Mainland Premier League (Part 2)

Thanks aw82. Shows unis downward spiral second half of the season. As predicted from archy. 

As for coastal players in dragons - only Sean from hawkes bay and tristain nicol would be good signings

You go away for awhile but interesting to catch up.

Agree with Sean and Tristan for the Dragon's. I am sure that the new Dragon's manager will be pushing for a few more Coastal player's due to his inside knowledge.    

Dragons selection club by club from what/who I know and have played against.

Cash Tech - already chosen majority, all good players to be fair. Whitey to sign surely if he wants to, Liam Oxley is also a decent centre forward. Danny Boys, still, potentially.

Coastal - that Sean Liddicoat is a class act and would not only start for Dragons but arguably any ASB club. Tall centre back Matt with his passing range, distribution, and set piece ability. His partner Zac who is good in the air and in the tackle. The South American lad they have Evandro in midfield looks exceptional, possible starter for Dragons. Shawn O'Brien has good ability on and off the ball, not the most influential but a nice player for sure.

Bays - small Liverpudlian midfielder is tidy on the ball and swivels well, could do more with the ball in final third being more cute, may prove 'too small' unfortunately. Both CB's are very poor on the spin and get found out too much, do not include. Their captain Murphy flatters to deceive, overrated, do not include.

FC Twente - Young central midfielder, could be called Matty, young and lacks experience but shows signs of real promise and talent. Mario Hoffman is physical, good hold up play, can strike a ball, and is busy. Both worth shouts.

Halswell - only player worth a look-in is their small forward Anthony McMahon, runs funny but is lightning quick, feisty, and can finish.

Uni - none. Even the two selected shouldn't be there.

Western - none.

Has the left winger for coastal Shawn done enough to get a Dragons recall? Seems to score a few from what i can see? Would have thought with his Youth and ASB experience he would have got a look in before those uni players? Or does he not fit the mold of how the Dragons play or am i just completely wrong and those two are better than him?

I'm probably watching a different Mpl to a lot of more knowledgeable guys on this forum. But my opinion differs quite a bit on some of the names mentioned for potential Dragons selection. 

Tech-Danny if he's available n interested is a way better option than both Taco n Eddie. The twins definitely. Danny Boys not so sure hasn't shown enough this season. Whitey is a no-brainer.Terris just for his experience n wht he can offer the younger lads. Ogilvie-yip proved it last season.

Bays-Andreas Wilson can't see anyone else getting in. Murphys garbage has always been...if he played as well as he whinged he'd be awesome. 

Western-0

Fc-the lad Matts a decent player but probably for the youth team not ready for premiership. Mario's athletic and thts were it ends, he proved how rubbish he is at premiership level whn he played under Sean. Can't think of too many more.

Halswell-big fat hell no.

Uni-0 although 2 already signed who r both average players so tht sucks.

Coastal-Matt C pure class. Sean Liddicoat definite yes. Zac has proved he's worth a shout. Spain is in already. Macca could very well be but he hasn't played enough games to justify his selection the same goes for Jacob Allan who I thought was average in the games he did play anyway. The Brazilian boy is ok at the best not as phenomenal as been made out to be. Can't say I've watched any game where he has been a game changer. Besides he's too soft to play at tht level goes down at the drop of a hat holding every part of his body. Rhys Williams has had an outstanding season thus far n I think should get a look in ahead of Tristan who blows hot n cold. Don't get me wrong he's a decent player but totally overrated by a few at Coastal.

Meysum n Jackson will both get in due to there history with Joe n Willie but can't see how they will justify this considering both have only play a handful of games.

Obrien could get in,has had a decent season but should probably concentrate more on his own game instead of having a whine everytime his team mates make a mistake. Can't see Ryan Stanley getting in hasn't been consistent enough but stranger things have happened.

I know the Coastal Train will disagree the most with the above but that's wht this forums for voicing our opinions, so play nicely fellas.

Just reading the above and going from previous seasons with Canterbury. How is Michael White a no-brainer? He was shocking last season having played nearly every game. Managed to score two maybe three goals which for me isn't a good return from a forward. Dan Ede and Aaron Spain also got little playing time whilst other forwards weren't scoring and even Dan Schwarz played upfront on some occasions. Danny Boys would be a no-brainer if he wants to play as he is a quality defender, along with delivering dangerous set pieces. University players have only been signed i my opinion so the coach looks as if he is giving the mpl players/teams a look and can say he is signing players from all over the league. Done the same thing last season and will once again bring in out of towners. Other than Cashmere, Coastal, Ferrymead and Nelson i dont feel any of the other four teams warrant any players being signed. 

One thing Willy showed last season is that he was very loyal, rightly or wrongly, but loyalty is a two way street so maybe a few names already mentioned may have already burnt their bridges. He has been in town a month or so now so will have had a better look at players in the MPL, more so that last season.

The number of imports will depend on the budget, sound like their may be a Dutch midfielder on the way out here (Peter65 will be happy to hear this) to work for Mainland like Jesse did last season, understand that he has played at a higher level than Jesse did so may be OK

Sounds like the Dragon's are likely to play most of their home games on Sunday so that may count a few out who see a Saturday night out a higher priority than footy.

If Tom Batty is back in town then surely would came into consideration. With the MPL almost at an end training cannot be two far away from getting underway so the picture will become a little clearer then.

arch bishop would fly in the dragons side. 

Your shouts are decent Bumblebee, no real issues with anything you said.

Tech's best 8 or 9 players are very good footballers - Knighty, Tom Schwarz, Ogilvie, Clapham, and Whitey especially are definitely starters for Dragons - and I'd include the remaining few in the squad or even starts such as Boys, Terris, and Dan Schwarz. That Halligan in CM is horrible, no question, wins occasion ball but hard to watch in possession, nowhere near the level required even arguably for MPL - better team mates carry him for Tech.

Coastal's Matt C could make a huge claim for a starting place in contetion with Terris and D. Schwarz at CB as he offers best distribution in the league at CB. Sean Liddicoat would be a serious steal from Hawkes Bay. Only seen him once but I think you're missing a trick with the Brazilian Evandro, quality on the ball to get away from opposition and subsequent passing ability is very high - miles ahead of Andreas Wilson in the defensive midfield role. Tristan does well in the air and can play the ball short but not enough talent or panache, Dragons bench if anything. Meysum and Jackson not seen much of but both decent, not quite there yet, but potentially in the future. O'Brien has quality, moans a bit but to be fair works very hard defensively, especially when we played them. Stanley needs a full season as number 9 and show consistent scoring ability, he's doing it now by the looks/sounds of things.

In all honesty there's a lack of quality apart from Cash Tech and Coastal so most of/if not all will and should come from there. And then there's obviously elsewhere who will bring more quality.  

Would drug testing be a feature in peoples decision making in Dragons selections, both players and coaches? Just a question not accusation. As has been said on here several times teams really enjoy their nights out. It would be naive to think alcohol is the only thing going down some players throats.....

Whatever happens in the privacy of players homes is their business I would think. Consenting adults and all that. 

Yes hopefully this is the case and decisons are not made on reputations.

???? this gets better. Hi willie. Il text you his details.... That OK arch? 

Please my friend! and please get back to me regarding your contract!

?

No ways are you the real Willy, firstly you say "we will win the league with the players I select" and then go justify selecting two sharke players from Uni. If it's really you gud luck filling seats on a Sunday with tht charming personality of yours.....not.

Is this for real? TRAIN LIKES WILLY! 

Zac over the bad Schwarz anyday if you can keep him fit. Matt C a better attacking option.

I wonder if Clapham and Evandro will play together? Some big beef there. But yeah Evandro for me if fit is closest thing to Clapham level.

Thats what im told.

Messiah says there are 3 other Brazilians coming over to join that are better then Evandro. You should contact him. Can you speak portugeuse

Agree, the real Willy is a better speller, if not he has signed the wrong Hamish Foy.

But Bumblebee, if Messiah is in the dugout with Willy then I can assure you there will be bums on seats

Is that Wang Chan, the real Wang Chang or Wang Chang that you dont like Willy? Its fantastic to finally have an ASB Premiership Coach on the forum. Surprised he is giving insights into his though process so freely. Fantastic!

Rules will prevent too many non New Zealanders on the park, at one time,  in the National League this season. 

Halt die Fresse-German for you know I'm sure. See we can all use Google translate you impostor Twit.

not sure why it changed to twit because I wrote tw@t

As requested:

Play-off's Series: 1 under Danny and 4 under Keith

I told you this the other day when we talked and you wrote it down.

The man talks sense!! I only follow people I believe in and do good for the greater good. I also want to follow a winner!! 

I think you tick these boxes.

IN WILLY WE TRUST!! 

I guess theres more for the young Coastal players to play for on the 13th of August then just the title.

Some old Tech heads got no choice but to show they are better. WOW, biggest fixture in MPL history for me!! :D

Train we should join together and make a HooliganFootballTRAIN and support Willy Gerdsen on his quest for glory! Thoughts?

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.

Willy was at the game when the ball went out right next to me and I passed it (perfectly) up the line to the player taking the throw. He gave me the nod like "I saw that you fudgeing legend" so I'm expecting to announced in the next release of players.

willy how are you a coach,picking players from uni,might as well chuck the haswel team in the mix if that's the case 

Youth or senior squad?

[/quote]

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

[/quote]

Thankfully there is now noise coming form some of the FootballSouth Clubs calling for the return of the South Island League. At the time local Christchurch clubs voted to stop the SIL I can recall some saying the money they saved would be put into better training resources to develop players, sadly there has been little evidence of this.

[/quote]

Is this direct from the clubs or just key board warriors?

Which clubs down south can afford to enter an SIL with more than one game?

[/quote]

From the clubs, heard this from several sources down there. Clubs asking the FootballSouth Fed to start talking to Mainland Fed to look at returning to a SIL, they know the money is an issue but they what to start the dialogue, which is a big change from the past. Some even asking why the Fed is pumping money (which is the clubs money) into the Southern United  National League side and would that money be better spent on a travelling league.    

Great sharing of views and opinions....

No doubt Willy will pick his squad and we will all judge him on his performances...

Excellent input regarding the South Island League. I'm a believer that if it was launched the committed clubs would get involved. There is money to be invested... just needs to identified and captured.

Some excellent football played in the last few weeks and after this weekends break, the final 3 rounds of this years league promise alot more.

 After working and then jumping on the page you see 40+ new posts and think there must be something good......what a load of shark this is turning into. Banter is good, this is.....well not banter. 

By the looks of the table some of us don't know anything about the MPL either.

Don't know if you wanted me at the meeting Chubby, but can't make mid week events unfortunately. Looks like it would be an entertaining meeting, one which I could definitly have an input with some Hooligism! Enjoy anyway and maybe one day we will meet each other!