Gregurina Admits: Dinamo Did What They Wanted
After a lackluster performance and a 2:0 defeat at Maksimir, Slaven Belupo hosts Varaždin on Sunday with the imperative to play more bravely and concretely.
After a lackluster performance and a 2:0 defeat at Maksimir, Slaven Belupo hosts Varaždin on Sunday with the imperative to play more bravely and concretely.
Slaven Belupo's footballers opened the new season with a defeat away to Dinamo, and the impression from Maksimir is far from encouraging. The Blues won 2:0, but what is particularly worrying is the fact that the Koprivnica side was completely powerless in the second half and had no answer to the home team's pressure.
Although it is clear that Dinamo is a significantly stronger opponent and cannot be a true measure of strength, Farmaceuti fans rightly expect much more. "The Blues practically did what they wanted, and it's fair to admit that the Koprivnica team got off lightly given what they showed," reads the analysis in Sportske novosti.
On Sunday, Varaždin arrives in Koprivnica, a club that represented Croatia in Europe for the second consecutive year. True, they were eliminated at the first hurdle both times, but at least they experienced European matches, unlike Slaven, who has been waiting for that honor since 2012 and their clash with Athletic Bilbao.
Coach Mario Gregurina fielded as many as five new players in the starting lineup against Dinamo, which clearly signals that it will take more time for everything to fall into place. Varaždin has the advantage in this regard because their squad changes this summer were minimal.
The most new faces were in the defensive line, where goalkeeper Sentić, center-back Cvetko, and left-back Urata played, as well as in midfield with the duo Adeshina and Jonsson. In attack, there was a new face in Banovec on the left wing.
From Slaven, above all, a braver and more concrete attacking display is expected on Sunday than was the case in Zagreb. At the same time, they will need to be extremely cautious because Varaždin is very dangerous in transition, as they showed in the last mutual encounter in Koprivnica, which ended in a 0:2 victory for the visitors.
An additional challenge will be set-piece play. Slaven had serious problems in both directions throughout last season, and now the question is whether they can exploit the opponent's weaknesses in that phase of the game while also defending against the same.
News from the Farmaceuti camp also suggests that none of the injured or recovering players are likely to return for this match, so Gregurina will have to assemble the team from the same squad he had at Maksimir a week earlier.
