neio

Very uninspiring, that's the only way to describe it The one thing that annoys me, and it has for a few years is the complete lack of a different option when things arnt going our way. Nothing against Jmac, he worked hard with no opportunity to do anything but we need something different at times. When victory were good and they had Berisha, they also had Kenny atihu. He was barely good enough but he was 200cm tall and gave them something different if it was needed and created or scored a few goals just due to his size and ability in the air. Being a back up for Maclaren would be tough job cause opportunity would be limited, but you can't tell me there isn't a seasoned NPL player or younger player who has a skill set that we could use when needed that would jump at opportunity like this. Last night they were happy for us to pass it around in front of them knowing their goal was never under real threat

I imagine the 3 Visa players we use in this one is Arslan, Sakhi and Reis. Natel not ready and Soupy misses out. Young - Talbot Reis Good Behich - Ugarkovic Sakhi Arslan - Lopane Maclaren Jakolis is my guess at the 11

Clunky is the best word I can use to describe that, nothing ever looked like it was flowing. Defence was abysmal at times, letting them through way too easily. We only really got fully in top when they were spent. Positive is that we won and progress and I think Arslan and Sakhi are going to be fun to watch, but we can't play that poorly and expect to win again this season

Absolutely never in doubt, not sure what everyone was worried about

Souprayen is showing very little to say he is anywhere near Lam replacement

I think if we are to sign another visa defender, ideally he needs to be cheap and can play across a back 4 anywhere. Someone in the mould (I'm not meaning get Gomez, he was just the 1st guy I thought of who does the role that people would know) Joe Gomez at Liverpool, plays as a CB if needed, plays as a RB if needed and at a stretch can play LB of absolutely needed. In a salary capped league with squad restrictions, players like this are very valuable

Few things from former city guys Denis Genreau's team drew Liverpool and a trip to Anfield in the Europa League Dean Bouzanis has moved back to Sutton United on loan Glover, Atkinson, Metcalfe, Genreau, McGree and O'Neill join Leckie and Behich in the Socceroos squad

Lopane scored the winning goal in Australia Cup, not Caputo

Jordy Bos had surgery to remove his appendix, out for 6 weeks (which seems a long time) and will miss the Socceroos game against Mexico

Our 4 triple up opponents are Victory, WU, CCM and Perth with having 2 away games against the interstate duo. Not bad in terms of opponents, but ideally would have 2 away games against the Victorian teams to minimise travel, especially 2 trips to Perth isn't ideal

Player numbers for season announced

I actually really rate this signing. He was really good for Newcastle when he was the only defensive mid, he then went to WSW with the coach and they had 45 central mids and while I thought he was pretty good there was too many moving parts around him for it to work. Last season at Wellington he got paired with Rufer and it was ok, but nothing special. Coming to our system which will require him to play more of his Newcastle role, he should be able to control midfield and let the other 2 get forward. He isn't Aidan ONeill, but he is as good as we're going to get from an Australian player in the position in this league

Looks like he is off to Middlesbrough in the Championship, fantastic move for him if he can get starting minutes

Gametime I would say, he probably knows that he is stuck behind a few of he stayed here. He goes to a club that I honestly couldn't tell you who their strikers were by the end of season, gets an opportunity. Good luck to him, unfortunately when we are the best club with the best youth as well not all of them are going to make it to the 1st team regulars, even if they are talented enough to do so

Off to WSW to link back up with Rudan is the strong rumours

Lam would be a really big loss, in a salary cap league with visa restrictions. A visa CB that you know will give you a 7/10 at a minimum every week is crucial. The exciting thing is that we could have up to 3 or 4 empty visa spot and recently we have a very good record of bringing in very solid players.

The worst thing that happened was the Burgess red in the semi, Rado thought the 11 in that game was the way to go from a good result where we played against 10 for 75 minutes. It was clear all season that we played our best football when the 11 was Glover Talbot Lam Good Bos ONeill Berisha VanDerVenne Tilio Leckie and Maclaren. Why there was a reluctance to play them all when all were fit is something I'll never understand. CCM had their 11 set for weeks, Rado tried to get tricky with his and when it fell apart he had to move too many pieces to get it back to what it should be and it couldn't be done.

I don't know if it's cause of the movement of the game or what but I honestly don't feel anything that we lost. I was shattered when we lost the Sydney Gf, similar last year but I just don't have that at the moment. Clearly would have preferred to win, but we were horrible apart from a 10 minute patch after half time. The final 30 was Melbourne Heart stuff, it's as bad as I've seen in a city jersey

NZ journo who when it was announced, said that Sail was off to Perth, Lewis to Macarthur and Ugarkovic to City. The first 2 have been announced as correct, so every chance Ugarkovic one is true as well

Strong rumours he is heading to KVC Westerlo in Belgium. They are currently in a Europa Conference League Spot and their current LB is on loan from Club Brugge. Looks like a very good move if it eventuates, goes to a reasonable league to a team playing European football with a real good chance of getting starting minutes

2 Tilio 1 Reis

My immediate thought is meh he is bloody old, but the more I think about it if he is a 12-24 month stop gap until the kid starting with N is ready than maybe it will be fine. He is still one of the better keepers

2 Maclaren 1 Berenguer

Id try and be smart with team selection this week, and go back to full strength for the wsw game. I'd go something like. Glover - Galloway Reis Hall Bos - Best youth CDM Berisha Berenguer - Tilio Raph Nabbout I think that's still strong enough for a good performance, but gives some key players a week off

2 Glover 1 Berenguer