jw1739

Michael trialled with a number of clubs overseas last off-season. He's sensible enough to realise that his best option at age 25 is to re-sign with the Heart. Any overseas club who does really want him will cough up a reasonable transfer offer, and he knows Heart won't stand in his way. So it's a win-win. Michael has a secure future for the next two years, and if he achieves his ambition then he knows he will go with Heart's blessing and we will pocket a few dollars for our club. Good work all round I say. So, at this stage, we have contracted for next season: Andrew Redmayne; Michael Marrone, Brendan Hamill, Curtis Good, Aziz Behich; Jonny Germano, Jason Hoffman, Fred, Nick Kalmar; Mate Dugandzic, David Williams, Eli Babalj, Adrian Zahra. 13 in total. The next few weeks are going to be interesting...

Precisely my point. If we'd had a spot vacant we could have signed him on just such a short-term contract. Win-win. Always keep a spot vacant because you never know what opportunities might be around the corner.

My guess would be yes. The package is probably $550,000 cash plus $200,000 in the fringe benefits, bring it up to $750,000. Seen it all before in industry. FB can include airfares to place of origin, schoolfees, all that sort of thing. Completely unnecessary when you look at the results obtained on the field.

IMO the most important thing now is to get our new Head Coach sorted before we sign anyone. Just signing someone because they become available is not the way to go. You should have a plan that you're working to, not do things ad hoc. Secondly, we should NOT fill up our player list. If we had left a spot vacant at the start of this season we could have signed Adrian Madaschi for 17-20 weeks as a player rather than an injury replacement, knowing when we did so that we would release him as and when an offer came through from Jeju. Had we done that I'm sure we would have had a better season - he was one of the keys to our run before Christmas. If you keep one or two spots unfilled you have plenty of flexibility. So, get our new coach on board, let him review the players coming out of contract, let him understand what the budget limitations are, and go from there. We have to learn from the mistakes made in our first two years, not just repeat them. P.S. JvS is reportedly on between $550,000 and $750,000 per year. I noted that he also drives a Porsche SUV, no doubt provided by the club... Granted that the money he's paid comes from the syndicate, but let's not make this type of mistake again either. Completely unnecessary to pay this kind of money.

Agreed. Think the club needs to tread carefully on this stuff. Kind of hurts to buy two Premium A memberships before the season starts (i.e. show some loyalty and commitment) and then find I could have seen almost as many matches at half the price if I'd waited for the specials. As per last season.

I don't see anything wrong with the idea, so why not put it to the club as a suggestion? Could be combined with a function perhaps (but at a price the real fans can afford). But, surely, what we need to focus on for the next couple of years is getting results on the pitch and most of all getting results on the pitch at AAMI? All the other stuff is great, but I have a feeling that so far it's detracted from the focus being where it's needed - winning. Winning is what will bring people to Heart games, increase membership, bring income, players, publicity and sponsorship.

Absolutely. We sign this young lad, 17 appearances for Australia U-17 with seven goals, and his career stops dead. We have to ask why the hell are we taking him on, and then trying to convert him into a fullback. What's this about - other than this JvS obsession with converting everyone in sight into something that they're not? Sure, there's no harm whatsoever in extending a player's capabilities. But if you need a fullback, sign a fullback, and when you have a fullback play him as a fullback. If you need a winger, sign a winger, and when you have a winger play him as a winger. We've been bagging a few players on this Forum. Mea culpa. But when you stand back and look at the whole rather than the pieces, how many of our players are actually playing in the roles that match their capabilities?

No bother. Zac Walker comes from Albury, Jeremy Walker from Ulverstone in Tasmania. Of course they could be related, but it's never been mentioned so presumably the answer is 'no.' Jeremy is being used as a wing-back at the moment, and he gets forward regularly, crosses well and has a good shot on him. So also a winger. FWIW I rate him very highly. He's very enthusiastic - when he's on the bench is right behind the boys 'Come on boys, lift, lift!' Can be a professional footballer if he wants to be. See http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/02/01/203871_soccer.html

The present incumbent is/was not highly credentialled in any of those. I'd rather have a manager who has a good football brain and gets the best out of the players he's got rather than someone who's obsessed with squeezing his players into a system that does not produce results on the field. Dealing with the media is something anyone can learn - a 3-day course is all that's required. Done it myself when I had to front the media on a regular basis. Harmony? - the list of people sacrificed on the altar of obsession starts with Joe Mirabella and isn't finished yet. Arthur Papas fits Melbourne Heart like a glove. It is inspirational to even just read about him: http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/Arthus-Pappas-the-coach-Oakleigh-Cannons-FC%20

...and immediately put an ice-pack on his left groin area. I doubt that he will play against GCU. Why risk it? If we can't beat them without Fred then quite frankly we don't deserve to. Taseski is probably fitter, and we have Patterson and Blumgart from the youth team. If we just keep bringing Fred back too early we will get nothing out of him for the next two years either. He may be another Aloisi - someone we don't try to play every game. Each player needs to be managed as an individual.

There's no suggestion whatever of non-payment. You simply stand the guy aside. He has indicated that he does not want to be with us next season, not the other way around, so why not give AM a chance? To say the least there have been some very odd selection decisions these past couple of weeks. I just cannot see that AM can do any worse than JvS at this point. http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/Heart-on-the-verge/45315

People in glass houses should not throw stones.

Not from what I saw. He looks fine. Thanks Ando for some independent thoughts on the game. It's easy to get carried away by one's own assessments. I must agree that I also like Brodie Patterson, hard working and has a hell of a shot on him as well. I mentioned Blumgart mainly because I noted how hard he worked to get himself far enough back so that his first touch of the ball was forwards. So many of of our players (very obvious in the seniors) have a first touch that is backwards, which only gives the opposition more time to get back to crowd us out. #3 in the NYL squad is Kristian Konstantinidis On the formation? I don't really mind how we mix it up, but clearly just slavish persistence with 4-3-3 has proven that it just doesn't work, and I think we need to be far more fluid in our tactical approach. Even during season 2010-11 we talked (on the RWU forum) about having a 'Plan B'. Never has it been more obvious than now that our on-field tactics have to change.

It was a disappointing result. We were well on top in the first half, especially when they went down to 10 men. A very typical predatory goal by Zac Walker, but we began to slow our build-up down (just like the seniors) until it became ponderous and predictable. We were very flat immediately after the break, Adelaide lifted the tempo with Teeboy Kamara on, and were very dangerous on the counter. So really, the style of play adopted by the club is bringing the same sorts of results - everyone has worked out how to play against us. We brought on Alon Blumgart and he lifted us, but there were just too many long balls hit in hope, and forwards trying to dribble three or four defenders - losing it in the end of course. Deja vu. However we could have snatched it at the end when a ball went begging well inside the 6-yard box but there was no-one there to tap it home. Fred was on for about 30 minutes. TBH he didn't do a lot, and when he went off he immediately put ice on his left groin area. I don't think he's ready yet. Taseski didn't make an impression on me one way or the other, but good to see him back on the field. Adrian Zahra was on for the full 90 but IMO he's trying to do too much by himself. My stand-outs today were Jeremy Walker and Alon Blumgart. IMO the problem with our 4-3-3 is that we push the RB and LB too far forward. The opposition just crowd us out and wait for us to lose the ball and then they hit us quick and hard on the counter, exposing the two CBs. IMO what we should be doing is 4-2-4...creating the width in our attacks by bringing the wingers back deeper rather than the full-backs pushing up. We'd have more more bodies in defence, and two strikers up in the business end playing off each other. It's just so noticeable that we are exposed at the back time and time again, and up front we don't create clear shots at goal. Goes for both teams, not just the NYL. Anyway, enough football for this weekend.

My point from the moment he announced that he was rejecting the club's offer. It is standard practice in business and industry when people in certain key roles resign - they are asked to clear their desk and leave immediately. Ante Milicic can handle the last six in a caretaker role. And I agree. Arthur Papas looks better and better. I can't see we have anything whatsoever to lose by giving him the chance. And what a story if he made a go of it!

Agree. We're all hellishly frustrated at the way the wheels have fallen off. We have four home games left, three we should win if we get it right. We need more support for the boys, not less. So let's get there in numbers. And, yes. We need to watch what's being said about individuals. I'm thinking more about some of the posts concerning family members of club people. Just because this is an internet forum doesn't mean we can say what we like. Might be a good idea if moderators purged the site of certain threads.

Pretty much consensus on this I would say. Also, ALL those whose contracts are expiring at the end of this season should be critically reviewed in terms of their performance against what the club believed were their capabilities when they were signed. And there should be no fear or favour in this process. Those who are assessed as not measuring up should be released. Our new coach then should match our style of play to the capabilities of the new squad, not try and shoehorn players into a predetermined mould. I'd much prefer us to go into next season with the minimum sized squad of 21, leaving us some room to move during the season. And try to get a decent guest player for 10 games to spark the place up a bit. I would suggest that in Jeremy Walker we have our future RB.

Could it just be uncertainty? Often happens with a lame duck leader. IMO JvS really ought to stand aside, and quite frankly I'm surprised that the club has not done that. He's already said that his future is not with the club, which means he doesn't want to be here, so that really leaves all the players insecure and without direction. We just can't drift for six more matches - there are implications for next year and beyond in terms of things like membership if we do that.

No-one's going to desert - you know that. Just people giving vent to their frustrations, that's all. Only natural under the circumstances. Never forget after the very first match against CCM one of the blokes behind me saying that it was going to be tough being a Heart fan - and so it has turned out. Perhaps JvS can turn things around in the next six games, but possibly he's so wedded to his personal football philosophies that they cloud his judgement. I've heard so much about what he's brought to the club, but if we are brutally honest, the results on the field have not lived up to the rhetoric.

Or is it slavish adherence to 4-3-3...trying to fit players into a "system." Shouldn't we try to find what suits the players we have rather then the other way round?

'A light knock in training' wasn't it? I sometimes wonder about our injury management. Seven games left and we need about 12 points to qualify for finals.

Warrior, it's hard to say. Zac Walker is a good striker. What I'd call a 'predatory striker' - kind of guy who's right there when the ball comes back off the post or the bar and he puts it in. Every team needs someone like that. Seven goals this season, our leading scorer, and from not too much game time. I've seen most of the home NYL games and I'd say he's been used as a substitute in all (or most) of them, coming on as CF. So the issue about making it to the seniors is probably game time more than anything. I have no idea at all why JvS persists with playing Maycon anywhere anytime. He's occupied the CF position in the last two NYL games I've seen, for 60 minutes both times, and has been completely and utterly ineffective. Perhaps JvS works along the lines that if he persists with M. long enough, the law of averages means he'll have a good game at some stage...but what the effect is is to keep players like Zac Walker on the sidelines when what he needs is game time. No idea about next season. I'd imagine the first NYL player to get a senior contract will be Goodwin. A lot will depend on our new coach, how many seniors are released, and the balance of the squad that's left, plus decisions on imports to the club etc.

Warrior, I think what you're looking for is a site where you can get information and news about the Heart incorporating a forum that is focussed more on discussion than banter? I agree that the old RWU site did fill this niche, but in reality there weren't that many contributors and a decision was made to establish this MHFC Supporters Forum site to try to bring more people into the conversations. Give this a bit more time, because we're still in our infancy! My beef has always been with the club website. It really is the pits. To some extent, the RWU and MHFC Supporters sites are trying to do the job that the club website should be doing. Of course, all the clubs have to conform to the FFA template, but really - a club website that cannot even list the senior players correctly and has no list of the NYL squad just shows that someone at Heart HQ is not doing their job. And how can the club itself carry a match report saying that David Williams was sent off in a NYL game when it was actually Josh Groenewald? For all matters Melbourne Heart I would have expected to turn to the club website, and so would potential new supporters casual or otherwise, but sadly that is not the case. So the only option is to make this MHFC Supporters site work and appeal to as many people as possible.

Zahra, Kalmar and Hamill are all contracted for next year, so they will be with us. Ibrahim and Taseski both come out of contract at the end of this season. Zahra has been out of contention for the seniors all season because he is still recovering from the injury sustained in that appalling tackle by Muscat in the third derby last season. Kalmar has been out with a back injury for much of this season, and likewise Taseski with a broken foot. I have seen both Adrian Zahra and Kamal Ibrahim playing for the NYL side. Just on what I've seen, Adrian has a way to go before he is going to push again for the seniors. I don't think anyone can have such an injury and not require quite a long time to recover from the psychological impact of it. Kamal is an enigma. 17 games for Australia U-17s and seven goals, so great things were expected of him when he joined the club, but his career seems to have stopped in its tracks. It may be our 4-3-3 system that contrains him - I don't know. When I saw him recently I thought he was playing as well as he has done for a long time. I was impressed with what I saw of Klim Taseski in the pre-season - reminds me a bit of Germano. I would think that both Ibrahim and Taseski are on the 50:50 list for contract renewal.

After the result tonight, the task ahead of us is pretty clear. The three teams immediately below us are within touching distance. We need results from now on. Funny league this. Doesn't really matter where you are at the half-way point. If you have a good second half of the season, you'll probably make the finals. This is another point to note about strategies and tactics for the future - manage your squad better, especially returns from injury. Don't bring back players too quickly as you're going to need them fit at the business end of the season.