Players you've been most suprised by

Players you've been most suprised by

For good or for worse.  Without sounding too knee-jerky, I've been pleasantly suprised by the Lia-Brown partnership. They seem to be developing quite well. Brown in particular, seems to be getting forward a lot more.

Troy Hearfield has grown on me this season.

Durante for me, he was fantastic for Newcastle in their grand final but then very much on and off for the nix - till recent weeks when he's really stepped up and is a monster in our defense.

Durante for me.  I knew he was a quality player, but really did not show much last season, to the point where I really was dissapointed when Dodd was let go.  He has been amazing this year, and its difficult for me to see McKain coming straight back in.  (Durante at RB anyone? :P)

yeah durante and over the last few games lochhead has come leaps and bounds as well, looks much more like his old self. Brown has impressed me alot, is an absolute nuisance in the MF and pops up for chances at goal.

Johnny Chen, so many LOLz

whole defence, whole midfield. 

6 draws and that win. I guess for me during that spell, Durante has really started to show some real quality. But I have to say, this whole squad has really taken a step forward. You have seen glimpses in a lot of the games and it was only last week that it really happened.

Surprised by Brown. Stepped it up IMO.

Definately Durante. Had a poor first season with us and I thought a poor start to the season against Newcastle but since then he has just gotten better and better. He is *actually* our captain now.

Still not convinced about the Lia/Brown partnership.
valeo2009-10-30 19:57:09

Surprised by brown, thought he was gone at the beginning of the season. but he has been very good.

Chen sort o the opposite. First time had seen him properly against GCU, and not impressed at all. 

Oh Yeah and Paston has Stepped up to the mark very well also.

Mulligan.

I wouldn't mention Paston cause I already rated him. Same for Durante.

Paston for me. I used to think he was mud, and while he has a lot of work to do when the opposition has a free kick within range, he has come a very long way this season, and would choose him over moss at international level

Ifill.
Immense.

Steady on, Moss has been the man for Melbourne.

I agree with yomcat, I'm pretty sure we all expected a lot more out of Mulligan.

The english imports. I was haunted by the thought of the nightmare englishmen that went to auckland but now my mind is at ease.

Lia and Brown - very impressive !!!

Durante has been amazing. And yeah, maybe he could play Right back if McKain couls consistently play well at CB like he did against Melbourne. Would be harsh on Manny but Durante does have the ability to push forward and it would mean our three quality players at the back (would also maybe help convince McKain to stay)

And Manny has begun to suprise me though.

Muscat for me - I thought last season he was small, not quick enough and was regularly beaten.  The opposition still regularly attack down his side, but heck, he's handled it so much better this year.  And starting to get forward as well.

Moss has been absolutely terrible for Melbourne compared to how he was for us and at the Confed Cup.

actually - Diego has been the biggest suprise.
I really had high expectations and thought he would be definitely in there week in week out. Also thought he could be the way to reignite Daniel this season. But no we dont need him, and frankly we dont care

Diego was always going to be a disaste. Like I said when he was signed there is a reason Adelaide released him - constant injury. Doesn't matter how good he is or how good he could be if he's injured all of the time. valeo2009-10-31 00:50:11

Daniel and Paston have surprised me this season. Paston has been good. I thought he would have stuffed up goals by now - luckily I was wrong and he's been pretty solid. Daniel has been ok. Not been nearly as rubbish as previous seasons.

1. Daniel was brilliant in Season 1 - hence why we kept him
2. Greenacre isn't a dodgy English reject

All stepped up accept Lochhead, Chen, Crowther, and Bertos.

Lochhead has been in the sort of form that made him one of the best fullbacks in season 1, Chen is comedy gold, Crowther hasn't had much time to do anything except for 1 game where he was the victim of having 10 spineless numpties in front of him and Bertos was the form attacking player in the first few rounds, and is simpl being heavily marked and having a slight flat patch at the moment.

Brown for me. I was never his biggest fan but he has definitely lifted his game.

Brown and Durante for me. Awesome to see Brown getting results on the feel as I know how passionate he is about this club, and someone earlier in the thread put it really well when they said Durante is finally playing like our captain should

Last few games Lochhead's been OK but nothing on season one so I still consider that not stepping up.  Crowther, seen two games and he was pretty bad in both so that's the only conclusion I can draw, and Bertos tries to be fancy and fails and these last few games he doesn't appear to have been overmarked at all - has just failed.  He was way better early season two.

The Brown and Lia combo for me.

Paston and Brown


they have both improved so much.
ForteanTimes2009-11-01 10:36:03

Lochy's been good this season - defended well, and has been an attacking threat the last few weeks.
Crowther, barring the free kick in China in what was a meaningless friendly game, has done little wrong.
Leo was our best player in the first 5-6 rounds of the season, and is still one of the best players we have.el grapadura2009-11-01 10:40:28

For me its Paston, from what I saw of him last year I thought he was pretty awful and was glad when Moss came back in, was more worried about Moss going the Smeltz for a while, but Paston with regular first team football and a dedicated goalkeeping coach, has developed into a solid goalkeeper for us, complete change from the guy I saw last season who looked to even lack the basic skills to be a good keeper, keep it up Mark, hope the injury isn;t a bad one

Brown : he's actually a lot worse than I gave him credit for.

Lochhead : how sh*t he really is.

Funny how opinions completely change on the basis of one game. People have to understand that pretty much all A-League players are horrendously inconsistant - that is why they are still in the A-League. valeo2009-11-02 19:47:16

+1

Well said Valeo.

I'm struggling to think of anyone who has played worse this season that they did last season.