2013/14 Season Re-Signings

[marteaux]

Bolton to take Zois' role as GK coach,

wat the fuk u sed?

[LR9]

Bolton to take Zois' role as GK coach,

wat the fuk u sed?

I actually think Joey Didulica is taking over in a full-time role now...

[Tommykins]

Bolton would be a decent guy to have around the club in some capacity or another, is a genuinely nice bloke.

[jw1739]

As the excitement of actually seeing some announcements dies down, and having had more time to think about it, we need to settle down and look at what's actually been changed.

 

Releasing Edwards, Meeuwis and Coyne is really nothing. Edwards did not make a single appearance and looks as though he's not going to make it for some reason or other. Meeuwis was a complete failure, and Coyne was only ever an injury replacement.

 

We have re-signed Germano, Kalmar and Dugandzic. Nothing new there, and I would say both Germano and Kalmar are fortunate to be re-signed as neither made a major contribution last season. Walker, Mitchinson and Mauk are added to the senior list from our NYL list. They are nothing new.

 

The only new player signed so far is Ramsay.

 

Why we are negotiating with Hoffman is beyond me. Completely and utterly, and this leaves me wondering whether we really know what we're doing.

 

The only players who we have really released are Colosimo, Thompson, Fred and Bolton. In reality we are ending up with many of last year's squad, which finished 9th on the table. We have to sign a second goalkeeper, so the number of places left for us to sign real quality players to give us a chance to be competitive next season is quite limited. These 3-4 players are sure as hell going to have to be good.

[belaguttman]

jw1739 I think that we were only a few players short of a good squad last season. What was missing was:

on-field leadership

1 or 2 good organising CBs

creative midfielder/ball player (who stays uninjured)

 

technique and structure and transition

[jw1739]

Defibrillator spells it out at the top of this page. There's a huge risk that the squad will be unbalanced.

[Bozza]

Bolton to take Zois' role as GK coach,

wat the fuk u sed?I actually think Joey Didulica is taking over in a full-time role now...

Zois is studying a degree now as well, perhaps he will scale back his efforts and potentially become a completely Youth based coach? This was a good chunk of what he did last season anyway.

[Tony999]

Bring in a marquee that will pull in the crowd and one that will be an asset to the team.

Is this website still in daylight savings times?

Edited April 9, 2013 by Tony999

[HeartFc]

If we re-sign Hoffman then we're a joke of a football club and should fold immediately... I mean deadset what the fucking fuck is going on here?????!?!?!

[Tony999]

If we re-sign Hoffman then we're a joke of a football club and should fold immediately... I mean deadset what the fucking fuck is going on here?????!?!?!

 

As long as he doesn't get a run! But  then again why would you keep him?

[belaguttman]

Defibrillator spells it out at the top of this page. There's a huge risk that the squad will be unbalanced.

I agree that it's as unbalanced as last season's squad as it stands now, I hope our marquees will be quality CBs like van Bommel or a true creative midfielder.

[red and white in that number]

I`m happy to wait for the football league`s in Europe to finnish,with an eye on signing just the right player.

[heart_fan10]

we need to sign 4 'big' players this off-season. IMO 2 defenders and 2 ball-playing creative midfielders. And if we don't re-sign tadic, then we need another high quality striker

 

In terms of defenders i think someone like Madaschi would be perfect, and Antony Golec from adelaide i regard very highly. 

 

 

We can't miss a beat on these important signings because we're totally restructuring the spine of our team which basically determines whether we have a good season or not.

Edited April 9, 2013 by heart_fan10

[MrAiDaN66]

Golec and madaschi would be pretty good IMO, would take any day. Please come

[Roz]

Re-signing Richie is a must if we are going to be a force next season

[Red or Dead]

Would love Walker, Madaschi, Vrankovic, Ramsay (or competent left back) in defense...it allows Gerhardt to move into the midfield, but if one of the defenders get injured or red carded he can just slot back in to centre back.

[jw1739]

Puzzled to see here: http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/melbourneheart/news-display/Resigning-gives-Dugandzic-motivation/65000 reference to Macallister re-signing. Surely a mistake? I thought he was on a two-year contract?

[LR9]

May have been an optional second year, which was actvated and signed off...?

[cadete]

From what I have seen DMac is a good player and bloke to have around the squad as he provides some expeirence and a level head (Which we sorely needed last season).

In saying that if his sticking around I think we should be at least attempting to do better than Tadic as our Number One Target Man for Season Four.

 

 

I would give Tadic a Pass Mark (A C Grade) for the season but if we want to move up ladder and score a home final then we have to have someone who is both faster and more capable of scoring in general play.

Edited April 11, 2013 by cadete

[InMyHeart]

I agree, Tadic is not realiable to score, i want a goal scoring machine, even wellington had brockie, perth with smeltz (even though this year it wasnt evident) someone like archie or rojas (in terms of goal scoring prowess) berisha even finds a way to score, 

[cadete]

I agree, Tadic is not realiable to score, i want a goal scoring machine, even wellington had brockie, perth with smeltz (even though this year it wasnt evident) someone like archie or rojas (in terms of goal scoring prowess) berisha even finds a way to score, 

We need a fox in the box type like Berisha, its a pity these types of players went out of vogue at the end of the 1990's in the EPL... someone like Ian Wright (When he flopped at Celtic) probably would have still been able to be a very good A League player.

Edited April 11, 2013 by cadete

[belaguttman]

I agree, Tadic is not realiable to score, i want a goal scoring machine, even wellington had brockie, perth with smeltz (even though this year it wasnt evident) someone like archie or rojas (in terms of goal scoring prowess) berisha even finds a way to score, 

We need a fox in the box type like Berisha, its a pity these types of players went out of vogue at the end of the 1990's in the EPL... someone like Ian Wright (When he flopped at Celtic) probably would have still been able to be a very good A League player.

We had one, Zac Walker

[cadete]

 

I agree, Tadic is not realiable to score, i want a goal scoring machine, even wellington had brockie, perth with smeltz (even though this year it wasnt evident) someone like archie or rojas (in terms of goal scoring prowess) berisha even finds a way to score, 

We need a fox in the box type like Berisha, its a pity these types of players went out of vogue at the end of the 1990's in the EPL... someone like Ian Wright (When he flopped at Celtic) probably would have still been able to be a very good A League player.

We had one, Zac Walker

True he was this type of player...

 

But Zac had constant trouble finding himself onside in NYL/VPL games so fighting the battle of the Flag in A League games always looked like a challenge to far for him despite his ability to score rapidily on occasion against his own age group.

[wombegongal]

We don't play a formation (I could have ended the setence here) that relies on one guy scoring goals. Tadic certainly didn't score enough but we very rarely had meaningful play around the box where a good link up player like him would thrive. I see one of two ways forward. We piss Tadic off and get a guy we can use on the counter either a big hold up type or a super fast guy. Or we learn to hold onto the ball and move in midfield. In the second instance we will see decent improvement from Tadic.

[Libero]

From what I have seen DMac is a good player and bloke to have around the squad as he provides some expeirence and a level head (Which we sorely needed last season).

In saying that if his sticking around I think we should be at least attempting to do better than Tadic as our Number One Target Man for Season Four.

 

 

I would give Tadic a Pass Mark (A C Grade) for the season but if we want to move up ladder and score a home final then we have to have someone who is both faster and more capable of scoring in general play.

 

IMO i think the goal scoring should be shared between him and Babalj. 

 

look at them together. ie. they have to score 15 goals between them next year. 

[LR9]

nicotera5, on 11 Apr 2013 - 17:58, said:

cadete, on 11 Apr 2013 - 15:44, said:

From what I have seen DMac is a good player and bloke to have around the squad as he provides some expeirence and a level head (Which we sorely needed last season).

In saying that if his sticking around I think we should be at least attempting to do better than Tadic as our Number One Target Man for Season Four.

I would give Tadic a Pass Mark (A C Grade) for the season but if we want to move up ladder and score a home final then we have to have someone who is both faster and more capable of scoring in general play.

IMO i think the goal scoring should be shared between him and Babalj.

look at them together. ie. they have to score 15 20 goals between them next year.

I think that's a minimum 'pass' mark, in +54 appearances between the pair.

Bar Perth, every other clubs top two exceded 15 this season.

Edited April 11, 2013 by LR9

[belaguttman]

We don't play a formation (I could have ended the setence here) that relies on one guy scoring goals. Tadic certainly didn't score enough but we very rarely had meaningful play around the box where a good link up player like him would thrive. I see one of two ways forward. We piss Tadic off and get a guy we can use on the counter either a big hold up type or a super fast guy. Or we learn to hold onto the ball and move in midfield. In the second instance we will see decent improvement from Tadic.

It's not our formation, it's our system that encourages team goals rather than relying on 'individual brilliance'. Personally I don't care if our strikers only get 1 goal each, but as a team we do need to score a lot more goals. I'd like to see our stats for shots on target this season, I'm sure it's probably second lowest in the league. Even though we've all focused on our back four and this has been an obvious problem, our system relies on defence as a team and on the few occasions that we've done that this year we have looked unbeatable. The real problem has been midfield that in our system creates coring opportunities or creates them for our forwards. This has not happened, and this is our biggest problem.

[InMyHeart]

contrary to all beliefs and hopes, tadic and babalj cannot work

[cadete]

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

 

 

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

[jw1739]

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

Agreed.

 

But it appears that we are going to persist with it.

 

All we have done so far is release four players who blind Freddy could see should go. The other releases were simply a clear-out of a mix of mid-season experiments and injury replacements. I prefer to see these as decisions not to offer longer contracts to players who were on short-term deals rather than releases of squad members.

 

The only signing so far from outside the club is Iain Ramsay.

 

This is JA's opportunity to mould the squad to fit what he wants to do. I await with interest to see what he is going to do, because so far I am underwhelmed. Players have been re-signed who quite frankly are lucky to be so, because not only did we finish 9th as a squad but as individuals they were either very inconsistent or out for long periods with injury. Why we are 'negotiating' with one player who is not up to A-League standard is beyond me and makes me seriously concerned about the coaching panel as a whole, and of the other two allegedly in negotiations I would only bother with one.

 

The options to add some real quality players to the squad are narrowing, purely on a numerical basis.

 

Quite frankly, if we are serious about being contenders for the Premiership, and not just this recycled mantra about 'making finals', we need to lift our game.  No more re-signings of crap from our own club or players culled from other A-League squads, but get out there and sign the players we need to become a force in the League.

[belaguttman]

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

 

 

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

Our system is not shite, our ability to play it consistently has been, and our ability to adapt to problems served up by the opposition has also been shite. Our system relies on speedy ball movement and accurate passing if we are counter-attacking, and movement off the ball and ball speed and retention if we are playing possession. It also relies on team pressing and counter-pressing. When we have done those things moderately well we have looked good and we have almost always won (the second Sydney game is the exception) but usually we just haven't played our system at all or only for brief periods. A poacher is very useful if we are playing possession football and manage to keep the ball in the attacking third rather than our defensive third. What we need is a range of player options so that we are able to field a team that creates problems for our opponent at the time and is able to work around the problems that our opponent sets for us.

[KSK_47]

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

Our system is not shite, our ability to play it consistently has been, and our ability to adapt to problems served up by the opposition has also been shite. Our system relies on speedy ball movement and accurate passing if we are counter-attacking, and movement off the ball and ball speed and retention if we are playing possession. It also relies on team pressing and counter-pressing. When we have done those things moderately well we have looked good and we have almost always won (the second Sydney game is the exception) but usually we just haven't played our system at all or only for brief periods. A poacher is very useful if we are playing possession football and manage to keep the ball in the attacking third rather than our defensive third. What we need is a range of player options so that we are able to field a team that creates problems for our opponent at the time and is able to work around the problems that our opponent sets for us.

If the system is unable to be played by those chosen to execute it, then its a shit system

Edited April 12, 2013 by KSK_47

[Libero]

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

 

 

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

 

or the 'Back Post Specialists' at the Tards.

[belaguttman]

 

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

Our system is not shite, our ability to play it consistently has been, and our ability to adapt to problems served up by the opposition has also been shite. Our system relies on speedy ball movement and accurate passing if we are counter-attacking, and movement off the ball and ball speed and retention if we are playing possession. It also relies on team pressing and counter-pressing. When we have done those things moderately well we have looked good and we have almost always won (the second Sydney game is the exception) but usually we just haven't played our system at all or only for brief periods. A poacher is very useful if we are playing possession football and manage to keep the ball in the attacking third rather than our defensive third. What we need is a range of player options so that we are able to field a team that creates problems for our opponent at the time and is able to work around the problems that our opponent sets for us.

If the system is unable to be played by those chosen to execute it, then its a shit system

we either need to change the system, change the coach or change the players. We have opted to change the players. Any of those can be successful. Given that our problem was the speed of decision making and poor movement off the ball as well as repeated individual errors, changing the players seems to be a reasonable choice IF it's done properly. What's more important is who we sign to replace those we have released as they are all key position players in our system.

[moops]

 

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

Our system is not shite, our ability to play it consistently has been, and our ability to adapt to problems served up by the opposition has also been shite. Our system relies on speedy ball movement and accurate passing if we are counter-attacking, and movement off the ball and ball speed and retention if we are playing possession. It also relies on team pressing and counter-pressing. When we have done those things moderately well we have looked good and we have almost always won (the second Sydney game is the exception) but usually we just haven't played our system at all or only for brief periods. A poacher is very useful if we are playing possession football and manage to keep the ball in the attacking third rather than our defensive third. What we need is a range of player options so that we are able to field a team that creates problems for our opponent at the time and is able to work around the problems that our opponent sets for us.

If the system is unable to be played by those chosen to execute it, then its a shit system we either need to change the system, change the coach or change the players. We have opted to change the players. Any of those can be successful. Given that our problem was the speed of decision making and poor movement off the ball as well as repeated individual errors, changing the players seems to be a reasonable choice IF it's done properly. What's more important is who we sign to replace those we have released as they are all key position players in our system.

But the problems of positional play, pressing, and decision making should come about with coaching. There is nothing wrong with the formation, more in how it is deployed. In my opinion a 433 needs to be fluid becuase otherwise it's predictable and easy to counter and there are many training excercises developed to speed up decision making.

On another note I just read about Duganzic, enthused about next year, his recovery program consists 'mostly on hopping on a bike and he hopes to start running soon? What kind of program is that? A bit worrying.

[jw1739]

 

 

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

Our system is not shite, our ability to play it consistently has been, and our ability to adapt to problems served up by the opposition has also been shite. Our system relies on speedy ball movement and accurate passing if we are counter-attacking, and movement off the ball and ball speed and retention if we are playing possession. It also relies on team pressing and counter-pressing. When we have done those things moderately well we have looked good and we have almost always won (the second Sydney game is the exception) but usually we just haven't played our system at all or only for brief periods. A poacher is very useful if we are playing possession football and manage to keep the ball in the attacking third rather than our defensive third. What we need is a range of player options so that we are able to field a team that creates problems for our opponent at the time and is able to work around the problems that our opponent sets for us.

If the system is unable to be played by those chosen to execute it, then its a shit system

we either need to change the system, change the coach or change the players. We have opted to change the players. Any of those can be successful. Given that our problem was the speed of decision making and poor movement off the ball as well as repeated individual errors, changing the players seems to be a reasonable choice IF it's done properly. What's more important is who we sign to replace those we have released as they are all key position players in our system.

I don't see the logic in saying that we change only one of the three factors you mention (if that's what you're saying). Why not change two or three?

And you say that we've opted to change the players. I dispute that. We have released three outfield players, a CB, a MF of indeterminate position, and an AM. We have signed one player (yes, I know it's early days) who is not a replacement for any of those three. We're up to 15 players already, and 'negotiating' with three more from last year's squad. Yes, I know I'm repeating myself, but that's not the start of a significant change in a squad that delivered nothing last season, despite the Heart PR bullshit.

[belaguttman]

I'm not saying that we need only change one, we could change them all like we did last season but that was a disaster, not necessarily because we changed them all but the end result was far from satisfactory. We can sign an additional 9 players top fill our list although it might be wise to leave one vacant spot. I still believe that we were only a few players from being a very good team, we need an organising CB, a midfield playmaker or two and someone has to be a strong on-field leader. We also need to fix our high number of training pitch injuries and improve our fitness levels.

[belaguttman]

 

 

 

Seriously the system is shite – Get rid of it as its yielded nothing.

And if we want to keep it then there is no reason why a poacher cannot play in such a system anyway if his good enough,

just look at the “Tap In Specialist” at Brisbane.

Our system is not shite, our ability to play it consistently has been, and our ability to adapt to problems served up by the opposition has also been shite. Our system relies on speedy ball movement and accurate passing if we are counter-attacking, and movement off the ball and ball speed and retention if we are playing possession. It also relies on team pressing and counter-pressing. When we have done those things moderately well we have looked good and we have almost always won (the second Sydney game is the exception) but usually we just haven't played our system at all or only for brief periods. A poacher is very useful if we are playing possession football and manage to keep the ball in the attacking third rather than our defensive third. What we need is a range of player options so that we are able to field a team that creates problems for our opponent at the time and is able to work around the problems that our opponent sets for us.

If the system is unable to be played by those chosen to execute it, then its a shit system we either need to change the system, change the coach or change the players. We have opted to change the players. Any of those can be successful. Given that our problem was the speed of decision making and poor movement off the ball as well as repeated individual errors, changing the players seems to be a reasonable choice IF it's done properly. What's more important is who we sign to replace those we have released as they are all key position players in our system.

But the problems of positional play, pressing, and decision making should come about with coaching. There is nothing wrong with the formation, more in how it is deployed. In my opinion a 433 needs to be fluid becuase otherwise it's predictable and easy to counter and there are many training excercises developed to speed up decision making.

On another note I just read about Duganzic, enthused about next year, his recovery program consists 'mostly on hopping on a bike and he hopes to start running soon? What kind of program is that? A bit worrying.

Presumably the plan is to improve Mate's aerobic fitness but restrict his weight-bearing.

[Kiro Kompiro]

What exactly is our "system" Bela.

 

All I've seen has been is pass it out to the wings and catch them on the counter.  There is no build up from the back, there is no playing through the midfield.

 

Of course Tadic struggled: he is a guy that needs the ball played to his feet whereas we played it to him as if he was Dino Kresinger.

 

The new recruits had better be a  quality CB, a quality LB, a quality DM and a quality attacking mid or it will be more of the same, system or no system.  

 

C;eaning out the under-performing seniors is a start.  OTOH we've signed another winger who we think we can turn into a LB because playing mature players out of position ala Matt Thompson as a CB has worked before, and we've re-signed MacAllister who was shit  at CCM when he was at his "best", and we're fighting to keep Hoffman.

[jw1739]

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/melbourneheart/news-display/Kalmar-looks-to-offseason-improvement/65157

 

Implies Hoffman has re-signed.

 

If true, unbelievable.