Mariners Squad - HAL 12 - 2016 - 2017

[Big Al]

My only issue is how much less are City offering???

If they or Sydney offer close to what we are, then I would think that might be attractive for an ambitious player.

Does Wilko still hope to continue his Socceroos career and would playing for a 7th or 8th placed team kill any chance of that?

Yeah does taking Faty help SFC get Wilko?

 

[yorkshireman]

Outstanding! This is spot on about the teams position, the coach and the ability of the players. Now we have to hoe that the powers that be can see the obvious, read this and sign the required players. I wonder if they have used Garcia's, Roy's and maybe even Monty's knowledge of the European scene to look into a few names (Monty can surely recommend a few leaders).

OK now to look at the midfield.

MIDFIELD:
The assets we have are two fast wide wingers (Austin and Fab), both different styles but both fast and wide and that is where they play.
We have two DMs in Monty and Liam Rose.
This midfield has not been as effective as it should be for quite a few reasons. The main one being is that with an inexperienced back four both DMs have had to do a lot of covering and quite often ended up back with the defence. The two wingers are not what you would call great defenders in style nor inclination.
Too often this left a great big hole in the centre of the field. Other teams in attack too often just waltzed straight through and hammered our inexperienced back and in attack our only options seemed to be out wide and too often Fab was closed down with nowhere to go or Austin ran out of support.
The other problem was that when our backs did win the ball there were no options available to play out and they had to play back, sideways or a long diagonal ball.
Hopefully a better back four will allow our mids to control the middle of the park., maybe with one DM playing further up the park. I do not think we can play a narrow diamond with the wingers we have. I suspect what we need is a box to box player of the style of Matt McKay who can execute effective one touch passes and be a link. I know Monty tried but always seemed to have too many other responsibilities. Rose should be that sort of player but does not seem to have the engine, or the anticipation to play that way.
On Fox they were suggesting that the City Group were interested in him. I am not sure whether to be concerned with losing him or not.
Possibly as mentioned above Ascroft could play the Jedi DM position and allow Monty to get further forward.
Another possibility is that TW has said he is looking for a versatile mid. I wonder whether versatile covers wing (where we do not have a lot of cover apart from young upcoming forwards (Budgie etc)), box to box and AM/#10.
The different combinations are endless and will depend upon who comes in, most of it will depend on getting the defence right first, but that hole in the centre of the park must be occupied.


ATTACK:
Simple, one great #10 or false #9 to go with Roy. Amini as an attacking mid who can lay off lovely passes into space as well as defend. Perez who was an out and out provider, but light on defence, Rogic playing as a false 9. Any would do and would make Roy very happy.
Of the three styles I think I would like Amini and suspect we will need someone who is a worker as we'll as a provider.
It really comes down to getting the midfield working which in turn needs a reliable defence behind.

Can we do it?

Like Roy has stated I think with the addition of three or four quality experienced players the team will click. It is really vital we get those signings right.

THE COACH:
Is he the saviour or is he just a naughty little boy?
This season it has been impossible to tell. I do not think anyone could have dealt with what he has been dealt much better.
What many have seen as pulling the team around too much (especially defence) I have seen as trying as many options and combinations as possible with the limited players available and seeing how it works.
Since the beginning of February this season has been gone and I have been looking on it as an extended pre season to discover strengths and weaknesses as we'll as to try and give as much experience as possible to inexperienced players.
TW should have a thorough understanding of what he has now and what he needs. Next season the line up must be settled with good understandings developed.

I am hopeful but it is going to be an all or nothing event.

Failure to be successfully competitive (i.e. mid table) could prove to be fatal to more than just TW.

Interesting times ahead.

COYY.

 

[Big Al]

http://www.ccmariners.com.au/articl...with-three-players/175s5hyev671b1wzqeqzpnu64p
No joke when I posted this I checked Facebook and this came up.

Is this going to be the only releases? No problem with any of them going.
Liked Stella's movement but was unable to adapt to the speed and physical nature of the A League.
Uskok was looking alright till got hurt but if get two new CB's then Posco and Rose will be enough cover.

 

[Wombat]

Faty is a real defender.
Great signing Tony.

 

[nebakke]

I love the coast...and I will always love the coast.

But if I had to choose between the Socceroos or the coast, I would choose the Socceroos

I don't see SFC giving him much more of a chance than we would tbh... Not on their current form at least...
Combined with how he's reaching an age where it's probably got some appeal to get a decently paying deal, for a decent amount of time, for a team that you have an emotional connection to, in the area that you family lives in... Not to mention that he's probably heading for the 'roos bench and already made his way there, so it's not like he'll need to make Ange spot him for the first time.
I figure we're in with a decent shot there - especially if we can show some decent signings around as well...

Not sure how I feel about Faty - I'm hoping he's got something to prove, based on his performance in the games against us this season, I'd rather not Tavares though... Dirtiest f*****g grub only stayed clear of reds because of who he played for.. Not sure how that'll go for us..

 

[Mini In Bay 6]

I'd rather not Tavares though... Dirtiest f*****g grub only stayed clear of reds because of who he played for.. Not sure how that'll go for us..

True, but we've signed guys like Reddy and Sasho the Bastard, and they were pretty good for us despite being rather hated.

All in all if we bag Wilko to go with Faty that's good enough for me in defence, then we need some serious love in the midfield. Feed the current forward line properly and we will win things again.

 

[sydmariner]

True, but we've signed guys like Reddy and Sasho the Bastard, and they were pretty good for us despite being rather hated.

All in all if we bag Wilko to go with Faty that's good enough for me in defence, then we need some serious love in the midfield. Feed the current forward line properly and we will win things again.

Reddy WAS, STILL IS, & WILL FOREVER ALWAYS BE a f**king c**t

 

[nebakke]

I'd hope that we wouldn't let Uskok go and only sign one decent CB though tbh... So hopefully letting Uskok go means we're confident of signing Wilko...

 

[Mini In Bay 6]

I'd hope that we wouldn't let Uskok go and only sign one decent CB though tbh... So hopefully letting Uskok go means we're confident of signing Wilko...

Yeah, I liked Uskok so mayhaps the deal be done.

I'd love another creative number 10 again. Maybe it's time to bag another South American? Should we raid the Nike kids again?

 

[Big Al]

Faty is physical and we need that. Knows when to be dirty. Got caught a couple times this year but probably got away with a hundred more.

He and Wilko would be a good pair.

Also got Ashcroft and McGing as well. Could trim some more fat here but both still contracted

 

[Capt. Awesome]

I'd say Wilko won't announce where he is going until the finals are over for City. So we'll have to wait until City fail. Fingers crossed.

 

[LaRass]

I think Nathan Coe would be good. Cheap, experienced and he was pretty good back in his day. He's been a free agent since 2015. Might be rusty but he'll be better than Izzo that's for sure.

 

[dibo]

With a number of contracts expiring, the squad's pretty thinned out now.

• Harry Ascroft
• Mitchell Austin
• Josh Bingham
• Jacques Faty
• Fabio Ferreira
• Matthew Fletcher
• Tom Heward-Belle
• Paul Izzo
• Anthony Kalik
• Brad McDonald
• Jake McGing
• Nick Montgomery
• Michael Neill
• Roy O’Donovan
• Jacob Poscoliero
• Joshua Rose
• Liam Rose
• Storm Roux

That squad is also pretty cheap, all told.

There's room to reinforce, and (looking on the bright side, as is my wont) we've blooded some kids who've got genuine potential.

Players like Ascroft, Liam Rose, Izzo, McGing and Neill have all had a lot of game time this year whereas in a more experienced side they would not have. Bingham and Kalik and even Heward Belle have had useful cameos.

They're all 21 or younger.

Then there's the mid-20s brigade of Austin, Ferreira, Poscoliero and Roux - these guys are backbone players at the moment. Then there's Fletcher, who looks in need of a decent pre-season, and McDonald who's a squaddie but can have a go.

There are a lot of players who at the start of the year wouldn't have got near another A-League club's first 23. Now there are a bunch of players who'd be picked up for squaddie spots. The challenge is for them to step up to be true starters.

Now if we top up the side with the likes of (for arguments' sake) Vukovic, Wilkinson, Holman and Smeltz you get a bunch of reasonably match hardened bunch of kids competing with experienced players for starting spots.

There's a big question though as to how the personalities are going to be managed. Clearly there were a number of tantrums thrown this year that had people wanting out. That's gotta be eliminated.

Dickheads or not, we can't go losing a list of players like Bosnar, Caceres, Fitzgerald, Reddy, Sim and Trifiro in one year. Four of them were starters at the start of the season and the other two were regular bench players (rather than just being squaddies).

The way we worked the replacements meant that in Fitzgerald, Reddy and Bosnar's cases we reached for a squaddie to do a starter's job, and suffered accordingly.

In Sim and Trifiro's cases we signed McDonald and reached for Liam Rose - call that a draw and a win. Rose was simply outstanding late in the year.

Caceres was directly replaced, but by a bloke who was a great player but can't lift a side that's not up to it.

Take Roy out for 8 weeks and the season couldn't be anything other than disastrous. Losing Storm Roux late in the year really just put the cherry on top of the great steaming turd that was our season.

If we get the basic ingredients right this year and get the unit working as a unit, we might see a better year. Top up the newly blooded kids with some experience and we should at least outdo the scum.

I'm not stupid enough to think we'll make finals, but not being an absolute clusterf**k would be a good start.

 

[nebakke]

With a number of contracts expiring, the squad's pretty thinned out now.
I'm not stupid enough to think we'll make finals, but not being an absolute clusterf**k would be a good start.

Meh - I'm an optimist.. The thing is finals isn't that hard considering we're looking at a top 6 finish in a 10-team league.
Look at this year... Beating WelNux, Jest and Sydney should have been do-able... Indeed we did Wellington and came relatively close at least with Sydney, with the current squad. We beat Perff in the first round and completely lost our heads in the second game against them... If we had had Adelaide once or twice in the first half of the season as well as being able to keep our sh*t together in a couple more games (like in Bendigo) we'd have been top 6.
That's not to say that we deserve to be up there this season or anything, just making a point about what a relatively low target it is to make finals... With a lineup that has Faty and Wilko in the std back four, with either Posco or Storm and Neill at FB, and a serviceable CAM plus an additional CDM, I don't think finals is unreasonable at all... Adelaide has been consistently good since they started winning, Brisbane has been consistently decent but both Melbourne teams have had their ups and downs and WSW is flattered by the table right now, as far as I'm concerned... An improved line-up could do some decent damage but, right now, I'd be happy for it to be competitive...

 

[Wombat]

Fullbacks is a weakness that we seam to be overlooking on here.

 

[midfielder]

Great signing I think

 

[Gratis]

Some good news and hopeful of more re. Wilko etc.

Could we see a change in shape depending on recruitment? Maybe we could use our full backs simply to defend for the first time in years? Thinking out loud mainly

 

[Wombat]

Good idea.
We already have plenty of firepower down the wings.
When we are 3.0 nil up then they can have a little bomb on down the flanks.

 

[Rowdy]

Not sure how I feel about Faty - I'm hoping he's got something to prove, based on his performance in the games against us this season,

Same feelings myself, bit unsure about Faty.

Love to know what his wage was at Sydney, as having a year to go already activated in his contract you'd have to think we'd be paying him the same $'s or else he could have just stayed at Sydney FC and Arnie would have had to pay him that amount whether he wanted him there or not.

With us offering Wilko a reported $300k, and factoring in Bosnar was on a reported $250k (inflated so Moss could get his brown paperbag kick-back from the agent). Eddie was more likely worth around the $190- $209k range.

I'd hope were not paying Faty anymore than that ......... a flat $200k.
Less would be better.

I'd rather not Tavares though... Dirtiest f*****g grub only stayed clear of reds because of who he played for.. Not sure how that'll go for us..

I'll reluctantly take Faty.

Tavares ? He'll NO !!!

Watched Matty Simon many times this season play for SydFC & by default got to see just how lazy Tavares actually is.

Likes to pass the ball and then just jog around whilst admiring his handy-work.

TW: "Please don't sign Tavares !"

We'd be doing Arnie 'a favour'.

 

[Rowdy]

We had the thread:

"Arnie, you dont live here anymore. Stay out of the Pantry"

So does that mean we should start another thread titled:

"TW - stop ⚠ going through the Smurfs dustbin, looking for treats"

As there's only Arnold's trash to be found.