Jump to content
Melbourne Football

2016/17 Season Review thread


haz
 Share

Recommended Posts

Management team. They all need to go as they stink of JVS.

The team looked rudderless, there was no plan B or C,  and there got over worked on the pitch with the wrong tactics and strategies for this level of football.

With these players being lead by the right manager we should have won the league.

Edited by playmaker
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, haz said:

What went wrong this season? How could we change so much from the free-scoring team last season. Bad recruiting is my reason.

One reason is that Mooy went overseas and we lost the player with the leading number of assists in the league, and (unsurprisingly) didn't manage to recruit another top Championship level player whose career is on the rise to fill that gap.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent summary. May I add that CFG failed off the pitch as well? "City Voice" is a "fail" despite assurances from the club and an injection of new blood at the  club end. "Citizens" is a fail, with few competitions or any worthwhile purchases that can be made with "points" - not everyone wants to repeatedly buy crappy merchandise. And to cap it all, they've increased the membership fees in some categories quite significantly. We will renew in due course, but we're moving from Gold to Blue.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brattan: City season a failure

Clement Tito
http://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/brattan-city-season-a-failure-459373

City would take positives after lifting the FFA Cup last year but Brattan was not shying away after an opportunity missed.

“Of course it’s a failure, the City Group are about being successful, that’s why all this money has been invested, the facilities coaching staff, background staff and players,” Brattan said.

“I said during the week this is the best squad I’ve been a part of for a long time and that’s not always everything.

“You can have the best individual players but if you don’t play well as a team and don’t do the right things on the park then you’re not going to get anywhere in this league which is getting better and better each year.”

Glory coach Kenny Lowe highlighted City’s decision to go with Osama Malik over Brattan helped the visitors break them down.

And Brattan agreed that they were forced to adapt to Glory’s shape.    

“I don’t think we played our game, we were too worried about the way they were going to play,” he said.

“We’ve got to play the way we play and that’s high intensity, possession-based, attacking football and I don’t think we did that.”

And after City’s strong start to the season, Brattan said they just did not replicate those strong performances.

“We just stopped doing what we were doing in the first couple of rounds, simple as that,” he said.

“Must have got to our head because for some reason we changed the way we were playing.

“We’re going to have to look at that, look at ourselves in the mirror and in the end it wasn’t good enough.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to use the old school rating for each player

SORENSON - C

Sat on bench for most of season,  but when he played he didn't really demand he must keep his spot.  Averaged more goals per game than Bouzanis

MUSCAT - D+

Started season OK,  but longer season went worse he got.  Absolute nightmare against Sydney

ROSE - C-

Often blamed,  but did get better longer season went,  but has to be better options for left back

FRANJIC - C

Health problems at start didn't help,  but never really hit any great heights.  

MALIK - D-

clearly played out of position, but is poor more often than not,  but pulls out 1 blinder every 15 weeks.  Needs to be a depth player next season and not a starter 

GAMIERO - NA

KILKENNY - A

By far our most consistent player, but he is very difficult to like at times with his sooking

COLAZO - D

He has quality, but too many times you only remembered he was on field when we got a corner. Not marquee standar

CACERAS - B+

Looked our best option at a 10 for season. Every time he got on he tried to be creative, but for some reason was always first benched

KAMAU - C

Every week he was either very good or very bad,  there is no middle ground. Needs to improve that

FITZGERALD - A-

Why he lost his starting spot after a sparkling 6 weeks is probably the most confusing selections of season,  needs to improve final ball but very encouraging season

ARZANI - B

Young and looks good,  but not enough gametime to get real guide 

CAHILL - B+

Scored important goals,  but also was being played out of position. Games where he did very little also,  needs better crossing into him as well

RETRE - C-

When he played,  he did nothing wrong. But also nothing really right.  Squad player who probably needs to go

BOUZANIS - C

I think is unfairly criticized on here, keeping behind a defensive sieve at times.  Has his faults but has improved massively from this time last year

TONGYIK - B+

A revelation, makes mistakes of inexpirince but is a genuine star of future for Australian football. No one thought he would play a game let alone 14 or 15

JAKOBSEN - B-

Undoubted could have been rated an A but missed too much football,  calm and steady in ball and in defense. Must get him fit for next season 

FORNAROLI - B

No where near as good as last season, but still came 3rd in golden boot and was a threat. Somehow have to work out how to play him and Timmy in same team succsefully

BRATTAN - C-

Was the main cause of our slow play,  too many touches and sideways passes.  Best 2 games was first 2 then got progressively worse

BRANDAN - B

Was a terrier,  and gave energy. Unfortunate injury was really beginning of end for us 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, neio said:

I'm going to use the old school rating for each player

SORENSON - C

Sat on bench for most of season,  but when he played he didn't really demand he must keep his spot.  Averaged more goals per game than Bouzanis

MUSCAT - D+

Started season OK,  but longer season went worse he got.  Absolute nightmare against Sydney

ROSE - C-

Often blamed,  but did get better longer season went,  but has to be better options for left back

FRANJIC - C

Health problems at start didn't help,  but never really hit any great heights.  

MALIK - D-

clearly played out of position, but is poor more often than not,  but pulls out 1 blinder every 15 weeks.  Needs to be a depth player next season and not a starter 

GAMIERO - NA

KILKENNY - A

By far our most consistent player, but he is very difficult to like at times with his sooking

COLAZO - D

He has quality, but too many times you only remembered he was on field when we got a corner. Not marquee standar

CACERAS - B+

Looked our best option at a 10 for season. Every time he got on he tried to be creative, but for some reason was always first benched

KAMAU - C

Every week he was either very good or very bad,  there is no middle ground. Needs to improve that

FITZGERALD - A-

Why he lost his starting spot after a sparkling 6 weeks is probably the most confusing selections of season,  needs to improve final ball but very encouraging season

ARZANI - B

Young and looks good,  but not enough gametime to get real guide 

CAHILL - B+

Scored important goals,  but also was being played out of position. Games where he did very little also,  needs better crossing into him as well

RETRE - C-

When he played,  he did nothing wrong. But also nothing really right.  Squad player who probably needs to go

BOUZANIS - C

I think is unfairly criticized on here, keeping behind a defensive sieve at times.  Has his faults but has improved massively from this time last year

TONGYIK - B+

A revelation, makes mistakes of inexpirince but is a genuine star of future for Australian football. No one thought he would play a game let alone 14 or 15

JAKOBSEN - B-

Undoubted could have been rated an A but missed too much football,  calm and steady in ball and in defense. Must get him fit for next season 

FORNAROLI - B

No where near as good as last season, but still came 3rd in golden boot and was a threat. Somehow have to work out how to play him and Timmy in same team succsefully

BRATTAN - C-

Was the main cause of our slow play,  too many touches and sideways passes.  Best 2 games was first 2 then got progressively worse

BRANDAN - B

Was a terrier,  and gave energy. Unfortunate injury was really beginning of end for us 

You're a very generous man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seriously don't understand the Caceres love all of a sudden.

Did nothing every time he started and only looked ok at end of the season when he would come on at end of the game with team down and needing to attack. Can't put him in same ballpark as Cahill.

Other than that a pretty good assessment. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, rass said:

Seriously don't understand the Caceres love all of a sudden.

Did nothing every time he started and only looked ok at end of the season when he would come on at end of the game with team down and needing to attack. Can't put him in same ballpark as Cahill.

Other than that a pretty good assessment. 

He was no Mooy but every game he took on a leadership role with our attacking midfield he was great.  I think his potential is going under the radar. I wouldn't put him on the same level as Cahill but without going into it too much, where they came from and the roles they played this seaso are vastly different. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, n i k o said:

He was no Mooy but every game he took on a leadership role with our attacking midfield he was great.  I think his potential is going under the radar. I wouldn't put him on the same level as Cahill but without going into it too much, where they came from and the roles they played this seaso are vastly different. 

Thanks Niko. I'm just not convinced by him. He looks like he has so much potential but to my eye, he seems to spend as much time running around in circles than he does playing that incisive pass forward. 

I'd love to see him just take control of a midfield in a game that really matters. Would love him to prove me wrong.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, rass said:

Thanks Niko. I'm just not convinced by him. He looks like he has so much potential but to my eye, he seems to spend as much time running around in circles than he does playing that incisive pass forward. 

I'd love to see him just take control of a midfield in a game that really matters. Would love him to prove me wrong.

In order to prove his worth then he needs to be given the opportunity and he needs the time on the pitch to do it. Given his performances when he has come on it should have at the very least been enough to warrant a starting position. In my opinion he did take control of the attacking side of our midfield. But you can't expect consistent performances or more from them if your denying a player of game time. A positive example is Josh Rose. He was without doubt poor the first half a season but certainly improved as time went on. The only way this happened was through game time. The opposite of this is someone like Tongyik. Chopped out of the starting eleven then expected to perform against match tough opponents where naturally he has made some mistakes that have been costly. 

Last point on this is its not sudden love for Caceras as he was our key man in pre season going through the FFA cup and I'm quite sure I've mentioned it before somewhere on here in the past. 

Anyway this issue is really a managerial one. Our squad was one of the most rotated squads in the league. Everyone knows that in order to get consistent results you deliver as much instability to a squad as possible :droy: . This prelim final was the epitome of what it is to support this club. From the result, the effort right through to the tactical decisions and changed starting eleven. It summed up all the mistakes of the past and rolled them into a fucking ball of shit and delivered it right under our noses to witness at a home final. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Blow it up and start again. Comprehensive review of all positions and wholesale changes are a must. It's an awkward position, as we're often criticised (with some justification) for making too many personnel changes each year, but I think it's necessary. Work out if Fornaroli and Cahill are going to be playing together again and if so, come up with a strategy that can utilise both of their strengths.

Once again, we missed with the majority of our visas, with the truly baffling one being Sorensen. Jakobsen, Fernando, Colazo, Fornaroli. Bruno was pretty mediocre, by his lofty standards, Colazo was also underwhelming, as a marquee, had his moments, but clearly well below what we should be expecting from a marquee player with our supposedly amazing scouting network. Jakobsen and Fernando were good, albeit through injury-plagued seasons (how funny does the idea of resting Jakobsen for two months to get him cherry ripe for the finals seem now?). And Sorensen...well, WTF can you say? You play him or you ship him out and get another visa player.

I thought Josh Rose actually got a lot better as the season went on, he was far from out biggest problem by the end, but he's probably up for retirement. Muscat couldn't even make the squad by the end of the season, so presumably he's done. I'd like to recruit an experienced A-League keeper, so Bouzanis knows he's not just going to walk in to the #1 role next season.

Brattan and Kamau started like a house on fire, but ended up being two of our biggest frustrations, particularly when they apparently have bigger fish to fry than the A-League. 'Get comfortable in Australia' would be my advice to them on the strength of this year. Fitzgerald was outstanding, God knows why he was relegated to being a bit-part player. Caceres was solid at times, although I can't remember him dominating too many games from start to finish as our attacking midfielder.

Cahill was good overall. Perhaps a bit of a square peg in a round hole, but he certainly contributed. I think we would have been a worse team without him. His was a unique situation and if we hadn't have paid for him, we wouldn't have been able to spend that money anywhere else. Just a shame that our performances didn't allow us to capitalise on the exposure that his arrival initially brought to the club.

The kids were good and many of them deserve more opportunities next season to show what they can do.

Gameiro and Kuzi are presumably gone, Fernando would be a big chance to go too, I guess (it's a shame, but hard to justify keeping him, if he won't be available until about February).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

simple, we lost our best player (mooy)
didn't improve our weakest spot (defence)
on top of the defence we replaced the "gk of the season" with a spastic who can't use his hands 
went into the season with the same shit manager
replaced the shit manager with a shit assistant coach
fail to bring new players in during january, missing the opportunity to replace 3 players that did knee injuries
constant delusional team selections

shocking season for a poorly run club 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jeffplz said:

Full credit to this kid, turns up week in week out, waved his flag for the full 90 minutes on Sunday no matter the scoreline, no complaints, full voice, future capo and leader of S16 right here

IMG_6492.thumb.JPG.cb0819250717c7649a2654f796e564a6.JPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that baffles me is the amount of injuries our visa players cop year in, year out. Colazo had an impact injury early in the season when his ear drum got perforated, Fernando did his ACL during training, Jakobsen had soft tissue injury. Fornaroli survived all the hacks and of course Sorensen was relegated to the bench. In season's past we have similar issues, yet when I look at other clubs, they rarely have so many injuries to their visa players.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now that the pain of Sunday is receding somewhat, there are some really good posts being made. I agree with most of the player assessments, but a couple of comments if I may. IMO people are a bit hard on Retre. Every club needs a one or two squad players of the Retre type. Sure, he's by no means an outstanding player, but IIRC every time he's come on he's performed OK and certainly has never let the side down. Full-back or mid-field, he gets in there, tackles well and doesn't try to be fancy. I also think Tongyik is being a bit over-rated - something we tend to do in Australia with young players.

I too puzzle over our injury situation. Every season it seems we have a new Germano situation, and every season we seem to have injuries at training. I wish I knew more about what professional footballers require to attain fitness and then maintain it, because I sometimes wonder whether we're at "best practice" with it.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Now that the pain of Sunday is receding somewhat, there are some really good posts being made. I agree with most of the player assessments, but a couple of comments if I may. IMO people are a bit hard on Retre. Every club needs a one or two squad players of the Retre type. Sure, he's by no means an outstanding player, but IIRC every time he's come on he's performed OK and certainly has never let the side down. Full-back or mid-field, he gets in there, tackles well and doesn't try to be fancy. I also think Tongyik is being a bit over-rated - something we tend to do in Australia with young players.

I too puzzle over our injury situation. Every season it seems we have a new Germano situation, and every season we seem to have injuries at training. I wish I knew more about what professional footballers require to attain fitness and then maintain it, because I sometimes wonder whether we're at "best practice" with it.

I agree. Retre has been very effectual when he's been on. I like how he gets stuck into tackles and in fact it was this very attribute that gave us our second goal in the FFA Cuo semi. I've been an advocate of Tongyik and still am. Admittedly he has fallen short of where I think he can be, my only defence is that he has been chopped in and out of the starting eleven a number of times during the season which doesn't help any player. Regarding our injuries your guess is as good as anyone's. Still waiting for thendaynwhere we have all our visa players on the pitch for a season. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a tale of two nights; the most jubilant / rewarding night as a Heart/City fan since the club started, and the most inept / disappointing as a Heart/City fan.

The FFA Cup final was by far the most singularly enjoyable experience, particularly for any number of us from the Heart days given all heartache beforehand. Plus to that point we actually looked set for a good season.

The second, our elimination final loss to Perth, by far the most embarrassing and disgusting game I've seen - which says a lot.  90 minutes of no effort, completely apathetic performance. Something that represents the slide in performance notable from the 3-3 draw with Perth.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MELBOURNE City will complete a review of a season that came to a calamitous end on Sunday before it turns its attention to 2017-18. Michael Valkanis’ stint as interim coach is officially over, but whether he takes City forward on a permanent basis remains to be seen. City said it would not provide running commentary on the process being used to determine a coach for next season. It’s understood there is no timeline for an appointment to be made.

City is, however, expected to make an announcement as early as this week on the futures of several out of contract players. Valkanis confirmed on Sunday that veteran goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and Argentine marquee Nicolas Colazo would not be offered new deals, meaning City will have two visa spots to fill for next season. Josh Rose is another senior player out of contract, as too are Corey Gameiro and Steve Kuzmanovski, whose futures are muddied further by virtue of the fact they have been out with long-term knee injuries.

The loan deals of Luke Brattan and Anthony Caceres from Manchester City are also about to expire.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/heads-set-to-roll-as-melbourne-city-launch-review-of-season-201617/news-story/15984824da96df602e39a1be6fcbac5f

 

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Answers from Studs Up with David Davutovic:

'Hi Matthew, I'm not sure what the go is with the City team but that was unacceptable on Sunday. As for Valkanis, he was contracted until the end of the season and City I imagine will wait a few weeks before making an announcement. It would be surprising if he was kept on as head coach, but there is no doubt he will stay on in the coaching staff.'
 
'Hi Alex, no specific timelines. I think they'll take their time, it is a long off-season and if they are going to bring a coach from overseas then that wouldn't happen for another month at least I wouldn't have thought.'
 
'Hi Peter, I don't think City will appoint Harry Kewell for next season. Possibly down the track, but I don't think they are looking at him right now. I think Harry does have a future in coaching.'
 
'Hi Ryan, if CFG decides to go local, they may as well aim for the top - Ange Postecoglou or Tony Popovic. Failing that, Ante Milicic has done the best apprenticeship any coach could ask for and having been at Melbourne Heart for 2 years, he knows the club well and would be welcomed back by the fans I suspect. Overseas, the world's your oyster. If they do go abroad, I'd love to see an ambitious young coach (ie. Patrick Vieira, who they sent to New York City).'
 
'I think they need someone with conviction, a strong personality who can manage the change-room because with so many 'star' players it wouldn't be easy. That's why of the local products I said Ange, Popa or Milicic. Sorensen and Colazo have played their last games, Valkanis confirmed. Colazo is a curious case. He's actually an outstanding player, but apart from showing glimpses early, he rarely fired. Why? I would've liked to see him play in a more central role, certainly on Sunday, because their midfield lacked dynamism, which is what he offers.'
 
'I don't think they will loan Maclaren to City. I hope City don't go down that path, as they did with Caceres and Brattan. I think it affects their culture adversely. The Caceres loophole has been closed, but Maclaren is a free agent at the end of the season, so it could technically happen.'

'Hodgson was here advising City's coaching staff, but correct we were not allowed to interview him.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 25 April 2017 at 1:16 AM, jeffplz said:

Full credit to this kid, turns up week in week out, waved his flag for the full 90 minutes on Sunday no matter the scoreline, no complaints, full voice, IMG_6492.thumb.JPG.cb0819250717c7649a2654f796e564a6.JPGfuture capo and leader of S16 right here

This little prick took my seat when I went for beer last week. Like bruh you gotta look full staunch cuzzy to stand front row 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...