Murfy1

" Reid to the Rescue for Red and Whites By Aidan Ormond Jan 17 2012 13:12 EXCLUSIVE: Former Adelaide United midfielder Paul Reid arrived this morning in Melbourne for talks with Heart and is poised to sign a deal with the red and whites. With star player and club captain Fred out for four to six weeks and three players set for Olyroo duty, Melbourne Heart are in need of reinforcements. Reid, 32, won an NSL title with Wollongong and played in the UK for a number of year before being part of the Reds successful ACL campaign of 2008. Controversial Reds coach Rini Coolen got rid of Reid last season but now the player has the chance to resurrect his A-League career... More to come " http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/229033,reid-to-the-rescue-for-red-and-whites.aspx

This is very true and its the main way Heart are different from their first season. Last season we kept the ball and would build up and attack (not always efficiently, but its the way we played and it did win games). This season we keep the ball less and try more often to quickly get behind defences. Sometimes its good, but against tough defences which sit deep it means we are less able/practiced in actually building up a play and beating a defence to score. The Mariners have the toughest defence in the league only conceding some 11 goals. We'll learn if we can unlock defences and actually create chances this season or not. My concern is the young players aren't up for a good possession game which can unlock defences. Hopefully my concern is completely unfounded.

Some experimentation might be good. I don't think we need to experiment up front though. The defence and midfield could perhaps be altered. Try playing 3-4-3 again? Colosimo may be back, or perhaps Germano could play in a back 3 with Good and Hamill? Sarkies, Behich, Marrone, Thompson midfield then maybe? I have no idea what we should try given the circumstances. It will be a tough game, but I'm more concerned about playing against Brisbane on Sat than Mariners on Weds. Just need to get the ball to the final third, create a few chances and take them, like we did against Brisbane. I'm not expecting much so if we come away with anything, a decent performance or a point, I'll be happy.

Memory a little fuzzy of it, but I think a ball was squared from the left wing with a bit of pace and instead of being booted anywhere it just came off the defenders feet/legs and went into goal.

I'm under the impression Heart only has so much to spend on signings, which is why all of our signings have been smart buys. For instance, getting Williams, a player from a club going defunct, signing the cheap and quality AIS defender Good, bringing Fred back to Melbourne and discovering the real find Germano. We did think we might need to sign a new striker early in this season, so its definitely only with hindsight that Williams is appearing to be superfluous. I do think another central defender would be a useful signing, but if Colosimo comes back soon then it shouldn't be an issue. And according to Scott Munn he should be back soon: "And I think Simon [Colosimo] will have a test and if he's not available on Wednesday, he'd be available for Saturday. That's our first goal," http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/228859,hearts-transplant-woes-for-injured-fred.aspx . We'll come good without a signing I reckon.

Exactly right. First half we could of been another goal or two up and the football was incredible. It was the first time I've seen the youth team play (apart from at Family Day) and it was as (if not more) entertaining than what you see at AAMI Park (at least, whats been on offer at AAMI lately). Great ball movement and player movement, a lot of 1 and 2 touch passes and good attacking football. Second half started a little slow, but then after a triple substitution what, 5 or 10 minutes into the second half?? What the hell? Performances became terrible. Substituting a defender as well, shaking up the back line with the replacement playing poorly. That first goal we scored was a sublime individual effort. I think it was by Bosnjak. Hope to see more from him. Kamal Ibrahim had a top game IMO. Made a mistake or two towards the end of the game though. He is nearing a call up I reckon. Zahra played 90 minutes but he really wasn't in the game for a number of them. He certainly has lost a bit of pace, which hopefully he'll regain. Good to see the youth team play and will definately try to get down and check out more matches.

My diagnosis: There were no positives to take out of that game today. We seem to play our worst garbage against Perth. Mediocrity all over the place. The only thing to take away is that we are in a rut and will probably have a rough time against Brisbane and Central Coast. Good and Hamill were on the ball way too much. There wasn't good help from the midfield trio to get the ball up the pitch so consequently we hoofed it to the wings a lot. Sometimes though Good and Hamill had options but just went for the ambitious long passes. Thompson has been ordinary lately. It was something of a joke went the sponser's man of the match award went to him. Missed a penalty, ordinary at collecting the ball and distributing it, back passed a lot. Sarkies seems unfit and isn't offering enough in active play (though he was very useful in dead ball situations). The less said about Hoffman the better. Was missing for most of the game, although the few times he appeared he had a few useful moments. Need Germano replacing him in midfield ASAP. Worm rivalled Hoffman and Bolton for the worst performer. Worm miscontrolled multiple passes, played horrible passes and simply didn't offer the quality required for an international player. Dugandzic was quiet by his standards. When he doesn't provide quality we seem to struggle. The only highlight was a moment of quality by Babalj to win the penalty. Just like against Adelaide! Over 90 minutes all we showed was a moment of quality by Babalj. EVERYONE needs to lift. I don't buy the no Fred no Heart argument, just as I didn't buy the no Broich no Brisbane argument. Sure, teams are a notch worse when missing a good player, but we were a few notches worse. The reason I reckon for our slump is we are missing MULTIPLE midfielders, Fred, Shroj, Kalmar and Germano and Sarkies are still far from match fit. Just like Brisbane's game against Victory at Suncorp I reckon we just need to rally and have everyone lift their game. Better playing out from the back, bettern collection and distribution by the midfield and then good decision making in the final third and we should escape from this slump.

Williams shouldn't be making the extended squad, but this week he's been named over Zahra and Ibrahim. I don't how sharp Ibrahim and Zahra are but if they are up for selection and not injured one of them should get picked over Williams. Like with Babalj and Maycon earlier in the season, even if Zahra or Ibrahim isn't 100% they should still be much better than Williams is currently. I think Williams could come good but I don't see that happening this season.

I don't think we'll leak goals just because Hamill and Good are playing. They are solid defenders. We will leaks goals though if Perth can stroll through midfield like Gold Coast could when we played them. That was why our defence was woeful, not through the faults of Hamill or Good.

These points are exactly why its an important match. Its not must win like the end of last season where the last few games were must win to makes the finals, but its a very important match nonetheless. The season will become much more of an uphill battle if we don't get 3 points here. I am concerned about our defence, but our back 4 isn't that concerning for me. Our midfield against Gold Coast was dreadful at defending once Fred was out. Maybe Sarkies was subpar with defending due to lack of fitness, but without Fred and a Germano or Shroj our defending really suffers. Especially with 18 and 19 year old centrebacks the chances of them being beaten increases dramatically when our midfield is so porous. I think we will win probably 2-1. Just need to not concede too much possession to Perth and not gift them with goals like in the first Melbourne vs Perth game of the season.

We definitely should try and sign him. We could perhaps use him in midfield. Also, he should be saved from Victory's youth structure, a talent vacuum, which has managed to snatch Hernan Espindola and continues to waste New Zealand's best prospect.

Hi I'm Murphy. I'm a foundation Heart member, watched every game (except 1) etc etc. Was never a Victory supporter and didn't follow the A-League until Hear came along. I am also on the 442 forums.