BoyFromTheWest

Interesting conundrum, really. Does a club just go ahead and make decisions and then have to change them post the contracts being signed??? Or do they wait until the rules are on the table and work within them? SFC has always flown by its own rules so can't imagine much difference there but could be interesting if they sign a team under Sal Cap $X and then discover it has the be $X-Y and they have to either reduce everyone's wages or sack some players. Is this the issues for teams?

It can be amazing how a real crisis can turn things around. If we are truly scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel, then all bets are off and everything is back on the table in terms of possibility. It will depend on whether there is the courage to act from any powers that be. Necessity is the mother of invention!

Nix definitely missed Hooper. Sotirio isn't a striker - did okay and his speed is an asset but he doesn't have the quick reflexes and readiness to react that a striker needs. Better on the wing and was pretty good out wide.

It wouldn't only be how much the contract was - is there tax over there? I seem to remember people going to the oil countries earning meg, mega bucks in short time - no tax, nothing to spend on and coming home stitched up for a long time. It is also international experience in probably a higher league than ours and an opportunity to test himself - we can't compete with all the stuff they can offer - even if the raw deal on the table was close??!

I wonder if a lot of it is about quick fixes. Popa began by changing players regularly to change a system or fix something. He left and we reacted believing we could cover the deficit quickly and easily. We have not recovered from the coaching black hole he created and left. Added to that are quick fixes - get the 'right OS coach' and all will be well. Get an expensive marquee or change a few players here and there... Expect instant victories to come. We really did have it good in that first season. No team should really be able to do what we did and perhaps that expectation still exists within the club. As someone else said, Parra have stuck with Arthur and worked to build a team to the point where they are now competitive. Most A League heavyweights (and some lightweights) have also had to do this. SFC had a couple of years in the wilderness but rebuilt and have stuck with players and coaching staff who are solid and can grow into bigger roles. We jettison everything when we fail and seem to expect to import a new team each season and we will win??!!!

Why is Duke covering the midfield and back line???? Doing a Riera who had to defend, play midfield and then try to attack.

Russell is good but needs more confidence to take on backs with his pace. He is perhaps a better traditional defender who comes forward rather than a full on wing back. As someone said, he is essentially the creative outlet and not enough options. Mo Adam seems out of it - doesn't know where to run and too slow to attack the ball. Has Kamau gone backwards?

To be fair, the members were asked to vote on where we'd play during Parra rebuild and we chose SOP. It sounded good and we were all sold a pup (Club, members...).

Basically agree with most of what has been said. Seems that a lack of continuity around who WSW is in terms of culture and style of play. Popa was developing that very well over the first couple of years and then decided to change things and bring in different style players (more a a Spanish style that didn't really work because of the lower technical capacity of A League) who didn't gel or work or weren't able to adapt... There is no doubt that many of the players we have brought in form OS have had some kind of positive reputation... but most have not been able to translate their style of play into A League. It seems that the most successful A League imports, generally have been lower level OS players (Fornaroli, Ninkovich, Broich come to mind) or players who can adapt to a different, less technical style and improve their teams (Ono, Castro, Diamante and even del Piero). The imports we have mostly had have not adapted - especially strikers. Or the team have not been able to utilise their skills. The changing of coaches has meant we seem to have relied on a new head coach to set the WSW style of play and culture and they have not had a clue because they do not understand Western Sydney. The initial culture of underdogs who struggle and fight for everything and for their team seems to have been lost in a sense of entitlement. It is hard to see 'Western Sydney' in some of our teams and players, whereas in the first couple of seasons it was explicit. We don't have a WSW style and new coaches come and go, styles change and it takes a season or two for the playing squad to be refreshed to a new system/style and then a coach moves on or is sacked. Perhaps a technical/football director to help embed a culture, style and maintain continuity would be the most helpful thing. Bring is players that work in a particular style/system, train and nurture younger players in that culture and off-load those who cannot make it. Look for long-term medium-level players who can do the job over several seasons and work with marquee and imports to fill primary gaps... WSW culture and ethos is the most critical thing for me. If we can rediscover who we are, then we will be able to chart a direction and develop a team worthy of the region.

I actually think it is an important start. I actually tend to agree that the squad we have is, on paper at least (and we have seen some signs at times - not enough for long enough, though) is at least as good as most of the A League sides. I don't rate the players of many of the top 6 teams more highly than ours. Can't tell me Wellington, Brisbane or Adelaide have squads that are expensive and excessively talented. Inf act Adelaide has looked better with lots of kids on the park. JP has made the team look okay before the break and the game against Wellington, they played some decent football - it was a pretty decent defensive effort. Can't tell me that anyone here would have chosen coaches like Talay, Veart (even Corica) etc for us but they are doing a decent job, not world-beaters but decent A League level. I don't really know what is happening in the background or why the players are gelling - whether there is a problem around the style Babbel set the team up for then rejected and tried something else without the players for it... What's going on in their heads - Yeboah seems to have had some emotional/psychological issues (reading into JP's words). We are certainly playing a back 3 with 2 wing backs based around fullbacks who struggle to move forward and back. The extra man at the back is not moving forward to fill midfield... There is a systemic issue with how we play - that is clear and perhaps the team is unbalanced and lacking confidence. We do look better with Kamau running forward at the opposition but he struggles to defend. We don't have players who run at the opposition and we don't move quickly on or off the ball. Is it confidence, clarity (and simplicity) of tactics? HOw do we bring the younger players through - for us? It is clear our set-up has/is producing good young players as demonstrated by how many play elsewhere and do okay - why not for us? I won't defend the Board (which includes Lederer) but I don't think throwing money at the team will solve whatever is/isn't happening. We have never done especially well with imports (since Ono and Hersi and they were desperate restoration projects by Popa in a desperate 1st year). I reckon a decent review of everything will/should highlight a lot of stuff - some probably named on here and other stuff we can't grasp or understand from the outside. After that it is up to theose in authority to make new and better decisions. I suppose we will see!

I thought Perth played significantly better against us than tonight. They were awful. If that Perth team played us the other night it should have been a very different result. Honestly, the A League refs are inconsistent and miss so many serious tackles!!! Was it Ams in our game? He was awful and inconsistent. The likes of Fornaroli play games with our refs and con them at every point.

Watching from the ground, I reckon that some of the reason for the passing along the back in the first half was O'Doherty and Baccus not providing a link back or the wing-backs not moving enough. DG was flatfooted a fair part of the night - always receiving the ball standing still and then taking an age to decide what to do. When he did run, he looked far more dangerous and provided something up front. Tate played reasonably well but seemed but seemed to be a little freaked by Nix Defender (McCowatt??) and kept turning backwards. So many times he got the ball too a couple of steps forward and then turned backwards. Schwegler provided more outlet in the second half and Baccus stepped up a bit more - he plays much better with Schwegler. Overall, I thought they defended pretty well and kept a pretty good Nix outfit quiet. I felt that Nix lack of firing up front was as much to do with our defending and the organisation as them being a little off. The opening 10 minutes showed they were ready to play and we took time to get up to the tempo but after that it was a pretty good effort by the boys. Cox and Duke still look a little rusty but you can see there is an understanding developing between them - will take a little time, which we don't have. Cox didn't have a lot of the ball in front of goal but worked hard off it and took defenders with him. He played other into the game a fair bit. It would have been really good to see how they went if Muller had been able to play on. There was stuff happening but the flicks and passes just a bit off - better than against CCM but still a way to go. I would like to see this squad with JP and a full pre-season. Kwame sounds like he has been through some hard stuff personally and is coming through it - could explain a lot and if JP and Labi can get hi through it, he could find the form of Leeds??! Having said all that, a mate's words keep echoing in my mind: 'It's the hope that kills you!'

Is it me or are Perth following the time-old Popa script of pass it around in semi-circles in front of the defence who are set up and Perth can't break them down. Watching them without creative spark like Castro, is like watching WSW in season's past. We would pass it back and forth around in semi circles, hold it but get nowhere and Perth seem to be doing the same. Had most of the ball but no real chances.

I read an article quoting Dr Fauci (the US expert Trump refuses to listen to). He makes the point that we do not know what the lasting impact of this virus has on any individual who gets it. He cites Chicken Pox virus, along with others, that remain in a person's system for life and can re-emerge later. He says that everyone should do everything to avoid getting the virus and more importantly giving it to others if we do get it. Trouble is that too many people are self-centred ignorant and narcissitic and only think about t=what they want to do and their suppoesed 'rights'. They are too stupid to understand that they are risking a great deal both for themselves and more-so for others. That is just in health terms. As you have noted, there are other very serious work/economic and mental health implications. A mate was talking to an undertaker who had 18 suicides lately - very, very high compared to normal times. I encourage the authorities to take a hard line on ignorant, self-centred idiots.

Probably not where I'd choose to go at the moment!!