mattyh001
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Posts posted by mattyh001
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So we host Western United next Sunday while the Wanderers are away to victory. Might not even need to beat the nomads next week.
Interestingly MacArthur play Sydney tonight and then Wellington away next week. Sydney host Perth next week. Both Sydney based teams are two points clear of us going into tonight.
Doubt we'd jump both but crazily we could finish 5th
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So we sub off someone subbed on previous?!?!?
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Shit marking from Ugarkovic
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3 minutes ago, fensaddler said:
Now he's got one...
Well fuck me dead. Sort of came from nothing.
Still doesn't excuse the bullshit misses
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Broadcast just said excluding today, WSW hav conceded first on 13 occasions this season, drawing once and losing the rest.
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Fortunate small deflection there but Natel finally finding form
And Jakolis can fuck off too
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15 hours ago, MHFC-FAN said:
So basically they win = put us out of our misery.
Draw = WSW would have to lose their last game and we would have to beat Generic United
Win = if we do beat WSW then we would just need a draw in our last game against the generics to secure 6th but WSW would have to have a draw at best against MV.
Hmm...
quite a few outcomes, and that's not even taking into account that we could still finish higher than 6th.
sad that we have been so fucking inconsistent and injury prone all season. then again, the three big wins we have had this season has really skewed our GD.
take the 7-0, 8-1 and 8-0 out we have played 22 games for 6 wins with 25 Goals Scored and 36 Goals Against.
makes think we will win this and then lose to Western Utd
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Great goal by Natel and quality as usual by Arslan
If only we did this every week
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16 minutes ago, Mr MO said:
All the players you’ve mentioned are fair and reasonable in their contracts. I feel that’s the players around them which are us costing now.
Lam and Soup are not a like for like, neither is Berisha, VDV with Urka and Lopane. With the latter being one of the most unexciting young players I’ve seen in a while after this much game time.
Jeggo and Sakhi have nowhere near the grit Aidan brought.
Where’s the salary cap money gone we had in midfield last season?
Interestingly we’ve also let Behich go for money and we cashed in on some of the girls as well - this season wasn’t about getting the best results for the club on the field.
agree with the fact some of the new ones haven't lived up to the bill.
and considering that we started the season with Nuno Reis, Souprayen, Arslan and and Sakhi as our visas (Natel replaced Leckie or Nabbout as an inj replacement, Fernandez replaced Behich with the spot left by Sakhi) then you do wonder wtf was the last visa spot during preseason? i think that adds to your point TBH
of course, Arslan is the one stand out. i feel he has more than surpassed VDV, Berisha and Berenguer in those two advanced spots. where people see his offensive output vs O'Neill's defensive dominance would be interesting.
and that's were i would maybe reframe some of the debate; how do we compare the efforts of VDV and Berisha (with Berengeur as the alternate) vs Sahki/Jeggo and Ugarkovic (with Lopane as the alternate)?
what's interesting there is that we are talking about one offensive trio made up of visa players (who should be better) vs a midfield trio that's predominately Aussie (again we did leave a visa spot free so ...).
so does that mean the local talent for pick up (or at least the current ones available) are just shit? is it a fair comparison as O'Neil is effectively a walk up Socceroo - putting him on the level of most visa who succeed in this league. maybe we were just so bloody lucky with him?
not trying to make excuses there either. i just think there is so much to delve through
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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:
Of course there is no easy fix. A bit like climate change. Delay action for so long that the fix is as bad or worse in the short term as doing nothing.
I think that if you look at the statistics on transfermarkt you will see that league starts by players such as Reis, Nabbout and Leckie were relatively low compared with the season before. I did post those IIRC.
I don't think anyone is trying to say that, at the time, the 3-year deals were inappropriate. Or that we didn't win trophies. But with the benefit of hindsight it would IMO be foolish to give a player "just one more season" just for old times' sake.
hope people havent interpreted my rant as me asking for one more season for old times sake
rather it can be very hard to take stock / break down our current predicament of our current season vs (a) the last two seasons and thereby (b) the reasons those players were given three year deals in 2021.
yes we can say with hindsight this season may have been one too many, but IMO it's a part of the broader aleague challenge of how you manage aleague rosters, salary caps, etc.
the only real way i could see long term deals (three years +) work is only the first two are locked in. aka players are offered 3 or 4 year deals as 2 year with 1 (+ 1) year options.
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3 hours ago, fensaddler said:
This feels like a longer run thing than one season. We've made mistakes over a number of seasons that have left us with an ageing squad vulnerable to injuries. That's been compounded by the losses of good younger players last season. But we surely plan this with a forward view over several seasons, so the fact that we haven't done so well enough is a failure that has been building for several seasons.
i'm not sure there is an easy, quick to fix answer here.
to highlight this, i'll start with our three "big" name attackers going into this season (MaClaren, Leckie and Nabbout). they were all signed to three year deals (from my understanding via the pinned current squad thread) when they were 27, 30 and 28 respectively (as signed in June - Sept 2021).
MaClaren was a Socceroo with little injury issues (or at least at the time from memory). Leckie has been a star at a WC in the time since despite injury issues while Nabbout was a decent age.
also remember this also includes two league premierships in that time where those players have featured prominantly (even with Leckie and Nabbout being injured at times). so i don't think the 3 year deals those players signed is all that bad.
three current defenders that were signed at the same time in mid 2021 was Good (3 year deal at age 28), Nuno Reis (3 year deal aged 30) and Galloway (aged 24 with a 4 year). given that defenders tend to play better to an older age, i'd argue those deals have actually been fairly reasonable given the players in question and the success we have had over the last two seasons.
the other risk i foresee here the the Richie Garcia dilemma. you can offer shorter term deals (Garcia only had a one season deal given injury history) with the risk the player comes really good and then fucks off to a bigger deal. so you're dammed if you do when Garcia leaves and you are dammed if you don't (ie Leckie) when the injuries get the better of them on a longer deal.
and that doesnt even take into the Richard van der Venne / Thomas Lam fuck around. you do your research, sign a quality player to a decent deal and get the goods during season one only for them to fuck off home sick. you can probably add Sahki to that - was finally coming good so we buy out his deal only for some sort of bullshit to occur within two weeks later.
secondly, (and i've said something elsewhere that) having a mass change over with a loss in culture and a head coach whose too laid back (didnt or couldnt set a high standard / level of responsibility) makes it hard to keep players accountable. the club should have taken that into account with how we set up going into the season. if Rado needed a couple of proper hard nose pricks on his coaching staff then that's what should have happened.
edit: sorry for the long response; again no easy fix
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19 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:
Hopefully CFG learns from this season that you cannot eviscerate a squad and then expect results, regardless of who you bring in. We should always be in a rebuilding/strengthening phase. Not good enough to have been caught out by roster issues ...
I'd make a point that part of the problem was that the previous strong club culture had been lost in the wash.
Be it appointing a coach too laid back, be it letting players exit the club because could without resistance, the club needs to do better. We have had a poor culture/attitude from so many this season that we have folded in so many games
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Good finish by Arslan but fuck me that was a shit turn over by the tards backline. Eat a dick
Arzani can eat a big bag of shit too
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5 hours ago, kingofhearts said:
Does anyone know why we are not playing a match for 2 weeks now????
4 hours ago, HughJass said:International window, Australia playing Lebanon next week
We were also due to play the Mariners but they were in India last night. It's been pushed back to April 2nd
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6 hours ago, D.B. Cooper said:
Look we aren’t that great this year but it seems the author either didn’t have a good view of the game or wasn’t playing close attention. I stopped reading when he said we had 2 chances.
Leckie hit the post, Tilio had a shot tipped on to the crossbar (the commentators refused to acknowledge it was a save, but it was). Antonis had a one vs one and Natal had 2 one vs ones. Enough to win pretty much any game.
It’s ok to be critical of the game etc (I don’t have an axe to grind) but an argument should be based on facts not emotion to match a narrative.2 hours ago, jw1739 said:So why didn't we?
in a nut shell, the injuries, player & coaching changes et al have lead to a very inconsistent and incohesive line up week in week out. give current line up (particularly with Arslan to come back) an uninterrupted two months together and we would have a solid grounding and style between the group
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5 hours ago, Mr MO said:
Lam departure was publicized straight after the GF, almost in the same articles as VdV. Are you saying the CFG didn’t have time and then signed Soups? I don’t have the calendars in front of me but it seemed there was plenty of time there.
Atkinson and Bos didn’t leave around the same time also they play on opposite wings, I’m failing to see the mitigation factor in the clubs favour here. However the signing of Behich was excellent I have no issues there.
thought the Lam departure was later, happy to be wrong here.
in terms of the other two, my point is that having young players come through takes time to get them into shape consistency wise. take a look at Talbot; he's has essentially been the player to replace Atkinson. blokes played over 40 aleague games for us (which doesnt even include cup or champions league games) and yet the guy is so inconsistent. throw in the fact young players come cheap when they sign, you cant just throw money at the situation when Bos or Atkinson leave since their low wage helps offset the bigger wages we spend elsewhere in a salary cap
and frankly, Talbot is by far the best young defender we have seen come through recently outside of Atkinson and Bos. in a way, i kinda see a perfect storm
again, not trying to give a free pass to the recruitment team or players; just dont think we can put this down to one simple solution.
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19 hours ago, MCMLIII said:
I know John Didulica. He told me years ago when he was still at the club that they could get anything they wanted from the parent company. As long as they could justify the request it was approved. So how does a club with access to so much end up performing so poorly?
starting with the keeping spot, others have covered it well. Young has always been signed as a short term option where there was probably not much better on offer (particularly from a domestic signing perspective).
on top of that we lost Bos (21) and Lam (30) last season and Atkinson (24) in December 2021. replacing quality (particularly youngsters in the form of Bos and Atkinson) from the youth academy is never easy. even signing them from another team's youth academy is no guarantee either - just look at Talbot (22). he is so inconsistent. plus the likes of Bos and Atkinson would have been cheap from a salary cap perspective, so it's not like our club can just throw money at it.
Lam is a rather frustrating one for me since he left so late into the post season. no issues with his reasons for leaving, just the timing. our club has tended to find some absolute gems (ie Arslan, Sahki) when they have the chance to do their due diligence. finding a like for like player with such a short turn around for ACL duties (where we had to sign within the registration deadline) was always going to be risky - hence the signing of Souprayen.
i'm not trying to justify how poor we've been; rather there's probably been a few mitigating events.
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had a 7.30 booking for dinner last night so got to watch that lovely first half before going; stellar stellar choice for sure
fuck me our midfield is shit. while it doesnt help to have your best player out suspended and have had our next best leave mid season for personal reasons, any good team can cover. they have depth. we dont. any individual defending Lopane can join Lopane and get the fuck out. guy is fucking shit. for all the shit Lachie Wales coped, this guy is 10 times worse. why the fuck was he signed?
their second was essentially walked into the goal. FMD - how can the players be this apathetic?? two goals from outside the box doesnt help (sometimes opponents just lucky with a well taken shot) but still, where is the pressure??
season is well and truly over. i just hope we can get / keep a fully fit and firing front third for the rest of the season. will be great to see us finally play with some intent, some way of putting our opponents under constant pressure week in week out.
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3 hours ago, jw1739 said:
Indeed he is. Until he signed a permanent deal with us he was on loan from his parent club AJ Auxerre in Ligue 2. Now he is "without club." Transfermarkt has been remarkably quick to keep up with all this.
The urgency of it all could mean any number of things. TBH I don't think we should speculate. Just respect the decision and wish him well.
agreed. can see a number of factors at play, including something like an out of the blue cancer diagnosis. and in a number of situations, a mutual termination works out the best. Sahki gets to move closer to home and be with his family, we get to sign a replacement more easily given the transfer window.
as sad as it all is, just wish him the best. i doubt he has done this with any malice what so ever. why would he sign otherwise only to get a small (if any at all) payout two weeks later?
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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:
IMO we've got issues all over the park. They've been evident right from the start of the season against Oakleigh.
agreed.
our wide attacking players are not what they were last few years (hard to plan for when the three we started the season with in Leckie, Nabbout and Jakolis have been injury prone), while our midfield three hasnt settled.
plus the loss of Lam and Van Der Venne when they did leave meant the club was scrambling to replace them.
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6 hours ago, NewConvert said:
Lol lmfao
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16 hours ago, jw1739 said:
I don't know what others think but I always get the impression that our Head Coach doesn't get a great say in the players that are going to be under his control. Doesn't seem particularly ideal to me.
7 hours ago, NewConvert said:I think that would be the case for all clubs TBH. I think they get some input but ultimately the decision is with the bean counters. And this would be the case in most leagues. Also, Vidmar is interim coach.
the difference for me between good managers and great managers is their ability to get the best out of their players irrespective of style. good managers tend to be stubborn and struggle to change things up - even when it's in the best interest of the squad.
the other thing to remember is that one of our great advantages in the aleague is our scouting network. that includes our ability to bring the best young Aussie talent through as our youth academy should be a massive draw card for all young Aussie hopefuls.
so while players may have bad games or poor stretches of form, the manager needs to be able to work with the players they are given.
of course, the club shoudlnt just blindly sign players without thinking of the strengths, weaknesses and philosophy of it's coaching staff either. it'd be like asking a classically trained violinist to choreograph a 3 min dance performance for a rap video clip.
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1 hour ago, NewConvert said:
It was Foxtel that cut the A-League as the return on investment did not meet the higher returns Rupert demanded. The rice was out of SBS' budget, so there wasn't much on the table.
remember, that was after Foxtel lost the rights to the EPL. I'm sure that Rupert was happy investing locally as they were getting oodles of eyeballs for the EPL and it added nicely to its portfolio.
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On 17/01/2024 at 8:10 AM, Baka1 said:
If Optus ever gets the rights the game will explode. Trust me
On 17/01/2024 at 9:30 AM, marn11 said:I was a rusted on A-League fan (would watch 2 or 3 games a week), but now I only follow City from afar. My interest was already waning, but the move to Paramount has meant I only watch one or two games a season. My guess is there would be many like me, where Paramount has little to offer outside of the ALM, so it became a bridge too far to pay the subscription unless you're a diehard fan.
Agree with the above - I'd probably re-engage if Optus had the rights.
Always thought the league benefited from Foxtel the most when our broadcast was coupled with the EPL.
Unfortunately the current administration are more interested in making a short buck than solid long term business decisions
The sooner we join Optus the better
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MCY vs wsw 20th april, 3:30KO(Season defining game)
in Melbourne City
Posted
irrespective of the result, we always had a chance. personally, i would have rathered Sydney won since they have Perth at home next week while MacArthur travel to Wellington.
In any case, a win now for us against Western United and a failure by Sydney to win against Perth means we go 5th