Sydney FC don't need Janko

@ Griffo: Yeah, bad luck about the Jets tonight... What the result does prove to me though is that there is an awful lot that will happen between now & kick-off in Game 1 so our predictions now are likely to need a bit of adjusting!!! ;-)

Yeah Arto, I didn't rate Zadkovich that much. Too much ball watching, or he'd stay fairly static in the second line and make it hard for his defenders to pass him the ball. He would harry the defence a lot in a way to spur the team on and take control but then would catch his breath for a while. In some ways he reminds me of Brett Holman, just with better touch but poorer shooting. Saw us lose to Perth in FFA Cup tonight :-( Early pre-season but Perth did pressure us a bit more and did better to move out of midfield at times although they perhaps not creating better chances (their second goal was from our backline pushing up near the end for an equaliser). Jeronimo is >the< signing for us right now. Madaschi did well at the back before being subbed; Jaliens doing alright for a 35 yo. Think we will need a Flores in there to give us better options (Kantarovski needs to improve a bit or we need a signing here quick (Paartalu), and that doesn't include Montano yet (or Carney who was handy last season, maybe Celeski to slot in too). Goodwin started left mid but played left back second half - both he and Virgilli need to work on crossing a bit more. Griffiths, Jeronimo, Carney, Steele (was ok) hopefully Montano, Flores, Madaschi, Jaliens will be regulars...

@ Griffo: Hahahahaha!! :-) I've got nothing against the Jets personally (especially now that you got rid of Zadkovich!!) You're dead-right though about the teams still being yet to finalise their squads and in the case of SFC for example, they still have 2 spots left over so one never knows how the recruitment phase will pan out until we're a lot closer to kick-off in Game 1 Season 10. And you're also dead-right about how HARD it is to pick between the teams this season!!! I reckon it's going to be close and whilst there are probably only 2-3 teams who can realistically challenge for 1st place, IMO, EVERY team has a better than even chance of making the Finals (despite the statistical impossibility of such a statement!!) as it's probably going to come down to chance things such as injuries and suspensions that determine whether teams can go on a run of sorts! What I love about people giving there predictions of the ladder after Rnd 27 is you get a sense of how they view the game (ie: what parts/players catch their attention, how they view the tactics of teams, what are the important things that players need to do in a game, etc.) - it's amazing how many different views you can get of the same game watched by different people!! :-) Just a couple of points to finish off then: - MCFC, I've tipped them so high up because I think Villa & Koren will be OUTSTANDING this season. Yes, Villa will only play 10 games, but I'm predicting him to score between 10-15 goals in that time and Koren is a class-act (I saw him live a number of times here in Norway before he went to the EPL and he was great at not only setting up his strikers for goals, but also scoring himself) and I think he'll do really well for them. - WSW are a really hard pick for me: they finished 2nd last year, Popovic has proved himself to be great at managing his players, their gameplan is solid, and Castellan might be an even better signing than Hersi was. BUT, they have lost a lot of their best players from last season and we saw signs that the other HAL teams have started to work out how to counter WSW's style of play, so how will this one play out??? - MV have really recruited well and they for me are the favourites: Valeri & Delpierre will definitely strengthen their defense and Berisha has more chance of succeeding than failing - even if he scores 10 goals that will be enough based upon last seasons efforts. Then you ask the other key question; who have they lost? Troisi is a BIG loss, but other than that no-one of any real importance and with a full pre-season under that scum-bag Muscat (I've never liked him even when he played overseas!) they should be less variable in their performances than last season.

Arto, I do like a good game of predict the table before the season starts - where's my crystal ball... Still early pre-season and some squads still in flux (I know that we were after Erik Paartalu (wants to finish Thai contract and come over in January) and Billy Celeski may be about to sign for us) but that isn't a bad prediction (are they ever before a A-League season plays out?) - although Jets...7th...nooooooo! Not again just missing out!! (I swear, I'm not in a foetal position at the mo... :-? ). I wonder if there is too much assumption on MCFC cash=guaranteed success, although if with all that has gone on if they have a another one of those seasons away there's going to be teeth nashing and hair transplants aplenty come May 2015. Agree with Perth - I thought it was a good opportunity to rebuild with a serious coaching appointment but hey, maybe the stabilisation of coaching and 'picking my own squad for success' will work for them (didn't with GvE and us). Wellington played well recently and who knows, without any All White duty fleecing the squad during the season they may challenge in the finals again. Hard also to write off Mariners although it was looking a little shaky and smart recruiting may keep them mid table or higher for a while... A lot of focus on Gombau this season: fine tuning (hey, thanks for Jeronimo!) and a good start might see them through. I still think Arnold has been a good choice for SFC, should be a much different season for you. Alright, enough procrastination... 1 – Roar 2 – MVFC 3 – SFC 4 – AU 5 – MCFC 6 – Jets 7 – WSW 8 – CCM 9 – Nix 10 – PG That's a hard one particularly this year. I think Mulvey will cover his bases well and not have a fade this season as with Vidosic's time. WSW will be hard but I think others have been recruiting quality players (the theme of HAL10 I think) that it's just that much harder. It's possible MV will be lower even with Berisha. Wellington could well make the finals anyway, as could any of the bottom four if it all comes together...if...

@ Griffo: 110% agree on the difficulty in picking favourites for this season - with very little actual football to base assertions upon, IMO Roar & WSW have maybe not improved in terms of their recruiting as much as the other teams (particularly MV, SFC & Jets) so I'm predicting the League is won in the last round this season. A case could be argued for almost every club to be a certain Top 6 team come Rnd 27, but I'm expecting big things from the 2 Melb clubs & SFC as they appear to have really addressed their major short-comings and then some. If PG had someone else in charge (eg: Popovic, Mulvey or even Merrick) then I would have them asa dark horse, but I just can't see Lowe turning around that atrocious record he had last year (and some of their high-profile signings will flatter to deceive too!). So they're my tip for the Spoon and I think gravity will finally pull CCM down as I don't see where their goals will come from (unless Duke does a Taggart this season). WP could go either way (I'm not sure they have the depth again to challenge a whole season) and will AU have their typical end-of-season fade or can Gombau develop them to an even better unit than last year's promising team. As mentioned before, Stubbins is the big unknown for me for the Jets and if they lose that Ecuadorian striker where do they get enough goals from? WSW may or may not have replaced their big guns and at some point they are due for a down patch so I'm tipping them to finish a few places down on last year. MCFC & SFC could be fantastic or maybe they flatter to deceive, but they have too much in their favour (IMO) for them to not make Top 4 and then we have MV & Roar who over the course of a season are my favourites for the flag. So if someone held a gun to my head to tip the ladder after Rnd 27 now, it would be like this I reckon; 1 - MV 2 - Roar 3 - SFC 4 - MCFC 5 - WSW 6 - AU 7 - Jets 8 - Nix 9 - CCM 10 - PG

Cheers Arto. There's a positive wind coming out of the Jets hanger (>.<) which would be because of the number of changes that have occurred but also decisions made. Hoping Marcos can heal well. I think life was looking a bit grim football-wise for him so he's indicating he wants to pay back the club big time. Montano's situation reminds me a lot of when Edmundo Zura was with us. For Zura the visa issues were more for his young family being stuck in Ecuador with little indication of when they could arrive here which, coupled with homesickness, isolation and not scoring goals played havoc with his confidence and well being. Certainly a Latin flavour with Montano and Flores, and Jeronimo is just great recruiting by Stubbins. Stubbins has been indicating a back three with Jeronimo and Griffiths up front, so what may occur with Montano remains to be seen (assuming Flores behind). Jeronimo likes to be the '9' but he could go wide to fit them all up front with some rotation in-game. Carney left mid although back trouble right now; Goodwin has been put back to his original left back role of his starting debut for Heart, while Madaschi and Barresi did well in trial last week. Stubbins did a 4-4-2 with diamond for the trial as a new variation (HAL10 trend?) to give a back four. Weston (NNSW NPL side) were only behind 2-1 first half (8-1 win ) so tomorrows FFA Cup game will be interesting this early in pre-season against Glory. Stubbins has done the hard yards as a coach rather than assistant so I expect he is not going to suffer self-doubt now he has earned an A-League side rather than been promoted within (so to speak) to hold the silver platter. He identified an improvement in the culture and mentality as well as personnel, and loves the potential of the club especially with the youth structure behind it. 'I'm not from Barcelona. I'm from Hull in the north of England. I see Newcastle is a similar environment to where I grew up. Nothing too fancy. I like good football and hard work and a winning mentality,' or words to that effect. I may have grabbed a red flag at the 'hard working bit, but he goes and brings in some Latin players (relax my grip a bit)...he could understand Novacastrians and their love of football better than most ;-) Its appears to be an even tighter and tougher season to predict. We are also on the road for opening 4 rounds so if we can get at least 6/12 points from that and make it high on the table at the right end of the season, he will have the keys of the city dangling like a carrot for the grand Final.

@ Aethelbert: I agree with you that Janjetovic is of HAL standard, but he's still only 26 and not yet in the Top 3 keepers in the league, which is what you want in your team to be Champions. The difference between a good goalkeeper and a great one is not how many points the goalkeeper earns your team (plenty of keepers can have an inspirational day!), but how many he doesn't cost you - the top keepers perform at a stabile high level and keep mistakes to an absolute minimum...

+1!!!! As I mentioned in a previous comment above, the goals per game ratio dropped like a stone once the Og-Monster arrived and with a full pre-season to work in Arnolds statistically tight defense, I'm quite confident that SFC will be able to close the open door that our defence has been at times since Lavicka left - signings like Fabio, Warren & an out-of-match-condition Neill made that somewhat of a given!! Plus, Abbas did an ok job at LB last year too and with Triantis coming back we will have plenty of competition (Dimitrijevic too) for that DM 'shield' position most successful sides employ!

@ Griffo: I reckon the Jets could do well - if Flores fires then they really could cause some teams problems (although this Montano thing needs to be sorted for that to happen too). The big unknown for me is how Stubbins will go - he could be a Vidosic/Durahkovic/Crook or he could be a Vidmar!!!

@ AZ_RBB & The Minister: Great analgies!!! The kebab call was priceless!!! ;-) IMO, I think the pudding is going to be more a big jelly - wobbling all the way through the final round with pretty much all the teams in contention for a Finals spot. Obviously, last year's Top 2 will be hard to beat, but they've lost a bit of their talent (IMO) and the chasers have really stepped up their pursuit (SFC & MV in particular) and with MC throwing the cat amongst the pidgeons who knows how things will go (SFC, MV, Jets & CCM play MC prior to the Asian Cup when Villa is destined to depart so make of that what you will!). We need to see more of the pre-season, but I'm predicting a very tight ladder before the Asian Cup break! :-)

@ The Minister: I think you can add MV & AU to that list of teams, It's going to be a more even league than last year's, IMO as the Jets have recruited well (IMO) and PG & WP could be dark-horses too. Plus, a Popovic-led WSW shouldn't be discounted either as they haven't lost so much talent that the #2 side from last year will drop out of Finals contention straight away...

@ Brian Orange: Sorry, but I don't agree with this: "The first quote that SFC didn’t need another central striker is made after Arnold has now signed up an additional 3 or 4 strikers on top of the 3 or 4 strikers he already has, on top of the 5 or 6 attacking midfielders he already has. In my opinion he didn’t need any more central strikers at this point in time." Of the SFC squad who can be described as attacking we have: Abbas (LM or LB), Antonis, (CM or CAM), Brosque (LM, LF or CF), Carle (CM or CAM), Gameiro (RM, RF or CF), Ibini (RM, RF or CF), Janko (CF), Naumoff (LM, CAM), Smeltz (CF), & Urosevski (CF) - who plays for the Youth team So in total we have 10 players (incl. Urosevski) for the front 5 positions (regardless of which formation Arnold chooses, I'm assuming a balanced mix of attacking & defensive midfielders). Arnold has publicly stated he wants 2 players for every position and he has shown the door to (Chianese, Despotovic, Garcia, Malia, & Powell, as well as losing ADP, and before him Emerton & Yau) the recruitment in terms of numbers seems justified. Then I would also argue that Brosque, Ibini & Janko are upgrades on Chianese, Despotovic, & Garcia - and that Gameiro, Smeltz are better than Malia & Powell so IMO Arnolds recruitment is also justified on quality too. Of course losing ADP is a step down quality-wise, but maybe SFC will have a better balanced attack. Yes, SFC need a better keeper if you rank the top keepers in the HAL (Galekovic, Covic, Vukovic, are my Top 3), but so do MV, MC, WP & CCM so it's obviously a position that is not exactly overflowing with great alternatives. Also, SFC conceeded 38 goals last year (which whilst far-from league-leading was dead on average for last season) and the majority of those goals came before Ognenovski arrived (Before: Played 18, Conceeded 27 for 1.5 goals per game; After: Played 10 Conceeded 13 for 1.3 goals per game) with only 2 of those games did SFC conceed more than 1 goal (2 on both occasions). So whilst he may not have the pace, he has the smarts & physique and can be covered for by the pacier Petkovic/Ryall, Bojic, and Abbas/Gersbach.

@ Franko & Fadida: Yeah, I assumed at first that SFC would play a 4-3-3, but have since heard 4-4-2 Diamond is a strong possiblity and based upon pre-season that is how it's looking like going. For me, it's a straight shoot-out between Antonis & Carle for the CAM role in either formation, although I'm sure Arnold is smart enough to try to incorporate both if the need arises. I must admit I hadn't seen Antonis as a Grella type - didn't Grella do a job that jedinak is trying to emulate? I think Gameiro may surprisingly enough get a fair bit of game-time as he works his arse off and that would fit in quite well in either a 4-4-2 Diamond (RM) or 4-3-3 (RW) that presses very high up the pitch. Plus, Gameiro can also be a back-up option to partner Janko/Smeltz up top given his previous experience in that role. He'll be competing with Ibini, IMO - Brosque vs Abbas/Naumoff on the other side...

@ Brian Orange: Not sure if you're an SFC fan, are you? Anyway, to answer your unspoken question - the DM options are Dimitirjevic & Triantis. I agree that that list may look a little light and time will tell if SFC need a better player in that position, but using the Int Marquee on that position was going to be a huge waste unless it is someone like Pirlo, Mascheano, or De Jong - all of whom are not available right now. Arnold has said from Day 1 almost that he wants 2 players for every position so that means that there has been a spot up top up for grabs and Arnold obviously believes using that spot for the 'Int Marquee' is the most beneficial. Whilst Brosque, Ibini and Gameiro can all play up front as out & out strikers, they are not in the mould of Smeltz and they are definitely not 'in-thebox' type strikers (they are more likely to run in behind the defence to score their goals). As for the goalkeeping department, well I both agree & disagree - Necevski has paid the price for being the perennial #2 by regressing to being simply an emergency back-up. Janjetovic is on an upward trajectory and is a more than competant shot-stopper (his work further out in the box and marshalling a back-4 needs to improve, but at 26 his best years are still to come so I'm expecting him to improve on last season, even if he's not Mat Ryan). Not sure whether Kalac is any good or not as a 'coach', but his experience is useful andgood goalkeeping coaches don't exactly grow on trees so hopefully he's a positive influence on the team...

How exactly is Janjetovic not A-League standard? He was the best player on the park in a few matches last season. I think you need to take a better look, just another Roar supporter who thinks Sydney FC is their main rival, the haters are getting the boot in while they can because a few seasons of Arnold they won't be able to.

FMD, go back to playing FM and leave proper football to people who have a clue.

Ibini and brosque are known for being wide players more than strikers. So in reality that is sydney fc with 2 strikers and a 2 more who can slot in there if required.

No we can't all lift the toilet seat or be Premiers but have noted in a few places the Jets have been written off...

Pudding is our bread and butter me laddies ;-)