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Ok this guy has grown on me so much over the last few games and deserves so much credit for a few reasons. Firstly no matter how he scores the ball is ending up in the back of the net and with regularity. Secondly his commitment and professionalism during matches has been nothing short of fantastic. He has constantly been working hard, pushing himself, never dropping his head and given everything for the team. It'd be so easy for him given his background and also his playing history to disrespect the league and not give his all but it is apparent his attitude is in the right place. He's copped a lot of shit this season and I for one am very happy to see the guy, who's struggled in a number of environments be settled, apparently happy and performing well.

He's an injury replacement, on the outer with his Championship club, and taking this chance to reinvigorate his career in its latter stages. He's currently carrying two injuries but puts in extra training when he is able to do so. He's currently second in the Golden Boot table, on 13 to Bobo's 15. IMO he's been a great asset for us so far.

One of 2 players IMO that have outwardly shown a desire above all else to work hard for the shirt, his team mates and the fans. Haters can bloody well piss off for all I care.

A little bit inaccurate regarding Carusca and a Visa spot when it was actually Brandan you'd think Lynch wouldn't make such basic errors.

The only person qualified to answer this is @playmaker. Koren or Budzinski?

10/10 name change

My take: Our best (most effective/talented) signings: Fornaroli (27), Novillo (22), Schenkeveld (25), Fitzgerald (23), Brandan (26), Jakobsen (30), Wilkinson (30), Paartalu (28), Zullo (26), Brattan (26), Kilkenny (30), Sorensen (39). What jumps out is that all these players are between 22/23 to 30 (with the goalkeeper Sorensen being the outlier). Other trends/points about City's signings: - Despite CFG saying they wouldn’t sign “aging stars” from overseas, Koren (33), Duff (34), Hughes (35) and Sorensen (39) beg to differ. IMO our better Visa players have definitely been younger like Fornaroli, Novillo, Schenkeveld, Brandan, Jakobsen. I think CFG eventually realised this, and this season and the last (especially with regards to marquees) the club has moderated things and has signed much younger players. - The club has signed 11 Australian players 22 years old or younger, and many have barely played games for MC, and only a few have made a real impact on the senior team (I’d say Mauk, Kamau, and Chapman [all rather debatable]). Melbourne Heart young players played more, and probably performed better (e.g. Behich, Babalj, Good). Maybe things are finally turning with Atkinson and Arzani, but still over 4 seasons the record is that of a limited return from Australian players under 22 years of age. - The numbers aren’t explicitly revealed here, but I’d say that the club is definitely continuing its extremely high turnover rate, of 80% of players or more playing 2 seasons or less (and it’s usually less) for Melbourne City. I’d also pinpoint this lack of stability with the squad with contributing to limited success and inconsistent performances. - The older players, aged 34 or older, have also made a limited impact (and have, entirely predictably) effectively never played more than 1 or 2 seasons for the club. Too many young players, and too many old players, and not enough players at their best football ages (between 23 and 30) has definitely led to inconsistency and limited success IMO. All up, it can be seen that the high turnover rate of players, and either an obsession with young players (e.g. JVS season two) or an obsession with older players (e.g. Aloisi’s seasons) are IMO the 2 most constant factors in existence at Melbourne Heart and now Melbourne City, from the club’s creation in 2009 to now at the beginning of 2018. Other clubs provide an example of getting it right, for example Sydney FC (pretty much with Brosque, O’Neill, Ninkovic, Ryall, Dimitrijevic, Carney, and maybe a few others), and WSW (around 2015-16) and Victory (a few years ago) are other possible examples. If the club could recruit a core group of players between 23 and 30, who can go on to play at Melbourne City for 3 seasons or more, IMO that would lay the surest foundation for stability, consistency and success, and IMO would meaningfully reduce the incidence of flaky players, flaky performances and arguably a flaky culture. When you take a step back and look at it, Melbourne Heart and now City's track-record is hardly surprising when the fans following the club have been doing so for much much longer than the employees at Melbourne City have been working there (with fans supporting the club for up to 8 years, and players not being at the club for 2).

I think the Talking City predictions would be more accurate by rolling a dice or drawing scores from a hat.

@haz that's what's made this season so frustrating, I still have no idea where we are at

..woah weak? No way! He nearly snapped Wales' back in half yesterday with that rocket from mile out.

And given that Bobo should have been banned in the game where he scored three of those (since it followed the game with us when he assaulted Muscat off the ball) I'll give that as a moral victory to Ross.

Hmm i think its even more simple than that : Cahill's style of player he is now is simply not compatible with many game styles. You almost need to build the team around him in attack in order for it to work, something that was never going to occur with Bruno in the side. It would have required Bruno to become a 10 or 2nd striker imo to be effective, and then by doing that you're taking the league's greatest scorer in a season out of position to accommodate another player. It's also a large reason why a lot of clubs havent come for Cahill imo, or at least wanted to spend the money required. I dont think many doubt his ability, but between goals he's usually fairly anonymous, not a trait thats particularly endearing to coaches over a long term.

who the fuck is calling him a failed marquee? he didnt fail city city failed him infidels

exactly what this flaccid, limp and sterile team needs. aggression via a big superior white man

Why would you play him if you knew he would be missing for a month? He was also 4th in line behind Bart, (an inform larocca at the time) and Jakobsen. It's different to Mauk and Kamau who were already ahead in the pecking order and had no real competition for their spots due to injuries and lack of form.

Bouzanis ends up in no man's land a lot of the time due to bad decision making and my gripe is that he has not improved over time. Opposition set pieces need to be attacked and Galekovic does it well even though his howlers were due to not punching the ball clear rather than poor positioning. It's a matter of Bouzanis not having the smarts to take control of his area, which is one of the worse deficiencies a goal keeper can have, because around the 6 yard box he should always be contesting the ariel ball. I admit it was difficult conditions, but the correct play was to contest the ball.

Fox Sports voting is rubbish, ccm central defenders best 2 on the park. They conceded twice against 10 men

If we had Koren, Budzinski and Colazo in the team with Warren as the manager we'd win the league

FTFY

Yep, fully agree. I've given him a fair bit of stick over the start of the season, but I'm very happy to eat humble pie. This guy is a class act and we are seriously lucky to have him. Would love to see him stay permanently

@Murfy1 I agree we need to retain players and build a core. Another point to add is that it seems we look for players coming back from injury. I assume this is to have a cheaper salary for a better player. It would be good to see the stat for how many players we have signed directly from an injury stint.

For the record, Budzinski previous (and first goal) was scored 315 minutes ago, that is 3 and a half full matches ago (in the first derby, of course). So credit to him for getting 2 useful goals that have helped City get 4 points, but he hasn't been prolific in front of goal. I'm sceptical about Budzinski's all around game as a midfielder, in particular his passing. I think this passing accuracy hasn't been great, and he doesn't pass the ball into useful areas. So I'm not sure that he helps our possession, arguably the main job of midfielders. Budzinski best attribute is seemingly his goal-scoring. Credit to him for popping up with another goal. I think he's earned more minutes, and maybe a start. However, I'm not going to get too excited and instead I'll wait and see with him.

This is true but in those 3 games we played 3 of the weaker teams in the league (now 7th, 8th and 10th).

I've surprisingly gotten a few right this season.

Indeed, he's scored some rockets from outside the box.

Thought it would have got 2 but cant complain. The more players we have available the better.

I'm a bit confused by what you're saying. Does he shoot or doesn't he? And if he doesn't as you suggest how do you know he has a weak shot?

How can you say that, he is probably the best passer of the ball in the A-league and even over long distance i was watching him closely yesterday and most of his long passes found the intended player as well as the shorter passes.

TTIM: still banned from William Hill promos after cleaning up the first year of Chase the Ace.

They only called him that because they were too scared to make the big call and label him what he actually is. "The Lionel Messi of the A League"

If you have a mate or two really into cars that are willing to along, then great. Remember you can just look, you don't have to buy Fingers crossed tho mate

Budders won us a derby and saved us a point in an away game, I'd have him above Koren for that at this point.

Bought a car from there a few years back and was very happy. Got the car about $3000 (about 25%) cheaper than at a car yard (hence BTs comment as to why car dealers probably go there). Had a mate tag along who knew cars much better than me so if you have someone to help then great, but at worst just research first. They usually put the car list up 24 hours (if not more) for you to check prices, and you can always do a walk through the car lot on the morning of the auction to check the cars out. Worst come to worst it's worth a look even if you don't buy

FWIW he intimated that the wind made him misjudge Arzani's cross. More generally, he looks to me like an instinctive finisher. He is perfect in situations where he only has a fraction of a second to turn/touch and then shoot.

This team will give me a heart attack one day. Only Liverpool could destroy a team in minutes then nearly destroy themselves.

If he was that good he wouldn't be playing in the A League.

I think the number one thing we can take from this game, is that Paul Okon is a whiny little bitch who doesn't stfu when things go his way.

From the past three matches: Sydney: 5 pts. Newcastle: 7 pts. City: 7 pts. Victory: 4 pts. Adelaide: 5 pts. WSW: 5 pts. Perth: 0 pts. CCM: 2 pts. Brisbane: 0 pts. Phoenix: 4 pts. A bit selective I know, but we've actually kept pace with Newcastle over the past three matches, and improved our relative positions against all the other clubs.

Surprised no one has voted for Ramsay yet...

Surely after this performance @strider would want Ruon Longdik to start for us?

Mark of a good playmaker is one which gets 2 possessions and saves the teams arse. Better than the dumb ball hogs we have that get the ball every 30 seconds and create nothing even though our striker is making perfect runs and then throwing his arms up screaming WTF. Quantity is no replacement for quality.

Very generous IMO.

Surely I should be starting to get the humble pie out of the oven

CCM are interdimentional Pedophiles funded by the Clinton Foundation

TTDIM: This guy. No fucks given

Actually, it's a very valid reason to tell someone to go fuck themselves, and probably the only reason I ever tell anyone to go fuck themselves...