So he’s had a decent number of competitive games now, so what are people’s thoughts on Corica as a manager?
I’d say based on early games he shares a common weakness with Arnie, in that his subs tend to be quite late in the game and not hugely impactful (which may be a result of the players he has to work with, particularly with our somewhat thin bench at the moment).
Bimbis had a pretty solid start. Dare I saw hes following the Muscat play book of copying what the manager before him did and slowly making it his own.
Arnies definitely beating him in shit talk but other than that its been a good and promising start to whats hopefully a long and successful managerial career.
I think he’s doing a good job so far. While not being 100% his doing, the recruitment in the pre-season was fantastic (yes, De Jong’s history with was always going to be a risk), and the team is playing some really nice football. Can’t complain so far.
Pass mark so far. Hard to complain, as we’re getting results and we are also playing solid chunks of good football. My main crtiticism is that he seems a bit ‘safe’ - leaves things be as per his pre-match game plan, particularly subs. Having said that, we have a much thinner bench this year and he must have his doubts with Charlie (warranted) and DaSilva (also warranted - injury, form). As much as I disliked the way Simon played anti-football, he made a difference disrupting play that Charlie isn’t doing and Carney had a lot of guile that made up for his lack of pace.
To Corica’s credit, he has integrated a new striker and stopper and dealt with losing his most creative player, replaced with 3 different options (Buhagiar, DDS, De Jong)… would be a disaster scenario for many coaches - but he should be giving a bit of his wage to Arnie and the management team for all the solid team management last few years
Strong pass for me. Hasn’t tried to re-invent the wheel but has slightly adapted the playing style, mostly attack where we tend to be more direct than the last few years, due to injuries and a weaker side than Arnie had.
He doesn’t appear to be overwhelmed by the job and looks to have a strong command over the squad while maintaining the good atmosphere from Arnie’s reign.
Appointing Uffy as is assistant looks to be a good move as well.
The downside, as mentioned by everyone, is he leaves subs too late like Arnie. When the game is close, like Saturday night, I don’t mind him not bringing guys on as the bench is a lot weaker than previous years. In some of the cup games though he should have given guys like Charlie & Devlin a lot more time.
I’m still thinking it’s too early to judge. It feels like most of what Corica is doing, is continuing on from the Arnie legacy. Not that i’m blaming him, you’re not going to come into one of the greatest Australian sporting teams and shake things up for the sake of it. Next year will be the telling year as he slowly makes the team his own.
Still, Phil Moss didn’t have such a great time when he took over from Arnie.
Not sure if this is just due to fitness/coincidence or if it is actually the result of tactical changes but almost every game under Corica we’ve had a strong first half and faded in the second. We probably would’ve won both the FFA cup final and the game against Newcastle if we didn’t fade in the second half.
Corica is doing okay so far but we definitely need to start dominating more matches and not letting the opposition come back at us in the second half.
I think that’s more a case of having a weaker bench/less depth than it is fitness. Last year Arnie could bring on Retre, Carney & Simon. Last Saturday & in the final he had to choose from a coming back to fitness DDS, Charlie, Calver & Devlin. That’s a lot less experience as well as defensive ability to be able to ride out a game away from home, let alone a final.
Don’t forget that we no longer have Clarkie.
I reckon he’s doing a top notch job and he’ll only get better as he gains more experience. We’ve got to remember he was thrown into the deep end a bit trying to keep our success without Bobo, Adrian, Buijs. He’s recruited really well to replace those players
That’s not valid at all.
We’re missing De Jong and Buhagiar, with DDS is coming back from injury. The equivalent last season would be missing Mierzejewski and Simon, with Brosque coming back from injury.
In that case we could well have been starting Carney (for Brosque) and Retre (for Adrian) with a bench of Brosque, Charlie, Calver and probably Zuvela.
Exactly the same.
Using your example, last season it would be like missing Adrian & Brosque with Carney coming back from injury. Simon wasn’t a starter and would come in for Brosque and Adrian would be replaced by either Carney, Retre or Zuvela. That would still leave a bench of:
Cisak, Warland (3rd choice CB), 2 of Retre (2st choice LB/RB, 3rd choice DM/CM, 4th choice RW), Zuvela (4th choice CM/DM rookie), Carney (2nd choice LW/AM) & Charlie (3rd choice ST)
Optimal bench was: Cisak, Warland, Retre, Carney, Simon
We are currently missing Warland, Zuvela, Buhagiar & Siem. That means our bench is made up of:
Cisak, Calver (4th choice CB), Devlin (5th choice DM/CM rookie), DDS (2nd choice RW/AM), Charlie (3rd choice ST)
Optimal bench is: Cisak, Warland, Retre, DDS/Buhagiar, Brosque
In a fit XI I’m thinking that DDS starts (which was Brosque last year), Brosque drops to the bench as the first attacking option (which was Carney last year), and Buhagiar is on the bench as second attacking option (which was Simon last year). That’s why I went with Simon as equivalent of Buhagiar, but if you’re going to call it Brosque being out then it’s even moreso my point.
2017/18: Front four starters: Retre Ninko Bobo Simon. Bench: Cisak Calver Zuvela Carney* (injured) Charlie
2018/19: Front four starters: Retre Ninko ALF Brosque. Bench: Cisak Calver Devlin DDS* (injured) Charlie
I really don’t see how the depth is worse than last year given equivalent injuries.
Depth is the same injuries are worse
Fair point. The only downgrade when you put it your way is DDS on Carney. We’re definitely worse off for wide cover though.
I don’t think anyone is saying that our bench is poor if there are no injuries. Problem is that with current injuries, we have an extremely weak and inexperienced bench
“I played against ‘Musky’, I’ve played in the same team as ‘Musky’ as well in Wolves [Wolverhampton Wanderers], we are very good friends still.
Corica out!
Seriously Corica needs to work on his banter.
I was going to post the same thing about a similar article on twg. Corica’s not playing to the base here.
Muscat and friend should not be in the same sentence