belaguttman

Don't get ahead of yourself, we have to win a game first. That means: scoring not conceding on a counter-attack after controlling possession controlling a game, not switching off

That continues our pre-season tradition against WU. We've played 2 A-League teams for our pre-season preparation to date; there's at least one other to come. We've lost them both: The first, a Cup game against Perth, saw us lose control of the game from a winning dominant position and then concede a succession of goals until we lost 4-5 The second, against WU, we lost in the usual fashion; dominate possession; unable to break down the opponent, concede on a counter-attack. Yes, it's pre-season, young players and all that, but the manner of the losses shows no progression from last season: the same frailties, conceding in the same manner. It'll be a long season.

Of dear, more Arnie-ball. I think that we actually have a better team this WC cycle, particularly when we get Leckie back, but, the coaching.... We play well against strong teams as Arnold's tactical management suits a counter-attacking style but we struggle when we play with the ball as there are just no movement patterns to break down deep defending teams, There's still time to change the coach

what is he saying? I'm avoiding X these days

We're in for the poverty season: a team of youngsters, and minimal investment. If any of the youngsters do well, they will be sold and we'll lose them. We are beginning a rebuild cycle after a wasted season last season, so 2-3 years before we get good results

Yeah that may have been the case, however at least to come off the bench would have been very handy. I'm assuming he left because he wanted a starting role, rather than a bench role

Presumably, we didn't keep him because the last demanded someone who was a starter. We rarely had the full 90 minutes last season. It's a shame though

It's pretty exhausting being seen as the enemy by ground security, Police and the APL; they are involved to have a good time

sure, give him an extension, based on his first year performance, but with performance criteria, definitely including no stupid red cards. If it could have provided him security and the team success, why not?

Good on him; he was promised things (possibly something as outrageous as a competitive team list at the start of pre-season rather than signings arriving unfit the week before the season starts), and they weren't provided, so he left. Presumably he had that option in his contract

I think it's a good choice. He has passion, he's vocal, he's a defender so he can see most of the field, he's a senior player, and he'll expect a high standard from his teammates. JMac had the personal passion, but he was quiet on the field and seemed to be burdened by the weight of the captaincy.

It's unclear where he will play, how we will use him, or how he fits into the team plan.

What we really need is a specialised DM that can offer what O'Neill gave us. I'm not6 sure how a utility defender adds to the team

My Melbourne home is in South Melbourne, but I was never attracted to shouting "Hellas" at South Melbourne games. It felt like there was no place for me in the NPL I feel more at home watching the Myrtleford Savoys in our local league

We have had a stream of young players, apart from Caputo, Mazzeo and to a certain extent, Hall, they've not played and have left

Our plan is to develop young players, CCM's is to play young players, it's a different goal with a different outcome

It's hard to develop from the bench, we've played too few young players over the past two seasons and now we are paying the price

Tilio came to us because he was bench-warming at Sydney, who also had an aging team. Behich was de-listed by the visit0rs as punishment for missing his Grand Final goal. We recruited him and JVS turned him into a LB, so I'd claim him

Well, the last few seasons we've lost Atkinson Metcalfe O'Neill Behich (loan) Tilio (and got him back) That's a significant loss of starting 11 players, all are Socceroos. We've also lost several bench young players from our Academy who didn't get game time with us It's not just the number of players, they were all key players; O'Neill, in particular hasn't been adequately replaced and his crippled our style of play last season

There are problems at multiple levels: Fan engagement (not community engagement, which is done quite well) is tokenistic from season to season, reflected in the churn of season ticket holders. Men's Team recruitment: perhaps it's a more competitive global recruitment environment than the women's competition, but there's also a far larger pool of suitable players. We seem to do well with both visa women recruitment and local women recruitment. Same facilities. Player replacement. The ALM is a development league; every successful team is going to lose multiple players to overseas contracts; we need to plan for that. To be fair, we have done this to an extent with a junior academy, however many of these players have left as they had insufficient game time. Every season, the average age of our starting lineup has increased. Panache. If we want to play with panache, we need a coach and senior franchise managers with panache. We don't. Aurelio is a safe choice, a cautious coach; at least, we'll be solid, but never exciting.

at least they are honest in accurately describing the relationship

It really sets up a repeat of last season with major player turnover and team cohesion and culture issues. There's also an opportunity there, for the same reason. I understand that team success is usually cyclical without an enduring strong culture of success, I don't think that we have that yet

He's gone😥😱

Agree. I'd be starting Caputo, he's a pretty complete number 9 who will score regularly with good service

We don't need Mbappe, we are getting Iniesta