The general feeling I get from Corica’s signings is he’s probably missed more than he’s hit. You bring players in to improve the squad. Sure, you can say ALF, Brattan and McGowan added a lot to the first team. Burgess, when given the chance, can very much do the same. Kosta started alright and declined, albeit in a role he has never ever been suited to.
He has given a few youth players a chance, but he’s torn between pursuing trophies and making the most of our academy set-up. I don’t think Wood was given nearly enough minutes to keep developing as he may have, and we will probably lose him as a result.
Outside of that, you can’t really say his signings have been a hit, and many of them have not been helped by being played away from their best role. De Jong isn’t a RAM, Amini isn’t a #6, Narsingh isn’t a second striker, and Mitch Austin isn’t a playmaker or striker. Oh, and 36/37-yo Bobo should not be chasing balls down the channels. Fuck me dead …
I see where you’re coming from. And in the absence of Brattan, he’s often moved the ball quicker than the other three midfielders, which is often an assortment of Ninko, Burgess and Caceres. Sure, his distribution can be erratic at times but at his best, Retre always uses two quick touches: one to trap, then another to move the ball on with a simple pass.
As much as I love Ninko, Burgess, and (sometimes) Caceres, must they really insist on touching the ball 5-6 times 90% of the time before moving it on? It allows defences to get set against us most of the time. That kind of ball play relies on forwards making good runs in behind. It would be fine if Buhagiar was even a decent finisher, but sadly he isn’t. And a deep defence will heavily reduce the effectiveness of any quick striker.
All this talk of Pat wood not getting the game time he deserves - perhaps he Corica, and the extended coaching staff, have seen something in training (attitude etc) that we are not privy to?
you often hear about players that are great trainers and poor performers and poor trainers who can turn it on in games
OK, yes, there have been the odd ones that haven’t turned out too well. I think there are enough replies already that talk about the hits and misses. My point is that recruiting for one or two positions for what is already a well established team is a lot less of a challenge than recruiting for several roles in rebuild.
Based on what I’ve seen on the field, there’s surely enough good things about Wood that warrant him getting more minutes. His finishing is better than most of the other strikers we have. He’s also quite aggressive in closing down opposition defenders, which you can’t really say about any of our other strikers.
Sure, he likely needs to improve his overall game, but you have to show you’re at least useful for something before deserving extra game time. I’d think it would be better in the long-term than simply throwing on Buhagiar, Narsingh and Kosta, and having them under-perform instead. At least Wood theoretically has more chance of improving, but again it’s the argument of trophies vs development that perhaps is less clear than we think.
I know I’m not really answering your question, but I think most of us can only comment on what we see on the field.
Yup thats possible. Ivanovic didnt do incredibly this season (3 goals 1 assist from 20 appearances but mainly from the bench) though nothing too bad about that and Swibel, who I thought was hard done by at us, got all of 34 minutes this season at the Wanderers despite their misfiring attack.
I was actually pleased we got rid of Swibel. He had some chances off the bench for us and showed very little, if anything at all. I’d say he’s most likely to fit in better in NPL1 or a NSD down the track.
I can’t think of many (any?) young forwards that we’ve let go over the years that I’ve regretted. Tilio is probably the exception, but I was thinking more about strikers. Chianese, Powell, Blackwood, Ivanovic, Swibel - they haven’t exactly gone on to great things (yes, the last two haven’t had much time).
I guess we will see in a few years whether Wood joins that list.
We also have to ask ourselves how many young Australian strikers in the last handful of years belonged at a top A-League Men team? The list would be almost empty, honestly.
I think we all lament Buhagiar’s poor finishing but I think that’s reflective of the number of chances he has been creating (maybe some xG expert will prove me wrong). I think his runs have become a lot smarter as the season has progressed. Wood is probably more clinical but he didn’t create as many chances.
I tend to fall into that trap too with Trent. He actually makes things happen in a way basically no-one else in our side can and for that reason I’d always find a place for him in the squad. But with him it’s the hope that kills you!
I don’t think it’s a reasonable comparison because of the massive disparity in minutes, but for A-League in 2020-22 (where we actually have xG data through FotMob):
It is difficult to perform a skill at that speed. He probably could learn the skill and be a great striker. The problem is he needs time to learn and that is something that I doubt even Sydney is willing to give him any more.
He just crushes your hopes. I can’t see him staying in the A league any longer.
I would be really disappointed if we didn’t hold on to Buhagiar, I know there are a lot of people who disagree based on his stats, but I’m always keen to see if on the pitch and think he causes problems for defenders (not just with his pace).
I just want to see the same Buhagiar that we saw in the ACL a year or so ago where he caused havoc for defenders (and score a few goals). Part of that though was the opposition allowing him too much space behind the lines to run in to. A-League opposition more effectively prevent that.
