The coach of Hajduka, Mislav Karoglan, had been out of public view for nearly three weeks due to a match against Rijeka. Recently, Karoglan had been dealing with health issues. Even though he continued to guide the matches from the sidelines, his media responsibilities were handled by his assistant, Dragan Blatnjak.
After securing a 4-0 win over Slaven Belup, the team’s morale in Split and all of Dalmatia have been boosted. Karoglan’s health also showed signs of improvement. In celebration of Hajduk’s 113th anniversary, the club introduced the first Hajduk news, set to air on HDTV daily at 19.11. In the inaugural news broadcast, the former coach was one of the interviewees.
Reflecting on the match with a two-day delay, Karoglan said: “We started the match well in the first ten minutes, however, in the last third, our final passes weren’t great. We were dominating in terms of ball possession and the goal was inevitable. We scored at the most crucial moment for us and the worst for the opponent, and played more relaxed in the second half.”
The team displayed great energy and dynamics during the match, with Kalinić, Brekalo, Kalik and Čuić scoring the goals, and Emir Witness providing three assists impressively.
When asked about the intensity of the attack in the match, Karoglan said: “The sample size is too small to make a definitive judgment, but it was intentional. I believe with time and as we continue to improve, we’ll see more of it. There are certain things I’m not happy with, but we’ll discuss that another time.”
On the current upbeat state of the players, he commented: “It’s a sweet problem to have, but I’m not interested in names. It’s about performance on the field. Some players have responded well and that will influence my decision regarding team composition.”
Reflecting on an unpleasant experience in a match at Poljud, he said: “While I always say that the coach is to blame, in this type of match, the players need to be highly motivated. They should treat every game as the most difficult one, as clichéd as that sounds. The only way to succeed is to approach it correctly and demonstrate quality.”
