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Vincenzo Grella


LR9
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He is the number one target at the club.

He has visited MHFC in the past few days.

The club views him as its No.6 and they will shift Go-Hard to CB to replace the loses of Hamill and Good.

Hopefully he can stay on the park.

Edited by LR9
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hmmm. So LR9, is SEN your source? I rate your posts. I wouldn't expect pure rumours from you. How would we afford?

How the tide of forum discontent should turn if this actually happens (unless his horrendous run of injuries continues and he barely plays a game - but I guess that's why he is here).

Edited by Jake
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The main concern might be his injury history? Not sure he's played much football in the last couple of years. I'll have to check with Wikipedia. If he can stay injury free, he should be good.

And I like the things that long time Socceroos like Aloisi, Skoko and Grella can bring into the club: the knowledge they can pass on to the younger players, public recognition, and of course what they can deliver on the pitch. The experience and knowledge they can bring in is really valuable. I agree though, he doesn't sound like no rocket scientist.

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Vinnie Grella in the house.

remember an interview with him and Les Muarry during the 06 world cup.

fuck me, he is very stupid.

fucking this lol. I remember an interview with him as well, probably the same one, guy is semi-retarded. Lucky he is a good footballer, otherwise he wouldnt have amounted to much in life.

Edited by Tesla
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Grella is like Jason Culina to me. A pretty good player if he's not injured.... The concern I have about signing Grella is that he'll miss more games than Fred did last season.

The merit of signing Grella also depends upon how good a CB Gerhardt makes. He could be a really good CB for all I know, but the club definitely signed him as a midfielder, and it doesn't show impressive planning if Heart are converting a DM who has only been around for a few weeks into a CB.

I'm weary as well that Aloisi is bringing in an old Socceroos buddy, rather than more objectively building a top squad. We already have impressive DMs in Gerhardt and Germano, so signing Grella over a CB seems questionable.

Always good to have a seasoned Socceroo. If we sign him hopefully the price is reasonable (I recall Grella asking for a lot to play in the A-League) and he stays injury free.

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We already have impressive DMs in Gerhardt and Germano, so signing Grella over a CB seems questionable.

True, we might not have much choice. Apart from Lucas Neil, there doesn't seem to be many experienced ready-made uncontracted Australian CB's available. Gerhardt might be the best option we've got right now even though he was recruited mainly as a DM.

If current rumours are true, and the lack of involvement from Christian7 makes me think they might be, our CB's will be Colosimo, Gerhardt, Gray and Vrankovic. That looks pretty good - more depth and experience than last year. Our first chioce midfielders could be Fred, Grella, Germano, and Thompson - that looks strong if they stay injury free. With Tadic and Dugandzic up front, the squad is starting to look almost complete.

Edited by Sash
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True, we might not have much choice. Apart from Lucas Neil, there doesn't seem to be many experienced ready-made uncontracted Australian CB's available. Gerhardt might be the best option we've got right now even though he was recruited mainly as a DM.

If we sign David Vrankovic as well I'll fully be on board with signing Grella.

I'll admit I haven't seen much of Grella at all. If he can provide some 'on-field coaching' in midfield and distribute the ball well, then he'll be a top signing.

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Gerhardt has played twice for Liberia. Also, I'm not sure you could say he has excelled as a CB for Liberia, with him committing a costly error in the qualifier against Senegal:

(at 4:00 into the video).

Maybe that error was an exception, I don't know. But he doesn't have a lot of experience as a CB.

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This is fresh from the Heart twitter account

@MelbourneHeart: We will announce a new player signing tomorrow morning. Stay tuned! #goheart

Hopefully it's Grella, another reason to be excited is his relationship with Bresciano, if Grella signs it makes it even more likely that Bresc will eventually.

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Just FWIW, in the past 3 years he has played just 1549 minutes in all competitions, due to 4-5 separate injuries.

Thats 30 games at an average of 51 minutes per games.

Would you really like to have this bloke tying up a spot on the roster and $350-500k?

Edited by LR9
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Most of the club football I've seen him play in youtube clips he was a DM. Heart signed him after stating a "midfield enforcer" was their number one priority (http://www.footballa...-Priority/47261). Also, upon signing him the article on Heart's website wrote:

While primarily a defensive midfielder, Head Coach John Aloisi was impressed by Swiss-born Gerhardt’s versatility, with his ability to also play anywhere across the back four likely to make him a key asset for Heart during the upcoming season.

“Patrick will bring a lot to the Club. Defensive midfield is the position we see him most suited to, but he’s versatile. He can win the ball, but he can also play the ball out of the back,” Aloisi said.

http://www.footballa...ins-Heart/47881

Maybe I'm just a little bit weary after the mixed results Matt Thompson achieved at CB. Anyway, like I said, If we sign David Vrankovic there will be 4 CBs in Gerhardt, Colosimo, Gray and Vrankovic. I would prefer having those 4 (or another proper CB in place of Vrankovic). IMO that would make a very good squad into an excellent squad.

Edited by Murfy1
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I'd imagine a move to the A-League will prolong Grella's career due to the 1 game per week scheduling, the warmer weather and the slower pace of the game. The same thing happened with Fowler and Kewell, with both being relatively injury free during thier stays.

It's highly unlikely that he has many potential suitors in Europe having completely gone off the radar since his move to Blackburn, the best he could hope for would be a Serie B or Championship contract and I doubt that will tempt him having played at the top level for so long.

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Would rather we go after an experienced CB tbh. Have better cover at DM than we do at CB. Think Grella could be a massive waste of money tbh particularly when we sign Gerhardt for that position already. I guess they had to go after someone for the DM spot early though. As we would have looked a bit shit if we put all our eggs in one basket with attempting to sign Grella then missing out would have left us with no DM except for Germano.

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Don't Assume we are only playing one DM and that Grella and Gerhardt can't play together in midfield.

Both of those two could sit behind Fred with Germano playing at LB. If Vinne stays fit he would be of the best Technical/Tactical players that will have graced the A-League up to this point.

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agree.

wouldn't be surprised to see this

-----------------Bolton---------------

Marrone--Colosimo--Gray--Behich

----------Grella-----Gerhardt--------

-----------------Fred------------------

Dugandzic-----Tadic------------????

Very solid, we should rarely concede goals with that defensive half, and just punish teams on the counter with our fast wingbacks and quick front 3 of Dugandzic, Fred and Mebrahtu/Germano/Thompson

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agree.

wouldn't be surprised to see this

-----------------Bolton---------------

Marrone--Colosimo--Gray--Behich

----------Grella-----Gerhardt--------

-----------------Fred------------------

Dugandzic-----Tadic------------????

Very solid, we should rarely concede goals with that defensive half, and just punish teams on the counter with our fast wingbacks and quick front 3 of Dugandzic, Fred and Mebrahtu/Germano/Thompson

-------------------37----------------

---25------33-----31-----gone---

-------------33--------27-----------

-----------------32------------------

22-------------26------------????

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-------------------37----------------

---25------33-----31-----gone---

-------------33--------27-----------

-----------------32------------------

22-------------26------------????

I don't understand what age has got to do with him saying we will rarely concede goals and will play on the counter?

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I don't understand what age has got to do with him saying we will rarely concede goals and will play on the counter?

Oh nothing, just putting out there that the average age in that starting eleven is 29.6 years.

I don't see an issue, do you?

Edited by LR9
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Oh nothing, just putting out there that the average age in that starting eleven is 29.6 years.

I don't see an issue, do you?

Nope, no issue at all since its the A-League. Just let the old guys contract expire when we dont need them and sign another free agent to replace them.

Not like we are playing at a level where we have to pay transfer fees to get players good enough for our team, so there is no disadvantage to having an older squad.

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