A New Marquee

[dibo]

i like the sound of getting junior. it's sure to be a one year thing, he's getting on and is injury prone, but with a good recovery program and a decent pre-season he could be very handy for us, and a one year contract would take him through to at least the end of the group stage of the AFCCL. after that short term extensions or whatever could be used.

he'd offer possibly more to us as a player because with aloisi we tried to play a particular way that wasn't always on and we only really had one pace, while with junior we'd have much more opportunity to alter the pace to suit things - sometimes he's driving and sometimes not - and we'd probably be a mite more unpredictable. with john we were effective, but everyone knew what was likely to be the gameplan.

i also expect that with juninho feeding we could see matty simon come on in leaps and bounds much as alex brosque did this season (where he was essentially another donkey until juninho fed him money balls all day, and now he can create his own chances and SFC know how to use him better too).

fingers crossed!

 

[FFC Mariner]

All the great teams have their best player in centre mid/att mid. Think of players like Cruyff, Maradonna, Zidane etc etc. The best striker in the world does nothing if no one can give him the ball (as Aloi$$i is about to find out)

In V2, Melbourne had Fred and when he left, their strikers suddenly started to look v ordinary. For Bling, as Corica gets older and slower, they struggle to score goals.

I believe our need for a marquee differs to Lowy FC's, they need something to cut through the media noise in Sydney and get them publicity. We need someone who can add to the team.

Our likely starting line up in V4 is:

Danny/A N Other

Ossie Wilko Boogs Heff

Kwas Jedi Hutcho Caceres

Saso Mrdja/Simon

Apart from needing at least 1 more striker, thats a bloody good side and (injury free) will make the semi's. Add a bit of depth and quality, and we will win the league (again)

 

[Atomic]

As I've stated before, Juninho was my favourite player in the EPL in the early 90's. that bias aside, I think he would be a great signing for us. I believe he has shown glimpses of his genius with SFC last season and given a solid off season where he can work on his injuries, he'll come back bigger and better than 07/08. He destroyed LA Galaxy (yes, I know it was a meaningless match), and that's why that knucklehead from LA took him out of the game.

With Juninho, we will get a creative player who can feed our strikers - proven fact. We are getting someone who knows what the A-league is all about and will be prepared for the rough and tumble because of his previous expereince with SFC. He might also be exactly what we need in the ACL, which is a completely different style of football from out competition.

He's worth a go IMO.

 

[skilbeck]

yeah i agree a marquee would be better as a playmaker than a striker. Since that a good playmaker can make Allsopp the Golden boot and a bad playmaker would mean that Aloisi, Thompson or Griffiths would struggle for goals, the money would be best employed there to ensure we have the right man for the job. Juninho would be the right choice if we can be assured he would be able to play 23-25 of the 27 games this season, if not the money would be spent better elsewhere

 

[dibo]

Apart from needing at least 1 more striker, thats a bloody good side and (injury free) will make the semi's. Add a bit of depth and quality, and we will win the league (again)

you know, one of the things i'm looking forward to most of all is osman coming back from injury, he was showing some serious class for a while there before his injury, and also porter will likely find some more opportunities this year up in his preferred central midfield position.

we're looking pretty good here! this has the look of a team that has another three or four very good years ahead of it, salary cap issues being the main externally imposed limit on our potential.

building not just a team but a club around players like wilkinson, hutchinson, kwasnik and petrovski and obviously lawrie as manager means that we've got this 'future-proofed' setup where we'll obviously change players here and there we've got a framework for the club to rest on.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Notice that we tend to turn players over in their 30's (Spencer,Sully,Gumps and to a lesser extent Tommy).

There is some serious thought behind how this club builds and anyone watching a few Lightning U20's games last year knows we dont have to fear the future.

 

[dibo]

Notice that we tend to turn players over in their 30's (Spencer,Sully,Gumps and to a lesser extent Tommy).

There is some serious thought behind how this club builds and anyone watching a few Lightning U20's games last year knows we dont have to fear the future.

have juninho and brad porter play alongside each other for a while and i think smitta's game will go miles ahead. he's another little f**ker with nice ball skills and distribution, just one season of those boys working together at training and matches and whatnot could lift him to new levels.

ditto for other young'uns coming through - ty owens and the academy boys would do really well out of it as well. imagine the attraction our academy would offer to young kids!

 

[skilbeck]

in the event of Juninho:

Fit Mrdja:
Osman---Boogs----Wilko----Heff

Caceres--Juninho-Jedinak--Hutchinson

---------Mrdja----Sasho

Unfit Mrdja
Osman---Boogs---Wilko---Heff

--------Jedinak---Hutchinson

Owens/Kwas--Juninho---Caceres

----------Sasho

Or
Osman---Boogs---Wilko---Heff

Owens-----Jedinak-----Hutchinson

------Juninho----Caceres

-----------Sasho

I reckon the 4-4-2 is the weakest of the formations we could have with Juninho

 

[skilbeck]

According to Cockerill we are close to get Junininho


http://www.smh.com.au/news/a-league/fc-net-14m-aloisi/2008/03/02/1204402272330.html

Is there anything else linking us to Juninho other than Cockerills speculation

 

[Kareem]

wow those formations with Juninho are mouth watering!

 

[bikinigirl]

. dibo thanks for your input - with tommy leaving i was interested to see what that would mean for porter, having never really seen him play his preferred position i was not sure if this would be an opportunity for him

. also agree with your 4-4-2 comment - i think both jedi & hutch in the midfield play a game (defensive/holding) which is missing the spark of a genuine playmaker

. was tempted to bring up a back 3 again, but the heff doesn't suit a back 3. he and ossie going on alternating raids is good but does it offer the mix in the midfield we need to supply our strikers with opportunities?

 

[Andy]

According to Cockerill we are close to get Junininho


http://www.smh.com.au/news/a-league/fc-net-14m-aloisi/2008/03/02/1204402272330.html

Is there anything else linking us to Juninho other than Cockerills speculation

ATM, it looks like there will be a bidding war between us and the Gold Coast Galaxy.

 

[mustapha_beer]

According to Cockerill we are close to get Junininho


http://www.smh.com.au/news/a-league/fc-net-14m-aloisi/2008/03/02/1204402272330.html

Is there anything else linking us to Juninho other than Cockerills speculation

ATM, it looks like there will be a bidding war between us and the Gold Coast Galaxy.

Then, in that case, GO GOLD COAST! I really feel Juninho would be a waste of the freed up resources that we have. He was a great player in his time, but is too lightweight and too injury prone these days as far as I'm concerned.

The first priority HAS to be signing a striker - Simon & Petrovski (plus, possibly a fit Mrdja) will not get us anywhere near enough goals. After that, look into getting a playmaker to replace Tommy P.

 

[FFC Mariner]

A fully fit (for a whole season) Mrdja would win us the league (again).

When fit, best striker in the HAL

 

[mustapha_beer]

A fully fit (for a whole season) Mrdja would win us the league (again).

When fit, best striker in the HAL

Possibly true, but we shouldn't go into next season relying on him to be fit. If he is, then it would be a bonus (alongside the guy we sign to replace JA) - that's all.

 

[serious14]

Let the Galaxy have him........ an injured, too old waste of time.

*grumbles*

 

[dibo]

if we *weren't* to sign juninho, who should we sign?

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

The first priority HAS to be signing a striker - Simon & Petrovski (plus, possibly a fit Mrdja) will not get us anywhere near enough goals. After that, look into getting a playmaker to replace Tommy P.

We certainly need a striker, but we need a midfielder and a defender as well.  A striker is the most important, but as long as it's sorted by the season start, then who cares what order we fill those positions in.  As long as they've got a plan - if somebody in another position becomes available, we'd be stupid to ignore it.

As it is we have one striker - Petrovski.  You can't consider Simon a HAL striker - he sure as hell isn't a starting striker, and you can't the hopes of half of your strikeforce for the season on somebody who's yet to score a goal - even though they've had some great opportunities.  Mrdja...sorry, who's that?  You can't depend on him.  Midfield and defence are survivable, we've got the players.  We don't have much depth to cover injuries and suspensions, but at strength they'll be right.  Our attack, however, won't even suffice at full strength. 

The prospect of Juninho actually excites me a bit.  He is actually a good player, and I believe he's been instrumental to Sydney this season.  Heck, he nearly made Brosque look good!

Only nearly though - it's not actually possible for somebody that rubbish to look good

As others have said, a striker is only as good as the balls he receives.  If nobody's going to provide the striker, then what's the point in paying big money for a good one?

Juninho + Caceres could be a rather lethal combination, especially if you have Petrovski and Mrdja on the receiving end.

Another defensive marquee could be a possibility - it was a stroke of genius doing that in the first place, don't know who though.  I don't think we need to push for a Marquee keeper - anybody good enough to be a Marquee would be too expensive for an Aussie club anyway.

Anybody know what's happening with Mrdja at the moment, where he's at with his injuries?

The funny thing about Viddy and Aloisi leaving is that, more than anything, I'm excited about the possibility of our next marquee!

 

[BiggusMickus]

I think we should spend our Marquee money on bring a decent referee to the A-League. Maybe Pierluigi Collina (the bald headed alien looking dude who was considered the best ref in the world). He's now a financial advisor so maybe he could work out how we can afford him, Christiano Ronaldo, Kaka & Peter Czech.

 

[bradley]

I think we should spend our Marquee money on bring a decent referee to the A-League.