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Defender Crisis


heart_fan10
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With the departure of Hamill, and the likely departure of Curtis Good, we'll be left with only 2 centre backs in the squad. IMO we're going to need at least 3, with the third CB being a talented youngster as we also have Gerhardt to cover at the back if needed.

Who's available that we could we sign?

Do we sign someone from the AIS? or is there a player that we could poach from another a-league club?

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Firstly, didn't we have a defender crisis last off season as well?

Secondly, I think Gerhardt might go back if necessary, leaving Germano in the DM role.

Alternatively, JS might play 3-4-3, then the back might only be Marrone-Colosimo-Behich, with Grey on the bench, Gerhardt as surplus.

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Firstly, didn't we have a defender crisis last off season as well?

Indeed we did and it was only solved for the brief time we had Madaschi, and TBH those few weeks are why made finals.

If we had another experienced defender all year, I honestly believe that finishing second could have been a possibility.

Secondly, I think Gerhardt might go back if necessary, leaving Germano in the DM role.

We have signed Go Hard as a DM, why should we immediately start to think of playing him elsewhere to our plans b4 our preseason has even started.

Alternatively, JS might play 3-4-3, then the back might only be Marrone-Colosimo-Behich, with Grey on the bench, Gerhardt as surplus.

The above suggestion would both rob Behich of using his best talent in his rebounding from defence and make him focus on his biggest problem area in that of defending.

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it would be a waste to now all of a sudden play Gerhardt as a CB when he's been specifically signed to play as a DM because then we'll have a problem at DM. Unless of course the club now decides to re-sign Srhoj.

If we were to play 3 at the back, it would be:

Gray--Colosimo--Marrone/New CB*

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3 at the back wouldn't suit the heart, tried in Derby #5 for the first 30 and went 1-0 down aswell as conceded a penalty, went back to 4-3-3 (i think it was, correct me if im wrong) and within 10 minutes we were 2-1 up, 3 at the back wouldnt work.

Correct.

it would be a waste to now all of a sudden play Gerhardt as a CB when he's been specifically signed to play as a DM because then we'll have a problem at DM. Unless of course the club now decides to re-sign Srhoj.

If we were to play 3 at the back, it would be:

Gray--Colosimo--Marrone/New CB*

Where does Behich then go?

He cannot Cross/Shoot well enough to go on the Left Wing.

And if he plays as a Wing Back then logically we would need one on the other side, who would just be annoying to Mate’s space.

Edited by cadete
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Where does Behich then go?

He cannot Cross/Shoot well enough to go on the Left Wing.

And if he plays as a Wing Back then logically we would need one on the other side, who would just be annoying to Mate’s space.

very rarely we'll be playing a 3-4-3 but IF we do at times during the season, i would think it'll be similar to this

------------------bolton---------------

------marrone--colosimo--gray-----

germano---gerhardt--fred---behich

---dugandzic---tadic--thompson---

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@mg91@Jdidulica Hi mate, will the club be looking to the market to replace Hammill? Or will a youngster be promoted?

@mg91 working through some options. Gerhardt plays as a central defender for his national team. Certainly looking to add a young CD though

it would be a waste to now all of a sudden play Gerhardt as a CB when he's been specifically signed to play as a DM because then we'll have a problem at DM. Unless of course the club now decides to re-sign Srhoj.

Maybe Gerhardt wasn't signed to be DM, and JA wants Germano to play that role?

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Maybe Gerhardt wasn't signed to be DM, and JA wants Germano to play that role?

Would be very dissapointed in JA if this were to happen, from videos clearly Gerhardt is best played as a DM. Promote KK ffs.

Marrone - Colosimo/Gray - KK/Gray/Petreski - Behich

Doesn't look that bad too me, especially with Gerhardt coming back if needed.

Edited by Che
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JA stated in his first interview when he became head coach that his first priority was signing a defensive midfielder who can score goals. Therefore I don't see Gerhardt being our answer at centre back. I suspect we are now looking for a new Hamill,

Once again it looks as if we have been caught with our pants down due to a lack of vision/long term strategy. I supose that is what happens when you are in the $2 shop of world football.

Was looking forward to renewing our membership today but this announcement has made me sick. Will probably renew later this week when I can part with the money without feeling ripped off.

I hope this move works out well for Brendon who is a gun player and appears by all accounts to be a top bloke.

Edited by Peter
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Was looking forward to renewing our membership today but this announcement has made me sick. Will probably renew later this week when I can part with the money without feeling ripped off.

Tad extreme with the hyperbole there mate. So we've sold a player to South Korea and now we have a gap in our defence. Is that really a reason to not renew a membership? It's a football club, they sign and sell players - expecting anything different isn't realistic in my view.

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I still think Gray is our answer down back now that Hamill is gone, dont put Gerhardt in CB, Gray could take that role if needed, I'd still like to see another CB signed however, keep our depth going, whether Gray starts or not he is an option down back.

Just a question now guys, now that Hamill is on the verge of leaving, will this make Good stay for 1 more season? Or is Good going to leave regardless? We could certainly use him, but surely a place in Newcastle United (however limiated his chances may be) is to good to pass up?

Edited by M-H-F-C
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would a season loan back to us for Good be an option?

As it stands now, it looks like the starting CB pairing will be:

Colosimo--Gray

It'll still mean Gerhardt will be played as DM, providing there's no injuries. We definitely still new to sign 1 more CB though. If there's no options, it's probably a perfect opportunity to promote a player from the youth team (KK)

EDIT: sign Ljubo

Edited by heart_fan10
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Would imagine a Colosimo/Gray CB partnership will be quite good, and Marrone & Behich are amongst the best full-backs in the league. As for depth we need another CB with some A-League experience (eg Rozic) and we're suitable covered for full-backs with Thommo, Germano able to play there quite easily. Hardly a defensive crisis. The tards have Leijer in the centre of defence, that's a proper crisis.

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Would imagine a Colosimo/Gray CB partnership will be quite good, and Marrone & Behich are amongst the best full-backs in the league. As for depth we need another CB with some A-League experience (eg Rozic) and we're suitable covered for full-backs with Thommo, Germano able to play there quite easily. Hardly a defensive crisis. The tards have Leijer in the centre of defence, that's a proper crisis.

I can see your point - Its good we have flexibility in our Midfielders.

But personally I believe in horses for courses, rather than pinch hitting with Germano, Thompson and Go Hard I reckon we still need that third genuine CB option.

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I can see your point - Its good we have flexibility in our Midfielders.

But personally I believe in horses for courses, rather than pinch hitting with Germano, Thompson and Go Hard I reckon we still need that third genuine CB option.

Agree we definately need another CB, but we're hardly in crisis mode atm. Now somebody track down Ante Rozic and get him on the next plane to Melbourne and we'll be sorted. Hopefully we never see the need to push Gerhardt to CB, as he seems to have the bastard that we really lacked in midfield last season.

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I'm sure we are looking for young talent here with two experienced centre backs already. I'm sure JD also has his finger on the pulse at the AIS and will be sizing up youngsters that come through there. The amount of guys we have sent overseas this year should make us an attractive option for kids coming from the AIS.

We basically have our squad it's about filling in the holes now.

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Let's use some of that transfer money to buy out Madaschi's contract. He's a known quantity, likes the club, fits in well with our style and if the other signings pay off then we'll be a damn fine team.

Considering he wore his current clubs Armband just the other day I am guessing that his quite happy with how his career is tracking away from Heart atm.

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Let's use some of that transfer money to buy out Madaschi's contract. He's a known quantity, likes the club, fits in well with our style and if the other signings pay off then we'll be a damn fine team.

Wouldn't happen in a million years. He's very highly regarded at Jeju, and was given the captains armband in the absence of their regular captain in their midweek draw with Ulsan. Wouldn't be surprised if he is either tied down to a longer term/larger contract or there is interest from a bigger club in Asia.

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Say round 2 Marrone does a knee and colosimo gets a red card in the 90th minute. Our back 4 for round 3 is then - Germano-Thompson-Gray-Behich ...

Not crisis mode then? We've lost all depth and have nothing for injuries and suspension. Only option is to play midfielders down back.

The best part when we had

Madaschi Colosimo Good & Hamil there was the competition for position. That's when we had our best run and we at the moment have no such competition. With no madaschi, Hamil, good & Goodwin there's no back up and depth, no one pressuring the others.

Replacements must be found!

Happy for BJ though, I rated him

Higher then Curtis. Hope we get some decent $ as he had 2 years on his contract and seemed to let him go pretty easy.

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Not sure that it's a crisis just yet, but we might have another issue to deal with as well as trying to fill the gaps that are appearing, that is the question of whether we have enough youth players in our senior squad. The rules used to prescribe IIRC three players U-21 on 1st January in the year in which the season starts. For example, for season 2012-2013 three players under 21 on 1st January 2012.

With Babalj and Hamill confirmed as gone I don't think we meet that any more.

If I have the rule correct and it still applies, does it open the door for one or two (or more) of our NYL players?

I still see us needing two CBs, an AM and another striker to be anywhere near competitive this season. We don't have enough depth.

Edited by jw1739
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I still see us needing two CBs, an AM and another striker to be anywhere near competitive this season. We don't have enough depth.

Spot on. Mind you its hard to have depth in your squad when you only have enough contracted players for a match day.

Good point on the youth situation too, big turn around from last year when we had 7 in that category. Can only think that Aloisi doesn't rate ANY players from his team last year, as if he did, surely he'd have signed at least one by now. I would have thought a good strategy would be sign the best uncontracted <20 year olds in the country (which is what we did last year with Good) but at present this doesn't look like its the strategy either........

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What happened to Daniel Piorkowski?

Mentioned this months ago, still so sign of the ugly polak.

Judging by no new information on anything, I'm assuming the bloke is dead, or running a gym in Warsaw to pay off his two dodgy knees.

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I can understand the need to 'sell' our talent. The truth is we are a feeder league. The best way to attract strong young players is to give them an opportunity to follow their European Asian football dream and allow them to leave.

HOWEVER

You cannot expect a strong loyal club following if our best talents constantly leave. We should have a clear balance when signing new players. We need a mix of fresh youth, mid aged and older players.

It's similar to that movie 'eleven men against eleven'. Before too long all the clubs greatest talents were gone.

In our two years the completions we have almost sold more players than half of the other clubs in the completions. It's a double edged sawd, and not everybody will be happy....irrespective of the outcome.

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Wouldn't be surprised if they promote Philip Petreski as one defender. He's been training with the seniors fairly regularly from what I've seen.

Our CB options look limited though given we're looking at uncontracted Australians. We might just sign the one CB, with 2 spots vacant giving us the option to sign someone else mid-year if we need to.

Gray might turn out fine, but I just wish we'd held off on signing him so that we still had the visa spot left to expand our options.

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I can understand the need to 'sell' our talent. The truth is we are a feeder league. The best way to attract strong young players is to give them an opportunity to follow their European Asian football dream and allow them to leave.

HOWEVER

You cannot expect a strong loyal club following if our best talents constantly leave. We should have a clear balance when signing new players. We need a mix of fresh youth, mid aged and older players.

It's similar to that movie 'eleven men against eleven'. Before too long all the clubs greatest talents were gone.

In our two years the completions we have almost sold more players than half of the other clubs in the completions. It's a double edged sawd, and not everybody will be happy....irrespective of the outcome.

Hopefully this was a personality problem to do with JVS and his inability to coach older players which saw a number of senior players leave at end of our First Season and such a young team in our Second Season.

From what I have seen of JA he seems a much more grounded individual.

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Hopefully this was a personality problem to do with JVS and his inability to coach older players which saw a number of senior players leave at end of our First Season and such a young team in our Second Season.

From what I have seen of JA he seems a much more grounded individual.

How is jvs going in Mexico?

I don't mind ja. There is something about Australia's football culture that foreign coaches don't understand.

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Would be good to see Philip Petreski and Jeremy Walker be looked at for the covering spots for left and right back as senior squad players. Along with Zac Walker for a striker backup.

Will be interesting to see who we get for the youth team this coming season. There were some great players for the youth team last year that had huge potential.

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I can understand the need to 'sell' our talent. The truth is we are a feeder league. The best way to attract strong young players is to give them an opportunity to follow their European Asian football dream and allow them to leave.

HOWEVER

You cannot expect a strong loyal club following if our best talents constantly leave. We should have a clear balance when signing new players. We need a mix of fresh youth, mid aged and older players.

It's similar to that movie 'eleven men against eleven'. Before too long all the clubs greatest talents were gone.

In our two years the completions we have almost sold more players than half of the other clubs in the completions. It's a double edged sawd, and not everybody will be happy....irrespective of the outcome.

I agree, their needs to be a balance between young talented players and experienced older players. Dortmund would be a club that managed to implement this strategy perfectly.

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