[HajdukSplit]

Osijek were hammered in Gorica, Dinamo dropped points in Rijeka while Hajduk were embarrassed at Varazdin who have new manager (Toplak was sacked earlier in the week). Dinamo and Osijek joint leaders but Dinamo have two games in hand, Rijeka meanwhile have 4 games in hand and if they win those they will be equal terms with Dinamo. Hajduk in 5th and will be a fight to just qualify for Europe

 

[HajdukSplit]

Some rumors Gorica could lose their manager to Ludogorets which would be a big blow to their EL chances, they also could lose as many as 4-5 key players this winter though Cabraja turned down a move to MLS expansion side Austin

 

[HajdukSplit]

It’s now official, Dambrauskas to Ludogorets but they will also lose their sporting director who is expected to join Hajduk. Next Gorica manager will likely be Orescanin but Zekic is also a candidate

 

[HajdukSplit]

Tomic is leaving Lokomotiva to take a job in China, next manager is expected to be Jerko Leko who was working in their youth set up

 

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Tomic is leaving Lokomotiva to take a job in China, next manager is expected to be Jerko Leko who was working in their youth set up

Shame he did a really good job last season then his squad was ripped apart right before the Europa qualifier. His side played nice attacking football.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Hajduk are set to appoint Jose Manuel Rebelo Fernandes (Silas) as the new manager it appears. He is from Portugal and has never coached outside that league. He started with Belenenses and was most recently manager of Sporting CP but only lasted about 5 months there. They contacted Marino Pusic, Bosnian-born assistant manager at AZ Alkmaar but he had no interest. There is some speculation they could be looking at Stipic from Slaven Belupo

 

[HajdukSplit]

Talks with the Portuguese manager fell through over staff and new Hajduk manager is Italian Paolo Tramezzani. The positives is he did help Lugano make the EL group stage and won a league title with APOEL but at most places he lasted less than a year

Paolo Tramezzani - Manager profile

This is the profile site of the manager Paolo Tramezzani. The site lists all clubs he coached and all clubs he played for.

www.transfermarkt.com

Schildenfeld returns to the HNL and signs for his hometown team Sibenik

 

[HajdukSplit]

Dinamo are really struggling since the restart, they have lost two out of three at home, including today against Sibenik (lost earlier to Rijeka, barely beat Gorica after some typical HNL referee 'blunders'). They are now equal on points with Osijek and same amount of games played. Rijeka have four games in hand and if they win all they will be within one point. Gorica have fallen off since Dambrauskas left but still in decent shape to finish 4th unless Hajduk mount a massive recovery

Sibenik deserve credit, looks like they will finish comfortable midtable despite probably having the smallest budget in the league (though they do have some foreign investment now who has brough in Schildenfeld + some Colombian youngsters), they have taken points from all the top teams this season, maybe Rendulic is a manager to look out for, they apparently play positive football too. Relegation is probably down to Loko, Varazdin and Istra; Loko look poor all year and they have an inexperienced manager now in Leko but on paper have a decent enough squad, Varazdin probably have the worst squad on paper and an equally inexperienced manager while Istra seem perennial 9th place finishers last 3-4 years and are massive underachievers

 

[ForzaFiume]

Rijeka have dropped way too many points already to be in contention for a run to the title, unless Dinamo and Osijek continue to drop points too. We really need full points from Sibenik and other teams that are bottom half of the table. Would be a shame if Rijeka can’t even make it to the ECL. Given the watered down nature of that competition, they’d actually have the chance to make a decent run, depending on who’s on the squad come next year.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Rijeka needed a penalty kick in like the 10th minute of injury time to rescue a point at home to Sibenik (who have been on good form since the restart). Gorica struggling so far under Orescanin so its really a two horse race for the title now. Hajduk not convincing at all but can't really blame the new manager yet as he didn't have the preparation time, but with Gorica's poor form they could still get the Euro spots (also still involved with the cup). Interestingly the bottom half teams are all picking up unsuspected points with the exception of Istra who are bottom, their next three fixtures certainly aren't easy either

In transfer news, Dinamo were really active and they have signed Ristovski (ex-Rijeka) from Sporting; Marin who struggled for any game time at Monza goes to Lokomotiva on loan; Rijeka is close to signing Josip Drmic, on paper would be a decent signing but the guy hasn;t played a professional match since July and hasn't even played a reserve game since September; though there were some Championship teams interested as well

The big news is the referee issue as well, tons of mistakes last few weeks to the point even guys like Miskovic and Mamic are complaining The standard is very poor and its no surprise there are no Croatian referees on a decent UEFA level

 

[HajdukSplit]

Istra sack Budicin after five straight losses, new manager is Danijel Jumic who was interim manager earlier this season when Prelec left the club. They have made a lot of random foreign signings too last few days; notably Cameroonian goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa who has 44 caps for them and Welsh international Dylan Levitt from Manchester United youth who's hoping a move to the HNL gets him a spot on the Wales team at Euro

2.HNL resumes today; the following teams have requested a first division license for next season: Inter Zapresic, Cibalia, Croatia Zmijavci, Dugopolje, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Opatija, Orijent Rijeka, Rudes, Sesvete. Decision on who will be eligible will be made sometime late April. The belief is Hajduk will get rid of their second team and make Dugopolje into their farm team like Dinamo-Loko, Opatija seem pretty ambitious while Inter at this point are closer to the relegation zone than promotion

 

[HajdukSplit]

Rijeka winless in three now, scoring only one goal in the process, despite the fans turning on Rozman a bit he was given a contract extension a few days ago. It appears 4th place is the best they can hope for now but their upcoming fixtures are brutal (Osijek away twice, one of those is a cup game; Hajduk home, Dinamo away). After that things look better but seems to be their confidence is down since selling some of their players to Dinamo

 

[HajdukSplit]

Istra lose at home to 10 man Varazdin making them now clear favorites for relegation. Poorly built squad and two consecutive awful ownership groups is was coming I guess

 

[HajdukSplit]

Rozman out at Rijeka after another home loss to Hajduk and they are now in danger of missing out on Europe through the league. Goran Tomic is the early favorite for the job

Armada had a protest against the players after the match

 

[HajdukSplit]

Tomic is the new Rijeka manager, his first two games are Osijek in the cup and Dinamo in the league

Sammir and Jelavic leave Loko, Sammir will continue his career in Brazil while Jelavic retires