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Best XI 2018/2019


Harrison
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We have a glut of midfield players and everyone has an opinion on who should play and who should not. Until I see Berenguer play I will reserve my judgement. But it could finish up Wales McGree and Vidosic all fighting for AMC. So I may too leave McGree out of the XI.

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57 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

We have a glut of midfield players and everyone has an opinion on who should play and who should not. Until I see Berenguer play I will reserve my judgement. But it could finish up Wales McGree and Vidosic all fighting for AMC. So I may too leave McGree out of the XI.

It's a nice dilemma to have really. How many other teams are in the same position? I would guess none... Just need to shore up the D and we are looking good!

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14 hours ago, haz said:

I am finding it a bit strange if our marquee (assuming we sign one!) is a LW/RW/CAM/ST. We are packed in those areas while our centre of defense is held together by Bort, what happens if he gets a long term injury!? Unless Joyce is on the shrooms, why would he sign another attacking player? Does he expect us to do what we did in 15/16 and just try and score 4 goals every game?

Are we possibly changing our formation? I doubt it though as I dont think Joyce is the type of manager to do so.

Ill reserve my judgment until we annouce our final VISA (if we sign one), but I will be confused if we go into the season with a CB pairing of Bort-Malik or Bort-Delbridge.

I'm not so sure about that. If we rearrange the squad listing to reflect where people actually play IMO you'll find the following:

GK: Bouzanis, Galekovic, Delianov
Defenders: Pieiras, Jamieson, Atkinson, La Rocca, Schenkeveld, Delbridge, Griffiths, Malik.
Midfielders: Najjarine, McGree, Caceres, Brattan, Berenguer
Forwards: Fornaroli, Wales, Vidosic, Najjar, O'Halloran.

On the above basis I'd say it's in the front third that we need the extra.

Edit: And I should add Connor Metcalfe in the "Defenders" although I'm uncertain as to his contract situation.

Edited by jw1739
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Fascinating seeing what our best XI will look like come season start. I really don't know where it will go, but I do love that there is obviously competition now all over the pitch.

I doubt we'll switch to a back 3 as this move wouldn't be tactical - more a reaction to fitting in all our mids/forwards.

So based on the other night, I think you have to play Griffiths and Brattan. McGree also looks an outstanding talent and at this point, deserves to be in there too. Somewhere in there we'll probably have to make room for the new French lad as i think he will be used more centrally as a #10 type. Really not sure where that leaves Caceres in all honesty.

Bruno is an obvious lock and will benefit with the creativity of McGree and Frenchy behind him.

Wingers are interesting. I think Wales would be a good foil but probably off the bench for now. Not sure about Atkinson also. Yes he had a great debut season, however I do get the impression he may be a little loose for a full back. I can understand Joyce giving him that run on the wing Wednesday night and even though it was only 20 minutes, to my eye he looked a little lost there too. I suspect O'Halloran will take that spot by season start as his pace will be a massive weapon, especially as i have a feeling teams will play a little higher against us this season. I must admit i was watching him warming up late in that second half and he didn't look too happy he didn't get the call up, but given the state of the game, you can see why he didn't.

Vidosic is another interesting one. Usually i would say he needs to be on the bench, however his value to the team is far more than being a flashy winger. He's actually our outlet target from goal kicks as he is a massive aerial threat and his ball smarts on the ground are great too. For those reasons, he's probably a must starter. I just wish he wouldn't drift in and out of games as he does.

So that's 7 into 6. How we'll get that to work is anyone's guess - especially if the next visa is an attacker/mid too.

Really can't wait for this season. Very optimistic.

 

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4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I'm not so sure about that. If we rearrange the squad listing to reflect where people actually play IMO you'll find the following:

GK: Bouzanis, Galekovic, Delianov
Defenders: Pieiras, Jamieson, Atkinson, La Rocca, Schenkeveld, Delbridge, Griffiths, Malik.
Midfielders: Najjarine, McGree, Caceres, Brattan, Berenguer
Forwards: Fornaroli, Wales, Vidosic, Najjar, O'Halloran.

On the above basis I'd say it's in the front third that we need the extra.

Edit: And I should add Connor Metcalfe in the "Defenders" although I'm uncertain as to his contract situation.

O'Halloran not a forward he is wide right midfield. With St Johnstone he played right in a 4:2:3:1 and right in a 4:3:3 which became a 4:5:1 when defending. Don't know why so may sites  including ours list him as a forward

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7 hours ago, fensaddler said:

Atkinson is all wrong on that. Wrong club badge, wrong national flag, wrong mug shot... 

 

5 hours ago, jw1739 said:

They've got the wrong Atkinson surely?

 

5 hours ago, Harrison said:

And the wrong Griffiths, who is now a GK apparently...

There was no Atkinson or Griffiths so I just chucked in 2 randoms with the same name

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In My Opinion:

 

SUB: Galekovic, Vidosic, Caceres, Malik/Delbridge, Wales

RES: Delianov, Malik/Delbridge, La Rocca, Najjarine, Najjar, Pierias

 

Some Points:

  • Assuming Birighitti is signed, and our marquee is a CB (marquee GK anyone??).
  • I put all the VISAs on the pitch because im over never seeing all 5 together....
  • More so from the above point, I have no clue what our front 4 will look like. Lots of rotation me thinks.
  • McGree has been our best player thus far, I hope he isnt dropped to the bench for Berenguer.
  • Vidosic or O'Halloran can both start. Vidosic also our back up striker.
  • Caceras, McGree and Berenguer to all rotate RW,CAM,CM positions.
  • Vidosic, McGree, O'Halloran or Berenguer all first choice attacking subs if they are on the bench without the othet three.
  • Malik first choice defensive sub.
  • We have the best XI + bench on paper in the league.
Edited by haz
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Im incredibly confident that our marquee will be an attacking player tbh. Of course a CB is possible and in some ways looks the obvious hole in the squad, but I think Wazza likes what we have there and is looking for an out and out goal scorer.

Like most I'm not 100% sold at the idea of Delbo/Malik/La Rocca/Griffiths as our 2nd CB, but in saying that im somewhat impressed with how they've gone the entire pre-season so far. 

Irrespective of whether our marquee is a CB, CAM or Winger, get it right and we are 100% the team to beat.

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14 minutes ago, bt50 said:

Im incredibly confident that our marquee will be an attacking player tbh. Of course a CB is possible and in some ways looks the obvious hole in the squad, but I think Wazza likes what we have there and is looking for an out and out goal scorer.

Like most I'm not 100% sold at the idea of Delbo/Malik/La Rocca/Griffiths as our 2nd CB, but in saying that im somewhat impressed with how they've gone the entire pre-season so far. 

Irrespective of whether our marquee is a CB, CAM or Winger, get it right and we are 100% the team to beat.

Tbh I have no clue, if it is a Marquee CAM/LW/RW the we will have some unhappy players come January. We will need 3 players getting over 10 goals this season. Id expect Fornaroli, Mcgree & Vidosic to get 10, then between O'Halloran & Fenchy another 10. Froom looking at previous seasons, we would need around 50 goals scored to have a decent shot at finishing in the top 2.

 

It may not be the best ideology but, 'Conceding goals loses you games, keeping clean sheets gurantees atleast a draw'

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Let me put a case forward for guess who @haz yes MOH. Why has he not started the in the last two games? Some suggest it is his lack of ability in training. It will not be the fitness side of training. It could be that the training does not suit his style of play. It may be short sided games one andor two touch passing games, etc. He would not excel at this. Tommy Wright (manager) stated Michael is a player who plays better the more his confidence grows. The more he plays the better he gets. Hence my reply it would not work using him as an  impact  player. He had offers from most of the SPFL clubs which are full of internationalists but he chose Melbourne City (I don’t know why). Now please look at this video (especially the second half) playing against internationalists, this is his game and why it does not show up in training. In my opinion he does deserve to play. (Last season he scored 5 goals in 16 games). This is why we at St Johnstone love and miss him.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

Let me put a case forward for guess who @haz yes MOH. Why has he not started the in the last two games? Some suggest it is his lack of ability in training. It will not be the fitness side of training. It could be that the training does not suit his style of play. It may be short sided games one andor two touch passing games, etc. He would not excel at this. Tommy Wright (manager) stated Michael is a player who plays better the more his confidence grows. The more he plays the better he gets. Hence my reply it would not work using him as an  impact  player. He had offers from most of the SPFL clubs which are full of internationalists but he chose Melbourne City (I don’t know why). Now please look at this video (especially the second half) playing against internationalists, this is his game and why it does not show up in training. In my opinion he does deserve to play. (Last season he scored 5 goals in 16 games). This is why we at St Johnstone love and miss him.

 

 

YouTube highlighs mean nothing, especially 2 year old highlights.

Lets just see if he plays.

Edited by haz
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11 minutes ago, haz said:

YouTube highlighs mean nothing, especially 2 year old highlights.

Lets just see if he plays.

That is because Rangers signed him and then they sacked their manager. The new managers brought in his own players from Mexico. It is hard to show highlights of a player not playing.. Last season I do not have the highlights but as stated he went out on loan for 4 months to St Johnstone and became a star for us again with 5 goals and numerous assists in 16 games. My point is he needs to be played and at this rate he will not get a run in the team. I know we are only 2 games in but it is 2 games where he has not played. We will have to wait and see. But we better not wait to long.

Edited by Inchcolm
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7 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

That is because Rangers signed him and then they sacked their manager. The new managers brought in his own players from Mexico. It is hard to show highlights of a player not playing.. Last season I do not have the highlights but as stated he went out on loan for 4 months to St Johnstone and became a star for us again with 5 goals and numerous assists in 16 games. My point is he needs to be played and at this rate he will not get a run in the team. I know we are only 2 games in but it is 2 games where he has not played. We will have to wait and see. But we better not wait to long.

I dont doubt you. If he plays, he plays. We're not the coaches

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3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

IMO it's too early to discuss a "best XI" at this point in time. Players are still being signed (Berenguer) and leaving (Bouzanis), so we don't have either a complete squad or a settled squad.

Actually I just looked at this thread for the first time as with Berenguer rocking up it seemed to at last have some point, so I guess we see it differently. I reckon we will see:

* a starting keeper come in, and

* another visa player, to play God knows where.

other than that it’ll be youff  I’m guessing 

 

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4 hours ago, Inchcolm said:

That is because Rangers signed him and then they sacked their manager. The new managers brought in his own players from Mexico. It is hard to show highlights of a player not playing.. Last season I do not have the highlights but as stated he went out on loan for 4 months to St Johnstone and became a star for us again with 5 goals and numerous assists in 16 games. My point is he needs to be played and at this rate he will not get a run in the team. I know we are only 2 games in but it is 2 games where he has not played. We will have to wait and see. But we better not wait to long.

Wazza has discarded/isolated quality players before. And from the outside it is not based on their soccer abilities. 

Kilkenny, Brandan and Cahill and too a lesser degree Budzinski. So if Wazza doesn’t rate MOH which obviously seems that way after 2 games I  don't like his chances.

It's extremely baffling and makes zero sense. 

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1 hour ago, Jovan said:

Wazza has discarded/isolated quality players before. And from the outside it is not based on their soccer abilities. 

Yet he hinted that he could see Kamau playing in the Spanish league after 2 games last season and raving about his work ethic :droy:

Please Wazza not again.

Edited by playmaker
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Just now, playmaker said:

At yet hinted that he could see Kamau playing in the Spanish league after 2 games last season and raving about his work ethic :droy:

Please Wazza not again.

I still can't really believe that he said that. But he did. He does make some very odd decisions now and again. I can't work out yet whether he's worked out what substitutes are for.

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3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I still can't really believe that he said that. But he did. He does make some very odd decisions now and again. I can't work out yet whether he's worked out what substitutes are for.

I interpreted those comments as being aimed at boosting Kamau,s confidence to lift his match performances. Whethrr that interpretation is correct or not I don't know.

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4 hours ago, Inchcolm said:

With the 16 I had to chose from it was either Malick or Delbridge. Out of our squad we have who would replace Malik with?

That is something for the coaching staff to work out. Almost any solution is better than that. Quite simply Malik should never be mentioned with the CB position. 

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5 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

Epic fail. No midfielder in goal. 

I always find it interesting that the A-League rules specify that the squad must have "a minimum of two goalkeepers." What defines a "goalkeeper?" Could you, for example, have the equivalent of the "all-rounder" in cricket, i.e. someone who doubles as a GK and an outfield player? This guy could sit on the bench and be a pretty handy substitute. The number of times that a team requires to use the GK from the bench is pretty low.

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