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MH 2014/2015 Starting 11 based on contracted players only


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For contracted players only:

 

                                Redmayne

 

Hoffman        Kisnorbo          Wielaert         Garuccio

 

                                Murdocca         

                       Mooy                Mauk      

 

Dugandzic                                                      Duff

                                David Villa

Edited by hakz7
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For contracted players only:

 

                                Redmayne

 

Hoffman        Kisnorbo          Wielaert         Garuccio

 

                                Murdocca         

                       Mooy                Mauk      

 

Dugandzic                                                      Duff

                                David Villa

Add to that the marquees and OS players and the club should start big favorites for the title. Will JVS be up to that pressure?

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For contracted players only:

 

                                Redmayne

 

Hoffman        Kisnorbo          Wielaert         Garuccio

 

                                Murdocca         

                       Mooy                Mauk      

 

Dugandzic                                                      Duff

                                David Villa

Add to that the marquees and OS players and the club should start big favorites for the title. Will JVS be up to that pressure? Hmmmmm, yes, you have put your finger on a key question. Will we start with a bang and then fade out in the second half of the season?
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With our midfield depth improved I'd be starting Germano at Right back.

His energy and passing ability would be welcome there. Hoffman as back up.

Connor Chapman will be starting is my prediction. The boy can play. JVS loves his type. Ball playing CH. Very composed on the ball.

I'd have our back four as:

Germano Chapman Kisnorbo Garrucio.

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Also Williams surely gets a gig up forward somewhere, some good players will be sitting on the bench each game I reckon

Nope.

 

 

I too once despised Williams but I can see with a little further development he can turn into a 10-15 goal scorer a season, he gets into good positions his finish sometimes lacks a bit of class, but he gets the opportunities every game which some could argue is the hard part. 

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Williams is a good player and would be a perfect partner for Villa. (Similar to Aguero and Tevez - 2 smaller stature guys. No point in power housing this league. Speed and skill would be more effective.)

Duff could almost play a free role as he ages. (Similar to Silva or Nasri - drift wide sometime, drift into the centre other times, track back to help wherever there's danger. Not the old winger hangs by the sideline these days.)

Englaar hopefully in the Yaya role. Then just need to high energy central midfielders... One very defensive and one who covers a lot of ground.

Two defenders who resist falling back deep and can find a pass. An attacking full back and a more defensive minded one. And a decent keeper.

.... Equals the City 4222. :-) easy peasy

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I too believe JVS will play Duff more as a bossing midfielder, if he is skill is up to scratch for premier league then i think he will be able to dissect the oppositions midfield/ defense in the a league, i have concerns as to whether he would be quick enough to run wings and like he says there is games where the winger could be shut out and for a player of his sort I think he would be better utilized in the engine room.

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it's a romantic notion TonyM but i think you'll find Johnny will stick with his tried and (not so) true formula of 4-4-fucken-3...

I normally agree with you, but you're way off here.

JvS changes formation almost every match, sometimes several times in the same game.

4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 3-4-3, etc. (Granted, all variations of the same thing, but formational changes nonetheless)

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Also Williams surely gets a gig up forward somewhere, some good players will be sitting on the bench each game I reckon

Nope.

 

 

I too once despised Williams but I can see with a little further development he can turn into a 10-15 goal scorer a season, he gets into good positions his finish sometimes lacks a bit of class, but he gets the opportunities every game which some could argue is the hard part. 

 

Good bench player. Nothing more.

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Also Williams surely gets a gig up forward somewhere, some good players will be sitting on the bench each game I reckon

Nope.

 

 

I too once despised Williams but I can see with a little further development he can turn into a 10-15 goal scorer a season, he gets into good positions his finish sometimes lacks a bit of class, but he gets the opportunities every game which some could argue is the hard part. 

 

Good bench player. Nothing more.

 

Needs to accept his role like Gia at the Doggies.

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Well unless we find a proper striker (Villa with us for only a short period) what other option do we have contracted at the moment and the bloke was our leading scorer this season...........by a long way

Agreed. We're still well short in the striker department. Hoping that we sign a top quality marquee as striker and another striker to support him (or at least be competing with Williams as 2nd striker). Need to have depth in this department because our midfield will be quality no doubt and last season we provided our front third with plenty of chances (I think someone mentioned us having the most shots in the comp?), so with a quality attack, we'll be able to convert most of our chances into goals, which would have converted around half of our losses last season into wins. 

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Long way to go on our signings. Depending on the cap IMO the number could be more than 5, because up to 3 of our young players can be in the "additional three young players" category.

 

Absolutely certain that our two marquees will fill the no. 9 and 10 positions.

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I'd rather us sort our defense first before filling in our marquee spots. In desperate need of a LB and i feel as if we need another, reasonably experianced CB. RB isnt too much of an issue as i see Germano and Hoff taking that area. But if we can sort out a strong defense along with some depth, then we start worrying about marquees.

Edited by Victards
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For contracted players only:

 

                                Redmayne

 

Hoffman        Kisnorbo          Wielaert         Garuccio

 

                                Murdocca         

                       Mooy                Mauk      

 

Dugandzic                                                      Duff

                                David Villa

That front 3 is sorted IMO. Add Kennedy after the J-League season / when Villa leaves. Replacing Dugandzic with a different player would be poor use of salary cap or marquee spot, more than good enough to be first 11.

Middle 3, Mooy is the same thing, you wouldn't waste resources signing someone to replace him. My opinion is Mauk should be given a chance as a first 11 player, and I think he may be. So really only Murdocca that should be improved upon in midfield, and I think despite the midfield depth there will be another signing here that will be of first 11 quality.

Defence, I wouldn't complain if this was the defence we went into the season with, same with the midfield as well TBH, but definitely can be improved. I'd say those saying Germano will be more of aRB this season are correct, but (here we go) I'd back Hoffman to come out as first choice RB again (haters gonna hate). Really we should let Germano go, only because he is a waste of a visa spot, if he was non-visa (which actually might be the case this season?) then he is a great backup at both RB and midfield. Wouldn't mind a first 11 LB signed, but then you probably have to let go of Ramsay, as Garuccio would be the first backup for LW (as well as LB), and you might as well have someone younger and/or cheaper in the squad instead of Ramsay if he is that far off the first 11. If Garuccio will be first choice LB, then we surely do need a backup LB as I can't think of any (I think Petreski has left?)? CB seems all right both for first choice with 3 guys that are good enough competing for the 2 spots, and having another player as backup.

The number one problem in the squad remains the GK. Redders must be let go and replaced with a good GK. If the current situation remains, I wouldnt mind Redders and Velaphi being rotated each game until one clearly claims the first choice spot, the competition will only push them both and one might actually turn into a good GK as a result.

Edited by Tesla
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Also Williams surely gets a gig up forward somewhere, some good players will be sitting on the bench each game I reckon

Nope.

 

 

I too once despised Williams but I can see with a little further development he can turn into a 10-15 goal scorer a season, he gets into good positions his finish sometimes lacks a bit of class, but he gets the opportunities every game which some could argue is the hard part. 

 

gee you use that argument for Mifdud , remember him, he had som many oppotunities but took just one

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Also Williams surely gets a gig up forward somewhere, some good players will be sitting on the bench each game I reckon

Nope.

 

 

I too once despised Williams but I can see with a little further development he can turn into a 10-15 goal scorer a season, he gets into good positions his finish sometimes lacks a bit of class, but he gets the opportunities every game which some could argue is the hard part. 

 

gee you use that argument for Mifdud , remember him, he had som many oppotunities but took just one

 

Difference is Williams at least took what 10 of them? Williams will make an excellent impact sub in a better squad as you know he is always going to create you a chance when he comes on.

 

Squad is looking decent. If we were to start the season today i'd go;

 

Redmayne

Hoff Kisnorbo Wielaert Garruccio

Germano

Mauk Mooy

Mate Villa Duff

 

Key positions to be strengthened are obviously LB,AM,CF . We have 5 signings left is it? I'd sign two CF (one marquee, one young aussie if there are any about to be third in line once Villa leaves) two CM (Marquee AM for Mauk to learn from and a reliable DM or Engelaar type) and a first XI LB. I also expect Wielaert and Chapman to be used in almost even amounts.

 

I hope we sign an experienced LB as I want to see Garruccio kick on and learn from Duff in the LW position. Too many promising wingers get pushed back into LB or RB.

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Also Williams surely gets a gig up forward somewhere, some good players will be sitting on the bench each game I reckon

Nope.

 

 

I too once despised Williams but I can see with a little further development he can turn into a 10-15 goal scorer a season, he gets into good positions his finish sometimes lacks a bit of class, but he gets the opportunities every game which some could argue is the hard part. 

 

gee you use that argument for Mifdud , remember him, he had som many oppotunities but took just one

 

 

Big difference between a guy who scored one goal and spent most of the season in the youth squad compared to a guy who kick 12 goals and came equal second for the golden boot and that was after JA left him with no confidence in the first half of the season........so really no where near the same argument  

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                       Redmayne

Germano Kisnorbo Wielaert Garruccio

                          Mooy

                     Duff Murdocca

               Mate              Williams

                          Villa

 

Subs: Velaphi, Mauk, Ramsay, Hoffman, Chapman

 

and Kalmar to never see the light of day ever again

 

i'm still iffy about Murdocca, hopefully whoever they sign for a marquee can fill that creative midfield role along side duff

 

but yeh pretty scary considering the team we have is solid without the two marquees at the moment

Edited by drewmelbcity
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We have 5-6 positions left - that's if Chapman is included in the "three extra youth players" category, which was the story when he was signed.

 

I'm sure that our international marquee is going to be a big signing - that's the word, anyway. So he's going to be an automatic starter. Also people seem to be forgetting James Brown - he's going to be pushing Mauk and Murdocca. Melling?

 

Agree with comments on the goalkeeping position - I think we have stuffed up there. Also retaining Kalmar, because he looks being at the bottom of the pile in midfield.

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I'm liking that throughout the squad we should have proven first team quality (bar the GK's). In every position we also have some promising youngsters that will learn off the seasoned pro's and be competing for their first team place. It does a young player far more good having to displace a more experienced player for a position than having a starting position handed to him. Having the likes of Garruccio, Mauk, Melling, Chapman fighting for places in the squad behind the established quality will only serve the club well going forward. You could at a stretch add Brown to this list. If two of those four/five become established first XI players in the following season we will see the beginnings of a production line of young Australian talent. What we know under JVS is that if they are good enough they will get their chance.

 

For all JVS' failings in the past I think his ability to bring through youth and the way in which he does it cannot be questioned. The problem in his opening two seasons was not having the established players ahead of the youngsters to create that genuine sense of competition. Even without that we still saw the likes of Babalj, Good, Hammill come through. We shouldn't have that problem this year.

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This is my attempt to visually map out the team we have for next season, and see the depth we have in each position:

 

To be clear

- Bold players are starting

- Kennedy is in square brackets because he replaces Villa after he leaves

- And the players in round brackets are players who can play in the position they are below, but aren't starting

 

 

------------------------------Villa [Kennedy]----------------------
------------------------------(-Williams)----------------------------
----------------------------- (-Marino)------------------------------
------------Duff------------Marquee----------Dugandzic----
------------(-Garuccio)---(-Mauk)------------(-Brown)---------
------------(-Ramsay)----(-Kalmar)----------(-Kuzmanovski)-
-----------------------Mooy--------Murdocca------------------
----------------------(-Retre)-----(-Melling)----------------------                                   
------LEFTBACK-----Chapman----Wielaert----Germano
-------------------------(-Archibald)--(-Kisnorbo)-(-Hoffman)-
--------------------------------Redmayne-------------------------
--------------------------------(-Velaphi)---------------------------
 
Some obervations:
 
= Assuming we sign up an Australian marquee (e.g. Kennedy), an international marquee and a left back, we have used 20 squad spots. That's also assuming that young players like Jacob Melling, Paulo Retre, Ross Archibald, Steve Kuzmanovski and Marc Marino don't take up any of the 23 senior squad contracts, and are on either some of the 3 additional senior-youth contracts (like the club said Melling is on), or are on NYL contracts. Given that Archibald, Kuzmanovski and Marino are training without squad numbers, it is quite possible that the second assumption is correct.
 
= The above squad might have 1 Visa spot left (if the LB is Australian), and has 3 senior salary cap spots left.

 

= Something that I think needs to be remembered is that not all 23 squad players (and any additional youth players) can play regularly. Some players will necessarily play less than others. And I think it's a real positive that our depth players next season could include previous starters, like Ramsay, Williams and Hoffman. Unlike in previous seasons, where Heart squads had players lucky to get a professional football contract, like Steven Gray, Sam Mitchinson, Cameron Edwards and Ante Tomic, I think all of our depth players next season could come in and do a job if required, and a number of them might be in real competition to start more weeks than not. So I reckon it's pretty positive the players we have who won't be starting regularly, and people who criticise our non-starters really need to look at the non-starters in other A-League teams, because there's a vast number of mediocre players not starting in other A-League teams.

 

 

Overall, I think the squad is looking very good in all areas for next season, except maybe the GK position (and IMO, I think Redmayne will get back to his solid 2012/13 form, due to our improved defence and his increased experience). If we get a fine LB, I think the defence will be much better and more balanced than last year. And our midfield and attack should easily be at least a level up in quality compared with last season. And IMO we've got a good lot of youth in the squad (without throwing young players in the deep end), and I think we've got good depth in every position, without having too many players in any given position.
 
So all up the squad seems to be shaping up very nicely. And we still have 3 spots left (and maybe 1 Visa spot left), so there is still a lot of scope for further improvement.
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This is my attempt to visually map out the team we have for next season, and see the depth we have in each position:

 

To be clear

- Bold players are starting

- Kennedy is in square brackets because he replaces Villa after he leaves

- And the players in round brackets are players who can play in the position they are below, but aren't starting

 

 

------------------------------Villa [Kennedy]----------------------

------------------------------(-Williams)----------------------------

----------------------------- (-Marino)------------------------------

------------Duff------------Marquee----------Dugandzic----

------------(-Garuccio)---(-Mauk)------------(-Brown)---------

------------(-Ramsay)----(-Kalmar)----------(-Kuzmanovski)-

-----------------------Mooy--------Murdocca------------------

----------------------(-Retre)-----(-Melling)----------------------                                   

------LEFTBACK-----Chapman----Wielaert----Germano

-------------------------(-Archibald)--(-Kisnorbo)-(-Hoffman)-

--------------------------------Redmayne-------------------------

--------------------------------(-Velaphi)---------------------------

 

Some obervations:

 

= Assuming we sign up an Australian marquee (e.g. Kennedy), an international marquee and a left back, we have used 20 squad spots. That's also assuming that young players like Jacob Melling, Paulo Retre, Ross Archibald, Steve Kuzmanovski and Marc Marino don't take up any of the 23 senior squad contracts, and are on either some of the 3 additional senior-youth contracts (like the club said Melling is on), or are on NYL contracts. Given that Archibald, Kuzmanovski and Marino are training without squad numbers, it is quite possible that the second assumption is correct.

 

= The above squad might have 1 Visa spot left (if the LB is Australian), and has 3 senior salary cap spots left.

 

= Something that I think needs to be remembered is that not all 23 squad players (and any additional youth players) can play regularly. Some players will necessarily play less than others. And I think it's a real positive that our depth players next season could include previous starters, like Ramsay, Williams and Hoffman. Unlike in previous seasons, where Heart squads had players lucky to get a professional football contract, like Steven Gray, Sam Mitchinson, Cameron Edwards and Ante Tomic, I think all of our depth players next season could come in and do a job if required, and a number of them might be in real competition to start more weeks than not. So I reckon it's pretty positive the players we have who won't be starting regularly, and people who criticise our non-starters really need to look at the non-starters in other A-League teams, because there's a vast number of mediocre players not starting in other A-League teams.

 

 

Overall, I think the squad is looking very good in all areas for next season, except maybe the GK position (and IMO, I think Redmayne will get back to his solid 2012/13 form, due to our improved defence and his increased experience). If we get a fine LB, I think the defence will be much better and more balanced than last year. And our midfield and attack should easily be at least a level up in quality compared with last season. And IMO we've got a good lot of youth in the squad (without throwing young players in the deep end), and I think we've got good depth in every position, without having too many players in any given position.

 

So all up the squad seems to be shaping up very nicely. And we still have 3 spots left (and maybe 1 Visa spot left), so there is still a lot of scope for further improvement.

Agree with a lot of that Murfy1. Great concern for me is GK, both are at best average. The other concern is both fullback positions. Garuccio most likely be forced into LB, as we have little alternative unless our next 2 signings can play that posy. At RB that leaves the much maligned Hoffman or Germano. Hoffman probably played above himself last year and became solid without becoming a must. I can't see him offering much attacking wise and for us to become a force the fullback must become a weapon. Germano is interesting at RB, he has all the qualities you need, my only concern is he is injury prone. With improved training and medical staff he may became a 20+ game player, not sure. Across the rest of the squad it has great balance and depth. Kalmar and Ramsey are on borrowed time, potentially they are taking the spot of 19 to 22 year old, but having said when called on they are capable of doing a job so to me unless they both changed dramatically this could be their last season with us. Overall we have a better squad on paper than most of last seasons teams, question will be how much better?

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Also Williams surely gets a gig up forward somewhere, some good players will be sitting on the bench each game I reckon

Nope.

 

 

I too once despised Williams but I can see with a little further development he can turn into a 10-15 goal scorer a season, he gets into good positions his finish sometimes lacks a bit of class, but he gets the opportunities every game which some could argue is the hard part. 

 

gee you use that argument for Mifdud , remember him, he had som many oppotunities but took just one

 

 

Big difference between a guy who scored one goal and spent most of the season in the youth squad compared to a guy who kick 12 goals and came equal second for the golden boot and that was after JA left him with no confidence in the first half of the season........so really no where near the same argument  

 

 

Agreed. To me, Williams has always seemed like an icing, rather than cake, kind of player. Which could mean he'll find his niche playing second fiddle to the likes of Villa and the next signing up front. That should really have been the role he was playing last season (and seems to suit his ups and downs a bit better), but Mifsud lost the plot, Williams stood up and, overall, had an outstanding season. Until we sign one more forward that will be ready to go from the start of the season, or two that will be ready to go after Villa departs, I think a spot in the first XI is Williams' to lose.

 

Maybe he is a regular as the second striker, maybe he'll be a designated impact player off the bench, maybe he does a bit of both. But I think we'll see a lot of him in 2014/15 and think he will have an important role.

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Perhaps the plan is to have Villa teach Williams some tricks. Then when Villa departs, Williams takes over the spot.

Very possible. As mentioned elsewhere, Williams appears to do a lot of the hard stuff most of the time like getting around defenders and getting himself into a one-on-one with the goalie, but he messes up the finishing which is why people are divided on whether he is a good player or not. Hopefully that sort of thing will be something Villa can help him with. 

 

I also do believe that William's biggest problem isn't even his finishing, but it's his way of dominating one game and then being invisible the next game. You'd like to think that wouldn't be too much of an issue next season though, as he probably won't be a starting 11 player and he certainly won't be our first choice striker, so if he does fall into a patch where he can't get into games, we'll have the depth to cover him. 

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