moops

I would rather watch city loose 5-1 and have a moan than go to the other side.

I called it from the FFA cup game and new the club was going about things wrong, especialy how JVS had us playing. I said whoever went far in the FFA cup would have a good season, look at Perth! Out of the top 4 in the HAL, AU v Glory FFA final, Sydney went far and was out with what could be seen as as dubious descision. Victards are an abberation (though most goals this season have been OG by the opposition) but got through a couple of rounds. JVS has been poor this season.

I am a bit numb this year, I'm finding it hard to identify with city, going to take time. That said, I'll get on board the dreamtrain haha.

I understand this is a reactionary post, I've had my moments too. But the lads would be low on confidence already, we should try to encourage them. Take it out on management that we only have youth specialists in CF and LB and two mediocre GK because of poor recruiting. Also poor club culture and as Bela says, lack of a sports sphycologist. Also letting Gerard Nuss go, he is quite astute. Take it out on JVS for poor tactics and persisting with Ramsay.

Dont we randomly throw Kisnorbo up there? which has done nothing every time its happened? He would only be there to get on the end of crosses and play others in. He would be different to Kisnorbo being a midfielder, he has better creativity, passing and dribbling, his movement would be poor though compared to a natural forward and I have no idea how he would do with the ball at his feet. So you do have a point and I respect that and as I said it could be considered, but unlikely.

Not good enough, he was the reason for a few goals at the WC due to poor positioning, should have satayed in Holland where he was playing every game. I read he had a couple of poor games for WB, but it's ment Behich has all but claimed LB as his own for the NT. #silverlining

Some need a stint in the NYL. Redders Hoff, Kisnorbo, Chapman, King? Portaloo Mooy, Duff Gooch, (a striker, Marino?), Williams Subs: Velaphi, Murdocca, Mauk, Espendola, (a striker, Dekker?). I would almost consider putting portaloo upfront, someone with some muscle and can head a ball, could defend up front, but his movement would be poor I think. Duff would suit AM as he is getting older, can pass, dribble, has smarts and get in a scoring opp. Gooch had a great time on the right wing, played his best there. Williams is a winger, when playing for the all stars was a standout there, start playing him in position, a striker he is not. LB and CF we have a hard time, but I'm sick of Duga and Ramsay. So king comes in, with maybe Marino and Dekker as the sub. Serious question, what happened to Schroen? I thought he was killing it last year?

He is getting better, his positioning isn't bad unless asked to get forrward, that's not his game. He can cut in very well to overload midfield, it's just that JVS hasn't obviously noticed this stregnth and not done it in training. He needs to get better at jockying, which there are sme simple training for this. His balance can be terrible, which is something I feel is hard to teach, it's more instinctive. Positioning can be bad, but sometimes it's because of how he is asked to play, sometimes it's because of awareness, called ball watching by tv comentators. That can be worked on, it's probably the least of the worries. Bayern Munchen on youtube is great to watch, they regularly post training sessions with Pep, I really think Aloisi got the Hoff to an extent, but JVS is blindsighted. If we had a coach with half of Pep's ability the Hoff would be more inteligent and used for his stregnths.

Jvs had his tactics so wrong in the first half against Sydney, it was a lamb to sluaghter. The full backs were obviously asked to push up, like wing backs in a 352, allowing space for their wings (even though Ramsey would have been our week spot anyway), Ibini had a field day and the first goal our wing backs were half way down the field like wingers in a 442. The stupidity of allowing Sydney the space (especially when you know they like to play through their wings) is bad enough, but then think of the FB that were pushing forward, both can't cross! Hoffman can cut inside, but it was a game plan not suited to our players from the start. It would have been good if our LM played more narrow to capitalise on an extra midfield player and outnumber them, while letting Duff do his thing, but no, same old tactic that Sydney was prepared for and have players for. Then the subs I am so glad we released Schroen for the prolific scorer Brown is.......... A side note, Williams was a winger, in the all stars game he played a winger and played realy well, one cross was class. Let's realise he aint a striker, sure the experience would have been good, but with Duff and Duga being shite, play him as LW ffs. No more easy rides, there has been enough these past years, put players on notice ffs. It's his fualt there is no reconised striker, no youth promoted, while sub par players got a contract extension. Rant over

Posession game plan works if you have the cattle with high technical ability who know how to move the ball quickly forward not sideways or worse backwards, loosing momentum. Physical ability to do it for 90min is just too hard, unless you have a couple of goals advantage and can then park the bus Look at Arnold who defeated roar 2:0 with 30% possession. A league level and possession without penetration is useless. That is true and I agree but when we do attack and penetrate, we haven't looked like scoring, due to too much passing, poor passing and some poor decision making. Of course we have seen some great attacks, but not enough, with the talent this team has. To me, it has looked like for the beginning of the season, we get enough of the ball to do damage, but we waste it a lot of the time I disagree on a small point, it isn't so much that we waste possession, it's that we waste most of the limited opportunities that come with our possession. I agree man. We don't look threatening in front of goal do we As far as pressing goes, you don't need to press constantly, you can press in a way that directs opposition play, you might stand off to lure opposition to pass to a weak link/ area before pressing to force an error. Posession means bugger all unless it's effective, otherwise you're just playing keeping offs.

What are you on about? Who has colonised either the Roman or Egiptians? Look as far back even to the Sumarians, they have only been reduced to a single nation (could be argued Iraq) Iran, your argument has no proof. Even your France Algeria example has no premise, sure it pertains to the 'Rise and fall theory', but nothing suggests what you say is true. If you are suggesting that an amalgamation of culture is like to anti-colonisation, you need to read some history, it made these empires stronger if anything. Edit: correcting.

Is this a bit offensive to anyone else, sure enough first under the new monica, but still.

Would have thought there being multiple better options at left back might get in Aziz' way. Good looking to be injury prone could get in his way, but has by far the most potential of any young Australian centre back. I'd say Babalj is the one i have pinned down to be a regular for the Socceroos. Insanely talented just needs to get his head and body right. There really is only Davidson (you could say Bailey Write, but he's more a cb to my knowledge) standing in Behich's way. Azis has played a few pre-season games and gotten big wraps, if he has a good season and plays a few games, he could leapfrog Davidson. Babalj seems to be fit again and banging in goals this pre-season, it's looking promising and I hope he gets his chances this year.

same here The infamous heart_fan10 You just called him a crim.

I missed this game sadly, but from comments above it sounds more positive. Our goals seem to be coming mostly from set pieces, maybe JVS is doing a lot of training in this department? As many goals are scored via set piece and we did concede a lot last year.

Davidson was brilliant at the World Cup and he's started a few games at West Brom already this season, I think he's easily the best answer to our long-running left back conundrum. Aziz is a great player when he's on (which was pretty much never last season) but at the same time he's always been a bit of a liability defensively and is probably still a little raw for the Socceroos. Some encouraging performances in Turkey could change everything though, I hope he does well over there. Davidson was apparently pretty ordinary in his last game for WBA, whilst Azis had a bit of a blinder. I don't think Davidson has it tied down and if Azis can make LB his own in a good squad like Bursaspoor, he must be in with a chance. I too hope he has a good season and gets a lot of game time, I would love it if he was a socceroo and it would be fun to hear tards complain.

I think the side is stronger than last year, for reasons you pointed out. Though we could have done with both fullbacks and keeper, a DM or retention of Orlando would have been ace as well.I hope Chapman gets better, as much as I like Weilaart, he is getting noticeably slower. I'm not too keen on the style of play, but I've had my rants, just have to wait and see on that.

I'm pretty sure he played in the Asian cup qualifiers last time, as the team was mostly HAL players as they played out of FIFA recognised international dates.

It may also show how many people are excited by the FFA cup?

Great to see Aziz not only starting, but playing well too. It was disappointing, to say the least, to see him leave for Turkey as a fringe socceroo with his career on the rise, only to return a year later bereft of confidence and (even worse) into the clutches of Aloisi. Now that he's broken through to the first team, I hope he can maintain this start and make that left back position his own. Nothing wrong with Turkish football and for a team like Bursaspore, is pretty big. If he gets more games, he is more than a chance

Great to see Aziz not only starting, but playing well too. It was disappointing, to say the least, to see him leave for Turkey as a fringe socceroo with his career on the rise, only to return a year later bereft of confidence and (even worse) into the clutches of Aloisi. Now that he's broken through to the first team, I hope he can maintain this start and make that left back position his own. He has great determination that's for sure and I hope he gets more starts and takes LB from Davidson. They both started similar in being forwards, yet both became LB (for different reasons), though I would rather Azis.

Not much wrong with Orlando.

Aziz, Babalj and Good will be Socceroos, only FFA(NSW) bias will get in their way. Just hope Babalj gets in the first team and scores a few braces, or Taggart will be before him.

In that, Maluda and almedia thanks.

It is totally a coaching issue, players being selected for one. Two, the movement and transision in attack is awful as you have pointed out. Defensively there is no plan, it is very reactive, without structure it's hard to single out the odd one out, when there is no plan. I love Trani, his tweets are brilliant, but his senior I have doubts in.