3rd
I think I'm going to go +1 on my last years' picks (heart 6th; head 8th).
So I'm picking heart 5th; head 7th). I still think we have weaknesses in attack and I am really not buying into the claims we have the best midfield in the competition. We've strengthened but we're coming from a long, long way back compared to teams in the top 4 and I don't see a drastic improvement. Notable we're relying on a lot of young players who naturally will be inconsistent
I like the Victory squad and I think they're the team to beat along with Heart - picking those two plus Brisbane in the top 3. Brisbane are the best football side in the competition but Berisha is so tough to replace.
Wanderers probably 4th.
Outside of that I don't really have much of an idea, but I'm not big on Sydney, Arnold is a good coach but I think it will take 12 months to fully rejuvenate that squad as there's loads of crap players there.
Normo's coming home
Wanna bet?
Supporter For Ever - Keep The Faith - Foundation Member - Never Lets FAX Get In The Way Of A Good Yarn
Is there a yellow fever fantasy league this year?? Can someone give me the code please
Supporter For Ever - Keep The Faith - Foundation Member - Never Lets FAX Get In The Way Of A Good Yarn
People seem to forget our run last season while we had Riera, our best team was worth being top four last year and our team has strengthened.
I don't know if the league as a whole has strengthened as much as people think, the better teams have all weakened and the weaker teams have strengthened. It's going to be tight but I reckon we will be fourth.
Also I don't think we will miss Stein's goals as much as people assume. Remember in his first season at the club he only scored five or so, someone else will step up to the plate and score a dozen goals.
We also have a good run at the end of the season.
So us top four, with Perth and Newcastle outside the top six, no idea where the other teams will end up.
Not sure if we've strengthened - we'll find out. We have lost our main scorer - Stein - and main creator in Carlos (+Iffy, of course)
Brockie needs to step up, if he does - we're top 4 material for mine. If he doesn't fire again - we'll be 6th or below.
As for other teams, I think Sydney/Victory/Brisbane will be fighting it out with WSW having a bit of a downer season after their ACL exploits.
a.haak

Is there a yellow fever fantasy league this year?? Can someone give me the code please
See here
Predictions.
We will concede well less than the 50+ goals per season over the last few years.....expect more 1-0,1-1, 2-1 than 0-5's....the scores will be closer. I predict a lot of low scoring draws.
Top six depends on Brockie....we have a much improved midfield. If Brockie can bang in 15 goals and a few others chip in with a half dozen or so then we will be 5th or 6th. If Brockie does not fire than its bottom three again. There is no obvious striking alternatives.
wee mac, burns and rodriguez 7+ goals. Brockie 10 +
"wee mac, burns and rodriguez 7+ goals"
7+ goals each makes just 31 with Brockie's 10, and that's asking a heap of McG and Rodriguez
Burns and Brockie both need 10+ I think
+2 Sig/Dura, +4 Cunningham/Krishna/Boyd, +2 Roly, +2 Manny/Fenton/Hicks/Rufer/Ridenton
that just about does the biz for 40 odd ideally required
but wanderers and CCM made top 4 with 33 and 34
OK, I've convinced myself we are going to win the league
[quote=maynardf]
wee mac, burns and rodriguez 7+ goals. Brockie 10 +
"wee mac, burns and rodriguez 7+ goals"
7+ goals each makes just 31 with Brockie's 10, and that's asking a heap of McG and Rodriguez
Burns and Brockie both need 10+ I think
+2 Sig/Dura, +4 Cunningham/Krishna/Boyd, +2 Roly, +2 Manny/Fenton/Hicks/Rufer/Ridenton
that just about does the biz for 40 odd ideally required
but wanderers and CCM made top 4 with 33 and 34
OK, I've convinced myself we are going to win the league
[/quote
and all this with a clean sheet each week
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
Brisbane 5th and Newcastle 10th isn't it?..Burns to get 10 is a bold call tho.
A small town in Europe........looking to bounce straight back up....well that aint going to happen
1. Sydney FC
2. Victory
3. Adelaide
4. Roar
5. Western Sydney
6. Phoenix
7. Melbourne City
8. Perth
9. Central Coast
10. Newcastle
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Vinny Lia
- Newcastle Jest
"Ive just re-visited this and once again realised that C-Diddy is a genius - a drunk, Newcastle bred disgrace - but a genius." - Hard News, 11:39am 4th June 2009
1 Victory
2 Sydney FC
3 Roar
4 Western Sydney
5 Adelaide
6 Phoenix
7 Perth
8 Melbourne City
9 Newcastle
10 Central Coast
1. Sydney FC
2. Victory
3. Adelaide
4. Roar
5. Western Sydney
6. Phoenix
7. Melbourne City
8. Perth
9. Central Coast
10. Newcastle
You are one of many people (incl me) picking us to come bottom half, doesn't fit really with the "best ever squad" narrative!
Normo's coming home
I picked 3rd and don't get the negativity. I think people go "we'll make the 6" and put them 6th
Grumpy old bastard alert
I picked 3rd and don't get the negativity. I think people go "we'll make the 6" and put them 6th
I think our side looks pretty good, but we're coming from a long way behind the top 4 let alone 6th and those sides look to have improved as well. Definitely a bit worried about who bangs in the goals too
Normo's coming home
I picked 3rd and don't get the negativity. I think people go "we'll make the 6" and put them 6th
My analysis was simply based on I can six teams other than us who have better playoff claims. Some seasons there are only a couple of points between 4th and 7th so fine margins.
I'm on the negativity train. Nice chunky midfield but we will definitely struggle to score enough goals to make the top six. And as much as I love the Manny-Siggy-Dura trio they are getting increasingly error prone as the years roll by. I'm just hoping for a competitive season, some decent attacking football, and not another one of those soul-destroying ten-games-without-a-win streaks and a shitload of injuries.
I'm on the negativity train. Nice chunky midfield but we will definitely struggle to score enough goals to make the top six. And as much as I love the Manny-Siggy-Dura trio they are getting increasingly error prone as the years roll by. I'm just hoping for a competitive season, some decent attacking football, and not another one of those soul-destroying ten-games-without-a-win streaks and a shitload of injuries.
We need good home form too. Even if we struggle away I really want to watch us win live and score goals
Normo's coming home
Adelaide
Victory
Phoenix
Roar
Sydney
Wanderers
City
Perth
Jets
Mariners
Berisha golden boot
1 Victory
2 Sydney FC
3 Roar
4 Western Sydney
5 Adelaide
6 Phoenix
7 Perth
8 Melbourne City
9 Newcastle
10 Central Coast
The rationale for my pics are that I think there a 3 groups of teams. Victory and Bling look a class above to me and will scrap it out for the top spot.
I then think we fall into the second group - solid squads with tweaks rather than complete overhauls, good well proven coaches in the league. Also in here Roar (still quality even though having 2 major losses in Franjic and Ber$h!#@), Wanderers & Adelaide.
The next bunch are either weaker squads (e.g. Newcastle, CCM) or major works in progress (Perth, Citeh).
Bump
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.
People seem to forget our run last season while we had Riera, our best team was worth being top four last year and our team has strengthened.
I don't know if the league as a whole has strengthened as much as people think, the better teams have all weakened and the weaker teams have strengthened. It's going to be tight but I reckon we will be fourth.
Also I don't think we will miss Stein's goals as much as people assume. Remember in his first season at the club he only scored five or so, someone else will step up to the plate and score a dozen goals.
We also have a good run at the end of the season.
So us top four, with Perth and Newcastle outside the top six, no idea where the other teams will end up.
Not sure if we've strengthened - we'll find out. We have lost our main scorer - Stein - and main creator in Carlos (+Iffy, of course)
Brockie needs to step up, if he does - we're top 4 material for mine. If he doesn't fire again - we'll be 6th or below.
As for other teams, I think Sydney/Victory/Brisbane will be fighting it out with WSW having a bit of a downer season after their ACL exploits.
That Brockie call really came off...
Other calls not too bad!
Interesting looking back and how everyone is upset we are now not top of the league.
a.haak

Everyone seems to be writing off Perth. I reckon they've got a decent squad this season. Recruited a lot of good a-league players (Garcia, Nichols, Dulbic...) and brought in a few good foreigners in Keogh and Hersi. They always seem to be hovering around 6th place even with the shark team they used to have, hell they even made the grand final once. I reckon they'll go alright this season.
Perth had the worst attack in the competition last year. They have replaced Smeltz with Keogh who only scored 17 times in 70 league matches for Milwall. Similarly Nichols and Hersi aren't really goal scorers
Just throwing this out there.
I sort of stand by that comment. I predicted Perth to come 8th this season and ironically they might end up somewhere near that point. Obviously their on field performances have been a lot better than that. Still, I think you can go through their results and find a lot of games where they were dominated but somehow managed to steal the points. Their wins in Wellington, Sydney and the 3 all draw in Melbourne stand out as does the 2-1 win over Newcastle.
Some of Perth's signings which a lot of people expected to work out didn't such as Hersi and Nichols. Their best signing was without a doubt Nebojsa Marinkovic who I'm surprised by. I didn't expect someone who last played for a team languishing in the first division is Israel to do anything. He has been involved in 12 of their A-league goals this season. Keogh has obviously got the bulk of their goals but I think his best position is still on the wing. Then Jamie McLaren has also don't a improved a lot this season. Put all that together and they have managed to get to 40 goals.
I most certainly don't think Perth are the second best team going forward into the playoffs. Their last win over a top 6 side was on 2 January after all. It is fair to say that they did a lot better than I expected
Everyone seems to be writing off Perth. I reckon they've got a decent squad this season. Recruited a lot of good a-league players (Garcia, Nichols, Dulbic...) and brought in a few good foreigners in Keogh and Hersi. They always seem to be hovering around 6th place even with the shark team they used to have, hell they even made the grand final once. I reckon they'll go alright this season.
Perth had the worst attack in the competition last year. They have replaced Smeltz with Keogh who only scored 17 times in 70 league matches for Milwall. Similarly Nichols and Hersi aren't really goal scorers
Just throwing this out there.
Yellow Fever - Misery loves company
Adelaide
Victory
Phoenix
Roar
Sydney
Wanderers
City
Perth
Jets
Mariners
Berisha golden boot
Some of Perth's signings which a lot of people expected to work out didn't such as Hersi and Nichols. Their best signing was without a doubt Nebojsa Marinkovic who I'm surprised by. I didn't expect someone who last played for a team languishing in the first division is Israel to do anything.
Manny and Roy are cases in point as well tho..as is Siggy. Past history is not always an indicator of future potential.
A small town in Europe........looking to bounce straight back up....well that aint going to happen
1) Victory
2) Adelaide
3) Sydney
4) WSW
5) Brisbane
6) Nix
7) City
8) CCM
9) Jets
10) Glory
I ended up with a score of 16. I'll take that.
Bang on with Victory at Top and CCM at 8. One out with Bling, Adelaide, Nix, City & Jets. WSW was the big head-scratcher for obvious reasons.
1. Sydney FC
2. Victory
3. Adelaide
4. Roar
5. Western Sydney
6. Phoenix
7. Melbourne City
8. Perth
9. Central Coast
10. Newcastle
Are you guys just making numbers up or is there an actual scoring system?
"Phoenix till they lose"
Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion.
Genuine opinion: FTFFA