It is difficult to speculate on who will be playing in what position when Zullo and De Jong are out and there are a number of players either returning from injury or international duty or have only recently signed. Assuming everyone on the player sheet is 100% match fit; my guess is…
Steve Corica has experimented with formations and positioning within formations for the first half of the season but for the past few weeks has had most success with a 4-4-2 formation built around a square formation of two DMs in front of two CBs. The recent signing of a second quality striker would suggest that Alf and Reza will start up front in a 4-4-2 formation with Brosque to come off the bench at the 55 to 65 minute mark for Reza. The midfield will probably be Milos, Branners, Brillante and Ivan/Retre and the defensive line will be Warland/Retre, Wilko, Van Der Linden/Calver, Grant.
With Fornaroli being paid to watch from the stands, City’s main scoring threat is De Laet who will probably position himself on our left so whoever is our LB should hold back and defend leaving Grant to bomb up the sideline on our right.
I think the big dilemma for Corica is the RCB position. I feel sorry for Calver; given his big chance to shine in his preferred position of RCB he then had to provide cover in his less preferred position of RB. He reminds me of a young Matt Jurman and I think he will only improve with more experience but Van Der Linden is returning from injury and if he can recapture his early season form, is the better pick for this week.
Given the signing of Reza and the known defensive frailties of City, I think we will finish with a three goal advantage, the only real question is “can we keep a clean sheet?”
Nothing more appropriate than finishing up at Kogarah with yet more trackwork.
I make that 4/7 games there affected, one of those that wasn’t was the Fri night game against CCM (so only 2/6 weekend games were normal service via the T1 line).
The next two games for us are Brisbane and CCM whilst next round Perth and MVFC play each other. Today is a must win game.
I was looking through the season darw and the penultimate round has everyone in the current top six playing each other with us playing Perth at home. This could be one of the most exciting season finishes ever.
A lot of trust and faith has been put in Ivanovic, but he is still very young with little experience. Risky move by Corica and kind of an insult to dds
