Ernie's Report Card - after less than 8 weeks in the job
Fresh, open approach with media: A
Clear communication of desired style of play required to win and entertain: A+
Quickly released players who wouldn't fit the bill: A+
Trialled a whole bunch of young maybes: A
Signed some quality imports in key positions: B+ ('regista' or 'volante' playmaking deep midfielder still to come i hope)
Offered contracts to some young players with good potential: A
Seems to have energised team spirit: A
Really, hard to fault too much of what he's done in 7 weeks.
What I 'd like to see next:
Sign quality #6 (see above)
Plenty of warm up games pre-season
Get the FSW sorted so that we have more players in a professional set up coming through
Get clear on the TW relationship
a)Good international signings. Yes. Seems like they will be improvements on what we had.
b)Defence: Nothing yet. No cover for Moss (unless Italiano is much better than his experience), no new defensive players. Have to wait and see on Adams. We don't seem particularly more sound defensively than last year yet.
c)Attacking plan: Yes. There seems to be a clear push for pace, ball movement and attacking variety that we often lacked last season. Have to wait on the delivery. In theory we have a larger number of players who would be goal scorers for us.
d)Haven't heard a peep out of Gareth yet: Yes
Better than Ricki on a, c,d, although at game one last year after thrashing Sydney with Ifill still to come back into the mix Ricki was looking fairly good too.