Alen Stajcic Discussion

[Zelinsky]

1 hour ago, mack said:

We're in a season where a team that didn't exist were able to win the league by a mile. Victory went from last place in 20/21 to 2nd placed in 21/22 & won the Australia Cup that year. A good coach doesn't need a waiting period.

I don't care if our team is filled with 15 or 35 year olds. I care about winning trophies and I expect a good coach should be capable of winning at least one, or at minimum, finishing in the top 4 and making at least one of the Australia Cup or Grand Finals. This was another failed season.

Mack, you amaze me more and more.

The “team that didn’t exist” appointed their sporting director and manager in December 2023. That is a lot of time to build up a football team from scratch.

Unless I am mistaken, Auckland (like City) are part of a multi-club ownership group, and that comes with significant advances as far as resources, logistics, scouting and - of course - money is concerned. No doubt Auckland have been taking advantage of these resources.

As a new franchise, Auckland are enjoying salary cap exemptions. When I am reading that the Nix have just about maxed out the salary cap, but Auckland is expected to have spent close to double that of the Nix, then it puts the Auckland situation in perspective, and our results against them. Under those circumstances even an average manager like Corica can look good. As he did when he was with the Smurf cap frauds. 

As for your expectation that “a good coach should be capable of winning at least one, or at minimum, finishing in the top 4 and making at least one of the Australia Cup or Grand Finals” - that doesn’t leave much chance for managers who don’t win titles to be appreciated. And if Stajcic should meet your target next season, would that then make him a good manager all of a sudden, or a better coach than he is now?

But you are aware of all of this, of course. Yet you are using it to build a case against a manager you apparently don’t approve of. 

 

[mack]

20 minutes ago, Zelinsky said:

part of a multi-club ownership group

WSW has a billionaire and several multi-millionaires in it's ownership group. Any resource Auckland has, is a resource our owners could have at our club if they wanted. I find it hard to believe that Bournemouth, Hiberians and an ice hockey team are giving Auckland some special tips that our club couldn't figure out.

Am I supposed to be happy at losing because our owners are being cheap or because some of our team aren't old? I'm sick and tired of watching the team lose important games after 10 years of failure.

Western United don't have any cap exemptions and are in the middle of being sold to a new owner but they can finish 3rd and not lose in week one of the finals unlike our team who flopped yet again.

20 minutes ago, Zelinsky said:

And if Stajcic should meet your target next season, would that then make him a good manager all of a sudden, or a better coach than he is now

Of course it would mean he's become a better coach than he is now because he'd have finally won something in this league (or at least improved enough to get us into an AC final or another GF).

I can tolerate Stajcic being given one more year but I'm not going to appreciate failure.

[StringerBellend]

I've been somewhat bipolar about Staj, early season being Staj out and now being #istajmyself. But think I've been kind of consistent in making the finals is a pass mark (with that squad which is decent) is a pass mark.

I'm with Mack in that the taking years to build (as in the premier league) doesn't apply here due to the cap etc. Teams to bottom to top and non existent teams go to the top. 

But for mine Staj has more than passed this season and has earned next season. 

He has took us to the finals, played good footy, brought a bunch of young players on and most importantly made going to the game fun again.

Next year he needs to go one better though. Can he do that? The pessimist in me looks at that he has never done that before (he has the Matilda's golden generation and still only managed 4th place). But he deserves the go and the optimist in me says he can.

No reason why he shouldn't 

So Big Als to do list

- retain Sapsford 

- don't let any starters go (other than Mila)

- replace Mila hopefully with Younis 

- get a big dominant midfielder from somewhere in the world 

- find another right back to put a bit of pressure on Cleur or maybe start 

- make sure we have a couple of back up CBs

-ditch the tracksuit look and go for a nice salmon Ben Sherman shirt and a stone island jacket maybe some sort of cool hat too

- devise a plan B for teams sitting deep

- practice defending corners 

[Carns]

A big what if will be whether or not there are any foreigners in the squad given further cap restrictions and Staj's comments about playing Australian players.

[Smoggy]

22 minutes ago, Carns said:

A big what if will be whether or not there are any foreigners in the squad given further cap restrictions and Staj's comments about playing Australian players.

Mata's missed sitter might be the final nail in coffin lol Probably tipped Staj over the edge regards internationals.

Edited yesterday at 02:11 AM by Smoggy

[102megan]

Staj in. 
 

Please re-sign him. 

[SBW]

3 hours ago, Carns said:

A big what if will be whether or not there are any foreigners in the squad given further cap restrictions and Staj's comments about playing Australian players.

Thats the direction Staj is going for, he said this at the fans forum and he also said this at one of his pressers.

It might have merit but I don't know if it will workout if he only wants to play youngsters and sign NPL players

[SOS4WSW]

This has been our best season in a long, long time.

Yes with Rudan, in 22/23, we also finished 4th but he had a better squad.

This season brought the feelings of season 1 and 2 back for me.

I'm 100% Staj in!

[matty]

Good discussion in here, nice to see.

I think both arguments have merit. 

Staj is an above average coach but not a super star. I think he is learning as a coach and will get better. I do have concerns about his tactical nous but he seems to well and truly have the locker room. 

Happy to see him stay on. 

I'm sure he's learnt from this season and hope he can build on it. 

[StringerBellend]

Bring him back. 

Style

 

Edited 20 hours ago by StringerBellend

[Stokz]

First half of the season - we were dreadful and really hard to watch.

He turned it around in 2nd half of the season.

Definitely deserves another season - hopefully he builds and makes it a top 2 team for next year.

Don't think Auckland will be as strong as this year again. 

[Sime11]

2025 has brought stability and good performances (finals aside) - it would be stupid to not give him another season

he's brought some players in that will strengthen the squad - i just hope there is an expectation that he goes into the season with a plan B mid games - cant always play how you want to play, so he needs to adapt

 

[Sithslayer1991]

We should look at maybe another assistant coach just to address a few shape issues that are present. Some of it is personnel but some of it is our tactical shape that for 12 weeks were able to manage. But Victory exploited these weaknesses and we had no answer except for break glass put in Mata.

[marron]

It's funny too, I agree that's absolutely a weakness with Staj (changing gameplans, tactical nous) - does anyone remember that was the main complaint with Popa? He had plan A or plan A and that was it. People were always banging on about it (me included). Not saying staj doesn't need to work on it but rose-coloured glasses work in funny ways. 

Having said that the "big game at home" problem still remains. I wouldn't have been so disappointed about losing if we'd given it a red hot go and been in it, but we never really were. 

Results always cloud things too. Things started to shift earlier on than I think we give him credit for, it's just the results didn't come straight away. One thing I know is that aside from a few games (unfortunately some key ones), I have enjoyed watching the side this season and that started happening quite early on. 

And for once there will be some stability in between seasons without the need to start from scratch. We've got a side that believes in the coach and (mostly) gives their all. Some good additions and we'll take some further steps next year. 

[Smoggy]

31 minutes ago, marron said:

It's funny too, I agree that's absolutely a weakness with Staj (changing gameplans, tactical nous) - does anyone remember that was the main complaint with Popa? He had plan A or plan A and that was it. People were always banging on about it (me included). Not saying staj doesn't need to work on it but rose-coloured glasses work in funny ways. 

Having said that the "big game at home" problem still remains. I wouldn't have been so disappointed about losing if we'd given it a red hot go and been in it, but we never really were. 

Results always cloud things too. Things started to shift earlier on than I think we give him credit for, it's just the results didn't come straight away. One thing I know is that aside from a few games (unfortunately some key ones), I have enjoyed watching the side this season and that started happening quite early on. 

And for once there will be some stability in between seasons without the need to start from scratch. We've got a side that believes in the coach and (mostly) gives their all. Some good additions and we'll take some further steps next year. 

Oh...I remember some absolutely dreadful games at home under Popa. I seem to recall the Jets and Nix always seemed to frustrate us and had our number at home, but my memory might be hazy on that. If we didn't score first sometimes we were screwed also as was built on solid defense and wrapping the likes of Juric in cotton wool...and constant rotation..but then we were in the Asisn comp too I know.

Edited 18 hours ago by Smoggy

[immortalshogun]

Staj would do well to have an experienced assistant at his side. I think we all agree that we overachieved with the squad and perhaps thats inflating our opinions of Staj both ways. He’s provided stability to the club and there aren’t constant leaks from the backroom like there were with Rudan. Purely on that and the way we are playing should warrant an extension 

Edited 17 hours ago by immortalshogun
Spelling

[Smoggy]

8 minutes ago, immortalshogun said:

Staj would do well to have an experienced assistant at his side. I think we all agree that we overachieved with the squad and perhaps thats inflating our opinions of Staj both ways. He’s provided stability to the club and there aren’t constant leaks from the backroom like there were with Rudan. Purely on that and the way we are playing should warrant an extension 

Ange will be free in a few weeks.

[StringerBellend]

31 minutes ago, immortalshogun said:

Staj would do well to have an experienced assistant at his side. I think we all agree that we overachieved with the squad and perhaps thats inflating our opinions of Staj both ways. He’s provided stability to the club and there aren’t constant leaks from the backroom like there were with Rudan. Purely on that and the way we are playing should warrant an extension 

I don't agree we over achieved with that squad

We achieved 

Not under or over 

We finished fourth and got knocked out at the first hurdle with a squad that has

A world cup winner 

A current Socceroo 

The third choice socceroo keeper and probably one of the best in the league 

Milanovic 

Another striker with championship experience 

A midfielder who has won the comp multiple times 

The way we talk its like we filed a U17s team

It's a pass mark, the footy was more exciting than that

B+

Totally agree though that the cultural shift in the club more than warrants another season for the Stajinator 

Edited 16 hours ago by StringerBellend

[mack]

Finishing 4th & getting knocked out in week 1 of the finals, after losing in the quarter final of the Australia Cup is underachieving with this squad.

[MartinTyler]

1 hour ago, immortalshogun said:

Staj would do well to have an experienced assistant at his side. 

Who would you recommend? Is the current one not good enough?

[Smoggy]

53 minutes ago, mack said:

Finishing 4th & getting knocked out in week 1 of the finals, after losing in the quarter final of the Australia Cup is underachieving with this squad.

I think the majority all know that. And unlike say building in the Championship towards promotion to EPL, which can take a few seasona...the way the A Leauge is you need take full advantage of your opportunities as they come rather than say if we keep the same fella then in x2 seasons we will challenge for top 2', that's not this comp...it doesn't work that way.

So...I think most realise that next season we should be challenging for top 2 placing, that will determine if this season was truly wasted or not. Else, we will be cycling through another major rebuild and bottom 5 or 6 again...

That's why Saturday night hurt, such a wasted opportunity by this comps standards.

Edited 14 hours ago by Smoggy

[mack]

I'm not expecting better next season based on the noise coming from the club they're going to focus on NPL players and reduce costs, but the club is already using, or got rid of the good NPL players we had in the first half of 2024. So where's the reinforcement & improvement coming from?

Some names from our NPL squads.

• Harper - Probably gone from the club or dropped back to U20, I can't find any info. Not gonna help the team anyway.
• Panta - Already in the first team.
• Grdic - Released.
• Sciclua - Already in the first team.
• Younis - Will either be gone or back in the first team possibly replacing Milanovic or Antonsson's position. Is he going to score a dozen goals?
• Blair - Left to join Perth.
• Badolato - Unwanted, told to join Victory on loan.
• Hammond - Already in the first team. Done good from limited time, can he transfer that to full 90's over a whole season?
• Sapsford - Already in the first team, and off-contract with no announced extension he might not be at the club next year.
• Hollingdale - One of the few academy players from this group to never get on the pitch in the A-League. Unlikely to make it at A-League level. Might get released once the season is complete.
• Devine - Released & joined Manly United.
• Bugarija - Left to join Perth.
• Fernandez - Unlikely to play much in the A-League.
• Culina - Left to join a team in Croatia.
• Sinnot - 18yo goalkeeper & unlikely to be in any first team squad next season.
• Cameron - Maybe takes Cleur's spot in the first team.
• Gigliotti - Never progressed to first team, joined Bonnyrigg in NPL2.
• Vidackovic - 3rd choice first team keeper, unlikely to get game time.
• Barrie - 18yo central defender who got hooked at half-time in his two AL games (both of which were losses against City), and is now behind Bonetig/Panta and possibly Josh Laws if he stays.
• Abdul-Raham - 18yo who might get minutes off the bench late in games.

Everyone else in the NPL squad is too young or not good enough to play A-League, apart from Aidan Simmons who is being frozen out by Stajcic and might have to quit & find a new club to keep his career alive.

[Sithslayer1991]

I have to be in the minority because I honestly never believed this squad was going to make finals. I thought the squad was a few players short of being on par with the Jets so I had us finishing 8th/9th, because of our defensive half.

Staj was able to do what Carl Veart and Ufuk Talay were unable to do with their more settled and stacked squads and that is find an answer to our midfield and defensive woes. Once he figured that out we were able to get on a 12 game unbeaten run.

We achieved the most points since Popovic, we were the most consistent since Popovic, we were 2 points from 2nd after the poor start to the season. I think Staj has over achieved with this squad because of how he had the squad playing by the end.

Its the 'beautiful' thing about finals you can have a better season but finals can be such a gut punch by how sudden it is and now we are 10 years since we have won a finals series game. The finals series doesn't reflect how well we finished this season.

[StringerBellend]

1 hour ago, MartinTyler said:

Who would you recommend? Is the current one not good enough?

Given Staj has been all round the a league coached at women's world cup Olympics etc 

My thoughts is he should be experienced enough 

[StringerBellend]

11 minutes ago, Sithslayer1991 said:

I have to be in the minority because I honestly never believed this squad was going to make finals. I thought the squad was a few players short of being on par with the Jets so I had us finishing 8th/9th, because of our defensive half.

Staj was able to do what Carl Veart and Ufuk Talay were unable to do with their more settled and stacked squads and that is find an answer to our midfield and defensive woes. Once he figured that out we were able to get on a 12 game unbeaten run.

We achieved the most points since Popovic, we were the most consistent since Popovic, we were 2 points from 2nd after the poor start to the season. I think Staj has over achieved with this squad because of how he had the squad playing by the end.

Its the 'beautiful' thing about finals you can have a better season but finals can be such a gut punch by how sudden it is and now we are 10 years since we have won a finals series game. The finals series doesn't reflect how well we finished this season.

Sub par to a side captained by Grozos (who I like) and lead up front by Lachy rose.

[Sithslayer1991]

39 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Sub par to a side captained by Grozos (who I like) and lead up front by Lachy rose.

We had Jeong and Bonetig to start. Clisby at LB. I mean its up there with Wilmering, Aquilina Cancar, Susnar and Natta. Cleur was the only defender I had any faith in. Who knew the improvements from Panta and Bonetig to be our main defenders and the addition of Gersbach. Before this side of 2025 our defence wasn't much better than the Jets and we had an over reliance on Marcelo last year. Panta ended up being our answer to Marcelo.

In midfield I never had faith Brillante and Priestmann could work because of last season, Staj had Scicluna to start and it worked until he got injured and experimenting with Mata just left us vulnerable in defence. He figured out how to get Brillante and Priestmann to work well together, something Rudan was unable to do.

Up front Kraev on the wing never convinced me until this year that he can play there. I don' think we fully appreciated Borello's new role until recently and how he works well with Sapsford. This was Sapsford big season that he pushed Kraev to the wing and Mata/Antonssen to the bench.

So we had a few youth products step up but also Staj made some tactical changes to adjust for the players he had and it clicked in the 2nd half of the season. But prior to this I really had us barely better than the Jets and outside of finals.

[William]

I am for another full season with Staj he has not done a lot wrong coming from the starting base , I would hate to see us supporting Sydney FC after their disastrous season , from odds on season favourites to finish 7th. 

I am very much looking forward to next season and let me tell you Sapsford WILL be leading from the front  

I have done my post mortem and am now eagerly looking forward to the development of the team for next season.

[Smoggy]

31 minutes ago, William said:

I am for another full season with Staj he has not done a lot wrong coming from the starting base , I would hate to see us supporting Sydney FC after their disastrous season , from odds on season favourites to finish 7th. 

I am very much looking forward to next season and let me tell you Sapsford WILL be leading from the front  

I have done my post mortem and am now eagerly looking forward to the development of the team for next season.

I am beginning to think you are Staj.

Edited 12 hours ago by Smoggy

[mack]

I always assumed he was a hyperintelligent dog.

[pseudonym]

32 minutes ago, mack said:

I always assumed he was a hyperintelligent dog.