Such a crying shame - the few glimpses we had of him looked so promising.

Indeed, went way too early

He doesn't tweet much, can never find any info about him. never know if he is injured, playing, or anything.

Hate to say "I told you so"...

People were defending his move when I criticised it at the time. He would have been Brisbane's first choice ST if he stayed...

That's because he's a total grub :lol:

In case you are wondering he is injured. Not sure when he will return. He has picked up a number of injuries since joining. He actually slowly fell out of favour and then started picking up various injuries when trying to make the squad again.

Edited by jonomv: 24/8/2015 11:33:40 AM

Was called up to an Olyroos squad in March this year though.

He was injured though right? He slowly fell out of favour with his coach and kept having injury set backs last season. This has continued onto this season.

yeah what an arsehole, going and getting injured.

The last any of us have seen of Yeboah was that picture of him at the barbecue with Langerak and Kruse.

What?

Irvine with a nice run and lay-off for Ross County's first goal and a useful block on a defender for the last

[youtube]watch?v=MbeoafGkzkk[/youtube]

QPR highlights, Luongo with an assist for the second. Much better than his last one

[youtube]watch?v=zewgZ9T26Ok[/youtube]

Edited by moofa: 24/8/2015 12:27:19 PM

Love how he has slotted straight into that QPR starting 11 and looked so classy in the process.

Classic Luongo assist.

I think we have to accept that players leave the A-League way too early before heading to much stronger leagues. If we look at Matt Ryan, he went to Belgium after conquering the A-League over a number of seasons, and didn't move on until doing the same in Belgium. Players have to be patient and focus on improving in the environment they're in instead of reaching for the riches of Europe too early. Look at Nathan Burns now. After a difficult time in Europe and Korea, he returned to the A-League to get his mojo back, and has now moved to the J-League to purposefully continue developing the technical side of his game. If he has a couple of standout seasons, who knows where that might lead him?

This is a good rule of thumb for your average A-League player. But if a player wants to become world-class, they need to head overseas ASAP. The A-League isn't a high enough quality competition. During your mid teens through until your early 20s, it's so important to be developing by playing with and against the best in the world. Look at the Belgian league, all the best Belgians aren't playing in it. They develop there until their mid-late teens then they go to bigger clubs. So if we're sending an established 22 year old A-League player to the Belgian league, he'll be about five years behind the best players in Belgium. It'll take him a few years to make a name for himself in Belgium. By the time he is ready to have a go at the big 5, he'll be in his mid-late twenties. This is simply too old.

Unless a player is out of this world good, they have very little chance of being at the level of starring player in the knock-out stages of the Champions League, unless they go to Europe in their mid-early teens. The best are in Europe young.

That's so true - to reach for the stars you must play amongst them.

There is an element of risk involved which is why the a-league pathway is there for any young talent, but of course go for it and give it your best if the opportunity arises.

Yeboah went for it but it seems like he has failed his chance already maybe with an element of no luck with his injuries, then there is Nathan Burns who failed over there but came back as a better player for it.

Edited by Barca4life: 25/8/2015 12:06:02 AM

You constantly sprout this theme on 442, similar how you constantly called for Sarota to be starting CM for the 'Roos.
Look at it from a different perspective, we have history filled full of young teenagers heading to Europe chasing a dream, it's still a usual headline here on 442 "[kid player X] signs for [insert euro powerhouse club here]". Bar a VERY select few, the rest have failed to even play first team at a high level, too the point of struggling to find a state league sign back in Aus. Perhaps there are far more circumstances involved for developing class players than being in Europe by 16, or more to the point that European lifestyle isn't a the right environment for Aussie teenagers at all. Why do you think a trend that's been happening for more than 20 years will suddenly bear fruit?
I'm happy to be proven wrong, and the moment we have Aussie messi's coming through all the leading clubs and into first teams I'll acknowledge your intelligence.

Apologies for the repetitive nature of what I'm saying but I think it holds true again and again. Just quickly on the issue of Sarota, I would have loved to have seen him play in a CDM role at the World Cup. He's a real talent I was particularly averse to the prospect of a Jedinak/Holland pairing at CDM and I think a lot on these forums would agree with me there. Where I was wrong was in underestimating players like Milligan, whose attacking/creative qualities are better than I had realised. Happy to have been proved wrong there.

I there are a couple of nuances which aren't always perceived. There are some European clubs with really crappy track records for developing young players, while others have great track records. It's not just a matter of going to Europe young, it's a matter of going to the right club. Maybe too many of our young players have gone to the wrong types of clubs, perhaps in the wrong types of league?

Secondly, I think it's wrong to look purely at Australian players going to Europe. Why can't we look at European players at European academies from a young age? Why can't we look at South American players at European academies at a young age? Why can't we look at Asian players and African players at European academies at a young age. We're all just people. They're no different to Australian kids. There are no anatomical or physiological differences between those players and Australian players. If we look at those players, we see a trend. Virtually all the best footballers in the world developed at European or South American academies. No reason why ours can't either.

How many world class players (irrespective of nationality) have developed in the A-League? How many world class players (irrespective of nationality) have developed in European and South American academies/clubs? That's the key question.

Basically the only hope of a player becoming world class is by going there young.

We can produce solid players who can make the big 5 if we have guys who spend several seasons in the A-League and go to Europe in their 20s. But they, almost certainly, won't get much further. That's fine. Europe at a young age is not for everybody.

But the best, if they want to fulfill their potential, need to be in Europe young.

Finally, look at the best players with any kind of connection with Australia. They went to Europe young. I mean Kewell, Cahill, Johnson, etc. I've got an inkling it will be that way for a while. I suppose it will be a testament to the strength of the A-League when we can eventually send young players straight from the A-League into squads in the best teams in the big 5. But we're not there yet.

I understand what you're saying, but I still think it's a flawed logic. Barcelona is widely considered one of (if not the best) for youth development, yet we're still waiting for them to produce another Messi. By your summuration a club like that should be able to reproduce the same method consistently and pump out multipe messi's ever season, but that's not even close to happening.
Why?
Perhaps more goes into world class players than just world class coaching. A combination, if you will. Yet this combination is attributing towards a high burnout/fail rate of Aussie kids who try their luck at a very early age. I take from that, that this combination is not conducive for creating world class Aussie players.
Interestingly, the players you listed all come through youth programs as recently as the 90's. Johnson wasn't some super talent, and neither Kewell or Cahill came through at clubs I doubt someone like you would refer to as Elite.
You're obviously a methodical person, to a degree so am I, but sometimes 1+1 isn't always as simply as =2

FT
Venlo 1-1 Sparta Rotterdam

I'm pretty sure our Aussie played.

Yep, Dougal played a full 90.

Edited by Draupnir: 25/8/2015 07:59:38 AM

Scottish Premiership TOTW featuring a awesome holding mid partnership of Rogic+Irvi e. Would post pick but on phone atm

DOUGZZZZ

Great news
Anybody know what the story with Brad Inman is?Australian or Scottish.
Named in the Championship team of the week

that's a football league team of the week, includes the championship, league one and two. Perhaps a greater achievement, starting XI team of the week across 3 leagues?

Mabil played another game for the Midtjylland reserves overnight. Got taken off at half time though. Hopefully it's just a result of fitness.

Wow.

Who votes on that? Thats pretty huge.

Where did you find out it? Out of curiosity wanted to see as it is something i might regularly follow