MM talks to himself about Hajduk

[maidenmadness]

Might as well try and give it a shot, see if there's anybody out there.
Dissapointing end to the last season after a promising start, but it was to be expected because our lineup was so thin that playing at 3 fronts had to take a toll somewhere. After it was clear that we're probably out of the title race before winter it all fell apart completely.
Ibricic and Strinic were sold for decent amount of cash but there were no real replacements brought in. Vukusic went missing the 2nd half of the season and we had general chaos. Sacking Poklepovic was a mistake.

For this season I am not expecting much. I hope we hold onto Vukusic and I think that he alongside Lendric and Vukovic can made a real threathening strinking force. Also one mustn't forget about Tokic. We have best striker of BiH league (Lendric), best striker of CG league (Vukovic), best striker of 2. HNL (Tokic) and very promising youngster who was in the race to be the best striker in 1. HNL up until the very end of the season (Vukusic). And we also have Ahmad Sharbini who is a proved goal scorer, but hasn't delivered for us in the past 2 years, however I'm not really worried about our attack for once.

Defence on the other hand I don't know. We got James, Lima, Lustica, this japanese Inoha, Milicevic. I think Milicevic might prove to be a real asset as he leaves an impression of a leader on me and a leader in defence is something we didn't have since Vejic's first stint with us. But all of them are in fact enigmas when it comes to their playing ability so the whole defence is a big enigma.

Midfield once again will depend solely on Anas Sharbini. Defensively midfield should be able to do it's task in most games, but offensively I'm not so sure. Anas hasn't really lived up to expectations, Tomasov is crap, Oremus will hopefully be more useful this year when he won't be wasted as a full back, Ticinovic has the ability but is a hopeless drunk so I'm not expecting too much out of him. This newcomer Saric is also an enigma.

But all in all I believe we can make a step forward. In Europe it will all come down to the draw, but we have to get as much as points possible for the coefficient. Group stages of Europa League would be more than satisfactory but I'm not holding my breath.

In HNL Dinamo is head and shoulders above everybody and they are the only real contenders for the title, However paper is one thing and the field something completely different. We have to stick to playing our game and what happens happens. We should be able to get 2nd place.

[humbird]

Hi MM. I wish all the old group were here.

[maidenmadness]

I read that there was some sort of a split. You off XT for good?

[humbird]

I still do a few things with the Argentina forum, but that's about all.

[maidenmadness]

Anyways to get back to football and to take my thread off topivc with something not Hajduk related my two cents on Modric v Spurs saga.

I understand Modric, him wanting to go to a bigger club and all that but he's wrong. He has a contract and that's it. Spurs aren't required to let him go. Any word Levy might have given him was only that a word not a legally binding agreement. That's the way things stand legally.

Also one has to mention that he comes off as a bit of a cunt. Everything was peach perfect last year when things were good and they were playing in the CL, now they miss out on the CL and he's immediately crying let me go I want to play CL instead of having a mindset how do we get back to the CL spot. He's acting like a primadonna.

Honestly I couldn't care two shits if Spurs bench Modric (which they won't do lets be honest this is all a game in which they're tryiung to squeeze out a couple of millions more) because if that happens (which won't) it's only his fault. I am more pissed off at the way they're treating Kranjcar because Niko didn't do anything to deserve such a crap treatement. They won't let him play nor will they sell him so they set a price tag way too high. IMO if Hajduk was smart we'd move in and attempt to get him on a loan. We've got nothing to lose. If Spurs or Kranjcar say no then fuck them but realistically we can only gain if by some improbable chance it works.

[maidenmadness]

Europa league draw today. We got Stoke City which is the worst possible draw we could have gotten from the group they placed us in. Looking at it realistically our European season will be rather short this year, so back to the usual there.

I mean I don't think Stoke City is unbeatable I think it's more of our mentality where we will do the usual thing and enter the match with the mentality of going for a draw and hope for something in the return leg on Poljud. The thing is we don't know how to defend and if we go into the first game thinking of defending we'll lose. Our only hope of getting a decent result is attacking them away from home, perhaps losing the game 2-1 maybe even getting the draw and on Poljud we can pass through.

Then again I don't know what type of a coach is Balakov nor does he suffer from the same problems of inferiority complex all Croatian coaches seem to posses which causes them to not even consider anything but defending away from home, unless they are playing a side from Malta. So there's one bit of hope on my behalf, at least, in that pot and I think that is what I'm eager to see the most. Not the result itself but the approach Balakov will take for these games.

[maidenmadness]

Started the season with a home win against Sibenik. From what I've seen in the highlights we played well upfront but defense was shaky. We created a lot of chances but we still needed a late goal to win.
Vukovic with two assists, Vukusic with the goal and Tomasov with the late winner.
From all accounts (as I didn't see the game thanks to t-scum) Vukovic was great and out of the other newcomers it seems as if James and that Portuguese fellow Ruben Lima didn't impress. Lima apparently has a good cross in. Japanese fellow Inoha was apparently OK.

Also what's happening is that apparently there is some interest in Lendric, reports are even saying an offer from Braga has landed and he wants to go. Some portals already announced it a done deal, but I've seen nothing official yet. The reports are that the offered fee is 800 000$.
I personal think it would be a bad deal to let Lendric go, even if he does want to leave.

Also in rumors Trabzonspor wants to let Gabric go and Gabric would probably like to leave as well the trouble is that they can't agree on mutual termination. Gabric wants some money and Trabzonspor doesn't want to pay anything. It has been reported that Hajduk would like to bring Gabric in if he can agree a termination of contract with Trabzonspor.

[maidenmadness]

Lost 1-0 away to Stoke in first leg. Result isn't that bad but performance was awful.
Realistically looking at it I don't remember the last time we played a worse side in Europe. I mean yes we went out to Debrecen and Shelbourne but they looked better and more dangerous than this Stoke lot though that might have been also due to the fact we were utter crap back then.
Regardless of that I still don't feel confident. They are bad but we are worse I think and that's the most depressing part.

[maidenmadness]

We lost 1-0 away to Zadar so it looks as if it's going to be another frustrating season. The only thing I want really is to see some sense. I hope we don't repeat the mistakes we made in previous years and attempt to salvage lost seasons (if it comes to that) at the expense of long term stability. Last year we made that mistake by firing Poklepovic and I hope that if the seasons continues badly we don't sack Balakov without having some idea what do we want and expect in the future and most of all who's going to come in for him.

Also I cannot help but to comment on the WC 2014 group we were handed. Serbia, Scotland, Belgium, Macedonia and Wales make a tough group but I feel we are the best team here. Normally all the talk will be on the games against Chetniks, but IMHO games against other teams are much more dangerous. Everytime we were in a group with Macedonia we dropped points. We never beaten Scotland, Belgium can be tricky and reportedly they are on a rise and Wales was the worst option from the bottom pot and they're definitively not a team one can place in a same pot with Lichtenstein or Andora.
But Serbia games are naturally most expected. I think they are better between the posts and in defense and that we better in midfield and up front. IMHO the decisive point of those games will be if we will be capable to break their defense and grab the lead before they hit us on a counter. Still I look forward to those games, the atmosphere, the chance to build up some healty national pride and the chance for a bit of always welcome and accepted jebanja materi cetnicke.

In those games anything less than a win is unacceptable since they are so pathetic enough to celebrate draws as wins. Naturally if we give them a reason to celebrate that means we lost. If we outplay them by 5 goals but only win by 1 and they are happy that they lost only by 1 it will be as if we lost because they came out of that happy.

My attitude towards those games can best be described in the words that the great Frane Matosic said to another great, Bernard Vukas in a game Hajduk - Crvena Zvezda when Hajduk were 4-0 up and Vukas dribbled past the entire Zvezda defence and the goalie but instead of scoring he deliberatly took the ball out of bounds and sat on it. It was then that Matosic came running to Vukas and started choking him because he didn't score. Zvezda player intervened and pulled Frane away and told him Frane you're 4-0 up it's enough to which the legendary Hajduk captain responeded: "It isn't enough. If it was 44-0 it still wouldn't be enough."

[humbird]

Hmmmm I didn't know they had drawn WC2014 groups yet.

[maidenmadness]

WC2014 qualis, not the tournament itself.

[humbird]

I know. I wasn't aware they had done the qualifier groups yet. I need to pay more attention.