The Melbourne City Thread

pantskyle

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To go play in a worse standard league?

I'd like to see him play for a lower Premier League team or Championship team, I reckon he could fit in. Of course I'd also like to see him stay for his entire career or until he starts declining.
The US league is of a higher quality than the A league.
 

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R.Keane, O.Martins, T.Henry, Donovan, B.Wright-Phillips, Dempsey, Defoe. All better than anything we have here unfortunately.
Nah man it's like the A-League with players retiring but better quality stars due to the money they have. USA is ranked like 20th in the world. Most of their players come from MLS.
Seems like you don't have a clue.
Yeah but they is way more teams in MLS so the quality drops, because apart from the ones Flapjacks mentioned, there isn't much talent amongst the rest of the many players in the league.

I admit I've only watched a handful of MLS games, but they were all worse quality than the A-League.
 

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TooUglyForFugly

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Yeah but they is way more teams in MLS so the quality drops, because apart from the ones Flapjacks mentioned, there isn't much talent amongst the rest of the many players in the league.

I admit I've only watched a handful of MLS games, but they were all worse quality than the A-League.
Having just watched LA vs RSL, there's probably a kernel of truth in the last statement.
 

dascman03

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Hopefully the coach detractors will be conspicuous by their absence this week.
One win against a team obviously in crisis on and off the field does not suddenly make JvS a good coach. I've followed Heart/City since the beginning and have never been a fan. His use of wingers as defenders, obstinate refusal to play anything other than 4-3-3 regardless of personnel, and lack of adaptability to opposition tactics have been undeniable factors in the team's struggles in both of his tenures. He also failed at Guadalajara between his two spells in Melbourne, although there were probably mitigating factors there. I don't know how many times he needs to see Iain Ramsay (like Aziz Behich before him) get hopelessly exposed before realising it might be worth having a genuine left full-back in the squad.

Anyway, in other news we've signed former Roar midfielder Liam Miller on a short-term deal. Given that Mooy and Mauk are on Socceroos duty, and with Murdocca, Koren and Germano injured, the signing makes sense. Still hope Retre keeps his place in the starting XI for the Mariners game - he was great in supporting Paartalu, who looked extremely stretched in the first few games behind Mooy and Murdocca.
 

MC Extra Dollop

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Yeah but they is way more teams in MLS so the quality drops, because apart from the ones Flapjacks mentioned, there isn't much talent amongst the rest of the many players in the league.

I admit I've only watched a handful of MLS games, but they were all worse quality than the A-League.
Why wouldn't the quality of the A-League drop more? The USA is a mile ahead of us as a footballing nation right now. It is also closer to the Western European and South American countries that it invariably gets its imports from than Australia (which probably means it is more likely to be able to get players that still can and will make the national squad for World Cup calibre countries, whereas the A-League doesn't and only gets players like Duff when they are in their mid-30s and have retired from national team commitments). If Duff was three years younger (and he wished to), he could play MLS and still be considered for Ireland. But if Duff was three years younger and still chose to play out here, whether he wanted to or not, he wouldn't be considered for the Irish national team.
 

Vdubs

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One win against a team obviously in crisis on and off the field does not suddenly make JvS a good coach. I've followed Heart/City since the beginning and have never been a fan. His use of wingers as defenders, obstinate refusal to play anything other than 4-3-3 regardless of personnel, and lack of adaptability to opposition tactics have been undeniable factors in the team's struggles in both of his tenures. He also failed at Guadalajara between his two spells in Melbourne, although there were probably mitigating factors there. I don't know how many times he needs to see Iain Ramsay (like Aziz Behich before him) get hopelessly exposed before realising it might be worth having a genuine left full-back in the squad.

Anyway, in other news we've signed former Roar midfielder Liam Miller on a short-term deal. Given that Mooy and Mauk are on Socceroos duty, and with Murdocca, Koren and Germano injured, the signing makes sense. Still hope Retre keeps his place in the starting XI for the Mariners game - he was great in supporting Paartalu, who looked extremely stretched in the first few games behind Mooy and Murdocca.
His knowledge of coaching would have to superior to yours, with all respect, and when he has the personnel available, he gets results.
When we win, it is because of negative circumstances involving the opposition; when we lose, it's because he sucks?
Give him a break, let the season roll on.
 

dascman03

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Of course his knowledge of coaching is superior to mine, but that doesn't necessarily make him the best candidate for the job.

Happy to agree to disagree, and will be even happier if he proves me wrong. :)
 

treegreen

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His knowledge of coaching would have to superior to yours, with all respect, and when he has the personnel available, he gets results.
When we win, it is because of negative circumstances involving the opposition; when we lose, it's because he sucks?
Give him a break, let the season roll on.
As I've mentioned, I have no qualms with him as our coach but at no point in his career as a manager has he ever managed to get results. I don't understand why this myth of him being a proven manager keeps getting thrown around. The only results he has ever managed to achieve are bad ones.

(And Jamie Young is a far better goalkeeper than 99% of the world, but that shouldn't prevent people from calling him out for being rubbish at a professional level).
 

Joker91

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It'll be interesting how we play with Kennedy and Koren. Do we persist with the 4-3-3? I don't really like that formation. Mooy and Paartalu should be strong enough to protect the back 4 allowing Koren to move up the field more.

I would like to see us line up something like this;

Redmayne

Hoffman- Kisnorbo - Wielaert - ?
Murdocca
Mooy - Koren
Duff - Kennedy - Williams

Could Paartalu play the LB position?

Brown, Dugandzic, Ramsay, Marino - bench depth.
 

eth-dog

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I would like to see us line up something like this;

Redmayne

Hoffman- Kisnorbo - Wielaert - ?
Murdocca
Mooy - Koren
Duff - Kennedy - Williams

Could Paartalu play the LB position?

Brown, Dugandzic, Ramsay, Marino - bench depth.
I would have:

Redmayne
Hoffman - Kisnorbo - Wielart - Germano
Mooy - Paartalu
Duff - Koren - Dugandzic
Kennedy
Germano is competent enough defensively to cover LB. Dugandzic is a better winger than Williams, Williams is better centrally (although neither are worth writing home about)
 

MC Extra Dollop

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How long is Miller's contract?
He's a national squad replacement player and presumably, he'd be a chance to stick around as an injury replacement, if players like Koren and Germano are out for much longer. So, right now, he's probably here for a month, tops. However, we do have a visa spot for him (or someone) and as I understand it, his options for changing to a third club in a season will be severely limited, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign for the rest of the season, at some point.

I think, in the here-and-now, it's a solid move as the midfield is utterly decimated at the moment, but if he stays for the remainder of the season, it's pretty puzzling, as even at full-strength, we're still looking very suspect at full back, whereas someone like Murdocca or Miller would find himself as a part-time player, if our midfield was approaching full-strength.
 

Joker91

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Interesting to see how we go today with virtually a second string midfield. No mooy, murdocca, koren.

Fingers crossed we start getting a better run with injuries.
 
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