I want to actually see some progress before giving Darije the chance to continue next season. All well and good blowing the thing up but you've got to be able to put it back together! We are absolutely dire at the moment with better players than last season
Kosta, Bonevacia and Tratt? And 5-6 goals from the maligned Finkler?
I'd say we've got a more balanced squad, but not necessarily better players.
We've got more defensive cover. But part of that is Abbas!
Agree with the more balanced but not necessarily better. But we've got a team that can score 3 against Brisbane and two against Sydney. Hopefully Burns and the new mid coming in, for Dario's loss, doesn't change that.
But we still only drew and lost those games because we've got a back five/four made up of a now disinterested Rossi, an over the hill Durante, a journeyman and not the quickest Mullen, and two FBs that aren't a heck of a lot better at their defensive jobs than most of the FBs we've had over the years. And a heck of a lot of instability amongst that lot with injuries and internationals.
I'm prepared to believe Darije's 5-3-2 tactic is a temporary attempt to fix a diabolical defense. If he can shore that up with one or two changes and if that brings a bit of confidence, then we could turn the season around. One of them may be Fox if he's fit. And Rossi may pick up his game if he sees the rest of the defence getting sorted. He's gone from a strength of the side to a guy that looks sick of the whole thing. And there were a couple of signs he's not happy with Dura. That could turn around. But otherwise if Darije has other defenders lined up then an early release for a couple of players is fine with me.