I'd be wary of coming to broad conclusions after 1 game
We played the same team as against Portugal last week and Spain clearly specifically prepared for that... and tactically outplayed us, that's on Dalić
A dead rubber friendly isn't the same as a proper tournament game.
The midfield has slowed down. Brozo going to Saudi shows in the drop in levels. Can't help with Modric's age(who was the best player for the team still) and Kovacic's legs are also not the same as before.
Up top, you don't have anyone reliable and the defence isn't as reliable either.
When you have to count too many things going right for you, it's a recipe for disaster in a tournament.
Still early to give a verdict, but I don't see a miraculous turnaround here.
Kova was excellent. He had multiple line breaking runs and managed to beat multiple Spanish players surrounding him in Croatia's own half. He clearly still has the legs after just turning 30 last month. Brozovic did well distributing the ball. Modric, however, was too passive but had his moments with some nice passes. The midfield, who won the possession battle for Croatia, therefore wasn't the problem. The problem was their shit defence, starting with Pongracic who is responsible for 2 goals. Then again, he never should've been in the first 11 and that's on the coach. And the fact that Dalic didn't make any subs after half-time and waited until the 60th minute to bring in 35-year old Perisic who came off an ACL tear just a few months ago while having plenty younger and fitter alternatives shows his extreme incompetence. Apart from that, Croatia lacked threats in attack just like in the last WC. But once again, Dalic played 2 players (Kramaric & Majer) out of position on the wings. He also played Gvardiol out of position at left back thinking he could replicate his performances at Man City, which was a foolish assumpion as Gvardiol turned out to be ineffective there. In summary, this 3-0 battering is entirely on coach Dalic who is massively overrated due to having been carried by a top 1-3 midfield since 2018.
But also 2 very different games, Portugal isn’t gonna go all out to risk injuries right before the euros and we were testing alot of different things. Winning wasn’t number 1 priority in that match where now it is. Not saying you guys aren’t good, you definitely are but a friendly is just that a friendly
Tactically... Not sure.
People are saying Gvardiol at LB was the wrong choice cause "he didn't do much offensively".
Man played vs Yamal and daddy Carvajal on his side, and they were very quiet offensively.
Sutalo and Pongracic... Dunno... They look good on the ball, but I'd rather have Erlic hoof the ball into a corn field, but actually defend reliably (he's been a rock for the NT).
Brozovic looks out of sorts. Might be time to play Kova at DM and Pasalic/Sucic in the midfield.
And honestly, if Dalic wants to go all out - start BOTH Pasalic and Sucic and bring Modric in at 60 mins vs Italy (I imagine Luka still starts vs Albania).
Up front... Perisic is 36 and coming off an ACL injury, he can no longer run past people, but more worryingly, he can no longer create enough separation to put in a good cross.
Livakovic - Stanisic, Sutalo, Erlic, Gvardiol - Kovacic, Pasalic, Modric (Sucic) - Majer, Kramaric, Ivanusec
Fuck it, I'd go for that.
Pasalic give us a mini-Jude like presence in the box, late runs and a physical presence. He's played deeper for Atalanta this season, he's ready for a CM role.
Petkovic/Budimir off the bench... They are limited players, and it's showing vs big teams.
I'd rather have an out-of-position Kramaric than either of those two against harder opponents.
Modric and Brozovic can still hold the ball. But if we don't have the ball, it's a fucking stress to get it back.
Pasalic and Sucic give us way more energy.
All that said, none of us see the guys train every day.
Maybe Pongracic is destroying people in practice and Erlic is sucking.
Because of game state, the game was lost in the first 35 minutes because we decided to play without both real wingers and real fullbacks and specifically vs Spain that's a death sentence, no width means you have to take control of the midfield, against anyone other than Spain that might be a good decision, our whole defence was under relentless pressure and we had no outlet
They didn’t push above their weight. They had prime Modric. Mandzukic, Rakitic, kovacic, Perisic, brozovic, in 2018 and then added gvardiol, livakovic in 2022 while knocking Brazil out in the process. This guy loved to play losers like vida and lovren and then people wonder why they didn’t win a wc
Kneejerk reactions are always a thing in football but during a tournament the overreactions are always extra hilarious. One win and a team is the clear favorites, one loss and they are a hopeless disgrace.
Spain were excellently prepared for this game and are an established mismatch for Croatia. They had analyzed Croatia and their weaknesses very well. Their form of the day was great and Croatia started sluggish. Still, with a bit better finishing this game could have ended in a draw. It isn't like Spain dominated possession like they usually do or didn't give away a few huge chances.
Yep. Spain finished all their chances and Croatia didn't. They even missed a penalty, which they're normally great at. Croatia had two amazing opportunities, the penalty and the Cucurella shot block that almost went in afterwards. They were unlucky not to score twice, let alone not even once.
XG tells the same story. Spain had a xG of 2.00 and Croatia of 2.67. Looking at the xG, the opposite result of a 3-0 win to Croatia was even more likely than what we got. It's the perfect example of how scorelines are misleading, and even still people jump to conclusions.
The sub is bad enough in general but during big tournaments there's even more people who barely watch the game and can't judge anything besides the result.
>Croatia had two amazing opportunities, the penalty and the Cucurella shot block that almost went in afterwards
There was also the chance where Budimir was late on a ball from Gvardiol, which went 20cm from the goal line. And Majer's shot from 6m that went to the side net.
We had our chances, but didn't take them.
I'm sorry, scorelines are misleading but xG tells the whole story?
Croatia played with no width against a team that's very good at wing play, there's no way you watched that game and came away with the conclusion that Croatia played better
All of our (Croatia) chances came when we were down 1-0 (Kovacic), 2-0 (Brozovic, Majer, Gvardiol/Budimir), and 3-0 (Stanisic, penalty, etc.).
We can take comfort that we should've scored and can lament a 3-goal loss which might fuck us later cause of goal difference...
...but anyone watching the game was aware Spain hammered us.
Football is about scoring goals, and Spain scored 3 while looking fairly comfortable.
I have a pet theory that most people who talk about football don't actually watch the matches: they just look at the final score and make assumptions about what must have happened.
If this was the worst day for Croatia's best generation then what was their 6:0 loss to Spain just 2 months after the WC silver in 2018?
Fact is Croatia just isn't that great vs Spain. Never has been. 2 wins, 7 loses and 1 draw in the last 25 years.
So far every team that has lost has been subject to an immediate post Mortum
Maybe Spain were just really good? Rather than there needing to be a crisis in Croatia
The problem is that we don't have a proper left/right winger and a striker. We need to have someone who is going to be able to take on defenders, who is going to be able to dribble and run past them and not just hobble around.
>The problem is that we don't have a proper left/right winger
Perisic, Pjaca and Pasalic our only true wingers, and the last two do not play. Instead an attacking midfielder (Majer) and a second striker (Kramaric) play it.
You see? Croatia never been greater than spain and also modric alone didn't carry that 2018 squad....that team had mandzukic,perisic,rakitic,kovacic,brozovic,lovren,kramaric,subasic... Modric was great but all these players didn't get their due at all after that wc.
Perisic was the best Croatian player that final too. I still never understood the notion that Modric carried Croatia he was very good but it doesn’t make sense that squad was stacked
What is this revisionism? He was literally the beating heart of the team. Rakitić knew exactly how to play around him and Brozović covered them both like a machine. Obviously Modrić didn't do it alone but his role was very obviously to conduct and that he did on a world class level
Stop this revisionist history BS. Without Modric, Croatia doesn't even sniff the final. People wanna pretend all these players in the Croatia WC 2018 squad were so elite when other teams had more stacked squads. Fact is Modric is/was the only one truly elite and the best midfielder in the world for years during that time. He was the undisputed leader, the brain, heart, engine and soul of both Croatia's runs in 18 and 22, which is the reason Croatia managed to get so far. Yes, other played well too but look up which players from 2018 were missing in 2022 and then try to figure out the common denominator of those squads. I've always said, once Modric retires, Croatia will return to mediocrity just where they were before he took over the team. His level of consistency both at Real and Croatia from the mid 2010s to 2022 is unmatched. This doesn't take away from the other players at all but Modric is THE center piece of Croatia's success since 2018.
I’m getting 2002-2014 vibes from this team, the two worst tournaments in my lifetime. Both ironically they won the 2nd game got giddy and then got embarrassed in the final match. Dalic seems overly nervous
Wrong conclusion.
The problem against Spain was going with a new CB pairing Sutalo - Pongracic. And those two played together only one game before, against Portugal. While we have Erlic or even Vida, which played together with Sutalo and pair great with him
Dalic likes to experiment a lot, and this is nothing new for us. Unfortunately he does not experiment a lot in the friendlies.
Experiment with players that shouldn't be in the first XI. Also, we are not playing the same way. Our ST used to come deep, and the wingers would go behind him into the free space.
The bigger problem is our coach that doesn't want to let go the previous generation.
If he was allowed, he would make Mandzukic and Olic put on the kit and get on the field.
What do you mean by "never"? Lol. No team obviously only depends on one player but almost all elite teams have one specific player who is most responsible for their team's succes. And Modric, having been the world's best midfielder for years, is one of the best examples of that. Without Modric, it's back to mediocrity for Croatia. They would've never come close to the final without him both in 2018 and 2022. Prepare to struggle to even qualify for tournaments once Modric has retired, let alone pass the group stage. Only then people like you will appreciate Modric while everyone who understands football knows he was in a league of his own from mid 2010s to early 2020s.
Okay bro, Croatia was 3rd long before Modric so that doesnt make any sense. Ofc he was important but he was never the sole point of our whole team, and when everyone talks about 2018 and 2022 Croatia its always Modric, but no one mentions Rakitic or other key pieces. And he is isnt by any mean the most responsible for our success lol, this makes me wonder have you watched any of our previous matches
I'd be wary of coming to broad conclusions after 1 game We played the same team as against Portugal last week and Spain clearly specifically prepared for that... and tactically outplayed us, that's on Dalić
It really felt like lots of bad luck in that game I wouldn't count them out either.
Also you didn't play that bad. Defence was split open on two occasions though, and Spain was clinical while Croatia weren't.
A dead rubber friendly isn't the same as a proper tournament game. The midfield has slowed down. Brozo going to Saudi shows in the drop in levels. Can't help with Modric's age(who was the best player for the team still) and Kovacic's legs are also not the same as before. Up top, you don't have anyone reliable and the defence isn't as reliable either. When you have to count too many things going right for you, it's a recipe for disaster in a tournament. Still early to give a verdict, but I don't see a miraculous turnaround here.
And, still had plenty of chances to get 2-3 goals without the penalty even.
Kova was excellent. He had multiple line breaking runs and managed to beat multiple Spanish players surrounding him in Croatia's own half. He clearly still has the legs after just turning 30 last month. Brozovic did well distributing the ball. Modric, however, was too passive but had his moments with some nice passes. The midfield, who won the possession battle for Croatia, therefore wasn't the problem. The problem was their shit defence, starting with Pongracic who is responsible for 2 goals. Then again, he never should've been in the first 11 and that's on the coach. And the fact that Dalic didn't make any subs after half-time and waited until the 60th minute to bring in 35-year old Perisic who came off an ACL tear just a few months ago while having plenty younger and fitter alternatives shows his extreme incompetence. Apart from that, Croatia lacked threats in attack just like in the last WC. But once again, Dalic played 2 players (Kramaric & Majer) out of position on the wings. He also played Gvardiol out of position at left back thinking he could replicate his performances at Man City, which was a foolish assumpion as Gvardiol turned out to be ineffective there. In summary, this 3-0 battering is entirely on coach Dalic who is massively overrated due to having been carried by a top 1-3 midfield since 2018.
They said the same thing for the last three tournaments and yet here we are again.
Spain has a great time against Croatia. I wouldn't expect this to be every game for Croatia. This might be a very early wake up call
But also 2 very different games, Portugal isn’t gonna go all out to risk injuries right before the euros and we were testing alot of different things. Winning wasn’t number 1 priority in that match where now it is. Not saying you guys aren’t good, you definitely are but a friendly is just that a friendly
Tactically... Not sure. People are saying Gvardiol at LB was the wrong choice cause "he didn't do much offensively". Man played vs Yamal and daddy Carvajal on his side, and they were very quiet offensively. Sutalo and Pongracic... Dunno... They look good on the ball, but I'd rather have Erlic hoof the ball into a corn field, but actually defend reliably (he's been a rock for the NT). Brozovic looks out of sorts. Might be time to play Kova at DM and Pasalic/Sucic in the midfield. And honestly, if Dalic wants to go all out - start BOTH Pasalic and Sucic and bring Modric in at 60 mins vs Italy (I imagine Luka still starts vs Albania). Up front... Perisic is 36 and coming off an ACL injury, he can no longer run past people, but more worryingly, he can no longer create enough separation to put in a good cross. Livakovic - Stanisic, Sutalo, Erlic, Gvardiol - Kovacic, Pasalic, Modric (Sucic) - Majer, Kramaric, Ivanusec Fuck it, I'd go for that. Pasalic give us a mini-Jude like presence in the box, late runs and a physical presence. He's played deeper for Atalanta this season, he's ready for a CM role. Petkovic/Budimir off the bench... They are limited players, and it's showing vs big teams. I'd rather have an out-of-position Kramaric than either of those two against harder opponents. Modric and Brozovic can still hold the ball. But if we don't have the ball, it's a fucking stress to get it back. Pasalic and Sucic give us way more energy. All that said, none of us see the guys train every day. Maybe Pongracic is destroying people in practice and Erlic is sucking.
won on xg tho if that means anything to you.
Because of game state, the game was lost in the first 35 minutes because we decided to play without both real wingers and real fullbacks and specifically vs Spain that's a death sentence, no width means you have to take control of the midfield, against anyone other than Spain that might be a good decision, our whole defence was under relentless pressure and we had no outlet
Dalic is a joke, Croatia could’ve had at least World Cup by now
Hard disagree, he managed to make Croatia push way above it's weight
Croatia had that results despite of Dalic.
Daliban is a fraud
They didn’t push above their weight. They had prime Modric. Mandzukic, Rakitic, kovacic, Perisic, brozovic, in 2018 and then added gvardiol, livakovic in 2022 while knocking Brazil out in the process. This guy loved to play losers like vida and lovren and then people wonder why they didn’t win a wc
Vida and Lovren were the best CBs we had
Worst day? This isn't even the worst game this generation had vs spain.
Kneejerk reactions are always a thing in football but during a tournament the overreactions are always extra hilarious. One win and a team is the clear favorites, one loss and they are a hopeless disgrace. Spain were excellently prepared for this game and are an established mismatch for Croatia. They had analyzed Croatia and their weaknesses very well. Their form of the day was great and Croatia started sluggish. Still, with a bit better finishing this game could have ended in a draw. It isn't like Spain dominated possession like they usually do or didn't give away a few huge chances.
Yep. Spain finished all their chances and Croatia didn't. They even missed a penalty, which they're normally great at. Croatia had two amazing opportunities, the penalty and the Cucurella shot block that almost went in afterwards. They were unlucky not to score twice, let alone not even once. XG tells the same story. Spain had a xG of 2.00 and Croatia of 2.67. Looking at the xG, the opposite result of a 3-0 win to Croatia was even more likely than what we got. It's the perfect example of how scorelines are misleading, and even still people jump to conclusions. The sub is bad enough in general but during big tournaments there's even more people who barely watch the game and can't judge anything besides the result.
>Croatia had two amazing opportunities, the penalty and the Cucurella shot block that almost went in afterwards There was also the chance where Budimir was late on a ball from Gvardiol, which went 20cm from the goal line. And Majer's shot from 6m that went to the side net. We had our chances, but didn't take them.
Scorelines are reality, they can’t be misleading. The best team is the one that wins, always.
I'm sorry, scorelines are misleading but xG tells the whole story? Croatia played with no width against a team that's very good at wing play, there's no way you watched that game and came away with the conclusion that Croatia played better
They didn't say xGs tell the whole story. In fact they stated with examples and then added the statistics to make a point. Breathe
All of our (Croatia) chances came when we were down 1-0 (Kovacic), 2-0 (Brozovic, Majer, Gvardiol/Budimir), and 3-0 (Stanisic, penalty, etc.). We can take comfort that we should've scored and can lament a 3-goal loss which might fuck us later cause of goal difference... ...but anyone watching the game was aware Spain hammered us. Football is about scoring goals, and Spain scored 3 while looking fairly comfortable.
I have a pet theory that most people who talk about football don't actually watch the matches: they just look at the final score and make assumptions about what must have happened.
If this was the worst day for Croatia's best generation then what was their 6:0 loss to Spain just 2 months after the WC silver in 2018? Fact is Croatia just isn't that great vs Spain. Never has been. 2 wins, 7 loses and 1 draw in the last 25 years.
They're team I always want to play the least. Things we do at quality level, they do even better.
So far every team that has lost has been subject to an immediate post Mortum Maybe Spain were just really good? Rather than there needing to be a crisis in Croatia
Exactly
Every team that looked good is being crowned too. Classic game one overreactions all around
By that logic, Saudi Arabia should've been champions in the last World Cup after that first match against Argentina.
The problem is that we don't have a proper left/right winger and a striker. We need to have someone who is going to be able to take on defenders, who is going to be able to dribble and run past them and not just hobble around.
>The problem is that we don't have a proper left/right winger Perisic, Pjaca and Pasalic our only true wingers, and the last two do not play. Instead an attacking midfielder (Majer) and a second striker (Kramaric) play it.
Perisic?
Hes the only one with got, and hes 35.
brekalo?
Lol
Daliban is honestly the problem here. He was exposed and will be exposed in the future. He is not a good coach.
You see? Croatia never been greater than spain and also modric alone didn't carry that 2018 squad....that team had mandzukic,perisic,rakitic,kovacic,brozovic,lovren,kramaric,subasic... Modric was great but all these players didn't get their due at all after that wc.
Kova was basically 14th man at that WC, didn't even come on in semis and final.
Perisic was the best Croatian player that final too. I still never understood the notion that Modric carried Croatia he was very good but it doesn’t make sense that squad was stacked
What is this revisionism? He was literally the beating heart of the team. Rakitić knew exactly how to play around him and Brozović covered them both like a machine. Obviously Modrić didn't do it alone but his role was very obviously to conduct and that he did on a world class level
Stop this revisionist history BS. Without Modric, Croatia doesn't even sniff the final. People wanna pretend all these players in the Croatia WC 2018 squad were so elite when other teams had more stacked squads. Fact is Modric is/was the only one truly elite and the best midfielder in the world for years during that time. He was the undisputed leader, the brain, heart, engine and soul of both Croatia's runs in 18 and 22, which is the reason Croatia managed to get so far. Yes, other played well too but look up which players from 2018 were missing in 2022 and then try to figure out the common denominator of those squads. I've always said, once Modric retires, Croatia will return to mediocrity just where they were before he took over the team. His level of consistency both at Real and Croatia from the mid 2010s to 2022 is unmatched. This doesn't take away from the other players at all but Modric is THE center piece of Croatia's success since 2018.
I’m getting 2002-2014 vibes from this team, the two worst tournaments in my lifetime. Both ironically they won the 2nd game got giddy and then got embarrassed in the final match. Dalic seems overly nervous
Wrong conclusion. The problem against Spain was going with a new CB pairing Sutalo - Pongracic. And those two played together only one game before, against Portugal. While we have Erlic or even Vida, which played together with Sutalo and pair great with him Dalic likes to experiment a lot, and this is nothing new for us. Unfortunately he does not experiment a lot in the friendlies.
> or even Vida 😂 > Dalic likes to experiment a lot We're playing the same exact tactic since he got here
Experiment with players that shouldn't be in the first XI. Also, we are not playing the same way. Our ST used to come deep, and the wingers would go behind him into the free space.
Whatever the scorline says, this game could have just as much ended with a draw or a Croatia win given how many clear cut chances they fumbled!
Its normal. Change of generations, and this has been their golden generation. They wont reach the same heights for a while, and thats perfectly fine.
The bigger problem is our coach that doesn't want to let go the previous generation. If he was allowed, he would make Mandzukic and Olic put on the kit and get on the field.
Thats a problem in most smaller countries. Those players usually have a big influence and are respected. And stay way longer than needed.
You can't expect a 38 year old to carry the team on his back.
Especially since he has never been the one that has carried this team tbh. Had his moments of brilliance but we were never dependent on one player.
What do you mean by "never"? Lol. No team obviously only depends on one player but almost all elite teams have one specific player who is most responsible for their team's succes. And Modric, having been the world's best midfielder for years, is one of the best examples of that. Without Modric, it's back to mediocrity for Croatia. They would've never come close to the final without him both in 2018 and 2022. Prepare to struggle to even qualify for tournaments once Modric has retired, let alone pass the group stage. Only then people like you will appreciate Modric while everyone who understands football knows he was in a league of his own from mid 2010s to early 2020s.
Okay bro, Croatia was 3rd long before Modric so that doesnt make any sense. Ofc he was important but he was never the sole point of our whole team, and when everyone talks about 2018 and 2022 Croatia its always Modric, but no one mentions Rakitic or other key pieces. And he is isnt by any mean the most responsible for our success lol, this makes me wonder have you watched any of our previous matches