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Changes Incoming?

June 10th, 2008 | By: Mario | 12 Comments »

I imagine as soon as the referee blew the final whistle on our match vs. Austria, journalists and fans alike started toying with all kinds of solutions and potential changes Croatia should endorse in our match against Germany this Thursday.
And it seems Bilic has had a couple of ideas as well, or at least we can conclude that after picking up some interesting bits from Croatia’s latest afternoon practice. Bilic fielded almost exact first eleven which started against Austria, with only Rakitic coming into Petric’s place. According to reports, Rakitic was pushed to the left while Niko Kranjcar was placed just behind Olic, or “in the hole” as it’s usually referred to. Besides the 4-4-2 vs Austria and this 4-4-1-1, there’s one more solution that’s being discussed and that’s to bring in Vukojevic into midfield and pushing both Modric and Kranjcar into AM roles. I’m guessing this would qualify as a 4-5-1 formation.

Now I’m sure there’s a bunch of ideas floating out there and to be honest I’d love to hear them, cause these 3 ain’t much to look at. Though I definitely agree with the introduction of Rakitic in expense of Petric. But then again, a lot of things can change till Thursday, but I definitely salute the attempt to try and break the monotony our team has been displaying throughout 2008.

Oh and despite missing yesterday’s practice due to some ankle issues, Modric did the whole thing today and is certain to start against Germany. Great news, as this had us all worried for a moment.

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Comments

By torca | June 10th, 2008 at 2:08 pm

are u kidding me play 3 4 3

1 GK Stipe Pletikosa

Robert Kovač Vedran Ćorluka Dario Knežević

Darijo Srna Luka Modrić Niko Kovač Danijel Pranjić

Ivica Olić Nikola Kalinić Mladen Petrić

By AlexLA | June 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

3-4-3? Are you suicidal?!? no way/never happen…I mentioned in another post that playing 4-4-1-1 might be the way to go(to include Rakitic). Kranjcar certainly is a classic no.10-he’s all too easily controlled/isolated on the left(opposing fullbacks know he’ll always cut into the middle). Could work…As to the use of a christmas-tree formation, I kind of like it. The thing is, it’ll either work brilliantly or be a collossal failure. I’m not sure Bilic would want to try a completely new formation against the Germans-he should have experimented during the friendlies…That said, Bilic should go 4-4-1-1…

By Milan | June 10th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

I would have hole heartedly disagreed with a 4-4-1-1 formation before the Austrian match but now i realize it might be a good idea. Our problems is our strikers but our midfielders are brillient so I can see this working. Plus Olic proved himself against Austria.

By jero | June 10th, 2008 at 11:20 pm

Olic will be the lone striker but he’s not a goalscorer so I’m a bit worried about having him alone.If I was to use one striker in this match it would be Klasnic.He’s better in the box and will shoot on sight.But Olic was great so I don’t know.Holland played 4-5-1 and looked great with 2 defensive midfielders and 3 attacking players and that’s what I’d do.
Pletikosa

Corluka Kovac Knezevic Simunic

Kovac Vukojevic

Srna Modric Rakitic

Killer/Olic

I like this team with Kranjcar and Petric off the bench if required.
Sounds like the Polish born Germans really want to beat us badly.And Bierhoff says they will beat us easily.I hope we give them a real shake up.I took a lot of stick from my friends about Modric.I’ve talked him up for so long that I was crucified after the Austria game.God I hope he gets back to his best soon.

Posted from New Zealand

By Denis S | June 11th, 2008 at 4:11 am

look man! 4-4-1-1 or (4-5-1) whatever u wanna call it will win us the game!

Why you ask!! Its quite simple…
If kranjcar is behind olic, that pretty much means olic will get great balls from kranjcar. Kranjcar has the best passing i guarantee you that. Just watch some highlights from pompey…And the other reason, kranjcar is a good goal scorer, very effective one on one, and a good shooter from the distance.

But here is the best part and why we will win this game! The midfield! srna, modric, kovac, rakitic will control the game beautifully especially now that kranjcar will be waiting in the middle for their passes. And once kranjcar recives the ball from the middle of the field. Rakitic and srna will be on the outside running waiting for kranjcars TRADE MARK pass, which they will cross in for olic to header! Olic is a TRAIN, he is not scared to bash heads. And I’ve seen him score some headers. He will be very effective.

Another thing that will enable us to control the game is our defense, I think they will play much better. And keep a little more possession against the germans. Which will enable us to move up the field more efficiently. Corluka and pranjic ( our outside deffenders) love to push up and im sure you will see a lot of great plays becauuse of them. Since they are quality players.

Anyway, my point is. Croatia will not be as nervouse against the germans, we play better against tougher teams. Because we hate when people expect us to win. We love it when people dont belive in us, thats when we step it up, and show what we can do.

Anyway, im glad we played like crap against austria, because this will make us play harder, and want to win much more.

By Ziggy | June 12th, 2008 at 12:15 am

Rakitic for Petric and the 4-4-1-1 with Kranjcar in the hole, yes I agree with all this. The German defence will come apart with balls and runs from Croatian midfield. The Croatian midfield is far superior to the Germans, although maybe Ballack would get in the Croatian team…on the subs bench
Kranjcar is ideal in that role behind the front man, much better than wide left where he can have more influence.
The problem is the German offense…yes, they are good in that department and the defence will be stretched. Podolski on the left wing will act as a striker and it’s important to keep watch over Klose and Gomez too. They could be playing 3 up front which needs to be dealt with first.
Corluka needs to stay with Podolski all the time. He is the likely goalscorer.

Another option is standard 352. Or 3511. Both full backs marking wingers, with a spare man at the back. The midfield would be packed, although it could make the play in the Croatian half mostly and we don’t want that.
Both Germany full backs overlap well and with Lahm one of them, you don’t want them overlapping just one wing back, rather than a full-back and a winger.

Yeah, I like this 4411. Go beat them Germans

By jero | June 12th, 2008 at 6:17 am

Some commentators seem to think this is the worst conditioned team Croatia has had which has me worried about them lasting 90 minutes against a relentless German side.I hope they don’t run out of gas.Quite disturbing to see how Modric is being ripped apart on alot of English blogs after one match.Hopefully he’ll get back to his real self today and the team will improve.I’d be delighted with a draw and just a big improvement in the teams performance in a game we don’t have to win and hope we build on this for the Poland game which will be crucial I think.
Everyone will need to play their best games ever today to get a win.If anyone has an off day it will be tough.I really hope we step up

Posted from New Zealand

By Mario | June 12th, 2008 at 7:21 am

@jero:
I wouldn’t put much faith in English blogs. Remember it was primarily the English who sang praises to Modric after his (solid at best) performance against England on Wembley. “Domination” and “World Class” are just some of the attributes they used. Guy had a mediocre game and they saw it as the second coming of Jesus. They seem to over exaggerate on every possible opportunity. So thrashing him down after just one performance just shows how silly their interpretation of football/footballers can be.

I agree with that if we’re to grab some points today, everyone will have to be at their best. As much as this result might not end up being crucial, the way we look out there today will certainly reflect on how we approach the (probably decisive) match against Poland next week.

By Denis S | June 12th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

decisive????? pfffft…we made it!!! poland and austria tied which means we’re in the second round!! Vastic scored austria tieing goal! Vastic is croatian! haha

By Lukas | June 12th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

Hola. Me llamo Lukas, soi de Argentina, y me gustaría conocer chikos para conocerlos y poder en un futuro quisáz entablar una linda relación sentimental (o no, también me interesaría mucho un touch an gó).

Besitos a todos en las nalguitas.

lucas_saine@hotmail.com

By Allan | June 13th, 2008 at 8:06 am

2:1 win to Croatia what a great game it was and a good result for us.
The Srna goal was pure class in build up and execution. Olic slotted the 2nd calmly with 2 German defenders nearby.

Modric got Man of the Match award.

By Kaiser | June 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am

Consider your win a present from Deutschland as allies from the past, but that is all. You are no better than the Italians in terms of class and will not go far. Enjoy while it lasts.

Posted from Canada