2015/16 Transfer Speculation

It's ok saying he is a false nine if we actually had a real one. If you don't then he becomes it. The point is we dont have one and we need one of we are going to go one step further

Ruka would be step up on Krishna.

Worth a contract in my mind.

not exactly Patrick. Forget it, it looks like everyone is happy playing another season without someone who can play centre forward

I think the point is we want someone who is comfortable playing in the middle of a front 3, or as the point man in front of the attacking midfield. Brockie could do it (although not always satisfactorily), Griffiths could do it, but no one in our current squad can. Burns and Krishna are great at using their pace and agility to get in behind defences and create chances, but if teams sit deep and narrow that becomes a lot harder to do. That doesn't mean we need to sign Rory Fallon and put him up front so that he can elbow defenders in the face as he tries to chest down long balls. It does mean we could do with a guy who can play in the middle, so that if Krishna or Burns are forced wide and play a ball in there is someone in there. Or even so that we could try different formations if Ernie's 4-3-1-2 isn't working. Play a front 3 with a proper centre forward in the middle and Burns and Krishna can drift wider and therefore create more space to attack into as they take defenders with them. 

We definitely need another option, but I don't think we should be worried if Plan A is WeeMac as false nine again, it worked pretty fudgeing well this season.

Are we there yet?

People seem confused because they think we play a 4 3 3 system whereas in fact we play a 4 1 2 1 2 system

At least it's not Sam Malcolmson's 1-2-2-1-3-1.

Seriously, it requires 3 centre backs and 2 defense-capable wingers, and we're struggling to find even the first.

"Yes, Doloras" (feigns patience), "He is more than good enough". 

He is good enough for his role alone - not for someone else's role. I am not dissing Burns. Just that we need someone else alongside him who is less like WeeMac, but more like Smeltz or Berisha or even (gasp) Kosta.

McGlinchey scored 1 goal and 1 assist in the final 18 rounds of the competition. As the campaign went on he faded badly. In the second half of the season our attack got shut down. McGlinchey does good things but he is a limited player as well. He only has one foot and his set pieces were very disappointing. As the season went on it was McGlinchey getting dragged (like in the playoff versus City).

The point is not that McGlinchey is shark but that we need to do something different next season. You can't just see our defence get shut down like that and line up with a front six like this next season:

Krishna ---McGlinchey----Burns

                 Bonevacia

           A-Rod-----Riera

If we line up the same then teams will defend against us the same way. We must either teach our current players some new tricks or bring in players who have those new tricks. Playing 3 at the back is an interesting idea but it requires us to sign 2 more centre backs (so we have 4 centre backs) and a wing back. If we go with 4 at the back, then you only have 6 on attack. If you don't leave out McGlinchey then who do you leave out?

We need to sign a proper striker who can hang out between the centre backs. That player could also come into the team to replace Krishna and then you could play Weemac on the left. You can't say that even though we got KO'd without firing a shot that no one deserves to lose their place for next season.

Didn't Krishna score more, is younger and faster? Though an import slot...When Krishna was good, he was very very good this season. 

Ruka is another player with that potential. Sub-Burns in quality.

Ruka has the pace and glimpses of quality. 

Probably not the same quality of Burns when we first picked him up but reckon Ernie could still do a job with him and get him into a goalscorer.

Totally agree. Having watched almost every game both played this season Krishna was by far the better player overall, even allowing for his late season drop off in form. Rukavytsa can wow you with his pace and a trick or two but spent most of the season running into defenders and losing the ball or firing crosses over to nobody in particular. Another failed former prodigy.

That probably sums it up, just like the discussion about what'shisname last week, Dugandzic. Another young gun who mysteriously peaked quite early. Ernie's quality would be tested in trying to resurrect careers of their like, but who knows? I am not prepared to make a judgement whether it is a punt worth taking by Ernie, like he did with Burns (or even Griffiths - to a degree). He is an expert at that.

In contrast, I am really surprised people are seriously suggesting Karem Bulut. Wellington is not ready for the kind of security step-up that his arrival would require, unless they think that difficulty with getting a parking space in front of bank n Wellington CBD is a deterrent.

My main issue towards the end of the season is where our 'false 9' would be positioning themselves. The idea is to try and drag cds out of position by making runs towards the ball, I thought too often that our central attacking players were too deep - goal side of opposition dms a lot of the time. Think how many times poortaloo and mooy were making challengers on Roly during that last game. Basically the back 6 of the opposition only had to worry about 2 of our players in attacking positions. Sure Roly was able to turn the dms at times or receive passes behind them but not often enough. We needed Fenton there because he could carry the ball from deep and try and commit opposition dms.

I think its time we sign another #notafootballer

with Wee Mac as not a striker we will again "fail". given our playing style was worked out and counteracted.

Have to agree with Boro; seems like we got worked out in the latter half of the season and there is no reason to believe that teams will just forget how to play us. Having another plan is a necessity.

Oh, wow, I'm such an idiot. Stuff disagrees with me. Shark, I should just stop posting.

Why don't you try again and this time actually engage with my argument? My post wasn't perfect and Bullion came along and argued better than I did. I even said in my post that McGlinchey is not complete shark and I obviously realise he will be a crucial part of our squad.

 What did you think about the later part of our season? Did you think McGlinchey was successful in the later part of the season? What changes would you make for next season? Or would you just go in with the same side? In our front 4, Bonevacia and Burns can't be dropped. That means that if you want to make changes up front either Krishna or McGlinchey cannot start. I think Kirshna had a better campaign in 2014/15 so I think he should start in 15/16. This type of analysis won't put any pundits out of a job.

Have another go....

I'm always amazed by the number of people here who know what we need better than the professional coach. Why oh why didn't Welnix recruit from among the posters to this forum?

What is a coach?

Just keep recruiting Johnny Warren Medalists. Who say no?

Hate this line of thinking. Such a load of crap.

For one, not everything Ernie does is correct. He's only human. I think he'd admit that too! Obviously he's a professional coach for a reason, though, and very good at his job. He's only human, though.

Secondly, if we can't voice our opinions - what is the point of this forum? It's fun to post opinions/have debates; you don't need to be a professional musician to comment on music, do you?

1 goal and 1 assist from McG last 18 games is poor for someone who plays as high as he does and sees as much ball as him.

If Brockie was half this bad he would have been slaughtered on this forum. 

I think that at least part of the issue with WeeMac was the change in how opponents defended against us. WeeMac couldn't play penetrating through balls (*snigger*) because there was no space behind opposition defenders to play into. Also I think defenders at the start of the year weren't tracking him when he dropped deeper or wider to get the ball but later in the season they started to so he didn't get as much time when he received the pass. Yes, he didn't play as well after Christmas but I think at least part of it was structural rather than personal

Not sure thats entirely true. If Brockie was capable of scoring half a goal and providing 50% of an assist I would say he is like no other footballer on earth. That would be an amazing set of skills to possess

Jeremy Brockie has been banging them in over in South Africa, surely he's the exact type of player we need to fit into our system and score 15+ 

Not sure if trolling...

only he wasnt