Round 1 Away @ WSW

[true believer]

So we just gotta work with what we have.

the problem with that is we will run last , again . if a player isn't sort ,to solve this problem . then we'll be playing in front of 2,000
in a few weeks .
we have a capable side bar one player .

the ffa have another team coming in next season .they could flick us and the sheep saggers and have a balanced comp .
at least then i won't have to worry about resigning next season .

 

[Ads]

I think the 4-2-3-1 looked good for us.

The first line of 3 niggles and tries to steal and if they fail can be picked up by the 2 DM’s.

And then if they fail we have the line of 4 which Ziggy and Clisby still seem to have been told to stay at a 45 degree angle even before we have got possession back, which is dangerous.

* But overall I would stick to this formation and give Murray another chance or 2.

* Simon to come on for Murray or DDS/Oar at 75 minutes.

* Oar is to high up the pitch to direct the team as a Captain.

* If Ziggy isn’t contributing much in attack he should hold strong and direct the team as captain I believe.

* Silvera to come on at 70min until he is 100% fit again, don’t think we should risk it yet.

* Duric can sit with GG/Stensness/Kim when Silvera does start games again.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

the problem with that is we will run last , again . if a player isn't sort ,to solve this problem . then we'll be playing in front of 2,000
in a few weeks .
we have a capable side bar one player .

the ffa have another team coming in next season .they could flick us and the sheep saggers and have a balanced comp .
at least then i won't have to worry about resigning next season .

 

[Forum Phoenix]

While I agree we are short of a clinical striker I think people in general are thinking it is an easy step up to the HAL from NPL. Fitter defenders mean that as a striker they will always be less time when moving to a professional environment. Give Muzz time and he will be a good HAL level striker.

It is also needs to be remembered that a lot of his time has been spent out wide.

I’m not discounting either of those PJ. That’s why I think we should continue to give him minutes off the bench replacing a HAL quality nine.

But anyone who still thinks he should be starting is just asking us to gamble our season on Muzz’s development. I don’t think that's fair on us or him to be honest.

Being absent choice is a different discussion though,

 

[true believer]

The rarified air of mediocrity will be cold comfort .should the team be gone from gosford . As the ffa wish .
The goths are at the wall honorious .
No time to plant your head in the sand

 

[greenlig]

Flipping the script a little - Muzz fashioned at least two good chances. He doesn't look confident of scoring, looks like he's trying to play like he thinks a pro striker should, not just trusting his instinct. Someone to tell him to play his game and get mean, and he might start putting those chances away.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Flipping the script a little - Muzz fashioned at least two good chances. He doesn't look confident of scoring, looks like he's trying to play like he thinks a pro striker should, not just trusting his instinct. Someone to tell him to play his game and get mean, and he might start putting those chances away.

Agree completely - we were discussing it on the drive home - its the "Kwassie syndrome" Whenever Kwas had time to think about it he would invariably stuff it up. When he played on instinct he was an unpredictable genius.

 

[turbo]

That’s why I think we should continue to give him minutes off the bench replacing a HAL quality nine.

I don’t think you’ll find many advocating forgoing a quality visa 9 to give Muzz the starting gig, it’s more a question of the options available whether we should persist with him as a starter or fall back to Matty. As far as I’m concerned that’s the discussion until the club has something to offer in recruitment.

Edit - to clarify there may be some differing views on what level of striker should slot in front of him and what we may have dismissed previously we might take now given our time again. No one is going to argue with the likes of ALF, Fornaroli or Toivonen. But there might be more division over a character like Berisha or say Cillian Sheridan who I wouldn’t have minded us going after. Early in the off season they might not have been aspirational enough but at this point wouldn’t be a terrible outcome unfortunately now those kind of players tend to be snapped up.

 

[true believer]

Flipping the script a little - Muzz fashioned at least two good chances. He doesn't look confident of scoring, looks like he's trying to play like he thinks a pro striker should, not just trusting his instinct. Someone to tell him to play his game and get mean, and he might start putting those chances away.

Not going for the header was the killer .
It was under 10's shit

 

[turbo]

That’s a split second decision, looked to me like he wasn’t going to be able to get much power on it so made a call. If he pops it softly for a save he still gets crucified. Maybe I’ll feel differently if I watched it again.

 

[MagpieMariner]

Matty didn't score for a whole season I seem to recall

That's right, his first season. He couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I don’t think you’ll find many advocating forgoing a quality visa 9 to give Muzz the starting gig, it’s more a question of the options available whether we should persist with him as a starter or fall back to Matty. As far as I’m concerned that’s the discussion until the club has something to offer in recruitment.

Edit - to clarify there may be some differing views on what level of striker should slot in front of him and what we may have dismissed previously we might take now given our time again. No one is going to argue with the likes of ALF, Fornaroli or Toivonen. But there might be more division over a character like Berisha or say Cillian Sheridan who I wouldn’t have minded us going after. Early in the off season they might not have been aspirational enough but at this point wouldn’t be a terrible outcome unfortunately now those kind of players tend to be snapped up.

I agree with that Turbo. However, I can't ignore that when specifically asked regarding Matty V Muzz next game, Staj said whoever performs best at training will get the starting spot just like always. Which means in his estimation, Matty has been consistently out preforming Muzz at training. Is Staj wrong? I'd hazard probably not. So I think that needs to settle in.

Muzz has clearly gotten himself in front of Majok. That looks right. Majok still seems to tense up when in close quarters and under pressure. But Muzz has not gotten himself in front of Matty it seems. So I can only assume we're going to see Simon regardless of whether most of us aren't particularly happy about it. And I'm in the not happy with Matty camp, but I'm also in the, there's way too much optimism about Muzz camp. Many people were saying he's the double digit striker we need. But really?

I get it. People like Muzz. I like Muzz. Feed the Muzz. He's the new people's champion. But I've seen very little on field to warrant the level of optimism he's garnered. His positioning is ok, but it's still a long way from great and he misses a lot of potential runs still. There were several times in the last two games he's had a chance to try and get himself into a goal scoring position but didn't. And then he's also missed his golden chances.

I don't want to be down on Muzz. But we need to be realists. He has just turned 24, had 1400 minutes in the HAL. 436 minutes per goal. Scored 3. Conversion rate 9%. He needs time.

And while we're here, nor do I buy that Majok is the hopeless buffoon that some people are making him out to be. I've watched him play quality touches. He was Golden boot in the Youth league 16/17. Given his HAL debut by Poppa before he left. And he played him in the ACL for him. Say what you want about Poppa, he is nobody's fool.

Majok just turned 21, only had 6 starts. Had half the minutes Muzz has. Scored 2. That's not too bad for his age as a HAL Striker. Yet people are totally writing him off for a few poor touches while forgiving Muzz off hand for missing 3 game winning chances in the past 2 games.

Anyway. I expect this to be an unpopular post. And the conclusion is mainly just the same. Should have spent on a bloody proper nine.
So I get your reasoning Turbo, unfortunately I'm just not at all confident Murray can help us get any higher up the table this year than Matty.

 

[turbo]

So I get your reasoning Turbo, unfortunately I'm just not at all confident Murray can help us get any higher up the table this year than Matty.

I can respect that and you articulate your thoughts on it well. Of the two I guess I just feel like Murray has the possibility of going up a gear where a bloke turning 34 this season is unlikely to suddenly become prolific. But as you say neither is overly confidence inspiring right now.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I can respect that and you articulate your thoughts on it well. Of the two I guess I just feel like Murray has the possibility of going up a gear where a bloke turning 34 this season is unlikely to suddenly become prolific. But as you say neither is overly confidence inspiring right now.

Yeah I don’t disagree. If it’s just about rolling a dice at least Murray ‘could become’ a double digit HAL striker. That time has almost certainly passed for Matty.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

I don’t think you’ll find many advocating forgoing a quality visa 9 to give Muzz the starting gig, it’s more a question of the options available whether we should persist with him as a starter or fall back to Matty. As far as I’m concerned that’s the discussion until the club has something to offer in recruitment.

I don't really see that Matty has anything to offer as a starter, so I'd rather start the bloke who's on the rise, than the bloke who's in decline.
Although as captain, I can't see Matty not starting.
Having Murray on the pitch with the expectation that he's our key striker may risk putting too much pressure on him.
Conversely, I can't help but wonder if Simon is also feeling the pressure too much - there's still a lot of expectation on him.

A proven striker can take the role of our key attack - and then every time these other guys score, it's a bonus.

Clearly Murray made the wrong decision by not heading the ball - but strikers do make the wrong decision at times - and he's not a world-beater at this stage.

Hopefully he's able to learn from that one and not make the same mistake twice. I reckon he just thought he had more time than he actually did. It was the best chance we had outside of our goal.

 

[Pirate Pete]

I don't really see that Matty has anything to offer as a starter, so I'd rather start the bloke who's on the rise, than the bloke who's in decline.
Although as captain, I can't see Matty not starting.
Having Murray on the pitch with the expectation that he's our key striker may risk putting too much pressure on him.
Conversely, I can't help but wonder if Simon is also feeling the pressure too much - there's still a lot of expectation on him.

A proven striker can take the role of our key attack - and then every time these other guys score, it's a bonus.

Clearly Murray made the wrong decision by not heading the ball - but strikers do make the wrong decision at times - and he's not a world-beater at this stage.

Hopefully he's able to learn from that one and not make the same mistake twice. I reckon he just thought he had more time than he actually did. It was the best chance we had outside of our goal.

Berisha could have either headed that chance or chested it down.
We were discussing Matty on Saturday and Style Cafe raised the point that Matty may have it in his contract to be captain and playing if fit.
I guess we might find out this Saturday.

 

[turbo]

We were discussing Matty on Saturday and Style Cafe raised the point that Matty may have it in his contract to be captain and playing if fit.

I can't see why the club would make that deal, that would be beyond foolish to give any player and its not like we were in a bidding war. But if they did it's a good way to get injured in training. Who put Hoole in the moonboot last year?

 

[Pirate Pete]

I can't see why the club would make that deal, that would be beyond foolish to give any player and its not like we were in a bidding war. But if they did it's a good way to get injured in training. Who put Hoole in the moonboot last year?

I said pretty much the same about Simon. Style Cafe's reasoning was that we were desperate then.

 

[MagpieMariner]

Surely not THAT desperate? After all, Matty had been released by SFC and wasn't going anywhere else.

 

[greenlig]

Not going for the header was the killer .
It was under 10's shit

He's good in the air too!!