2014/15 Transfer Speculation

Let's be honest, Manny is a thug

I wonder if we are going to look at an injury cover for the Griff just as extra squad cover, given that Stevens is out for the season. I sure hope to see more of Boyd in the last few games of the season. I watched him play in the ASB Prem this season and boy does he have talent.

If we do get someone as cover for the Griff, I guess it will be a WeeNix player or some Aussie from the Oz state leagues. 

You are joking with that statement right?

I can see it all now: "Right Manny, you can't tackle Broich cause he has had achillies issues, and Siggy, you can't make any headers when Milligan is contesting cause he got a head knock when Boxall went past him"

If you really believe this, then I just shake my head.

When you consider we had the 3 thugs in Sigmund, Lia and Manny, the 1st 2 are the only 2 that have cleaned their act up.

Manny has to a degree and I think at least one of his bookings this year has been based on his (deserved) reputation.

Ahead of him being a thug though, his form is a concern for me. Has he now reached his Use by date? It is getting near I feel.  Is the issue of his growing family living in Melbourne now too much of an issue?

I think there are two very key differences in thug vs d*ck.

Muscat (Manny) is a thug. He is aggressive, in your face, and gives away a lot of fouls. However it is rare for him to put in a tackle/foul that is going to seriously injure a player.

Muscat (Kevin) is a d*ck. He is aggressive, in your face, and gives away a lot of fouls. However it was common for him to put in a tackle/foul that is going to seriously injure a player.

I don't mind how Manny plays, I like knowing he'll take the yellow card & he'll bully people off the foul, but that he won't set out to injure players. Kevin was a great example of players who should be removed from the game all together.

As blatant evidence of the differences look at this links:

"Manny Muscat Bad Tackle" https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=manny...

"Kevin Muscat Bad Tackle" https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kevin...

Manny's pages top result is Kevin's top 3 worst tackles. Kevin's first is the same as Manny's, his second is a 'Kevin Muscat is a wank*r montage'

Bottom line: <3 Manny.

Manny prefers to use stray elbows!

He is certainly not in the same league as his esteemed namesake but he is a thug none the less. His saving grace is he is our thug. If he had of been playing for another team and Marco was playing for us when he broke his jaw, I think that one act alone would have seen him firmly placed in the "dick" category 

Bit of an over the top reaction to label Manny a thug.Have seen a lot worse than him.So im guessing some of you would rather we had a team of players who others can just push around as they like with no worries about any likely retribution coming.Buggar it lets just play no tackle or contact footbal.

How the hell Ernie can complain about the amount of cards that our players get when he procided over that fudgewit, and made him captain to boot I don't know.

I guess thats why he likes it here.

Kevin Muscat should have been banned from the game before he ever returned to Australia.

He was so bad that when he played for Rangers they never selected him for the Old Firm games because they knew he would try and break someones leg and get a straight red.

Has he actually ever ended someones career? I wouldn't be surprised.

I totally agree with you here and I would also add that Kevin Muscat always hurled abuse at match officials/other players whenever a decision didn't go his way, whereas Manny's demeanor is to get on with it. And Kevin had the balls to claim he was innocent after committing awful fouls (the one vs Adrian Zahara in the Mel derby first and foremost), whereas it is not uncommon for Manny to say nothing, or even to admit he tackled late.

Pretty sure he also hurled/still hurls abuse at officials when he gets his way. Super d*ck. 

With a heavy heart, Manny has been exposed on the left a few too many times this season. Its not purely Manny's fault as we play two deep CB's and a high player in front of him. He can be a thug, but so can Siggy ala Kruse. You need aggression, though its a fine line.

Harsh on Lia who I've always felt occasionally goes in hard but within what I think is reasonable for a combative central midfielder.  Siggie has the odd brain melt but generally is in the hard but fair-ish camp.  Manny does genuinely dirty stuff (including elbows and cheap shots) and would be a complete liability anywhere else but the A-League where he generally gets away with it.  Agree that left side is a bit of a problem where teams are attacking the space between Durante and Manny, Manny gets caught with guys making runs and he just doesn't pick them up running in behind his right shoulder.  I think maybe he gets too side on and loses sight of them, I think it's actually a technical problem as well as a concentration point.

Kevin Muscat was named the dirtiest ever player in UK football so that's setting a pretty high bar for comparison!

Siggy has his massive elbow on Kruse playing for the AWs, the 2 foot stomp on the UAE player and the punch to Leijer. Don't tell me he is hard but fair. He has remade his image after he got destroyed by the media and probably a word from Ernie over the UAE incident and focused on football rather than the thug hits.

Siggy definitely has a bit of white line fever, not too dissimilar to K.Muscat.

So much this. The stomp in particular was a potential career ender for the victim, and in an international friendly, so nothing riding on the game at all. (It wasn't even against a traditional rival opponent like Australia) Quite recent too. If an opponent had done that to an AWs or Nix player he would never, ever be forgiven. Siggy puts everything into the Nix and that's why we love him, but it shouldn't blind us to his faults. 

Ive just reported everyone on this page to Admin for the mass off topic discussion. Expect immeinent bans. Thanks bye

How does this comment have anything to do with transfer speculation? 

Back on topic

He ALWAYS bangs on about this... an obsession methinks

Irony rears its head in many forms.

With Boyd going, it will be interesting to see what they do with the 3rd youth spot. Stevens will be too old.  Blake? Rogerson? McGarry?

Dimairo?

You would think one would be striker. Who played up front for them at Kiwitea. Halliemarian or something like that. Scored a double.

With no facts whatsoever to back me up, I'd hazard a guess that our Youth players have played less minutes than other clubs' youth players. Does anyone see Ridenton or Rufer getting a lot more minutes next year? That will be their 3 years done then. Would we be better offering 2 year deals to  18/19 year olds than  3yr deals to 16/17 year olds?

Michael BOXALL

Tyler BOYD (u21)

Josh BRINDELL-SOUTH

Kenny CUNNINGHAM (f)

Joel GRIFFITHS

Jason HICKS

These are the players off contract. 

Boyd is gone 

Cunningham is unlikely to be resigned

Boxall too has been said to be off to SA.

Griffiths is toast

Leaves the status of JBS and Hicks in the air

I think you can peg one spot for a youth striker, 1 for a FB backup, Andrew Blake will probably have one spot. You then have an import slot and I guess looking at holes in the team (and depending on what happens with Burns too) you could look at a CB, LB or striker with that import slot and then fill in some holes depending on what you need.

No problem with Hicks or JBS hanging around as squad players personally. They've both had limited chances but haven't looked bad when called upon, and money saved there can be spent elsewhere. 

Edit: wait, shouldn't this be in the contracted players thread?

Back to my earlier point, I'd say that LB is one area that we desperately need to find at an experienced first-teamer - if that's an import then so be it. Manny is better at RB, and am happy for him to be cover for Fenton/LB next year, but feel that his days as a regular starter are nearing an end. 

If we bring in a youth as back cover (e.g. Blake) then JBS has to go I think, especially with Doyle still having another year.

Manny's poor Doyle is worse and you say he's got another year they are both stealing a wage

How about ACFC's Japanese LB? I forget his name but the few times I've seen him he's looked good. Likes to get forward too so would fit with Ernie's style

Is Franjic looking at coming back? Could solve the right back issue

Could be going to Zagreb.

All four have played well at times. Have only seen Rogerson on U17 footage. I think every time i've seen McGarry he has been out of position at LB. 

My guess is that it will be Blake. 

McGarry and Rogerson are still young and could do with another year.

I'm undecided on Tam. Got the skills and his read of the game is getting better but wasn't sure on his physicality. If (tiny) Michael Zullo can be a FB in the A-League then I guess Tam can as well.

With all due respect there is a hell of a gap in ability between them. JBS may have good technical skills but Hicks appears to my eye to have much cooler head under pressure. I have not seen JBS able to press forward naturally as much as Hicks does. This could be a matter of lack of experience but then this whole point becomes moot - I would rather have Hicks anytime over JBS.

Oranges Apples

Exactly. One provides cover for our back line and one for our midfield. They aren't competing for the same role in the squad.

  Actually you are both right. I got ahead of myself here. Again.

and one's got orange hair

To be fair, if JBS is only a back up, why not use his salary on a kiwi?  Seems a waste to keep on an Aussie who's only playing for the Nix ASBP side at a kiwi's expense.