Slaven Belupo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Istra 1961 were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Istra 1961, and 8 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Yannick Touré.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuli Miettinen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuli Miettinen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 7.76, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Istra 1961 are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Mohamed Nasraoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Istra 1961, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Something was said to Franko Kovačević and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo Zagreb in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Istra 1961, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Istra 1961 are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Istra 1961 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eric Krivičić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Hajduk Split next, and one man in the Istra 1961 dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.