WSW 18/19 & 19/20 Club Thread

[GunnerWanderer]

1 hour ago, StringerBellend said:

Thinking about it only Reira from our current team would get a start in the season 1 classic line up m

Roly maybe 

That’s a great way to look at it and without doubt no one can argue with that 

god how I and all of us miss that team

hardworking, smart and die for the shirt 

That’s why we need to get back to 

small steps people

learn to walk before you run 

[sonar]

2 hours ago, StringerBellend said:

Thinking about it only Reira from our current team would get a start in the season 1 classic line up m

Roly maybe 

....not Roly.....Duke definitely.

[StringerBellend]

8 hours ago, sonar said:

....not Roly.....Duke definitely.

which spot would he take  in S1 starting line up? Season 1 Bridge, Hersi? 

 

[StringerBellend]

9 hours ago, wendybr said:

 

But that isn't the same as saying they didn't give a sh**… is it?

As above it’s not one thing (things are never that simple)

for me in rough order 

squad wasn’t good enough in particular lacked a spine

- Poor CBs (not helped by Ziegler injury)

- 2 kids playing DM

- GK losing his head

Two few experienced players and leaders 

Lack of “mentality”, concentration strength...the not giving a **** comes in here. More accurately not giving enough of a ****. Not that in most games we didn’t try but did all players try hard enough? 

stupid goals, letting teams back in

until jan we didn’t have enough goal scoring threat 

injuries didn’t help

AB10 never got going, in part injury, in part “Mentality”, clearly has the skill  

—

Should Babel been able to instil Mentality into players who didn’t have it? Could he have done better?

For mine given what he had about 6-8th was about right. 

 

[sonar]

57 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

which spot would he take  in S1 starting line up? Season 1 Bridge, Hersi? 

 

Kressinger

[Edinburgh]

24 minutes ago, sonar said:

Kressinger

Riera gets that spot.

[StringerBellend]

4 minutes ago, Edinburgh said:

Riera gets that spot.

But if he didn’t then I’d probably take Duke 

the only other spot is maybe Roly or Baccus for Poljak

no other spot is close 

[sonar]

56 minutes ago, Edinburgh said:

Riera gets that spot.

Duke is a more versatile player imho than Riera.....more pace.....can sub on the wings as well.

[Erebus]

Poljak and La Rocca combo was a rock. No way you would mess with that. 

Only Kresinger would get replaced by Riera, but our entire style would change. Don't forget, we lumped balls to him to head down or hit balls to the wingers. With Riera, all that would change in that team.

 

Re: the team this season. As MB has uttered a few times, we just lacked quality. Simple as that. The players were not good enough. Individual errors, slow off the pace, putting their heads down after going down. I think the only time they showed fight was after Babbel got sent off at the derby and the WSW fans got real loud. Like, HTF do you lose multiple games/points in the last 5 minutes back to back for a month? Then you have your GK leaving his box stupidly multiple times.

But lack of quality personnel, key injuries and lack of a squad to cover them adequately sums up the season.

[Zelinsky]

Oh the good old S1 days.

Let's say Polenz and Beauchamp had been out for 2/3 of the season, and D'Appuzo in the stands because of poor form for half of it. Let's say Ono arrived with the same drive and attitude as Treejack. Let's say Perkatis and Trifiro had to run our midfield instead of La Rocca and Poljak. Let's say Appiah, Minniecon, and Cole had to play on the wings instead of Bridgey, Hersi, and Haliti.  Let's say we would have played the seven games of the most congested month of the season with 1 or 2 imports instead of 6. And let's say Ante Covic had lost us points instead of winning them.

We would not half won the title. We would not have made the finals. Popa would not have been super coach. S1 would have been like S7.

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by FCB

[Erebus]

1 hour ago, FCB said:

And let's say Ante Covic had lost us points instead of winning them

Theres the difference isn't it. A GK winning you points and not throwing them away nonchalantly 

[Zelinsky]

4 minutes ago, Erebus said:

Theres the difference isn't it. A GK winning you points and not throwing them away nonchalantly 

Indeed. Janjetovic cost us the finals.

With his derby red card he killed the game and ripped the guts out of team. His blunder against Nix forced MB to field Suman for three games, unsuccessfully so, it cost us. As soon as Snake is back in goal he throws the win away in Brisbane. His shocker moment in Newcastle rounds it off. Dreadful. Totally unacceptable.

[StringerBellend]

2 hours ago, FCB said:

Oh the good old S1 days.

Let's say Polenz and Beauchamp had been out for 2/3 of the season, and D'Appuzo in the stands because of poor form for half of it. Let's say Ono arrived with the same drive and attitude as Treejack. Let's say Perkatis and Trifiro had to run our midfield instead of La Rocca and Poljak. Let's say Appiah, Minniecon, and Cole had to play on the wings instead of Bridgey, Hersi, and Haliti.  Let's say we would have played the seven games of the most congested month of the season with 1 or 2 imports instead of 6. And let's say Ante Covic had lost us points instead of winning them.

We would not half won the title. We would not have made the finals. Popa would not have been super coach. S1 would have been like S7.

 

You can divide the issues this season into Temporary/Bad Luck (eg Injury, suspension etc) and Fundamental/structural (eg squad not being good enough from start)

 fundamental / structural

- we only had 1 decent centre back 

tempoary/bad luck

- he got injured 

If we had no bad luck, I still think that fundamentally the squad wasn’t good enough.

If Ziegler had stayed fit we might have finished 5th or 6th, but we didn’t have a top 4 side.

I put ab10 in the fundamentals bucket, I  don’t think it was a temporary blip in form, he just doesn’t have the mentality 

I know what I mean 

Edited May 1, 2019 by StringerBellend

[BoyFromTheWest]

18 hours ago, sonar said:

....not Roly.....Duke definitely.

I don't think our S1 team would win the Premiers Plate.  They'd be tough but the league has actually moved on.  Popa did understand this and tried to develop the style of play but didn't get his recruitment right.  Postocoglou got it right over his time in Brisbane - recruitment suited the shifts in style that changed the League significantly. Arnie got his recruitment right as he went into season2 of SFC - and developed their style in the process.  I think that the only one who has moved through changes in style and balanced good recruitment is, interestingly, Muscat.  The others have either started well and failed as the style changes didn't work or changed style in Season 1 of their tenure then recruited successfully to develop that style.

Whilst we aren't the EPL or even amongst the top leagues in Asia, we are developing and the style changes across the world are influencing our league and changing things.  Older players who cannot adapt are being left behind (that seems to be the bulk of players) and younger ones have largely been caught in the changes.  Perhaps it is the OS players who have been forced to change their style or be ditched, who are best able to make the leap required of football.

The OS players are also hardened because they have to be tough or they are discarded.  They have to perform or they aren't useful visa players.  Some have gone OS to make something of themselves, prove themselves and have worked hard (Nabbout).  We see this in Duke and Yeboah.  Others have been caught out bludging in lower leagues and go nowhere.

It will be interesting to see how Babbel brings the vision/style he knows from Europe to bear on the local league, which is much lower technically, in fitness and a long way behind in terms of style.  If he has the vision and capacity to embed the style and form he knows from Europe and gets his recruitment right, this team could take the league to a new level.  He could be the next Postacoglou.  We will surely see.

[Zelinsky]

Paul Lederer last night:

"Markus, he is a fantastic guy and I think he learnt a lot. Assisted by JP, I'm absolutely confident that next season will be our year. We aren't here to run second or third, we are here to win the league. I ask everyone in the room a couple of things. Have the passion, have the belief and work hard. Make it a reality, because this club should be the best club of the land. I will work as hard as I can and we as a team will work hard to produce a great team that we can all be proud of."

Show me the money, Mr Chairman. We've heard this now for several years, and even an optimist like me tires after a while. And yes, MB sure learnt a lot of things that he had no idea existed in professional football.

No more BS.

Edit: It's interesting that no gossip about squad changes emerged from this awards night. Nothing. Zilch. Very different to previous years.

Edited May 1, 2019 by FCB

[MistahCampoy]

I do have high hopes for MB getting it right with a full pre-season of training with the team he requires to make things happen.. It is going to be a tough pre-season as well for the boys under MB, maybe the hardest their has ever been for WSW but it will make the team tough and ready to come out fighting.. I believe there will be no excuses as he will have put everything in place for us to succeed (so long as the board is willing to let MB get the players he wants)

[Edinburgh]

5 hours ago, BoyFromTheWest said:

I don't think our S1 team would win the Premiers Plate.  They'd be tough but the league has actually moved on.  Popa did understand this and tried to develop the style of play but didn't get his recruitment right.  Postocoglou got it right over his time in Brisbane - recruitment suited the shifts in style that changed the League significantly. Arnie got his recruitment right as he went into season2 of SFC - and developed their style in the process.  I think that the only one who has moved through changes in style and balanced good recruitment is, interestingly, Muscat.  The others have either started well and failed as the style changes didn't work or changed style in Season 1 of their tenure then recruited successfully to develop that style.

Whilst we aren't the EPL or even amongst the top leagues in Asia, we are developing and the style changes across the world are influencing our league and changing things.  Older players who cannot adapt are being left behind (that seems to be the bulk of players) and younger ones have largely been caught in the changes.  Perhaps it is the OS players who have been forced to change their style or be ditched, who are best able to make the leap required of football.

The OS players are also hardened because they have to be tough or they are discarded.  They have to perform or they aren't useful visa players.  Some have gone OS to make something of themselves, prove themselves and have worked hard (Nabbout).  We see this in Duke and Yeboah.  Others have been caught out bludging in lower leagues and go nowhere.

It will be interesting to see how Babbel brings the vision/style he knows from Europe to bear on the local league, which is much lower technically, in fitness and a long way behind in terms of style.  If he has the vision and capacity to embed the style and form he knows from Europe and gets his recruitment right, this team could take the league to a new level.  He could be the next Postacoglou.  We will surely see.

Vary astute and spot on. I wonder how Roar would have gone without Broich.

[Hughesy]

- Returning OS Aussies (who most often have failed) know they’ll be fought over

- Players bounce from club to club and when all else fails - go to the Mariners

- There’s no threat of relegation

- The lack of money and resources is a convenient excuse for underperforming

- Above all, the PFA is fiercely protective and fight tirelessly to make being a professional footballer as secure as a government worker... 

The HAL is becoming a safe haven for players and they’re getting comfortable in knowing that.

Isn’t it funny how a foreign manager, or anyone not part of the Aussie football fraternity, comes to town and we most often hear of the players rebelling or being displeased with the harshness of their style 🤔

[Prydzopolis]

I’ve been waiting for the mass clear announcement from the club, still waiting....

[Hughesy]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/stajcic-signed-but-spotfires-galore-for-central-coast-mariners-20190501-p51j6y.html

Haliti might be an assistant manager at WSW apparently?

[Zelinsky]

14 minutes ago, hughsey said:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/stajcic-signed-but-spotfires-galore-for-central-coast-mariners-20190501-p51j6y.html

Haliti might be an assistant manager at WSW apparently?

Bridgey said a few days ago that the club lost it's identity. It appears that WSW are trying to re-introduce it via the coaching group, hence the additions of Beauchamp, Heffernan, and now Haliti, apparently. I would love to see Santa, NTS and especially NTS back at the club at some stage, in some capacity.

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

1 hour ago, FCB said:

Bridgey said a few days ago that the club lost it's identity. It appears that WSW are trying to re-introduce it via the coaching group, hence the additions of Beauchamp, Heffernan, and now Haliti, apparently. I would love to see Santa, NTS and especially NTS back at the club at some stage, in some capacity.

honestly even just having those guys walking around parra stadium chatting and taking photos with fans would do wonders.

not just game on day - but 9-5 monday to friday as well

[Bellby]

On 02/05/2019 at 11:17 AM, hughsey said:

- Returning OS Aussies (who most often have failed) know they’ll be fought over

- Players bounce from club to club and when all else fails - go to the Mariners

- There’s no threat of relegation

- The lack of money and resources is a convenient excuse for underperforming

- Above all, the PFA is fiercely protective and fight tirelessly to make being a professional footballer as secure as a government worker... 

The HAL is becoming a safe haven for players and they’re getting comfortable in knowing that.

Isn’t it funny how a foreign manager, or anyone not part of the Aussie football fraternity, comes to town and we most often hear of the players rebelling or being displeased with the harshness of their style 🤔

Disagree.

Most of the players that make up this league are on circa $100 - $150k, many on less, In this day & age, that’s just enough to support a family. The whole notion that players aren’t trying or are fully committed because there’s no relegation or consequence for playing poorly... What about the consequence of losing your job? We aren’t talking about multi millionaires here. 

MB threw out that line because he wasn’t getting results. A bunch of people ate it up & ran with it.

I know a couple of guys currently in the ‘safe haven’, ones been told he’s not required despite having a young family & a couple of years still on his contract, the other is on close to minimum wage after coming back from OS a couple of years back. Both have been working their arses off to get a fair crack. **** sign me up for that safe haven, sounds great. 

Im sure there are a few coasting but they would be the absolute minority. 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Bellby

[Zelinsky]

33 minutes ago, Bellby said:

Disagree.

Most of the players that make up this league are on circa $100 - $150k, many on less, In this day & age, that’s just enough to support a family. The whole notion that players aren’t trying or are fully committed because there’s no relegation or consequence for playing poorly... What about the consequence of losing your job? We aren’t talking about multi millionaires here. 

MB threw out that line because he wasn’t getting results. A bunch of people ate it up & ran with it.

I know a couple of guys currently in the ‘safe haven’, ones been told he’s not required despite having a young family & a couple of years still on his contract, the other is on close to minimum wage after coming back from OS a couple of years back. Both have been working their arses off to get a fair crack. **** sign me up for that safe haven, sounds great. 

Im sure there are a few coasting but they would be the absolute minority. 

Bridgey said "it's not good enough" what we've seen this season, and that the manager tries to get the best out of the players for the club. If their best is not good enough then something needs to give.

If a bus driver can't drive a bus well enough he is not going to be a bus driver for much longer, irrespective of his private circumstances. The same applies to football players who are not seen as "good enough" by the employer.

Yep, life's a bitch.

 

Edited May 3, 2019 by FCB

[Prydzopolis]

41 minutes ago, Bellby said:

The whole notion that players aren’t trying or are fully committed because there’s no relegation or consequence for playing poorly... What about the consequence of losing your job?

Fair enough but I can see where Hughesy is coming. These A-League players get cut & find there way to another club in a majority of situations (I agree that it must be horrible being cut not knowing where you’ll be in 3 months time worried you’ll never get another chance).

The issue I see with your argument is that so many players always find there way to another club (which is why so many especially the NPL types love carrying on about the recycling of players). I hardly see any NPL players getting promoted each year, you’ll be lucky to get each squad getting 1 player coming up because they’d rather a AL player who has been at this level in the past years (see Mahazi).

41 minutes ago, Bellby said:

Both have been working their arses off to get a fair crack. **** sign me up for that safe haven, sounds great. 

The problem is performance (see FCB’s post above) the thing about our squad in the first few seasons is they did the simple stuff right. I don’t think there is a big difference in skill or quality to the current players but it’s executing the simple stuff. First touch, simple goal keeping errors, strikers missing from right in front of goal, passes not finding feet. We are not asking players to be Leo Messi.

Ill always remember NTS in those first few seasons, whenever there was a dangerous situations he’d just kick it out. So simple, something you’d teach a u10 but how many times have we got in trouble not clearing the ball in a dangerous situation. A simple & bad example but trying to demonstrate a point.

MB has shown that he has been willing to give players a crack. It’s easy to see why he has given so many youth players a go this year, they have come in & done so much better than players older, more experienced & “better” players.

[Hughesy]

5 hours ago, Bellby said:

Disagree.

Most of the players that make up this league are on circa $100 - $150k, many on less, In this day & age, that’s just enough to support a family. The whole notion that players aren’t trying or are fully committed because there’s no relegation or consequence for playing poorly... What about the consequence of losing your job? We aren’t talking about multi millionaires here. 

MB threw out that line because he wasn’t getting results. A bunch of people ate it up & ran with it.

I know a couple of guys currently in the ‘safe haven’, ones been told he’s not required despite having a young family & a couple of years still on his contract, the other is on close to minimum wage after coming back from OS a couple of years back. Both have been working their arses off to get a fair crack. **** sign me up for that safe haven, sounds great. 

Im sure there are a few coasting but they would be the absolute minority. 

Don’t buy it, sorry. These guys chose to become professional athletes knowing full well what the nature of the job can be. I don’t have sympathy for them because job security happens to be poor in sport. If anything they’re lucky to play sport for a living...

[Carns]

If they don't like it, do a D'Apuzzo and get a job elsewhere with more security.

[Bellby]

1 hour ago, hughsey said:

Don’t buy it, sorry. These guys chose to become professional athletes knowing full well what the nature of the job can be. I don’t have sympathy for them because job security happens to be poor in sport. If anything they’re lucky to play sport for a living...

I think you’ve missed my point, of course there are going to be players that don’t make it, that’s life & the nature of the job. 

My point is more that players in the A League get an easy ride & don’t work hard due to no relegation, ability to move clubs etc. MB trotted out the line when he was under the pump, but it’s just not true for the great majority of players within the league. Sure maybe a couple of returning Socceroos think they can come back & take the piss, see Cahill, but they generally get found out, also see Cahill. 

[StringerBellend]

10 minutes ago, Bellby said:

I think you’ve missed my point, of course there are going to be players that don’t make it, that’s life & the nature of the job. 

My point is more that players in the A League get an easy ride & don’t work hard due to no relegation, ability to move clubs etc. MB trotted out the line when he was under the pump, but it’s just not true for the great majority of players within the league. Sure maybe a couple of returning Socceroos think they can come back & take the piss, see Cahill, but they generally get found out, also see Cahill. 

Let’s see how many of our released players end up with another a league team 

that’s where the perception that it’s “easy” comes from the players that have been ok, and less than ok at multiple clubs but still seem to get a gig 

 

[Bellby]

11 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Let’s see how many of our released players end up with another a league team 

that’s where the perception that it’s “easy” comes from the players that have been ok, and less than ok at multiple clubs but still seem to get a gig 

 

What’s easy about potentially upping the family for a new state for a pay cheque worth half the amount you’re on? Why would anyone want to do that?