The above is what I had been reading too. Korean team fans seemed to like him, Adelaide fans seem upset he signed with someone else, and even Sydney fans elsewhere seem very happy with the signing. It’s like I’m living in the twilight zone.
He’s a good player. Give him some time.
We’ve been spoilt with some instant successes.
Not every player is going to turn a 7 figure fee within months of coming into the senior team.
The next Elvis maybe?
Yeah, I think we need to put things into perspective. He was partnered with a player who was younger than him, and the back line was changing a fair bit. In general, our defensive structure wasn’t well structured.
Perhaps when paired alongside a more experienced defender (A. Grant) he might be more solid.
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He also gets to learn from Wilko every day which can only make him even better
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Shaw was not ‘discarded’ he chose to leave for spirit for playing minutes, and it seems to have worked.
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All your Alex’s are not equal.
Has Popovic played much since we basically abandoned the high press? I remember even Matthews looking exposed while we were still doing that, and we know how good he can be normally. Willing to think Popovic could be better if the tactics suit him.
But he does need to be better
I’ve been a bit intermittent this season, but from what I saw on Saturday we definitely haven’t abandoned the high press.
It might have been about that first time it’s worked, this season.
I think it used to be all the time but now it’s a bit more selective. We definitely do still do it a bit. Either way, being a bit more cautious with it resulted in our best run of results for the season (before the two losses back to back…)
I don’t think anyone is hating personally on Popovic. It is fair, though, to question why we’re paying a transfer fee, when we don’t really have the funds for it, on someone who has been average at best for us, even in his early 20s. I’d have at least waited for his contract to expire before bringing him back, especially given he has a potentially long term injury.
Also this decision was made hot off the heels of signing Sotirio. Fans are jittery at the moment and understandably so.
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I think our backline needs some stability.
You can’t drop shaw after that performance either.
Gurd is out for an “extended period of time” after breaking his collarbone in training.
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Poor bloke.
Sounds like he needs a bit more calcium in his diet, as he seems to break a lot of bones.
Wish him a speedy recovery.
The transfer fee could have been very small. From a funds perspective, we did just get well over $2m for Matthews.
Someone else might know how it works better than I do but maybe it was just easier to pay a ‘peppercorn’ transfer fee instead of Popovic going through a mutual termination with them and then signing a new contract with us etc - possibly a time constraint thing too if we were running out of time? Maybe we just copped a small $50k fee (for example) to them because it was easier for everyone and got it over the line. Just a guess though.
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I actually like Popovic, he’s not outstanding but good enough to be in the starting squad for most A league teams so can be second fiddle at Sydney no probs.
I’m sure we didn’t pay much for him either.
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Would’ve preferred simply extending his loan deal until seasons end and give Kyle Shaw a 6-12 month deal. Let them compete and prove who is worthy of 3.5 years.
Kyle was far more composed and comfortable last game, also looked like a player with better football IQ.