19/20 best line up

[Harrison]

Bouzanis

Galloway Windbichler Good Jamieson

Berenguer Brillante Metcalfe

Cabrera Maclaren Noone

That's the XI if everyone is fit IMO. 

[Jovan]

42 minutes ago, Harrison said:

Bouzanis

Galloway Windbichler Good Jamieson

Berenguer Brillante Metcalfe

Cabrera Maclaren Noone

That's the XI if everyone is fit IMO. 

Interesting. 

Delbribge axed? Berenguer in without actually playing. Griffiths also axed.

Soccer is all about opinion and generally those opinions are based on the last 90 minutes played. (IMO 🙂)

For me id stick with Delbribge and Good as starting CBs and only based on I still don't know enough of Windbichler. Galloway and Jamieson kind of pick themselves although some might choose Atkinson but for me Galloway is a lock and Jamieson is serviceable.

Griffiths has done enough good stuff to continue with as the holding pivot. Brillante is a lock, and after yesterday I'm also putting Metcalfe in as "semi lock"  starter (until he needs a rest probably 2 or 3 more games) now that leaves out Berenguer and Genreau and in this all fit hypothetical they would have to prove themselves off the bench. I wouldn't mind experimenting with Brillante as the pivot and Genreau and Metcalfe as the 8s but not sure. 

Upfront JMAC is the actual definition of a lock and he continues to prove myself wrong. Noone I think I would persist with and especially on the right like the first half and I've liked Luna for periods in the last 2 weeks enough to start on the left, although this bloke is borderline spud and needs to show much more. 

That leaves a few on the bench all being fit to push the starters. So we probably have 4 and a half bona fide starters,  Galloway, Good, Brillante and JMAC and being young Metcalfe until he needs a spell. That leaves 6 or so undecideds that need to improve.

Any good side pick themselves so after the loss we have a bit of rethinking to do. 

Edited November 17, 2019 by Jovan

[Harrison]

Just now, Jovan said:

Interesting. 

Delbribge axed? Berenguer in without actually playing. Griffiths also axed.

Soccer is all about opinion and generally those opinions are based on the last 90 minutes played. (IMO 🙂)

For me id stick with Delbribge and Good as starting CBs and only based on I still don't know enough of Windbichler. Galloway and Jamieson kind of pick themselves although some might choose Atkinson but for me Galloway is a lock and Jamieson is serviceable.

Griffiths has done enough good stuff to continue with as the holding pivot. Brillante is a lock, and after yesterday I'm also putting Metcalfe in as "semi lock"  starter (until he needs a rest probably 2 or 3 more games) now that leaves out Berenguer and Genreau and in this all fit hypothetical they would have to prove themselves and we off the bench. I wouldn't mind experimenting with Brillante as the pivot and Genreau and Metcalfe as the 8s but not sure. 

Upfront JMAC is the actual definition of a lock and he continues to prove myself wrong. Noone I think I would persist with and especially on the right like the first half and I've liked Luna for periods in the last 2 weeks enough to start on the left, although this bloke is borderline spud and needs to show much more. 

That leaves a few on the bench all being fit to push the starters. So we probably have 4 and a half bona fide starters,  Galloway, Good, Brillante and JMAC and being young Metcalfe until he needs a spell. That leaves 6 or so undecideds that need to improve.

Any good side pick themselves so after the loss we have a bit of rethinking to do. 

To clarify, I think that's the XI Mombaerts would pick if all players were fit. I'm basing this on who he picked in pre-season (when Berenguer was fit) and exposed form now. But I'll try to justify that XI.

Brillante was the single pivot during pre-season. We usually went with Berenguer Brillante Metcalfe and that gives us the best balance IMO. Brillante is a very good player because he a) positions himself very well b) works hard to close off lanes and the space just in front of the defence c) is good on the ball and d) is a deep-lying playmaker. As we've seen, Brillante can hit long passes over the last line of defence, which stretches the midfield and defensive lines of our opponents and creates attacking depth (very important principle in football). This gives our two central midfielders more time and space in the middle third when we're in attacking phases of play. Metcalfe and Berenguer are also very adept at using half-spaces and making the most of this extra space between the lines. So is Genreau but crucially Metcalfe and Berenguer like to dribble. While Berenguer isn't perfect at counter pressing, he still gives us penetration and intelligence and is good in tight spaces. Metcalfe is still building his fitness but presses well and is statistically very good in an attacking sense when comparing him to other central midfielders. I like his progression. He always looks to break down defences. Yes he makes the wrong decisions but that's just inexperience. He's absolutely worth persisting with.

Windbichler just looks like a good footballer and has proved himself at a higher level. He needs more time to build fitness and sharpness but I think that Mombaerts will choose him over Delbridge. I like Delbridge but Good is better, so Delbridge goes to the bench. Happy to wait and see on Windbichler though.

Cabrera gives us width when he plays on the right. Yesterday showed that he can deliver excellent crosses and seems to have a good relationship with Maclaren. Noone likes to cut in and is more of a modern winger but it leaves us a bit exposed when he's on the left and Jamieson has tucked in and Galloway has pushed high. Brisbane went down that side quite a bit yesterday so it's a problem that needs to be looked at. Is Wales the answer? Don't know. If we went with a more attacking midfield like the three above then maybe it's worth starting Wales on the left because he presses so well. 

[Embee]

I like Curtis Good just fine, but there's no way he's better than Delbridge IMO.

[Originalmeme]

id like this to be our final XI come finals

                dean

galloway    good delbo   jamo

                     brill

     metcalfe    genreau

cab/ luna      jmac          noone

i really want to see what windbichler can do, as well as florin this season but im not getting my hopes up.  Also would love to see our fullbacks given competition from the young kids, karlic, atkinson, graham even

Edited November 18, 2019 by Originalmeme

[Harrison]

3 hours ago, Embee said:

I like Curtis Good just fine, but there's no way he's better than Delbridge IMO.

The problem for Curt has been his injuries. He's really only now back to peak fitness after years and years of hip problems ever since he injured it against Ecuador in early 2014.

Delbridge has improved quite a bit since his first season here and probably has been consistently 'better' for the past year. That has more to do with Curt working his way back from injury though and getting back his skill and sharpness.

They aren't really in the same class though. Good is a superior defender and footballer to Delbridge in every way except aerial ability.

 

[Embee]

29 minutes ago, Harrison said:

The problem for Curt has been his injuries. He's really only now back to peak fitness after years and years of hip problems ever since he injured it against Ecuador in early 2014.

Delbridge has improved quite a bit since his first season here and probably has been consistently 'better' for the past year. That has more to do with Curt working his way back from injury though and getting back his skill and sharpness.

They aren't really in the same class though. Good is a superior defender and footballer to Delbridge in every way except aerial ability.

 

Bit of a dubious call given the on field evidence of the last 18 months to be honest.

You say yourself, Delbo has been better. I'm not really concerned as to why exactly that is (injuries etc), but I do know that until Good actually proves that he's currently a better player than Harrison, he's not.

[Nate]

I think all three central defenders are about on par with each other, none are glaringly better than the other unless Windbichler can prove otherwise when he returns from injury.

It's a good problem to have however, and all three are more than capable at this level as both Good and Delbridge have been voted MotM by us this season. 

[Harrison]

8 minutes ago, Embee said:

Bit of a dubious call given the on field evidence of the last 18 months to be honest.

You say yourself, Delbo has been better. I'm not really concerned as to why exactly that is (injuries etc), but I do know that until Good actually proves that he's currently a better player than Harrison, he's not.

Good was somewhat ordinary last season whilst Delbridge was very good. Obviously Curt had to build up his fitness and recapture his form. This season though Good has been better than Delbridge. Just looks so composed and sure of himself, he reads the game so well. Harrison has been decent but has made a few mistakes and doesn’t look as good as he did last year.

Hopefully Curt remains fit because he’s a class above and he has a lot of natural ability. Wouldn’t be surprised if he made the NT squad at some point.

[Embee]

11 minutes ago, Harrison said:

Good was somewhat ordinary last season whilst Delbridge was very good. Obviously Curt had to build up his fitness and recapture his form. This season though Good has been better than Delbridge. Just looks so composed and sure of himself, he reads the game so well. Harrison has been decent but has made a few mistakes and doesn’t look as good as he did last year.

Hopefully Curt remains fit because he’s a class above and he has a lot of natural ability. Wouldn’t be surprised if he made the NT squad at some point.

Agree to disagree I guess. They've been much of the same this season as far as I'm concerned.

I hope Good stays fit and continues to impress, I like the guy and he's a good player.

[Harrison]

1 minute ago, Embee said:

Agree to disagree I guess. They've been much of the same this season as far as I'm concerned.

I hope Good stays fit and continues to impress, I like the guy and he's a good player.

Sorry mate, not good enough, let’s continue this discussion until it descends into personal insults! 

In all seriousness and to make a confession, I do know Curtis personally so I’m somewhat biased. Having played with him I can say that he’s a seriously good footballer. 

Frustrating that he’s had the terrible run of injuries he’s had. Not many 19 year old Aussies are signed by PL clubs and get selected by the Socceroos for a World Cup squad. I’m glad that he’s back on track because his potential is still pretty big, he just needs a bit of luck. 

And not that I rate Okon as a coach (who would? Though I think the bloke is knowledgeable about football and talent), but two weeks ago there was an article about how highly Okon still rated Good and how he thought he was getting closer to NT selection.

[Mr MO]

3 hours ago, Harrison said:

They aren't really in the same class though. Good is a superior defender and footballer to Delbridge in every way except aerial ability.

 

This.

I like Delbo but so far every talented striker in the league has made him look average. I don’t understand why Mombearts makes him mark these agile players, perhaps for his recovery speed? I wouldn’t mind turning this around with Good. Delbo is suited mark Toivonen and O Donovan type of players. 
 

It all comes down to what we look for in footballers, ball skills and tactics or big lunges, random headers back to the opponent.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Mr MO

[jw1739]

Gosh, I reckon some of you are being hard on Delbridge. In the matches I've seen he's saved us so many times with a block or a last-ditch tackle. He's grown as a player since being with us and does pretty well in the MOTM stakes. Very worthy member of the squad IMO.

[Imtellingyou]

Yep, but Good is more solid. 

[Mr MO]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Gosh, I reckon some of you are being hard on Delbridge. In the matches I've seen he's saved us so many times with a block or a last-ditch tackle. He's grown as a player since being with us and does pretty well in the MOTM stakes. Very worthy member of the squad IMO.

He has certainly has grown but his tackles  have cost us too. There is a place for him don’t get me wrong. Let’s say I’m a bigger fan of more silkier footballers I guess. Rather see better positioning than last minute tackles due to poor positioning. 

[mus-28]

This season Delbridge has made more mistakes than he did in the entire season last year, where he was impeccable. A lot of it has to go down to the partnership at the back, he seemed to lift a notch playing beside Bart and they complemented eachother perfectly. 

Some combinations work, some don't. Anyone who remembers Liverpools pairing of Hyppia and Henchoz, neither were considered elite, but as a pairing they were perfect. 

 

[jw1739]

Worth remembering in this discussion that we have signed Noone, Cabrera, Windbichler and Luna for two seasons, so all four will be here next season as well as this one. These players ought to be in our best XI or they're wasted visa places in the squad.

Of the visa players, only Berenguer goes out of contract at the end of the current season.