2015/16 Transfer Speculation

Usual Ernie BS

and why is he talking about next season. I don't give a shark about next season. We are just midway through the current season

Ernie has some hard calls to make going into next season, only 2 visa players off contract are Krishna and A-Rod. Its a no brainer to re-sign Krishna. I like A-Rod but we really need more from our imports than he is offering atm if we are to be competitive. Pretty sure we will look to try and offload Sarpong as well.

It's a really bloody long off-season so far.

Well, still have to make sure we can replace him. Sure we want more. Can we get it?

I swear some people think managing a football team is as easy as it is in Football Manager 

Save. 

Play match. Lose.

Load previously saved game. 

Repeat.

Haha ProEvo 6 had a feature on it's manager game you could activate so that if you switched off or restarted the machine while a league game was going on you lost the game by 2 goals IIRC. Like the snooze alarm really.

its probably easier 

He even signed a player IRL who he had found on the game!

There is no Genie Scout for real life management.

Hudson's definitely interested in him. TBH he can't afford not to be - given our dearth of talent in that DM role.

We should look at bringing Themi over from Greece for next season. While Fox seems like a capable third CB, we need to sort out this back four. 

Durante - Boxall - Fox - Musa.  CBs for next season and succession for the next decade.

Boxall yes the others are to slow defenders these days need to have real speed.

Very interesting statement... 

As an aside, I love Ernie. So much. 

Assumed Dura isn't going anywhere and I didn't notice Fox outpaced much in the games he played.

Musa is a much better player than he was and definitely not slow.  He's the best Centre Back I've seen in the ASB Prem this season just a shame for Team Wellington that he's gone.

Wish list 2016/17

Smeltz - on the bench for Sydney (Really? On for 5mins and more shots at goal than Simon over 65mins) 

- would get full games for us - right now - but table position and relocation may not favour this now.

Seb Ryall - Sydney Right/Centre back - a goal scoring back at the Phoenix - would be handy. Leader.

Rojas - what is he doing in Switzerland? Better money? He would get a heroes welcome and help at the Gate = Phoenix contributing to the league.

He is relatively off the radar in central Europe - could try and win Johnny Warren medal again - and still go back to Europe.

Obviously Kosta - but why leave Victory - he is doing well in their system and creating goals. $$$

Give Ryan de Vries a year to develop 

- a lar Roy, would be better for NZ football to invest in Ryan now he has clearance, than Tade, Roy, or Lealafala - cheap cheap.

Greg Draper - New Saints striker - Wales 109 Games - 63 Goals

- must be better than ASB Prem standard, may want to come home? Dropped off All Whites radar since 2012 Olympic Qualifiers.  

6'3 and only 26  PS I'm his NZ agent.

In Fifa Manager 14 after 8 seasons, my income total was worth 49 million pounds. Then I logged off and welcomed back reality. ;(

The truth is, it is what Ernie has done off the field within the organisation that will - should we have one - set out our future in the long term. Almost everything appears much much much more professional.

The only realistics options from that list are Kosta and Smeltzy. I don't think Rojas would return to the A-League. Then all those ASBP and Draper are too average (maybe de Vries not so much).

When does the transfer window close for the HAL?

And is it not worth bringing in someone as an IRP for Krishna and/or Rufer, even from the ASBP, basically as a trial - defenders/attackers

Maybe on the last day of the window roll the dice and sign a couple of ASB Premiership players?

It would be insane not to do something as we have the money and the squad spots. De Vries maybe out of his depth in the A-League, but really what do we have to lose?

This is the thing. How would we have done this season if Krishna was fully fit and Sarpong actually worked out? Honestly, I still think we would have missed the top 6. So you have to look at players like A-Rod. On the one hand, he has been here for two years and he has improved in that time. On the other hand, does he really offer us enough? We need an experienced CB and a proven goal scorer. No one ever wants to sign kiwis so we are left with Australians (who rarely want to come here) and foreign players.

Bring back Karl Dodd.

Mitchell Pearce could be available

Dunno if "signed for" is exactly what he did

Here's a thought - teams sign pro players out of the cap and squad space for the ACL. Could we sign A-Rod as a player outside of the squad and just play him in the reserve team? Although at 22 and going through a premier league teams development program he needs first team games and not further development.

Down boy!

Highly doubt that he'd be keen on that option. It's really funny how he hasn't kicked on this season, as he looked very promising for large parts of the last one. Something in this team is just really not clicking at the moment.

I wonder whether our lack of striker(s) is flowing through the rest of the team. With little to worry about at the back (for them) the opposition can all move further forward, firstly kicking lumps out of Roly, then flooding the midfield and creating runs behind our backline with little worry about being caught on the counter.

I agree with that. With Roy absent we simply do not have enough speed + skill combination for a quick counter., so the opposition can take extra risks just to get an extra goal in to kill off the game.

The number of times I watched us intercept and go on a counter run, only for the person (OK, Fenton) to suddenly stop and cut back, is mind-boggling.

A rod has had some very good performances this year. His season has been a pass Mark so far imo

A Rod is not flashy, he just gets on with it and simple passes the ball around.