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A-LEAGUE Double Winner Naoki Tsubaki

Deluka

By Deluka,
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Deluka

Deluka

Posted
Posted (edited)

Whilst it is very difficult to attribute social media engagement to tangible business outcomes (i.e. selling memberships, revenue growth etc.), the engagement from Japanese fans in relation to Naoki Tsubaki is really something and highlights the interest that can be garnered by tapping into the Asian market (particularly if that player is a young prospect).

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227D66F0-C71A-4D28-B492-3FD51F453524.png

Edited by thisphantomfortress
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neio

neio

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I understand why Tsubaki was loaned to us. Asian helps us in ACL, Ange recommendation, from a CFG club. But it's not working, he hasn't played more than 5 minutes in a game since he randomly got chucked on in midfield when Florin injured himself in warm up against WSW. There is nothing wrong with him as a player, he just does not have the impact off bench of Cola and Tilio 

Time to send him back to Japan and get someone (preferably Asian) who will be used more in a position that we may need a little more cover, eg back up Striker or someone who can play across multiple positions in back 4

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NewConvert

NewConvert

Posted
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4 hours ago, neio said:

I understand why Tsubaki was loaned to us. Asian helps us in ACL, Ange recommendation, from a CFG club. But it's not working, he hasn't played more than 5 minutes in a game since he randomly got chucked on in midfield when Florin injured himself in warm up against WSW. There is nothing wrong with him as a player, he just does not have the impact off bench of Cola and Tilio 

Time to send him back to Japan and get someone (preferably Asian) who will be used more in a position that we may need a little more cover, eg back up Striker or someone who can play across multiple positions in back 4

How often does PK use the bench?

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jw1739

jw1739

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Posted
5 hours ago, neio said:

I understand why Tsubaki was loaned to us. Asian helps us in ACL, Ange recommendation, from a CFG club. But it's not working, he hasn't played more than 5 minutes in a game since he randomly got chucked on in midfield when Florin injured himself in warm up against WSW. There is nothing wrong with him as a player, he just does not have the impact off bench of Cola and Tilio 

Time to send him back to Japan and get someone (preferably Asian) who will be used more in a position that we may need a little more cover, eg back up Striker or someone who can play across multiple positions in back 4

How does it help us in the ACL if he can't get into the team on merit rather than nationality?

We've loaned out Najjar and Najjarine and "loaned in" this guy and he clearly isn't cutting the mustard. He reminds me of Susueta - sound player in a good team but doesn't have the anticipated impact.

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neio

neio

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27 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

How does it help us in the ACL if he can't get into the team on merit rather than nationality?

We've loaned out Najjar and Najjarine and "loaned in" this guy and he clearly isn't cutting the mustard. He reminds me of Susueta - sound player in a good team but doesn't have the anticipated impact.

Obviously we thought he was going to make a bigger impact with us than he has. The plan would have been for him to either be in starting 11 or at least be pushing very hard that he could do a job for us during season and ACL. We didn't get him thinking he would sit in bench every game 

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Mr MO

Mr MO

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, neio said:

Obviously we thought he was going to make a bigger impact with us than he has. The plan would have been for him to either be in starting 11 or at least be pushing very hard that he could do a job for us during season and ACL. We didn't get him thinking he would sit in bench every game 

Surely we knew that he was going to be gamble - young, never been abroad and limited first team football. I’m fine with uncovering the next gem by the way but at what expense?!

As mentioned in another post; We have limited visa and team places available and we let our youth depart the club. Is a visa spot suitable for such a development gamble?

We have already qualified for the ACL, one foreigner needs to be dropped to meet the 4+1 rule and it can’t be him. So again a big gamble as he’s not playing now.

I guess I’m focusing more on how we got in this situation in the first place. Did we simple run out of cap space? Or are we overrating the importance visa spots?

With the coming transfer window we can perhaps rectify it then again contractually it might not be possible.

 

Edited by Mr MO
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jw1739

jw1739

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27 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

Surely we knew that he was going to be gamble - young, never been abroad and limited first team football. I’m fine with uncovering the next gem by the way but at what expense?!

As mentioned in another post; We have limited visa and team places available and we let our youth depart the club. Is a visa spot suitable for such a development gamble?

We have already qualified for the ACL, one foreigner needs to be dropped to meet the 4+1 rule and it can’t be him. So again a big gamble as he’s not playing now.

I guess I’m focusing more on how we got in this situation in the first place. Did we simple run out of cap space? Or are we overrating the importance visa spots?

With the coming transfer window we can perhaps rectify it then again contractually it might not be possible.

Our visas are Reis, Noone, Luna, Berenguer and Tsubaki. I don't see that we have to drop anyone.  We can include or exclude Tsubaki as we see fit. ATM he's just a bench-warmer.

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Shahanga

Shahanga

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Missing_Moy said:

 Can we recall Ramy next transfer window ? 
he will be in the olyroos squad so prob doesn’t help us 

The way he’s currently playing Ramy would be well behind Cola and Tulio in the pecking order.

2 hours ago, Missing_Moy said:

Cola and Tillio both ahead of him in the peaking order which is great for our youth but a waste of a visa spot I’d be going with someone who can play striker 

Cola can play striker apparently. 
With the (little) money we would have spent in Tsubaki I doubt we could reallocate it to a player who could be a guaranteed starter in any position.

To be honest as it stands, I think our squad is excellent.

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Mr MO

Mr MO

Posted
Posted (edited)
33 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Our visas are Reis, Noone, Luna, Berenguer and Tsubaki. I don't see that we have to drop anyone.  We can include or exclude Tsubaki as we see fit. ATM he's just a bench-warmer.

Yes sorry complete brain fade stuck in my own conspiracy 

Edited by Mr MO
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jw1739

jw1739

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

With the (little) money we would have spent in Tsubaki I doubt we could reallocate it to a player who could be a guaranteed starter in any position.

To be honest as it stands, I think our squad is excellent.

But we also have available what would have been paid to both O'Neill and Atkinson - looks like both of them will be out for the season now. If they are declared "long-term" their payments are covered by insurance and don't count in the cap.

But you're probably right - hard to find a "guaranteed starter" at this stage of the season. And who would you drop anyway?

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CityBoyz

CityBoyz

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Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

But we also have available what would have been paid to both O'Neill and Atkinson - looks like both of them will be out for the season now. If they are declared "long-term" their payments are covered by insurance and don't count in the cap.

But you're probably right - hard to find a "guaranteed starter" at this stage of the season. And who would you drop anyway?

O’Neill is back in training

 

Edited by CityBoyz
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CityWildcat

CityWildcat

Posted
Posted (edited)

Tsbuaki (I wonder if he is any relation to the  founders of  a world-famous brand of drive chains for motorcycles?) reminds me of the great Arsenal flop of 2001-2002, Junichi Inamoto  ..... brought to North London by Arsene Wenger, he appeared only 4 times on the pitch during a period of great success for the Gunners.  A good player who later did well at lesser EPL clubs,  he nonetheless was a permanent bench warmer in a deeply talented superstar squad and was let go after one ''season''.  But his signing  pushed interest in Arsenal through the roof in Japan.  For that one season only, hundreds of expat Japanese fans turned out at Highbury week in week out hoping to see him play.  Arsenal's merchandising income and viewing figures from Japan went through the roof  briefly, and  so the hardcore Gooners quickly nicknamed him ''T Shirt''....  I guess City Group does not need that money.

Edited by CityWildcat
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bt50

bt50

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, CityBoyz said:

Think it shows we got this visa player wrong when he can’t even make the bench now for games. Left out of the squad for the Brisbane game 

My view on Tsubaki is that he was a free swing. IMO we only intended use 4 as part of our cap management and effectively he came up as a chance to add an extra kid to the squad, at min wage, mostly on the basis that he'd also be eligible for ACL if we needed him.

Now im sure there'll be gripes about only using 4 of 5 visa slots, but quite a few successful clubs have undertaken that approach, in particular the gun Sydney side of 16/17 (they added Buijs mid-season when Jurman left and opened up cap space).

Flop? Yeh sure, but i kinda view him as the equivalent of any of the other min wage kids so its not like we've given much up to take the punt on him.

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Shahanga

Shahanga

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Posted (edited)

Ive concluded Visas aren’t everything.

Ok making them the backbone of your team is one pathway to success but we’ve shown this year that there are other ways.

Our top 4 players IMO are Mclaren, Nabbout, Good and Metcalfe.

The quality of the 4th and 5th visa players (in particular) is an over rated discussion point.

Edited by Shahanga
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n i k o

n i k o

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Ive concluded Visas aren’t everything.

Ok making them the backbone of your team is one pathway to success but we’ve shown this year that there are other ways.

Our top 4 players IMO are Mclaren, Nabbout, Good and Metcalfe.

The quality of the 4th and 5th visa players (in particular) is an over rated discussion point.

The thing is there is no set way or formula to being successful. For example if we can't fill a couple of positions with good quality local talent and we have two visa positions left to fill then the impetus becomes more focused around the quality of those last few visa spots. 

Anyway it's not an issue and I agree especially given our depth of players, particularly local ones. 

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jw1739

jw1739

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IMO it's a like an investment portfolio. Depending on circumstances you put together a portfolio that suits your objectives. For most people it's a reasonable return over a period of time. Some of the investments will deliver, and some won't and you adjust as you go along. In football I assume that there are a number of objectives - both on and off the field - and you do what you can to meet all of them. I would say that it means that you won't always need all 5 visa players, and in certain seasons you might not need any at all. We're probably approaching that position now, because we've always had the objective of bringing players through our academy.

I sometimes wonder whether the limit on the number of visa players means that we pay undue attention to them, and make the assumption that they all ought to be "better" than non-visa players? What would happen if the limitation were to be removed? There's still the cap there that would limit who you could sign. 

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The Aardvark

The Aardvark

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I think Tsubaki is a failure, but it's not a failed strategy. VISA's are almost always 5050 shots, even established and proven VISA players can suck when they come over here. You have 5 VISA spots, you are aiming for all of them to be good enough to be in your starting 11 and good, but realistically you would expect 1 or 2 to flop. One VISA failing is probably the best we can realistically hope for, so in terms of VISA strategy we are fine, it's only Tsubaki himself that is the failure. 

What I am trying to say is that Tsubaki failing doesn't mean we stuffed up our VISAs. One was always going to struggle. 

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icantthinkofacoolname

icantthinkofacoolname

Posted
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On 30/12/2020 at 11:03 AM, Deluka said:

Whilst it is very difficult to attribute social media engagement to tangible business outcomes (i.e. selling memberships, revenue growth etc.), the engagement from Japanese fans in relation to Naoki Tsubaki is really something and highlights the interest that can be garnered by tapping into the Asian market (particularly if that player is a young prospect).

This is really noticeable from today's game: 

Twitter post for Tsubaki's goal - 942 likes & 275 re-tweets.

Twitter post for Maclaren's goal - 72 likes & 15 re-tweets. 

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jw1739

jw1739

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20 minutes ago, icantthinkofacoolname said:

This is really noticeable from today's game: 

Twitter post for Tsubaki's goal - 942 likes & 275 re-tweets.

Twitter post for Maclaren's goal - 72 likes & 15 re-tweets. 

Means fuck all if none of those tweeters come near the club.

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Jovan

Jovan

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Watched him closely. 

Was too deep for mine personally, but give him 2 more 60 minute starts and I think he could possibly adapt to that false 9 role.

Obviously he isn't a like for like with Maclaren, but going forward he can be used as that playmaking 9, especially if we go down to 10 players.

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Harrison

Harrison

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4 hours ago, Jovan said:

Watched him closely. 

Was too deep for mine personally, but give him 2 more 60 minute starts and I think he could possibly adapt to that false 9 role.

Obviously he isn't a like for like with Maclaren, but going forward he can be used as that playmaking 9, especially if we go down to 10 players.

I don't think the false 9/almost 10 works with Tilio. Try that alongside Nabbout and it's probably more effective.

But they had one session to prepare for the match according to Kisnorbo, so we ought to keep that in mind.

Get him closer to goal though in the future.

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Jovan

Jovan

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6 minutes ago, Harrison said:

I don't think the false 9/almost 10 works with Tilio. Try that alongside Nabbout and it's probably more effective.

But they had one session to prepare for the match according to Kisnorbo, so we ought to keep that in mind.

Get him closer to goal though in the future.

Totally agree, i think a couple games then we can judge.

I am pretty confident with the coaching team going down this path. Previous choices have worked.

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