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A nice polite, non-menacing start
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Drawing low on inspiration. Relying on frinkiacâs random quote button now.
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In all honesty, are there any hints of us signing any new players soon? Any credible rumours?
What happened to that Fijian bloke that was supposedly on trial?
Iâm starting to get concerned weâll just bomb out of the Champions League, yet again.
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Remember when we signed Anas and they interviewed Uffie and he said weâll have more signings ânext weekâ, well that was nearly a month ago now. So clearly some options that might have been viewed as near sure things have fallen through. Thats very concerning. We have some gaping holes in the lineup that were exposed against NPL opposition last week. Weâre in Asian football this year, we canât afford to wait until nearly the end of the window like we normally do. We need to get guys in, get them training with the squad and acclimatised, get some pre season friendlies under their belts and get them ready to go for the first AFC Cup game (I refuse to use the other name) in mid September. Never mind the fact weâve got a derby in round one of the AL, itâll be completely unacceptable if weâre not 100% ready to go for that.
GET IT DONE.
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Maybe i just have millennial brain aids but the long ones donât hit the same. I aint reading all that.
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Thatâs impossible to read to yourself without using Rv Lovejoys voice
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I personally think we should be getting our foreign signings sorted in July so they have more time to acclimatise, but around August seems to be when most of our foreign signings happen these days, so if weâre still in this spot come the end of August, I absolutely do think there will be a cause for concern. Maybe not just yet, though.
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Comin at ya
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Out of the latest batch, Lolley was listed as August 15, Mak August 9, Rodwell âAugustâ and the two Brazilians in mid September, so weâre not necessarily running late. Though like you, I do not endorse this habit which, from what we can gather, helps to save some money by reducing the number of weeks/months we pay a player for.
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Last year, Fabio and Lacerda was well into September, and that was catastrophic. I wonder whether things mightâve gone better if theyâd had an extra month to acclimatise, get to know their team-mates and the system, and had a few more competitive cup games under their belt before the train-wreck opening rounds. It couldnât have helped their harmony here or their confidence - I doubt we got anywhere near the best out of them.
This year we need to introduce five players into the first XI, and weâve locked in one.
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Yes, its a slow day
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Our Champions League starts in September, MatchDay 1 is 17-19 September.
I would think new players should be aclimatised for at least a month with the squad before we start jet setting all over Asia.
Anas looked half-cooked against Oakleigh, and heâd been here a month.
Given weâre going to have a longer season, were going to need more depth as well.
I know financially clubs and the league arenât great; but weâre going to be an embarrassment if were throwing 17 year olds who struggle in NPL1 up against Japanese and Korean professionals.
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lol
Stupid millennial.
Weâre really leaning into this policy of signing overseas players and only youth prospects on top of that (our âZidanes y Pavonsâ?)
Since the year we brought in Kosta, Brattan, Caceres and Gowser (2019-20 - what a batch!) the only players weâve brought in that werenât Visa players or youth (ours or other local) were Burgess, Donk, Elvis, OâToole and Amini (mid season) in 21-22 with Vlastelicka in 22-23 as an injury replacement. So 6 local players in 4 years (probably 5 given this off season) in that 23+ age range.
What that means on the pitch is that weâre relying on the 5 visa spots to make the squad competitive but otherwise pursuing the development of young players as our key approach. Given recent outgoing transfers this has been paying off, but we can also accept that we are unlikely to ever set the league on fire. The club has actually developed some really good kids in the past couple of years, arguably a better hit rate than one would usually expect, but done about OK on average w.r.t. quality of imports and as a result have ended up having OK league positions and finals performances, but never really looked a class above the pack.
More of the same beckons.
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I wonder if there is a timeframe for submitting squads for the Asian game matchday 1 that we will need players in before,
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Earlier this week, my cousins next door neighbours brother-in-law walked past someone who said his mate, who works at Sydney FC and knows Joe Lolley, was in Madrid and has it on good authority weâre finalising a move for Jude Bellingham.
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