Everyone thinks they know best, everyone has their own opinion on everything from how to administer the game to how to recruit players and how to set up a team. So let’s give everyone a chance to voice their opinion.
Scenario:
You’ve been given control of a new A-League club: you need to sign the players, you select the manager, and you assemble a team who will REALISTICALLY fit under the salary cap. The players you sign must also be REALISTIC.
No Lionel Messi’s here.
If you want, give us some details about why you chose who you did and why it is a winning team.
Here’s mine:
GK: Langerak – he is good, no doubt about it. Best part is he is young and thus a bit cheaper than everyone else.
RB: Jamieson
CB: Moore – hardened veteran, also not the marquee IMO.
CB: Ognenovski – tall, strong, solid defender.
LB: Tiatto – I’ll re-sign the old bugger, he has a season left!
RM: Zullo – junior marquee, good player, provides a spark.
CM: Cullina – obvious reasons, Australian marquee man.
CM: A. Griffiths – the defensive man in a rather attacking midfield.
LM: T. Dodd – Adelaide’s go to man. Can play a variety of positions.
ST: Alan Smith – Great player for the league, international marquee.
ST: McBreen – Compliments greatly with Smith.
I chose those players because the are all class, would compliment each other very well, and can play a range of formations.
Versatility is key. Speed out wide, hard workers in the middle, clinical finishers with pace, strength, and height. A defensive line with old heads and proven performers.
Can they all fit in the salary cap? Maybe, if a few took a pay cut.
Recommend this story.
The Turkey 10
The Turkey 10 teams have now been selected, as Wild Turkey Bourbon's sport sponsorship kicks into the next exciting phase.
Choose which side you're going to support and get in the running to win $2,500!
Simply visit Wild Turkey Australia on Facebook for your chance to win.
Find out more.
The Crowd Says (25) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- A-League, Australian Football, football
April 30th 2010 @ 8:19am
Sam said | April 30th 2010 @ 8:19am | Report comment
GK- Mitch Langerak
Right back – ShannonCole
Left Back – Scott Jameison
Centre backs – Stephen Keller and Durante
Left Midfield – Tommy Oar
Defensive Midfielder – Jason Culina
Attacking Midfilder – Carlos Hernandez
Right Midfield – Travis Dodd
Strikers – Alex Brosque and Paul Ifill
April 30th 2010 @ 10:18am
TheMagnificent11 said | April 30th 2010 @ 10:18am | Report comment
Firstly, not many people outside of regular football watching fans know who Alan Smith is, so that would be a waste of money.
Secondly, Jamieson is a LB, Zullo is a LM/LW and Dodd is a RM/RW. It doesn’t appear that you are trying to play a Barcelona style front 3 where the wingers play on the opposite side to their natural feet so they can cut in an play one-twos around the box.
I like Sam’s 11; that team would carve up! However, I can’t see all those players fitting under the cap. Either that or the remaining 12 players in your squad will be earning less than minimum wage.
April 30th 2010 @ 12:54pm
drew777 said | April 30th 2010 @ 12:54pm | Report comment
But the fact that the headlines on 9 news would read “New A-League franchise sign ex-Man U striker Alan Smith” would excite even the most ignorant football pundit.
At this level, it does not really matter what side they play on mate, and the added advantage is that in defense, whilst playing a left sided player on the right, will result in them naturally coming inside a defender to force him down the line, away from the danger area in front of goal. Trust me, it works, I’ve been playing it for seasons now and every time that you play a left footed player on the right (or vice versa) they naturally come inside the attackers.
Yeah, the salary cap may be an issue, but as it stands at present, there is a cap of 2.35 million excluding marquee players.
so, exclude from my squad Smith, Cullina and Zullo.
that leaves the stand outs like dodd and Griffiths to each have about 250,000.
next level of players like mcbreen, moore, ognenovski, jamieson to have 130,000-180,000
then the others (tiatto, langerak) to have about 100,000 each.
minimun wage for a player is 45,000. and average being 90,000-125,000. you could easily pluck several decent players as reserves/youth from state leagues
by my calculations, my starting 11 would take about 1.8-2 million (at a glance, no real calculations done).
now, between 350,000 – 550,000 for another 9 players isn’t that hard to achieve
April 30th 2010 @ 1:05pm
TheMagnificent11 said | April 30th 2010 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
You expect that it wouldn’t matter but it does. Take Zullo for example; more often than not he tries to beat the defender on the outside. Furthermore, his touch isn’t good enough to dribble infield. He uses change of pace to beat defenders. His right foot is weak. He never even played on the right when he was at Brisbane City in the BPL.
Even Antonio Valencia never plays on the left for Man Utd. Some wingers are simply not as effective on the other side.
Jamieson is an overlapping full-back. So a big part of his game is crossing. There’s no way in the world his right-foot crossing is as good as his left. If it was he would have played on the right for Adelaide and allowed Casio to play on the left because Casio is better than Mullen, who plays on the right. However, that doesn’t happen because Jamieson is devalued on the right. Probably still effective, but not his best.
Also, having your whole second string as state league players in dangerous. Injuries and suspension do happen. Spending all your money on your first 11 is just plain silly. Anyone who has played a football manager computer game knows that.
May 1st 2010 @ 2:55pm
drew777 said | May 1st 2010 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
I did a better re-calculation, the starters would max out at about 1.5 million (at most). that leaves another million for others.
In regard to the opposite side of field players, none of them have been tested like this so it’s worth a shot. The system I would play is to force attackers down the line. If it doesn’t work then switch it up but I would be keen to give it a go.
April 30th 2010 @ 1:01pm
Brett McKay said | April 30th 2010 @ 1:01pm | Report comment
Alan Smith – there’s a name not heard on these shores for a while. Where’s he playing currently, back with Leeds??
April 30th 2010 @ 1:05pm
TheMagnificent11 said | April 30th 2010 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
I think he’s at Newcastle United, who are back in the EPL next season. So there’s no way an A-League club could afford him. He’s only 30 so he’s not leaving England any time soon.
April 30th 2010 @ 1:26pm
Dogz R Barkn said | April 30th 2010 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
My formula for winning the A-League? Pretty much the opposite of what most soccer fans in Australia argue.
Give me the two fastest, strongest, tallest, most athletic centre-halves, capable of scaring the bejeezus out of all other teams at set pieces.
Give me the fastest, hardest running wingers and fullbacks who will run all day, outrun their lard ar$e opponents, overlap, hit the byline, and most importantly cross the ball over the hot spot time after time.
Give me the fastest, strongest, most athletic centre forward who knows the art of protecting the ball, but knows where the ball is going to be and is going to get his head to it more often than his markers.
Give me two strong, intelligent defensive mids, who can run hard all day, have a high work rate, can tackle cleanly and can mark those namby pamby latinos so that they never get a sniff of it – if they can hit the target from outide the box, that’s most welcome.
You’d win the A-Leaague title time after time (although you might get a lot of complaints for being boring and predictable).
April 30th 2010 @ 1:54pm
TheMagnificent11 said | April 30th 2010 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
In other words, technical football ability doesn’t matter. I agree on the centre backs. The rest requires footballing ability.
You’re approach is what British coaches having being doing here for years now. It didn’t work then, it won’t work now. And, it doesn’t help improve us as a footballing nation. In football, physical attributes will only get you so far. You can’t just have one or two play-makers who are skilful to guide the team around the park. The opposition can easily expose players lacking in ability not matter how big or fast they are.
April 30th 2010 @ 3:10pm
Dogz R Barkn said | April 30th 2010 @ 3:10pm | Report comment
We’ve had that approach?
I must have missed it.
I can only remember seeing about five decent crosses in the last five years – the rest have ballooned harmlessly over the goal line or have done straight up the full back’s privaties..
April 30th 2010 @ 3:34pm
TheMagnificent11 said | April 30th 2010 @ 3:34pm | Report comment
You may have noticed that the majority of coaches in the A-League thus far have been British e.g. Merrick, McKinna, Mitchell, Ferguson, Steve McMahon, Terry Butcher etc. So as you have pointed out, the approach these coaches take doesn’t work. Thus proving my point (Merrick being the only exception to the rule).
April 30th 2010 @ 3:58pm
Dogz R Barkn said | April 30th 2010 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
Only the British believe in fast wingers and full backs?
Do the others prefer slow lard ar$es?
April 30th 2010 @ 5:16pm
TheMagnificent11 said | April 30th 2010 @ 5:16pm | Report comment
No wingers and full backs are universally accepted. However, the roles winger and full-backs play in other systems vary. Look at Barcelona for example, their winger hardly ever cross balls. They start wide, drift infield and play one-twos around the box with the central players. This allows their full backs to overlap and get as far forward as the by line. At this point a cross in the air is not as effective as a cut back to the penalty spot or a low hard cross to the near post. Such crosses are easier to execute.
My point here is that the system which the British play has percentages all wrong. Hopeful high crosses into the area require a good crosser of the ball and also strikers capable of capitalising on them. Such combinations of players are rare even in the best leagues in the world.
April 30th 2010 @ 5:39pm
Sam said | April 30th 2010 @ 5:39pm | Report comment
The Brazilian World Cup winning team of 2002 had Roberto Carlos and Cafu who tore opposition defences apart.
April 30th 2010 @ 2:16pm
AndyRoo said | April 30th 2010 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
I think Dogz plan would work all right for the Fury (on a budget and play in difficult conditions). I wouldn’t go with both wingers and fullbacks in that mold though. Just full backs.
Wingers I would want extreme pace (rare) or that is where I would put my “footballers”. If you have a Buyn as full back you can afford someone tricky on the wing. So two Buyns please
Brisbane Roars (Murdocca & Mckay) central midfeild fits your description and it’s not enough, you need something extra as well or like the CCM as the season wears on your team would be good in the first half of the season but fall of the pace as the real teams improve.
Edit: Was expeting this to be about football manager
Edit2 your playing 4-4-1 Dogz, wheres your other athlete going. A 16 yr old fast striker to try and win corners when you launch it upfield or a 40 yr old who’s only in the team because he’s good from set pieces?
Sign yourself Con Boutsianis.
April 30th 2010 @ 2:49pm
TheMagnificent11 said | April 30th 2010 @ 2:49pm | Report comment
Murdocca and McKay have outplayed most midfields in the A-League in seasons 1-4 (go check the possession stats). No surprise that the lack of Murdocca led to poor performances for the Roar in season 5. Technically they are both sound and their work rate in pronominal (McKay once clocked up 15 km in a game…average for a mid is about 10-12). The Roar never had problems in the middle of the park; their problem has always been finishing the chances they create. Thus why they did so well at the back end of season 4 when van Dijk and Nichols were in good scoring form.
April 30th 2010 @ 3:06pm
Dogz R Barkn said | April 30th 2010 @ 3:06pm | Report comment
Fair enough point, I’ve only mentioned 9 outfield positions (broadly).
The 10th outfielder would be the most elusive of all: the utility, the jack of all trades, sometimes a defensive forward, other times a sweeper, sometimes tearing down the wing, other times rising in the box to meet the header that seals the deal, one second running forward to meet the centre-forwards flick on, the next second clearing the ball off his line, or getting in a last ditch tackle to save what looked like a certain goal; one second threading a 40 metre through ball, the next second stopping his opposite number from doing the same.
I call this position: the Jesus Christ position.
No, let’s get serious now: it’s known as the defensive attacking libera trequartista
May 1st 2010 @ 3:05pm
drew777 said | May 1st 2010 @ 3:05pm | Report comment
I agree with magnificent, the old school English hard arse days of Vinny Jones are becoming more and more obsolete. Put a fast, hard winger of your choice up against someone with a good knowledge of the game and my bloke (good knowledge one with some skill) will force your guy wide all the time, have good body position to stop his pace being effective and with a touch of class will play little 1-2′s around the fast strong guy, or turn on him 15 times before your fast guy takes him out. Skills are just as important as speed and strength nowadays
April 30th 2010 @ 3:50pm
AndyRoo said | April 30th 2010 @ 3:50pm | Report comment
Anyway my team would have two full backs with alot of energy (Buyn x 2) that give you width. 2 centre backs, one monster like Dogz says but I would also want one in the Colisimo sweeper mode (Hayden Foxe will be my affordable man). At keeper I think we are a bit spoilt I would want good distribution and someone that doesn’t flap at crosses. Wouldn’t have to be the greatest shot stopper.
Midfield I would want the two workers (Murdocca and Mackay are fine) in the centre and then the third spot would be flexible depending on the opposition. Cullina would be the man but it’s probably cheaper too get two players, one a deep lying playmaker and the other a linking attacking midfielder (Nichols or Dodd) and flavor to suit.
Up front I want 3 quick forwards, if their quality then they dont have to press. Scoring goals on the counter will do. If they are dodgy finishers then they have to be hard workers and coupled with my midfield they will be Barcelona light with their pressuring of the opponents defenders.
Gk – Theo
LB – Buyn
CB – Foxe
CB – Luke Devere
RB – Buyn 2
CM – Massimo Murdocca
CM – Nicky Carle/Cullina (Marquee)
CM – Matt Mackay
LF James Brown (any kid with pace, that has a decent left foot)
CF – David Williams
RF – Costa (the speedy kid from Wellington)
2nd marquee spot is just for cap purposes
May 1st 2010 @ 3:09pm
drew777 said | May 1st 2010 @ 3:09pm | Report comment
James Brown is right footed.
Not sure using those players in a 4-3-3 would be the best idea. Would you play it as a true 4-3-3 or would the wide attackers make it more a 4-5-1 with allowance to attack?
My main concern, however, is that your forward line is very light. No really good recognised finisher (even for A-League standards) that is why you need someone like Alan Smith or try convincing Koller (Croation international, tall, good in the air, good finisher) to come over here (maybe set him up with Dukes at Heart? hehe, one can only dream).
May 1st 2010 @ 9:56pm
The Clint said | May 1st 2010 @ 9:56pm | Report comment
Alan Smith?? as a forward?? When was the last time you watched him play? He currently captains/vice captains Newcastle and plays central midfield. I dont think he has ever scored a league goal for Newcastle since crossing over in 2007. Absolutely stumped on why anyone would want him as a forward anymore, if at all. Ecspecially as a marquee in A-League!!
May 1st 2010 @ 10:08pm
The Clint said | May 1st 2010 @ 10:08pm | Report comment
Infact id say Brisbane roar should try and convince Patrick Kluivert to pull on a kit. He is still young and a dutch living legend. Get him to play in the A-league. He is an ambassodor for the club, but their would be no better way to be an ambassodor in this country in this league than play.
Could you imagine Perth v Brisbane… Fowler v Kluivert…. Mouth watering!
May 1st 2010 @ 11:47pm
drew777 said | May 1st 2010 @ 11:47pm | Report comment
He is a recognised forward, he played as a forward in his early days, scored like 40 goals when at leeds.
Like I said versatility is key, a versatile goal scorer to come from midfield or go up front. Love it.
Klivert will never come down under, he has no reason to. Sad but true.
May 2nd 2010 @ 1:04pm
The clint said | May 2nd 2010 @ 1:04pm | Report comment
Im aware, im a Leeds supporter. But he has lost his goalscoring ability all together. He has not 1 goal in league football for 3 and a half years!!! And thats with a full season in the championship!! Gets his goalscoring back and then he’d be the perfect versatile player.
And what do you mean about kluivert having no reason to come to Australia? He is contracted to Brisbane Roar. He spends some time there and assists in development/coaching and promoting. He is a big part of why Zullo and Oar went to Utrect.
May 2nd 2010 @ 7:22pm
drew777 said | May 2nd 2010 @ 7:22pm | Report comment
Oh sorry mate, I mistook him for another player. That is a bit embarrassing, yes you are right, sorry.