Former Croatian coach Igor Stimac says that Gennaro Gattuso’s behavior in his public appeal with television analyst Josko Jelic “does not match Hajduk Split coach”.
Gattuso took Umbrage to Jelic’s review of him and his team After Hajduk 3-0 defeat in Rivals Rijeka titles on Sunday, refusing to move his hand or talk to him during an interview after the match.
Things are heated between Joško Jeličić and Gennaro Gattuso after the race. pic.twitter.com/nzed6qe04x
– Croatian football (@Croatiafooty) March 16 2025
The sides of the irritants with the best man Jelic
Stimac, who won the Croatian title with Hajduk as a player and coach, was not impressed, though he admitted he had a strong bond with Jelic.
Said to the www.sportske.jutarnji.hr Website: “Although I was Joško’s best man in his wedding and we are very good friends, I have no reason to be subjective.
“What Gattuso did does not suit him, as a world champion, does not suit him as a Hajduk coach and does not suit him as a foreigner in that country, not to respect those who comment on the races.
“Regardless of Joško’s particular cynicism, with whom he knows how to boast his comment, which is flawless, we can analyze everything he said and there is no piece of lie there.
“So he hits exactly where needed. He analyzes the races and make his comment that 99 % of people agree.
Intimac suggests that Gattuso would have been fired if it was Croatia
Sunday’s defeat saw Hajduk slip into the second, two points behind table-toppers Rijeka and Stimac questioned Gattuso’s impact on splitting since he took over last June.
“What did he bring to Hadjuk?” added. “I believe that as long as Hajduk, Dinamo (Zagreb), Osijek and Rijeka do not insist on both results and quality of football, football and the league will not go in the right direction.
“And that must be the priority of every coach, because their clubs pay very well.
“I ask a logical question.
“You shoot at the target once. You give absolutely nothing. Your team has no standards.
“Several players were constantly playing in the wrong places, and you still dare after such a game, after a 3-0 defeat, come to the studio and threaten.”
He was lucky that I wasn’t there …
Stinac was a half-unnecessary center of half in a career that included stints at West Ham and Derby and is not sure he would be able to contain the way Jelic made ahead of Gattuso’s hostility.
“He was lucky I wasn’t there,” he said. “It wouldn’t be good.
