2016/17 Transfer Speculation

An animal, a vegetable, a mineral.....

Sounds like a character from Harry Potter

nearly spilt my coffee reading that one!! LOL

Just the right training for A-League

I wonder if they would adopt a Quidditch formation??

hmm even for the phoenix a quidditch formation is still probably a step too far. 

I'm starting to get severe transfer anxiety. With Tards, Grubs and now Roar strengthening their squad seemingly well with overseas talent, and Perth luring back significant overseas Aussies, I feel like we just aren't doing much. I know Ernie's got a plan in place for signings, and his CB shortlist is a short list, but I still don't know what's going on with the RB situation. This transfer window, and off-season, is dragging on and the most frustrating thing is the lack of transfer news. I hope there's something when we come back from China.

We just moved early, Gui and Kosta are significant signings.

With Manny, Siggy and Riera leaving I feel like the CB needs to be almost Ifill/Greenace like in terms of presence and experience - I know he's said the player will be in his 20s but if he's 28 he can still be in that mould. I just think our squad needs that to balance things in the group.

Presence and experience are nice. 

I think I would take quality any day however.

So give me an Ifill centre back over a Greenacre any day.

As long as he can spell Expelliarmus to the other team...

I think we've strengthened quite well - and very early, which is a plus - in the front 3rd. Defence is a real concern at this stage - though an experienced import CB and  one more Aussie or NZ defender could change that.

We look OK in the front third - Kosta, Krishna, Finkler, with a bit of Roly, is a pretty formidable attacking unit, and hopefully they all stay healthy.

At the moment though, we're a shambles at the back, and it's an area that clearly hasn't been a strength of ours over the 4 years or so. Too early to hit the panic button just yet, but it's an area where we've needed to improve for some time, so with the way things are at the moment, it's hard not to feel at least a little bit nervous.

Yeah let's not forget we were searching for a CB last off season too and only got Fox at the last minute, and then ended up having Manny play there. I personally think Manny might be the biggest loss to the squad because he could cover every defensive role at a pinch. 

Yeah. CBs - Dura and Fox. Fullbacks - Fenton (I guess) and Doyle (plus Gulley too). Pretty bare cupboard.

Manny's performance had dipped over the last couple of seasons, but it's also quite hard to replace that kind of versatility.

I thought Manny was great the season before last as a LB, bombing down that side. He did an adequate job as a makeshift CB last season too.

I just hope to God we don't end up with Lia filling in in our back line if we don't pick up some defensive cover by the start of the season.

Early days and it might not mean much, maybe fitness, who knows, but it bothers the heck out of me that Lia started in Beijing ahead of Rodriguez.  If Lia is the answer then we don't have the right DM available.  No problem with him in the squad, but our starting DM needs to be better.

Do we have any idea what happened with the striker trialists do we assume we just didn't pick them up?

I think so. A real shame, I would have loved to get Katebian, considering his fantastic NYL/NPL record. If 40 in 40 can't get you an A-League contract when you're 20, then I don't know what will.

That was my thought exactly. And if he fires off to give victory fans the proverbial finger lol

Being successful at youth football doesn't always equate to success at full professional level. And he was also playing in Level 2 of the Victorian League system, you'd imagine professional football is a bit of a step up from that.

Still, we are looking at potential here, not ability so much. It's always sketchy to tell how good a player will be, but this was a gamble worth taking. And surely he can't be that much worse than Appiah.

For a player who's about to turn 21, you're really expecting more from than just potential.

Appiah really should never have been signed, but hey, maybe we're learning lessons from that.

To put in context, when Marco was Katebian's age, he was starring for the Victory and won the Johnny Warren medal at the end of that season.

...and when we have Kosta and Krishna plus McGlinchey, Rogerson et al is it worth signing him on a whim when you are looking to replace a more central forward like Powell, plus a couple of defenders?  

Rumour here was that they would like to offer him an ASB gig for next season.  If his trials elsewhere don't work out then that is still on the cards.  That way rather than tying up a squad spot the club can see if he offers more than he did at Alex Moore against what was basically Miramar's B team.

Can he play CB?

Or Right Back?

Fair, but we aren't looking for the next Marco, we are looking for a squad striker.

So do Melbourne City but they're more likely to take a Mariners player.

Fixed

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2016/07/30/...

So Ernie's said (at end of article) that we are very close to signing a European CB, but way off on a RB.

This is good, the sooner we get this CB into training, the better.

The sooner we get a RB then both can get used to the team structure and their new team mates.

So we need to ready ourselves for Fenton to continue at RB then.

Do we know what game is being televised this round of the FFA... No chance its the Nix game/