Carlos Hernandez Valverde

Not a  lot of common sense these days.

massive yawn.

It just surprises me looking back on this thread and the premature weemaculation thread that people seemed so happy that Herndandez is leaving and even more excited that Wee Mac might be coming.  I know that Wee Mac is a good player and I have no actualy idea but I imagine that he is a lovely chap, but I am not sure that he will give us anywhere near the productivity that Carlos did. And that is what football is ultimately all about.

Carlos leaving may have been out of the hands of the club, but a number of comments seemed so happy to be rid of him. I find that weird that there would be such excitment about the leaving of player that had a direct influence in 17 of our goals last season, when there is no one else in the squad who is likely to come close to replacing that kind of input.

Likewise Wee Mac is a good player, and would make a good replacement. The issue is that he is ultimately someone who runs around a lot, gets involved a lot, but doesn't really seem to have any end product.

Is it really because Carlos was "difficult"?

Have to agree with this. I like little Mac and he is important to our national team where our midfield is dire. I however can't remember to many goals or even assists in the all white shirt. Carlos whilst he may not have been flavour of the month has more class about him and helped the ball get into the net

club were

I'm not sure it was cause he was difficult. From what you see and hear he was probably not a good 'team' player  and petulant.

in a team scenario, isn't not being a good 'team' player and petulant being difficult? 

For me, being difficult was only an issue because he didn't do enough on the pitch.  He was too immobile and he blew too hot and cold.  I think the decision to let him go was for footballing reasons in the end and I can see why we accepted his request to leave - but let's remember, he was the one who initiated it, not us.  We need to replace his goals and assists I don't see that so far.  There is also the point that WeeMac actually did his best for CCM coming from out wide, not as a classic no. 10 behind the strikers.  I'd still think we need another quality player who can score goals, a Jeronimo Neumann type for example, and a decent solid fullback.

I got excited when Carlos got the ball because you never knew what he was going to do with it. A simple lay off, a magical through ball or a shot from an unexpected angle. He had that Xfactor not just the associated issues.

This was also a Hernandez that was motivated by the world cup. Next year could have been a fat and lazy Hernandez.

If we are going to play the "could have" game, next year Herndanez might have been bitten by a radio active spider giving him super-powers that allow him to execute perfectly timed slide tackles on opposition players.

Well it happened to Gutierrez.

glad to see that big post-WC move happened for him

/fixed

Completely agree with FM.

People complaining that Carlos ran 'hot and cold' - well, no shit, all play-makers do. If he didn't, he'd be playing for Barcelona; even then, Leo Messi has the odd off game.

The fact is he was one of the few players that other clubs were scared of coming up against and could legitimately score something out of nothing. The only other player we had that could do that was Ifill, and he's likely gone now too.

Unless Gorrin turns into a mini Carlos, which I doubt at such a young age, I question our ability to break teams down.

In saying that, I do think wee Mac and Riera can strike up a very good partnership if they both stay fit. I just think too much hinges on an unproven Gorrin.

Cunningham can provide something out of nothing.

Personally, I was happy when I heard Hernandez is leaving because I thought that meant we could replace him with McGlinchey and use our final import spot on striker. If we don't use our remaining import spot on a top quality player than I would definitely rather Hernandez was still here.

The spanner in the works is that we do not have McGlinchey yet we are talking like we do.

The other point is that clearly Carlos was not popular on the team. Note the kind of stuff Iffy and Dura have been saying about him on Twitter. I don't care what a genius a playmaker is, if he's not on the same page as his teammates his effectivity is limited.

So has he signed yet?

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/hernandez-id-love-another-crack-league

So it appears Carlos wants to come back to the A-League. Surely there would be some takers?

"I always gave maximum effort" LOL!

Interesting reading back over the entries to this thread in June when the Weemac thing was very much up in the air.

IMHO we are far better off this year and don't miss CH at all.

Good luck to anyone willing to take on his highs and lows

I must admit I read that and went 'well some parts of him were good like he thinks, but some part of him were woefully bad'

You have to ask yourself if any team would take him on because they are getting the 2013/14 Phoenix version of Carlos, not the 2009/10 Victory version of Carlos. Two very different footballers.

The 13-14 Carlos was a decent player on the field. I think the problem is you need to have fantastic defensive players around him and be able to cope with his apparent dickheadedness.

Yeah, he's basically a luxury player. You need to set your entire team up around him because he'll only play that attacking playmaker/free role, he can't fill in anywhere else and he won't track back and defend or press the opposition when you've lost the ball. Not many teams play a style you could slot him into. That's the main reason I was happy to see him go, despite his assists and goals. The team as a whole is better without him.

I thought he was hopeless on the field. With the exception of 2 free kicks I can recall he seemed to muff every other. For the dead ball specialist that he used to be that is a terrible return.

IMO we looked stronger when he was off and Stein was dropped into the 10 role.

Yeah scored a few goals, was top of the tables in assists - so on paper he was a great player for us. You just need to be able to carry him defensively and deal with his temperament.

You would almost need to build the team around him, but that would be pretty risky at his age.

Would sooner have Stein back than Carlos.