked between them (I cant remember which game he was referring to), they looked at each other after the game and said something like: ” wow…why didn’t we do that before?”
We can debate the “how can we setup our formation to get the best out of Kovacic” question all day. The fact is…nobody has solved this puzzle yet. We shouldn’t take any chances in meaningful games, but it would be a lethal ‘tool” to have an alternative formation ready, that used Kova’s talents. Even Tuchel substituted Kova out a few times to change up their formation, and change the flow of the game (even though Kova was playing well). I hope Dalic is not afraid of making those tough changes when necessary. We have so many good options coming off the bench, but it will be up to the manager to get the best out of this talented group.
To all your points, I think that was a massive tactical blunder in terms of how we kind of boxed in Luka. I know we all sing a different tune now, post Russia, but prior to the tournament I felt like a big part of that generation’s shtick was how Rakitic and Modric (two world class players) never really mixed. But, once Cacic made that change and Dalic rolled with it, the rest as they say, is history.
.
Curious to see how the midfield shapes up in the lead up to the Euro and post Euro, in the event Modric retires. Curious to see how we get the most out of Vlasic, Broz, Kovacic, Majer, Basic and potentially Sucic – and who plays/where we slot them.
I think the Luka/Rakitić chemistry issues stemmed alot from Modrić not really being allowed to venture forward.
We used him strictly as a deep lying midfielder and that was it.
.
But once Ante Čačić took over, Modrić suddenly started scoring goals, lol.
But I recall Dalić wanting to push him more forward for that Ukraine game too, and it was a success.
video of Luka’s assist on the winner / only goal in Champions League game in Bergamo vs Atalanta:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1364693532351455233
Is there a formation we haven’t tried with Kova and luka?
Seem to remember rakitic and modric not gelling for a long while for mostly formation reasons, no?
@ Razbijac,
–
No. Modric with Broz behind him is perfect. Then you have your 2 wings and whatever you want to do with the two attackers. If you play one striker, I still don’t like Modric/Kova next to each other. If he plays like this, the mantle succeeding Modric is his. It’s only his to mess up.
@gbvh
Oh wow. I did realize that Dinamo turned down Ilicic….
.
But I think he was already officially capped by Slovenia, so that might have been the reason why they did.
.
If it’s true that Croatia were trying to cap him, and he turned them down, then maybe that’s why Dinamo was like ‘eff this guy” lol.
.
It’s a shame they settled in Slovenia after his dad died. They are full Croats and he would have been playing for us right now. Oh well. We have a stack midfield anyway, lol. Call me when it’s a goalkeeper.
.
We need to send Jan Oblak multiple whores per week, and a Croatian cizitenship application form.
Though I agree that it would be great to see that ‘switching’ between Modric and Kovacic on offense and defense…
.
But Kovacic just sucks in the opponent’s third. There’s no sugarcoating it. He’s just bad there.
Razbijač
.
No. Kovacic has proven that he cannot be that solid buffer in front of our defense. We have too large a sample where we’ve seen him struggle.
.
Vlasic is infinitely better than him in the starting eleven, and works better with our strong pressing wingers.
.
We just gotta continue to watch Kovacic and his role at Chelsea. If it’s true that he’s really been “impactful” on Chelsea, then maybe we can try and copy & paste that role into our starting eleven.
.
But it’s too late to experiment right now (we have key qualifiers next month). Maybe just off the bench.
@ Razbijac
Good question…that could work, and I think its worth trying. As long as Kova is not chosen over Broz (his starting spot is set in stone IMO).
Ilicic article, with Croatia/Dinamo mentions:
•
https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2021/02/24/60363556268e3e4c218b4570.html
Kova’s recent performances now begs the question….do we now include him in our starting 11???
We could have a midfield triangle with Modric on top, and Brozovic and Kovacic in support behind him. We would dominate possession, and have a solid buffer in front of our defense.
Chelsea are improving under Tuchel, but I wouldn’t say they are on fire. Their new formation suits Kova’s possession and dribbling skills, and he has been a key part of their turnaround… everything moving forward goes through Kovacic. However they are still lacking in the final 3rd.