samardzija

Re Brandon's ACL recovery... Im actually recovering from an ACL as we speak so can give a bit of insight into it, the actual time on crutches is very minimal. I was off crutches after a week, my splint/moon boot was off after 2 weeks, and it was about a month until I lost my limp during walking. I'm at the 2 month mark as we speak and have been told I can start jogging/running after the 3 month mark. Basically been on the bike since the 2-3 week mark and have gradually upped my leg weights as I've gone along. Basically the first 3-5 months is waiting for the ligament to grow into your new ACL, then it's a matter of building your lateral movement from then on, according to my surgeon, generally the 9th month mark is when you're good to go, the rest is just confidence and match fitness. Off memory Brandon did it in February? So November/December would be a realistic return for him. Some people do have complications after surgery but that depends on the state of your knee/quad prior to the procedure.

Not worth keeping, in his mid 20s now, would be starting in the A-League by now if he was good enough. Time to pack em up son and join daddy in the lower state leagues. Hes a shit bloke too, much like his father.

Don't know how people can compare Berishas antics over the years to blatant racism. Racism on the football pitch is uncalled for no matter how much of a dick you are.

The word gypsy is particularly offensive to people of Albanian origin, as the Albanian population is spread throughout the Balkans, what they perceive as there country's borders is not actually what it is legally. As there population is particular spread out over the Balkan region, many people from the Balkans call them gypsies because of that, in the context that they don't belong in that area. It is highly offensive and racist. It's no better than throwing a banana at an African player or making monkey noises. If you chant it in the terrace you're a moron.

What has caceras ever shown in a city shirt? Hard to think of one standout game he has played for us. He's just a walking yellow card, shown zero discipline.

Had the pleasure of meeting Dean Bouzanis and Paul Retre on a night out, I can confirm that he is a flog. Referred to himself as the best keeper in the A League without batting an eyelid, after I questioned him, young Paulo said "mate look who he's keeping out of the team". He also called jvs a great manager, told me to have some faith and that we would improve (this was the night of the Christmas derby). We've gotten worse and worse with the "best keeper in the a league" arguably leading the way. For someone who's played around 20 senior games in his career, his opinion of himself is way to high. I've met a reasonable amount of city players out and about over the years and can genuinely say Dean Bouzanis is the only one who came across as a genuine flog. Please fuck off.

Bulut isn't a reject, just has a attitude problem. Is worth a punt on for sure.

He doesn't have one and never has, look at his whole career. The best period of his career was at Everton where he was the loose man behind the lone striker, he's not a midfielder, not a striker, not a playmaker, he's made a career of being in the right place at the right time to put the ball in the back of the net. Worked well at a mid table epl club where there was minimal expectation, but at city he's expected to be the main man and he just doesn't have the ability to be it.

He got out coached by aloisi, enough said. Long term this formation with Kilkenny dropping deep can't work, it worked against victory but it didn't take long for teams to work their way around it. Should have lost by 2 or 3 goals against Perth and by a similar margin against Brisbane. In both those games they got in behind us with ease, especially last night. We didn't even come close to scoring last night. Have to play a flat 4 at the back, worked well against Adelaide, it's just suicide playing with one central defender. Not sure what cahills role in the team is, pretty much just run around where he wants to, he's ineffective like that as he has no business playing as a no.10 or no. 8, the more closer to goal he is the more useful he is, I still don't agree that his signing was needed as he doesn't have a role on the team. Sorrenson needs to play, Bouzanis has zero composure.

Did he sign for Roma? I recall them pulling out of the transfer after they didn't pay Perth. Please, he plays for one of the worst teams in a very very mediocre Dutch league. He will be back.

De silva lol, achieved nothing in the a-league, was hardly a guaranteed starter for glory. Will be back in oz quick smart. Rojas dominated the league and couldn't make an impression overseas and he's back already.

Posted something similar in another thread but.. i think we'd need a 3rd more advance midfielder if we played brattan and Kilkenny together, both are natural no.6s and I don't think our wide players have enough quality to supply all the creativity for the front line. A diamond midfield would probably be the best bet to fit both Cahill and Bruno on the pitch but that makes all our wide players null and void and throws the squad even more out of balance...

I see brattan and kilkenny as deeper mids, still think we need a 3rd more advanced mid which is where I thought caceras/brandan would play, hence can't really find room for Timmy unless Bruno gets thrown out on a wing which would be a travesty...

He's actually 19 years old, will be 20 in a couple of months. Was involved in the victory youth squad a couple years ago and was close to getting signed then did his knee. Then went to dandy city where he won the best and fairest in his first season before city picked him up.

You can't compare his role at Everton to what he might do for city. At no stage did he ever play as a no.10, he was always the '5th midfielder', he was there for his workrate and his timely runs into the box. Everton had an underdog style back when Cahill was there, usually conceeding possession and hitting the opponents on the break which suited Cahill's style/role to a tee as he's not a ball player, had great workrate and had a knack for scoring goals as that loose man between the mids and the striker. No way city can play that old Everton way, the style suited player and club back then but now at city it's a completey different situation and style of play. Cahill and Everton was a perfect fit, no way he could've played at a bigger club as he was very limited in what he could do as a footballer, really can't see him fitting into the first XI, will hate to see Bruno played out of position.

3-5-2 is definitely ruled out, players like kamau, Fitzgerald, Muscat, gameiro, retre, kuzimanovski, and brandan become null and void as they can't play as wing backs in a 3-5-2. Might use this formation from time to time during the season much like last but it will never be our starting formation over the course of the season. Only thing that I can see sort of working is a 4-4-2 diamond but JVS always plays with some width so hard to see him change his style now. A standard 4-4-2 is out of there question as that formation has gone out the door nowadays. City don't have any traditional English type wise players to suit that formation bar maybe fitzy.

While I agree somewhat that pep is not as good as what he is made out to be. Still takes some talent to win a champions league and a few league titles along the way too. In saying that, he's made a lot of questionable decisions along the way like: - ruining Mario gotze's career - introducing the false 9 striker system along with the possession for the sake of having possession system. - playing midfielders as centre backs, if his teams weren't so stacked thru the midfield and forward line he'd be exposed more. Toure and mascherano come to mind. - the Ukrainian centre back he splashed out for in barca only to return to Dynamo Kiev after about a season. Affellay and hleb come to mind too. - shipping out eto'o and spending massive on zlatan, we know how that one turned out - taking over at Bayern and making the team worse, yes they won the league every season he was there but considering he bought the best players from rival clubs to do this somewhat devalues what he achieved there. - tiki taka is boring

Cahill can't play as a no.10 or behind Bruno at all, has never played that role before and doesn't poses the necessary skills to play there. Cahill can only play up top, so sadly Bruno will be pushed out on the wing or behind Cahill as the no.10, which I don't like the idea of at all. It's taking last years most effective player and forcing him to move to accomadate Cahill. I reckon there is next to zero chance in playing 2 up top, so the only way we can accomodate Timmy is to shift our best player away from his most effective position. Not liking the Cahill signing from a footballing perspective.

Don't know how this signing will work, we've got the best striker in the league in Bruno and now we're going to have to throw him out wide or in behind Cahill because there is extremely minimal chance we will play 2 up top. I don't like this signing at all, Cahill hasn't played regularly in a decent league for 4 years, don't know how he could command those wages. Del pierro was coming from juve, playing semi regularly, Cahill from some shitty Chinese team, and before that another shitty Chinese team, and before that he was in the very average MLS which is of similar standard to the A League. And please don't point to his goal scoring exploits for Australia, as far as I'm concerned it's irrelevant as majority of the countries oz play against are horrible. Should be building/complementing the team around Bruno and not trying to put a square into a round hole.

Franjic and zullo have always been suspect defenders at best, zullo especially. kisnorbo is by far our weakest link in the starting line up, was well past it last season. Wilko has played a handful of games and is underdone, hasn't played in 2 months when we got him, Malik much the same. We failed to improve our center backs in the off season and have paid for it big time this season with the second worst defense in the comp. kisnorbo should've been re-signed as a squad player at best, not as a first XI player, Hughes has been a disaster, Franjic and zullo both coming back from injury plagued stints overseas, both good signings on paper but had question marks over how they would handle the season. At this stage of the season I'd say franjic has been passable, zullo a fail along with Hughes, sorrenson obviously has been a good pick up but the 5 guys infront of him haven't helped him much.

Forget about a big name marquee, tie down Bruno with whatever it takes. It'll be tough to keep Bruno and Mooy around next season but we have to spend big to keep them here, no point replacing them with a big name who's over the hill and will need time to adjust to the league.

If this cunt ronaldo chops with no one around one more time I'm burning my membership. His all round play is poor and defending is very questionable. Franjic can't come back soon enough.

Novillo still hasn't proved he is an a grader yet, I reckon only franjic and mooy are a graders in our squad. do think that Sydney and victory have much better squads than us, and as it pains me to say it but better coaches too.

This pirlo rumour is rubbish, he is still Italy's best player, he would command at least 10mil a season. Hard to see him leaving a top league a year before the euros where he will be Italy's most important player. Del pierro was effectively finished as a top level player when he came to Sydney, pirlo could still walk into just about every 11 in the world.

This will hopefully mean the hoff will get shifted to his natural position as a number 9.