Chapter 879: Rear Defense Replacement (First Update, Please Subscribe!)

On August 29, the Croatian internationals returned to China one after another to prepare for the ninth round of the European Cup qualifiers and face Greece at home.

As long as they win this game, Croatia will be able to advance to the 2012 European Cup as the first in the group, so it is also a very crucial game.

"When did you buy the plane?"

"How much did it cost?"

"I want one too!"

With the return of the players, the training base gradually became lively.

Suker, Modric, Srna and others gathered together to chat and spank.

Of course, there is also the resentful Rakitic.

Some people took private jets to return home to compete, and these guys completely forgot about themselves!

Or not teammates anymore?

Can we get along well?

Will definitely go back!

"Where's Daniel?"

Suk suddenly asked.

There was no sign of Planic this time. There was no reason why this guy wouldn't come.

Hearing this, Modric sighed; "I'm injured. I heard it's serious. I may need to rest for a while."

"Severe injury?"

Suk asked.

Modric nodded; "He has already undergone surgery. I went to see him specially. He is not in particularly good condition."

He was injured at the beginning of the new season. It's strange that he is in good condition.

And Planic is already 30 years old, which is the most embarrassing age.

The body's recovery ability is not as good as before. A serious injury during this period may really affect the subsequent career.

Planic is injured, but fortunately Croatia has Cholluka as his replacement.

The previous Croatian lineup did not have a high injury tolerance rate.

But now, with these young people playing out, the bench is deep enough.

After all, Joel Luka is also a player in the five major leagues, and is the main full-back of the Premier League BIG6 and Tottenham Hotspur.

In fact, Cholluka had already threatened Planic's position before.

Now, after Planic's injury, Cholluka is expected to officially take over.

Suker also shook his head. This is the problem with their current group of players, especially the older players like Planic, Srna, Vukojevic and others.

Once injured, the consequences can be disastrous.

Croatia's match against Greece is on September 7, but they gathered for training a week in advance.

This time, the purpose of Besic's training camp is not only to further adjust the situation, but also to adjust the defense line.

Simunic's form plummeted.

In the latest Bundesliga defender evaluation, this guy is at the bottom of the Bundesliga.

Especially after joining Hoffenheim, there was no barrier in front, shortcomings were exposed, and coupled with the decline in his own condition, the overall performance was already very bad.

Today, Simunic spends most of his time as a substitute at Hoffenheim. In the club, he is pressed on the bench by the 21-year-old youngster.

In the national team, Besic also plans to downgrade the partnership of Simunic and Kovac.

Besic doesn't play that kind of step-by-step drama!

A defense line that combines old and new, allowing veterans to lead newcomers.

In Besic's view, the central defender partnership also needs to be adjusted. After splitting, it will be very time-consuming to rebuild again.

Furthermore, Lovren's recent performance is very impressive, and Vader is also stable enough.

This young central defender partner can support Croatia's defensive work very well.

Of course, they also need to further integrate with the team, so they only have one week to prepare.

Croatia's entire defense.

Simunic and Kovac were downgraded.

Planic is injured.

Except for captain Srna, it's almost a complete overhaul.

Besic didn't originally plan to make adjustments so quickly, but under various emergencies, he made decisive substitutions.

It is planned to use Greece to test the abilities of these young people.

Furthermore, with Srna's command, Besic believes that there will be no major problems.

"Lovren is an up-and-coming central defender. He moves quickly laterally and is good at confrontation and pressing. During his best period, he averaged 2 steals per game." Feinster Yak looked at the data recorded in his notebook and said: "But because of this, the overly aggressive attacking style requires a stable central defender partner!"

"Vida is younger. Apart from his tough style, he can hardly find many characteristics. His playing style is also quite satisfactory. For others, he is a player without characteristics, but for us, for Lovren But it’s just right.”

"With just the right judgment of placement, just the right defensive position, and just the right choice of replacement, he is a very suitable deep-lying candidate when paired with a radical central defender like Lovren. The disadvantage is that he lacks subjective awareness and is prone to confusion. Someone needs to be reminded constantly, and Srna can do that!”

Snapped!

Van Steyak closed his notebook; "Needless to say about Joel Luka, in fact, I have long thought that Joel Luka is more suitable for the left back position than Planic."

Besic nodded slightly to express his understanding.

He knew what Van Stryak meant by this.

Planic is in the same group of players as Suker, Srna, Modric, Vukojevic and others. He has played together since Dinamo Zagreb and has won many honors.

There is some special comradeship between them, which even Rakitic cannot integrate into.

Therefore, whether it is Van Styak or the former Bilic, they have to consider one thing when removing Planic.

That is whether it will irritate these people.

What's more, Suker has a history of being framed, so they dare not easily replace him.

This is the problem when the head coach is in a passive situation.

However, Besic is different!

These players were brought up by him.

He has blood suppression on the entire team.

Planic is his disciple!

Joel Luka is also his disciple!

Even if he was replaced, Planic, Suker, Modric and others could not say anything else.

After all, there is no concept of kinship here.

Both of them are students of Besic, so Besic's handling of these things is almost a matter of course.

At the beginning, this was also a key reason why Bilic recommended Besic as the head coach.

These monsters and demons in the Croatian national team, don't look at Suker's fierceness, but the other guys are not fuel-saving lamps.

Just like when he was framed, it was so clean and neat!

After such a loss, Bilic knew that except for Besic, no one else could suppress these guys.

Especially when entering the adjustment period, the head coach needs strong suppression.

"Let's stop here for today's training, and we will have a competition tomorrow!"

Besic clapped his hands, indicating that the first day of training was over.

The players also began to enter the locker room in groups of three or five, or chat on the field.

Suker's group always ganged up and gathered in groups.

"Besic put Vida and Lovren in the substitute lineup!"

Simunic said somewhat dissatisfiedly.

Croatia's training is very special. For defenders, entering the substitute lineup is the main candidate.

In the early stage of the training, the main defenders will need to experience the rampage and pressure of the main forwards, and after a few days, they will be adjusted to the main team again for further running-in.

For this reason, it is not difficult to see from Besic's actions that he intends to correct the central defender combination of Vida and Lovren.

Simunic knows that his state has declined a bit.

But after all, he played so many games for Croatia, and even if he didn't have any credit, he still worked hard.

Moreover, he won the 2008 European Cup with Croatia, so he also had some credit.

He was really unwilling to be put on the bench.

The reason why he said this to Suker was to test the thoughts of Suker and others.

But neither Suker nor others had any intention of continuing this topic.

Duimovic interrupted directly with a joke and began to change the topic, no longer talking about these things.

After dinner, Suker, Modric, Srna, Duimovic, Vukojevic and Mandzukic gathered in Suker's room.

This group of people, plus Planic, happened to be the first-term players of Dinamo Zagreb.

This is the core player of the small group.

"Simunic seems very dissatisfied."

"After all, being a substitute must be uncomfortable!"

"He still wants to test our ideas, what can we do?" Duimovic spread his hands: "If it's Bilic, it's easy to say, but I really don't have the courage to be Besic!"

Srna also nodded; "He should learn to accept that the decline in form is an indisputable fact. If he can't continue to contribute to the team, at least he can't make trouble. If one day my form declines, I will directly withdraw from the national team and not cause trouble for you!"

"Suker, what do you think?" Modric asked.

Suker glanced at him; "No idea? It's normal. We climbed all the way to the main force in the club. Didn't we also experience various competitions and confrontations? How we climbed up in the past, they will do the same!"

"What about Planic?"

Duimovic asked; "I'm really afraid that after his serious injury this time, his form will directly decline. Injuries are really terrible!"

At their age now, the most feared thing is injuries!

Mandzukic: "What are you afraid of? You're still a substitute even if you're injured!"

"Fuck you. Can you talk? Be careful or I'll tear your mouth apart! You went to Bayern and still lost the championship. What do you do for a living!"

"Then blame me?"

"If not you, who else? You didn't score, so you lost the championship!"

"I scored 20+ goals this season!"

"What's the use? You still lost the championship?"

"Fuck you!"

Everyone couldn't help laughing. The two of them started fighting as soon as they met. They were a pair of happy enemies.

However, their relationship got better and better.

It was a heavy topic, but the atmosphere soon melted away with jokes.

The next day, Croatia started the competition to further run-in.

Vida, Lovren and Joel Luka are the key and the focus of the inspection.

They themselves are also very clear about their current situation. In order to get the starting lineup and even the main players, they also did everything they could.

Opportunities don't always come. Once they don't grab them, they don't know when the next time will be.

Therefore, they must perform well in the competition.

However, no matter how strong their fighting spirit was, they still defended the goal again and again in the face of Modric's dispatch, Suker's attack, and Rakitic's dribbling.

For 40 minutes, they were sweating profusely.

"We didn't succeed in restricting Suker once!"

Vida couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Lovren nodded solemnly, and his heart was also extremely urgent.

On the other hand, Joel Luka's expression was relatively relaxed.

Joel Luka couldn't help rolling his eyes at the so-called "limit Suker" theory of these two guys.

What a joke!

Looking at the whole of Europe, the most powerful back lines can't stop Suker.

Barcelona is fierce enough, right?

In 40 games, they scored 100 goals, but only conceded 15 goals.

But when facing Real Madrid and Suker, they still conceded eight goals in two games!

Therefore, the proposition of "limiting Suker" does not exist at all.

Joel Luka believes that Besic's purpose is not to let them limit Suker, but to do a good job of regional defense and let him see more defensive linkage.

"There is another confrontation match in the afternoon, let's do it this way."

Vida and Lovren got together and kept discussing.

And the core of their discussion was "how to limit Suker".

Seeing that these two guys were getting more and more off track, Joel Luka reluctantly moved over.

"Hey! Do a good job of defensive linkage, don't think about limiting Suker!" Joel Luka reminded.

In fact, they are now grasshoppers in the same boat. If Vida and Lovren are not stable enough, his performance will be greatly reduced.

"How can we play well without limiting Suker?" Lovren said.

Joel Luka grinned; "Limit Suker? You are really bold. With our current situation, if we succeed, we will transfer to join the giants, okay?"

"Mr. Besic let us play in the substitute team, relying more on the main striker to hone us, let us show defensive linkage, instead of trying every way to limit Suker."

Hearing this, Lovren and Vida also looked at each other.

It seems that this is the case!

With their three melons and cracks, they can't limit Suker at all. This is a false proposition.

"So, what should we do? How to do a good job of defensive linkage?"

Lovren and Vida looked at Joel Luka, feeling that this guy is quite smart.

Joel Luka shook his head; "I don't know!"

"I don't know?" Lovren said unhappily; "I don't know, why do you pretend to know so well!"

"I don't know, but someone knows!" Joel Luka said.

"Who?"

The two asked at the same time.

At lunch, Srna just sat down with his plate, and saw that Lovren, Vida, and Joel Luka occupied the opposite side and both sides of him.

"Captain!"

Lovren grinned and looked at Srna with a silly smile.

Vida on the opposite side had the same expression.

Srna looked confused; "What's wrong?"

After lunch, while the players were resting, Srna led the three guys to the training ground.

"Defensive linkage?" Srna's eyes lit up.

These guys are quite smart and immediately understood Besic's intention.

"We need to be integrated. The false proposition of limiting Suker is not valid, but if we can do a good job of linkage, we should be able to add points." Joel Luka said.

Srna nodded; "Defensive linkage is indeed one of the assessment goals this time, but it is not the key. What the gentleman wants to see is your possibilities!"

"Possibilities?"

"Your strengths are Vida's stability, Lovren's decisiveness and your defensive talent!"

"But this is what we know, but you are still somewhat limited in playing in the national team, and you haven't shown your full performance. In fact, you don't need to be the same as the club, but at least you should show some characteristics."

Srna looked at Vida; "You are very stable, stability is your characteristic, but on this basis, as a backward central defender, you have a broader vision and can better observe the situation on the field, so you have to open your mouth and take the initiative to assume the responsibility of command."

"Captain, you are the commander!" Vida said.

Srna; "When I rush forward, if I don't retreat in time, who will command?"

Vida was stunned for a moment, touching his chin, showing a thoughtful look.

Srna looked at Lovren again: "You are good at stealing and you are very fast, but if you can remember the positions of your teammates and make timely substitutions, this is also a feature, especially since Joel Luka is very tall and has a slow turn. Once you encounter a speed winger, you need to coordinate defense with Joel Luka and even help him suppress the wing in the first place!"

"And all this requires you to have an accurate sense of position, and even be able to remember the positions of your teammates in your head."

Finally, Srna looked at Joel Luka.

"Croatian defenders are different from Italian defenders, especially full-backs, who have many offensive tasks, such as passing, rushing, etc.!"

"Based on me, you don't have many chances to break out of the half, but shouldn't you practice your left-foot long and short passes?"

Srna smiled; "These are possibilities, and what Besic wants to see."

"It's not a single routine or idea, but something that is real to you, the possibility generated by your collision and fusion, which requires you to communicate well, and then develop your own style. Of course, I will join in, after all, we may be teammates in defense!"

Srna encouraged; "Come on, I think you can do it!"

After Srna's reminder, the three of them immediately understood what they should do.

At the same time, they also have a deeper understanding of the current state of the Croatian national team.

Let them be independent of the midfield and frontcourt and become an iron-blooded defense line?

This is impossible!

They need to rely on the midfield and even the front line.

Therefore, at this stage, it is the linkage between them, which is the first step.

Once they have done this, they will move towards the linkage between the midfield and the backcourt, and even the whole court.

But before that, they must enrich their weapons.

Croatia's strength is too high, which is not too friendly for these newcomers.

But they don't pursue being able to help these awesome guys immediately, but at least they can't drag their feet, right?

Now that their ideas are clear, they know what to do next.