I think HN that teams like Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide are also (and have always been) in a different class to us. They're able to tweak things each season by a little, whereas in our case, at least in my view, we need to do some fairly major overhauling on the player front (and, finally I'm starting to think, possibly on the coaching front) if we're going to get anywhere near mid-table in the league.
Also, I think there are signs that CCM will be making several big signings from overseas. As for Newcastle, the resignation of the coach just before the season's start must be unsettling, however, I wouldn't be surprised if Culina keeps an eye out while he is in Europe and signs a couple of quality players soon.
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So what I see you saying there is that no one else has improved but some might, with two strikers to come so 'might' we.
There won't be any overhauling on the player front, there is quite a bit of room to add two strikers.
We have the best set of three centre back options in the league already (Adelaide will start the season with Cornthwaite and Fyfe - improved ?), our midfield may well need one more flair player, but in Diego and Marco we have already invested in some of that. If we were to chase Fred again (a good chance) then we'd be even better off.
The reality is we have to operate under a cap, and within the cap (or with a marquee) the critical gaps at this club are up front and...
[QUOTE=Boro4eva]Without another striker if not two we are going to struggle..but hey I have been harping on about this for most of last season and this pre season.
We'll sign two more strikers, if only because we'll be fined if we don't have a squad of 20. It's the quality of them that is the challenge.
I think there's no doubt that Perth and Sydney have improved. (By the way Perth has now announced it has signed Socceroo defender Chris Coyne on a 3-year contract. It seems like he might be their last major signing under the salary cap, although they have mentioned they are interested in a big-name player for a guest stint.)
But clubs like Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane have also improved (from memory, e.g., Adelaide signed an England-based Ghanaian striker and a Korean midfielder/playmaker, Melbourne signed a Thai international and are looking to sign an overseas central defender), but my point is that their improvements come from a much better base than the Phoenix. And there's no question that GCU have put together a very formidable squad, although IMO they're dreaming if they think they'll go the season unbeaten. For that matter Ferguson is assembling a pretty good squad at Nth Q and, for the sake of the A-League, I hope Fowler doesn't turn out to be another dud marquee signing.
I agree with you that there isn't now the scope for major surgery to the Phoenix squad, when we've wasted our salary cap and squad places on players like Mulligan and tied them down to contracts of some duration. However, I think we will really struggle if we don't fill the available squad places with a very good playmaker, even if we manage to sign up two more quality strikers. In fact, if it were possible to sign only two more players, I'd go for a quality playmaker and a striker. We have Greenacre as a striker and, hopefully, someone like Costa will by now be an OK back up in the striking position. I'm not familiar with Marco, but by all accounts he is an exceptional talent. However, at 17, I'm not expecting huge things from him in his first season at this level, in terms of being someone we should rely on week-in, week-out; to do so would be unreasonable. The central defence set is OK, but I wouldn't pick them as being the best in the competition. I would still have liked to have seen a central defender who can play football out from the back. I don't see Sigmund (particularly him) and co in this mould.
Overall HN, I see us sitting below mid-table this season unless the squad can be strengthened with at least two or three real quality players (the two strikers the club is looking for, but preferably in my view a playmaker and two strikers). Even then it's going to be tough, including against the likes of CCM, Newcastle, and Nth Q who I think will be no easy beats. CCM are looking to sign several overseas players and I'm sure Culina will look to add some quality to Newcastle.
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