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Rd. 16 - Sat. 26th January 2019 vs. WPX, Westpac Stadium, 5.35 pm.


Harrison
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A huge game for us and it doesn't come much tougher than this. 

Victory, Sydney, City and Wellington have a few matches against each other in the next couple of days so we could be very close to 2nd at the end of round 16.

There are no fresh injury concerns either. All players are available.  

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3 minutes ago, Missing_Moy said:

I’d like us to play Delbridge and Bart as our CB’s Good was aweful last night 

This is a tough one. Good has done well but was clearly rattled after giving away the penalty.

We definitely looked better when Atkinson came on and Delbo went to CB. But as has been pointed out, whilst Atkinson did well last night, he won't be afforded the luxury of being on his own down that side on Saturday. Phoenix have a potent, fast attack with Singh, Krishna and Williams all in form. Whatever the combination we go with, every defender will need to be on their toes.

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8 minutes ago, rass said:

This is a tough one. Good has done well but was clearly rattled after giving away the penalty.

We definitely looked better when Atkinson came on and Delbo went to CB. But as has been pointed out, whilst Atkinson did well last night, he won't be afforded the luxury of being on his own down that side on Saturday. Phoenix have a potent, fast attack with Singh, Krishna and Williams all in form. Whatever the combination we go with, every defender will need to be on their toes.

Delbo and Bart get back quickly compared to Good is my thought 

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Our defenders overall have been good, it would be nice for them to stop needlessly clattering into opponents from behind though.

Malik and Vidosic must come in to the squad if fit, the kms in the regular player's legs will be taking its toll and Dario if he finds some form makes us a lot more potent/dangerous up front.

If anything, this month has shown the risk - if not the folly - of farewelling players (or keeping them in the doghouse) in January without welcoming anything of value back the other way. If you're going to cut a player who can step in and play a role in January, you'd want to be damn sure you're getting a proven senior level player back to keep the team as rotated and fresh as possible from the demands of seven games in a month, with many of them in high 20/30+ degree heat.

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10 minutes ago, SF33 said:

Our defenders overall have been good, it would be nice for them to stop needlessly clattering into opponents from behind though.

Malik and Vidosic must come in to the squad if fit, the kms in the regular player's legs will be taking its toll and Dario if he finds some form makes us a lot more potent/dangerous up front.

If anything, this month has shown the risk - if not the folly - of farewelling players (or keeping them in the doghouse) in January without welcoming anything of value back the other way. If you're going to cut a player who can step in and play a role in January, you'd want to be damn sure you're getting a proven senior level player back to keep the team as rotated and fresh as possible from the demands of seven games in a month, with many of them in high 20/30+ degree heat.

Just to clarify, you think that if the club knew that we would have trouble bringing in a replacement for Bruno they would have played him? 

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1 hour ago, n i k o said:

Just to clarify, you think that if the club knew that we would have trouble bringing in a replacement for Bruno they would have played him? 

Even if you forget about Bruno, you can look at O'Halloran. Maybe he is indeed going to be replaced, but why let him go so early? Wouldn't it be better to have the departure and arrival more or less at the same time?

I find it puzzling and I don't believe the "homesickness" reason at all.

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I'm saying that if you've burnt bridges with players (Bruno), given them your blessing to leave (Caceres), or possibly a bit of both (O'Halloran), you should be doing everything you can to have those vacancies filled as early in January as you can, to avoid the scenario that we find - a squad minus three senior players (including two visas an not even allowing for the inevitable injury or two) taking on a schedule of seven games in four weeks in the middle of Summer. If you add injuries, basically we're missing five senior players from a squad, six if you count Birighitti. Not ideal at this time of the year.

 

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1 hour ago, SF33 said:

I'm saying that if you've burnt bridges with players (Bruno), given them your blessing to leave (Caceres), or possibly a bit of both (O'Halloran), you should be doing everything you can to have those vacancies filled as early in January as you can, to avoid the scenario that we find - a squad minus three senior players (including two visas an not even allowing for the inevitable injury or two) taking on a schedule of seven games in four weeks in the middle of Summer. If you add injuries, basically we're missing five senior players from a squad, six if you count Birighitti. Not ideal at this time of the year.

 

I think if there is any valid reason is pretty much due to player availability. Of course we see McLaren (and possible others) unable to join due to playing at the Asian Cup. In addition as we suspect in the off-season "marquee" type signings often are announced late in the window due to waiting for better offers in Europe. In other words, we're trying to pick up the scraps. Fingers crossed we sign a Novillo-type winger, minus the attitude. 

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5 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Even if you forget about Bruno, you can look at O'Halloran. Maybe he is indeed going to be replaced, but why let him go so early? Wouldn't it be better to have the departure and arrival more or less at the same time?

I find it puzzling and I don't believe the "homesickness" reason at all.

Whether it is homesickness is up for debate. But as with the point I made in my previous post your questions are based on the club being able to 100% in control of both OHalloran leaving and a player arriving. I don't think you can garunetee things can work out as you suggest.

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6 hours ago, SF33 said:

I'm saying that if you've burnt bridges with players (Bruno), given them your blessing to leave (Caceres), or possibly a bit of both (O'Halloran), you should be doing everything you can to have those vacancies filled as early in January as you can, to avoid the scenario that we find - a squad minus three senior players (including two visas an not even allowing for the inevitable injury or two) taking on a schedule of seven games in four weeks in the middle of Summer. If you add injuries, basically we're missing five senior players from a squad, six if you count Birighitti. Not ideal at this time of the year.

 

It's been managed terribly, the Bruno issue, if the reports are accurate, was already simmering in pre-season yet we were happy to start the season with no backup striker. MOH, if I recall was played for a pre-season game or an FFA Cup game then dropped by Joyce

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To have any chance of finishing 2 or 3 we need to win all our three remaining matches.

If we do win our three games that will give us 36 points but our goal difference is inferior to those teams around us

Sydney in their 3 remaining games need only 1 win and 2 draws to finish with 36 points but would finish above us on goal difference. 

Victory in their 3 remaining games need 2 wins to achieve 36 points again they would finish above us on goal difference.

Therefore finishing 2 or 3 is achievable if we win our 3 games and score goals. The top 3 play each other and will drop points.

Joyce must go all out to win our next 3 games we have nothing to lose and everything to gain

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42 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

To have any chance of finishing 2 or 3 we need to win all our three remaining matches.

If we do win our three games that will give us 36 points but our goal difference is inferior to those teams around us

Sydney in their 3 remaining games need only 1 win and 2 draws to finish with 36 points but would finish above us on goal difference. 

Victory in their 3 remaining games need 2 wins to achieve 36 points again they would finish above us on goal difference.

Therefore finishing 2 or 3 is achievable if we win our 3 games and score goals. The top 3 play each other and will drop points.

Joyce must go all out to win our next 3 games we have nothing to lose and everything to gain

3 remaining matches? Or next 3 you mean?

Basically Joyce, Brattan and Jamo have all said (amongst others) that coming 1st is not priority but getting into and winning the GF is and this is possible given our pathetic finals system. Scrap it. Premiers plate and top 2 should be the way to go. But what can you do 😏

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7 hours ago, Inchcolm said:

To have any chance of finishing 2 or 3 we need to win all our three remaining matches.

If we do win our three games that will give us 36 points but our goal difference is inferior to those teams around us

Sydney in their 3 remaining games need only 1 win and 2 draws to finish with 36 points but would finish above us on goal difference. 

Victory in their 3 remaining games need 2 wins to achieve 36 points again they would finish above us on goal difference.

Therefore finishing 2 or 3 is achievable if we win our 3 games and score goals. The top 3 play each other and will drop points.

Joyce must go all out to win our next 3 games we have nothing to lose and everything to gain

I believe we play every team 3 times so 27 rounds! But the next 3 games are important and interesting for the top 4.

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10 hours ago, Inchcolm said:

To have any chance of finishing 2 or 3 we need to win all our three remaining matches.

If we do win our three games that will give us 36 points but our goal difference is inferior to those teams around us

Sydney in their 3 remaining games need only 1 win and 2 draws to finish with 36 points but would finish above us on goal difference. 

Victory in their 3 remaining games need 2 wins to achieve 36 points again they would finish above us on goal difference.

Therefore finishing 2 or 3 is achievable if we win our 3 games and score goals. The top 3 play each other and will drop points.

Joyce must go all out to win our next 3 games we have nothing to lose and everything to gain

@Inchcolm I think you better check everything out! Each team plays the other 9 clubs three times, making 27 matches in all. Quite a long way to go yet. We do have tough matches ahead - twice we go to Wellington, and twice to Sydney, and only five more home matches including Perth again and Adelaide twice. We will need to be at our best to stay in the top four. The two teams finishing 5th and 6th have to play all their finals away from home, so they have the hardest road to the Championship.

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Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI, 2.Ritchie De LAET, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 4.Harrison DELBRIDGE, 5.Bart SCHENKEVELD, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 8.Riley MCGREE, 10.Dario VIDOSIC, 13.Nathaniel ATKINSON, 15.Kearyn BACCUS, 18.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 19.Lachlan WALES, 21.Ramy NAJJARINE, 25.Iacopo LA ROCCA, 22.Curtis GOOD, 26.Luke BRATTAN, 27.Florin BERENGUER-BOHRER, 30.Moudi NAJJAR

**two to be omitted**

Ins: 10.Dario VIDOSIC (returns from injury), 21.Ramy NAJJARINE (promoted)

Outs: Nil

Unavailable: Nil

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I think we have one choice to make with this week's team. Do we stick with Good, or go back to Delbridge and Bart as CB

I personally want to see Delbridge go back to partnering Bart, its as good a CB combo in league at the moment, they compliment each other really well, Bart has the pace and Harrison is a beast in the air

That probably means Atkinson starts at RB, which although he has been poor it might give him some confidence to start a game and play 90 minutes in what we all believe is his best position, rather than starting on a wing and then being moved 

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2 hours ago, Harrison said:

Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI, 2.Ritchie De LAET, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 4.Harrison DELBRIDGE, 5.Bart SCHENKEVELD, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 8.Riley MCGREE, 10.Dario VIDOSIC, 13.Nathaniel ATKINSON, 15.Kearyn BACCUS, 18.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 19.Lachlan WALES, 21.Ramy NAJJARINE, 25.Iacopo LA ROCCA, 22.Curtis GOOD, 26.Luke BRATTAN, 27.Florin BERENGUER-BOHRER, 30.Moudi NAJJAR

**two to be omitted**

Ins: 10.Dario VIDOSIC (returns from injury), 21.Ramy NAJJARINE (promoted)

Outs: Nil

Unavailable: Fornaroli

fixed

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51 minutes ago, Missing_Moy said:

          Eugene

Atkinson Delbo Bart Jamo 

         Baccus Griffiths 

          Florin/Mcgree

 Wales               Florin/Mcgree

            Richie 

 

COYCB 

Yep. I presume FloBB will be the #10.

Oh my god we are playing in our colours 

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