Another day at the office done - few skype chats with foreign players and videos of them watched, good things to come!
Righto Righto, enough of you unknowns trying to pick MY squad! We will win this league with the players i select. First person i am going to defend is Hamish Foye. Im guessing non of you saw him tear Cash Tech apart when Uni won 4-2?? 2nd person i will defend is Nik Molijn. I have watched him since a very young age and is a great player. His downfall this year is the rubish players like Jonny Inwood and Co. behind him. Chuby Akpom and Bumblebee - as for your so called "selections" from each team - here are my thoughts on your thoughts:
Cash Tech - Mike White? Poor last year, evern worse for Tech. Liam - No way in hell. Boys - Hoping to sign
Coastal - Sean Liddicoat - hoping to sign. Matt @ CB - distribution is sound, but that turn is like a snail in a sprint race! Zac - Rate this young guy. Evandro - havent seen much of, but looks like a talent. O'Brien - few injury problems? but would be an assett. Macca - missed a lot of the season and seems to still be finding his feet,would add to the squad. Jacob - missed a lot of the season, not even in coastal squad at the moment? Rhys W needs more coaching, T can add something to my squad but only @ CB - never in the midfield. Meysum missed most of the season,risky pick. Jackson - had someone keep an eye on him in Auckland - did okay but hasnt been special since returning to Canterbury, un-decided here..
Bays- Andreas is lucky to make it again - early reports when i was in Auckland were not that good, thought he would have helped Ferrymead a bit more this year. Little Mikey in the middle is a tidy player but it ends there, no end product, a lot of moaning. And Murphy - runs a lot... but like a headless chicken.
FC - Too young, will make my youth team
Halswell, Western & Uni - No-one
Danny Boys - please contact me regarding your comment about Arch Bishop making my squad? I would like his real name and contact details please
Wang Chan go home please - i dont like your comments, ever!
My $0.02's worth:
The problem in sourcing the majority of the CU squad from the MPL is that the MPL is a poor quality environment for developing players good enough to mount a serious challenge for the title. If mere participation is the goal, then source from the MPL by all means but the cost of putting a team on the park demands that the objective should be higher than just participation.
The majority of the signings announced so far did not develop in the MPL - they are accomplished players with overseas or US college experience or have benefited from involvement with National age group teams. Others have been promoted from their performances in the National Youth League. And I would have to endorse the above comments re Foy and Molijn - I watched the Uni v Cashmere Tech match and both were superb; 4-0 would have been a fair result btw. Both are former National age group reps and deserve to be considered for a National League franchise.
The South Island has been a casualty of the change to a Federation structure - it is the only region where the change in governance structure has been reflected in the playing structure at the top level. The Northern League has continued uninterrupted and the Central League was in abeyance for only a season before the clubs, concerned by the drop in playing standards, demanded its reinstatement. Both are streets ahead of the MPL and the Football South League in terms of playing strength, and as it is nearly 20 years since there was a full Southern League, we have 2 generations of SI players (based on a playing career of 10 years) who have had an inferior playing environment compared to their NI counterparts. And that's why we had all the Northern and Central League imports in last year's CU squad. Thus the 3 SI National League franchises are starting behind the 8-ball.
I watched Coastal a few times this season and have been impressed by their playing style and the skill level of several of the squad. But unless these players have performed well and influenced games at a level above the MPL, they cannot expect to be shoo-ins for the CU squad. They need to perform outstandingly in the National Youth League and (long term) excel in a full South Island League.