Mariners Squad 2024/2025 ALM and ACL Elite

[Ironbark]

Lets be realistic, we are out of contention to progress to the next ACLE stage and therefore no real "financial" justification for MC to open up the cheque book. There will be no new signings in Jan but i think we will see a different team in the new year. Sainsbury will make a big difference across the back. MDP brings a fresh dynamic in the front third. ATM Kuol and Edmo do not have young guys chomping at the bit to dislodge them from the team. I expect that when De Lima and Durate are back they will force themselves into the team.
As for the A League season, we are not far behind and aside from the die hards, only the toilet seat winner is remembered. All we need to do is get some momentum (once we get a fully fit side) get into the 6 and anything is possible #believe

Agree - think those returning from injury will feel like fresh new recruits. With those guys back (shame about Tappy) we'll be top 6 competitive again.

Just so thin on the ground currently. This next month or so could be tough.

 

[priorpeter]

I guess Tappy is out for the season but does anyone know how far away Duarte, DeLima, and DiPizio are?
Maybe Pete?

Nico likely mid-Feb as long as his rehab goes well. Poor kid’s had rotten luck with injury over the couple of years.
Migz probably a couple of weeks ahead of Nico. De Lima hopefully before the new year.

 

[FFC Mariner]

A decent analogy of us in the ACL elite is CCU trying to get into their season but having to play an AL club every 2 weeks.
Arguably the gap is wider than that but no one would expect CCU to get anything out of these games.
A distraction more than anything useful.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 2, on my reasons for pessimism about our starters this season.

Back 4.

It Is a shame that Sains is out injured. That injury has hurt us massively. He was meant to replace not only Dan Hall but also Danny both as Captain and organiser at the back. We desperately need someone on the pitch to get the defensive act together.

Kaltak is not the answer. Either the responsibility is affecting his game or he is missing Danny calling the shots from behind. It must be remembered that although he is in his 30s he is very inexperienced and only has 2 years with us behind him in professional football.

Paul is showing improvement but is not the answer yet. Hopefully a prospect for the future.
Like goalkeepers centre backs take time to learn the trade.

Mauragis is a prospect and looks good going forward, but is still a work in progress. However as many here have pointed outed his defence is lacking. Maybe he should be on the wing, but in the modern game fullbacks are probably more important.

Storm is good in defence but is starting to get on in years to be playing a position that demands the ability to get fully up the park and then instantly back in defence for 90 minutes. Fullback is a young man's spot. He is also our most experienced player in the back 5 but fullback is not a position from which to organise. I would like to see him moved to centre back but that creates problems. Although I am sure he could handle it, it is not his position, like Kaltak he is a right side player and he would rob Paul of valuable minutes in what I am clearly seeing as a development season.

We are not scoring goals, so if Jacko cannot sort the defence out we are in for a lot of hurt.

 

[pjennings]

Storm is good in defence but is starting to get on in years to be playing a position that demands the ability to get fully up the park and then instantly back in defence for 90 minutes. Fullback is a young man's spot. He is also our most experienced player in the back 5 but fullback is not a position from which to organise. I would like to see him moved to centre back but that creates problems. Although I am sure he could handle it, it is not his position, like Kaltak he is a right side player and he would rob Paul of valuable minutes in what I am clearly seeing as a development season.

I always thought Brian looked the best on the left when partnered with Triantis. Trent can play either but is usually on the right I thought.

Maybe Trent would be better on the left to marshall Mauragis because Storm and Kuz know what is expected.

 

[Rising Sun]

Part 2, on my reasons for pessimism about our starters this season.

Back 4.

It Is a shame that Sains is out injured. That injury has hurt us massively. He was meant to replace not only Dan Hall but also Danny both as Captain and organiser at the back. We desperately need someone on the pitch to get the defensive act together.

Kaltak is not the answer. Either the responsibility is affecting his game or he is missing Danny calling the shots from behind. It must be remembered that although he is in his 30s he is very inexperienced and only has 2 years with us behind him in professional football.

Paul is showing improvement but is not the answer yet. Hopefully a prospect for the future.
Like goalkeepers centre backs take time to learn the trade.

Mauragis is a prospect and looks good going forward, but is still a work in progress. However as many here have pointed outed his defence is lacking. Maybe he should be on the wing, but in the modern game fullbacks are probably more important.

Storm is good in defence but is starting to get on in years to be playing a position that demands the ability to get fully up the park and then instantly back in defence for 90 minutes. Fullback is a young man's spot. He is also our most experienced player in the back 5 but fullback is not a position from which to organise. I would like to see him moved to centre back but that creates problems. Although I am sure he could handle it, it is not his position, like Kaltak he is a right side player and he would rob Paul of valuable minutes in what I am clearly seeing as a development season.

We are not scoring goals, so if Jacko cannot sort the defence out we are in for a lot of hurt.

If you want to move Storm to CB but keep developing Paull then play 3 at the back. I think WB suits both Kuz and Mauragis better than LB, and a more inverted role suits both Doka and Feijao if they are the starting wide mids.

Not sure why he moved away from that formation, I think it best suits the current cattle that we have

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 3.

The midfield.
Here we have a serious problem. We have grown use to having either Nizz or Max or both controlling the game. They both had great vision and wonderful instincts and got the team moving forward with making the right decisions turning defence into attack at turnovers or letting the play settle in order for the team to restructure. Both had the ability to carry the ball forward when appropriate.

At the moment we have two #6s screening the defence but not effectively linking with our forwards nor are they dictating the game. Like the back 5 we do not yet have an organiser, or if you prefer, a general in the midfield.
Alfie hopefully will fill that role. He has shown the ability to place good long passes which I am sure will improve as he adjusts to the pace of the game and the harder pitches, as well as learning how his team mates move and position themselves. He appears to play deep which can make linking more difficult and leaves him out of participating in the attack. Early days yet.
Harry I believe is also playing too deep to be an effective link to the forwards. He did play higher in the game against the Jets and probably had his best game so far this year. When he is on the ball deeper he appears indecisive and after taking a few touches generally passes back. This is probably due to lack of options in front of him with both strikers playing high which leaves a lot of empty space behind them. He is a better player than what he appears so far this season.

As we are supposedly playing high fullbacks with attacks down the sidelines I may be a tactic to play both midfielders deep to protect against turnovers Especially with a somewhat inexperienced defence, but it is giving oppositions control of a big hole in the centre if they can counter quickly from a turnover.
I see this as a coaches problem to sort out. Maybe he sees the centre as the role of the wingers and they are either ineffective in the role or not following the plan. Jacko has not been hesitant in replacing them fairly early.
Personally I would like to see one of our mids playing box to box, but if not we need one of the two forwards to play as a constructive #10/AM. Maybe Eames may be the answer, but can a 16year old have the stamina to play that role? Possibly as a sub but not yet as a starter.
Overlapping fullbacks with inverted wingers are all very well but you have to have fullbacks who can make effective crosses and strikers who can then bury them because that seems to be our only attacking options at the moment and it is not working.

 

[capauau]

Paull is not a prospect. He is not up to this standard. I have watched closely as he has not shown development at all
He keeps attackers onside. He marks space and ball watches. Doesn't watch the attacker's runs and is too slow to chase then
He doesn't move into space to offer a passing option after he passes the ball
He closes his eyes when he heads the ball and just sticks out a leg and turns sideways instead of tackling aggressively
He is in his second season now and is definitely not up to the standard to be a starter

 

[turbo]

He is in his second season now and is definitely not up to the standard to be a starter

They’ve been desperate to make it happen and look for a fee but some serious discussions are going to be needed towards the end of this season. The lack of pace worries me above anything that can be fine tuned like positioning and structure. If you don’t have it at 21 you’re not going to get faster closing in on your 30s.

He may have a career as a squad player or looking at a lower league in Asia but I don’t see him having a long stint as a starter in ALM

 

[Ancient Mariner]

They’ve been desperate to make it happen and look for a fee but some serious discussions are going to be needed towards the end of this season. The lack of pace worries me above anything that can be fine tuned like positioning and structure. If you don’t have it at 21 you’re not going to get faster closing in on your 30s.

He may have a career as a squad player or looking at a lower league in Asia but I don’t see him having a long stint as a starter in ALM

Pace is such an important attribute in football. It can be speed over 100m like Kaltak or quickness of 10m like Nizz or Messi. Without it you have to have excellent other skills, like positioning, ball control, passing and most importantly anticipation.

 

[Rising Sun]

When Paull first signed he played half a season of NPL, and looked quite promising. But we had an excellent CB pairing in Windust and Larson and for me, Paull was inferior to both of them. But we were looking for the "next Triantis" and a quick million profit and Windust/Larson didn't fit that profile and were let go.

If we had kept and developed Windust he would have formed a very solid and reliable partnership with Brian this year and we would have been leaking a lot less goals

 

[Stuartmcateer]

If we had kept and developed Windust he would have formed a very solid and reliable partnership with Brian this year and we would have been leaking a lot less goals

Until Brian goes and stands somewhat near to an opposing striker, we will still leak plenty of goals 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Rising Sun]

Until Brian goes and stands somewhat near to an opposing striker, we will still leak plenty of goals 🤷🏻‍♂️

Get Brian a reliable partner and he might be in the right place more often. We hardly leaked any goals last year when he was alongside Dan

 

[Stuartmcateer]

Get Brian a reliable partner and he might be in the right place more often. We hardly leaked any goals last year when he was alongside Dan

Get him to do his job and Jacko can worry about fixing his partner. Him not marking and blaming it on his partner is a cop out.

All that him trying to do others peoples jobs means is that 2 people aren't doing their jobs.

 

[bikinigirl]

Pace is such an important attribute in football. It can be speed over 100m like Kaltak or quickness of 10m like Nizz or Messi. Without it you have to have excellent other skills, like positioning, ball control, passing and most importantly anticipation.

. his anticipation is pretty good ... almost as if he can see the future

. he regularly anticipates how slow he is going to be in comparison to his opposing player, so he gives himself a few metres headstart. unfortunately he puts another three players onside as a consequence

 

[bikinigirl]

Get him to do his job and Jacko can worry about fixing his partner. Him not marking and blaming it on his partner is a cop out.

All that him trying to do others peoples jobs means is that 2 people aren't doing their jobs.

. I haven't noticed him blaming anybody, but ... he doesn't seem to mark closely around the box when doesn't have confidence in the the defensive group - he seems to be playing the role of sweeper (unfortunately it's when we're in and around the box)

. funnily enough it was similar when I watched him playing for Vanuatu. he wasn't the dominant player you might expect ... more like the older brother filling in for a trial game

. I think it's a combination of feeling responsible, lacking confidence and communication all combined with relative inexperience

 

[JoyfulPenguin]

Was just thinking about Nathan Paull, I think it's sometimes over estimated how much senior team experience he has had, simply because of his prominence early last season.

He's made less than 20 starts across the A-League, ACL & AFC Cup. He has had comparable minutes at professional level to players like Panagiotis Kikianis, Alex Bonetig, Anthony Pantazopoulos, Kaelan Majekodunmi.

I think Paull is capable of making it at A-League level, but he requires a level of playing time investment that we haven't had to give to a central defender in a while.

Triantis, Kaltak, Hall are really the outliers in how quickly central defenders can make the step up. They all had relatively seamless steps up, but a trajectory akin to Rowles is the more normal A-League development cycle.

That being said I agree with earlier posters that Windust and Larson looked better prospects but Paull is who we have committed too.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 4

Our wingers.

Generally when they receive the ball the wingers have options.
Pass it to an advancing fullback down the line.
Pass to a midfielder moving into space in the middle.
Play a through ball for a striker directly or to run onto.
Take on the defence.

The most going forward option that has been shown this year has been to play to an overlapping fullback. Most others have not been successful.

The reason for this as I see it is too slow ball movement and lack of precision in passing. Too often when we need quick transition after a turnover we give the opposition time to get set. Hopefully it is just a matter of time before the team develops the coordination and confidence and we will see this improve.

Doka has been struggling to find options but at least he has good ball control and can retain possession. I am not too worried about him. IF he can score a pen he will be ok.
Feijao I am less sure about. He cannot be faulted for his enthusiasm, but he tends to rush things. In defence it allows opposition players to step round him and in attack it tends to affect his ball control. I think he probably has until January to settle.
Last season I saw Theo as a squad player, at the moment I am looking forward to seeing him back. He can at least beat a player. Hopefully he can find his support a little quicker this year.
I want to see Ngor with the ball at his feet look opposition players look silly like he did to us in the Cup game. Maybe we were that bad and made it easy for him. Hopefully it will come.
I really miss Torres running at players with the ball and going out the other side still in possession. What a silly idiot.

This is just as I see things. I am far from being a football expert. I am looking to instigate constructive criticism.

 

[JoyfulPenguin]

Part 4

Our wingers.

Generally when they receive the ball the wingers have options.
Pass it to an advancing fullback down the line.
Pass to a midfielder moving into space in the middle.
Play a through ball for a striker directly or to run onto.
Take on the defence.

The most going forward option that has been shown this year has been to play to an overlapping fullback. Most others have not been successful.

The reason for this as I see it is too slow ball movement and lack of precision in passing. Too often when we need quick transition after a turnover we give the opposition time to get set. Hopefully it is just a matter of time before the team develops the coordination and confidence and we will see this improve.

Doka has been struggling to find options but at least he has good ball control and can retain possession. I am not too worried about him. IF he can score a pen he will be ok.
Feijao I am less sure about. He cannot be faulted for his enthusiasm, but he tends to rush things. In defence it allows opposition players to step round him and in attack it tends to affect his ball control. I think he probably has until January to settle.
Last season I saw Theo as a squad player, at the moment I am looking forward to seeing him back. He can at least beat a player. Hopefully he can find his support a little quicker this year.
I want to see Ngor with the ball at his feet look opposition players look silly like he did to us in the Cup game. Maybe we were that bad and made it easy for him. Hopefully it will come.
I really miss Torres running at players with the ball and going out the other side still in possession. What a silly idiot.

This is just as I see things. I am far from being a football expert. I am looking to instigate constructive criticism.

So often this season I have seen our wingers getting double even triple teamed with no options except to attempt to dribble through them.

With how our formation is supposed to function that shouldn't happen, with at least the overlapping full back providing an option. Last season our wingers had a full back, Nizzy/Maxxy, Doka, Kuol or Edmo as options. But this season we completely lack that when getting into advanced wide positions.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Part 5
The strikers.

Unfortunately I see our 2 starting strikers as a big problem.
Many will say they are not getting any service, however when they have had chances they have not taken them.
We have two players on the park who are not contributing. Neither look like 10 goal a season striker leat alone 15. Neither of them could called be called a poacher
Edmo looks good if he is in the clear one on one. He makes some runs generally seen when he is offside or not seen at all. It seems his runs are not fitting with what is happening at the time.
Kuol can do some amazing athletic contortions and is fast. However he has no touch and has shown an inability to take advantage of crosses. He is big, threatens defences, but unlike Matty Simon does not score too many goals. He is often on his heels and does not seem to have the instincts or training of a traditional striker.
Playing both of them up front is a waste of a player.
Neither of them drop between the line effectively to pick up a ball and set up someone else like Cumdog, and neither have the anticipation that Kwassie showed.

If they are not getting service it is time to play someone, probably Brandtman, until our injury problems are sorted, as a #10 behind a single 9.