Jacques Le Cube

I don't mind 3-5-2 as a plan B but I will be disappointed to see us persist with it, especially against teams who play 4-3-3. I have attached a couple of pages from Jonathan Wilson's book Inverting the Pyramid which has a part called the decline of 3-5-2. Most teams today play 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 is not effective against it due to 3 centre backs marking 1 centre forward. Also if the wingers in a 4-3-3 play high up the park and force the wingbacks to sit back it becomes 5-3-2. The other example shows 3-5-2 being very effective against 4-4-2. 3-5-2 can be effective but if the opposition coach knows what he is doing it can be exploited.

Either I've got myself a good source or Outside90 are trawling this forum for content.

Have just been told that John Utaka, David Navarro, Yossi Benayoun and Nemanja Vidic are all keen to play in Australia and have been offered to City

Thanks for the memories Willo. Especially that hat trick in Wellington

I read on here ages ago that during training JVS spent more time with the forwards and Trani was the coach who worked more with the defence. Does anybody know exactly what Trani and Jolic are responsible for on matchdays? Do they work as line coaches? Or do they do most of their work during the week?

Hard to get excited about signing a winger and #10 from the worst team in the league, but I hope they do well.

In the final 4 matches of last season, Koren was fully fit and played in his preferred role. He was completely anonymous in each match. We won 1 match and lost the other 3.

If only we did when we had the chance. Ange was on the BBL coverage the other night and said that ante would make a hell of a coach one day

I think it would make us a desirable destination, but there is a fair bit of interest in the A-League from overseas coaches already. We hear in the media when agents are flogging players to the A league for marquee spots and guest stints but agents are also indicating to Australian clubs the interest of foreign coaches. How often have we heard clubs say they are conducting a 'Worldwide Search' and there has been interest from all over the world in a vacancy, only to turn around and sign Stubbins, Lowe, Walmsley etc. I can understand clubs not keen on signing foreign coaches, for every Gombau there is a Coolen.

Okon is worse, he is lucky that the FFA have invested a lot of time and money into his education. I wonder how long he can continue to get away with bad results and worse football. Anyway, JVS's player selection has been hamstrung by injuries and suspension so I am not too worried or critical about that. His tactics on the other hand... I wish the club tried to get Pacheta while he was in Melbourne last month.

I was told a South American, chances are its bullshit but thats the rumour.

I dont think redmayne is a better keeper this season, he is playing with a competent defence so he has a lot less to do. He has only made 23 saves compared to Sorensens 54. Our defence as a team is just rubbish.

I hope this isn't true. I heard a rumour a couple of days ago that CFG already have their JVS replacement sorted but won't pull the trigger until the end of the season. If CFG are also entertaining offers for our best players in January, they have written off the season. Mind you it's all conjecture, Tando is apparently being pursued but he was in the squad tonight

Fair point. Maybe Chapman was meant to be on the bench, while Hughes and Paddy started. I assumed JVS would want Chapman to learn next to Hughes. Would be interested to know what happened with Richardson, I thought there was a bit of a buzz around him during pre-season.

I assume this was the role that Hughes was earmarked for. I think Hughes and Chapman were supposed to be the 1st choice pairing with PK as backup. It is frustrating knowing that Hughes was brought in because he suits the way we want to play but can't get a start over Paddy who, for all his qualities, does not suit the way we want to play.

I dont think better individual players will have a big impact. If we keep playing with a very narrow back 4 and our wingers don't track back, our opponents will keep switching play easily and threatening from wide areas.

Aren't we all

Scheduling makes it difficult, I'd prefer the players spent christmas with their families rather than training in Brisbane.

He is inverted.

The media doesn't write about it because that would require work. JA controlled the narrative after our last meeting with the whole 'anti-football' thing. He makes those comments in his post game presser and thats all davutovic, hassett et all write about for a week. His comments were ridiculous, the challenges on Broich were no more or less cynical than those on Mooy and Novillo and the match was relatively even (and shit). He has done a similar thing this week by describing our attack as the best in the league, its a comment he can use as an excuse if they are poor tonight. All the while deflecting any criticism of his coaching. Classic self preservation as always. He pulled the same shit at Heart, the media still describes his first coaching stint as unlucky rather than an abject failure on every level because he gives catchy soundbites to our hack football media.

Which made Gallop an odd appointment by the FFA. He made his name in crisis management but soccer in Australia was reasonably stable when he took the job. There was commentary when he was appointed (i think it may have been from Roy Masters) that the FFA should be looking to appoint someone who was bold, innovative and had vision. Which is the opposite of Gallop (reactionary and pragmatic). And look what happens 3 years later when problems are left to fester.

Got this horrible feeling that Franjic will start . . . on the wing.

If the pitches in Melbourne are identical to the pitches in Manchester then this could be the crux of the problem. If a pitch has originally been designed for Manchester and its climate, it probably won’t work in Melbourne (which is obviously much hotter and dryer). The soil used in sports ground typically has a high sand content so that it drains quicker. The flipside is that it can allow more evaporation to occur because the soil can’t hold moisture very well and is therefor harder. If the pitches are harder than they should be, it may explain why players are re-injuring themselves part way through rehab. The players are fine doing strength and mobility work in the gym, but break down when they start doing work on the training pitch. The physios/sport scientists aren’t able to correctly manage the training loads on recovering players because training on the hard pitch is more physically demanding then they planned. Long time lurker first time poster, I normally keep my inane ramblings to myself but this is an area I have a small amount of expertise in.