And anyway, how long has he been there? Over 12 months, with Italian heritage and he can't understand anything?

You said they wouldn't care what language he spoke if he was a good player. You are severely lacking in understanding the football culture in Italy if you think that not being able to speak Italian is no big deal.

Sarri, his coach at Empoli explicitly pointed that out in an interview, I'll try find the article.

As far as how he is seen in Italy, here are a few comments from Fiorentina fans:



Translation: Write this down: Brillante is the next Oriali (referring to Gabriele Oriali the famous Inter/Fiorentina and italian national team defensive MF from the 70's/80's)



Translation: Best player in the pre-season. Crucified for making a single error which "Pek" (nickname for David Pizarro who plays in his position) makes at least 5 times or more a season....and played Kurtić.



Translation: Go Brillante! I'm sure you will be back for the Big Purple (Viola). He was a phenomenon in pre-season. Made one bad clearance against Roma and never seen again. I don't know why he isn't given the same treatment as Montolivo and Pizzaro who continually make similar errors. Mystery Montella.

Edited by socceroo_06: 25/2/2015 12:54:21 PM

Yeah it's an easy trap to fall into.

Friend of mine has been here from italy for a good 3 years now and his english is really quite poor because all the friends he has made (and the partner he came here with) are italian and the only person who he shares a uni office with is a chinese national so they just learn each other's mistakes

Anyway, I am probably sidetracking the football discussion sorry guys

I never said it wasn't a big deal. I was saying if he was any good and could do a job on the pitch they wouldn't give a toss what language he spoke. They'd certainly have more patience.

And if he is 'deficient in speaking Italian' there is serious issues, considering his background and time over there. FFS it's a basic language. I speak 2 languages fluently and another 5 easily get by and I'm thick as fuck.

fuck me.

It's great his scoring. But seriously it's fricken 3 division.

And???

That's where he plays....

He will move up at least one division next season either with or without Swindon if he keeps being so influential. The point of this thread is to monitor the progression of players outside the A-League. That's what people are doing and are excited he is doing so well because as a result, soon he won't be in 3rd division.

Edited by davide82: 25/2/2015 01:20:04 PM

Dunno franky,

Asian Cup he scored goals, could you say that he only scores because he's playing in a pathetically easy league.

I just don't know about that one. South Korea he slotted a pearler , its not easy task getting goals against any oppo but he knew when to do it against SK

Apparently football doesn't exist outside the Big-5 leagues.

He's been getting interest from epl and la liga teams.

Player of tournament at Asian cup is gonna get people interested. It might be league one but he is clearly way too good for it. Still only young too.

I think what people should be saying is he has great positioning and game sense.

Consistent goals as a midfielder also

Also, when the fuck has Australia ever produced a constant threat on goal in central midfield.

lol, wake up. Could argue the kids better than Rogic if you want to look at it realistically

Edited by highkick05: 25/2/2015 01:26:38 PM

Cahill

A few fans who saw some pre-season games can say all they want. The only people that matter are coaches. They are not picking him. It's not because he doesn't speak Italian or some conspiracy theory. It's simply because he cannot pass or hold the ball under pressure. Maybe this will change when he gets his chance, but by the sounds of it, the best thing he can do right now is download some language tapes.

True, but he could quite easily have stooped down to their level, dragged back to the pack. Instead he is sparkling and will not be playing League One next year, whether it is with Swindon or elsewhere.

doent matter that most HAL teams would struggle in this 3rd division.

Swindon would hammer Newcastle Jets or Central Coast. I've seen a few games, they play some pretty classy football and not what you'd expect from the English third tier. Would love to see a top League One club such as Swindon play against Victory/Adelaide, just to see where we're at..

First of all Montella didn't ever explain to Josh or anyone why he had been ceremoniously dumped after one turnover when there are other players in the squad as mentioned above (Montolivo, Pizzaro et al) who do it as well. He was scapegoated because he's a young player with little experience, which is a shocking thing for a coach to do to a developing player. It's completely counter-productive.

Regarding Brillante and the language issue, here is a quote from the Empoli coach, Sarri, himself:


Translation: Brillante comes from the other side of the world, speaks a different language to us and played a different brand of football. In the few months he's been in Italy, he has played very little, does not communicate well and has generally struggled in the early days (because of the language barrier.)

However he has made some progress in the last week and is on the right track . If he continues in this way, he can contribute and be a big part of this team. - Said Maurizio Sarri, the coach of Empoli talking about midfielder Joshua Brillante who is on loan from Fiorentina.

http://www.calciomercato.com/news/sarri-su-brillante-fatto-fatica-nei-primi-giorni-ma-ora-su-strad-263413

You don't have to wait for that.
Liverpool,Spurs and co will be playing HAL teams.Those opponents are a tad better than English 3rd Div.

Would be a laugh when Liverpool or any EPL team came down under and mid-game realised they had to play seriously :D

Ah, the Eurosnob razor. European team wins = "hah, told you so", European team loses = "nah m8 they weren't taking it seriously, doesn't count".

Would be good to see.

I think Victory would be fine, but yes, Newcastle are trash and would struggle.

Video of his goals
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSLhGGJsDk&feature=youtu.be

Edited by lebo_roo: 26/2/2015 02:19:01 AM

Any games tonight ? Or am I supposed to look myself ? lol

Put some zing on those shots nice

Fair to say he was responsible for all three goals, but at least the majority of them were for his side! :p

Seriously, great goals. He's our new Cahill.

Here's the highlights from Ikon's captaincy, goal, assist and 4-0 win over Frosinone on Saturday in the Primavera.

Assist at 0:39, goal at 1:48. Looked dominant down the left, great game from the highlights.

I agree, although he is still only 17 and eligible for next time. I'd call him up anyway, he's on my list for the qualifiers.

He's played 8 U21 games for Blackburn this season, every game but three from the start of the season up until the Christmas break, and since the break he's played just about every game for the U18's (four out of six, and apparently at least sometimes as captain) against Everton on the 19th of Jan, Stoke on the 27th of Jan, Man Utd on the 2nd of Feb and Derby County on the 11th of Feb. He wasn't in the last game against Middlesbrough on the 21st, but OSAussies tweeted that he was injured, although they seem to be looking at U21 games.

Hopefully that red card he got in his last U21's match didn't hurt his club's estimation of him too much.

On the topic of overseas juniors what is going on with George Mells. Last I heard he was attracting interest from feyernoord but haven't been able to find anything. He doesn't seem to be on the southampton website either.

damn double post

Edited by capac: 26/2/2015 12:06:57 PM