citymad

Atkinson may play RW for Nabbout and Galloway at RB Garuccio LB. Atkinson has more experience then tilio ATM so this seems to make sense to me. Atkinson 60 min on return then bring on Tilio to help get his confidence up again. I actually think he will be good for us with more games. Tsubaki to Luna position IMO and he and metcalfe should switch L/R regularly as this seemed to keep the ADL midfield guessing and having to readjust in defence. veart admitted this in his interview.

when is the next transfer window? is it Jan or Feb for A league?

Not a bad start to the season for Metcalfe. Player of the match, Goal of the week and Team of the week.

Metcalfe definitely ahead of Berenguer for sure, and possibly Garuccio over Galloway. IMO I would put Tilio ahead of Noone because i am not a fan of Noone, however that will not happen. Are we still waiting on a Euro CB? i recall something about all squads need to be established by 02 Jan, otherwise clubs need to wait until the Feb Transfer window - If this is correct then player should be announced any day?

Yes i agree it will be extremely conjested but i think CFG will prioritise this tournament. It is part of the CFG larger plan IMO. th AFC has been suggested the hub concept for 2021 since Sep 20, so i think that will be the case (Doha?). The prelimmay be in NSW as Shan united are more likely to get permission to arrive and leave in a 'bubble'. Anyway Just my opinion. It is going to be a very tough season and of course no matter what additional challenges come for participation in this tournament i think City will persue it.

We are now locked in to play Cerezo Osaka (Japan) if we beat Shan United (Myanmar) in the ACL playoffs. I see Adam Taggart has just signed with Cerezo Osaka so it would be an interseting head to head between the two inform Aussie strikers vying for Graham Arnold's nod in lead up to WC friendlies and prep games! Oh crap its Nagoya - just realised as third, not Cerezo?

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/shock-move-melbourne-city-to-relocate-in-bid-for-more-fans-20201214-p56nda.html Its definite then....

Cool, would love to hear what you make of our efforts. Are the talkincity lads going to stream it or broacast it in someway?

Actually, you dont know that this isn't the case. The excessivly long pre season and Aussie heat is not to the Europeans liking in general. This is the second season Berenguer has been out injured in the lead up to the A league start.

I am totally sick of waiting for him to do anything at all. Seems like he wants to bludge through pre season with a fake injury or low level complaints only to appear a week or so before the season begins. Shit attitude. He did the same thing last season by the way. he can go in my opinion. the sooner the better.

This is your starting eleven. Not 'our'.

From Wikipedia: Qualifying:19 January – 2 February 2021Competition proper:15 February – 27 November 2021 however as I understand it the ACL are seriously looking into a repeat of the hub setting for the 2021 series. That brings huge complications. I have not see our draw for AL yet so not sure which games are affected.

I have seen Metcalfe score these type of goals in his NYL time. Fully capable of these types of shots on left and fight foot. Hopefully he scores some like this in city colours. He should definitely shoot more often. Brilliant goal. hopefully the hamstring thing he seemed to have is nothing. We are on a winner with this lad with his growing confidence. Rami Looked sharp also. Lets hope he just misses for the jets and gets his eye in when he returnes to city the following season.

SMH states start date Dec 27. Like I said fox have demanded this as the start time. I was well informed and believed it was accurate information. The Sydney Morning Herald article and the Djite tweet affirm what I have heard.

The new season will start late December. Fox will demand that timing. If the A league cannot come to an arrangement for how the format will occur, whether it’s another hub or special permits for interstate travel, Fox will claim a contract breach and cancel the broadcast agreement thus saving 30 million and walking away from the league. There is enough time to plan for isolation requirements etc but a cash strapped FFA would push more costs to owners to complete the season. My fear is that some owners like CCM and Phoenix would not agree to the increase in costs. The required interstate travel is an issue for all the codes but it is just that A league will be back sooner when restrictions are still tight and some borders shut. Also other codes have more funds for a repeat hub format if necessary. IMO the vic teams and Perth and Phoenix will need to relocate so that the Competition can go ahead.

Our formation laste year did not really include a classic 10. IMO we had 2 '8's. Berenguer/Metcalfe/Luna paired. I think we will continue woth this for the upcoming season. We played a single sitting 6. I do not see us playing a classic 10. Some articles i have read suggest the single 10 is dissapearing and not part of the modern tactical strategy. I don't mean that there are not players who act as creative playmekers, just that the structure of the 433 and its variants rarely (not Never) use this. We have only ever used it when we were protecting a lead or a draw for a few minutes at the end of games. The other part of this is that we have the LB sliding in to midfield in attack and this pushes both 8's higher into box area (ie dangerous) on both sides. This creates more requirements of the opposition to defend and possible L and R atcking options. So IMO we will not be trying to get a classic singly operating 10.

Totally agree with this. I think with our aerial dominance we could have mixed it up by having Noone continue down wing and whip it in. Delbridge and Good and Griffiths would be up to that task. Metcalfe and Berenguer have scored good headers last season too. 'We had it in our locker' as RS would constantly say. But it would have created more chances and onvercome the predictability. Maybe Paddy will add that to our attacking approach.

watch this space i guess

I think the kid's confidence has also copped a hit. Ever since the infamous "he is better than me" from Arzani himself and luke Bratten' s "i think he is better than Arzani" comments, ramy has never been on a platform to be his own player. constant comparisons just never helped. IMO a loan to one of these OS clubs as mentioned in the media or U23 loan to lower A league club.

yes i have read this myself and believe it is happening

If you include the academy years, Metcalfe is our longest serving player. Both players contracts expire in the same season 21/22.

he is the captain.. unless paddy demotes him and makes Jmac captiain. But it is not often the captian is left out of the starting eleven if they are fit. Who do you propose as an aternative captain.

I am 100% certain that this is the case for Atkinson. Worst case scenario for him is that city presented an offer that has included a 10% wage cut to a contract. Perth cant' match that at all and are in the vicinity of 30 - 50% wage cuts. An opportunistic contract exit was seized upon by Atkinson. At the time he signed for Perth he wasnt playing in the first XI. Fast forward 5 months and he was firmly in City's plans and probably regretted the perth agreemen. In addition the Perth coach who signed him has left. That was also probably a concern for him as he may not have been favoured by the new coach. Glad he stayed and hopefully can keep up the standard he reached in late finals series. Nabbout issues different with his Family circumstances etc. i still think he is an upgrade on Noone and Wales.

Is this "Homegrown player" even a thing any more?

I am ok if it is Nabbout. Like others have said he will not take a visa spot, he knows the league, has some good attributes, although he seems to be a confidence player so I am not sure paddy will get the best out of him because paddy has to be the alpha and that shoots others confidence down.