I have to admit, even though Brisbane had one of the worst seasons in their history, I do love the off season and getting excited about new potential signings. 

Nicky Ajose's goals from 2015/16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN7yMp7wzLY

thats the best part of off season. all the speculation of who is going where and deep dives into prospects. 

Im going to have to say pass on Nicky. from that video a lot of pens, some horrific keeping, only one or two good runs. he needs service from wide players, so will need to build a report with wingers to be succesfull. we currently dont have any wingers so that means you have to bring in 3 players that will instantly gel together. To high risk. Roy would be a better option.

4 pens from a total of 24 goals, I wouldn't say that is a lot at all and you still need to finish those pens. Look at any of the top scoring players who have been in the A-League, they score of  a lot of pens. 

Sure some efforts from the goal keepers were poor but most of the times I saw in that video it was great instinct which got him a lot of goals. Some real classy finishes, composure as well.

Any striker we do get is going to need good service, unless of course we just wan't to keep booting it down the park in hope of someone getting it, its basically going to be a completely new squad so rapport with players is going to take time anyway, it won't happen straight away. 

High risk to me is Roy, you don't change the way you are as player, the anger, the dirty play, especially at 33 going 34 later this year, as much as he may want to change, any slight thing could trigger him which is a liability to the team.

Anyway, I made my thoughts on Odonovan pretty clear, I would rather someone else but happy to be proven wrong if we get stuck with him.

As with any signing, regardless of how the player has performed in the past, they could absolutely kill it in the A-League. This guy is no different. Although i'd be more comfortable targeting someone with similar goals/game ratio in the championship, rather than League One and Two. 

I agree that Roy is not the best option and would hope that the club are looking for better options but i dont think that Nicky is that person from those videos. all strikers need service but there is a difference between a striker making runs to get on balls and relying on wingers to find the striker.

Jmac was the type of striker to be in the right spot at the right time but he got there by making smart runs and moving defenders. most of Nickys look like he is making straight runs not moving defender and relying on the wingers to find him. that requires the wingers to be very good and play very low percentage hard passes. JMac would move defenders away so that there was space for easy crosses and for him to get on the end of it. 

If we are looking at Nicky that means Roy is not a done deal, I hope that we get someone better than him in every way but to me Nicky is lower on the rung. 

Meh, apart from the prolific season with Swindon 4 years ago, the stats are pretty average, and in the last couple of seasons he has played only a handful of games with League 1 and 2 clubs. Surely we can get better players than someone struggling to get games in League 2?

I mean you could argue that hes a similar age to when Berisha came across but has a better goal scoring record than Berisha had. Berishas best season before Roar was 11 in 32 in Denmark and the season before he signed he had 2 in 28 in 2.Bundesliga

I told you we're going to cop mediocre, third rate Brits. The signs are all there to see.

This was my first thought too. Not to say that he will be a success, but his record isn't disqualifying. It'd really just be down to how he adapts and if the rest of the signings are any good.

If he does sign I'll be optimistic but hold off from judging until he gets out on the field.

We all make the same mistake. Fornaroli had fairly rubbish previous stats and cut the league to shreds.

This^

the amount of people who ranted about Berisha being signed, and Broich, and even Anges appointment. 

If average imports can at least provide the silky skills to pass on to the team and specially the young ones then I can appreciate their value.

Average imports with ordinary skills are not worthy of risking displacing a local player.

Well thank God you are here to tell us what is what ! How would any of us know what is going on otherwise ?

Berisha was playing in the Bundesliga 2 and the HAL wasn't as good as it is now. This new guy plays in League Two. I personally think the HAL is League One standard so this guy would be a terrible signing imo.

He plays in League Two. A League One player would be bad enough but League Two...

Lets not pretend like the Aleague quality is better than it really is, if anything the overall quality of the league has gone down in years.
Secondly i thought people would have learned by now it doesnt matter what league or previous team a new player comes from, it has been proven time and time again. No one knows how well a player will perform in the aleague, Odonovon came from the Singapore  league........... Before that League two....

This comment just reflects the lack of football maturity in this country. If an A League club tried to sign Jamie Vardie from a conference side there would be uproar and yet that’s what Leicester did and the player went on to be a huge success. 

In england there is an acceptance that there are very good players in the lower divisions and the right move can unlock latent talent. Berisha and Broich moving to Roar unlocked talent that hadn’t been seen before in their performances (no  doubt other clubs have similar stories, O’Donovan is certainly another good example - when he was signed the “internet experts” were all critical and yet he’s been brilliant).

In Australia we have to get over ourselves and our football insecurities - a players potential is more important than their history. 

Regardless of who we sign and what league/level they play at, we need to have faith that our new coaching staff will have done their due diligence and will have seen something that has shown them they are worth signing. 

Agreed.

Agreed +1. 

Not something I’ve felt confident about since Ange left though lol. 

:laugh: Very true.

I am less concerned with ability at this point,  we really need to focus on availability,  injuries to key players and visa players have really hurt us last 2 seasons.

I hope we sign players that are durable and have high levels of natural fitness,
I hope our medical staff and coaching staff have a long had look at themselves (can't blame facilities anymore)

To some extent the injuries and transfers out this last season were a greater shame on our club than the on-field performance - and doesn't that say something.

We obviously do need some level of skill beyond mediocre Toffees_or_Roar, but I am already dreaming of basically the same side week in week out next season and watching them improve week after week.

Imagine that! A stable first team. I am actually quite excited just thinking of that.

Waz.....you nailed the challenge to player selection.........potential!!!!!

any idiot can pick the best players, and then possibly have to pay for them, but the challenge is to be able to identify the potential of a player that is affordable.

just as in what is called "talent identification"
of juniors......can you select a player tuat has the potential to turn into something better in couple of years. 

I tuink ink I explained that???

Seeing au play at the moment makes me think of such a miss opportunity for not getting kurz. He would have been great for a clean out and getting the players to give all for the club.

Because we didn’t get enough of Ross Aloisi telling the crowd/4th official/assistants/referee/anyone in ear shot to “F*#% Off” loudly during games?? 😬

Kurz seems a bit loopy, you see him going crazy at the camera when in the huddle with the players, we don't need another Aloisi. 

Can't argue with that, no excuses next season.

Most people on here consider it to be League One level and most A-League sides have improved from last season.

"Secondly i thought people would have learned by now it doesnt matter what league or previous team a new player comes from, it has been proven time and time again."

Sometimes that is the case but sometimes it isn't. This guy has a crap record in a league that is worse than the HAL.


This comment just reflects the lack of football maturity in this country. If an A League club tried to sign Jamie Vardie from a conference side there would be uproar and yet that’s what Leicester did and the player went on to be a huge success. "

Vardy was attracting interest from Championship clubs and was steadily rising up the leagues. This guy has slipped down the leagues.

"In england there is an acceptance that there are very good players in the lower divisions and the right move can unlock latent talent. Berisha and Broich moving to Roar unlocked talent that hadn’t been seen before in their performances (no  doubt other clubs have similar stories, O’Donovan is certainly another good example - when he was signed the “internet experts” were all critical and yet he’s been brilliant). "

These talented players rise up the leagues. They don't fall down into League Two at age 27. As for Berisha and Broich, they were playing at a much higher level than League Two. O'Donovan hasn't been brilliant either. He's lucky he has been in teams that create lots of chances because he's so wasteful. 

Also, Ajose turns 28 this year. It's unlikely he's gonna improve.

Exactly. Schizophrenic probably describes Kurz as he can up or down, and at the extremes of both when he is. His reaction after last nights penalty shoot out sums him up - he’d be like running a marathon with a stick of 1890’s dynamite in your back pocket. 

I hope he goes to City though, because I like him. The last couple of months since he was “sacked” have been great but things were pretty dire before that, again fitting his psycho mentality lol.