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Well I respectfully disagree. It’s not how I saw his game last night and it’s not what I see most weeks. I think he does his fair share of defensive work but maybe this is down on last season. He does go missing and isn’t the gritty type, that’s fair. But I don’t think he hides much. I see him in good spots calling for it and in tight areas where he draws in more than one defender. He was also involved in a few of our better chances, either by playing the second last ball or the final ball. One was a long ball to Nabbout who just over hit the cross to Colakovski. Another was a beautiful cross to Luna, he then squared it to Tilio who couldn’t get on the end of it (maybe a lack of predatory instinct) and another late where he crossed to Atkinson who almost scored. If any of those come off then maybe the perception is different. All in all he was good last night. Is he a very good player? No. Should we be aiming higher? Yes. Happy for us to go after someone with a lot more output next season and I really hope we do. I think we agree on that!

For us it was a sudden inclusion and therefore seems risky. But if we were to find out that he has already been training for weeks and pulled up strong and all precautionary measures were taken then I don't think it is a risky move at all.

The constant criticism of Berenguer amuses me. He was far from our worst last night but I guess he's the only whipping boy now so people have to take their frustration out on someone. In truth the midfield worked ok, at times pretty well, but they've found that the front three isn't what it used to be. We've gone from a front three that couldn't not score to one that threatens but lacks that cutting edge and the midfield has never been (especially without Metcalfe) a huge source of goals. Some nice combinations were made and the link between midfield and the forwards was there most of the night, however it's the final ball or shot that ultimately matters. Unfortunately we've almost run out of time trying to find a solution. Noone helps, but he'll be rusty by the time we actually play and Nabbout is still a big question mark. Tilio is struggling under the weight of expectation now and Colakovski lacks experience. Tsubaki is...somewhere? I'm less confident now than I've ever been but I've come to accept that this Finals Series is going have an asterisk on it anyway. We've been robbed of three of our best players (and three players that could easily make the team of the season), one from each line on the pitch, and didn't really prepare for it too well. Or should I say we tried but couldn't come up with a robust solution. It seemed like we tried one thing, it didn't work, so we tried another thing, which didn't work that well either, and then we tried a third but it wasn't much better. On top of that injuries have meant that we couldn't trial the three that we needed to trial. Our preparation has been a mess but in large part it's been out of our control. One last thing for me is that this team desperately needs a spark, and it should get one when they finally get to play in front of a home crowd. I still don't think we win the GF but who knows in front of a decent crowd at AAMI.

We need to really look at the impact the team has taken with the players out or returning from injury. Jmac, Good, Metcalfe, Noone, Griffiths, Nabbout. 5 definite starters, Griffiths being the question mark. My first thought is well done to the coaching staff for instilling a system of play that is compelling to watch and able to be employed regardless who is playing. Secondly though, not having the more senior players, especially up front, may be starting to show. The way we play is good enough for the win. We dominate large periods of the game but we have struggled to have someone come up with the ability to score goals. I can't remember the last time one of our players scored outside the penalty box, or even inside the box with a well hit shot. So my only concern is who is going to step up next week for us come semi finals? Will Nabbout or Noone be fit? Whilst there may be some doubts, there is more reason to hope though imo. Not just because we are top of the league or playing at home. It's finals. Do or die game for us. We haven't had that since our ccm game. I don't doubt we lost a little edge after that game. But come next Sunday I believe the finals title on the line will be enough to bring the boys minds back to that level of peak performance they had when the premiers title was in the line. I wouldn't be surprised to see a performance like we haven't seen for a while, even with the outs we have.

Not sure if it's just growing up in a footy mad town, but I don't mind the finals series. However I must admit that I'm finding it extremely difficult to get enthused over this season's finals. It's been done to death, but how can you even think the Grand Final is worth something when it has been so severely compromised by the powers that be. Seriously, playing a finals series around international World Cup qualifiers? Knowing the top two teams will lose over a quarter of their starting lineups? Even in isolation it's incompetent, but throw in the inevitable effects of covid and injuries, then the decision to play a finals series borders on negligence. That's a decision made by people who have severe mental deficiencies. It really is. You can draw a direct link between the Nabbout and Griffiths re-injuries to needing to play them to cover the loss of our internationals. Now their recovery is also compromised because we didn't get the full week off between the last season game and the SemiFinal because of covid. An extra few days could be the difference between them playing. We have potentially over half our starting line-up unavailable. WTF? You can argue the best team should still win and we should have the depth to cover blah, blah... But finals and winning a championship should be about the best team winning - not the team who can play enough teenagers to be able to compete. I'd be super thrilled if we even get to the GF, let alone win it. What a fucking disgrace. No wonder our league is a laughing stock. Had to post, just so frustrated with it...

I guess the slight difference is that our employers don’t have to adhere to a salary cap to guard competitiveness of the companies. In Europe it’s fairly common disclose more details on contracts too. But can he also do it on a rainy day in Newcastle?

Why? Do your employers publish yours?

It’s very simple, this was also the case when I was still playing. It can be deceiving sometimes and hard to notice. There are players out there who are pretending to put effort in, he runs with his man but doesn’t stick his leg out or only does it halfarsed. Florin is one of these players, Luna is on the other scale. Going forward he would do himself a big favour if the could finish a goal for once, like this lob ball last night. Or if finally players starting to score from the assists. This would make this discussion so much easier.

I disagree re the hiding, it is much more evident in tougher games. The shirking of defensive duties occurs more when the ball isn't in his immediate vicinity, he will typically slowly jog somewhere whilst a free man breaks away from him and creates another option for the opposition. I also question him offering himself in tight situations as i think alot of these he tends to come too close to the passer and essentially close down available space especially when he merely passes the ball back to the player who passed it to him. I do ackowledge he is capable of one or two brilliant things a match (credit where credit is duethe ball out to Nabbout was class), but view his negatives as far outweighing these moments of brilliants (which imo occur less frequently, if at all, against better teams). Even if the one or two things you mentioned came off last night, I am not sure my opinion of him would change, rather just my view of his petformance. For my opinion to change he would really have to go the way of Jamo and drastically change his performances. Yes I agree with your questions and responses in your last paragraph. Any way, I accept that we are at an impasse on this matter.

FB, really is that bad a player, its just that he has some minor skill and can do a few good things every now and then. However, he literally goes missing as soon as things aren't running smoothly for us. He has zero hinger or drive, zero grit or determination. Watch him when he doesn't have the ball and you will see that he will hide behind an opposition player, when the other team breaks forward he will slowly jog back and lose his man (I think there was only one instance last night where he truly busted his ass to get back n cover). This lack of effort by him means that other players have to put in more effort and get dragged out of position resulting in more opportunities conceded to the opposition. So whilst he might have a little bit of skill and a little bit of flair his downsides heavily outweigh his upsides. It is arguable that he could be "carried" by two other more industtious players in midfield (e.g. O'Neill and Metcalfe), but he is never going to be ahead of Luna and given that his best performances are against shit clubs, I don't know why you would want to carry a player like him, when you could carry a younger player who has drive n determination and wants to fight for their position. Championship winning teams can't have passenger players like him. You watch any good team and when they turn the ball over all but maybe 1 or 2 forwards works hard to get back and cover. I think alot of the shit he cops is warranted. Though, I will admit that I am somewhat relentless when critiquing those who I do not think are at an acceptible level.

Always look at the bright side - wooden spoon for the visitors. Positive is that Atkinson didn't reinjure amid the madness. Did anyone tell PK tonight was not the GF. I wish Tsubaki was on the bench available. A draw would be premium result for the City at this moment.

That will teach you for arguing with Stiggsy. We have an after game award to announce. Is it best player? No. Is it most improved team? No. Its.... Congratulations Melbourne Victory on the first of many future wooden spoons.