McCarron aside, I'd say we started tonight with six still at best fairly inexperienced youngsters who ideally should not be A League starters. So six of ten outfield players were youngsters:
Conchie, Sheridan, GSR, LBS, Loke and LKH.
Sure LKH has started the better part of a season's worth of games now. But who of you would be telling me he's yet an ideal starter? Sheridan a somewhat similar case. And the other guys have got reasonable playing time, sure, but don't tell me they are guys you want to see playing 70+ minutes of every A League game as starters - yet. Just no.
So we started with six outfield youngsters. Seven counting the keeper.
LBS was subbed by Supyk, another non-starter. Retre replaced Payne, keeping us at six outfield non starters. Then Armiento replaced LKH fairly late and and a brand new to the team Eze replaced GSR. So for only the last 20mins did we finally have a team with arguably six out of ten outfield players who were what I'd expect to be our outfield starter level. With Sheridan, Conchie, Supyk and Loke still on.
And most of the senior players I am classing as bonafide experienced starters aren't fully fit yet or were having their first minutes with the team this game.
If we were to start with Armiento and Eze we would immediately get to six outfield starters to four younger players, instead of six youngsters dominating the outfield. Makes a heck of a difference. Add Rufer (and move one of Nagasawa, Retre, Ishige further forward) to replace another youngster, then we are at 7 starters and three youngsters.
Then sign the CB and midfield players who we are looking for as new starters, one a visa. And we would finally be looking at a seasoned team of 9 legitimate senior starters. Plus one of the better youngsters.
It just seems to me we are starting with more than half an outfield of younger players and the other half senior players who mostly aren't fit yet. And six younger outfield players on together is not going to be anywhere near a starting A League level performance and will play less structured, less well directed and less controlled aka the sort of messy play we saw for much of tonight. And last game.
As Retre coming on and impacting the game from a central deep position showed, we'll be a lot better once the senior players are all back and fit. Ditto for the period with Eze and Armiento also on.
The last twenty of minutes or so when we had six senior outfield players on was more like the standard we can expect to be at with starter quality, more experienced senior A League players. And we were totally all over Nunawading for that period.
Conchie, Sheridan, GSR, LBS, Loke and LKH.
Sure LKH has started the better part of a season's worth of games now. But who of you would be telling me he's yet an ideal starter? Sheridan a somewhat similar case. And the other guys have got reasonable playing time, sure, but don't tell me they are guys you want to see playing 70+ minutes of every A League game as starters - yet. Just no.
So we started with six outfield youngsters. Seven counting the keeper.
LBS was subbed by Supyk, another non-starter. Retre replaced Payne, keeping us at six outfield non starters. Then Armiento replaced LKH fairly late and and a brand new to the team Eze replaced GSR. So for only the last 20mins did we finally have a team with arguably six out of ten outfield players who were what I'd expect to be our outfield starter level. With Sheridan, Conchie, Supyk and Loke still on.
And most of the senior players I am classing as bonafide experienced starters aren't fully fit yet or were having their first minutes with the team this game.
If we were to start with Armiento and Eze we would immediately get to six outfield starters to four younger players, instead of six youngsters dominating the outfield. Makes a heck of a difference. Add Rufer (and move one of Nagasawa, Retre, Ishige further forward) to replace another youngster, then we are at 7 starters and three youngsters.
Then sign the CB and midfield players who we are looking for as new starters, one a visa. And we would finally be looking at a seasoned team of 9 legitimate senior starters. Plus one of the better youngsters.
It just seems to me we are starting with more than half an outfield of younger players and the other half senior players who mostly aren't fit yet. And six younger outfield players on together is not going to be anywhere near a starting A League level performance and will play less structured, less well directed and less controlled aka the sort of messy play we saw for much of tonight. And last game.
As Retre coming on and impacting the game from a central deep position showed, we'll be a lot better once the senior players are all back and fit. Ditto for the period with Eze and Armiento also on.
The last twenty of minutes or so when we had six senior outfield players on was more like the standard we can expect to be at with starter quality, more experienced senior A League players. And we were totally all over Nunawading for that period.
Regarding this part above from mjp2:
"McCarron aside, I'd say we started tonight with six still at best fairly inexperienced youngsters who ideally should not be A League starters. So six of ten outfield players were youngsters: "Conchie, Sheridan, GSR, LBS, Loke and LKH."
I would not call Sheridan "an inexperienced youngster who ideally should not be A League starter". There is a difference between being young (Sheridan is 21) and experience. Definitely in his previous season he was very much work in progress with few appearances, but the last season had him turn out for the first team quite a lot, unlike the other five players mentioned in that paragraph.
OK, so I may be a low-key Sheridan fan, as he is a local lad from Christchurch and all that. But he was a solid player last night in a team where the Nix defence did all the right things.
In contrast, it is our attack that showed last night that is either inexperienced (GSR, LBS, Loke) or outmuscled (Ishige, the goal aside). Hence the addition of Armiento and possibly Eze is promising. Both have a bit of athleticism, and Armiento needs very little adjustment time to A-League environment.