Mariners Squad - HAL 14 - 2018- 2019 - The challenge for Mike Mulvey is over

[Coastalraider]

Be careful what you wish for MrCelery - we have had a Brazilian striker trialing with us this week - in person though and apparently, he can play a bit (unlike the "Kaiser'!!)

A Brazilian from Brazil, or a Brazilian from NPL??? Its hard to get excited, we had a Spanish striker last year...

 

[Forum Phoenix]

More likely than backpasses. We didn’t have anyone who ran at the defenders last year.

Kubi did but, yeah...
Adsrubal was hopeless 1v1
Trent only has speed
Powell can’t beat a man
Hoole a lot without effect. Beating 3 in the middle only has value if you’re quick enough to exploit it or pass effectively after. Otherwise it’s just like brushing off flies and a waste of time. Beat one man in the right area is what matters, not three or four where it doesn’t. Which is why I think everyone compares Hoole to an under 10’s player still.

Connor did a bit I thought. But while he’s not quite a one trick pony, he’s stil too limited.

But all that said, to be fair I think our - keep ball at all costs philosophy -heavily impacted this.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

That was down to Okon and his poor coaching.

Typed before I read this.

 

[Offsider]

A Brazilian from Brazil, or a Brazilian from NPL??? Its hard to get excited, we had a Spanish striker last year...

Yes ........ but the brazilian is not being assessed by okon.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

A lot rests at Okon’s feet, last year the two young blokes to make an impact were Arzani and Champness. Both given free rein to try and beat defenders and both looked good. Here is hoping MMM gives our young blokes the same messages.

It was weird. Honestly seemed like Okon doesn’t value attackers. Was he looked over to play as an attacker when he was six and harboured a secret grudge ever since?

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Hooles first touch is a pass. Usually you can categorise this as a backpass because it goes to a defender.

To be fair the one thing he does well is hold up the ball under pressure. THEN he passes it to them.

 

[Offsider]

Kubi did but, yeah...
Adsrubal was hopeless 1v1
Trent only has speed
Powell can’t beat a man
Hoole a lot without effect. Beating 3 in the middle only has value if you’re quick enough to exploit it or pass effectively after. Otherwise it’s just like brushing off flies and a pointless wasted of time. Beat one man in the right area is what matters, not three or four where it doesn’t. Which is why I think everyone compares Hoole to an under 10’s player still.

Connor did a bit I thought. But while he’s not quite a one trick pony, he’s stil too limited.

But all that said, to be fair I think our - keep ball at all costs philosophy -heavily impacted this.

From up here ........on my big white unicorn ......... I concur.
Playing keepball just gave the opposition time to set their defensive structure and fast break options to max effect. To persist with such a tactic is just mind numbing.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I love that you KNOW it’s a unicorn

 

[Ancient Mariner]

As someone else pointed out this has Monty all over it. I'm going to go out on a limb here against the majority - Monty is not a good appointment for us - as a coach. I like Monty personally, he was a great player, inspirational captain and a club legend. He needs to be involved in the club in some capacity - just not coaching or recruitment. He got it terribly wrong last year with his recruits from Wollongong (Markovics spat the dummy after not getting a regular start in NYL) and this is not much better. McDonald is a decent player but no better than what we have already and no better than Smylie, William, Abdullah or Peters in the Academy/NYL.

I find this one of the more worrying posts on this forum.

In the past I have found pinklady to be pretty much on the money.

 

[Offsider]

I love that you KNOW it’s a unicorn

Sssshhhhhhh!!!
It’s white and I called it unicorn .......... because it was horny

 

[Offsider]

I find this one of the more worrying posts on this forum.

In the past I have found pinklady to be pretty much on the money.

From what I am aware he would be respected for his ability to lead. A very good attribute for an assistant to get the coaches message across. He was also respected for his ability to read the game.

But if he is providing a pathway from npl wolves to a-league ??? I would have thought that was more the job of an agent.

 

[Big Al]

Josh McDonald hasn't performed to that high a standard at NPL level. He is not the stand out player in the NPL NSW so why are we expecting him to be that in the A-League? I wax lyrical about how we should give NPL players a go, but players that are actually succeeding and surpassing that level of football, and I'm sorry but Josh McDonald isn't doing that. If he was capable at this level why didn't we at least give him a contract in our youth team when he left the Wanderers? Jordan Murray has had a hell of a year for APIA and is currently leading the NPL NSW golden boot, if we are going to sign anyone from the NPL let it be him not a player who is struggling for a side threatened with relegation in the state league. Not a player who has 43 games and 4 goals and no end product, we already have that with Pain, Kekeris and Hoole who we already have contracted and need players to push them to a higher standard or out of the starting eleven.

Jordan Murray is on somewhere today complaining heavily no one will give him even a look.

 

[Big Al]

As someone else pointed out this has Monty all over it. I'm going to go out on a limb here against the majority - Monty is not a good appointment for us - as a coach. I like Monty personally, he was a great player, inspirational captain and a club legend. He needs to be involved in the club in some capacity - just not coaching or recruitment. He got it terribly wrong last year with his recruits from Wollongong (Markovics spat the dummy after not getting a regular start in NYL) and this is not much better. McDonald is a decent player but no better than what we have already and no better than Smylie, William, Abdullah or Peters in the Academy/NYL.

Same issue Hutch was going to have. Great players don’t always make good coaches talent scouts. Especially as he just picks Wolves players instead of going we played this bloke and we should have him.

 

[Wombat]

I find this one of the more worrying posts on this forum.

In the past I have found pinklady to be pretty much on the money.

She is in the know but also was a supporter of Okon and Sully...................so the jury is still out .

My friend of an experienced youth player told me the players respect Monty alot more than Sully!!!

 

[MagpieMariner]

A Brazilian from Brazil, or a Brazilian from NPL??? Its hard to get excited, we had a Spanish striker last year...

That one wasn't a striker. His first goal was a deflection off the body, he didn't have any idea where the ball was. I (at 70 years of age) could do as well, just stand there and let the ball hit me!

 

[Ancient Mariner]

My friend of an experienced youth player told me the players respect Monty alot more than Sully!!!

What a surprise.

 

[Wombat]

As someone else pointed out this has Monty all over it. I'm going to go out on a limb here against the majority - Monty is not a good appointment for us - as a coach. I like Monty personally, he was a great player, inspirational captain and a club legend. He needs to be involved in the club in some capacity - just not coaching or recruitment. He got it terribly wrong last year with his recruits from Wollongong (Markovics spat the dummy after not getting a regular start in NYL) and this is not much better. McDonald is a decent player but no better than what we have already and no better than Smylie, William, Abdullah or Peters in the Academy/NYL.

They trailled him for 2 months so they must have liked what they saw. Also he has played 14 times for Australia at Youth level.

 

[pinklady]

She is in the know but also was a supporter of Okon and Sully...................so the jury is still out .

My friend of an experienced youth player told me the players respect Monty alot more than Sully!!!

Totally agree with you Wombat - Monty is more respected for everything except his coaching and recruitment.

 

[Woollybutt]

Josh McDonald hasn't performed to that high a standard at NPL level. He is not the stand out player in the NPL NSW so why are we expecting him to be that in the A-League? I wax lyrical about how we should give NPL players a go, but players that are actually succeeding and surpassing that level of football, and I'm sorry but Josh McDonald isn't doing that. If he was capable at this level why didn't we at least give him a contract in our youth team when he left the Wanderers? Jordan Murray has had a hell of a year for APIA and is currently leading the NPL NSW golden boot, if we are going to sign anyone from the NPL let it be him not a player who is struggling for a side threatened with relegation in the state league. Not a player who has 43 games and 4 goals and no end product, we already have that with Pain, Kekeris and Hoole who we already have contracted and need players to push them to a higher standard or out of the starting eleven.

I'm an occasional Wolves fan and completely agree. If he signs (and given there's been no confirmation of Millar, there's no guarantee that this rumour is true either), then from the outside it would be a strange decision when there are far better options in the NPL and in our own youth team.

With that said, given he's over 21, playing NPL, and hasn't played professionally in 18 months he's eligible for a mature age rookie contract. Obviously we don't need that for salary cap purposes, but it does mean that both he and Gauci don't have to be counted in the squad limit so he's not necessarily filling a spot. He does have some good physical and technical attributes, so it could be that Mulvey thinks he can improve his deficiencies and develop him into a decent player. I'm holding onto that report that he's been trialling for two months, as Monty might be able to get him a trial, but he'd still need to impress Mulvey enough to sign off on a contract.

 

[nebakke]

That one wasn't a striker. His first goal was a deflection off the body, he didn't have any idea where the ball was. I (at 70 years of age) could do as well, just stand there and let the ball hit me!

Isn't that the definition of a striker though? ;-)
Heck - the still angry and frustrated Danish side of me would point out that part of the Socceroos approach was relying on the opposing defenders to do that And then pay for a ridiculous VAR call - but that's beside the point ;-)

At the core though, is an argument that it's about positioning first. If you score using your butt, no one will care as long as you do it consistently after all