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I think that they are desperate. But it also confirms that Germano's body is not up to the rigours of professional football.

Because in pre-season against bloody Pascoe Vale he made a couple horrendous errors. He would have been also sent off in a competitive match for one challenge that could have broken the Pascoe Vale striker's leg. Personally I don't think Redmayne should be dropped, the two goals he conceded and even the goals against the Visitors were beyond nearly any keeper's ability apart from one of Archie Thompson's goals. If this is so, why was Velaphi given a one year extension on his contract?

Murfy1 you have made a strong case. I even had a look at the Melbourne Rebels average attendance figures and Heart were below them. SM should be released.

That is what I want to know. Or for that matter the youth keeper.

I want Archibald to replace Hoffman.

My brother concurs with you. He saw the game on TV and said that on more than one occasion a good quality pass in the mid-field would have made a world of difference.

If we were to a get a new coach in the next fortnight he cannot clear the decks immediately. He can only implore the club to use its final visa spot and get another defender from somewhere. Can a new coach re-organise the players? Maybe. One option is to park the bus but CFG have stated that they want open flowing attractive football. So the new coach and/or CFG will have to deal with that contradiction. The players know that we are short of defenders so there is little competition there. Up forward we are presumably waiting for Kennedy to arrive so that will happen sometime next month. What gets to me, and has been for a while, is the poor control the players have of the ball. Comparing AU players skills with the ball and City's skills is like chalk and cheese. Our local players can't stop the ball dead (Mooy excepted), they put too much spin when passing the ball or it doesn't glide across the surface so it seems to arrive at knee height. So the team cannot improve until the basic skills improve. As for the re-signing of Velaphi, Williams and Hoffman, it was perplexing at the time, even more so now. The speculation on this forum had to do with keeping under the salary cap.

Sacked is such an ugly word for him. Sack Redmayne, Hoffman, Ramsay, etc. Release Germano, Wieleart. I know same result but sacking implies some serious fault on behalf of the player, in Germano's case his body keeps breaking down.

Not being privy to the machinations in assembling the team, how JVS/JD managed to have such a a weak defence is beyond me. Granted that Hoffman was one of the better players last season but that does not say much. The lack of a LB and a decent RB is cruelling the club. The overloaded mid-field compared to the paltry defence. By nature, I am more inclined to look at defenders and although I think that Wieleart is too old for this league and Kisnorbo is a ute rather than a sports car they are still useful. If they place Germano in the long term injury list (or even better end his contract by mutual agreement) the club really ought to be looking at getting two defenders from overseas to fill the LB/RB. Surely we can poach someone from the J-League or even the English league. As for Scott Munn, I am not sure what role he has in selecting either the playing list or the coaching staff. I can't believe that SM was the sole person responsible for JVS' reappointment, and nor would I trust him to run the football department. If you look at what he should be measured on, then you have to say for this season alone is the increase in membership, the fact that Heart was profitable in all of its four seasons, have not had a major PR issue, etc. If JVS is removed then that decision is likely to be approved by the CFG.

Actually Redders's distribution tonight was probably his worst for the season. Specially in the second half. That first goal was poor positioning and rather than use his hands he try to head the ball. The penalty - well he does not save them but it was the manner in which it was conceded; and in here blame should be attributed to Garrucio. Thsi alone makes you wonder what is the point of him playing at LB.

I have never understood masochism (nor for that matter sadism) but what is even more perplexing is why I keep going into every match optimistic only to be shown how poor the team is. About 10 minutes prior to the game commencing I see three blokes, in suits, strolling through the field - immediately recognised Kalmar and then realised that the other two are Ramsay and Brown. At last I thought to myself poor performance is allowing others to come into the side. Noticed that Germano was in the starting line up and a smile crosses my face but there is always that tinge of concern. Sadly at the 20 minute mark his career came to an end. Those first 20 minutes were good - the kids enjoyed it as did my mate who has come along to watch Villa. Just minutes before the equaliser is scored I noted that the team is beginning to wilt - then they score. The second half was not as exciting as the first but at least the team is not conceding. Then Redders stuffs up. Makes me wonder what does Tando have to do to be given an opportunity but seriously how long can his goalkeeping be tolerated without consequences. Had high hopes for Garrucio but I now dread that he is going to be hot and cold. In contrast AU seem to find quality youth players and develop them, Mabil and his replacement had a field day. It remains early days in Garrucio's career but it could also be a very short career. The club needs to make some arrangement with Germano to end his career now. Then with two visa spots we need to find some experienced LB and RB. Drop Hoffman and bring back Archibald. I rather lose with Garrucio and Archibald rather than keep tolerating Ramsay and Hoffman.

I hope that he recovers soon but as I said to the kids, that was the end of his career. Let's hope that he can come to some understanding regarding the termination of his contract by mutual agreement and that Pelligrini has a couple of players to spare.

Well if JVS is shown the door who ever takes over will need a miracle. There is absolutely nothing in the known universe that will improve Hoffman, Redmayne or Murdocca. A few weeks ago I was willing to let JVS develop the group but after tonight's performance I can't see him doing it but it may be my immediate despair but not even Stephen Dank can help this lot.

Actually so far the soft injuries have been Koren, Germano, Williams and Garrucio (I don't think I missed anyone). Germano now has a long history of soft tissue injuries and looking from the outside looks to me his career is coming to a close due to his body's inability to cope with the rigours of professional football. Not sure what happened with Garrucio but he seems to be on the mend. Koren? Too old? Williams is a concern given that he has just commenced a new contract. So far this season he seems to be able to play every second match. Why?

I hope that Ramsay and Brown are the two be omitted.

Ramsey needs to be replaced altogether. Hopefully David Williams will be available and he can replace Mate who is off to the bench. Bring back Archibald. maybe start Melling. Don't know what to do with Brown, It infuriates me that there is nothing definite about Mauk, Williams, Germano and Garuccio. Cause they certainly would be in the line up, if not in the starting 11. I am tipping a draw.

You are forecasting that Man City will come last ... You are an evil man.

Technically incorrect - he has played with Barcelona, Atletico and the national squad in other countries (including South Africa). But I get your gist that he has never lived and played club football outside of Spain. However, given the amount of money he has I would be surprised if he has never holidayed outside of Spain. The English speaking bit and being away from the family is likely to have hit hard. Every time I have heard him talk in Spanish, his prose is very humble for a Spaniard. Even slightly uncomfortable. And then there are his team mates...

Well he chose to play there.

In any case this only points to the fact that although he had been announced early on for whatever reason he did not join his team mates until a few days prior to the first game. The lesson to be learnt (and geez it should not be needed to state the obvious) is that the club must assemble the team as soon as possible. Visa players need to get to Oz as soon as possible and then integrate with their team mates. I note that getting the visa paperwork and moving can take time but the concept still holds.

This is the one area I find annoying about the A-League - no reliable injury reports. It would be nice if the FFA mandated that after every weekend the clubs must produce an updated injury report and then along with the squad members a further update.

I have been thinking about whether the club should have a self imposed limit on the age of visa players but then the club may miss out on some still very skilful players taht are over the age limit.So then I thought that perhaps that the rule should be there and some exceptions be made as required but then it becomes judgemental in more ways than one and it gets too hard for mere mortals to administer. The difficult thing for the A-League clubs is that they can have one marquee player whose salary is outside the cap. The other visa players have to fit in the cap and that means the pool of talent can drastically decrease. There is no point of bringing a visa player if their quality is not markedly over and above what the club or Australia already have. It is a tough one to resolve.

well for starters, we don't know what contractual obligations Villa has with NYCF/CFG. It may well be that he does as he is told. So it is a touch unfair at this point in time and without much information to blame him for being here for only four matches. And we could still be proved wrong and he may return. As for his contribution, well it is a team sport. My observations from the AFL if you have one player so much better than the rest of the team then it never works out - Lockett at Saint Kilda, Abblett at the Suns, etc. The balance has to be there. I genuinely believe that the reason why no other striker has been signed its because the club is waiting for Josh Kennedy to finish his current contract in Japan. I have a reasonable contact that has told me that Kennedy had been offered to go to the Arab leagues but was inclined to return to Melbourne. The real problem is that our LB/RB are not A League standard.

I thought that FFA rules had been changed to reduce the number of visa players down to four. Given that Koren is here for two years and assuming that Germano qualifies as a local or gets released, that would leave only three visa players. FWIW I would release Germano - too injury prone.

Yes you are right. the combination of Beauchamp and Topor-Stanley was very effective. Having said that, Beauchamp has played for CCM, Heart and Sydney and in each instance he was released. I think the only good years that he has had was with CCM and WSW. So I was not surprised that he was dropped - I just assumed that he lost form.