Josko Gvardiol

M

mdenci

Member
BBZ8800 said:
He is awesome in this moment.

I know, some guys will now say: you said he is shit and now you love him.
Well, that is because he was shit and had at least 1-2 goalscoring brainfarts 1 year ago and now turned into a best Croatian defender, aged only 20.

I thought that we are dead yesterday in the 93rd minute when the ball felt to Lukaku's legs almost on the goal line, and Gvardiol came out of nowhere and made a tackle with an outside of his left foot, while 95% of other defenders would fall down and watched the ball going into a net:

He reminds me of a young Puyol.
Puyol was a walking disaster in his first Barca's years (especially when playing as a RB) and he later turned into a Goat.
But, people will now use the same excuse/option for every young player (Pedri, Gavi, Balde = as in = yeah, look at Gvardiol, he sucked and turned into a super defender).
It happens sometimes, but once in 10 or 20 cases, not in every cases.

Only a year ago, he was making a deadly mistake on every match for Dinamo Zagreb in a CL.
And on Euro 2020 (or 2021'), he was a walking disaster (something like Roberto's level of defending).
He was the main reason of Spanish victory over Croatia (5:3), being the main reason for Spanish 2nd and 3rd goal.
Look at the goals from that match:
Spanish 2nd goal, what kind of defending is that, Azpilicueta was his player, he let him jump and score without any defending.
Spanish 3rd goal, a controversial goal when players were drinking water due to a hot weather and Eriksen's heart attack, and Spanish players decided to take a throw in during that water break.
On one hand, you could say that it was an asshole move from Spanish players, on the other hand, you could say that it was Gvardiol's rookie mistake not to be prepared for all the dirty tricks by the opponents.
He was drinking water, the ball came to "his" player Ferran Torres, Gvardiol was throwing the water bottle back to the coaches and lost a few miliseconds. Then he was late, easily dribbled by Ferran (and we know that Ferran has never made a dribble in his life) and that was 3:1 for Spain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r_PpiLSToU

He has single-handadly killed Croatia's hopes in that match (even though we came back to 3:3 in the 96th minute).
My opinion in those days was: don't ever again call this clown into an NT team.

Luckily, he has improved, but you need to ask a question: was it worth to ruin one tournament (Euro 2020) and to ruin 21 other teammates, only to give some learning experience and lessons to Gvardiol?
Click to expand...

Oh c'mon man. Who in their rightful mind would criticise a 18 year old defender for mistakes he made. It was obvious he was gonna make mistakes, that's the only way to learn. If people thought like you think, then kids wouldn't even play football because they would be terrified of making a mistake. Marcelo Bielsa himself said that players make mistakes and that people have to deal with it - they are humans like all of us, they have a bad day like all of us, they feel the pressure as much as we do (probably even more when it comes to football - they don't have to worry about living costs, but that's another story). The kid is amazing, he was amazing for Dinamo, showing what he could become, constantly working on modernizing himself and now it's paying off, even at such a young age. His progressive passes, carrying the ball from the back line, you name it - perfection.

You can't, well, I won't tell you what you can and can't do, but you shouldn't memorize every mistake a player under the age of 23 ever made, they are meant to make them, that's how everybody learns.
 
BBZ8800

BBZ8800

Senior Member
Mdenci, I understand

But one player is never bigger than the club or NT

Young players should get experience in club matches and friendlies, not in a key KO match.

Imagine Spain reaching WC final now and Lucho giving a chance to Balde over Alba, just to give him experience.

And they lose the final.
You gave the experience to one guy, who would have gain it either way in other matches, and screwed the whole team/country.

Gvardiol was not ready then and shouldn't have played.
 
M

mdenci

Member
BBZ8800 said:
Mdenci, I understand

But one player is never bigger than the club or NT

Young players should get experience in club matches and friendlies, not in a key KO match.

Imagine Spain reaching WC final now and Lucho giving a chance to Balde over Alba, just to give him experience.

And they lose the final.
You gave the experience to one guy, who would have gain it either way in other matches, and screwed the whole team/country.

Gvardiol was not ready then and shouldn't have played.
Click to expand...

I never said that a player should be bigger than the club or NT, all I've said was that young players need to get experience and that they will make mistakes in the process.

And then you compared a WC final to a group phase match... Who would you have put instead of Gvardiol, were you in our manager's shoes?
 
BBZ8800

BBZ8800

Senior Member
mdenci said:
I never said that a player should be bigger than the club or NT, all I've said was that young players need to get experience and that they will make mistakes in the process.

And then you compared a WC final to a group phase match... Who would you have put instead of Gvardiol, were you in our manager's shoes?
Click to expand...

Anyone older, the same as how today Gvardiol and Lovren play even though Sutalo might be better or with more potential than Lovren.
 
M

mdenci

Member
BBZ8800 said:
Anyone older, the same as how today Gvardiol and Lovren play even though Sutalo might be better or with more potential than Lovren.
Click to expand...

Except, we had no player who could replace him in the team Dalić assembled for EURO2020 so he had to start the game vs. England, and since he did okay, he stayed in the first team status for the later matches.

Again, I understand he made couple of crucial errors, but it's against my common sense to hold a grudge against a teenager who shows great potential just because he flopped a single match under pressure.

Let's just drop this, and enjoy his show tommorow, hoping he will pocket Neymar and Vini in one pocket, and Richarlison and Raphinha in the other :D
 
Raketa10

Raketa10

Senior Member
It looks like Real Madrid will sign Gvardiol, Enzo Fernandez and Endrick and we'll end up with trash like Gundogan, Asensio or Inigo Martinez. This club will never rise again. :facepalm:
 
malvolio

malvolio

Senior Member
Why would Real want Enzo Fernandez? They have Tchouameni, Camavinga and Valverde, all with similar attributes. I would think they are looking for someone with more creativity.
 
Luftstalag14

Luftstalag14

Culé de Celestial Empire
How much money does Madrid have to spend on all these players? I doubt they will get all of them, perhaps one.
 
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