Hajduk Powerless on the Road
The defeat in Varaždin at the season opener is just a continuation of the team's dismal away record at Poljud, and experts are clear, the team doesn't exist, and the coach has lost the plot.
The defeat in Varaždin at the season opener is just a continuation of the team's dismal away record at Poljud, and experts are clear, the team doesn't exist, and the coach has lost the plot.
Hajduk opened the new HNL season with a 1:2 loss to Varaždin, and in the final moments of the match, captain Marko Livaja missed a penalty that would have leveled the score. His shot was saved by goalkeeper Josip Silić, sealing another away-day failure for the Split side and sparking a wave of criticism aimed at coach Gonzalo Garcia and the state of the club.
Former Hajduk and Croatia international Hrvoje Vejić didn't mince words on MAXSport's show Studio SuperSport HNL. He commented on how coach Garcia has treated Marko Livaja.
"I don't see Hajduk having a team that will turn things around. You've completely demoted the captain. A player who is an absolute club legend, who has put up numbers no one will ever match. You've demoted him because he's a striker who doesn't track back. It's terrible," Vejić said.
He also said he doesn't understand the Spanish coach's tactical ideas: "Then you take a player brought in as the best winger and play him as the main striker because he's good defensively. For the main defensive role, you bring in a player who's great but can't defend. You put the left-back with the best cross in the league in central midfield where he has no idea what he's doing. Is that the philosophy?"
That Hajduk's play is completely predictable is confirmed by the fact that they're an open book for opponents. A concrete example is left-back Hrgović, who regularly drifts inside during build-up play, leaving the defense with three at the back, and everything moves too slowly.
In the VAR soba podcast by Sportske novosti, coach Ilija Lončarević and commentator Davorin Olivari dissected the situation at Poljud. Lončarević stressed that no way out of the crisis is visible.
"Still no light at the end of Hajduk's tunnel, and I'm not sure what the club's leadership is doing, or if they're just letting things drift. Hajduk has been in a serious and uncertain situation for a long time, and it won't improve on its own," Lončarević said.
Olivari was even harsher: "Gonzalo Garcia sometimes seems very strange to me; his explanations are pure Alan Ford. 'If we hadn't conceded stupid goals, we would have won.' Oh, really? What's worse is that I think Garcia has lost the team, and everything happening on the pitch is his problem."
Lončarević continued on the lack of collective: "Players fight individually, but not as a team. That means the team doesn't exist. Hajduk has no team, and it seems no dressing room either."
He also touched on the situation with the captain and the buyout clause that reportedly protects the coach. "That case should have been resolved long ago. Livaja is the best player and must play, or he must leave. This situation is too heavy a burden for the club," Lončarević believes. He also recalled Livaja's recent message: "Marko himself recently said that as captain he has to decide what will happen, because this makes no sense."
Lončarević added his view on Garcia's tenure: "I'm not someone who dislikes foreigners; on the contrary, I thought Garcia was very positive last summer in the European matches, but look where we've ended up. There was talk of replacing him last season too, but according to all reports, it didn't happen only because of Garcia's hefty buyout clause. My question is: what has he done to deserve such a clause that he can hold the club by the short and curlies?"
Olivari clarified his claim about losing the team: "When I said Garcia has lost the team, I meant more that the players don't know what they're supposed to do, that the coach has lost the plot in that sense."
Hajduk's away form is particularly alarming. Since Garcia took over, the team has played 48 matches with 25 wins, 10 draws, and 13 losses. However, in 26 away games, they've managed only 10 wins, seven draws, and as many as nine losses, with victories mostly coming against weaker opponents like Zira, lower-league Cibalia, Vukovar, and Osijek.
In 2026, the stats are even bleaker: in 13 matches, they've secured only three wins (against Osijek, Vukovar, and Istra), four draws, and six losses. This season, they've lost all three away fixtures, against Žilina, Pafos, and Varaždin, conceding eight goals.
The paradox is that at Poljud, where they average 20,000 spectators, Hajduk looks better. There, they beat both Žilina and Pafos 2:0. "If they can outplay those opponents at Poljud, why can't they at least come close to repeating that in the return legs?" is the question that arises.
Coach Garcia, in just over a year, through three preseason periods and three transfer windows, working with three different sporting directors, was supposed to have shaped the team. But away from home, aggression, running power, and finishing are missing, and the play boils down to sterile possession and slow attacks that opponents easily punish on the counter. Their next away trip takes them to Žalgiris coach Andrius Skerla, which will be another test for their shaken confidence.
