2015/16 Transfer Speculation

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Bring back Dani Sanchez.

Some of those boxes we won't talk about (until pod time)!

De Vries has carved up the ASBP, what is the view here on him?  Would he be local or foreign?

In danger of turning into the new Clapham if we don't sign him soon.

For me, it depends on how Ernie views Joel Stevens. I assume Appiah is going, so De Vries could fill that spot.

The question is, does Ernie read our forum much?

Had heard a rumour City wouldn't let him go when Watson was signed.  Sauce low to medium reliability.

De Vries broke his contract in Oz to rejoin City. Possibly foolish to break another with City for Nix.

Wouldnt mind us looking at De Vries but not sure we would have room for him.

We have McGlinchey, Krishna and Powell on contract for next season and looking to add Kosta and I wouldnt be surprised if we are looking for a visa attacker as well. Watson is possibly playing for a contract as a Plan B option and we have Stevens & Rogerson with the Wee Nix.

De Vries is currently better than Stevens and Rogerson but they have time on their side to develop more.

At the Phoenix he will declare income tax on the pro players he is training with. He will also put himself up against a consistently better standard of opponent in a larger shop window with more optics. I fully agree with ditching an Aussie state league team for ACFC but Phoenix over ACFC is a no brainer if its a career he is looking for. Even if it does not work out, ACFC will always take him back.

De Vries would probably require a senior deal to attract him here tho. Stevens might be willing to stick around another season in order to play for the Wee Nix.

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Anyway, I was thinking the other day that signing older (as in, not teenagers) players on permanent deals from the ASBP has generally worked out pretty well for us, with the exception of Totori. Otherwise it's been Siggy, Hicks, Riera, and Krishna, right? Have I missed anyone? 60% of them going on to be key starters is a pretty good hit rate and Hicks was a decent squad player for us at the time too. Probably on average better ccost-to-benefit outcomes than those for European or South American imports. 

Other than De Vries, is there anyone else on the domestic scene worth considering? The Solomon Island guy at ACFC maybe? Musa (if he wasn't going back to the states)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhys_Williams_(footb...

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos-and...

Rhys Williams wants to come back to the A-League. Has been out for about 1 1/2 - 2 years off and on with achilles problems but was very, very promising for the Socceroos prior to that. I don't think he would choose us - likely will go to Perth as he was born there and his brother plays for Glory - but I think he's worth a punt.

Last time I saw him he was playing well at right back so he could be the perfect Manny replacement. Has also played at CB and DM, much like Manny.

They didn't take Hoggy back.

I don't want ANY new ASB players, 2nd tier aussies youngsters. We have enough young talent and potential at the WeeNIX. I want proven footballers that can step up and turn bad performances into wins, grind out a result even it's ugly on a constant level, week in week out.

I want to win Lotto next week.

How about Liam Jordan...

Obviously he has only played a couple professional games, but he is rated highly (top 50 young talents - trial at Man Utd). He also has a NZ passport, or is able to get one having lived here for so long.

I say this purely because after getting overlooked for the u20 world cup despite being their top goal scorer etc one assumes he may not have total faith in SA football.

Posted without comment:

"The club has the best governance model in the A-League and has a number of sub-committees of the board — including the finance and football committees. Along with coach Ernie Merrick and football operations manager Shaun Gill, they take responsibility to ensure that every dollar we spend on players is well thought through."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/77008003/wellington-phoenix-general-manager-david-dome-puts-the-boot-into-lotto

It's all going to be ok.  We have a transfer committee.

Possibly what the Nix need more than strikers or defenders is a proper creative attacking midfielder. The type of player who can pick out a killer pass, unlock well established defenses and score goals. Aside from Hernandez we've basically never had one. Roly is great with the ball at his feet, has flair and can score, but lacks any sort of vision to be a real creative threat and his passing isn't the best. ARod is clearly best in a DM role or perhaps a box-to-box role if he can start to score some goals (work rate is high enough). McG has been tried as the AM but has never worked out, also lacks vision. 

Getting a gun striker is great but we're back to the same 2-dimensional attack that was found out at the end of last season when the supply to Burns was shut out and he was marked out of the game. Throwing in a larger target doesn't help if the only tactic of sending it to your fast wide players isn't working. So many times versus Adelaide the Nix had the ball bouncing around the top-third with no penetration. Both strikers were picking it up from deep and trying to make the runs into the box themselves, how good would it be to have a creative pivot that they could run off. Would add an extra dimension to the attack for sure.

"We need to get a couple of good quality attacking players and I think we need to get a couple of defenders as well," 

"I think four players is what we really need to take the next step and take this team to being a regular finals team."

- Ernie Merrick

I find this interesting, Ernie hasnt talked much about signing defenders in the media, I guess he has no choice with Manny leaving and Siggy retiring. Here's hoping for better recruitment than this season. License should help with that.

We've found a gem in Fox, at least. Still unsure about our full back options. None have truly nailed down a spot.

They have had good performances and bad performances, that probably comes from being young. I say flag this season and give them game time.

Our tactics don't make it easy for young guys coming into fullback roles. The lack of wide players further up the pitch means that not only are they expected to provide all the attacking width on that side of the pitch but they are also more likely to be exposed when opposition fullbacks overlap because they don't have a winger out there to help them out. It's OK if we have time to reset and a more central player in the middle can come over to help but our CMs are quite slow and if the other team gets the ball wide quickly our fullbacks end up isolated.

Put Doyle and Fenton at LB and RB in a team with proper wingers and I reckon opinions about their suitability as fullbacks might change. Last year Krishna and Burns did a lot of defensive work wider and higher up the pitch which kept opposition fullbacks pinned back more and protected our fullbacks in the process. This year we haven't done that. Krishna hasn't played as wide generally (When he was fit) and there's no fast fit guy on the other side of the pitch now either.

However, this is the tactical approach Ernie has chosen and if he doesn't have the players for it he should have either got the players for it or tried a different approach.

Fox should be really having to fight for a spot, not being an automatic starter however!

I mean that we should have enough depth so that he is challenging for a spot or under pressure to keep a former incumbent out, not that he has it by right in his debut season, cos we haven't got anyone else

Ernie looking for 4 players according to todays Dom Post...

I think Ernie has to look at some of the ACFC guys like De Vries. He didn't have a great game when he stepped up to the AWs but he is bossing the ASB and like Roy could be pretty cheap (initially anyway). I have been impressed by his turn of pace and finishing. Am certain the Nix would prefer him to Watson but HB easier to strike a deal with than ACFC. He would suit our style of play with diagonal balls in behind etc. worth a shot. 

But if we have Kosta and Krishna do we need a player like d Vries? Surely a player like Watson is better as he offers something different. Unless de Vries plays the Appiah role of running at tired legs for the last few minutes of the game.

He would be the 1st player I would look at from ASBP. The other would be Clapham and its funny - he has clearly been the best midfielder in the comp from what you see on TV or at Waitakere or Auckland and can't get a look out of Christchurch.

Can't have too much depth.

Big fish in a small pond. He should have headed over to the VPL 5 years ago. Instead he went on TV and played 14 games a season.

not sure how that's overly relevant - he is clearly one of the best if not the best midfielder in the ASBP and he still can't get a look in.

The only thing I can think of is that he is just in a position that the Nix are not looking for.