Embee

A good litmus test regarding the absurdity of any particular opinion as far as I'm concerned.

The wankfest over Toivonen is hilarious. The guy hasn't scored more than 7 league goals in a season since 2012. Perfect example of the mentality of the fans and the media in this league to be honest; the name of a signing is apparently the most important quality they provide and anyone who aims for less than a glitzy and recognisable one isn't aiming as high as they could. Let's not let that narrative get in the way of the fact that the Victory won a Grand Final last season thanks to the heroics of a VISA winger who many people scoffed at and Sydney's recent dominance has been on the backs of players with considerably lower profile than guys like Honda, Toivonen or Cahill. They're more than welcome to their over the hill target man who's been struggling to produce a decent scoring record for years and their Marquee attacking midfielder who was basically stopped in the parking lot on his way into his retirement party. Signings like that being considered evidence of superior 'ambition' are a large reason why this league is struggling at the moment IMO. More Fornarolis, Berishas, Georges, Ninkovics, Schenkevelds and Adrians please.

And was deemed too shit for Sunderland...

Off you go mate https://www.melbournevictory.com.au/news/memberships-sale-now

Normally yes I believe, so I don't think he's the marquee.

Got our left winger it seems, anyone familiar with him?

You're basing this off one game, still deep into the Australia pre-season? You'll fit in brilliantly around here with knee jerk reactions like that

If you want to get technical about it, Atkinson has probably spent more time in the youth teams as a winger than he ever did as a full back. People are reading too deep into this situation IMO, O'Halloran will get his chance, we're still a long way from the beginning of the season and none of us really have any idea as to each player's individual fitness levels or training performances so far.

Adelaide got the most out of him as a fullback so I'll probably pay that one to them.

My guess is as good as yours tbh. I wouldn't be too worried at this point though, there's still plenty of pre-season left and Joyce has typically made players who come into the squad after others (Wales was here before Michael this pre-season) work pretty hard to force their way into the team.

What are you talking about? Last season we won our first 4 games and the season before that we were excellent until the FFA Cup final and then we started to fall apart. If anything we've started our last two seasons very well before experiencing slumps about 30% of the way through

I think we can expect a few out of McGree (He had a pretty decent scoring record in a limited window at Newcastle) and hopefully Dario. It really is imperative that we use our marquee spot on a winger that offer some goal output though IMO, not only for the goals they themselves will supply but the space they will then open up for the some of the others to operate in, last season it was way too easy for teams to collapse onto Bruno whenever he received the ball with his back to goal.

Rolled them without really getting out of second gear. McGree, Vidosic, Bruno and Robo Cop all had really solid games IMO. Delbridge in particular has looked a lot better this pre-season which is encouraging. Bruno's in for a ripper season, I'm calling 20+ goals across cup and league. In terms of a secondary striker @jw1739, personally I think it's a waste of money to invest too much in a player who's primary role is back-up, I think Vidosic can be that alternative striker when Bruno needs a rest or is injured.

I didn't mind Retre but I cant even see him getting onto the bench for us. Decent A-League squaddie, nothing more.

He told me he was two weeks away at the kit launch. I took that as being two weeks away from actually being able to play, so as you say I can't see Warren selecting him quite yet.

We're back! Brissy review, Newy Preview and more https://dashboard.whooshkaa.com/episodes/264607/edit

@thisphantomfortress triggered?

Isn't that only if he plays for the clubs (or perhaps is registered?), or is it based on the actual transfers?

The permit has nothing to do with the move itself, but his actual ability to play in the country/league in question. Often the bigger clubs will sign a young player but have to farm him out on loan for a few years because he's currently unable to obtain a permit in that nation. From my understanding of the requirements, Arzani wouldn't qualify for a work permit in England unless he was deemed to be an exceptional talent by the FA's standards. Unsure of how Scotland's permit rules operate.

No chance. His ex-wife/ex-girlfriend (not sure if they were married) has apparently been giving him a really hard time about the break-up, especially with regards to the custody situation.

Out of likes, solid post.

Neither of us have any idea how the finances of CFG or Melbourne City work, you're making assertions that you have no evidence or information to back, simply to suit your own argument. You have no way to prove, for example, that as stated by @fensaddler, CFG don't treat cash made from the on-sale of our talent as money generated by Melbourne City. If we only spend what we generate, then those facilities at La Trobe must have been backed by some kind of mystery sale none of us heard of.

See this is where we clearly won't see eye to eye; I don't care about the money we've received for Mooy and Arzani and feel like it's a completely separate discussion from our marquee signings or ability to win trophies. The club has shown a willingness to invest in facilities and the playing squad (Cahill and Bruno's large marquee contract upgrade in the past for example) regardless of players heading the other direction. I wouldn't care if they'd taken Arzani for 500k or 10 million and I'm not sure why anybody does. All that I care about is that the club does the utmost in it's power to make us competitive as possible. If we sign an excellent marquee and another solid centreback for the coming season then I'm pleased, if we don't, I'm not. Wringing hands over the financial deals between Manchester and Melbourne is pointless, at the end of the day CFG is in charge of the finances for everybody in the group so it's really just moving money from one hand to the other.