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Melbourne Knights vs Melbourne City 26/07/16


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Lol at anyone who travelled more than 8 minutes each way for this shit.

JVS has rewound the clock and is trying to play total football. Extremely fluid formation. We did have 4 at the back except they're running up the other side of the pitch including the CBs with Brattan dropping back to fill the void. Kilkenny is playing the deep lying playmates role that I thought Brattan would, the role Mooy originally played before Korea fucked off. He is a more complete player than I thought and looked decent but his passing isn't Mooy level or Brattan level. The few times Brattan did get a chance to make a long pass they were perfect and as good as Mooy if not better. So I feel that role should have been his but then I don't know where Kilkenny would fit in and he looks a good player. Nando is a midget but strong and tough, kind of like Shaqiri. Some nice touches but overall he didn't impress, I feel like he doesn't fit in to the team yet which is understandable. Very determined player that will work his ass off though just like Fornaroli. Played predominatelyon the right wing but found himself in the centre and even on the left due to the fluidity of the formation. Looks like he could play anywhere across the front even as a false 9 if Fornaroli is out. No idea how good he is though at this stage. Fornaroli still a class above anyone else. Kamau couldn't really do much against state league hacks but will tear it up during the season. Main concern is the dodgy total football JVS is attempting maybe it will come good when the season starts.

Left at half time cause we're shit and so are knights.

Edited by Tesla
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7 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Lol at anyone who travelled more than 8 minutes each way for this shit.

JVS has rewound the clock and is trying to play total football. Extremely fluid formation. We did have 4 at the back except they're running up the other side of the pitch including the CBs with Brattan dropping back to fill the void. Kilkenny is playing the deep lying playmates role that I thought Brattan would, the role Mooy originally played before Korea fucked off. He is a more complete player than I thought and looked decent but his passing isn't Mooy level or Brattan level. The few times Brattan did get a chance to make a long pass they were perfect and as good as Mooy if not better. So I feel that role should have been his but then I don't know where Kilkenny would fit in and he looks a good player. Nando is a midget but strong and tough, kind of like Shaqiri. Some nice touches but overall he didn't impress, I feel like he doesn't fit in to the team yet which is understandable. Very determined player that will work his ass off though just like Fornaroli. Played predominatelyon the right wing but found himself in the centre and even on the left due to the fluidity of the formation. Looks like he could play anywhere across the front even as a false 9 if Fornaroli is out. No idea how good he is though at this stage. Fornaroli still a class above anyone else. Kamau couldn't really do much against state league hacks but will tear it up during the season. Main concern is the dodgy total football JVS is attempting maybe it will come good when the season starts.

Left at half time cause we're shit and so are knights.

I come to this forum for the banter and rumours but every now and then someone puts a little nugget of gold on like this. Well done sir!

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7 minutes ago, HeartOfCity said:

I come to this forum for the banter and rumours but every now and then someone puts a little nugget of gold on like this. Well done sir!

I wouldn't have bothered but I was thoroughly unimpressed. We did seem to be getting better as the game went on and if anyone is there for the second half they can report back on that as I expect we'll be better but I really don't know what's going on with how little structure the team seemed to have. Maybe JVS is a genius and after the team learns this new style we'll destroy the league, maybe not. Maybe it was unintentional and the players just dont know wtf they're doing at this stage of preseason. 

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Just now, jeffplz said:

@Tesla Your single complaint was that the defenders ran up too high, they probably want a goal or 3 against a shit NPL side. Nice exaggeration

I have never in my life seen a team play such a fluid formation at a professional or semi-professional level. 100% srs.

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7 minutes ago, coys said:

Did the hools go looking for it this time?

TBH from two people I've heard from, one involved one nothing to done with them, they were basically forced out a gate where all the Knights fans were waiting. Hardly counts as "looking for it"

12 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Club said we were never gonna play knights in a friendly again after last time...

Have been told the same again tonight haha

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49 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

TBH from two people I've heard from, one involved one nothing to done with them, they were basically forced out a gate where all the Knights fans were waiting. Hardly counts as "looking for it"

Have been told the same again tonight haha

Well if that's the case, I hope that everyone is okay and no serious harm done. All I get is hear say at the moment

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16 minutes ago, Murfy1 said:

I watched the whole game. Some observations:

 

- JVS is addicted to 4-3-3 and a very fluid/"total football" style of play. City dominated possession, but I don't think they produced enough with it against an NPL side. In the first half both fullbacks regularly bombed up the pitch, while the CBs charged out of defence, while the midfielders all kept rotating, while the wingers swapped flanks, while Fornaroli kept dropping deep. All up too much seemed to be happening, and despite some good spells of possession I don't think the team was effective enough with the ball (it was a bit reminiscent of Melbourne Heart under JVS). The second half saw 2 more goals, but it also saw several more substitutions, and the last 20 minutes or so was disjointed with Melbourne City not producing a lot of shots. Perhaps it's to be somewhat expected at the start of pre-season, especially with a few new faces, but the team performance wasn't really cohesive and effective over 90 minutes

- Putting the team performance to one side, there were lots of heartening individual performances, and none more so IMO than Bruce Kamau. Adelaide were mad to let him go. He was really sharp last night, he was really dangerous in possession and he uses his lightening pace very effectively. He provided 2 good assists (the second one was high quality, and he put it on a platter for Fornaroli), and perhaps more impressively Kamau produced in spades what Novillo sometimes lacked: consistent work in defence and team-play. Kamau is hitting the ground running at City, and on this trajectory he'll star next season

- Fornaroli is pure class. All his goals were well taken, and when he dropped deep his link-up play was superb. The whole team clearly lifts when Fornaroli gets involved with play, and his class lifts the whole team's football. Fornaroli's a freak, and he looks set to continue next season where he left off at the end of last season

- Kilkenny was very tidy in midfield, and he's an excellent short to mid-range passer. Brattan displayed some wonderful long range passing, however IMO he's not 100% fully fit yet, and he did make a few mistakes with the ball in City's half, and I would like to see some more defending from him. But quite possibly Brattan just needs a good pre-season in him (after really limited game time last season in England) before he can show all of his quality

- Fernando Brandan showed a few flashes of quality--some slick passing, some skills on the ball, and impressively some tackles and grunt in defence--however he looked like a guy playing his first game for a new team, and especially as he just stepped off a plane recently I don't think there's a lot that could be read into this debut performance. I'm confident Brandan will truly come good by the start of the season

- Manny Muscat surprised me. I thought he was pretty solid in all areas. He produced a well taken goal, usefully got up and down the pitch all night, and passed and defended well. He looked more versatile and superior to the defender I remember at Wellington, and he looks like a shrewd acquisition

- On other players: Melling looked a little rusty, Fitzgerald still needs to improve his decision-making, Kuzmanovski looked sharp and much better than last season, Caceres looked good, and Arzani looked assured for a 17 year old

 

All up, a lot of entertaining performances, and Fornaroli's class and goals certainly justified the trip out to Sunshine on a cold Tuesday night.

I actually have to commend you for having a very similar analysis to me (apart from extra info from second half) but somehow making it sounds a lot more positive than mine.

I just really don't like the look of this very fluid approach, I don't think it will work.

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23 minutes ago, Tesla said:

I actually have to commend you for having a very similar analysis to me (apart from extra info from second half) but somehow making it sounds a lot more positive than mine.

I just really don't like the look of this very fluid approach, I don't think it will work.

 

We definitely saw Melbourne City play the same JVS-style football ("total football") against the Melbourne Knights.

 

If the team plays the same way next Tuesday in a competitive match, with lots of disjointed possession with little end product, I'll be pretty pissed off and negative. However, it could be that this was just an early pre-season match, where fitness and individual performances are more the focus than an overall solid team performance. In that case I wouldn't be too negative, but I'd expect to see improved team-play with each pre-season match, and much better team performances just before the A-League kicks off in about 12 weeks.

 

So by largely ignoring the team's performance as a whole (which was mediocre), and by focusing on individual performances, such as Fornaroli (undoubtedly the best striker in the A-League), Kamau and others, there were some good performances and positives in this match IMO. And as someone who endured Melbourne Heart's strikers for years, I reckon I'll always see some positives in a team with Fornaroli...

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6 hours ago, Murfy1 said:

I watched the whole game. Some observations:

 

- JVS is addicted to 4-3-3 and a very fluid/"total football" style of play. City dominated possession, but I don't think they produced enough with it against an NPL side. In the first half both fullbacks regularly bombed up the pitch, while the CBs charged out of defence, while the midfielders all kept rotating, while the wingers swapped flanks, while Fornaroli kept dropping deep. All up too much seemed to be happening, and despite some good spells of possession I don't think the team was effective enough with the ball (it was a bit reminiscent of Melbourne Heart under JVS). The second half saw 2 more goals, but it also saw several more substitutions, and the last 20 minutes or so was disjointed with Melbourne City not producing a lot of shots. Perhaps it's to be somewhat expected at the start of pre-season, especially with a few new faces, but the team performance wasn't really cohesive and effective over 90 minutes

- Putting the team performance to one side, there were lots of heartening individual performances, and none more so IMO than Bruce Kamau. Adelaide were mad to let him go. He was really sharp last night, he was really dangerous in possession and he uses his lightening pace very effectively. He provided 2 good assists (the second one was high quality, and he put it on a platter for Fornaroli), and perhaps more impressively Kamau produced in spades what Novillo sometimes lacked: consistent work in defence and team-play. Kamau is hitting the ground running at City, and on this trajectory he'll star next season

- Fornaroli is pure class :up:. All his goals were well taken, and when he dropped deep his link-up play was superb. The whole team clearly lifts when Fornaroli gets involved with play, and his class lifts the whole team's football. Fornaroli's a freak, and he looks set to continue next season where he left off at the end of last season

- Kilkenny was very tidy in midfield, and he's an excellent short to mid-range passer. Brattan displayed some wonderful long range passing, however IMO he's not 100% fully fit yet, and he did make a few mistakes with the ball in City's half, and I would like to see some more defending from him. But quite possibly Brattan just needs a good pre-season in him (after really limited game time last season in England) before he can show all of his quality

- Fernando Brandan showed a few flashes of quality--some slick passing, some skills on the ball, and impressively some tackles and grunt in defence--however he looked like a guy playing his first game for a new team, and especially as he just stepped off a plane recently I don't think there's a lot that could be read into this debut performance. I'm confident Brandan will truly come good by the start of the season

- Manny Muscat surprised me. I thought he was pretty solid in all areas. He produced a well taken goal, usefully got up and down the pitch all night, and passed and defended well. He looked more versatile and superior to the defender I remember at Wellington, and he looks like a shrewd acquisition

- On other players: Melling looked a little rusty, Fitzgerald still needs to improve his decision-making, Kuzmanovski looked sharp and much better than last season, Caceres looked good, and Arzani looked assured for a 17 year old

 

All up, a lot of entertaining performances, and Fornaroli's class and goals certainly justified the trip out to Sunshine on a cold Tuesday night.

Looks similar to how we played against Port where we had plenty of possession but should have had more end product. Maybe just pre-season rustiness or the dreaded dead hand of JvS

Would love it if Kamau turned into our next Mooy. Nurtured/refined under City and then moved onto to a bigger club. Again, it would be a great advert for what CFG is trying to do and would further encourage talented youngsters to join our club.

Bruno is God. End of story.

Muscat was very tidy last week and with his experience will be a good, solid addition in defence.

Fitzy still needs to do a lot of work if he isn't going to cost us a few goals this year.

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7 hours ago, Murfy1 said:

I watched the whole game. Some observations:

 

- JVS is addicted to 4-3-3 and a very fluid/"total football" style of play. City dominated possession, but I don't think they produced enough with it against an NPL side. In the first half both fullbacks regularly bombed up the pitch, while the CBs charged out of defence, while the midfielders all kept rotating, while the wingers swapped flanks, while Fornaroli kept dropping deep. All up too much seemed to be happening, and despite some good spells of possession I don't think the team was effective enough with the ball (it was a bit reminiscent of Melbourne Heart under JVS). The second half saw 2 more goals, but it also saw several more substitutions, and the last 20 minutes or so was disjointed with Melbourne City not producing a lot of shots. Perhaps it's to be somewhat expected at the start of pre-season, especially with a few new faces, but the team performance wasn't really cohesive and effective over 90 minutes

- Putting the team performance to one side, there were lots of heartening individual performances, and none more so IMO than Bruce Kamau. Adelaide were mad to let him go. He was really sharp last night, he was really dangerous in possession and he uses his lightening pace very effectively. He provided 2 good assists (the second one was high quality, and he put it on a platter for Fornaroli), and perhaps more impressively Kamau produced in spades what Novillo sometimes lacked: consistent work in defence and team-play. Kamau is hitting the ground running at City, and on this trajectory he'll star next season

- Fornaroli is pure class. All his goals were well taken, and when he dropped deep his link-up play was superb. The whole team clearly lifts when Fornaroli gets involved with play, and his class lifts the whole team's football. Fornaroli's a freak, and he looks set to continue next season where he left off at the end of last season

- Kilkenny was very tidy in midfield, and he's an excellent short to mid-range passer. Brattan displayed some wonderful long range passing, however IMO he's not 100% fully fit yet, and he did make a few mistakes with the ball in City's half, and I would like to see some more defending from him. But quite possibly Brattan just needs a good pre-season in him (after really limited game time last season in England) before he can show all of his quality

- Fernando Brandan showed a few flashes of quality--some slick passing, some skills on the ball, and impressively some tackles and grunt in defence--however he looked like a guy playing his first game for a new team, and especially as he just stepped off a plane recently I don't think there's a lot that could be read into this debut performance. I'm confident Brandan will truly come good by the start of the season

- Manny Muscat surprised me. I thought he was pretty solid in all areas. He produced a well taken goal, usefully got up and down the pitch all night, and passed and defended well. He looked more versatile and superior to the defender I remember at Wellington, and he looks like a shrewd acquisition

- On other players: Melling looked a little rusty, Fitzgerald still needs to improve his decision-making, Kuzmanovski looked sharp and much better than last season, Caceres looked good, and Arzani looked assured for a 17 year old

 

All up, a lot of entertaining performances, and Fornaroli's class and goals certainly justified the trip out to Sunshine on a cold Tuesday night.

Murfy, pre-season is all about getting players fit and match sharpness. You can beat teams 6, 7, 8 nil, but it is unimportant. I have seen city teams in the past do that, only to flatter to deceive come the season proper.

It takes a good 4 or 5 games into the season when you begin to see a solid playing pattern evolve. Last season Adelaide looked awful at the start of the season, but ended up as Champions. So I wouldn't be worried about overall team performances at this time.

What I will say is that Kamau will be a star for us this season. IMO he is the one Australian player I have seen who has all the tools to succeed at a higher level. He is only 21 and I fully expect him to one day play at the top level in Europe.

Edited by silva10
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6 minutes ago, Tesla said:

What a surprise....

Legit the worst professional goalkeeper in the country.

Fucking useless. Every time he got the ball at his feet its like time speeds up and hes always rushing to clear the ball. Not to mention his fumble blunder on a basic cross in the air. It was a shame the resulting goal from this blunder for Knights was disallowed for offside.

While I'm at it I've lost count the last 2 games how often Clisby has misjudged a header from a kick that come from the oppositions goalkeeper. I know he had some alright games last season but fuck, he cant be a starting player. 

Kamau was fantastic, seriously he looks like hes going to be our own Sterling, but successful. Bruno is going through the gears which is good, scoring for fun in about 3rd. Fernando looked good, some good touches, great tenacity defending. Judging by how he played last night he's going to bring another level of determination to the team. 

Someone who's impressed me so far is Muscat. Great work rate, composed on the ball, at this stage he's way out ahead by far to be our starting right back. 

Edited by n i k o
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22 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Clisby is useless. Bouzanis struggled aganist NPL level players. Desperately need a left back this season. 

I reckon Sir Emmanuel Muscat will assume this position for the season tbh. A bit of a hack sure, but an underrated player in these circles. Very flexible and can play anywhere across the back four.

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