mattyh001

FMD that's fucking shit

Bump

for one, Mark Viduka captained the Socceroos in the 2006 World Cup. shouldn't rule out a player based on position. agreed some positions tend to see more captains; i think that some of it comes down to some positions being known for hard nosed players as far as i'm concerned, the captain should either be a real leader of people or the one who takes charge on the field - someone you look to. being the goal scorer he is, i don't have an issue with JMac. agree that Curtis Good would make a good skipper though

off to Adelaide vs MetroStars

watched part of the replay last night as I too was surprised that it said Arslan and not Ugargovic. turns out that massive deflection on Ugargovic's shot was from Arslan's head. so yes, it should be credited to Arslan. crowd doesn't surprise me. kinda sucks, but good reason to play the game at a smaller venue than AAMI.

Having gone to both yesterday's game and the corresponding game last season, I thought yesterday was way better from an atmosphere and viewing point of view (result helped too). Way better being able to watch from five metres away. Just my two cents

from the 61 goals we scored last season, a combined 18 came from Tilio (predominantly a winger), van der Venne (attacking / central mid) and O'Neill (holding mid). between Jakolis, Arslan and Sakhi, IMO we have replaced those three well enough to match (if not beat) our goals tally from last season. the big challenge will be keeping them fit (as we saw last season when Leckie, van der Venne, etc) were out - that was when we really struggled. i agree about the defence, it needs a bit of work. Nuno's past it and despite his talent Behich isnt probably as quick as he once was. the only thing I'd say is i thought Talbot started poorly last season before coming on leaps and bounds. i distinctly remember him getting butchered by the Phoenix wingers last year in the Australia cup (funnily enough since we play them again at the round of 16 stage). fingers crossed we can boolster the back a little more and then have the players settle quickly.

Yeah must have missed it, didn't realise it happened in January. Still, cool news

In reading up on Steph Catley on the WWC, she and Dean Bouzanis aree now engaged.

Perth Glory has gone into voluntary administration. Sage has walked away

looks like we're gonna get screwed for a chunk of this next season. https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/aleague-clubs-set-to-suffer-with-loss-of-socceroos-during-the-asian-cup/news-story/0dd75d3f5bac53b231db64c567d3ecc7 in short, the aleague is not stopping for the Asian Cup. so unless JMac, Leckie et al miraculously dont get selected or miss selection thru injury, we are going to lose a couple of players for a month.

thought he looked good, and showed some of the talent we knew him for during his time with us. just makes me wonder what happened between him and Zadkovich.

My take on the new signings is that, aside from the import, they are a little uninspiring. Antonis, Ugagovic and Young are solid aleague players but nothing more. The three youngsters are still to prove themselves. That doesn't mean they're horrible though. They offer depth with good other signings. Fingers crossed we have a few top talents coming through.

Terry Antonis has been confirmed by club

I'd make the argument that Mooy's successful career over in Europe (and particularly in the EPL) puts credence behind Aussie players establishing themselves in the aleague first and not rushing overseas. IIRC Mooy spent four seasons here (2 with us, 2 with WSW) and was 25 before heading over. His stats were phenomenal with over 100 games between the 2 clubs. For me, too many younger players rush overseas without establishing themselves as certain starters.