• anxiety-elemental@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          he lead Dinamo Zagreb on their most successful CL campaign possibly ever; I for one argue that if it wasn’t for some weird calls in the last game against Shakhtar we would have made it out of group stage (we went from 2nd in the group to 4th in about 15min of play)

          he also made Osijek a genuine title contender in the Croatian league (Prva HNL) for a couple seasons which was no easy feat despite newfound investment in the club.

          It’s certainly a bizzarre signing but I think it could go either way. Would be equally unsurprised if he keeps them up or if he crashes and burns and leaves after 9 months.

  • smeghead_85@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    He is either very lucky or he has a top notch manager. His last two experiences were failures (Osijek and Trabzonspor)

    • NikoKboyaobir@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      He wasn’t complete failure at Osijek, he was terrible as a sporting director and he was sometimes his worst enemy but it was under him that Osijek has his best season in HNL and they challenged for titles in 2 seasons.

    • cib_vk228@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      He literally smashed all Osijek league records. Fantastic coach, terrible sporting director.

      • smeghead_85@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        He did, but let’s be honest, a lot of money was being invested. Osijek had much higher goals during his time there.

  • laki1986@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Very surprising appointment if it happens. He played a significant part in our club’s success in recent years by setting the foundation. However, he also failed horribly in Osijek and Trabzonspor afterwards.

    • tudum42@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Failed in Osijek? He was pretty much their best coach ever. Broke all the league records with them. The only role was bad at in there was the Sport Director role. He started getting worse there because he was blatantly fed up with the staff.

      • laki1986@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        But he also never won something or managed to qualify for the Europa League. Kek on the other hand was much more successful when he took over Rijeka. You can’t really say that he was successful at Osijek despite breaking league records.

  • Pek-Man@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    For a second there I was wondering, why the hell Union were hiring Professor Big Shots. Also, I don’t really expect a lot of people, if any, to get that reference.

  • mu55el@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Well it seems Union is gonna be relegated. I hope I’m wrong but honestly Bjelica is atrocius since Dinamo days and his Osijek appointement wasn’t anything special either.

  • -Lykan-@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    3 years later and his statement about Felix in Atletico has been validated. Too bad he couldn’t do the same thing for Osijek and sign decent players.