Melbourne City 2014 Pre Season

[Dylan]

 

 

would not complain if we used black shorts for away this season....

[Dylan]

Good write up about it from Matt Windley

 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/melbourne-city-unlucky-not-to-beat-championship-side-oldham-in-first-game-of-manchester-tour/story-fnk6rlg0-1226995183697

 

particularly this

 

 

 

Mooy was dominant in possession throughout the first 45 minutes and was probably the best player on the pitch.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Dylan

[Jimmy]

That should just be our home kit. It's perfect.

[Deluka]

The black shorts are simply brilliant, I hope that's our kit - white shorts just doesn't look right. I am also a Sunderland fan that definitely helps!

[Fentonthescreamingcactus]

classic football coverage in Australia championship side oldham

Edited July 20, 2014 by Fentonthescreamingcactus

[FIFA 2002]

The black shorts are nice for a change but wouldn't be used away against the Wanderers, Brisbane, Mariners, Wellington

[HEARTinator]

The black shorts are simply brilliant, I hope that's our kit - white shorts just doesn't look right. I am also a Sunderland fan that definitely helps!

The missus follows the fortunes of Sunderland (she's a fan of the books written by James Heriot who was himself a Sunderland fan) and I've long said we should go out in the black shorts. They look great alongside the red&white tops.

[Falastur]

Match attendance was 1,039 if anyone was wondering. Apparently Heart's Facebook page now has match photos.

Found this comment from the match thread on Bluemoon:

It was a good game, better than I expected and a great run out for Oldham. Don't ask me players names as I wasn't sure but Melbourne played quite well and, to my mind, just edged it but I guess a draw was a fair result. I don't think Melbourne made any changes at all but Oldham had quite a few.

Melbourne's number 15 was quite good. A couple of people were wondering if David Villa might get a run out, he had been seen warming up before the game.

I enjoyed it and shall go to watch them against Bolton as well.

p.s. I can't believe I was supporting a team in red and white!!! :-)

Edited July 20, 2014 by Falastur

[drewmelbcity]

Match attendance was 1,039 if anyone was wondering. Apparently Heart's Facebook page now has match photos.

Found this comment from the match thread on Bluemoon:

It was a good game, better than I expected and a great run out for Oldham. Don't ask me players names as I wasn't sure but Melbourne played quite well and, to my mind, just edged it but I guess a draw was a fair result. I don't think Melbourne made any changes at all but Oldham had quite a few.

Melbourne's number 15 was quite good. A couple of people were wondering if David Villa might get a run out, he had been seen warming up before the game.

I enjoyed it and shall go to watch them against Bolton as well.

p.s. I can't believe I was supporting a team in red and white!!! :-)

I had to look twice David villa?

[Shahanga]

Nice match report from the Herald Sun.

 

A few things stick out form the 2 matches so far:

• Fragile defending.  I'm on the record as not worrying too much about results for these 2 games, but dominating games then coughing up a soft goal is pretty much Melbourne Heart 101 and it seems we've done this against both teams.  This needs to be addressed as a matter of some urgency and if necessary get a defender coach in to assist.
• We seem serious about trialling Evans.  Really? are we looking for another midfielder?? The powers that be do know we can only play 3 at any one time (if we go for dutch standard 4-3-3) don't they???

Oh, I am still trying to figure out the Retre up front thing.

[Falastur]

Match attendance was 1,039 if anyone was wondering. Apparently Heart's Facebook page now has match photos.

Found this comment from the match thread on Bluemoon:

It was a good game, better than I expected and a great run out for Oldham. Don't ask me players names as I wasn't sure but Melbourne played quite well and, to my mind, just edged it but I guess a draw was a fair result. I don't think Melbourne made any changes at all but Oldham had quite a few.

Melbourne's number 15 was quite good. A couple of people were wondering if David Villa might get a run out, he had been seen warming up before the game.

I enjoyed it and shall go to watch them against Bolton as well.

p.s. I can't believe I was supporting a team in red and white!!! :-)

I had to look twice David villa?

Yeah, he's supposed to be in NYC right now too. Think there may have been a case of mistaken identity. Anyone want to play "who in the Melbourne squad looks most like Villa (except Villa)"?

[drewmelbcity]

Match attendance was 1,039 if anyone was wondering. Apparently Heart's Facebook page now has match photos.

Found this comment from the match thread on Bluemoon:

It was a good game, better than I expected and a great run out for Oldham. Don't ask me players names as I wasn't sure but Melbourne played quite well and, to my mind, just edged it but I guess a draw was a fair result. I don't think Melbourne made any changes at all but Oldham had quite a few.

Melbourne's number 15 was quite good. A couple of people were wondering if David Villa might get a run out, he had been seen warming up before the game.

I enjoyed it and shall go to watch them against Bolton as well.

p.s. I can't believe I was supporting a team in red and white!!! :-)

I had to look twice David villa? Yeah, he's supposed to be in NYC right now too. Think there may have been a case of mistaken identity. Anyone want to play "who in the Melbourne squad looks most like Villa (except Villa)"?

Maybe he meant duff? He was warming up before game

[Falastur]

Match attendance was 1,039 if anyone was wondering. Apparently Heart's Facebook page now has match photos.

Found this comment from the match thread on Bluemoon:

It was a good game, better than I expected and a great run out for Oldham. Don't ask me players names as I wasn't sure but Melbourne played quite well and, to my mind, just edged it but I guess a draw was a fair result. I don't think Melbourne made any changes at all but Oldham had quite a few.

Melbourne's number 15 was quite good. A couple of people were wondering if David Villa might get a run out, he had been seen warming up before the game.

I enjoyed it and shall go to watch them against Bolton as well.

p.s. I can't believe I was supporting a team in red and white!!! :-)

I had to look twice David villa? Yeah, he's supposed to be in NYC right now too. Think there may have been a case of mistaken identity. Anyone want to play "who in the Melbourne squad looks most like Villa (except Villa)"?

Maybe he meant duff? He was warming up before game

Perhaps. It's true that he doesn't appear to have played for reasons unknown. You'd think a long-standing English PL fan would recognise Duff though.

[drewmelbcity]

Match attendance was 1,039 if anyone was wondering. Apparently Heart's Facebook page now has match photos.

Found this comment from the match thread on Bluemoon:

It was a good game, better than I expected and a great run out for Oldham. Don't ask me players names as I wasn't sure but Melbourne played quite well and, to my mind, just edged it but I guess a draw was a fair result. I don't think Melbourne made any changes at all but Oldham had quite a few.

Melbourne's number 15 was quite good. A couple of people were wondering if David Villa might get a run out, he had been seen warming up before the game.

I enjoyed it and shall go to watch them against Bolton as well.

p.s. I can't believe I was supporting a team in red and white!!! :-)

I had to look twice David villa?Yeah, he's supposed to be in NYC right now too. Think there may have been a case of mistaken identity. Anyone want to play "who in the Melbourne squad looks most like Villa (except Villa)"? Maybe he meant duff? He was warming up before game Perhaps. It's true that he doesn't appear to have played for reasons unknown. You'd think a long-standing English PL fan would recognise Duff though.

Yeh maybe but we know without a doubt villa wasn't there so maybe his intelligence about football players is not that great

[InMyHeart]

when will people realise that beyond paddy k, our back 5 players are below a league standard

[Murfy1]

I think George Evans has been played as a central defender at times, like in the second half of the Oldham game (and he might have played in defence against Bury IIRC). I don't know much about Evans though. To be honest I've been surprised with pretty much all of the triallists, and think only Poole maybe has a chance of figuring next season.

 

I don't think too much can be read into what our defence is like based on the past 2 games. Against Bury, in the 2nd half when we conceded 2 goals, we had Hoffman, Evans, King and Chantler as our back 4. And against Oldham in our second half we had Archibald as RB (he seemingly was given a go there because Hoffman got a knock), Evans at CB and Kisnorbo alongside him (who was reportedly solid, despite the fact he's still returning to full fitness) and Chris Chantler again at LB.

 

So it wasn't really 'our' defence that has conceded goals, with triallists filling our defence when it conceded goals. And according to many reports Archibald has been very solid in defence, and we haven't conceded a goal when he was playing. Wielaert has been solid as well, as we haven't conceded a goal this pre-season when he's been playing, and he played a half against both Bury and Oldham (the first half of both matches). I'm also pretty sure Garuccio will be the first choice LB as things stand, and unfortunately he's been away with the Young Socceroos whilst the team has been playing these games in the UK, so we haven't seen the team with our first choice LB.

 

So I don't know how people can talk down our defence based on the pre-season we've had so far. The defenders signed to the club have all done pretty well. The only question I have about our defence is its depth.

 

 

On Villa, going off his Twitter account it looks likes he's been in Spain over recent days, and has just finished a David Villa football camp for kids. Maybe he's free now and could take a short flight northwards...

[Dylan]

I have a feeling that JVS will make the call on the trialists this week and when we face bolton it might be pretty close to our starting team. Wernt we close to signing some dutch guy and then we didnt because they found someone else they wanted. Was it Van Der Velden or something like that?

Edited July 20, 2014 by Dylan

[Nate]

I have a feeling that JVS will make the call on the trialists this week and when we face bolton it might be pretty close to our starting team. Wernt we close to signing some dutch guy and then we didnt because they found someone else they wanted. Was it Van Der Velden or something like that?

Ryan Koolwijk, although apparently we were looking at Nick van der Velden too.

[Nate]

when will people realise that beyond paddy k, our back 5 players are below a league standard

I think Wielaert is due for a much improved season, wouldn't write him off just yet. 

 

Agree on the full-backs and goalkeepers though, very sub-standard and the fact that Ramsay's been playing LB honestly has me really worried.

[agoalie]

 

when will people realise that beyond paddy k, our back 5 players are below a league standard

I think Wielaert is due for a much improved season, wouldn't write him off just yet. 

 

Agree on the full-backs and goalkeepers though, very sub-standard and the fact that Ramsay's been playing LB honestly has me really worried.

 

 

if gaurricio was in england he would be playing it, i suspect ramsay will be a bench player this year with gaurrico being the starting LB

[jw1739]

 

I have a feeling that JVS will make the call on the trialists this week and when we face bolton it might be pretty close to our starting team. Wernt we close to signing some dutch guy and then we didnt because they found someone else they wanted. Was it Van Der Velden or something like that?

Ryan Koolwijk, although apparently we were looking at Nick van der Velden too.

 

Yes. This puzzles me, because we've ended up signing no-one so far. Wonder what went wrong there?

[Nate]

 

 

when will people realise that beyond paddy k, our back 5 players are below a league standard

I think Wielaert is due for a much improved season, wouldn't write him off just yet. 

 

Agree on the full-backs and goalkeepers though, very sub-standard and the fact that Ramsay's been playing LB honestly has me really worried.

 

 

if gaurricio was in england he would be playing it, i suspect ramsay will be a bench player this year with gaurrico being the starting LB

 

He was actually exceptional in that 4-0 derby win where he played left-back but was then very suspect the following weeks in the same position so if the club works on his defensive attributes over the off-season (most notably his positioning) then I wouldn't be totally against him playing there. 

 

At the end of the day I'd prefer a ready made left-back rather than a makeshift one though.

[Nate]

 

 

I have a feeling that JVS will make the call on the trialists this week and when we face bolton it might be pretty close to our starting team. Wernt we close to signing some dutch guy and then we didnt because they found someone else they wanted. Was it Van Der Velden or something like that?

Ryan Koolwijk, although apparently we were looking at Nick van der Velden too.

 

Yes. This puzzles me, because we've ended up signing no-one so far. Wonder what went wrong there?

 

Absolutely no idea, hopefully it's a case of finding someone better with just the player negotiations to finalise. 

 

I have the feeling that Plan A has fallen through however and it looks as though we're going to sign one of the English trialists (none of whom I'm fully convinced about).

[Dylan]

[Deluka]

 

 

 

when will people realise that beyond paddy k, our back 5 players are below a league standard

I think Wielaert is due for a much improved season, wouldn't write him off just yet. 

 

Agree on the full-backs and goalkeepers though, very sub-standard and the fact that Ramsay's been playing LB honestly has me really worried.

 

 

if gaurricio was in england he would be playing it, i suspect ramsay will be a bench player this year with gaurrico being the starting LB

 

He was actually exceptional in that 4-0 derby win where he played left-back but was then very suspect the following weeks in the same position so if the club works on his defensive attributes over the off-season (most notably his positioning) then I wouldn't be totally against him playing there. 

 

At the end of the day I'd prefer a ready made left-back rather than a makeshift one though.

 

I still remember his shift in the derby, he silenced Thompson like it was nobody's business! Except it was Garrucio's business…and Thompson's a twat

[Heart_fan]

It's hard to take much from what's being seen currently, with a few key spots still to be filled.

Australian marquee, International marquee or Lampard (however that plays out on the books), David Villa and some of the squad either in the US or not yet in action.

Still lots to play out.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Heart_fan

[Nate]

Nice match report from the Herald Sun.

 

A few things stick out form the 2 matches so far:

• Fragile defending.  I'm on the record as not worrying too much about results for these 2 games, but dominating games then coughing up a soft goal is pretty much Melbourne Heart 101 and it seems we've done this against both teams.  This needs to be addressed as a matter of some urgency and if necessary get a defender coach in to assist.
• We seem serious about trialling Evans.  Really? are we looking for another midfielder?? The powers that be do know we can only play 3 at any one time (if we go for dutch standard 4-3-3) don't they???

Oh, I am still trying to figure out the Retre up front thing.

Could potentially be a masterstroke considering we seem to have an abundance of midfielders and a lack of forwards. 

If he can play there, why not? I haven't seen much of him but he seems a capable player.

[Heart_fan]

Some players just seem to be able to play in numerous positions.

Adapting to new roles is key in modern football, so I agree that if he can play there, give it a go.

[RedAndWhitePride]

 

 

would not complain if we used black shorts for away this season....

 

As much as I don't mind our new home kit, this is just pure class, the black shorts look brilliant.

[Heart_fan]

I seem to be the only one, but I'm not that sure I like the black shorts.

Just going off the couple of pix I have seen, but not a big fan of the look so far.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Heart_fan

[thedukeofhearts]

I seem to be the only one, but I'm not that sure I like the black shorts.

Just going off the couple of pix I have seen, but not a big fan of the look so far.

yeah I have to say it doesn't make me bar up at all. Much prefer the red or white shorts.

[RedAndWhitePride]

See, I'm not such a big fan of the white shorts, but one thing I think we can agree on, is that red and white jersey looks like it's made from quality material, unlike past seasons' efforts.

[thedukeofhearts]

no more sausage skin tops for us !! 

[RedAndWhitePride]

This photo really highlights the fabric: 

 

[thedukeofhearts]

Just a thought, didn;t we play in that training kit that was worn in ballarat for our first game against Bury. The away kit is obviously ready, I wonder if they only just got their kits delivered or they are waiting to wear the official home kit in the ffa cup 

[silva10]

I am just surprised the likes of Poole and Chantler are trialing.

 

I thought we would be looking at youngsters currently at City like George Evans.

[xXJawsaXx]

[Nate]

Really tidy finish.

[n i k o]

Great finish, if he takes his own advice for the upcoming season he could score a bagful of goals

[Kiro Kompiro]

Really tidy finish.

 

It was but I wouldn't have gone near post from that angle.  Lot more area to aim for going across the keeper in the opposite side.  But h'es got a pro contract and is playing in England whereas I'm here wishing I had and was.