The Aardvark

There is a point, it's a major step in the right direction. Ultimately we need to continue addressing issues like what you have raised, but a good change shouldn't be dismissed because it could be better.

2. VDV 1. Leckie

Another draw, but a decent voting turnout still. Leckie far and away the highest vote getter with 20, only one vote neglected to give him any votes and every other voter deemed him worthy of 2. The rest of votes were distributed to a smattering of players, basically the entire defensive outfield unit got some form of recognition. Talbot managed to come just ahead of the pack with 4 votes, beating out Bos with 3, Good with 2 and a group consisting of Reis, O'Neill, Van Der Venne and Berisha all on 1. This is O'Neill's 6th consecutive game earning some recognition, which is a team best thus far. Adelaide game. 2 votes to Mathew Leckie, 1 vote to Callum Talbot. Leaderboard after 14.23 games Leckie stops Glover from breaking away too far, remaining within touching distance, while Talbot earns his first vote of the season. 9. Tom Glover 8. Mathew Leckie 5.5 Marco Tilio 4. Richard Van Der Venne 3. Jordan Bos 2.5 Jamie Maclaren 2. Valon Berisha 1.5 Thomas Lam 1. Curtis Good 1. Aiden O'Neill 1. Callum Talbot 0.5 Nuno Reis

2. Leckie 1. Talbot

Another draw saw voter numbers reduce again, however 5 players still managed to earn recognition, with a heavy emphasis on defensive minded players playing well, representing our inability to break through at the other end. Glover was the standout, earning votes from all but one voter to finish with 10. O'Neill finally finishes in the too two votegetters through his 6, while both CB's received 2 and Van Der Venne continues to put himself in the frame with 1. Roar Draw: 2 votes to Tom Glover, 1 vote to Aiden O'Neill. Leaderboard after 13.23 games Glover extends his lead at the top while O'Neill finally enters the conversation. 9. Tom Glover 6. Mathew Leckie 5.5 Marco Tilio 4. Richard Van Der Venne 3. Jordan Bos 2.5 Jamie Maclaren 2. Valon Berisha 1.5 Thomas Lam 1. Curtis Good 1. Aiden O'Neill 0.5 Nuno Reis

Draw vs Brisbane. 2. Good 1. Glover

A frustrating draw where we dominated still saw a solid voter turnout although a much smaller pool of players received recognition than previous weeks. Richard Van Der Venne is our first unanimous MOM with a maximum possible 18 votes, Lam came in second with 4, just ahead of Tilio with 3, and lastly O'Neill with 2. O'Neill is just the second player this season to score recognition in 4 consecutive games, although he is the first to not actually get an official vote from such a run. WSW Draw. 2 votes to Richard Van Der Venne, 1 vote to Thomas Lam. Leaderboard after 12.23 games Van Der Venne moves into 4th place with his third polling game, while Lam ends up on top of the centre back shuffle. 7. Tom Glover 6. Mathew Leckie 5.5 Marco Tilio 4. Richard Van Der Venne 3. Jordan Bos 2.5 Jamie Maclaren 2. Valon Berisha 1.5 Thomas Lam 1. Curtis Good 0.5 Nuno Reis

2. VDV 1. Tilio

Another good performance saw 7 players earn votes, however this was our most concentrated round yet with over 80% going to just two players. Marco Tilio was dominant, receiving two votes from all but 1 voter for a season high score of 27. Maclaren was a regular feature as well with 9 votes for his efforts, while Good (2) and Lam, O'Neill, Leckie and Lam all received a bit of recognition with 1 vote each. Wun Gae. 2 votes to Marco Tilio, 1 vote to Jamie Maclaren Leaderboard after 11.23 games No major moves, Tilio retains his 3rd placing but breaks away from the main cluster and is within touching distance of both the top two now. Maclaren is starting to make his move up the ladder jumping into the top 5. 7. Tom Glover 6. Mathew Leckie 5.5. Marco Tilio 3. Jordan Bos 2.5 Jamie Maclaren 2. Valon Berisha 2. Richard Van Der Venne 1. Curtis Good 0.5 Thomas Lam 0.5 Nuno Reis

2 Tilio, 1 JMac

A good performance saw a great spread of votes, with all but 3 of the starting 11 getting recognition and us falling shy by 1 from our most voters yet. Incredibly 6 players were considered our best by different voters getting awarded the 2 votes. Glover lead the charge despite an awkward slip up in the first half, managing 11 votes to hold off Maclaren with 10 whos amazing goalscoring form isn't quite getting reflected in the overall vote tally as of yet. Interestingly prior to the last voter (me incidentally) it was a 3 way tie for best on, as Tilio finished on 9 which makes him easily the unluckiest player to miss out on votes so far. Next getting some recognition were the ever present O'Neill and the difficult to spot Lam with 4 each, Leckie continued to stay involved with another 2, and Talbot and Berisha managed to score 1 vote each to stay in the conversation. Nix Game. 2 votes to Tom Glover, 1 vote to Jamie Maclaren. Leaderboard after 10? games A big move with Glover leapfrogging Leckie to take the top spot and hold a healthy lead over the rest of the squad. Maclaren slowly move his way towards the upper bracket and away from the defenders. 7. Tom Glover 6. Mathew Leckie 3.5. Marco Tilio 3. Jordan Bos 2. Valon Berisha 2. Richard Van Der Venne 1.5 Jamie Maclaren 1. Curtis Good 0.5 Thomas Lam 0.5 Nuno Reis

2 for Glover, thought he made many important saves and aside from one slip (which he managed to recover from) was pretty solid back there. 1 for Maclaren, two goals and always dangerous. Hard to pick out in a very good team performance.

I guess incomplete matches don't count towards the tally, which is fair enough.

7 voters this week but spread over an equal low of 3 players, which would indicate that they were the clear standouts this week. Bos continues to impress in his first season getting regular gametime, this time getting 11 votes from all but one voter. Van Der Venne continues to be an engine in midfield and earned 8 votes including a couple of mom nominations. O'Neill managed 2 votes as some form of compensation as at this stage it looks as if he won't be getting any recognition for his excellent 20 minutes against the Visitors. CCM Game. 2 votes to Jordan Bos, 1 to Richard Van Der Venne Leaderboard after 9? games No major movement, Bos moves into contention for the top 3 while VDV continues his rise. 6. Mathew Leckie 5. Tom Glover 3.5. Marco Tilio 3. Jordan Bos 2. Valon Berisha 2. Richard Van Der Venne 1. Curtis Good 0.5 Thomas Lam 0.5 Jamie Maclaren 0.5 Nuno Reis

Nantes are 16th on the table, Troyes 13th for those wondering.

2. Bos 1. VDV

If they were done sensibly i think there is a 5050 chance they may have been somewhat effective for this round, but obviously no chance now...and anything more than one round would most likely piss off every other supporter more tbh.

Geez this feels a bit pointless, and can't imagine how few votes we will get this week, especially if we lose, but voting is as follows. Just three voters this week spread across 4 players, Glover getting top honours with 4 votes despie his awkward handball at the end and conceding two. Reis gets his first votes of the season with 2, equalling the ever present Leckie. Tilio capitalises on a weak showing from the first 11 with 1 vote. Sydney Game. 2 votes to Tom Glover, .5 votes each to Mathew Leckie and Nuno Reis. Leaderboard after 7 games Leckie and Tilio hold onto their spots at the top but Glover makes his move away from the pack, while VDV gets his name thrown in the ring. 6. Mathew Leckie 5. Tom Glover 3.5. Marco Tilio 2. Valon Berisha 1. Jordan Bos 1. Curtis Good 1. Richard Van Der Venne 0.5 Thomas Lam 0.5 Jamie Maclaren 0.5 Nuno Reis

Assuming all the money goes to the clubs (and I'm gonna exclude Canberra for simplicity sake) that's $1m each, or just $333K per year. Wtf is Melbourne City doing? They would expect to "host" at least one GF in that timeframe, surely that GF alone would be worth that much in attracting and embedding supporters within the club. Winning breeds success off field, something we have slowly been seeing, so why pass up your best way to consolidate that aspect for a measly $300K a year? That's like one mostly injured Florin Berengeur.

Nah I've done the same and just get the generic one back that tells me not to ask for a trial or coaching position.

Man that's an infuriating press conference. I don't necessarily blame them personally as they have clearly been told very firmly to play a straight bat but I am disappointed by how meekly they seem to be toeing the party line.

Next game, a loss against Sydney. Tough to find votes here, I'm gonna run with: 2. Glover 1. Leckie

Hmmmm they didn't have much hesitation moving around another manager they had in the stable who was also undefeated and on top of the table.

I'm not sure that isn't what we are doing. Probably over half the squad will still be around and in their prime come the next one. The keeper group should have one up and comer in it (although Gauci and Glover are the best candidates and it's hard to justify picking either at this stage), but aside from them the only ones who won't be around are Behich, Wright, Mooy, Leckie and Duke. Think it'd be a hard sell to get a manager in for a 5 year period who is actually good and also won't stuff up somewhere along the way and need a reset. Arnold has basically covered our rebuild period, now we should be looking out for a 3 year manager to build us up to the next one.

We were good early obviously, but in classic Arnold style we fell back so quickly and easily and struggled to take the game to France in any meaningful manner. France were great, and we were horribly outclassed, but we deserved what we got to a degree with our inability to hit back. Atkinson struggled, but he was against Mbappe, so no surprises there, and his defensive side has never been his strength anyway. Unsure what Dengs pace is like but he may have been better suited and save Atkinson for slightly weaker opponents where he can carry the ball more. I thought Duke was good early but by the 40th minute I was sick of his half hearted press attempts with exasperated arms out. Thought Behich was clearly our best, CB pairing was mostly good, Irvine was decent and Mooy was fine early but struggled in the second half. Our inability to retain the ball or move constructively meant our attackers were basically redundant from the 20th minute onwards, and while the likes of Cummings, Kuol and Mabil didn't seem to offer much I'm unsure if they stood a chance anyway. Goal was sweet though, all three players involved nailed their moments.