UEFA European Football Forum

Furthermore, tonight's opener is no less than Dinamo-Lokomotiva. The latter team usually being no stranger to bending over when big brother tells them to, however last season we were witnesses to quite an anomaly - Lokomotiva took 5 points off Dinamo, remaining undefeated in 3 matches. Trouble in paradise? Let's see what the future holds...

Laughable penalty for Osijek. Toplak was justifiedly furious.

As usual, on the eve of the start of the UEFA qualifiers, our clubs are far from the right form. Only Hajduk won dominantly in the first round. I'm afraid for Rijeka, who play against the very good Swedish Djurgarden on Thursday. Even Osijek could have problems with the Kazakhs, while Dinamo is lucky in the draw and plays with the weakest opponent by far.

babaluj1 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 18, 2022 23:27 As usual, on the eve of the start of the UEFA qualifiers, our clubs are far from the right form. Only Hajduk won dominantly in the first round. I'm afraid for Rijeka, who play against the very good Swedish Djurgarden on Thursday. Even Osijek could have problems with the Kazakhs, while Dinamo is lucky in the draw and plays with the weakest opponent by far.

Kyzyl-Zhar is 12th (in a league of 14 teams) in Kazakhstan with a 3-6-6 record. It will be very surprising if they challenge Osijek.

Firnen wrote: ↑Mon Jul 18, 2022 23:50

babaluj1 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 18, 2022 23:27 As usual, on the eve of the start of the UEFA qualifiers, our clubs are far from the right form. Only Hajduk won dominantly in the first round. I'm afraid for Rijeka, who play against the very good Swedish Djurgarden on Thursday. Even Osijek could have problems with the Kazakhs, while Dinamo is lucky in the draw and plays with the weakest opponent by far.

Kyzyl-Zhar is 12th (in a league of 14 teams) in Kazakhstan with a 3-6-6 record. It will be very surprising if they challenge Osijek.

That's good news. Then Osijek should achieve 2 wins in the second round. Dinamo has averaged 17 points per season in recent years, and Croatia would need at least 28 points to be in the game for 15.th place.So, Hajduk, Osijek and Rijeka should achieve a minimum of 10 victories in the qualifiers, so that Dinamo would have a real chance of bringing us to the Top 15. Let's say 2 clubs in the second round 4 wins, three clubs in the third preliminary round 4 wins and in the play off at least two victories.

---------------2019--2020--2021--2022--2023
Dinamo.......18.....13.....20.....17.....?
HAJ,OSI,RIJ...5.....4.5.....8.5....7......?

The disastrous performance of Hajduk, Osijek and Rijeka in the past seasons could not be compensated even by the excellent Dinamo. Together, they must win at least 10 points per season.

If two of those three reach ECL-PO, that would be a success. Though I'm afraid one club is more realistic.

nogomet wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 13:54 If two of those three reach ECL-PO, that would be a success. Though I'm afraid one club is more realistic.

If only our clubs had beaten lower ranked clubs in the qualifiers, we would have been in the Top 15 every year. The biggest debtors are Hajduk, then Osijek, Rijeka was not so bad, although it also had hiccups.
When I want to laugh, I look at who eliminated all our clubs!

To wake up this stale topic a bit, tonight is the second of a minimum of five eternal derbies this season, Dinamo-Hajduk, it's the first league clash however (their first game was the Supercup).

Both teams approach this match in good form, with European successes behind them. How will they approach this game tactics and squad-wise is still unknown, seeing how close new European challenges are.

Dinamo deservedly defeated Hajduk with a high score of 4-1. From what we've seen, Dinamo is getting in the right shape, it's likely that they will beat Bodo/Glimt in the PO CL. On the other hand, Hajduk is much weaker in the midfield where Dinamo dominated, its chances against Villarreal are minimal. Čačić is leading Dinamo well in the right direction, although many criticize him.

Seems like Dinamo showed that they are still the daddy of croatian football.

The usual chase group of Dinamo seem to be struggling, especially Rijeka and Osijek.

Is a fight for Europe expected this year with some of the rest?

Firnen wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 22:37 The usual chase group of Dinamo seem to be struggling, especially Rijeka and Osijek.

Is a fight for Europe expected this year with some of the rest?

It is still too early for any conclusions, it is still summer and the transfer period is still going on. We expected problems for Rijeka at the start of the season because they sold out the entire first team, the surprise is Osijek's very bad start, but it is probably a poorly timed form at the start of the season. The only thing that can be concluded so far is that the new first league team Varaždin is much better than it was thought.

babaluj1 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 15, 2022 00:17

Firnen wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 22:37 The usual chase group of Dinamo seem to be struggling, especially Rijeka and Osijek.

Is a fight for Europe expected this year with some of the rest?

It is still too early for any conclusions, it is still summer and the transfer period is still going on. We expected problems for Rijeka at the start of the season because they sold out the entire first team, the surprise is Osijek's very bad start, but it is probably a poorly timed form at the start of the season. The only thing that can be concluded so far is that the new first league team Varaždin is much better than it was thought.

Osijek's predicament looks worse because from what I've seen they've already played most of the minnows and have yet to play Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk for the 1st round.