Croatia 3-1 Ireland: Ireland invite pressure, but deal with it poorly
The starting line-ups
Croatia recorded a comfortable victory over Ireland and go top of Group C.
Slaven Bilic used Vedran Corluka in the centre of defence and played Darijo Srna in his traditional position of right-back in order to play Ivan Rakitic on the right of midfield, and used Ognjen Vukojevic as his holding midfielder.
Giovanni Trapattoni announced his XI days ago, and they started as expected (with 1-11 on their backs).
Set-pieces played a large part here, but Croatia were the better side – more inventive with their passing, cleverer with their movement, more ruthless in the penalty box.
Formation battle
Ireland played the usual 4-4-1-1, with Robbie Keane dropping off Kevin Doyle upfront, and the wide players forming a deep second bank of four ahead of the defence.
Croatia’s system could be interpreted as something similar, but as they dominated possession of the ball and pushed men forward, it was more like the old 4-1-3-2 they used at the last European Championships. Vukojevic sat very deep in front of the defence, with the other three midfielders attacking high up the pitch. Mario Mandzukic drops off Nikica Jelavic when Croatia are out of possession – but for the majority of the game they had the ball and were in the Irish half, so Mandzukic was a second striker and an outright goalscoring threat.
Srna – Rakitic
Srna has played as a winger for Croatia over the past year, but it was good to see him at home in his right-back position here – not high up against a full-back and getting the ball with his back to goal, but instead pushing on down the flank, able to see the whole pitch and time his runs well, and attack the space Ireland allowed Croatia on the flanks. He benefited from Rakitic moving into the centre of the pitch, which created gaps for him on the overlap.
Croatia’s most frequent passing combination was Rakitic to Srna (15), showing their constant route of attack. Srna’s crosses weren’t always accurate, but he was stretching the Irish defence and helping build pressure.
On the other flank, Ivan Perisic stayed wider, so Ivan Strinic was more cautious than Srna with forward movements. Perisic later crossed for the third Croatia goal.
Irish defending
Ireland’s basic problem was defensive mistakes, which completely undermined their gameplan. Trapattoni’s strategy is based around a solid back four, but the first two Croatian goals were incredibly soft, and both came following set-pieces, the area of the game Ireland were expected to specialise in (and the area Croatia were supposedly weak in). Granted, Sean St Ledger’s equaliser also came from a set-piece, but put simply, Ireland conceded more than they scored from set-plays…and they were never going to dominate Croatia in open play.
To what extent were the mistakes purely individual errors, and to what extent did Ireland’s strategy lead to them? To start, it must be said that Ireland were playing a risky game by defending so deep against Jelavic and Mandzukic. Against more technical sides, Ireland’s defensive positioning would have been fine, but Croatia were entirely happy to get wide and centre the ball – their side possesses both good crossers, and good aerial strikers. Ireland aren’t accustomed to keeping a high defensive line, but moving 5-10 yards further up the pitch would have been preferable.
Modric
Modric’s influence could be seen in two very different ways. You can make the case that he dominated the game (which can be backed up with statistics: he completed 58 passes, 19 more than the next highest player, Srna), and it’s certainly true that his intelligent passing and constant probing in the midfield zone steadily built the pressure that Ireland eventually crumbled under.
But it would have been difficult to stop him. Dropping Keane onto him wasn’t an option, as Modric played too high up the pitch. Moving one of the midfielders higher onto him would have left space in front of the defence, which the other central midfielder probably wouldn’t have been able to cover on his own, with Mandzukic dropping deep and Rakitic moving inside from the flank.
Modric’s importance was largely dependent upon Ireland’s penalty box defending. Because they made those mistakes, they looked stupid for giving Modric time on the ball. Had they defended like they did throughout qualification, it would have seemed intelligent that they stood off Modric and focused on preventing the next pass – after all, Modric is an orchestrator rather than a provider, and rarely provides the assist. Like Xavi Hernandez, he can be impossible to nullify, and you have to accept he’ll dominate and focus on keeping things tight in deeper positions. And, in fairness, when Ireland went 1-0 down they did start to close down Modric, with Andrews moving higher up the pitch to pressure him.
Ireland attacks
Ireland were disappointing with the ball – they were always going to play basic football, but their passing here was even more long and hopeful than usual, with the Croatian front two working hard without the ball, forcing the defenders into hurried clearances downfield. The passing performances of Richard Dunne and Stephen Ward were particularly ugly.
Doyle won some free-kicks and worked the channels well, Keane buzzed around but saw little of the ball. Damien Duff moved infield but Vukojevic was often in his way, while McGeady was invisible in open play, completely dominated by the superb Srna.
Second half
The second half mirrored the first. Ireland should have played higher up the pitch, but didn’t. And like in the opening period, they conceded after three minutes – this time, as a direct result of inviting a cross and defending deep.
That goal came after 48 minutes, but seemed to seal the game. Croatia’s ball retention after that was excellent, and while Trapattoni’s approach was logical considering the players he had available and the situation he faced, we always knew Ireland had no plan B, and were highly unlikely to fight back from a losing position. Three strikers came on – Jon Walters, Simon Cox and Shane Long – but Ireland played the same system and there was no James McClean to bring a spark of excitement on the flanks. Ireland relied on set-pieces for a couple of half-chances.
Bilic only made one significant change. Niko Kranjcar replaced Jelavic and played much deeper, helping Croatia retain the ball.
Conclusion
Predictably, this was nowhere near as interesting as the other Group C encounter tonight. A game based around defensive mistakes and set-pieces was perhaps what Ireland were hoping for – but Croatia put far more pressure upon the Ireland defence than vice-versa, and deserved their victory.
Bilic and Croatia played this one well – they knew they were up against an organised, defensive side, and combined clever movement and intelligent passing with some simple, brutal strength in the penalty box. Modric spread the play to the flanks, Rakitic created space for Srna, Srna stretched the play. The understanding and cohesion of the side was good, and although Croatia will have tougher tests than this, they’ve put themselves in a strong position in a tough group.
Very sound analysis ZM! Was really disappointed by the Irish in all honesty. They never really got going, but I think that the tournament experience of Croatia, certainly in recent years, was the difference.
Think the Croats may be a very exciting team to watch as the tournament develops.
http://tttfootball.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/rep-of-ireland-1-croatia-3-10th-june-2012/
I remembered Ireland from their playoff match against France back in 2010 (the one with the infamous Henry handball). Most of that team played here, but what happened to them ? 2 years ago, they were able to pass the ball nicely enough. Solid, disciplined, functional and not very beautiful, but still capable. Today, they were just kicking it forward aimlessly without any ideas about what to do with it. It was like seeing a coloured film of a 1930’s match…
Maybe Croatia is just so much better than France back then.
Fair point. But it still doesn’t explain Ireland’s dreadful performance.
I was very impressed by Croatia. They have several attacking weapons — Rakitic, Perisic, Eduardo, Kranjcar, Jelavic, Mandzukic, etc. — and seem flexible enough to cope with contrasting approaches. It’s difficult to see them advancing to the next round, but they should put up a good fight against Spain and Italy.
Great analysis as ever ZM, did you not think Doyles withdrawal was strange ? seemed to be giving Corluka a difficult time in the first half, Mcgeady was outrageously annonymous
as an irish fan
i never expected us to control the game.
i am just disappointed at the soft goals conceded. i expected us to be more resilient
Again, zm, you are underestimating Croatia. I have to admit, that i had doubts about this team, but if i would watch this game alone, without prior matches from Croatia or Ireland, Croatia simply outplayed Ireland today. As a Croatian, i think Croatia was simply better team, and it had not anything to do with luck. Modric was instrumental, his passing was perfect and after going 3-1 up, of course it was a defensive game, all the way. For Croatia, it was always about passing game and they, simply, delivered. Period.
Nothing to do with luck? Pull the other one! For all Croatia’s supposed outplaying of Ireland the goal threat each team gave was roughly equivalent with Ireland having 13 shots and 3 on target to Croatia’s 15 to 5, a mild reversal of luck and favour from the referee and the score could easily be the reverse. The second goal for Croatia was offside and featured a foul on Ward, the third goal was an own goal scored off the goalkeeper’s head (great header granted but we’re talking about the notion of luck here) and shortly after that there was an outrageous decision not to give a penalty when Keane was fouled inside the area, and had that penalty been awarded and scored it’s not at all unfeasible that Ireland could have made it 3-3.
Overall Croatia looked poor to me, under Trapatonni Ireland have only ever been taken apart by Russia and Croatia didn’t do anything even approaching that. All the same they’ve a half chance of coping against Spain, less so Italy who can rely on a proper threat from out wide via their wing backs and forwards.
1. It wasnt an offside goal, maybe you should learn the offside rule and then come back to this side. By the way great assist from the Irish defender.
2. Penalty on Keane yes but Ireland should stop the attack cuz a croatian player was hurt and 99 of 100 teams (Ireland the only one) would stop the attack cuz of FAIR PLAY.
Regardless of the rule, it needs to be changed. If a player is behind the defences’ line when the ball is played, he is interfering with play. That rule does nothing but cause confusion.
Yes im with you, it should be changed but with this rule it was a correct goal from Jelavic.
1. Actually, Jelavic was offside when the initial shot was hit; also, Ward was fouled at the time of his ‘great assist’.
2. Too many teams are taking advantage of what you call ‘FAIR PLAY’ to get the game stopped; the Irish players were entitled to play on. It’s a shame that the referee bottled this particular decision (although he actually performed quite well over the course of the game).
Yes, he bottled that decision- a foul should’ve been called on the Irish player who elbowed Mandzukic….
Win the ball drop your holder into the back and push on the fullbacks in 4-3-3 and it becomes 3-4-3 (Mexico 2010)
Win the ball drop your holder into the back and push on the fullbacks in a 4-4-2 and it becomes 3-5-2 (Coratia 2012?)
Win the ball drop your holder back abd push the fullbacks on in a chrismas tree and it becomes 3-4-2-1 (England 2014?)
Just kidding about the last one, Roy doesn’t do holding players. Actuallly he just does 4-4-1-1 always has always will
Are you sure Roy’s going to be in charge in 2014?
Oh yes
Can someone ban that guy dfgff. he is really retarded and annoying. not to mention making it impossible to read thru the insightful comments by other readers
I’d say he’s actually creepy and mentally disturbed.
Can someone explain this? If a defender slices a clearance and it goes to the keeper he can pick it up because it is not deliberate. However, if a defender slices a clearance to an offside attacker it is deemed onside even though it wasn’t a deliberate pass back.
I am not an Irishman. I just want some clarification with the rules.
There are three situations to distinguish between:
1) Deliberate pass
2) Deliberate play with the ball but not a deliberate pass
3) Accidental contact with the ball
In the case of the ball making contact with a defenders foot and the goalkeeper picking it up with his hands, only 1) is a violation
In the case of the ball making contact with a defender and then going to an offside player from the other team, only 3) would be called offside, i.e. if the ball was played towards the attacker by one of his teammates and then is deflected off the defender. Yesterday, the Irish defender deliberately approached the ball and played with it, the pass wasn’t intentional, but the play was. No offside.
The phases of play are poorly defined so it will inevitably lead to people feeling hard done by. The second Croatia goal was certainly not in the spirit of the game regardless of whether it was within the rules and so reflects poor rule-making.
I was quite surprised that James McClean didn’t start and even became a unused sub eventually. His energy which allow him running up and down , first , it can give more pressure to Srna and limit his time to going forward. Second , his speed and sprint could cause Croatia much problem than McGeady’s fancy but useless footwork and the average Simon Cox ,also McClean can put in a good crosses and he dare to get into the box with a not decent but pretty good shooting skill, they would give another option to the clueless Ireland who only rely on Duff and set-pieces.
And with the traditional 442 while both Italy and Spain are playing 3 central midfield with also a ball playing centre back. I won’t be surprised if Ireland record a double digit conceding after the end of the group stage.
Croatia’s defense didn’t look as comfortable as their offense. Corluka is a soft style defender which is pretty old news but you can’t change someone style and that is not really his fault. They could have conceded the second goal with Ireland almost found the net with their heading but just too close or saved by Pletikosa. Fortunately Croatia has already played against probably the team with the strongest aerial ability in this group.
Croatia’s second goal was actually offside. If you look carefully after Ward’s misclearance it hits Vukojovic (#8) before going to Jelavic.
Exactly. The Croatia forward was offside from the initial forward pass by a Croatia player – i.e. before the Ireland player touched it. I don’t see how this can be deemed second phase, as the Croatia forward made now attempt to get back onside and clearly gained an advantage from being offside initially. Not a goal.
Also, why not mentioned in your analysis of the blatant penalty not awarded for tackle from behind on Keane? One of the most blatant penalities I’ve ever seen. Disgraceful non-decision.
So, despite Croatia’s technical and tactical superiority, it was these two refereeing mistakes that decided the game.
Refereeing was awful all-round, for both teams.
For example; it would never have came to that “blatant penalty” if referee had awarded Croatia a free kick after a foul on Mandzukic which directly led to the “penalty”. Please don’t say it wasn’t a foul on Mandzukic, because if that wasn’t a foul then how could there be a foul by Corluka after which Ireland scored? That somehow was a foul but, for example, an elbow in the goalkeepers head in his 6 yard box (after which a decent side might have scored) wasn’t? Seriously?!
Judging by Irish players skills, which for most part have nothing to do with football, if I didn’t know better I’d have thought Ireland sent their wrestling team by accident.
Ireland presented some of the ugliest football seen in a long time on Euros and deservedly lost; even a 2004 Greece was a joy to watch compared to bunch of talentless Irish bullies.
Once the Ireland player made that pass directly to Jelavic, it was a new phase of play. It made no difference that Jelavic was offside before that since he wasn’t directly effecting play. It’s not even a controversial decision.
As for the penalty not given to Ireland, it was only right it wasn’t called since Mandzukic had been badly fouled at the other end(with no call) while the Irish played on. That was poor sportsmanship.
Again, Ward was fouled in the build-up to the second goal.
And again, because a player stays down, does not mean that the other side has to stick the ball out of play – read the laws of the game.
If that was a foul on Ward, then referee failed to award at least a dozen fouls for Croatia, including the one which led to alleged penalty. But I guess it’s OK for Irish players to try to make up for their lack of skill by elbowing clearly superior opposition. I seriously doubt the ref in Ireland-Spain match will be so lenient with the Irish.
I think it’s safe to say Ireland is the poorest side in the tournament skill wise, and against Croatia they were lacking in tactical awareness department as well. To put it simply; the better team won.
Ah, so now it’s a foul on Ward… What’s next, wanting to get the game replayed because you saw a shiny object on Modric’ finger?
It doesn’t make a difference whether it touched Vukojevic since it would count as a deflection off an Ireland pass(Vukojevic didn’t have control of the ball). A new phase of play was initiated by that (awful) Ireland pass.
Croatia were easily the better side here and I was very impressed. They clearly played an attacking game and really went for the win against Ireland, so they deserve plaudits. I thought Modric was fantastic in midfield, controlling the game and allowing Croatia to dominate. Srna was also great getting forward and overlapping, the fact he played RB summed up Croatia’s attacking approach. The front two then dominate the Irish CB’s surprisingly out muscling them in many occasions. Mandzukic’s movement was great and he held up the ball well, bringing others into play, while his two goals won the game for Croatia (it seemed Ireland underestimated him). I also thought Corluka had a good game at CB, he tracked Doyle well and as the game moved on Doyle became less present for Ireland.
Ireland will feel unlucky with the Ref’s decisions but they were poor yesterday. Their fullbacks defended wide situations poorly, the CB’s were dominated physically and the wingers struggled to track the Croatian fullbacks, all stuff Ireland is supposed to be good at. Their CM’s were put under good pressure at times by Croatia, but even when they weren’t they gave the ball away with sloppy passes. The wingers hardly saw the ball so couldn’t be a threat, though Duff was incredibly poor even when he did. Doyle started well and looked a good long ball option, but Corluka subdued him as the game grew on. While Keane was non-existent. The substitutions had mixed results, with Walters and Long improving Ireland a bit, but Cox completely the wrong player to come on at, especially with McClean on the bench.
I expect Croatia to return to a more defensive approach against Italy and that should be an interesting game. Ireland should stick to their guns and defend deep against Spain, they could grab a draw and then go all out against Italy, 4 points may be enough?
Good overview except for saying that Corluka had a good game. He was quite bad, making too many strong, unneeded challenges and getting outdone in the air. He just looked rusty, overall. I hope he got those cobwebs out because he’s going to need to bring his A game to the next 2 matches.
That Ireland were not going to play tiki-taka football was clear to everyone, but this was really really ugly – I remember two separate situations at the end of the game when the ball just bounced off, once the chest, once the head of an Irish player, as if they were some statues, and all they did all game was hoofing the ball forward and trying to cross it in the box. Stone age football. Sure, they can produce some players with more skill than that – McGeady is an example, even if he is not world class, he does have skills on the ball (but he saw very little of it yesterday so we didn’t see any of them). Yet the rest seem to be your cartoonishly stereotypical big strong lads huffing and puffing around the pitch and inflicting pain on the ball with their toes. Real ugly stuff.
Croatia completely tore our tactics to pieces… even if they did get quite a bit luck too.
But they totally outplayed us and killed our main attacking threats. Our rigid 442 is just too easy to counter-act at this level.
While I wouldn’t say 442 (or 4411) is unworkable – you certainly need two very talented midfielders when most teams will have 3 against you. Our two center midfielders are very ordinary.
Croatia were also very smart in the way they attacked us too… They often went direct to their strikers, which meant our midfield didn’t have time to get behind the ball and protect the defence… I believe this was a deliberate tactic from Bilic.
And also playing with lots of width was part of their strategy too. This made our two banks of four much less compact. Against sides that play more through the middle, we find it easier to stay in our rigid shape…
Basically, however, we were just far too predictable and easy to defend and attack against… this shows the dangers of a team who like to invite pressure. If the opposition find ways to pull you out of your shape and damage your organisation – it can cause huge problems…
I’m an Irish fan and I was hoping for the best for my countrymen. But I’ve never been a fan of Trappatoni’s methods. I think they’re outdated, predictable, boring and ultimately very negative.
Part of me now kind of hopes that Spain and Italy post up a couple of big scores against us, which can hopefully blow apart the mith that Trappatoni is a tactical genius – because he’s really NOT!!
Like Fabio Capello, I’ve always thought his record in football was based mostly around success in league football as opposed to knock-out footie… His record in knock-out competitions (like Capello) is actually quite underwhelming considering his stature in the game!
I’m not an ageist either, but I think he is a bit of a dinosour when it comes to tactics… and ridiculously stubborn too. We have better players sitting at home then the ones he consistently picks as starters. James McCarthy, Seamus Coleman etc, etc…
I’m actually cringing at the thought of what the Spanish are going to do to us… They’re going to have a field day against our midfield unless we change something. But perhaps it the best thing for us… fans need their eyes opened to our manager’s failings!!
I disagree! (Not an Ireland fan thou).
1. I believe that Trappa is the best your NT can get, you have to remember the player material you have which is basically 2-3 decent players and 20 bad ones… (no offence).
You cannot expect play as open as Spain or even Russia… Tactical coach is a must for you.
Before you trash his skills at the knockouts please see his wiki page… Never mind i’ll do it for you.in Juve 7 KO titles in a first decade and another one in a next 3 yrs (UEFA cup – a second one).2 KO ttls with Inter and 2 w. Bayern.. oh and Nations cup for you guys a year ago…;)
2.I do think that your NT will cause much problem for Spain, they play a naive game and you guys are gonna park the bus. unless they play Navas & Torrs/Llorente… which is gonna open a play a bit for them…
Maybe Trap would appear to be the best we could hope to get on paper, but not in reality…
Firstly, If possible all national teams should be managed by someone from that country or failing that at least someone who is fluent in the language and understands the culture. Trappatoni doesn’t understand our football culture!
It’s obvious that he has watched old tapes of the Jack era and has tried to encorporate some of his methods too. But not as well as Jack did imo… Our long ball game for instance is a poor imitation of what Jack did. Jack knew that when using that tactic, you have to get the opposing defensive line turned in order to press them effectively…
You either do that by having one pacey forward threatening in behind, or you put the ball in the space behind the fullbacks – under trap we do neither of these things so the long ball style is completely ineffective. Crucially we also don’t press the opposition either which is an essential element. (For someone who is regarded as a tactical mind you’d think Trap would understand these things..!?)
You say we have 2-3 decent players and 20 bad ones, that’s a bit unkind (and untrue). We have a limited pool of talent, but it doesn’t help when your manager ignores or alienates a handful of our more technically proficient players…
I don’t think any team should play “open football” at this kind of level… But we are certainly capable of playing something a bit more expansive then what Trap is dishing up. Our players proved that at times against France in Paris and Italy too… it’s all about confidence – Trap has little or no confidence in our player’s footballing ability!
His record in the European cup/Champs League is very poor considering the teams he has managed. He should have made more finals with that Juve team. Should have also done alot better in europe with Inter and Bayern. His tenure as Italy coach was a disaster… League footie is where his skills are best suited imo. He produces solid, consistent, workman-like teams that do quite well over a long season.
Spain will rip us apart. It pains me to say that as an Irish fan, but it’s what I believe… We’re not like Greece in 2004 for example. Otto Rehagel at least was prepared to change his team’s shape to counter the opposition – Trap isn’t flexible enough to do that.. he’s too stubborn and conservative.
I don’t think Trap has done a bad job with Ireland over the past few years. But I also don’t buy the notion that he has produced miracles either. There are many other less illustrious managers that could have achieved what he has done with Ireland over the past few years – possibly with more exciting football too…
We should have saved a few quid and gave the job to someone like Sam Allardyce. I honestly think he’d have done just as well if not perhaps better considering he can actually speak fluent english and understands our football culture!
Maybe Trap was a better manager a couple of decades ago… but I think he’s a bit over the hill now. Living off his reputation, and picking up a damn good salary too.
But, hey maybe he’ll prove me wrong and pull off a miracle result against the Spanish… Come on Trap, lets see just how great a tactician you really are – make sceptics like me eat my words! (I won’t be holding my breath though…) ;-P
Two things struck me about this match:
1. Croatia played a very intense pressing game, presumably since they knew that the ball retention abilities of Ireland’s players are feeble, and they pressed this advantage home brilliantly and ruthlessly; I very much doubt they’ll press as hard against, say, Spain, since it would be a relative waste of energy. Whereas, against the Irish players, any pressing was highly likely to lead to the regaining of possession.
2. Also, Croatia did very well to limit the amount of set-piece of opportunities for Ireland, particularly after the first half-hour. Any time they had to defend any corners (well, just the one!), they looked in serious trouble, and St. Ledger’s goal was pretty straightforward. It also helped that the Irish were unable to construct many meaningful attacks.
Both were poor teams.
lmao
WTF