The City team looks weaker on paper with the losses of Novillo, Zullo, Wilkinson, Kisnorbo ( has he retired?) and Mooy.

Does anyone know why they let Zullo go?

I forgot about KIlkenny's signing.

Given the talent that I think Melling has, City has great depth in central midfield.

Thanks for the round up, Inala.

Edited by Decentric: 27/7/2016 10:30:31 AM

Fornaroli's goal: https://twitter.com/MelbourneCity/status/757930630361427968

muscat picked up a tidy goal from just inside the penalty box. there is no doubt it was decent. in one on ones he was also very solid.

the goal is probably the only reason he was getting praise.

overall he was substandard. got involved going forward but was very lazy. walking back to his own half in the defensive transition. like i said clisby, ozzie and chapman slid over to cover as part of the general rotation with fullbacks pushing forward, but he never came back so you had chapman covering him on the sideline and ozzie in clisby (sometimes brattan stepping back) to cover and leaving clisby's wing completely open. this meant that the knights were bombing the shit out of that side and clisby was running around like a mad man trying to be a centreback, fullback and still press forward as a wing. something he is probably used to after franjics slowness last year.

muscat will cost us goals with he poor defensive positioning and laziness. he is a liability.

Edited by inala brah: 27/7/2016 12:10:10 PM

I thought Cristaldo had signed with Nacional in Paraguay? http://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/deportes/nacional-con-su-12-contratacion-1499994.html

kamau's presence can not be understated. big call but i will say he will be up there for signing of the year - i cant wait to see him against a better organised team. but he was beating men in one on one and one on twos. i dont know what the stats are decentric but i would say that kamau did this about 8 times in the match in the front third. it was really rogic like except that he was working in from wide.

the only reason he would not be man of the match would be because of fornarolis 3 goals. and fornaroli was sitting deeper at times being a playmaker. fornarolis passing in tight spaces and his vision is spectacular.

the kamau-fornaroli partnership is going to be something to watch this year.

the other concern i have is the height. there is chapman and ozzie over 6 ft. cliby must be close. the rest of the team looks under 5'6". really short.

probably money+arnie+weather.

he is from brisbane and melbourne is a different world. i know plenty of folks that have made the trip and returned northward after a couple years.

are you going to come up to melbourne for any games this year?

Edited by inala brah: 27/7/2016 12:12:34 PM

I watch them when I can, Enjoy watching Mooy at the moment. What city fan wouldn't. I don't go to the games with a young family I set myself a budget for a league only

sorry to flood the thread. but after last night and looking over some highlights i think fornaroli could do a very good job in the midfield behind cahill (if he comes that is) in a 433. from the 2 friendlies it looks like that will be JVS's staple formation.


---------------kilkenny-------------brattan
--------------------------fornaroli
kamau-------------------cahill---------------brandan

starting to look pretty bad ass. all we need is a decent right back (where is franjic btw? injured again?) and im happy enough.

Edited by inala brah: 27/7/2016 03:32:41 PM

Hi, sorry to disrupt your thread, congrats on the win though, sounds positive especially in comparison to our loss to a NPL2 side....but I'm interested in how you rated Zullo at LB last season, the times I watched he looked very good going forward but do you think he was a complete LB?

Good to hear about Kamau, I thought he was good value for Adelaide as well.

I can't see us being stopped this season

personally i think zullo was one of the most underated players in the league last year. there's a good reason he was capped. he's an actual playmaker who defends. having a bit of shit luck with injuries lately.

Yeah, that is the feeling I had, I think it was a good pick up for us and one that is much needed.

Just as many go north and head back south just as quickly.

Some just need to harden up though. If they want to play in Europe, we are usual tropical in comparison :)

First I've heard of it hahaha wow ok good luck to him!!

Looks like it's been tough couple of months for Germano since he left Melb City



Edited by Cromulent: 1/8/2016 01:36:27 PM

Wow, what a shocking performance from City last night! Victory were also well under their usual standard too.

Last night, City's loss of Zullo, Wilkinson and Kisnorbo who provide great experience and quality, stood out.

Also, the loss of Garrucio, Melling and Clisby stood out.

Harry Novillo's attacking  impetus, creativity and 1v1 evasion skills were missed.

The replacements recruited were far less. Even though it is preseason, I think JVS needs to be shown the door , if, he willingly released the quality players to the Sydney clubs. I thought there was barely a good player on the pitch for City last night.

Sorrenson - did provide some leadership and made some good saves, but nearly lost the ball to opposition players on a few silly occasions.

Muscat- struggled to gel with team-mates - often their fault. He and Kamau's defensive combination when the other team had the ball was inadequate.

Chapman - made some awful individual and collective mistakes, but has the potential to be a quality player. There was often too much distance between him and Malik.
Wilkinson/Kisnorbo, rarely let it happen, with ideal 10- 15 metre distancing between them, plus on each  flank in BPO they were rarely square, with one  slightly behind the other.

 Malik - awful game. Made may individual mistakes and collective mistakes. Missed playing with Wilko or Kisnorbo to organise his defensive  positioning when the other team has the ball.

Rose - better than I thought he would be, but nowhere near as good as Zullo as LB. 

Brattan - usually very good passing over range, but doesn't screen like Malik, or a better player like Milligan. Doesn't  break up enough attacks through good reading of the game and not a good 1v1 ball winner and interceptor .
His screening of the defence was poor when the other team had the ball. If he plays DM, he needs to play as part of a twin DM unit with a more defensive player next to him, like Malik.

Kilkenny - seemed very fit, but has gone backwards playing Lower League football in England. Got through a lot of work and passed reasonably well, but lacks creativity and impetus going forwards. Also, doesn't win enough hard balls.
IMO Melling would've been a far better player to keep given the relative stages of their careers. All Kilkenny has over Melling is his experience. Where Kilkenny is ATM, also shows how far  the Socceroos have come in terms of central midfielders. Kilkenny and Brattan had a lot of ball, but wasted it.

Caceres - slick skill at times on the ball in tight spaces, but wasn't involved enough. It could've helped if he and Kilkenny swapped positions as attacking mids in a 1-4-3-3 attacking midfield  triangle. He often made the wrong runs off the ball, when teammates  ball carried towards him.

Kamau - too uninvolved and didn't  have enough service receiving with a body shape to play forwards. Poor defensive support for Muscat on right flank.

Fornaroli - played well , but the midfield and flanks didn't provide enough service.

Fitzgerald - in the first half, the light seemed poor in his area of the pitch. I often wasn't sure it if it was him or Caceres or Rose with the ball. Anyway, he often received the ball in the wrong body position to play forwards, from poor service and ball circulation that wasn't quick enough.


Cahill - in terms of position, is the wrong player to be signed, unless City plays with twin strikers.


JVS - give yourself an uppercut. To let Wilko, Zullo, Novillo, Melling, Clisby and Garrucio go and recruit Muscat, Rose, Brattan ( could get better), Kilkenny, Kamau ( could improve quickly) and Cahill seems to be the most stupid off season recruiting in the history of the HAL.

Also, one of the axioms in coaching is to have a cohesive team who know each other's games well in order to work as a cohesive team unit . JVS had this last year, but let his most important players go.
ATM City need a player like Wilko to captain them, recruit Matt Spiranovic, or they need a European CB of the quality and experience  of MDP or Zwaanzwuik. Another good recruit for City would be the tough, rugged , excellent ball winning Shane Lowry from PG.

If City win the title, which would be most unexpected, as they look like favourites for the wooden spoon, I'll apologise for this rant.


Credit to Brisbane Strikers. They defended well, defended deep, were organised, determined, fit and they played prudent counter attacking football. They 1 more shots at goal,  1 more on target, but only put 17 balls into the penalty box compared to City's 31.

At the 25 minute mark, City made some wonderful attacking interplay, resulting in a shot on goal which Fornaroli just headed wide, but it was too infrequent. 

Where was Corey Gameiro last night?

Welcome to the forum, Melb H.

he wasnt around in the friendlies i went to.  im guessing he is out of the picture.  it's been a long time out.

great round up btw.  we lost the game in midfield. over run with numbers and pace that we couldnt deal with.  i think brattan will become a leader in the group, but it will take time.  he's also a bit slow and chubby still.  he shouldn't be giving a starting sport until he gets his fitness together and sheds that beer belly.  kilkenny has had no groove.  to be fair no one looked settled last night.  it was a shambles.  only one person can be blamed for that.  i just dont get how they let so many really good players go and yet keep JVS. 

how we let wilko and zullo go is beyond me.  we had them inside the cap.  insane.  with them we possibly have the best squad in the league.

I was worried about  Brattan's shape too. That is until l saw him take his shirt off after the game. He looked strong and lean. I think his top was floppy and loose. He also has a long body and short legs.

With JVS unless he wins the title, I blame him after having a season where he finally recruited all the pieces of the puzzle, only to destroy what he created.


One of the things that was so poor in past City teams was the lack of will will to win and giving  100%. The players JVS released really gave a big commitment to the team cause and provided City with much needed steel - not to mention experience.

One thing that was good, was something like 80% possession. Although when City lost the ball, eventually, it was often in the  wrong place and at the wrong time.

In the Defensive Transition ( the moment they lost the ball) they were too slow to reorganise.

i really liked the in game interviews with the coaches last night.

kosmina pressed JVS about the shithouse defending and he had to respond directly to it.  it gives a great insight into JVS perception of what was going wrong and, consequently,  why he can't seem to fix the issues.

When asked about ozzie and chapman sitting square and high and getting chipped and done with pace his response was to not look at the defensive backline but argue that the problem was losing possession too soon and not have the team reorganise to adequately cover against the counter. in essence not transitioning from.. defence to.. defence??  when you look at the possession stats its telling.  MCFC had almost 80% possession. if that is not enough time with the ball to reorganise than JVS's MCFC is fucked. 

That is the same kind of tunnel vision that had holger getting the NT humiliated. Except JVS is too nice to just blame the players. neither are astute enough to blame themselves.

I still think we should bring in mike mulvey.  this is a team that he would take the title with.  

@decentric.  There is more to it than JVS' recruiting badlyhe has never value-added to the squad of players.  His weakness in creating  a cohesive defense were masked by Wilkinson, and his attacking failings by the best midfielder and best striker in A-leag history.

JVS out!

Agree with most of your post, but I think last season's team, when finally assembled was a title winning team if they could keep most of it, minus Mooy, for this season.

I was gobsmacked at Roar sacking Mulvey. Title winner one season, then sacked a few weeks into the next season suggesting his coaching sessions lacked quality.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/video/football/ffa-cup/cahills-karaoke-initiation!542353

Contract states there must be fresh Cahill Content every 24 hours.


looks like they've run out of ideas already

needs more one on one interviews about his career

Rumors Lisbon might make a play for Fornaroli.

source?

he's just put in the season of a life time.  he would be getting better interest now than he might ever get again. they are going to have to offer a healthy wage for him. he's on $25k a week at the moment isnt he?