Former Croatia coach
Miroslav Blazevic has slammed the tactics of current boss
Mirko Jozic, claiming that his negative approach gifted
Mexico a 1-0 win on Monday.
Blazevic, who guided Croatia to third place in the 1998
World Cup, said: "It was terrible to watch. The
Croatia that played under me in the 1998 World Cup never
played like that. On Monday, we were weak, we were poor
and I'm not surprised we lost."
The former Iran coach admitted that he was puzzled by
Jozic's decision to play Davor Suker in a withdrawn role
behind Alen Boksic. "He adopted his own peculiar
strategy for the match," continued Blazevic.
"But the way they played went against the philosophy
that I adopted - and that was to play attacking football.
Pulling Suker back into midfield was clearly a mistake.
"He has such a big reputation and if he had played
up front, he would have taken at least two defenders with
him. That would have created more space for Alen Boksic,
but as it was, Boksic was totally isolated."
Despite Blazevic's lack of confidence in Jozic's tactics,
he believes that they will bounce back with a victory
Italy in the next game. "Croatia must improve, and
if they do that then I believe that are good enough to
beat the Italians," he said.