History for martinb

imanixsupporter

Prior to the Brisbane game I was pretty unimpressed with LBS but even I have to say he did well in that game.

But he still should not be relied upon to start games next season at all. If we see him starting games next season then what that means is we are not a football team, we are instead primarily a shop window to sell talent from the academy. 

Agree with this, though the last bit is kinda firey. The relied upon part though is on the money.

It felt this season A LOT that rather than put out the best team to win the game, Italiano was playing the kids so he could say he was developing talent. 
He played Walker and Brooke-Smith too often. I don’t think it’s helped their development. Look at how we protected Surman and Paulsen, and how we are protecting GSR now. It’s better for them to figure out their games at a lower level and arrive as better developed players. 

It feels to me like these players were being used partly to protect Italiano from our poor results. And ironically I don’t think it does that much for their development. It risks making them more conservative, less confident footballers. 

And it doesn’t do much for the fans either, putting on players who aren’t properly ready for this level. 

It should be a tough fight for every Phoenix cap, not simply something players from the reserve team get because they came through the Phoenix system. It shouldn’t be we’ve got 9 players, get a couple more. 

Kosta and Marco getting minutes meant they were special talents and ready to be there. Marco made a couple of sub appearances and then signed an import contract at the Victory. Kosta went from the Nix to Brisbane and became their top scorer. 

I want to see our young players demanding their spot because they’re ready to play, not because it’s good for their development or some other reason.