The Aardvark
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Posts
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Posts posted by The Aardvark
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18 minutes ago, [LIBBA] said:
I'd say the worst thing about Man City's kit now is that awful emblem they've changed to.
It is now the worst out of the 3 clubs in the CFG IMO
It looks like the default emblems from Football Manager.
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Happy for him. He's talented enough and Adelaide will be a good club to help him grow into an A-League player.
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20 hours ago, Tonyboozeadams said:
Gol gol released by wsw
Always played like a park footballer for mine. Could do flashy stuff but a bit like Kuzi always tried to take them on instead of doing simple stuff and really lacked game and positional awareness or any willingness to get involved in the defensive side of the game.
And I am so glad the days of Dugandzic taking set pieces are behind us. You either got a completely useless short corner or a cross that barely made it to the first defender. Mate not only looked like a 12 year old, his crosses had the power of a 12 year olds too.
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18 hours ago, belaguttman said:
The difficulty in the assessment is not whether they have improved as there are contributions to this from the facilities and the other football department staff, rather it is whether they have improved as much as similar players in other teams or Leagues - they should be the benchmarks
Yeah don't get me wrong he has been underwhelming as a developer of talent even if you don't take into account the other things our club offers now to help players improve. He could, and should be doing much better.
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4 minutes ago, NewConvert said:
Agree with Bruno and Melling. Not sure about Clisby, I always felt that when he was at PG he wasn't far off from being a starting XI player but I do accept that it has been this season that he has really improved. I would also add Mauk and Chapman.
Players that are standing still are Garruccio and Retre. Also Kuzi, Marino and Dekker. I hope that the latter two get some opportunities elsewhere.
Retre has improved. When JVS got the job proper the second time Retre was a cringeworthy mid who looked out of his depth. he is no star now, but he is also a capable squad player who can contribute in a few roles.
The other players I would argue have improved to various degrees under JVS are Velaphi, Mooy, Melling, Fitzgerald and Mauk, and JVS probably gets some credit for Fornaroli and Novillo (although obviously the different quality of the league helps significantly). It's not a great list but it's not all bad.
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Would be hugely disappointed if Melling leaves.
Good solid A-League players are necessary to have in your squad, and Melling has proven himself at this level, offers something different with his aggression, can play in a few positions and importantly for our club plays with passion. Garrucio is similar, but not quite as good as Melling is at his preferred positions.
Also I'd prefer to turn the squad over as little as possible aside form the VISA spots.
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30 minutes ago, mandangalo said:
In my opinion, I don't think he warrants marquee money until he gets his shit together, you can't have one out of two of your most influential players (if he were to be a marquee at a HAL club) missing a final because he can't control himself in a heated situation, and I think if he was marquee this year he would have done the same shit again.
It is clear he has had behavioral issue through his whole career and I don't think giving him more money is going to change that (unless he spends it on some anger management sessions).
I have gone back a forth in recent times about Harry, I hope he will stay and I think he should be on more money, but he should 100% not be a marquee at City, and if that's the only thing that will keep him then he can fuck right off.
I'm with you on that. I think we can and need to do better with that spot.
As for the missing a final because of a lack of control, Berisha's hot temper has not hurt his ability to be a marquee, even this year he only played finals through dumb luck.
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37 minutes ago, jw1739 said:
I've obviously seen a completely different Novillo. He's been a dead shit at at least two clubs (Mons and Clermont Foot) before being one here. Don't rate him at all.
I didn't say anything about his professionalism or off field behaviour, which are both lacking. On field though he is certainly in the mix to be an A-League marquee.
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I think it is completely justifiable from him to say he is worthy of marquee money. He is easily in the top 20 players in the league, made the team of the year, is durable, plays 90 minutes, is a matchwinner and marketable. Could we do better with our second marquee spot (Bruno obviously takes the other)? Probably. But it can't be denied he would comfortably fill that spot at most clubs and even with us we will be hard pressed to find a player who can deliver the raw stats he has.
(I'm not in favour of making him marquee btw, we need a Mooy replacement with that money, but I can understand his reasoning, especially considering his opinion of himself).
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23 hours ago, GreenSeater said:
Remember that this is the club who signed some Brazilian guy based off Youtube highlights and signed a 5'4" Maltese bloke who's career highlight was a goal in the League Cup vs Man United to play target man...
Which makes the Hughes signing slightly worse. At least with Gray in all likelihood if he hadn't have been signed we wouldn't have found a good VISA player to take that spot anyway. In Hughes case I'm sure we had a list of potential players with decent ability lined up if he didn't come.
The opportunity cost of signing Hughes was much higher than Gray, and therefore he was the worse signing seeing as both had shite output.
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2 hours ago, mandangalo said:
I don't get the Redmayne hate, the club didn't want him anymore so he got himself a new opportunity.
Or did he do something disrespectful that I missed?
Me neither. I think it was just him being shit for us so whenever the lineup was announced with him in it we all thought we were fucked. As a result, we were glad to see the back of him and still resent him a little for how average he was.
Also his stupid handclap thing after conceding was so fucking annoying.
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- Popular Post
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If this club is serious it has to keep Fornaroli at all costs.
Aside from the last two rounds of the season this club is finally in a position where supporters can start to trust it to perform and entertain, with this seasons squad being one filled with quality and three guys who stood out as absolute fan favourites; Novillo, Mooy and Fornaroli. All are extremely talented, all are spectacular and all are attacking threats to rival, if not surpass, any other players in the league. The club cannot afford to lose all three.
Mooy is the easiest to lose from a marketing standpoint. The club can cash in without to much angst, as the narrative for over a year now has been of Mooy moving on to further his opportunities and take his career to the next level, which is something many supporters will feel he deserves and will benefit the Socceroos long term. I think few will resent his departure, although obviously it will be met with great disappointment.
Novillo is slightly harder, arrogant players with the ability to turn a game with one shot are rare, although with his discipline issues and occasional body language on field he is the most frustrating of the three and could be lost without too much pain as long as we move quickly to find a quality replacement.
Fornaroli is the one we cannot afford to lose at all though, he is the one the supporters care about the most. He is everything we need in a star; skilful, spectacular, hard working, likeable and most importantly passionate. With him more than any other player you always feel as if you have a chance, and if they want to grow this club he is the player they need to keep at all costs because he is the one neutrals or people trying out the sport/team gravitate towards. People will want to go for City because they get to go for Fornaroli, and unlike other drawcards like the 30 something former stars like Villa, he is in his prime and looks like he gives a shit and will keep pushing for the win for the full match.
I believe that even if the club received a bid in the vicinity of $5million for him they should reject it because losing him along with Mooy and probably Novillo kills all the growth this club has made since the takeover. It would be the ultimate "fuck you" to the fans who've stuck around and bought in only to see everything they have grown to love about this new club swept out from underneath them. It would involve basically a complete restart with unknown quantities again, and this club needs to build on it's current momentum instead of trying to change the source.
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3 hours ago, Kiro Kompiro said:
If you have a look at last nights Djite strike, you'll see he dives *under* the ball, and not for the first time.
Djite spoke at length at the end of the match about how he watched our penalty videos from this season and found Sorenson moves early so he just waited until Sorenson was committed and sent the ball the other way. Just thought it was interesting as others on here have pointed out how Sorenson does this to his detriment.
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1 hour ago, mattyh001 said:
Given the way those Muppet's react to the slightest decision / component, I think they should replay everything.
Imagine how many points that shitty club would lose due to their knob supporters for crowd trouble 👍
Yeah they're not the most well adjusted and reasonable bunch are they.
I just think it's so patronising and condescending from the FFA towards its own crowds that they can't be trusted to watch a replay of anything that could possibly be controversial. Instead of promoting accountability for player actions and referee decisions by allowing us to see the footage they instead try to keep it a big secret as if we can't be trusted to make our own judgement without cracking a tantrum like a 5 year old.
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39 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:
Thanks for clarifying, tbh I would rather just the blanket English approach of no replays in the ground, except goals.
Stuff that. Just replay everything. What are we going to do? Riot? Even those well hardcore Victory supporters couldn't do anythibg worse than throw some bottles so whats the worst that can happen?
So incredibly annoying looking at the big screen to find out what the foul was for or just what the fuck happened and be met by some lame marketing message.
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Well that was fucking shit.
Classic City, all talk but when the important games come around no walk. I've been pleased with the club this season because often it's felt like we finally play with Heart, but tonight was as gutless and pathetic a performance I have seen from the club.
To Adelaide's credit they defended brilliantly, neither Mooy nor Fornaroli ever found space on their own, and the Adelaide defenders refused to get sucked in for the tackle and turned by our stars. In the first half I thought they kept ngettig lucky as every deflection seemed to fall at their feet, but it soon became apparent that that was because they worked their arses off to always be in the right spot and in numbers. They deserved to win tonight, almost as much as we deserved to lose.
As for our blokes I thought the defence tried hard. Franjic has been prettty ineffectual since returning from injury but he tried numerous times tonight to create but was never given support resulting in overly long runs with lame endings. Sorenson was shit. Was screaming "what was i supposed to do" after giving away the penalty but the replay clearly shows him looking at Mauk prior and making no effort to pull out. I'm all for protecting yourself when you collide but to me it looked like he wasn't that concerned about mitigating the impact.
JVS subs were intersting to say the least. Marino tried hard but I think Caceras would have been a better halftime sub. Chapman for Clisby was largely pointless, and though Clisby did work hard he was ineffectual.
Fornaroli was very well held by Adelaide's defence, he only seemed able to get the ball out wide and even then was not given space. I doubt we had more than a couple of touches inside the box tonight, Adelaide clogged up and protected that area very well.
Fitzgerald worked hard and probably had the best attacking plays out of all our blokes, but his final product was terrible and wasted all his hard work. At least he managed to get to that stage though, Novillo would just keep taking guys on until they got it off him. Also how many of our forwards could slip over? Very frustrating.
Another promising crowd that wanted to get involved but never had the opportunity to really do so, how many times can this cub burn prospective supporters with crap like this. I swear almost every time we have a chance to impress people we blow it.
Dissapointing to see our best season yet end up like all the others. Hopefully we can rectify it in the finals, if we are on we are certainly capable of still going the whole way but an away trip anywhere (but particularly to Perth) will surely be the end. What a shame we couldn't take advantage of the awesome talent we have assembled and head into the finals series in for instead of coming off the back of two insipid losses.
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6 minutes ago, Tesla said:
Where is he going to go?
To a better league where he is a nobody?
To some bumpkin town like Newcastle?
To Victory and be a side-switching shitcunt?
To Sydney and be a second-rate visa player to some Eastern European superstar whose only in the A-League cause their country isn't in the EU?
You guys clearly don't know Novillo, he isn't going anywhere.
Presumably if he is leaving it would be a club decision. I can't see him wanting to move unless he hates the people involved with the club.
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9 hours ago, KSK_47 said:
"COLLINGWOOD president Eddie McGuire says his proposal for a new $1 billion stadium to be built close to the MCG could eliminate all club debt and "bulletproof" football. "
Not entirely sure where Eddie was planning on building this exactly, but I would love for us to buy the land, build a rectangular stadium and crush his dreams. Give him an idea of just how insignificant his sport really is
Only in the most impractical and expensive place he could find that is conveniently a couple of hundred metres from Collingwoods training base and at the expense of other sports.
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I'm pretty pleased with this signing. He has all the benefits of Safuwan, in that he is competent, versatile and cheap, except unlike Safuwan he doesn't occupy a valuable VISA spot meaning we can use it elsewhere.
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1 hour ago, possiblygeorge said:
Almost sounds like a throw in the towel sort of logic, even giving up on himself and doesn't want to push himself to take the next step. And he's, what, 24?
Completely understandable though.
He is guy who is a bit eccentric but was talked up as a junior and has an ego that never really had a prolonged good experience at a club in Europe, who is now playing at a club that offers him a multitude of benefits:
- His ego gets fed as one of Melbourne City's big three attacking players, and is thus loved by the fans.
- On top of this he is considered one of the better players in the league which he obviously loves
- He is paid accordingly, and ontop of that the club is going out of its way to give him as many side benefits as the cap allows
- He gets to live in a safe, big city that offers a quality wide range of everything from food to nightlife
- He is in a league where he can get away with being a bit lazy if he wants, and where his brilliance means that he can be the matchwinner
Consider his past experiences have been at clubs where he has struggled for a game and continually received criticism for his attitude and work rate and not gotten along with teammates, and now he is at a club that see's his antics as him "just being Harry". I can absolutely see why he wouldn't want to head back to Europe anytime soon to try to grind out a slightly better career when his is flourishing so well here. What more could a 24 year old want?
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32 minutes ago, Deeming said:
Agree. Its fun speculating for a week or two, after that I just want whatever's going to happen to happen.
I've never understood this. In the AFL people complain about the trade window being too long too (it's just over a week), with the general opinion being "it's too boring", or "not enough is happening", as if it's something which is meant to be as entertaining as possible instead of a period where clubs and players make huge decisions involving money and lifestyle which can significantly affect their family and long term career prospects.
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16 minutes ago, raw10 said:
Its Williams who is making life difficult for us. He declined offer from Adelaide so Adelaide pulls the plug. Damn! And why can't we find a better keeper than Bouzanis? It goes to show that our scouting dept is not up to scratch!
Not really. It isn't as if there is an abundance of talented Australian keepers that we can bring across mid season.
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Btw on the Millar performance, I was sitting on the Eastern wing so had an excellent view of his defensive "exploits" for the second half. He was horribly out of his depth, but was not helped by our complete lack of a right midfielder of any sort meaning Gersbach was always open and Millar was often left to cover both Gerbsach and Hoole. I thought Trifiro or Mauk should have drifted to the right when not in possession so as to help cover the defence a little.
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First game I've made it to this year due to a combo of work/lack of interest/scepticism, although I have followed the whole season through my IQ box.
Really impressed with Novillo. I've thought he was a little off the last few weeks but really stepped up last night to make up for the loss of Mooy and Franjic to our attack. He is such a powerful build and the move centrally was great. He had started to become too predictable with his typical get ball, take on 5 defenders, cut inside and try and shoot from outside the box move. Having him more central meant he could really pick the gaps in the defence and like a cannonball force his way through.
Fornaroli is the best player we've ever had and is such a constant threat. His ability to retain the ball was exemplary and such a contrast to someone like Koren who showed a complete inability to either retain possession under pressure or create time and space to use the ball. Bruno is so lethal in the box as well.
With those two we have possibly the two most passionate players we have ever fielded, somewhat ironically giving our team more "Heart" than it has ever had before (with Melling to give it a further boost). Love their interactions with the crowd as well.
JVS did get something right, the change of formation when Zullo came on completely turned the game and put Sydney straight on the back foot. He does deserve credit for that, although the handling of Eyigun to facilitate it was poor, as was the bewildering decision not to use our third sub when half the side was clearly exhausted by the 70 minute mark and could have used the energy of someone like Garruccio.
It was nice though to go to a "showcase" match and not be completely let down. Reading there was to be no Mooy or Franjic was disappointing, so for the side to still deliver a tight and attacking match that was an enjoyable spectacle if not a slight let down was great. I'm used to having the friends I bring walk away laughing at how boring the match was and underwhelming our players were, so for them to come around smiling and talking about how powerful Novillo was or how strong Fornaroli was was great. At least now people will come back.
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Pre-season 2016
in Melbourne City
Posted
Yeah AFL clubs also regularly have their younger players start training a week or two earlier than the older players.