2014/15 Transfer Speculation

Having absolutely no option for crosses is a big limitation if the other team has 5 or 6 defenders back. Which will happen if we concede first. Every team puts in some crosses, even Barcelona. Also add to the fact we continued to persist with long goal kicks last season, surely that would have to change?

As Ifill said in a pod, he's a winger.

judge for yourself...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-League_transfers_fo...

I'd say Perth, Sydney and MCFC have improved. The rest......

I think it's easy to get too hung up on formation diagrams and tactical notations. While on defence we expect a more rigid strucutre to allow for a pressing and zonal marking game, I think on attack our shape will be a lot less fixed. Basically I think that is how Ernie wanted to play last season but the fact our 2 best attacking players were also our 2 least mobile meant that the team's capacity to do that was limited. There's that tactical analysis that's been posted on here a couple of times of arguably our best game last season which more or less says that on attack our shape was morphing and changing to pull the defence out of shape themselves and create space for runners coming through. I think, from the type of players Ernie's signed and what he's said in the press, that we can expect more of that this season. Unless you go really nuts with putting arrows in indicating where players are moving to its quite hard to express that style of play in a formation diagram.

Funnily enough, it's actually a reasonably similar approach to Total Football, so Gareth should be pleased if it is how we end up playing. 

i think you've touched on something here rj

last season merrick set out wanting his full backs to bomb forward.  by the end of the season and largely due to injuries, this certainly wasn't the case.  we became narrow and easy to defend against, especially without riera in the middle of the park playing his creative short passing game.  our plan b seemed to be the desperate longer pass for steyn to chase

this year, merrick has said that the team will play a little deeper.  i don't think he has full backs who are good enough to make an impact out wide without sacrificing a lot at the back and a combination of these two factors means that we will probably end up being narrow again.

so, i assume that plan a is a short passing game through the middle.  plan b would probably be to get burns or cunningham behind the defence and crossing.  in which case who are their targets?

I'd say Sydney will be the leagues biggest improvers. Obviously Heart will have an advantage early. Overall I don't think teams have improved all that much though.

victory have bought in berisha, valeri and delpierre, so i'd say they have improved 

madasci is an excellent signing at newcastle as is flores and montano is an international with a big rep

mcgowan is a good signing at adelade, but they have lost a few so perhaps evens here

wanderers have lost more talent than they have gained, even though saba is a big signing

ccm are worse off than us definitely

so, i'll give you ccm and the wanderers, who were both well abiove us last season.

Precisely. Nothing the Phoenix can ever do is good enough. If we do it, it must suck, and we should have done something else; which would suck if we did it, because we're losers.

(^^^ again, sarcasm aimed at the mindlessly negative)

Perth debateable: Burns or Zadkovich? Smeltzy or Hersi? Gallas or Dubilic? They have signed numbers but improvements?

Sydney probably yes with Brosque, Smeltz and Ibini, but have yet to replace ADP

Early days yet but our recruitment so far has been on a par with anyone except probably Sydney and MCFC

Also I think Adelaide were very good last season (after the start) and will be better simply because they have a relatively settled squad which has now been together for a while. A better start and I could see them right up the top.

Sydney also have a new coach which I would put as their most important signing.

oh jeebers, here we go...

Where did McCain end up or is he still on a free?

Pretty sure he is still a free agent.

Basically what we played for almost all of last season.

How often do big signings really make a difference? It's about the team and the manager not individual players.

Was McKain really that great when he was with us? My only firm memory of him was getting sent off in the final against Perth.

its weird seeing people say that the league has moved ahead of us, then naming players that clubs have signed from other A league clubs. Surely that's a zero net gain in terms of the league moving forward. 

The judge is players coming in from outside the league vs players leaving the league. Off the top of my head, it doesn't seem like the league has moved that far ahead. A fair few good players have gone, and not too much has come in (guest players at city excluded). 

I could be proven wrong on that if somebody actually goes a bit more in depth as to the ins and outs

Yeah he was.

Yea huge fan of mckain. He was always well positioned, played intelligent balls out from the back and was an effective tackler. Him and dura looked awesome together

* To be confirmed

** 10 Game guest stint

[Edit: Glory just confirmed Garcia]

[Edit x2: Brisbane just confirmed Bowles + released Doe]

Other fans will look at the above and say we have dropped

Oh seriously, even the most miserable buggers among you would surely rather have Wee Mac than KFCarlos?

I think our talent is possibly spread better across the park.  We're probably less vulnerable to an injury to one of our important players in midfield.  I'm really looking forward to watching McGlinchey regularly.

But as at today's date we have a pop-gun attack.  I think we're being too blase about replacing Huysegems 10 goals and Hernandez 7 goals/8 assists.  And I still think we lack a "difference maker" - that player who drags you through games or turns 1 point into 3 with a piece of skill.

I think Cunningham can be that difference maker. I agree with you that we need a proper striker though.

I think we will probably do better than last season because last season we had a very poor start and a very poor finish. I doubt it will happen like that again. Whether or not we be significantly better depends on a lot of things. For one, Gorrin could still turn out to be terrible and then we are stuck with Vince Lia again.

Burns can also be a difference maker

I hope so but he didn't look like a player at that level last season

Pleased with McGlinchey for sure and Gorrin MIGHT be good (I hope) but we've not strengthened anywhere near enough yet if we hope to do anything next season.

A bit worried at the prospect of a 3rd mediocre season in a row.

Should be noted by everyone. "Gorrin" doesn't appear on his jersey. It is "Rodreguez, G" that is on it.

Ifill doesn't have citizenship so would definitely be an import.

Birhanu Taye may not head back to Portugal.

So seems like we're holding it for him then - good on the nix for giving him the time. We are in pretty good shape for when the number of imports drops to four.

I wonder if his doing some work for fox in stuffed the process up somehow? That's a shame, as I think he probably needs to be a kiwi to get into the squad. 

Shown glimpses of it in the past but hasn't had a stable team for a couple of years. Give him a settled environment and the right atmosphere and we might see a breakout performance from him. Definitely seems hungry and has the right attitude.

Dates back to when he first came here. To become a citizen, you need to be a resident for 5 years (ie. a formal title rather than resident in the country).  Looks like the application to be a resident didn't happen when he arrived. Probably came in on a temp visa.

How much do we have to donate to which political party to make that technicality disappear?

I agree, but that isn't always enough.  You need the ability too.  Did he play tonight?

No. Did not see him.

He wasn't there, neither were Siggy, Wee Mac, Lia. Hamish Watson is a solid unit, cant see too many defenders pushing him off the ball too easily.