NewConvert

And he is back!

Did they have surgery in the off season?

Unfortunately I did not get a chance to watch the game so I can't comment but Arnold does have his limitations. The problem is finding a good coach that can make players jell when they are all living in different parts of the globe.

It's not whether a big name player is coming to City the issue. City have had visa players of much lower profile arrive but they came from better leagues and were of a suitable age. So far, we have an ageing squad and the visa players announced so far have been underwhelming - an Argentinian playing in Siberia, a 36 year old. Nah.

And WSW get Mata.

Yay! friendlies.

did not even realise it was on!

You certainly have a negative view. Even if they build a small stadium there, it may not necessarily mean that they will play their games there (although they may do so on some occasions like pre-season training games). When Heart were training at Epping, did you go to their training sessions? You are right about youth development but eventually they will build a youth team based around the Dandenongs. So that mean that they lose the kids from Point Cook/Werribee. If they end up playing games there PT will need to be upgraded.

Is it CFG or is it the Petrillo Football Group?

or agrees to leave.

There is a difference between out of contract and getting offers from the club or other European clubs (e.g., Arslan) vs we are not renewing your contract and you are now free to hawk yourself around the world.

As a side issue, the last time the A-League had a side with so many young players and with older players that did not cost any transfer fees was when Clive Palmer owned the Gold Coast club.

If this is true, then that means we have signed two visa players without clubs. So no transfer fee. He better be a lot better than Terry Antonis.

There are five conflated issues: tribal loyalty, pitch game integrity, game management integrity (or lack thereof), financial management/mismanagement and CFG's strictness in enforcing its rules. Tribal loyalty I agree with purely from an anthropological perspective. But, at the same time it is this tribal loyalty that has made it such a tempting honeypot for the uber-capitalist and the sportwashing Arabs. To paraphrase: why do you steal from the fans? because that is where the money is. Pitch game integrity, I also agree to some extent - after all Melbourne City were screwed by the Lampard rule so I can't fully agree. However, the shenanigans in Europe with the ability of players being able to be intra-sold is an issue. And I am sticking my head on the chopping block that by having the then FFA put strict financial rules around club selling players locally, the Lampard rule, etc. the Australian administration does not have the same issues. Game management integrity is completely screwed in Europe. AFAIK only Germany has had the political courage to put a small brake on the owners. UEFA & FIFA are clear indications as to how Europeans do corruption. Club financial management/mismanagement is a local issue. Let's not forget that the mighty Barcelona is teetering on the edge because the previous president was a complete and utter tool. An extremely wealthy tool but none the less a tool. As to why would CFG allow Troyes to go down? I have no idea as in the long term they lose the player pipeline which is what they trade in. My only thoughts is that Man City will be hit with a massive financial fine (and maybe four points) that CFG will reallocate money from the other franchise clubs to pay for it. The final point, and I re-iterate, I don't think that CFG are that strict in how the team plays. As an analogy, in Germany beer, by law, has to have four ingredients and yet they have a very large variety of beers. So I think that the guidelines are set by CFG but implementing those guidelines is up to the local administration.

It may not necessarily be the inflexibility of the coaching that is the problem. After all Pep has changed the style quite a bit since he arrived at Man City. I suspect that the real issue may be a domineering football director - play this player or else. If CFG sent someone from the UK to coach I doubt very much that Petrillo would have his way.

oh yes. My home office faces the street, I see everyone. And no door knock, no card and me having to chase them. The delivery driver is running behind time and they just avoid the place and say non one is home. May they burn in hell.

Most clubs have completed their list for the season. City has three visa slots open and most other clubs are missing one to three players. And a lot of clubs have a younger list. Some of them are run quite professionally. But they insist in maintaining their heritage, which is their right, and the reason for not granting them an A-League license.

Yup. I have to get medical supplies from a provider that is about 20 minutes from my place. It gets picked up, then taken to Tullamarine, then over to the eastern suburbs, then it gets sent to my place. For other services, I live about 150m from a Post Office but they insist in dropping it off at either of the poist offices that are about 1.5km away.

which is city's line up this season.

Glass half full: The NPL is improving which augurs well for football in general. Glass half empty: The A-League is dropping standards due to the perilous financial situation they find themselves in.

Purely speculative - what is Diamanti's role at Melbourne City? Yes, I know he coaches the NPL1 side and in the A-League he makes the quip that he is an Australian citizen now. But let's face it - given that Vidmar is not up to the task, I wonder whether the club is waiting for Diamanti to get some experience under his belt before he makes the leap to seniors.

Cola was up against Tilio & Nabbout - hard call. Atkinson went to the wrong league but if Petrillo did say that they had Talbot and no back up then it just re-inforces my opinion that he has been there too long.

I'm more inclined to apportion blame to Vidmar because I felt that once that fourth goal was scored the team became totally defensive allowing PG to have a lot of room. It was such a drastic change that I wondered then (and still do) whether they were under instructions to do so. Having said that, I don't want to take anything from PG and their coaches.

That is why I don't think he is a leader.

So who would replace Talbot? as far as I can see we only have a single scholarship player for that position. Ferreyra supposedly can play in all positions which makes him a master of none.