Gallas aside, waaaay too weak in the middle of the park. Not sure which of the Edwards brothers that is but I see teams running straight through the middle and targeting Clisby.

Yeah that's what I thought. It's a shame we didn't get someone like matthew spiranovic when he was looking for a club....or some decent DM.

I don't think it's a DM that we lack at all - Burns and McGarry both can perform that role, plus Pants, Clisby, O'Neill, etc.

What we lack is a creative player in the middle of the park capable of carrying and creating through the centre. Our biggest problem this year has been the gap between the two deeper midfielders and the lone attacking central guy - we've looked at our best when that gap has been reduced, but it hasn't happened often enough.

I agree

Exactly, big gap and playing flanks. The AMC is basically irrelevant. May as just get a target man and move him up next to the ST.

If we have to stick to the 4-2-3-1, then why not move Thwaite up as a DM (He can play there), and put McGarry behind the striker.

.....................Vukovic..........................
Davies.....Gallas....Panteidis....Jamieson
...............Thwaite.......Burns.................
Nagai...............McGarry..............Sidnei
.........................Smeltz........................

Majorly eating my words on Ryan Edwards. He's starting to impress me a lot (Cameron can go back to p,sing in Heart's youth team though :lol:)

My line-up:


--------------------Vuka
Davies---Thwaite--Gallas---Jamieson
-------------Burns
------------------------McGarry
-------- ------------- -------
----------------REdwards
Nagai----------Smeltz-------------Sciola


I just love having McGarry floating all over the place. I think he's been close to out best player this season and has certainly been our best midfielder. He wins the ball back and plays it forward, and that's a rare talent in our league.

This.

Glory and really missing the likes of Miller and Cordoba.

Two big holes filled with little feet.

I've been thinking our problem seems to be we have no idea what to do after we've broken the lines ): Waste a lot of opportunities when in on goal.

Could be solved with an ACM.

Game plan seems to be passing to the wings and cross from out wide.

Unfortunately, for this to work Glory needs to have target men in the centre (Smeltz not McLaren).

i havent had a chance to see much of perth this year being out of the country

how are risdon, de silva, edwards and mclaren going?

Did his knee round 2 against the jets, 8 week layoff (so round 11-ish to return)


Impact sub in all bar a couple of matches so far. Still a little way off starting level.


Assume you mean Ryan, who is playing very well despite reticence of a large number of observers due to his relation to the coach. Not a creative playmaker, more a terrier in the hole behind the lone striker who forces errors and turnovers. Ryan has started all bar one match (I believe he came off the bench against Wellington.)

Cam has also been very good when called for, however he is favoured in the defensive mid/deep lying playmaker role McGarry has claim to. Has come on late for one of McGarry/Burns in a little under half of the matches so far but not a regular. Again unfairly lambasted due to his last name, is a lot better than he is given credit for.


Literally "well, here's the thing..." with Maclaren. Has played in every match in Smeltz's absence, and has had consistently 1-2 gilt edged chances per match on the back of smart runs. Yet anyone can see that his return from this is one solitary goal. Has a bad habit of trying to belt the leather off the ball when one-on-one with the keeper and as a result either puts it right at the keeper or blasts it off target. His goal was the result of a one-on-one he blasted into the keeper and slotted the rebound on the second bite. Hasn't done enough to worry Smeltz if he returns fit, which is unfortunate since a cooler head would see him already on around 6-7 goals this season (and Perth potentially in a lot better position.) Will come good, whether it is for us and when in the future it will be is a question that cannot be answered yet though.

Edited by Scoll: 19/11/2013 12:32:04 PM

Risdon has been injured unfortunately. his replacement, young Matthew Davies, has performed well in his absensce. De Silva has been injured the last couple of weeks IIRC, but he hasn't done much other than show energy when he's been involved. Ryan edwards has been solid, unfortunately because he's the coaches son and he hasn't set the world on fire, people think he's shit. Cameron Edwards has been average from what I've seen, although apparently he wasn't too bad on the weekend, i missed that game. McLaren has been poor IMO. He's quick and gets into good positions, but his finishing has left a lot to be desired so far.

Thanks guys!

We did have Smeltz on though, for that period I saw against Sydney and so the combos were starting to build, albeit not the best conditions or football.

That's STILL the big proviso as Ali rightly moaned - the conditions for the players the last two home games - it will only ever amount to atrocious football, especially so as Glory were defending their lead and sitting deeper and deeper in their half attempting to prevent a SFC equaliser (Though SFC got close a few times! :shock: ).

A tiring and congested in space Davies and co longing it to R Edwards and a solo Smeltz up against a SFC line pushing forward for the equaliser.

As ATE said those late game circumstances not the most reflective, but still reflective. With Smeltz back as #1 striker, that could see Glory's game change, even for the worse, aswell as better, given he's seen as more of a threat aerially.

Again, goes back to the 'playing through' problem, 'issues in transition' (An issue for most Aussie teams, including Socceroos), and yeah, De Silva being in AM could do alot, but I guess we can only wait and see how Ali seeks to tackle this problem, especially absent the 'as some may say' (not me) 'excuse' of heat/poor scheduling.

This Saturday's home game in the evening, hosting tough side the Mariners and then the following round's away trip to Brisbane, which is a late arvo game, should be interesting tests where conditions will be less of a factor and we can just concentrate on the football, once again!

AND Get to see Gallas in action! :cool:

Edited by gloryperth: 19/11/2013 05:53:55 PM

Just saw a report on twitter that DDS has reinjured his ankle in training. This is why he is not starting and Edwards is...

We don't want De Silva to start at all. keep using him as in impact player when fit.

Maybe towards the end of the season if he is fit enough to last a game and can handle the knocks.

Good thing he had a low=key pre-season then. If he came back from the U20 WC and went straight into training like a full pro he probably would have been injured quicker.

Guess that means we'll be seeing only McGarry or REdwards in the hole, although O'Brien now must be in contention if anything happens to those two.

Jacob Burns with no plans to retire anytime soon ...


Those who question Burns' ability to perform in Australia's premier football competition at his advanced age only have to look at Sydney FC star Alessandro Del Piero, who recently celebrated his 39th birthday.

"At 35, I feel as good as I ever have and some of my idols of the game at the age of 38 are still playing.

"Look at Del Piero still ripping the league apart, look at Gallas coming on the other day coming on and still looking comfortable. So for me, I'm still very much driven to put some silverware in the cupboard."


Am reminded something about comparing apples and oranges.

And the reports say Smeltz played 54 minutes tonight before being subbed, picked up a yellow card in the process as his main achievement in a 2 - 4 loss to Mexico (3 - 9 aggregate) and hence NZ bundled out of World Cup qualification.

Edited by shanagar: 21/11/2013 01:51:23 AM

Ugh.

I'll defend him from the thug accusations because there's more to his game than that but I really do wonder what might have been in a parallel universe had he not come to Glory, not got the captaincy, not enamoured himself so much to Sage.

All those problems under Mitchell and Ferguson, all those poor performances...he was the captain.

This. He was great for us in our run to the GF, but he's been distinctly average apart from that sadly.

ATE and others - we've seen this side change/evolve dramatically under Ali in a relatively short time. Most of the side has changed with the ONLY constants being Burns, Vuka and McGarry - the change being all around them, pretty much?!

Depending how successful Edwards is and how long he's at the helm, expect some more squad tweaking end of season and entering into the next and further squad evolution the next, should he still be there. A number of Fergie legacy signings are already on the outer/squaddies at best, and others are only getting older and are on single-season deals.



lol indeed - long time between now and then. We've seen injuries curtail the careers of many a veteran, even here at Glory, much earlier than any of them would've liked. Not wishing that on Burns or anybody, but again, it has to be season-by-season for Burns, McGarry, Dodd and other vets. Infact in McGarry's case it literally is, with he being on a single season extension and that took some negotiating. Dodd's contract will be up too, soon enough and he will have big decisions to make, if he's fit then. Same scenario for Burns too, once his present deal is up, as no doubt the next deal will be a single season one in a similar scenario to McGarry, with same old proviso surrounding fitness.

good to see Smeltz get a decent amount of game time under his studs.

I think he could be vital for us in the second half of the season, just hitting match fitness as other teams are suffering from fatigue. And with Mclaren as well I think if we can sort out our midfield we will be much better this year than I was expecting.

There is a reason the central midfield is the weakest link in the team, as plenty of people have mentioned.

There is a connection to what the weaknesses are and the gameplan Glory are playing (hoof n cross).

Being a glory fan, it is usually an absolute nightmare for the 6.45pm starts at Nib (ie 9.45pm on a saturday nights on the Australian East Coast- and the games finish at midnight :X )

I guess logic dictates that Perth doesnt play games in the sunlight because its too hot over there but its just unfeasable to watch their night games.

So has anyone paid any attention to the youth team? Is Riley Woodcock any good? I'd be happy if he's just as good as Davies has been as a replacement.

Ali said in the post match presser that he's a future Socceroo.

Yes, saw the Heart game - Woodcock, Qua Qua, and Zahra were the best. Even then Zahra wasn't looking A-League level though at the time, didn't dominate enough.

It'll be a big ask for Glory with two inexperienced left backs, but let's see how he goes... if he's picked! (But who else could play there?)