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The Aardvark
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Posts posted by The Aardvark
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36 minutes ago, Mr MO said:
I always admire how open the AFL clubs are about their players or injury issues, everything is mostly openly addressed with the fans and press.
It's the complete opposite to this club isn't it.
Anything happens in the AFL, a rookie gets promoted, a young guy plays well in the VFL, someone has a slight niggle, anything happens it gets reported pretty much straight away. Super open about most things, the only things they keep somewhat hidden are off field stuff (understandably) and sometimes players under an injury clouds availability that week (and even then as soon as the team is announced we all find out everything). Sure it is part a very interested and large media core and part the AFL desperately trying to be in the news every single day, but you cannot deny that AFL supporters know almost everything around their club that is happening, often directly from the club as it happens.
Compare that to City who go months without acknowledging or announcing a players injury (La Rocca), almost a week now without announcing Baccus signing on permanently (despite it being good news, they haven't got anything on the website and the only reason we know is because Joyce said so in a press conference), censor the Bruno images so as not to incite us(?) and release squads for each weeks games which have no relevance really seeing as there have been multiple inclusions not on the squad list. Theres more but they are the first thing sI thought of. This from a club that prides itself on engaging with its supporters.
The gap in engagement and communication is huge.
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Rogic is such a nothing international player. For all his skill and technique he is incapable of imposing himself on the game and makes way too little of his chances at this level.
We continue to be toothless in attack, Mabil, like Arzani in the WC (and Leckie tbf) is one of the only players to actually look dangerous because he can run and move with the ball. Everyone else is so stagnant or unable to get the ball into a good threatening position.
McLaren is possibly the least effective player to be in our squad in the last few years. Contributes absolutely nothing. Is tiny so not only is unable to have any physical presence but is worked off the ball all to easily, lacks the elite pace to be a danger in the open, has no hold up play ability and is middling to poor on the ball anyway.
Geez that was a disspoiting performance. For all our "dominance" you never really felt like we were a threat aside from maybe getting a lucky goal to even up the scores. Deserved the end result.
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That clip really highlights just how bad our turnover is. Half a season later and from that clip Cahill, Muscat, Kamau, Fitzgerald and Jakobsen have all left, with La Rocca surely also being on the way out, Mauk probably gone as well, Brattan still here on loan but probably staying, leaving Bouzanis andJamieson as the only definitely remaining players I can recognise through the blur.
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That highlights package is hilarious. Loved the super cynical foul from Temperley defender that gets the card, the woeful goalkeeping for the Lanus penalty and Brandans just weird intensity.
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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:
IMO he's become a little too predictable, and Izzo clearly does his homework on penalty-takers.
I don't normally watch Adelaide so don't know if this is how he usually does stuff, but I thought Izzo tended to hold back a little longer before committing to going for a save. I think this would be because Fornaroli almost always goes for placement over power, which gives the keeper a touch more time to adjust before committing fully. Without having watched the replay quickly I wouldn't be surprised if Izzo did the same for the penalty. From memory Bruno has practically gently lobbed about half his penalties in, either to a side or down the middle (panenka?). If I was facing Bruno with a penalty I would wait in the middle and hope I have enough time to dive to the correct side if he doesn't go the chip down the middle.
Also Bruno nailed the last penalty so had every right to take this one.
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I just reckon we are uninspiring to draw. When you can so easily portrays Arnolds sour face, or Simons angry face, or Gombaus huge head, or Gallops incompetence, we lack many interesting characters. Joyce would hardly be recognised by anyone, Bruno has done little to feature, and the rest of our players and club are generally quietly going about our business. Cahill was the exception.
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Another great podcast. Just about the program (across all mediums including tv) i look forward to the most.
Munn was a much better guest than I expected, spoke well and passionately and seemed very open.
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First 20 minutes was great. Both sides looked threatening, there was a bit of feeling in the match and it was exciting. Then it went to shit.
Bouzanis was excellent up until (and sort of including) the penalty, which he almost saved. Second half was poor.
Delbridge is incredibly mediocre. Slow, big but not imposing, has no presence on set pieces offensively or defensively and dribbles as if his feet have been amputated. As a centre back he is maybe just ok as a stop gap, as a right back he offers nothing at all in an attacking sense and is awkward at best going the other way. Much prefer Muscat or Tongyik/La Rocca for either of his positions based on what we've seen so far.
Thought Budzinksi was ok, Vidosic got targeted by them but struggled, Jamieson continues to frustrate by not really enhancing our attacks once he receives the ball. Brattans worst gae in ages.
Arzani contines to impress and was great against Zullo in the first half. He drops off significantly in the second half but considering about 80% of our attacking plays (of which there were many) are channelled through him that's understandable. Bruno was fired up, but by then we had dropped of and his service wasn't ideal.
Sydney are an incredibly dislikeable lot, but I guess most good sides are. Can't believe the amount of fouling they got away with.
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1 hour ago, Imtellingyou said:
They did similar silent thing with Ross after the injury.
Which is ridiculous. Wtf is the point of announcing a match squad if you can change it on the day?
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Wow I swear in season 2 or 3 Bolton saved every second penalty he faced. Must have only faced two.
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I really like him but I agree that he isn't the gun he has been made out to be at times.
He has some excellent attributes that make him likeable; he has a great workrate, plays direct and in the past hasn't been afraid to pull the trigger, something the rest of our team has been reluctant to do.
Atm all his play seems so forced and desperate. Instead of doing the simple things well he is almost always either getting tunnel vision going for a speculative shot or alternatively when he does look to pass they are all backheel flicks or other low percentage plays. Usually if someone is struggling you get them to focus on the basics and build up from there, but to me it seems that he is going for the fancy stuff and hoping that if he pulls it off the rest of his game will flow on from that one moment of glory.
In form he is comfortably a good A-League player, unfortunately he has been stuck in a rut for about 2 months now though.
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Unless he is in Villas first team plans there is no reason for Villa to have blocked the loan. By their own admission it has been good for him, and considering they are trying to get rid of him allowing him to have gametime vs sitting in their reserves can only improve his value.
What a bunch of incompetent idiots.
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Surley we can win this.
Last time out all their goals involved massive stuff ups on our behalf, and we are in decent form now. The only danger is that we are without a quality striker.
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11 hours ago, haz said:
IMO I would rather a league where the top 2-3 dominate. If you support those teams you always expect to win, so if you start losing its something different. Whereas if you support a lower team, its the best feeling in the world when they punch above their weight (Add in relegation and then it get even better). In a capped league its just on a cycle, if your team plays well, you know that will only last for maybe another year. Weve seen this cycle in the past with Victory, Sydney and WSW. Now its Newy's turn.
Hate that idea. I understand there are pros and cons, but to me a league with an almost set in stone top 2 or 3 is crap. It's all well and good if you are one of those sides (which City probably should be) but for the rest that's no good.
From memory the best A-League seasons have been when there has been a quite even field, giving everyone a decent shot. These last two years (especially this season) the league has had a dominant team and they have been the stalest and worst seasons thus far.
The cyclical nature of a league with a cap is a strength I think, and it doesn't limit good teams from remaining at the top. Again Sydney have been up the top for a while, and if you take a look at the AFL, whilst obviously operating under different conditions, multiple clubs have proven you can have a sustained run at success.
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That was bloody frustrating.
Couldn't watch the game last night due to Christmas commitments, so taped it to watch this morning. Turns out my Fox stuffed up, so no recording. That's ok, I'll download it from on demand. This means I watch the whole game in low quality, but at least I'll see it before the result is spoiled for me. After much stopping and starting to allow it to buffer, I finally get through the whole game only to see Bouzanis concede an idiotic penalty. Literally as Milligan starts his runup the recording stops and the message comes up saying I have reached the end of the recording. So I just sat through 93 minutes only to have it leave me stranded with 10 seconds of the most relevant play remaining. Fucking stupid Foxtel.
I have since found out the result, which was not unexpected.
My thoughts, we were solid defensively, they had one genuine chance from open play that hit the crossbar, I thought we were decent if not a little too impotent.
Further thoughts, I think Jamieson was terrible. Almost every pass he tried to make in the attacking third was a turnover, his freekick was shite and his defending ok. Bouzanis was good as a keeper, woeful with his distribution though and idiotic at the death.
I like Joyce, he is the opposite to JVS in gamestyle. I generally think we negate other teams well contrary to some other opinions here he uses subs fairly well and not at all predictably.
I like that he doesn't make changes for the sake of making changes, I like that he has the balls to drop players he isn't happy with, and I like that when he does think we need a change he isn't afraid of making changes as early as halftime. Most of his changes do work in our favour, my biggest issue is that he errs on the side of being too defensive and as a result relies on us making the most of limited chances, not something we are good at.
Too often we get forward and rely on a counter attack falling our was as we lack the numbers to make the most of a situation.
Also too often we cross it on to what must be the least impressive aerial team in the comp. McCormack is hopeless in the air, Kamau isn't strong enough to even get his forehead close, Mauk is always caught behind his player, Fitzy is ok but usually the one crossing, and the only player that can consistently get on the end of high balls in Malik who is the lamest header in the comp and has demonstrated this by barely even lofting soft uncontested headers in the direction of the goal, his multiple efforts against Brisbane being a perfect example.
We are going alright, and dare I say it many of our losses this season have been "unlucky". Brisbane, Sydneyx2, WSW, Victory have all been games where we should've gotten a result and instead due to a combination of stupid goals conceded and an inability to take our chances we haven't been able to win.
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I don't know what I expected from this thread, but the last page is not it.
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Didn't think Joyce did much wrong last night tbh.
His starting 11 was an eleven that has been good all season and proven to be effective, including last time out against these guys. We were atleast on par with them in the first half aside from two LaRocca stuff ups. At halftime he changed everything up, something our previous managers wouldn't have done (I believe Aloisi submits his substitutions before the game) and we dominated the next 20 minutes until yet another stuff up cost us a goal and all momentum. After that there was little he could do, but he still tried to be more attacking and iuse what options he did have left on the bench.
The big test is this week. The players and formation no longer have earnt their spots, so now we see if he looks to have another plan and an ability to execute it.
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Can't believe how overrated draft picks are.
I can understand the thinking from GC with the Weller trade, a bird in the hand and all that. It's probably slightly overpriced (and massively considering the actual trade market) but really Weller is a gun, and if presented with a choice between a young player who has already had two seasons of AFL development put into him where he has shown he is atleast a very good player and actually wants to come to your club as opposed to a very talented 18 year old that has yet to play against men and based on previous recruits is a 40% chance of leaving inside of 4 years then I'd be picking the former.
By no means would I advocate regularly trading out high draft picks, but if you can get genuine quality you should take that opportunity, especially considering draft picks are at best a 50% shot of actually being good players, and I'm including top ten picks in that.
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3 minutes ago, bt50 said:
Agree that we havent been able to adequately replace him, but this qualifying campaign he has been non-existant as a striker even when he has played. IMO he should only be brought on now in a game that is stop-start and lots of stoppages, or even a more direct game. Last night we were trying to play through them which clearly was not going to suit him, or Juric for that matter. I'm not suggesting we should not take him into the qualifiers or to Russia, but i certainly dont think he should be getting the minutes he has been either.
At club level however, as @Embee rightly points out, he has more than enough runs on the board still, esp when played in a system that suits him. I 100% agree that his season last year enhanced his reputation here, esp as a big game player.
Yeah the few games I have seen he has struggled to have an impact. Although last night like everyone else on the team he had multiple chances and failed to take them, and in a game where the ball lived in our box he is a player that could have easily bobbed up with multiple goals. Still he has been a better option than someone like Maclaren, who has been practically invisible for the Socceroo's in the games I have watched unfortunately.
At club level I think he is great, gives us drive, a constant threat and is entertaining. Also someone like Maclaren proves that struggling at international level does not mean you will struggle in the A-League.
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1 minute ago, bt50 said:
Tbh i think he's pretty close to done at international level, albeit perhaps for a stint off the bench in a game where the conditions suit.
But as his stats indicate, he's still clearly got at least another season left in him at A League level and any suggestion that its even possible to tarnish his reputation is bordering on ridiculous.
For most other decent countries yes, but for Australia no.
Aside from Juric we have no better striker, Giannou is probably even but hasn't proven himself in big moments like Cahill has.
Cahill is still in our best squad, however this is much more an indictment on our depth than it is a testament to his longevity. The Socceroo's atm have maybe 3 players (Mooy, Sainsbury, Ryan) that don't have glaring weaknesses in their best position.
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What a wanker.
I thought he had already established himself as a completely unloyal greedy player considering he barely spends longer than a season anywhere before trying to upgrade his paycheck.
Incredibly though in one off season he has been practically signed for at least 4 clubs, with a high chance he won't sign for Victory.
The beauty if that if he does sign for Victory, it will mean both Melbourne clubs have signed ex-players this week that there is a general disliking for from their supporters, so atleast the clubs are united on that front.
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Caught the train in a mostly empty carriage to the city a few weeks ago. There was some guy in his mid 20's on the other side of the carriage, talking loudly on his phone. He was ringing up his "mates" and under whatever pretence he could come up with was telling them what he was doing that night, which was going into the city to meet up with his old mate.
The ridiculous thing was he kept telling them what his relationship was like with this mate, or rather how they used to challenge eachother to pickup girls. What followed was the most ridiculous retelling of how cool he was as loud as he could with frequent glances out of the corner of his eye to see if I or anyone else was listening. He made the same phone call twice so he could tell multiple friends so I wrote down some direct quotes:
"He's (his mate) a DJ but he is not working tonight so we are gonna go out for old times sake...we pretty much had a challenge to see who could pull the most girls in a year...yeah he pulled 103 in a year and I beat him with 232" (I may have audibly snorted at the last bit)
He went on to describe how it was a shame his mate had a girlfriend now and thus couldn't participate in another challenge, but towards the end of his conversation before he left the train he said the following: "Why do you think 7 of my mates are coming tonight, they're all gonna be pulling girls and I'm pretty much gonna be coaching them".
For the record he looked like an absolute knob, that kind of guy that went to high school with you, always thought he was in the cool group, was super sleazy and was just generally disliked by everyone but somehow remained oblivious to that fact.
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On 18/07/2017 at 6:59 PM, Hellenic Hero said:
Our ex Irish recruit, Liam Miller, has moved to a club in the Second Division in Malta called Fgura United. What a terrible move for a 36 year old.
I've always thought that if you were a mid range soccer player (pro but nothing special) it would be a great opportunity to travel the world. Spend 1-2 seasons at a club, and experience living in all these different countries and environments. Sorenson is an excellent example of a player who has made the most of his situation, he has clearly used his time with us to explore a new country.
I would imagine that it would be an easier job to do this with the expectation of moving clubs, the fact that your role remains similar throughout and that players seem to get their fair share of downtime.
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16 minutes ago, malloy said:
One of the things that annoyed me about Redmayne's game that changed under our coacing was that when he first used to make a save he would actually hold the ball when making a save, but come the 2013-2014 season it seems the instructions from the coaches were to punch the ball away, which would usually lead to further and sustained pressure.
Yeah I remember he was actually a really good catch, almost overhead marking style reaching it at it's highest point like AFL. it was a nice change from typical keepers who would either catch it with their chest or punch anything away that wasn't chest mark material
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Michael O'Halloran
in Melbourne City
Posted
Sorry its meant to be a generalisation of AFL clubs ability to communicate compared to City's. Since consistently in the AFL every club is pretty good at all those things, I am putting it down as an AFL thing. City seem to be a worse version of the rest of the A-League clubs in this regard.
To your second point, I agree. While both the issues themselves and the way they are not communicated are both bad from a supporters point of view, if the club communicates whats going on better then it's easier for us to accept them.
If from the start the club comes out and says "LaRocca is battling an ankle injury and is out for 3 months", or "Bruno has been dropped for disciplinary reasons", or "With the departure of Caceres the club has now signed Baccus to a permanent contract", or "O'Halloran is now fit and eligible for selection", instead of us finding this out 2-6 weeks after it happens it would make being a supporter much easier. And those are all easy issues to explain, nothing which gives the opposition the edge and nothing that breaches any kind of privacy. Atm the club releases stuff all information so either we have to wait for a commentator to tell us a tiny bit of gossip during the next match or otherwise wait until someone talks to some random hairdresser to find out so and so has hurt his shoulder and is out for 3 weeks.
What happened with LaRocca last season was like it was from 1984. One minute he was a starting regular, the next it was like the club was making every effort to convince us he never existed. Turns out he was injured. FFS just tell us. I'm convinced we could have one of our players die in a training mishap and we wouldn't hear about it until 3 weeks later when Theo Pizzalaria brings it up mid match as they replay another failed short corner while Ned Zelic makes noises in the background.
The club shoots itself in a foot by distancing itself from it's supporters. It wants to be engaging but then acts like it's some kind of huge secret organization which will only tell us what it deems we need to know, and the rest we can remain oblivious too. Not the best strategy for a club that has inherited a disenchanted and somewhat alienated fanbase from takeover and fails to deliver on any other front.