Jump to content
Melbourne Football

RD 4 V Adelaide Saturday 28 October Coopers stadium KO 7:50


Inferno
 Share

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, [LIBBA] said:

Still the first bloke looked at to drop no matter how is form has been.He's been very solid so far this season and was one of our better performers in the second half last week.

Maybe that's because it is actually playing in his preferred position at RB compared to last season either playing at LB / CB...

or maybe because i'm a Manny fanboy

 

Its absolutely crazy how players seem to play better in their preferred position :hmm:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, [LIBBA] said:

Still the first bloke looked at to drop no matter how is form has been.He's been very solid so far this season and was one of our better performers in the second half last week.

Maybe that's because it is actually playing in his preferred position at RB compared to last season either playing at LB / CB...

or maybe because i'm a Manny fanboy

 

Manny has been huge this season all 3 games amongst the best and last week I thought he was best on and voted so.

But Manny being Manny he is due for a brain explosion and I think he should do a Costanza and retire.

Edited by Jovan
Please note that last statement is my attempt at satire.
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heading into this game a bit more confident with their outs.

Mccormack should feel confident coming up against Elsey and warland. 

I expect them probably to sit back a little as they don't really have a number 10 unless they play matmour there and push adlung back next to isiais.

I think it will be a very defensive game, like a game of chess. And we win 1-0 with a goal on counter from Kamau 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Joyce makes a refreshing change from the  endless tinkering of JVS. I think players feel more settled and confident when they know that if they keep playing well they'll be picked no matter the 'names' sitting on the bench. You need to earn your spot on the starting 11 team sheet. At least some sense after years of bullshit coaching and Hugo Boss sneakers :droy:

 

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/tim-cahill-just-another-player-at-melbourne-city-20171027-gz9hi7.html

Tim Cahill 'just another player' at Melbourne City

Michael Lynch

Socceroos veteran Tim Cahill might be a legend with the national team and the country's saviour in the recent World Cup qualifying win over Syria.

But as far as Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce is concerned, Australia's best-known player is just another squad member at City.

Joyce's team is the only A-League side with a 100 per cent record this season having won all three games. 

City seek to continue that record with a tough road trip to Adelaide on Saturday night, but there are no guarantees that Cahill, who has not started for City in any match this season, will be part of the first-choice XI this time either.

"I think Tim has had a fantastic career and has still got plenty more things he wants to achieve in his career but he is just another player at the club. It's the same for him as anybody else," said Joyce, as he indicated he would make few changes for the visit to Coopers Stadium.

Cahill's presence at City this season has been curtailed by his involvement with the Socceroos. He played against Syria and is set to play a key role in the two matches against Honduras, as Joyce acknowledged.

"Unfortunately he has not really been involved in massive things for us because of the way things have gone ... pre-season he was still away, and he's had a couple of campaigns with the Socceroos and he has been unavailable for our training and games," Joyce said.

"I imagine it's frustrating for him, it's frustrating for me and the group, but he's conducted himself and trained well this week. That's all you can do as a player."

Joyce is very much of the school that believes if something isn't broken, don't fix it. 

He is not inclined to tinker with the line-up if it's doing well, and another of City's better-known names to have suffered this season as a result is last season's player of the season Neil Kilkenny, who has hardly been involved.

Kilkenny's spot has been occupied by Osama Malik.

The latter is a  player who was in and out of the team under John van 't Schip but is establishing himself under Joyce, who is using him as a midfield screener alongside another former central defender captain Michael Jakobsen, who is also being deployed higher up the pitch.

"Like any other player, I like to start, but there are 23 guys in the squad who are worthy of starting and they all want to play as well," Malik said. "I need to keep performing to keep my spot.

"I do prefer to play in midfield. Centre-back is a position I was put in a few years ago. I am happy to play there if required, but midfield is where I feel more comfortable.

"'Killer' [Kilkenny] is training very well, he was unlucky in the pre-season, he had a bit of sickness and tightness. Everyone knows that if you are in the spot and you are doing well you keep your spot."

Joyce sees the trip to Adelaide as a big test of his team's capabilities. He has been impressed by the Reds' performances this season and is also an admirer of Adelaide's coach, Marco Kurz.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I fully agree with Joyce's methodology especially in establishing a new "culture". 

The only thing I would to add on the flipside of this is that for the big big crunch games you must pick your best side. So if fit and in form Fernando and Kilkenny should be in the starting lineup. Now as we are going into our 4th game bedding in this new method I would say stay the course but if it was round 27 or a finals game that was a must win then the best players must start.

It will be very interesting tonight if we go behind or are even at half time to see what's Wazza capable of. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just going to remind people he said the same thing in the last press conference and we were garbage against Wellington. So as usual, always take a presser with a grain of salt. They are only there to feed supporters what they want to hear.

 

Now if there are no changes tonight it shows that Joyce doesn't react to how players perform but rather what ever the end result is which is short sighted and will get found out in the long run

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

To me Killer is easily the best midfielder at the club. Close to first bloke picked, every week. 

How he can be behind 6 other midfielders (well 1 a defender, playing out of position) on match day is beyond me. 

Anyway if we keep winning who am I to criticise.

Yeah screams of something behind the scenes doesn’t it shazza? Killa playing badly is streets ahead of Malik playing well. 

If I were to guess I’d say Joyce doesn’t like his temperament 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Yeah screams of something behind the scenes doesn’t it shazza? Killa playing badly is streets ahead of Malik playing well. 

If I were to guess I’d say Joyce doesn’t like his temperament 

 

Killa has made some mistakes in the past that have cost us goals and games and with a stinking attitude at times which creates disharmony. Not to say he is one of our better players but I like the fact that players have to earn their way back in to the side.

Joyce has a plan and he wants the plan executed on and off the pitch and everyone can see it by how well organised we are and our high work rate on game day which we have never seen at this club before, ever.

Ultimately Joyce always talks about players busting their gut everyday and if they don't they won't play; you can't get a more honest culture than this as it breeds honesty, commitment, loyalty, and a great work ethic which has no bias.

It's simple, if players want to make the squad they have to shut up and bleed for this club, which is exactly the way it should be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, playmaker said:

 

Killa has made some mistakes in the past that have cost us goals and games and with a stinking attitude at times which creates disharmony. Not to say he is one of our better players but I like the fact that players have to earn their way back in to the side.

Joyce has a plan and he wants the plan executed on and off the pitch and everyone can see it by how well organised we are and our high work rate on game day which we have never seen at this club before, ever.

Ultimately Joyce always talks about players busting their gut everyday and if they don't they won't play; you can't get a more honest culture than this as it breeds honesty, commitment, loyalty, and a great work ethic which has no bias.

It's simple, if players want to make the squad they have to shut up and bleed for this club, which is exactly the way it should be.

That's exactly the way to build a strong proffessional work ethic "culture" but at some point all things being equal the best players should be selected. 

That is the entire squad is going flat out every session and doing exactly what's required there must be a piint where the best team is picked.

We aren't there yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Jovan said:

That's exactly the way to build a strong proffessional work ethic "culture" but at some point all things being equal the best players should be selected. 

That is the entire squad is going flat out every session and doing exactly what's required there must be a piint where the best team is picked.

We aren't there yet.

Agree with you and there are highly skilled players that seem as though they should be starting, but it's early days and Wazza is still laying the foundation, so let him do what he needs to. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that is going on is that Wazza clearly rates Malik a lot higher than our last 2 coaches.

Now to me Malik is a decent defensive midfielder*, far from hopeless, but hardly a star and not the first bloke picked. So far though, with the coach's belief behind him, he is playing on average higher than we've seen before and he is closing the circle by justifying the coach's faith with performances.

Malik starting makes a lot more sense to me than MJ starting in midfield. I can't get my head around that, not when I see the quality being kept out.

* he's a poor central defender though and the fate of last season was effectively sealed when our side was structured such that he was a starting defender, when in truth he is at best NPL level in that position.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Shahanga said:

To me Killer is easily the best midfielder at the club. Close to first bloke picked, every week. 

How he can be behind 6 other midfielders (well 1 a defender, playing out of position) on match day is beyond me. 

Anyway if we keep winning who am I to criticise.

Kilkenny is so much better with the ball at his feet. But I actually rate Maliks defensive abilities better ie. break up play, tackling, defensive headers.  Obviously Joyce does too. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Kilkenny is so much better with the ball at his feet. But I actually rate Maliks defensive abilities better ie. break up play, tackling, defensive headers.  Obviously Joyce does too. 

I think you can argue either way regarding Malik or Kilkenny and depending on what your desired outcome is, but for me the selection of Jakobsen is more contentious. Okay the first 2 games sort if dictated he start ahead of Kilkenny and Brattan but last week as far as I could tell both Brattan and Kilkenny were available. Jakobsen is arguably the best defender in the League and a competant defensive midfielder at best but Kilkenny and Brattan are both elite midfielders in the A League so to continue with Jakobsen out of position instead of the other 2 could prove counterproductive. 

Ultimately its Joyces choice and to this point he has shown that he knows what he is doing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Jovan said:

I think you can argue either way regarding Malik or Kilkenny and depending on what your desired outcome is, but for me the selection of Jakobsen is more contentious. Okay the first 2 games sort if dictated he start ahead of Kilkenny and Brattan but last week as far as I could tell both Brattan and Kilkenny were available. Jakobsen is arguably the best defender in the League and a competant defensive midfielder at best but Kilkenny and Brattan are both elite midfielders in the A League so to continue with Jakobsen out of position instead of the other 2 could prove counterproductive. 

Ultimately its Joyces choice and to this point he has shown that he knows what he is doing. 

Agree with all that. Joyce is prioritising defensive capabilities up to now. Hence his player selections. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Agree with all that. Joyce is prioritising defensive capabilities up to now. Hence his player selections. 

Totally and to be honest it's refreshing considering how shit defensively we have been since inception but I'm hoping at some point he will add offense and produce the complete package. 

It's a very interesting time to watch this develop.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Imtellingyou said:

Adelaide with the current injury list is toothless and in the same basket with Roar and Nix.  As long as the team wins, Wazza is untouchable.  In the next few weeks we will have to pass the ultimate tests of this season, playing Sydney clubs. We need to be able to beat them to win it.

I would feel confident about tonight's match if we had whopped Wellington by three clear goals, derby-hangover or no derby-hangover. As it is I'm as nervous as hell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I would feel confident about tonight's match if we had whopped Wellington by three clear goals, derby-hangover or no derby-hangover. As it is I'm as nervous as hell.

I'm not nervous I can't see us conceeding but not sure about scoring. I'm thinking a tight tough 0:0.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not too sure about the pen, was late by Izzo and very clumsy (to say the least) but keepers are always in a tough spot when going to punch clear.

Will take it all the same. Awesome pen from McCormack.

11 minutes ago, Hellenic Hero said:

The away support is fantastic 

Couldn't agree more. Very clear on tv. 

Big shout out to Hayden from active Bay too

  • 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...