Pre-season 2016

[Deluka]

Rojas, Troisi, Berisha and BKF are going to have a field day in the derby at this rate

[bt50]

Look theres no positive way to dress this result up. Losing 4-1 to Wellington is concerning no matter what the circumstances, and needs to be judged on what it is.

Clearly our experimentation with three at the back is not working, but i guess we should take that for what it is - experimentation. Our defence is obviously a bit of a shambles at the minute, and fingers crossed we can get that sorted.

The positives we can take out of it are

1] Cahill scored. Getting on the board early is essential for confidence, as we saw with Bruno last year. Hopefully Brandan isnt too far behind now.
2] Jakobsen to come in. Clearly at this stage we are pinning all of our hopes on him being a raging success.
3] Our marquee. Is going to need to be, and pretty confident he will be, something special. By the sounds and looks of each game we’ve played we are controlling possession but struggling to make meaningful inroads to goal, then getting caught on the counter as we press up and try and force something to happen. Hopefully this guy, be it Colazo or someone else, is either a wizard on the ball or an exceptional crosser to bring Cahill/Bruno into play.
It’s not too dissimilar to what happened under Amor and Gombau at Adelaide as they struggled to adjust to the possession based style.

[Embee]

31 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

As far as I can see according to Wikipedia he's technically correct. The only one being Adelaide in this pre-season 1-0 behind closed doors with a Fornaroli penalty.

The Craig Foster Cup against WSW was decided on penalties, and matches decided on penalties are shown as draws in the record books. (That's true for all matches decided on penalties.)

TBH not even sure that "behind closed doors" pre-season matches are regarded as "official" matches anyway.

I don't recall us playing any "pre-season matches" at AAMI - certainly not open to the public. The one I recall against Perth was at Epping where we were pulverised 5-1.

Whichever way you look at it, IMO none of our pre-seasons have given us cause to be really excited by our prospects for the following season and our record against other A-League clubs whether it be one or two wins is very poor. For me, and I suspect others, that's the main point being made.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Embee

[HEARTinator]

1 hour ago, bt50 said:

Pretty sure we've at least won two.

Beat Adelaide a few weeks ago and Perth at AAMI a year or two ago.

Correct. Add this years win and that makes 2 (includes the Perth win at AAMI).

[Deeming]

1 hour ago, Jovan said:

Our preseason is Einstein definition of insanity. 

Doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

How hard is it to sign 6 defenders 6 midfielders 6 forwards that can all play A League standard. 

I'd take 4 TBH

[jw1739]

Most of what JvS had to say about the match against Wellington:

...leaving Head Coach John van’t Schip with a mixed reaction to the result and performance. “A big part of what I saw [I was impressed]. Of course the score-line is not the one we are happy about and big parts of the first half that we lost I think and we addressed them at half time. “In the second half we showed [a] totally different way of how we approach the game and I think we played some really good football. “We didn’t really get rewarded too much, but we played the football that we wanted, we had good possession, good movements, possibilities in front of goal, so that’s what we have to take away. After a heavy training camp, van’t Schip attributed City’s slow start to the workload imposed on the players during the week, which was designed specifically to maximise player's fitness levels heading into the A-League season. “[The tour] has been great, the pitches have helped us, we’ve been training hard; that’s another reason maybe why the boys weren’t that sharp, but we put in a lot of work this week because it’s a camp and we want to make sure that we give them enough [load] to make them ready for the start of the season. “Now what we have to fix is the physical part… and that’s the thing we take out of this game; we were not switched on fully. “Again, taking away the result, I think it was a very good game we can learn from and very good parts the way we played.” - See more at: http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/article/cityontour-city-1---4-phoenix/1pj16v1x9gdfu1owxcjtjtmhv5#sthash.EDXsUQsJ.dpuf
Read more at http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/article/cityontour-city-1---4-phoenix/1pj16v1x9gdfu1owxcjtjtmhv5#bKPF6IBAHsU3L5T7.99

[Jovan]

Any game you play is good outcome if you don't take the result for being the end product. 

If we don't turn up against the Wanderers to play. What's the excuse then. 

FMD is this ever going to change.

[Alexxxandro]

3 hours ago, Jovan said:

Any game you play is good outcome if you don't take the result for being the end product. 

If we don't turn up against the Wanderers to play. What's the excuse then. 

FMD is this ever going to change.

Imagine if this is just another shit season and JVS makes it to the end of it?

 

This is the first club of any kind I have really followed (since I was a kid) and I have to say the fact that he is still in charge has made me wonder whether the people in charge of sports teams are complete idiots or is it just our club?

Edited September 12, 2016 by Alexxxandro

[jw1739]

4 minutes ago, Alexxxandro said:

Imagine if this is just another shit season and JVS makes it to the end of it?

 

This is the fist club of any kind I have really followed (since I was a kid) and I have to say the fact that he is still in charge has made me wonder whether the people in charge of sports teams are complete idiots or is it just our club?

Not idiots, but both the Sidwell regime and now City Football Group have seemingly been very reluctant to terminate underperformers. It seems that they can go well past their use-by dates before this happens.

[Tony999]

55 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Not idiots, but both the Sidwell regime and now City Football Group have seemingly been very reluctant to terminate underperformers. It seems that they can go well past their use-by dates before this happens.

You sure? Everyone that has under performed under CFG have got the chop. Apart from one person of course!

[jw1739]

29 minutes ago, Tony999 said:

You sure? Everyone that has under performed under CFG have got the chop. Apart from one person of course!

After a while, yes. But IMO other owners will sack people much more readily. That's what it seems to me anyway.

[Kiro Kompiro]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Not idiots, but both the Sidwell regime and now City Football Group have seemingly been very reluctant to terminate underperformers. It seems that they can go well past their use-by dates before this happens.

Corporate take overs seem to follow a set pattern.  The buyer sees an business with potential, but believes its a lack of resources that have held it back.  So they wine and dine the staff they have inherited-business class flights to posh destinations, meeting Man City squad for example.  Then  provide additional resources.  For a while they then try to change the people.

When they should simply change the people.

[Chris p]

Read on 442 that Brattan was played at centre back ffs 

[bt50]

15 minutes ago, Kiro Kompiro said:

Corporate take overs seem to follow a set pattern.  The buyer sees an business with potential, but believes its a lack of resources that have held it back.  So they wine and dine the staff they have inherited-business class flights to posh destinations, meeting Man City squad for example.  Then  provide additional resources.  For a while they then try to change the people.

When they should simply change the people.

Haha geez I reckon I’ve been surpassed as the Unions’ number one enemy.

[thisphantomfortress]

1 hour ago, Kiro Kompiro said:

Corporate take overs seem to follow a set pattern.  The buyer sees an business with potential, but believes its a lack of resources that have held it back.  So they wine and dine the staff they have inherited-business class flights to posh destinations, meeting Man City squad for example.  Then  provide additional resources.  For a while they then try to change the people.

When they should simply change the people.

Unfortunately I've seen the effects of a "sack the whole staff" approach in a corporate environment. It didn't end well as people prefer stability and it fosters an environment of paranoia. Corporate culture is important and football clubs are no exception.

That being said I think JVS and co. should  have been shown the door after the abject failure of city season 1. Then he definitely should have been sacked after last season.

[bt50]

3 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

Unfortunately I've seen the effects of a "sack the whole staff" approach in a corporate environment. It didn't end well as people prefer stability and it fosters an environment of paranoia. Corporate culture is important and football clubs are no exception.

That being said I think JVS and co. should  have been shown the door after the abject failure of city season 1. Then he definitely should have been sacked after last season.

Absolutely agree. Tbh the biggest fuck up CFG appear to have made was signing JVS on a 3 year deal worth so much right back at the start, which has to a degree forced their hand into making the decision to let him coach on in 2016/17. 700k was always massive overs for a bloke with no coaching success whatsoever to his name.
I wasnt against signing him at the time, the 6 wins in a row off the canvas was pretty good grounds to be signed on as coach, however 700k is a lot and then puts you in a compromised position if it all turns pear shaped. Exhibit 1 : Richmond FC & Damien Hardwick.

[thisphantomfortress]

Just now, bt50 said:

Absolutely agree. Tbh the biggest fuck up CFG appear to have made was signing JVS on a 3 year deal worth so much right back at the start, which has to a degree forced their hand into making the decision to let him coach on in 2016/17. 700k was always massive overs for a bloke with no coaching success whatsoever to his name.
I wasnt against signing him at the time, the 6 wins in a row off the canvas was pretty good grounds to be signed on as coach, however 700k is a lot and then puts you in a compromised position if it all turns pear shaped. Exhibit 1 : Richmond FC & Damien Hardwick.

But he was mates with Cruyff. Yea three years was unnecessarily long, at the time it really was an "anyone but JA" approach and I was surprised how forgiving SM was after JVS fucked off last time

[playmaker]

So we have won the games that matter and lost a practice game. Great start for the team I recon. The strategies and tactics in the practice game obviously didn't work very well, a good decision to try them in practice rather than the season proper.

[Kiro Kompiro]

On 9/12/2016 at 5:37 PM, playmaker said:

So we have won the games that matter and lost a practice game. Great start for the team I recon. The strategies and tactics in the practice game obviously didn't work very well, a good decision to try them in practice rather than the season proper.

I know, right?  Who would have predicted Bratten at CB would fail?

[KSK_47]

On 12/09/2016 at 5:37 PM, playmaker said:

So we have won the games that matter and lost a practice game. Great start for the team I recon. The strategies and tactics in the practice game obviously didn't work very well, a good decision to try them in practice rather than the season proper.

The "strategies" and "tactics" (i use those terms very very losley) didnt seem to work that well in the games we won either. But feel free to keep copying and pasting posts from every other preseason we have had mate. 

[n i k o]

On 12 September 2016 at 5:37 PM, playmaker said:

So we have won the games that matter and lost a practice game. Great start for the team I recon. The strategies and tactics in the practice game obviously didn't work very well, a good decision to try them in practice rather than the season proper.

The thing is we've been inconsistent at the back for 2 seasons and now this preseason. Ignoring what has been a blatant problem is living in hope that things will change once the season starts. We've been there before. The time for living in hope has gone some time ago. 

[KSK_47]

8 minutes ago, n i k o said:

The time for living in hope has gone some time ago. 

Playmaker- joined forum in Oct 2015. It took our most optimistic forum poster (Murf) 5 seasons to eventually be worn down to become jack of the jvs groundhog day loop. Playmaker is still in the honeymoon period. 

[cadete]

8 hours ago, KSK_47 said:

Playmaker- joined forum in Oct 2015. It took our most optimistic forum poster (Murf) 5 seasons to eventually be worn down to become jack of the jvs groundhog day loop. Playmaker is still in the honeymoon period. 

LOL - So I guess you and I are "JVS Hating Hipsters" considering we started hating him at the end of Season One on the old YSIDE Forum.

[bt50]

Melbourne City to field understrength side at Morshead Park on Sunday Brendan WrigleyBrendan Wrigley
@brendan_wrigley

13 Sep 2016, 5:49 p.m.

Melbourne City will field a well-below full strength side when they take on the Newcastle Jets in a friendly at Morshead Park on Sunday. 

A number of the A-League club’s biggest names, including Tim Cahill, will not make the trip to Ballarat for the fixture ahead of the start of the home-and-away season.

While coaching staff would not choose the squad until closer to the weekend, the majority of the senior A-League players would not take part in the match. 

While Melbourne City had originally intended to send a stronger line-up for the exhibition match, the majority of the club’s senior players will be rested ahead of Wednesday night’s FFA Cup quarter-final clash with the Western Sydney Wanderers at AAMI Park. 

The side which will take to the pitch on Sunday will be made up of some A-League players as well as players from the clubs youth side and the club’s National Premier Leagues side, which competes in the same competition as the Ballarat Red Devils. 

While the Melbourne City squad will only be in Ballarat for the day, the Newcastle Jets will arrive on Saturday evening before leaving on Monday. 

The Jets are also yet to name their squad which will make the journey to Ballarat for the hit-out before the beginning of the A-League season which starts on October 7. 

 

LEL. Serves the Ballarat Courier right for not doing their research; we were always going to field an understrength side given the FFA Cup tie on the Wednesday.

[KSK_47]

14 minutes ago, cadete said:

LOL - So I guess you and I are "JVS Hating Hipsters" considering we started hating him at the end of Season One on the old YSIDE Forum.

Lol. "Yeah but i hated him before it was cool"

[cadete]

1 minute ago, KSK_47 said:

Lol. "Yeah but i hated him before it was cool"

 

[Jovan]

Completely sapped of any enthusiasm not sure If it's the weather or the diabolical result to Wellington probably both but I seriously can't get up beat about this season. The squad we have assembled on paper should by rights have me over the moon and frothing for the season start.

I guess it comes down to Wednesday night and what sort of performance we produce. I really want to be excited about what lies ahead but this is the same as every and we all know how that ended.

 

[rass]

Just now, Jovan said:

Completely sapped of any enthusiasm not sure If it's the weather or the diabolical result to Wellington probably both but I seriously can't get up beat about this season. The squad we have assembled on paper should by rights have me over the moon and frothing for the season start.

I guess it comes down to Wednesday night and what sort of performance we produce. I really want to be excited about what lies ahead but this is the same as every and we all know how that ended.

 

Chin up lad, it only takes one good result for the optimism to kick in.. just like the rest of this forum!

[fensaddler]

24 minutes ago, bt50 said:

Melbourne City to field understrength side at Morshead Park on Sunday Brendan WrigleyBrendan Wrigley
@brendan_wrigley

13 Sep 2016, 5:49 p.m.

Melbourne City will field a well-below full strength side when they take on the Newcastle Jets in a friendly at Morshead Park on Sunday. 

A number of the A-League club’s biggest names, including Tim Cahill, will not make the trip to Ballarat for the fixture ahead of the start of the home-and-away season.

While coaching staff would not choose the squad until closer to the weekend, the majority of the senior A-League players would not take part in the match. 

While Melbourne City had originally intended to send a stronger line-up for the exhibition match, the majority of the club’s senior players will be rested ahead of Wednesday night’s FFA Cup quarter-final clash with the Western Sydney Wanderers at AAMI Park. 

The side which will take to the pitch on Sunday will be made up of some A-League players as well as players from the clubs youth side and the club’s National Premier Leagues side, which competes in the same competition as the Ballarat Red Devils. 

While the Melbourne City squad will only be in Ballarat for the day, the Newcastle Jets will arrive on Saturday evening before leaving on Monday. 

The Jets are also yet to name their squad which will make the journey to Ballarat for the hit-out before the beginning of the A-League season which starts on October 7. 

 

LEL. Serves the Ballarat Courier right for not doing their research; we were always going to field an understrength side given the FFA Cup tie on the Wednesday.

Groundless optimism mode.  It's time for the youngsters to show what they can do.  If they want careers as professional footballers this is their chance.  Nothing to lose, everything to gain. Show us what you can do.

[bt50]

10 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

Groundless optimism mode.  It's time for the youngsters to show what they can do.  If they want careers as professional footballers this is their chance.  Nothing to lose, everything to gain. Show us what you can do.

Exactly. I still expect us to be pretty competitive, and hopefully at least take a point given our depth in the squad. 

[KSK_47]

11 minutes ago, Jovan said:

Completely sapped of any enthusiasm not sure If it's the weather or the diabolical result to Wellington probably both but I seriously can't get up beat about this season.

For me it was seeing yet another preseason where our defence was so poorly organized i didnt know if i should laugh or cry. Which was then amplified by a bunch of newbies posting on this forum about how we should be optimistic because we narrowly beat a team of semi professionals.

Last seasons laughably predictable ending was too much for me. There is still (as with every preseason) a small part of me that hopes deep down that this season will be different and we will come good, but its started out virtually the same as every other one so that hope does not burn too brightly this year. 

[fensaddler]

9 minutes ago, KSK_47 said:

For me it was seeing yet another preseason where our defence was so poorly organized i didnt know if i should laugh or cry. Which was then amplified by a bunch of newbies posting on this forum about how we should be optimistic because we narrowly beat a team of semi professionals.

Last seasons laughably predictable ending was too much for me. There is still (as with every preseason) a small part of me that hopes deep down that this season will be different and we will come good, but its started out virtually the same as every other one so that hope does not burn too brightly this year. 

The newbies may be so here, but chances are they've done their dues on terraces somewhere else.  And we all know that each season brings both the hope that this is going to be the season when everything falls into place, tempered by the experience that it usually isn't.  In the end pessimists are always right, because shit always happens, but they are miserable bastards to spend time with.

[jw1739]

I wouldn't mind if I had some inkling that JvS was prepared to change things. But I'd had enough when I read about "taking positives" out of a 4-1 defeat to the Phoenix. You don't take any positives out of a 4-1 defeat, you learn lessons from it and you do something different next time. But after six seasons of either direct or indirect management by van 't Schip there's no evidence that he will change anything, and that's why I'm despondent like most others on here.

[KSK_47]

8 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

In the end pessimists are always right, because JVS is still our manager

 

Even the guys who signed up from the man city forum started with "now guys everyone thinks their manager is the worst, chin up" and by halfway through one season they had changed to "wow how the fuck does this guy still have a job?!"

Edited September 14, 2016 by KSK_47

[cadete]

7 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

The newbies may be so here, but chances are they've done their dues on terraces somewhere else.  And we all know that each season brings both the hope that this is going to be the season when everything falls into place, tempered by the experience that it usually isn't.  In the end pessimists are always right, because shit always happens, but they are miserable bastards to spend time with.

There is a difference between being a realist and a pessimist... 

[playmaker]

10 hours ago, KSK_47 said:

The "strategies" and "tactics" (i use those terms very very losley) didnt seem to work that well in the games we won either. But feel free to keep copying and pasting posts from every other preseason we have had mate. 

We won the FFA cup games, so they did work. The results of practice games are insignificant and that's why you can try as many things as you want, that's why it is called practice. But don't let that logic get in the way of your negative delusion. As for me,I will wait until the WSW game to see where we are at 3 weeks out from the season.

[jw1739]

11 minutes ago, playmaker said:

We won the FFA cup games, so they did work. The results of practice games are insignificant and that's why you can try as many things as you want, that's why it is called practice. But don't let that logic get in the way of your negative delusion. As for me,I will wait until the WSW game to see where we are at 3 weeks out from the season.

I know what you're getting at, but FFS look at the overall picture. 2/12 wins in pre-season against A-League opposition. Six seasons without any silverware, best league position 4/10, no Grand Final appearance. Repeated season after season chokes.

Many of the people on here have poured their support into the club, not only buying season tickets and merchandise etc. - the active groups have spent hours and no little money on banners etc. People travelling to away matches. Even this web-site doesn't come for free you know. Many of us are coming up for our seventh season.

It's an insult to refer to us as having "negative delusions."

[KSK_47]

17 minutes ago, playmaker said:

We won the FFA cup games, so they did work. The results of practice games are insignificant and that's why you can try as many things as you want, that's why it is called practice. But don't let that logic get in the way of your negative delusion. As for me,I will wait until the WSW game to see where we are at 3 weeks out from the season.

Ffs. Do i seriously have to have this same conversation every fucking off season? Even if you win a game doesnt mean the tactics worked, we were just fortunate enough to have been playing a team who were not strong enough to have capitalized on our disorganization. And true, the result of practice games do not matter but it does show a worrying weakness that we have seen over and over again that does not seem to have been addressed at all once again. But dont let logic and patterns get in the way of the magical unicorn world you live in.

[n i k o]

23 minutes ago, playmaker said:

We won the FFA cup games, so they did work. The results of practice games are insignificant and that's why you can try as many things as you want, that's why it is called practice. But don't let that logic get in the way of your negative delusion. As for me,I will wait until the WSW game to see where we are at 3 weeks out from the season.

Pfft. Lala land bud. Best get your head out the clouds. But you know what perhaps theres the outside chance if everyone plays and the squad is perfect then it may come true. Keep holding onto that dream. I hope it does come true. 

[playmaker]

10 hours ago, n i k o said:

The thing is we've been inconsistent at the back for 2 seasons and now this preseason. Ignoring what has been a blatant problem is living in hope that things will change once the season starts. We've been there before. The time for living in hope has gone some time ago. 

While I agree with you, last season we bolstered our defence with Wilko which worked and the reason we lost against Adelaide was because we had no forward thrust with the absence of that brain snapping sooking idiot that was meant to be left forward. The list looks better than last season.