belaguttman Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 19 minutes ago, Mr MO said: The service we want for him is one with plenty of space on the ball. He actually did get some opportunities yesterday with excellent through balls from Arslan but was outmuscled or couldn’t control the ball. Yes, he did, high efficiency in converting chances into goals is also not a strength, at least not early in games. Our ball speed and movement off the ball is so slow these days that he has no space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 32 minutes ago, belaguttman said: It's always both; all strikers have their strengths and weaknesses, JMac is a great finisher, and great at finding space, give him the right ball and he's likely to score. He's not as effective away from the box, not one for imposing himself on games. He's a team striker, not an individual striker. The problem is that in general terms we're not imposing ourselves on matches so that we have a sufficient margin at the 70 minute mark to bring on substitutes who need match minutes to progress. Therefore after a season or two of this those substitute players, especially the young ones, get an offer elsewhere and off they go. With no adequate reserves competition this Catch-22 situation will persist. Whatever the reason, JMac is not as effective at the moment as he used to be. So at 1-0, do you pull him off and risk the relatively inexperienced Caputo, or stick with JMac in the hope that he'll poach a second goal and make it 2-0? The coach's dilemma. And it's the same dilemma in other positions as well. The double whammy for us is an ageing squad, and an interim coach. Myself I think it's still a bit early for Vidmar to throw caution to the winds. The Championship doesn't lead anywhere in Asia, but another trophy, if we're in the hunt, is good for the club. I just hope that the club is planning ahead - which of course I fully expect it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewConvert Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 6 minutes ago, jw1739 said: The problem is that in general terms we're not imposing ourselves on matches so that we have a sufficient margin at the 70 minute mark to bring on substitutes who need match minutes to progress. Therefore after a season or two of this those substitute players, especially the young ones, get an offer elsewhere and off they go. With no adequate reserves competition this Catch-22 situation will persist. Whatever the reason, JMac is not as effective at the moment as he used to be. So at 1-0, do you pull him off and risk the relatively inexperienced Caputo, or stick with JMac in the hope that he'll poach a second goal and make it 2-0? The coach's dilemma. And it's the same dilemma in other positions as well. The double whammy for us is an ageing squad, and an interim coach. Myself I think it's still a bit early for Vidmar to throw caution to the winds. The Championship doesn't lead anywhere in Asia, but another trophy, if we're in the hunt, is good for the club. I just hope that the club is planning ahead - which of course I fully expect it is. What I found perplexing was that IIRC Nabbout played on the right with Leckie on the left but yesterday Nabbout replaced Natel on the left and Lopane replaced Mazzeo on the right. Lopane did nothing useful. I would have substituted Mazzeo with Nabbout, and Natel with Caputo. Caputo being taller and more solid would have provided a bigger target which could have allowed JMac to do more poaching. So this leads me to question, why is Lopane a project player but not Caputo? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citypool Posted January 26 Author Report Share Posted January 26 Does Mazzeo deserve to start? I don't think his good enough to start for a team that should be challenging for titles 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 (edited) 27 minutes ago, NewConvert said: What I found perplexing was that IIRC Nabbout played on the right with Leckie on the left but yesterday Nabbout replaced Natel on the left and Lopane replaced Mazzeo on the right. Lopane did nothing useful. I would have substituted Mazzeo with Nabbout, and Natel with Caputo. Caputo being taller and more solid would have provided a bigger target which could have allowed JMac to do more poaching. So this leads me to question, why is Lopane a project player but not Caputo? Don't know. One thing to remember is that the team can have seven substitutes on the bench but three of them must be U-23 as defined and eligible to play for Australia. So you may very well have players on the bench who the coach has no intention of playing except in a dire emergency. There are also rules on the composition of the entire senior squad which again can affect our perceptions of what is the real agenda of the club wrt certain players. We've debated all this stuff before, but these rules do restrict a club's freedom to play who they want when they want. It all adds in to the picture of why the A-League is the way it is and IMO finds it difficult to attract interest. Edited January 26 by jw1739 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewConvert Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 7 minutes ago, jw1739 said: Don't know. One thing to remember is that the team can have seven substitutes on the bench but three of them must be U-23 as defined and eligible to play for Australia. So you may very well have players on the bench who the coach has no intention of playing except in a dire emergency. There are also rules on the composition of the entire senior squad which again can affect our perceptions of what is the real agenda of the club wrt certain players. We've debated all this stuff before, but these rules do restrict a club's freedom to play who they want when they want. It all adds in to the picture of why the A-League is the way it is and IMO finds it difficult to attract interest. The bench had one player over the age 22 - Nabbout. Lopane is classified as a mid-fielder but played as a forward. In any case, swapping Lopane for Caputo would not have altered the youth equation. If the expectation was for Lopane to drop back into the mid-field and provide linkage, then I must have missed it. And I think that this would be one of the question marks hanging over Vidmar's coaching. As to the ability to attract interest - maybe but I have always found that young players tend to excite the crowds. And I also am contemplating writing to teh ABC regarding their sports news on the 6 o'clock bulletin which made no mention of the A-League result but did note that the Bendigo Braves won. And the Ch 24 7' o'clock news on TV did not mention the results either. However, they do make the time when MV play in Melbourne. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 51 minutes ago, NewConvert said: The bench had one player over the age 22 - Nabbout. Lopane is classified as a mid-fielder but played as a forward. In any case, swapping Lopane for Caputo would not have altered the youth equation. If the expectation was for Lopane to drop back into the mid-field and provide linkage, then I must have missed it. And I think that this would be one of the question marks hanging over Vidmar's coaching. As to the ability to attract interest - maybe but I have always found that young players tend to excite the crowds. And I also am contemplating writing to teh ABC regarding their sports news on the 6 o'clock bulletin which made no mention of the A-League result but did note that the Bendigo Braves won. And the Ch 24 7' o'clock news on TV did not mention the results either. However, they do make the time when MV play in Melbourne. No question that our fans want to see "our" boys. For example, Atkinson was a huge favourite and you could feel the crowd lift when he had the ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neio Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 1 hour ago, jw1739 said: Don't know. One thing to remember is that the team can have seven substitutes on the bench but three of them must be U-23 as defined and eligible to play for Australia. So you may very well have players on the bench who the coach has no intention of playing except in a dire emergency. There are also rules on the composition of the entire senior squad which again can affect our perceptions of what is the real agenda of the club wrt certain players. We've debated all this stuff before, but these rules do restrict a club's freedom to play who they want when they want. It all adds in to the picture of why the A-League is the way it is and IMO finds it difficult to attract interest. Were never going to get close to that rule, every week we have Talbot starting and at a minimum Mazzeo, Lopane, Caputo and Beach on the bench or in some case starting. Even when we reach what we would consider "full strength" I would say only Mazzeo would be in slight danger of not making squad. We would need them all to get injured and even then we don't have the over aged depth that they would get replaced with Nieuwenhausen, Politides and other young guys that we have seen on the subs bench in the past Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewConvert Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 29 minutes ago, neio said: Were never going to get close to that rule, every week we have Talbot starting and at a minimum Mazzeo, Lopane, Caputo and Beach on the bench or in some case starting. Even when we reach what we would consider "full strength" I would say only Mazzeo would be in slight danger of not making squad. We would need them all to get injured and even then we don't have the over aged depth that they would get replaced with Nieuwenhausen, Politides and other young guys that we have seen on the subs bench in the past Speaking of Politides, I liked what he brough to the CCM game but disappointed that he did not get minutes yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Cooper Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 On 26/1/2024 at 12:42 PM, citypool said: Does Mazzeo deserve to start? I don't think his good enough to start for a team that should be challenging for titles Lucky he’s starting for us then. More seriously our best 3 wingers are injured. To be starting a quality winger now would mean we’d signed 5. How many starting quality wingers would sign for a club if they were fifth choice? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 @mjake1234 Attendance: 6,092 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.