Transfer Talk, Rumours and Speculation

[jw1739]

32 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

Yes definitely meant in the works, just autocorrect being a cunt on my phone. 

Joyce has also been told that if the team does not make the finals this season that he will be given the boot.  The only reason he was given leniency this season was because the people higher up did not see this list as his own.  Now that he will have a full pre season with the team their are no excuses. 

TBH I don't know why the club just doesn't terminate Petrillo and give our Manager the full reins in terms of signings. It's not as if the Manager has a 50+ matches season to contend with - there's plenty of time for him to assess who's available. If we need someone above the Manager to hold the Football Department together, then make that person purely admin. There have been too many poor signings during Petrillo's incumbency.

[Shahanga]

3 hours ago, kingofhearts said:

Yes definitely meant in the works, just autocorrect being a cunt on my phone. 

Joyce has also been told that if the team does not make the finals this season that he will be given the boot.  The only reason he was given leniency this season was because the people higher up did not see this list as his own.  Now that he will have a full pre season with the team their are no excuses. 

Which Adelaide players are we targeting (or perhaps to spare your keyboard, which ones are we not targeting?)

[Dylan]

Well Joyce is on a two year deal anyway. So next season he is working for a new contract. I also assume you mean the final and not finals?

Nothing less than the championship with a top two finish for me next year thanks Warren. 

[jw1739]

6 hours ago, Dylan said:

Well Joyce is on a two year deal anyway. So next season he is working for a new contract. I also assume you mean the final and not finals?

Nothing less than the championship with a top two finish for me next year thanks Warren. 

Well, we were a mile off the pace of Sydney last season, so if that's what you want then we're going to have to assemble a much better squad than we had last time. Considering we have only 11 players signed to the seniors (excludes Scholarship players) for next season, then there are interesting times ahead.

When are our boys due to return to training? About mid-June?

[bt50]

17 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Well, we were a mile off the pace of Sydney last season, so if that's what you want then we're going to have to assemble a much better squad than we had last time. Considering we have only 11 players signed to the seniors (excludes Scholarship players) for next season, then there are interesting times ahead.

When are our boys due to return to training? About mid-June?

Depends how 'superior' you viewed Sydney's squad as. As a famous FIFA commentator once quipped, "Games aren't won on paper, are they Andy?"

[neio]

Brisbane are trying to get mauk on a permanent deal 

[n i k o]

2 hours ago, bt50 said:

Depends how 'superior' you viewed Sydney's squad as. As a famous FIFA commentator once quipped, "Games aren't won on paper, are they Andy?"

Then the obvious question is can the manager deliver 

Edited May 24, 2018 by n i k o

[bt50]

9 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Then the obvious question is can the manager deliver 

It's part of it. There's plenty of factors to consider.

For mine Sydney's chief reason for success was their gaffer; i'm an unabashed fan of Arnold. It would take a fair bit for anyone to do a better job than him in the A League, irrespective of where they have coached before.

[jw1739]

3 hours ago, bt50 said:

Depends how 'superior' you viewed Sydney's squad as. As a famous FIFA commentator once quipped, "Games aren't won on paper, are they Andy?"

Oh come on @bt50 Sydney's forward line pissed all over ours all season. We've taken one point off them in two seasons.

[bt50]

5 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Oh come on @bt50 Sydney's forward line pissed all over ours all season. We've taken one point off them in two seasons.

Two things ; 1 - A squad is made up of 20+ players. I think its quite clear that ours batted deeper than theirs, particularly from players say 16-23, but they had a stronger XI.

2 - Even when you compare each player positionally, you can make an argument our squad wasnt too much behind. A best XI of both sides would probably look like :

                        Bouzanis

Wilkshire Wilkinson Schenkeveld Zullo

                  Brattan  Brillante

                           Ninkovic

Arzani                 Bobo        Adrian

and you definitely would have taken Bruno over Bobo at the start of the season, injury, and style of the sides perhaps makes the comparison unfair. I think you can argue that Bruno is a better rounded player , taking nothing away from an impressive and efficient Bobo this year. I also think its arguable that you nearly take Atkinson over Wilkshire going into this season with the consideration of age. The prior season is an even better example as most people would have said our squad on paper was superior to Sydney, but the coaches were the difference. Obv i believe Sydney were stronger this season than last.

I'm not denying they were a better side at all. I just don't think their squad was as far superior to us as the stats say; more it was a reflection of that team's chemistry, coaching and to a far lesser degree, incredible luck with injury and even decisions that seemed to keep going their way.

[Harrison]

29 minutes ago, bt50 said:

 I think its quite clear that ours batted deeper than theirs, particularly from players say 16-23, but they had a stronger XI.

I can't remember where I read it but a recent article on Sydney's salary cap management looked at the strength of their best XI and the significant drop-off after it. They spent heavily on 11 players then filled the rest of the squad up with cheap rejects/veterans. They also have an elite fitness and conditioning team that kept them fit every week but as you say, luck played a big part in terms of injuries (and ref decisions no doubt).

Arnold is a shrewd operator who routinely makes the right decisions.

[bt50]

9 minutes ago, Harrison said:

I can't remember where I read it but a recent article on Sydney's salary cap management looked at the strength of their best XI and the significant drop-off after it. They spent heavily on 11 players then filled the rest of the squad up with cheap rejects/veterans. They also have an elite fitness and conditioning team that kept them fit every week but as you say, luck played a big part in terms of injuries (and ref decisions no doubt).

Arnold is a shrewd operator who routinely makes the right decisions.

Yeh it's a big thing and its obviously a risky strategy that pays off when you get the required injury free run. IMO City are far more squad focused, perhaps to ensure they can be competitive on both fronts when it comes to ACL, but its perhaps come at the cost of qualifying there in the first place. And tbh i don't think it has to be either/or, just that we havent quite gotten the mix right just yet. I'm quite happy with the way our list has positioned itself for this off season, but in saying that we still need to fill the vacancies we've created with players that fit that bill, in particular with the marquee and visa positions

Edited May 24, 2018 by bt50

[jw1739]

A risky strategy that sees them Premiers by a mile two seasons in a row...

[bt50]

9 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

A risky strategy that sees them Premiers by a mile two seasons in a row...

Yes.

[HeartFc]

Inyestar signed for Kobe. I guess he likes steak. 

[haz]

31 minutes ago, HeartFc said:

Inyestar signed for Kobe. I guess he likes steak. 

After two years his Aussie visa couldn't get sorted. Cheers Dutton.

[jw1739]

34 minutes ago, HeartFc said:

Inyestar signed for Kobe. I guess he likes steak. 

Not as much as he likes money. No way the A-League can compete with these other Asian leagues. we're wasting our time even thinking about players like Iniesta.

[haz]

3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Not as much as he likes money. No way the A-League can compete with these other Asian leagues. we're wasting our time even thinking about players like Iniesta.

But but but we have a warchest!

[Chris p]

4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Not as much as he likes money. No way the A-League can compete with these other Asian leagues. we're wasting our time even thinking about players like Iniesta.

You probably would have said the same with Del piero 

[Tony999]

And Poppa after Leroy George, Oliver Bozanic. and Spiranovic

Edited May 24, 2018 by Tony999

[fensaddler]

3 hours ago, Tony999 said:

And Poppa after Leroy George, Oliver Bozanic. and Spiranovic

I'm sure he is. Whether he gets them is another matter.. 

[Tony999]

Shame we've lost the bit for Goodwin to Adelaide

Edited May 25, 2018 by Tony999

[n i k o]

On 25 May 2018 at 10:13 PM, Tony999 said:

Shame we've lost the bit for Goodwin to Adelaide

Makes sense. He's got far more loyalty to Adelaide than he ever did with us. Not surprised and especially when we have Jamo. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by n i k o

[Thrillhouse]

23 hours ago, Tony999 said:

Shame we've lost the bit for Goodwin to Adelaide

definitely not worth a marquee spot, 1m a season 

[Forever City]

Eric Bautheac in a Melbourne City kit on his insta story.

Not sure what to make of this.

[Afif Adam]

49 minutes ago, Forever City said:

Eric Bautheac in a Melbourne City kit on his insta story.

Not sure what to make of this.

Man this club has weird ways of announcing players 

[Embee]

Anyone got a screenshot of this?

I (and probably a few others) don't use instagram

[HughJass]

7 minutes ago, Embee said:

Anyone got a screenshot of this?

I (and probably a few others) don't use instagram

https://twitter.com/MrWalkerAgent/status/1000378896112467968?s=19

[jw1739]

Looks like a Sydney kit to me. Also, the "photo" is a mirror image, so the Puma logo is reversed and the A-League logo is on the wrong side of the jersey.

Definitely Sydney. Nothing to do with Melbourne City.

[Missing_Moy]

He was on holidays with Franjic so could be one of his shirts? 

[jw1739]

5 minutes ago, Missing_Moy said:

He was on holidays with Franjic so could be one of his shirts? 

I didn't see the second shirt, just the Sydney one. But anyway, don't think it's anything of importance. Two lads having a laugh more like.

[bt50]

12 hours ago, Thrillhouse said:

definitely not worth a marquee spot, 1m a season 

Wrong. 1m over three seasons, so 350k ish per season. Under the cap.

Would have been handy, but id like to see us sign a marquee LW personally

[haz]

1 hour ago, Missing_Moy said:

He was on holidays with Franjic so could be one of his shirts? 

Nah they're getting ready for a Mad Monday, the theme was "Disappointment".

(Just out of frame the rest of his mates are wearing Liverpool kits)

[kingofhearts]

He's signed with us. 

[jw1739]

2 hours ago, kingofhearts said:

He's signed with us. 

I very much doubt it. Last I read was that he was likely to be elevated to a marquee with Brisbane.

We will announce our signings in due course.

[Mr MO]

5 hours ago, kingofhearts said:

He's signed with us. 

Is this the Visa winger you’ve mentioned in a previous post?

[Forever City]

On second viewing I'm not looking into it too much. In his next post he's wearing a Sydney FC jersey. 

He's probably got a bit of collection of other A- League kits.

[malloy]

5 minutes ago, Forever City said:

On second viewing I'm not looking into it too much. In his next post he's wearing a Sydney FC jersey. 

He's probably got a bit of collection of other A- League kits.

Can confirm that a better offer came through from Sydney and he is currently favouring signing with them.

The FFA have also decided to allow Sydney more cap space and additional visa players.

[Jay]

Any confirmation on De Silva and Wales? 

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Any confirmation on De Silva and Wales? 

There's no confirmation of any of the rumours that were floating around 2-3 weeks ago.

In the case of De Silva he's still shown in the Central Coast's "confirmed squad." https://www.a-league.com.au/news/aleague-transfer-news-ins-outs-signings-done-deals