i agree with most of what u say except for olic..olic is like a chicken with no head..he is weak technically and is not a good finisher..i dont know how he scored 13 goals this year for hamburg but i have no confidence in him scoring for croatia when he gets a chance..i would rather start budan with petric..budan is much stronger then olic and much better technically..although he does not have much speed petric is pretty fast..
well he is bad technically and is not a good finisher but i have seen some really nice goals form him this year in bundesleague. also he might be a chicken with no head but we will need him for pressing the backline of the weaker teams like austria.
ye he is good at pressuring the defense with his speed but i just have no confidence in him to finish..the only striker i have confidence in right now is mladen petric..he scored some wonder goals for dortmund and also had a great strike to knock england out..
any highlights of the cro vs hungary game today? i missed most of it...or could someone give a recap of the pros and cons..
basically we played like shit today..we could not complete more then 3 passes today and because of this our strikers were useless..robert kovac was very shaky today and pranjic had trouble playing leftback today as well..if we play today at euros we will not win a game..i hope it was just the players saving themselves for austria..
I only saw the last 25 minutes of the match, so it's impossible to make an opinion just on that. However, the team has looked poor for the entire 2008 exhibition season. If Olic or Klasnic score in the Euro's, I'll be shocked. It's more likely that any goals will come from the midfield position from guys like Kranjcar, Modric or Srna (on a free kick).
It's really disappointing what we saw from our players in all the 2008 friendlies. God knows what we should expect this Sunday against Austria. My two cents on the team: Pletikosa conceded a large number of goals in Russia this season and I'm not confident about his overall form at the moment. He is sometimes lousy on corners, sometimes good at everything. However, I feel he'll make no mistake at the Euros. Ćorluka was awesome in the qualifying stage, but he's lost it this year in the national team... They say they were subconciously holding out for Austria, but if you don't try it and succeed in a friendly, then you shouldn't expect anything in the real game. Robert Kovač is a player that doesn't give me much faith. Constantly arguing with the referees and opposition, could earn a red card if it goes wrong for us in one of the games. Šimunić is technically gifted, good at defensive play with head but now's been moved to centre-back. Paired up with Robert Kovač, the two of them don't really seem like a solid defence. Germany is gonna eat us alive so we HAVE TO get a win over Austria. Pranjić is a plesant surprise this season. Also, he seems good at his newly-assigned left-back position. He can deliver some good crosses and defend effectively. I like this one. The last free kick that Srna turned into a goal is long gone. I understand it's hard for him to maintain that skill as in Shakhtar he's playing at right-back and doesn't do free kicks. He was pretty good in the qualifying stage and that game versus Bosnia & Herzegovina was one of his best performances for the national team. I know he will give his best at the Euros so I'm not much worried about him. Niko Kovač, our main man so to say, has been solid. Atipically for him, he even started scoring some nice goals. No worries here either. Modrić - another one with great possibilities. In Dinamo it was 'if Modrić plays good, Dinamo plays good', whereas in Croatia it'll be 'if the team plays good, Modrić will also'. Here he's not the only one on whom the team depends. It's important for him only to shrug off the pressure and he'll be fine. Kranjčar is maybe the player that improved most of all our players this season. Started leading Portsmouth, scoring for the national team and doing good job overall. Can't exactly tell he'll play great at the Euros, but I think this will be his best performance at 'big competitions'. Olić - after the Euros we'll probably never get over Eduardo's absence in the tournament. If it wasn't for van der Vaart, hardly would Olić score so many goals for HSV. It's easy to tuck in into the net when someone else does all the hard work (remember Eduardo's run from centre of the field to the box after which he made that perfect pass to Olić for 2-0 at Wembley). We can only wish Olić all the best, hope he won't miss too much that'll make us whine like "if only he had put that one away, it would be all different". Petrić - here's one we can count on. Beside the "English goal", he didn't do too much for the national team, he's been pretty quiet in Eduardo's shadow. He's done fantastic for his Borussia Dortmund team though, and we all know he is a fine, fine striker that will make us proud. He would have looked much more capable if there was Eduardo alongside however Subs: I love that Klasnić made it to the team again after his horrible disease. He's even been wonderful for Werder Bremen. Wouldn't expect that from someone who had just recovered from kindey transplantation. One goal from him would be enough. It's a shame there's no place in the starting line-up for Rakitić. He is one of my favourite young players with great potential. He still has to take it to the next level )) in the national team, but he's getting better every day. Good sub. I'd rather not comment on Šimić. It's a shameful situation he's in, trying to improve his national cap record whilst he didn't play for Milan 2 years. Practically didn't play. I think he should be benched all the time, only be there to raise the spirit of the team. Knežević is a promising defensive talent. I have no fear when Bilić subs Kovač for him. Other wortwhile mentions: Budan, Vukojević, Runje... Hope I wasn't too boring...
Well, it said 'Club' so I went for Barcelona, which is indeed the club that I truly root for. I am a Croat and, as such, Croatia is and will always be the number one in my heart. Within the borders of Croatia, on the club level there's nothing that could compare to Dinamo for me. And as I can see, you've been on my profile so why am I explaining this in the first place? Samo je jedno u mom životu vrijedno da pustim suzu s oka jer tebe volim ja Život mi dala baš kao da je znala da nikad neće nestat sa mojih usana...
I think Bilic is going to really regret not including Krizanac, the backline look very unsure of themselves at times and could really do with an honest, hardworking player like him. The points raised about Simunic moving to the centre and Corluka not playing as well are really consequences of a real lack of depth in the side, which is why there are a number of players not playing in their "ideal" positions. Personally i'd like to see Corluka play in the centre of defense with Darijo on the right but the right side of midfield is quite a weak area for Croatia so i expect Darijo to start there. I can't speak for his form at Man City but i do think the performances of Robert Kovac and Dario have dented his confidence a bit as he just dosen't seem to be as comfortable on the ball as he used to be. But hopefully everyone will raise their game come Sunday.
