On match tickets Hajduk a warning for fans of weak nerves should be printed in bold, and the legendary announcer Vedran Očašić should repeat the appendix from the loudspeakers during breaks: “Ask your doctor or pharmacist for information on indications, precautions and side effects”.
Hajduk fans have been accustomed to a high level of stress, it has been passed down from generation to generation for generations, but what we are all witnessing together at the end of the current championship is still a special level of stress. Whoever survives this, so if Hajduk finally wins the title, will have something to talk about to their grandchildren …
Dambrauskas’ team is struggling from round to round, spilling points, breaking in the last minutes, but they are still in some kind of connection with the top. And despite the fact that the game shown does not inspire too much hope that a miracle is possible, hope is still smoldering, primarily because of the game and the results of rivals who also do not shine. In fact! And it is not said in vain that it does not matter how bad you are, it is more important how bad those you compete with, and in this crazy, less season, in the end will obviously celebrate the one who loses the least, not the one who wins the most points.
Let’s just look at the results of Hajduk, before this round they were seven points behind Dinamo, five behind Osijek and two behind Rijeka, and in the previous five rounds they lost six points, not to mention earlier defeats by Šibenik and Slaven Belupo or derbies. Especially the ones played at Poljud, where they never celebrated. Rijeka took all six points, Osijek four, and Dinamo one. Where would they end up if they only scored points against direct rivals?
But easy for points, but what about the game? Dambrauskas’ Hajduk started well, but lately, except for Lokomotiva, which practically did not appear at Poljud, they have not beaten anyone, not even the drowning man from Šibenik, who arrived at Poljud in a series of four defeats and with one goal. Instead of the team growing from round to round, playing better and better, Litavec’s team is becoming more and more unconvincing and fails to impose itself on rivals either by race or game …
Rijeka outplayed them and won, against Gorica, Istria and Dinamo they were afraid until the last second, there was nothing better in Osijek or against Šibenik …. Dambrauskas has a “Dream team” in the locker room, a team like none of his previous ones. in the last 20 years, but he has not managed to arrange or play it, except in the part of creating a surplus in the middle by pushing one defender into the midfield, and turning the other into a stopper.
It all comes down to individual solutions and a moody individual, mostly Livaja, and if he fails, then someone else, like Krovinovic on Saturday. After Osijek, the story spread about how Filip admitted that there was no penalty kick, but the conversation took place at half time and not on the field. But his honesty returned, he was the best individual of the match.
Adding up the minuses after Šibenik, it is impossible not to mention Elez, who eventually scored the winning goal, but brought the team into big trouble. Instead of Sahiti’s unnecessary return, he shot far into the opponent’s field, he toyed with it and for who knows how many times he made a mistake. We recently jokingly wrote that Hajduk’s stoppers will force Subašić to retire early, and now Lovre Kalinić is in danger ….
Already on Friday, Hajduk is waiting for Gorica in Poljud, most likely without Nikola Kalinic and Lukas Grgic, because they both left the game due to injuries, Kalinic’s shoulders, and Grgic’s muscles. The jug is said to go on the water until it breaks. This Hajduk has fallen countless times so far, but it is still in one piece. Only, the question is until when. Dambrauskas is on the move ….