Could having the Captaincy be distracting Rufer from playing well??
No.
Someone posted stats that Rufer is actually a good midfielder. But he got dragged halftime when he was literally on notice from the coach. I guess the coach did not trust him to bring more forward energy into the game and also don’t think his leadership is needed to turn a game at halftime.
I won’t blame the bad performances on Rufer, all of the team played bad. In dire times many people think a fearless superhuman leader can turn a game, but I don’t think that is how it works.
We also we have to talk about Uffi, he promised us that we won’t play that bad again, and it may was not as shark as the Jets game, but is was very close.
Easiest is to blamed the covid situation, but the team need to turn it around. I hope they can it it to some degree, Hooper is back and new players are also coming into the mix.
Actually, I have no problem with Uffi. What people do not seem to accept is that we lost a core of experienced seasoned players from one season to the next. Of all of these, perhaps only Marinovic departure we can live with. No disrespect, but it is naive to expect that our current lineup is able to compete at this level, without Devlin, Hemed, Davila and Taylor.
COVID is a factor but only an indirect cause for our maladies. COVID costs the club a lot of money, and that money could have been spent on holding on to our excellent imports (Hemed, Davila) or to bring new ones in to replace the likes of Taylor in a timely fashion.
I agree with others that the club would not be fielding a Womens side if they had significant money issues. However, spending a season in Australia (again) is expensive and a pragmatic approach is at play: play with what we have, get some players on loan, and accept that this a write-off season. Most, if not all, A-League clubs have them. Two years ago we finished third, so I know Uffie is a capable coach, but he is fielding a shadow of a competent team this year.
Yeah but the cash bleeding of being based in NSW is only one Covid related issue.
No Covid Taylor stays. No Covid easier to sign/attract visa players. No Covid Nix get big lift from playing half their games in front of their home supporters. No Covid and players with families like Ball & Hooper have some off field stability with their kids in Welly schools etc etc. No Covid and players sleep in their own beds, with welcome time away from each other and football in general - that's harder based in Sydney with all the uncertainty of what is happening week to week.
Look at the Breakers. They'll struggling also. Dead last 6 losses from 6.