Contracted Players - Return of the Long Pins

We've shown that a good goal keeper earns you points over a season. With our defence I'd be worried about trading Kurto for Marinovic, would have to be a serious outfield  player to make up for this

Obviously Kurto is the much better keeper, no one is saying otherwise and I'll be gutted if we lose him. If we do however, I'd like Marinovic. He's still young for a goalkeeper, kiwi lad and showed that he was a decent keeper in many of the games he played during his time at vancouver, as well as the two games against Peru. With marinovic I definitely think he could be one of the better keepers in the league. But ultimately keeping Kurto is the priority - the guy is the best keeper in the comp

Kurto arguably wasn’t making it in Holland before he came to the A League.

It was somewhat surprising that Vancouver let Marinovic go. But a new coach comes in, looks at a keeper taking a valuable import spot blah blah blah.

Who knows the exact circumstances, but there ain’t many foreign keepers in the MLS, similar to the A League.

Rudan said he looked at both Gleeson and Marinovic, when he first started - but at that point both Kiwis were already contracted stateside.

Ollie Sail also contracted- It'd be Moss and Paston all over again!

Kurto and Rudan stay or go together?

Given Kurto's success, and the fact Marinovic has had no club career to speak of, why don't we get another import keeper and stick with Sail as our backup

Wellington Phoenix promote Kiwi teenager Gianni Stensness https://t.co/2uvBpnjEDI

— Phillip Rollo (@ByPhillipRollo) March 5, 2019

Marinovic + new shiny foreign outfield import > import keeper

I'd be devastated if Kurto goes but if we got Maronovic plus another classy foreigner then it would provably be worth it.

I'd agree if I was more confident on Marinovic.  His club career has been underwhelming, he has 100 matches in the German third and fourth tier and 32 appearances for the Vancouver Whitecaps (and a number of these were cup games).  He has had a couple of decent performances for NZ, but against relatively mediocre opposition.  I think he's a gamble, and I question whether he would be even a huge upgrade on Sail.

I can understand this logic; however, not many keepers in this league have great CVs - Liam Reddy is currently the goalkeeper of the best team in the league. That says a lot.

My ex GF, swooned over big Stef.

Metrics.

Fox gone - really disappointed for him. I really thought he had something, and he was one of our only players to actually stand up last season. It seemed like every time he got a chance, he got injured. So unlucky.

Hopefully fhe bounces back from his injury and returns to the A-League in a year or so

thanks for some big shifts in dark times Dylan!

So any conspiracy theories? 

Think the general theory is released to recover and stand down so he can play NSWPL this winter when he's over his injury.

There are rumours of a lower tier UK gig but don't see why he'd be released when they can't sign him.

do we still have enough players in our squad?

Played with heart, but think his limitations were far more evident under Rudan than Merrick, especially with him wanting us to play the ball out more from the back.

Never gave less than 100 - wish him well.

Really sad to see Fox go, he probably saved our ass from the spoon last season with the work he put it for us. I hope he recovers quickly

Am sure he'll be an A League player next season... Still in black and yellow too given how CCMs defenders played over the weekend.

might go to the new melborune club?

Surely not- behind Lowry here or at least, not ahead of him. Do you think Rudan has written off him and Doyle? Or will we see Doyle back?

Doyle is injured. Would expect him to be first drop at the least when he's back again.

Not sure Fox ever convinced, had promise but too many mistakes. 

It also makes me think Durante is here for another year, otherwise it would be two new players to find and bed into the team.

Not sure that would be an issue. We have done that with Taylor and Kopa at the back this year and kurto behind them with Mandi in front of them. 

What are the odds of us getting Kopa here full time?

I think you would have to analyse if that is what you want. He's clearly not been as good as hoped and has converted into a functional Defender but is he that much of a step on Doyle to use an import slot?

I suspect not.

Agree

Exactly, younger players need to be moving up the pecking order or be moved out of the squad to give opportunities for new young players

Kopa is a good step up IMO on Doyle. I like Doyle, he's aggresive, strong in a tackle and good in the air. But for me his limitations are equally strong.

He's error-prone and makes a lot of poor challenges in dangerous positions. Is very one footed (would he have been able to play on the right of the CB3 to accommodate Golec last week) and his passing is limited, meaning he loses us a lot of possession. We look a lot more solid with Kopa back there and our ball retention is far superior. 

Kopa is twice the player Doyle is. Doyle compensates by working his ass off, but Kopa doesn't have to work as hard because he's better on the ball and smarter at positioning himself.

I don't rate Kopa super highly, but since going to LCB he's been a hell of a lot better and imo is a vastly underrated part of our best XI.

Kopa never seemed to quite get up to the speed of the A-League when in midfield, but as LCB his positional sense and distribution has a huge part of why things have been going better than your average Nix season. He can also tackle and is decent in the air. Altogether it's a pretty rare package for an A-league level defender and a crucial skillset to have in a back 3.

The two imports that are probably expendable would be Cillian and Mandi. A bit harsh on Cillian as he hasn't had much of a chance but if he isn't going to turn into a goal-scoring machine, we need for find an import striker who will. Also Mandi, technically fantastic with a great range of passing and if he had an engine and another yard of pace would be the best midfielder in the league - as it is his lack of mobility has been a liability at times and I think with an entire off-season we could find better.

I'll be interested to see how Mandi goes with Burgess in front of him for a whole game; Burgess can do more of the running to make up for Mandi's lack of mobility.

I think it's fine to have a bit of a plodder in midfield with good technique, as long as the guys next to him aren't also plodders. Rufer is not really quick enough to make up for it, and neither is Singh.

Obviously a different level, but you look at a guy like Xhaka at Arsenal who moves like a truck and he performs badly when next to someone similar, but much better when next to someone like Ramsey or Torreira who are both quick movers with big engines.

My guess is that Legia would be happy with him loaned to us for another year, but I would be very surprised if he and his missus wanted to stay longer than this year.

The Victorian club’s new head coach, believed to be Phoenix boss Mark Rudan, wants to bring the duo with him. #SBSTheWorldGame via @johnnyddavidson https://t.co/aPUcuk2vWH

— SBS - The World Game (@TheWorldGame) March 14, 2019

Rudan to do a dick move and poach Kurto and Williams when he walks out on us?

Not surprised to see Fillip Kurto and David Williams linked to Western United. Along with Roy Krishna, they’ve been two of the best performers for the Phoenix this season. Understand Adelaide have also shown interest in Williams too.

— Phillip Rollo (@ByPhillipRollo) March 14, 2019