Gone, for sure…
Gone, for sure…
Has Zlatan signed his Milan deal yet?
Alfie’s been great but I don’t mind a new foreign striker every couple of years. We can all admire the stability and continuity of this squad, nearly all being re-signed for 20-21, but you can have too much of a good thing, right?
He’s been good. But he, like many of the squad are on the wrong side of 30.
So are Diamanté and Scott Mc. Would sign both in a second.
Alfie’s outside the cap isn’t he?
Unless they’re looking to reduce the number of players that can be outside the cap down to 1 in the new CBA or any cap restructure it makes no sense to not re sign him.
Plus are we really going to be able to bring in a foreign striker during covid?
To play alongside other 30+ year olds? It’s about balance. McDonald and Diamante play alongside a mix of youth.
Le fondre plays in front of a 35 year old (albeit brilliant, but slowing) Ninkovic, and a 33 year old Baumjohann, alongside a 30 year old Kosta… ,
Not dissing any of their respective talents and CVs, but this is an ageing squad . It’s not being transitioned quickly enough as it is, or with the quality we need.
We dominated games when the summer heat dictated a slower pace and the cleverness of these playmakers shone through.
We’ve been shown up during the resumption, with the quicker pace of the game.
Like a chunk of foreign guys here, and at leagues all over the world (especially older guys, with kids etc) They will want to go home closer to families etc. It’s more than inevitable.
They probably want to re-sign him, it’s more if he wants to stay…
We did have the relatively low case load, it’s definitely a plus, coupled with crowds being allowed in stadiums etc.
Wasn’t that disproved? The analysis I read was that the game was pretty much continuing as it did before the break. Changing a team’s tempo is about way more than just the weather…
I doubt players care about the latter but taking the former point, we’d essentially be asking players to move away from their families (either direct families or extended families) who are presumably going to be staying in their country of origin, knowing there’s a real chance that if someone gets sick they won’t be able to be there to help out. I can’t see a lot of players of the age that we usually attract going for that.
Plus I’m not sure but surely the border closure makes things more complicated too.
At the least they’d have to bring families over etc. Definitely would be extremely complicated, but it’s still a few months down the track and we’re already re-opening borders to international students.
That’s part of my being OK with him moving on after two years. On a quick check I see that Alfie is actually 34 in December, which is older than I thought - and a credit to how hard he works to make it look like he’s a year or two younger despite playing nearly every minute. But combined with all of the above, I think we could do well getting in someone who is around 30-31.
It is outdated to believe being over 30 brings the end of a player’s useful career. (A bit like the old idea that women should not have their first child after 30.) Advances in sports science and nutrition make this a nonsense, although these things are obviously a case-by-case matter. The worst example of this prejudice was Allegri at AC Milan tossing over Pirlo at 32. As we know, Pirlo then went on to run the all-conquering Juve for four more seasons (including under Allegri!!) and also for the Italian national team, before heading to the MLS for three years.
There are obvious upper limits still - apart from King Kazu who will still be playing at 60 - but all over the world top players (the ones we most notice) are having longer and longer careers at the same of similar level. For example, Serie A has been really full of such players - and let’s exclude GKs here - like ADP, Zanetti, Maldini, De Rossi, Pippo Inzaghi, Totti, di Natale and Ibra (all players whose game required mobility and for many, speed), Many played on even after coming back from bad injuries. And in the HAL, players like Archie and Brosque (whose last season for us was close to his best, I think). It’s a case by case thing I am sure, but the sports science/medicine people will know when our players’ time is up, not us. I would not toss over Alf for age reasons. He is young at heart, lung and leg.
I’d toss him for not being Bobo.
Tis a crime I tells ya.
Pietro you remind me of Gab Marcotti always saying that in Italy a footballer is considered a youngster pretty much till they’re 30.
I don’t disagree that Alfie has a good engine for his age, but with so many players past 30 (and not just 30, 31, but a lot of 33, 34+ year olds) that can be a concern. Also, we like to see the odd new player each season. Too much stability can be boring, right?
Fair call on the fact that we shouldn’t toss someone out based on age, but at the same time, even with sports science, there is always a degredation in someone’s playing ability. Technically they may still be there, but post thirty, your speed starts to slow down, you become more injury prone etc. Using Pirlo as an example, probably isn’t the best as he represents the pinnacle of his profession. He already had something extra on top of most other sporting professionals in his area.
At the end of the day, the more a player is past 30, the more you need to re-evaluate how you use them. Having a 33 year old chasing through balls against 21 year old defenders isn’t going to be as good as having Buhagiar chasing through balls against the same defenders.
I’d be keen to see us try an aussie duo up front next season if we lose Kosta and Alfie. Jordi, Ivanovic, and Trent have all been pretty promising.
Very accurate analysis of our squad. This off-season is going to be one of our most important in the past 5 years. Our squad is on the decline and we need younger players who are high quality if we want to maintain our dominance. I think we should be looking to get rid of both of ALF and Kosta to get funding for new players. However because it may be difficult or even impossible to sign any new foreign players, perhaps we should be looking to poach some young Aussie talent from the other A league clubs. I personally think we should be looking at players like Burgess, D’Agostino, Ibini, Ugarkovic, Petratos, Halloran, Mcgree etc.
Obviously none of those guys are amazing but if we can’t get anyone better from overseas we really should be using our position as Australias most successful club to hopefully lure some younger guys who have shown they can be decent in the A league to the club.
I would say getting any of those guys to our club & bringing them it’s speed on the Sydney way would up their game, even our youf is leaps & bounds over certain elements of the A league.