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Round 19 - Adelaide United [A]

BrisRecky

I'm an idiot savant without the pesky savant bit
So the missus reckons I was a bit harsh on Muzz, but 5 goals in 35 games for a striker anywhere in the world is a shit stat by anyone's reckoning
BUT that first 65 minutes was fantastic ...how good was wee micky till they figured him out...Tongy was great again , Kim was right were he should [not sure abut captain though] ...nizzy was a bit hot and cold ..Lewy was pretty good again, just a bit more polishing needed.....Clisby was vaguely better...Harold was pretty good, just wait till he gets settled ....ziggy was right amongst it ...Stens was red card hunting, Jair was o.k ...if i forgot anybody .theres probably a reason
 

Tevor

Well-Known Member
I caught the plane home from Adelaide today with the team on the same plane which was delayed two and a half hours. The delay was interesting in the way you could watch the team dynamics over a period of time. Observation was Fox and Jair were loners and rarely mingled or spoke with the other groups which were essentially the young boys and the more experienced hanging out talking, playing cards etc.

Also sat behind Birraz on the plane and he was talking to another passenger all the way. Will not give exact details however essentially can not wait for the season to finish and wants to go to Europe (Spain) at the end of the season. Not the news I wanted to hear.
 

Pirate Pete

Well-Known Member
I caught the plane home from Adelaide today with the team on the same plane which was delayed two and a half hours. The delay was interesting in the way you could watch the team dynamics over a period of time. Observation was Fox and Jair were loners and rarely mingled or spoke with the other groups which were essentially the young boys and the more experienced hanging out talking, playing cards etc.

Also sat behind Birraz on the plane and he was talking to another passenger all the way. Will not give exact details however essentially can not wait for the season to finish and wants to go to Europe (Spain) at the end of the season. Not the news I wanted to hear.
You never know. He might just fancy the Camino de Santiago.
A bit of spiritual reflection before he comes back next season refreshed.
 

pjennings

Well-Known Member
Also sat behind Birraz on the plane and he was talking to another passenger all the way. Will not give exact details however essentially can not wait for the season to finish and wants to go to Europe (Spain) at the end of the season. Not the news I wanted to hear.

Australian keeping stocks seem to be at an all time low. It will be very hard to replace Birraz without using a visa spot. Maybe Genk would be open to a loan deal for Danny after his ACL injury before they ease him back.
 

Tevor

Well-Known Member
You never know. He might just fancy the Camino de Santiago.
A bit of spiritual reflection before he comes back next season refreshed.
Thing was he wasn’t whispering and was surrounded by players whom didn’t show any emotion about what he was saying so you have to assume the playing group know. If he goes overseas I can handle that however if it’s another HAL team that will be dog poo.
 

Elite

Well-Known Member
Also sat behind Birraz on the plane and he was talking to another passenger all the way. Will not give exact details however essentially can not wait for the season to finish and wants to go to Europe (Spain) at the end of the season. Not the news I wanted to hear.
This hurts.

Thank you for the insight though. Great info!
 

turbo

Well-Known Member
Australian keeping stocks seem to be at an all time low. It will be very hard to replace Birraz without using a visa spot.

The market is better than last off season though. Afaik there are some decent back ups coming off contract that might want to lock in first team football. Acton is one that comes to mind. That said Moss retiring opens up a spot, Macarthur coming in so who knows. 6th visa spot softens the sting if we do need to go abroad assuming that happens.

Cant say I’m surprised about Birraz probably going. How could we hope to keep him with what we’ve been asking of him and delivering in terms of results?
 

FFC Mariner

Well-Known Member
Pearce is signed for next season an is seen as a potential number one at CCM. 12th spot for sure and certain if they play him as our main keeper.
 

Forum Phoenix

Well-Known Member
McGlinchey - as much as I have a soft spot for him - has been totally missing in all the games he started for us this season, barring maybe one.
Last night he returned to his earlier career form and (I'll put this in capitals for emphasis) MAY IT CONSISTENTLY REMAIN. He was excellent until AU worked out he was our fulcrum and pinned him down.

When they did they committed a man to him. Which left a hole and stretched their defenders who had to rotate to cover for it.
That was absolutely where we had to take advantage and attack that space, dragging defenders across and switching to keep them moving and stretched. It's like our players didn't recognise this though...or couldn't execute it.
Otherwise we were excellent, and as I have to say way too much, utterly toothless in front of goals. We deserved to win that game. Weemac deserves another start.

This is very astute and so bang on.
 
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pjennings

Well-Known Member
The market is better than last off season though. Afaik there are some decent back ups coming off contract that might want to lock in first team football. Acton is one that comes to mind.

Australian professional goalkeepers coming off contract. Once you get past the ones that will re-sign where they are or try overseas and the the older ones there isn't a lot to excite.

Brad Jones---------------------37
Lawrence Thomas------------27
Adam Federici-----------------35
Dean Bouzanis----------------29
Lewis Italiano------------------29
Pierce Clark--------------------22
Matt Acton----------------------27
Tando Velaphi-----------------32
Nick Suman--------------------19
Aaron Lennox-----------------26
Julian Schwarzer Garcia---20
Danijel Nizic-------------------24
Cameron Tighe Kemp------21
Jordan Holmes---------------22
Ben McNamara--------------31
Liam Driscoll----------------- 20
James Schramm------------28

Non professional keepers that are worth considering include Chris Oldfield[/QUOTE]
 

Forum Phoenix

Well-Known Member
I think make muzz a "last 20min striker". As that sub he isn't really expected to achieve too much because that heavily depends on the disposition of the game, versus the pressure of carrying the front line for 90min.
It might allow him to get outside of his head a bit and have a go. Also lets him run at tired defenders.
And if he comes on if we're 2 nil down, nobody really expects a goal at that point. So a goal becomes a bonus, rather than an expectation (i know I'm understating the role of a sub)
Though i don't think it's just confidence, but hope I'm wrong.

The best strikers to bring on late in games are young precocious talents who will run at tired defenders and you want to develop. Mayhem players and big target men like Matty, Andy Caroll or Kennedy (not as in Ben - that’s a different kind of mayhem). Or speedsters with fresh legs that scare the shit out of a fatigued defence. Muzz is none of these things.
 

Forum Phoenix

Well-Known Member
There’s nothing wrong with cheap tools if you acknowledge what they are but it’s a big problem if you can’t afford high quality ones and expect the cheapies to perform as well or expect to use them all the time. And that’s exactly the issue with Muzz, through poor and under resourced recruiting we’re starting a cheap striker that should be a sub or injury cover who hasn’t been able to do what was asked of him and now his confidence seems shot. That or he’s so used to getting no service the fear of wasting it is paralysing him.

I’ve got no issues with him being in the squad but we’ve put a big burden on him and it’s not the result of factors we can’t control like really bad luck with injuries.

It wasn’t a burden. It was a massive opportunity that he would have desperately wanted, and he had huge amounts of time to grow into the role. It’s every young strikers dream to get the kind of shot he has.

I wish Muzz well but I don’t understand why people keep making excuses for him. Why should he even be an impact sub off the bench? What are the attributes beyond a great attitude and work ethic that is going to help turn games? He has shown less than many attackers we’ve happily let go.
 

Forum Phoenix

Well-Known Member
I caught the plane home from Adelaide today with the team on the same plane which was delayed two and a half hours. The delay was interesting in the way you could watch the team dynamics over a period of time. Observation was Fox and Jair were loners and rarely mingled or spoke with the other groups which were essentially the young boys and the more experienced hanging out talking, playing cards etc.

Also sat behind Birraz on the plane and he was talking to another passenger all the way. Will not give exact details however essentially can not wait for the season to finish and wants to go to Europe (Spain) at the end of the season. Not the news I wanted to hear.

Exactly what we thought though.

Tbh, he deserves a move OS and will wish him well. I think he’s the next most promising keeper since Matty.
 

Forum Phoenix

Well-Known Member
Australian professional goalkeepers coming off contract. Once you get past the ones that will re-sign where they are or try overseas and the the older ones there isn't a lot to excite.

Brad Jones---------------------37
Lawrence Thomas------------27
Adam Federici-----------------35
Dean Bouzanis----------------29
Lewis Italiano------------------29
Pierce Clark--------------------22
Matt Acton----------------------27
Tando Velaphi-----------------32
Nick Suman--------------------19
Aaron Lennox-----------------26
Julian Schwarzer Garcia---20
Danijel Nizic-------------------24
Cameron Tighe Kemp------21
Jordan Holmes---------------22
Ben McNamara--------------31
Liam Driscoll----------------- 20
James Schramm------------28

Non professional keepers that are worth considering include Chris Oldfield
Awesome work. Thanks PJ
 

turbo

Well-Known Member
It wasn’t a burden. It was a massive opportunity that he would have desperately wanted, and he had huge amounts of time to grow into the role. It’s every young strikers dream to get the kind of shot he has.

I wish Muzz well but I don’t understand why people keep making excuses for him. Why should he even be an impact sub off the bench? What are the attributes beyond a great attitude and work ethic that is going to help turn games? He has shown less than many attackers we’ve happily let go.

I’ve focused too much on one side of a double edged sword there. You are right has been a great opportunity for him that he hasn’t been able to make the most of. Though I do still feel it’s a lot of pressure in the absence of others scoring goals, especially DDS with a bunch of near misses and hitting the post. Not to mention some pretty poor service which often has both him and Jair going wide to track down long balls, but then you get a game like Friday where he had the ball in dangerous areas and that argument gets harder to make.
 

turbo

Well-Known Member
Australian professional goalkeepers coming off contract. Once you get past the ones that will re-sign where they are or try overseas and the the older ones there isn't a lot to excite.

Thanks for the list. That cupboard was even barer last off season but yeah there isn’t a huge amount of talent to go around. Unless Pearce has improved massively I’m not ready to see him in goals again. I’m only just getting over the Kennedy PTSD whenever anyone shoots.

Another keeper wildcard is Janjetovic. With Lopar locked in I’m sure WSW will want to get rid of him from the books and cap. Something went very wrong with him at WSW but could be a reasonable pick up if WSW pay him out or loan him cheap as long as well the mental aspect can be figured out.
 
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Tim

Well-Known Member
I'm no football scholar (I readily admit) but given good keepers seem to have long careers in football, is it a bit unreasonable to think that Pearce would be a top-flight keeper at the age of 22? Surely, football brains smarter than us see potential and he has plenty of time to improve on aspects of his game in the next few seasons. By way of example, T Glover was anything but impressive in his time with us a couple of years ago and now commands City's number one spot only a few seasons later. I'm not saying Pearce is the same quality but surely he needs to be given time to develop and there is little doubt that being in the presence of Birraz and Van Stratten will assist in that development and building self-belief. I recall that Birraz ran straight to Pearce when we beat Western United 1-0 to end the "no clean-sheet" period. I agree that seems a lifetime ago but it suggests to me a bond there and presumably Pearce is soaking up whatever Birraz has to offer re guidance, tactics etc (i.e. we all benefit from a good mentor). I am not defending Pearce, I just want to see him given the chance to develop given his age and limited experience to date. Thoughts anyone?
 

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