Squad Development 2018/19 Part 2

[BoyFromTheWest]

Is this the time for the new Squad Development 2019/2020 topic?  The 2018/2019 squad is virtually no more.

[nick]

1 hour ago, theguyyouwishyouwere said:

for which country?

Aus. So then we'd have room for 5 foreigners

[Sithslayer1991]

Orial Reira we will miss the most of the departing players. 25 goals in 49 appearances not including FFA cup and pre-season goals in a team that came 7th and 8th. Those defensive headers and tracking back, general play we will miss. He had a rough patch for much of this year I cannot deny that but lifted with the additions of Yeboah and Duke in the squad and you saw the Reira from the previous season, he turned it around for himself and that is a compliment to the kind of player he is.

[mack]

29 minutes ago, BoyFromTheWest said:

Is this the time for the new Squad Development 2019/2020 topic?  The 2018/2019 squad is virtually no more.

It'll come once we've pretty much got all the player release information.

[WHACKO]

Thread should now be called squad recruitment.

Let the speculation begin. I'll begin.

Pierre-Michel Lasogga (striker).  Played at Hertha BSC between 2010 to 2013. Babbel was Manager there from 2010 to 2011.

Is currently at Hamburger SV contracted till 30/6/2019.

[randy81]

27 minutes ago, WHACKO said:

Thread should now be called squad recruitment.

Let the speculation begin. I'll begin.

Pierre-Michel Lasogga (striker).  Played at Hertha BSC between 2010 to 2013. Babbel was Manager there from 2010 to 2011.

Is currently at Hamburger SV contracted till 30/6/2019.

He'd see a few familiar faces playing against leeds......😉

Edited April 29, 2019 by randy81

[Redwog]

1 hour ago, Sithslayer1991 said:

Orial Reira we will miss the most of the departing players. 25 goals in 49 appearances not including FFA cup and pre-season goals in a team that came 7th and 8th. Those defensive headers and tracking back, general play we will miss. He had a rough patch for much of this year I cannot deny that but lifted with the additions of Yeboah and Duke in the squad and you saw the Reira from the previous season, he turned it around for himself and that is a compliment to the kind of player he is.

I think as a rule we've been harsh on him. He scored more goals than any of our pervious target man strikers. He's the player we needed when Pio was in the squad. Had we been a winning side during his stay we'd have more fondness for him I'm sure. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Redwog

[beatsurrender]

11 minutes ago, Redwog said:

I think as a rule we've been harsh on him. He scored more goals than any of our pervious target man strikers. He's the player we needed when Pio was in the squad. Had we been a winning side during his stay we'd have more fondness for him I'm sure. 

Plus he did a lot of defending. Lost count the number of times he cleared a defensive corner. In a better team with more quality ball he would have had a better record. Scored about the same number as Tomi in far less games and was more robust. He was OK. Was he worth a million? Well that's football market forces isn't it?

Edited April 29, 2019 by beatsurrender

[Davo]

Ah the offseason. Bring on the YouTube videos of random Germans with awful music and clips of them nearly scoring or making a 5m pass to pad out the video to 10 mins for the sweet ad revenue.

[Prydzopolis]

4 hours ago, mack said:

We signed Mahazi because he was an ex A-League player who counted outside the squad & salary cap.

Huh? I thought they had to be u23 player? Like when we signed Melling?

[mack]

5 minutes ago, Prydzopolis said:

Huh? I thought they had to be u23 player? Like when we signed Melling?

Nope. That NPL Rookie spot is any Australian player 21 or over that hasn't played in a fully pro comp in 18 months.

[Carns]

5 minutes ago, Prydzopolis said:

Huh? I thought they had to be u23 player? Like when we signed Melling?

Mature age "rookie".

[mack]

1 hour ago, beatsurrender said:

Plus he did a lot of defending. Lost count the number of times he cleared a defensive corner. In a better team with more quality ball he would have had a better record. Scored about the same number as Tomi in far less games and was more robust. He was OK. Was he worth a million? Well that's football market forces isn't it?

Riera scored 1 goal in January & February and seemed to get shitty once Duke turned up. He also started slowing down badly in the second half of the year physically. He was good for 2 years but began missing sitters and I don't think his level of pace is enough for what Babbel wants.

[sonar]

8 minutes ago, mack said:

Riera scored 1 goal in January & February and seemed to get shitty once Duke turned up. He also started slowing down badly in the second half of the year physically. He was good for 2 years but began missing sitters and I don't think his level of pace is enough for what Babbel wants.

......and with the team we had we needed someone with pace. How many times was he NOT there to take a cross after a break on the wings. He was supreme with his head but aside from penalties how many goals from his feet.? Maybe I'm being harsh....I don't know.........I thought this season he was a better midfield player than striker due to the lack of pace at times. It's all academic now anyway .

He was NOT one of our worst visa players that is certain. There are other foreigeners of more mediocre talents than him who have put our jersey on.

[dcrow]

3 minutes ago, sonar said:

......and with the team we had we needed someone with pace. How many times was he NOT there to take a cross after a break on the wings. He was supreme with his head but aside from penalties how many goals from his feet.? Maybe I'm being harsh....I don't know.........I thought this season he was a better midfield player than striker due to the lack of pace at times. It's all academic now anyway .

He was NOT one of our worst visa players that is certain. There are other foreigeners of more mediocre talents than him who have put our jersey on.

I believe most were scored with his feet and penalties. Count me if I'm incorrect but I believe he didn't score any with his head this year.

[mack]

His one goal in February was a header vs Adelaide.

[Smoggy]

3 hours ago, sonar said:

......and with the team we had we needed someone with pace. How many times was he NOT there to take a cross after a break on the wings. He was supreme with his head but aside from penalties how many goals from his feet.? Maybe I'm being harsh....I don't know.........I thought this season he was a better midfield player than striker due to the lack of pace at times. It's all academic now anyway .

He was NOT one of our worst visa players that is certain. There are other foreigeners of more mediocre talents than him who have put our jersey on.

That's the thing with Reira, he was 'ok' wasn't he. What he wasn't was a match changing marquee, when you wanted that bit of quality that made a difference in a close game he often went missing. There were a number of  games where I forgot he was on the pitch and when the ball did come to him it was with a reaction of surprise rather than the composure you would expect.

 

[wanderersfanatic]

42 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

That's the thing with Reira, he was 'ok' wasn't he. What he wasn't was a match changing marquee, when you wanted that bit of quality that made a difference in a close game he often went missing. There were a number of  games where I forgot he was on the pitch and when the ball did come to him it was with a reaction of surprise rather than the composure you would expect.

 

More than okay, and he's the best number #9 foreign player we've ever had. 

 

He'll track back to defend, though he'll miss sitters, but you can never question his passion and desire for the crest. 

[sonar]

7 minutes ago, wanderersfanatic said:

More than okay, and he's the best number #9 foreign player we've ever had. 

 

He'll track back to defend, though he'll miss sitters, but you can never question his passion and desire for the crest. 

I don't disagree with you abot him being the best foriegn #9 we've had.

With our squad being what it has been over the past two seasons we needed an absolute mongrel up front. I don't think he was that sort of striker tbh. Santa was a mongrel....just couldn't play 90 mins as age caught up with him. Whoever we get has to want to get in make the ball his. and put it away. Duke has a bit of mongrel but is he a better striker than Riera...?

[Smoggy]

9 minutes ago, sonar said:

I don't disagree with you abot him being the best foriegn #9 we've had.

With our squad being what it has been over the past two seasons we needed an absolute mongrel up front. I don't think he was that sort of striker tbh. Santa was a mongrel....just couldn't play 90 mins as age caught up with him. Whoever we get has to want to get in make the ball his. and put it away. Duke has a bit of mongrel but is he a better striker than Riera...?

I like Duke a lot, but no his is not better than Reira was and not as good as Santa when he as here and I think if we relied on Duke as a main striker it would be frustrating. That said Duke certainly has his place in the club.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Smoggy

[wswnick]

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/kruse-looking-for-new-home-with-bochum-exit-certain

Robbie Kruse's search for a new club is on - with the Socceroos attacker already planning for life after Bochum.

[GunnerWanderer]

Kruse I think will be able to get a deal in the oil leagues. 

Realise you are just posting news and Not suggesting we should sign him I don’t want any wide forwards unless it was maybe Kosta signed. 

We have duke and yeboah as starters for there, I hear people who are correctly saying we need an upgrade Riera, someone with proper pace would be nice we never really had that. 

kruse would command marquee money I’d rather that go to a proper striker and number 10 especially if the ownership posse are opening their wallets up. 

[Prydzopolis]

I’m throwing my weight behind the: Riera is the best 9 we’ve had at the club, especially in his first season. BUT this season something was off, how many times did he fluff a chance withering hitting the post or nodding completely? 

[Zelinsky]

1 hour ago, GunnerWanderer said:

Kruse I think will be able to get a deal in the oil leagues. 

Realise you are just posting news and Not suggesting we should sign him I don’t want any wide forwards unless it was maybe Kosta signed. 

We have duke and yeboah as starters for there, I hear people who are correctly saying we need an upgrade Riera, someone with proper pace would be nice we never really had that. 

kruse would command marquee money I’d rather that go to a proper striker and number 10 especially if the ownership posse are opening their wallets up. 

MB said that there has to be competition for every position, so the concept of starting players will be a somewhat theoretical one. If he wants competition he will want at least one additional quality winger, hence the interest in Barbarousses.

He certainly will not want a repeat of S7 where he started with 15 over-23 players, just to find that they were either injured a lot (Bridgey, Ziegler), not good enough (Nizic, Fitzgerald, Sotirio, Llorente), unfit due to no pre season (Mahazi), absent because of NT duties (Risdon), too error prone without having a valid alternative (Hamill, Janjetovic, Elrich), or at times seemingly unmotivated (Roly, Treejack, Riera). In other words, the only player who was available and performed consistently was Kamau.

Reading through what I've just wrote, it is no wonder that we struggled as much as we did.

[LeeMarvin]

6 minutes ago, FCB said:

the only player who was available and performed consistently was Kamau.

Whoa, that's surely debatable?

[IAmFalzon]

18 minutes ago, FCB said:

MB said that there has to be competition for every position, so the concept of starting players will be a somewhat theoretical one. If he wants competition he will want at least one additional quality winger, hence the interest in Barbarousses.

He certainly will not want a repeat of S7 where he started with 15 over-23 players, just to find that they were either injured a lot (Bridgey, Ziegler), not good enough (Nizic, Fitzgerald, Sotirio, Llorente), unfit due to no pre season (Mahazi), absent because of NT duties (Risdon), too error prone without having a valid alternative (Hamill, Janjetovic, Elrich), or at times seemingly unmotivated (Roly, Treejack, Riera). In other words, the only player who was available and performed consistently was Kamau.

Reading through what I've just wrote, it is no wonder that we struggled as much as we did.

I must have missed where the Treejack nickname came from, can someone fill me in?

[Prydzopolis]

4 minutes ago, IAmFalzon said:

I must have missed where the Treejack nickname came from, can someone fill me in?

Baumjohann = Baum (tree) + johann (john/jack)

[IAmFalzon]

15 minutes ago, Prydzopolis said:

Baumjohann = Baum (tree) + johann (john/jack)

Thanks mate, makes sense

[Zelinsky]

41 minutes ago, LeeMarvin said:

Whoa, that's surely debatable?

It certainly is. Still, unless I am mistaken: Kamau and Elrich are the only two who played all 27 HAL games, and one can argue that it happened for a reason.

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by FCB

[Taurus]

None of the players that WSW will release at the end of this season, were capable of taking us forward.