2015/16 Transfer Speculation

I think Sarpong is on the improve. He was better than Roly at the weekend.

I thought Sarpong was a lot better this week from previous weeks. I still don't think he will be our goal scorer

Agreed on both counts.

Hamish Bidwell suggests that it's not so much Sarpong's lack of skill as the fact that Roly won't pass to him.

Interesting. I noticed Roly not passing to McGlinchey but he would pass to Krishna - is it to do with intuitive understanding.

maybe he just knows only one player is a real striker.

Can't really fault the logic

Jeff reminds me so much of Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Who?

Exactly

Krishna is our striker..Jazzy Jeff to play more of a assist role. lol

I think Jeff's role is more like a replacement for Boyd, at least in terms of hairstyle.

Ernie on the news saying that we're not strengthening in January.

No decent strikers keen then OR Welnix not wanting to offer players decent contracts due to ongoing #Metrics ?

Ernie was keen on a striker a couple of weeks ago. Not even a defender then?

You might know him as "The Headless Chicken" as he used to run around a lot in circles without any final product.

Definitely the latter - Ernie is clearly lying through his teeth on this issue, which really annoys me. Any fool can see we need cover and lots of it, and also a way to get rid of Sarpong.

Definitely the latter - Ernie is clearly lying through his teeth on this issue, which really annoys me. Any fool can see we need cover and lots of it, and also a way to get rid of Sarpong.

Definitely is a strong word

There are absolutely better attacking options in the world than Sarpong. Obviously we can't afford them all but I think we could find someone to fit into our system.

Joel Griffiths is almost back to playing!

We aren't going to get rid of Sarpong. So my question stands, who is better than what we have that we could sign? 

We have to give Sarpong more time, not sure how long it will take Ernie to convert him, last week was his first full 90 minutes and he showed some promise, he has to build on that. And lets don't forget, no one was very good last week, except Moss and Muscat. I hope he'll get more game time tomorrow and shows more of his skills.  That time of the year he must be extra confident. We can't hope for the magic striker, like Burns, it's not happening.

On that point why was Appiah not played more?  

He was knocking them in for fun in the preseason but has been rather MIA on and off the pitch since the season started.  

Could he be on his way out?

Maybe there not showing enough on training days to earn a spot on game day. But what do I know..I'm so drunk lolz Merry Xmas Yellow Fever, best of luck for our team tomorrow

Most of Appiah's pre season goals were against weak opponents. He scored a relatively lucky goal against CCM in the FFA Cup. He just doesn't seem to have that bit extra that you need at this level.

Here's the thing, how much time do we have? Sarpong is not a promising youngster. He is meant to be one of our best players. You can afford to give Ridenton and Rufer plenty of time because they aren't taking anyone else's spot. Half the season is now gone. To win the league you need to finish at least top 3 in the regular season and top 3 already looks like a pipe dream. If it takes a year to get players up to speed that is a long time if a player is only at your club for two years. We operate under short windows.

Last season we gave A-Rod a free pass because it was his first season. The season before that Krishna was poor, the year before that Huysegems wasn't as effective as we liked. For Krishna the poor start has paid off big time. For Huysegems we got a mediocre first season and a decent second season which probably wasn't enough for the investment. If we always have one or maybe two foreign players who are there for their promise, do we expect our team to do well? Surely one season we have to 'go for it.' Surely one season we have to say that there is no room for promise and we have to put everything into winning the league.

Here's an opinion guaranteed to be unpopular. Is it realistic for us to think we can ever win the league? I mean, under WelNix leadership. They won't run up big losses to bring in marquees and I can't see a situation where we'll be able to get really tip-top players and still run a profit in Wellington. Unrealistic expectations, perhaps.

Absolutely we can win the league. And yes with this management group, but not this crop of players.

I think its more the case we need players that are a better fit for ernies tactics.

central coast

If we got to a grand final we'd probably have two clear penalties disallowed, concede an offside goal which stood, and have our best player's leg broken by a late, studs up, two footed challenge which wasn't punished

#bittermuch

Can we come at least 6th then win a couple of games in a row (or draw and win the penalty shootout) at the end of the season? Yes...

Good point about the value of dumb luck in a knockout situation. :D But I think I endorse what kwiap is saying:

Hopefully we will get another season or three, and Ernie will stick around to wield the axe. That said, it was his idea to bring in Jeff Sarpong...

Coach's tactics need to fit with the level of players s/he has available.

Ernie signed 95% of this squad knowing what tactics he was going to use he's now telling us the teams light up front and light in cover at the back and in the same breath saying he's happy with the players he has(He's getting like Hudson in his comments) The owners aren't going to sign new players and then have to pay them out if they get booted out of the league Ernie is giving us a load of spin at the moment

I thought Ernie's tactics were excellent at Adelaide until it all went wrong

We have a domestic league that says it is a pathway to bigger things - time to give out a short term contract to ASB players. Musa on defense - young has experience, been at Phoenix before, De Vries on attack - probably got NZ passport so no overseas spot - the best buy in NZ at the moment would be Emelio Tade - but he is Argentine and we have no more overseas spots.

With getting a marquee player - take one less in the 22 squad and pay him double what wee Mac is on = on budget.

Or, we need a transfer arrangement with Celtic or other British League. (Zwolle seems to be working for club players in NZ)

Musa is to slow why do you think he's had so many clubs hes slower than Doyle but I agree with Tadae better him than Sarpong or Powell but like I said earlier I'd be surprised if they signed anyone because they may not be around next season