Pre-season fixtures

[sub007]

So what is the back up if Lula loses form, gets injured or we play a physical team like Auckland? He has no physical or aerial presence and last season we saw the need for different attributes up front, which Archie did offer.
A season is long and pre season is never the best indicator of the actual season in many aspects. Not saying Luka is no good, just no way him alone will be enough & the current squad offers little alternatives up front.
Some might wonder if the club intends on spending 1% of the fee Archie got the club as there are a few decent free agents available now.

We have Ayoubi but I’m sure they’ll sign another striker. I’m saying that if we can’t get a good quality visa striker, Luka is more than good enough to start and the new striker will be on the bench.

[Stuckey]

I've liked so much of what I've seen from Ayoubi. It will be interesting to see how players like him who I feel didn't get as much game time as they should have under Carl go with Airton.

[MartinAUFC]

Given Luka has been pretty prolific this pre-season as well as the potential he’s shown in previous seasons, I’d be perfectly okay with him being our starting striker next season.

What a surprise

Because he’s good and undoubtedly one of the most promising players at the club? Why do you hate him so much lol

I don't hate him. I think he's a good finisher and he could certainly do a job as part of a 2 up front.
But I also think he struggles in other areas which make him not good enough to play as a No.9 on his own imho.

You, on the other hand, seem to regard him as the second coming of Mark Viduka

[sub007]

Given Luka has been pretty prolific this pre-season as well as the potential he’s shown in previous seasons, I’d be perfectly okay with him being our starting striker next season.

What a surprise

Because he’s good and undoubtedly one of the most promising players at the club? Why do you hate him so much lol

I don't hate him. I think he's a good finisher and he could certainly do a job as part of a 2 up front.
But I also think he struggles in other areas which make him not good enough to play as a No.9 on his own imho.

You, on the other hand, seem to regard him as the second coming of Mark Viduka

I think he can play as a lone 9 even if he does have some weaknesses such as going missing for periods (which he can fix) and being an aerial threat (which he can’t fix). With that being said, he’s good with the ball at his feet as well as being a good finisher.

[sub007]

Going by Bart’s Instagram story, we beat Victory 2-1 this afternoon.

[MartinAUFC]

Given Luka has been pretty prolific this pre-season as well as the potential he’s shown in previous seasons, I’d be perfectly okay with him being our starting striker next season.

What a surprise

Because he’s good and undoubtedly one of the most promising players at the club? Why do you hate him so much lol

I don't hate him. I think he's a good finisher and he could certainly do a job as part of a 2 up front.
But I also think he struggles in other areas which make him not good enough to play as a No.9 on his own imho.

You, on the other hand, seem to regard him as the second coming of Mark Viduka

I think he can play as a lone 9 even if he does have some weaknesses such as going missing for periods (which he can fix) and being an aerial threat (which he can’t fix). With that being said, he’s good with the ball at his feet as well as being a good finisher.

I don't think his hold up play is good enough to play effectively as a lone 9. For me his best game was the season before last when he played just behind Hiro in a free role across the front line. He was a constant menace that day.

It will be interesting to see if Andrioli is as locked into the 4-2-3-1 formation as Veart was. If he is then Luka will have to improve significantly in his weak areas in order to thrive as the 1.

[Stuckey]

Adelaide United’s Men’s and Women’s teams will go head-to-head with the RAA NPLSA and Apex Steel WNPL Team of the Year in two exciting All-Star Series matches at ServiceFM Stadium on Saturday 20 September.

https://adelaideunited.com.au/news/adel ... -series-2/

Great to see these sort of games. Hopefully there is lots more of this so the players in between the NPL side and AL side get more minutes.

I'm not sure how someone like Kwaaitaal can develop if he's not a regular starter in the AL side.

[Stuckey]

2-2 Draw yesterday vs The SA NPL All-Stars. Goals from Goody and Burkitt which is hopefully a good segue towards Brody getting a senior contract!
AUFC ended up winning 5-4 on penalties.

Great to see the blend of NPL and AL sides coming together. Although I think a draw v an NPL side who have never played as a squad together isn't a huge boost of confidence.

[The Claw]

Are there many more pre-season games to go?
I have noticed that clean sheets appear to be a rarity with United and cant help but feel our defence is still a major issue. LB and CB is very thin and I’d hat to think what happens if Pana or Bart get injured or lose form. I would say that it’s similar up front if Luka goes down, it’s basically someone out of position or a youth striker.

I’m not feeling optimistic when I look at our off season recruiting and unproven coaching panel.

Hope to be wrong.

[Stuckey]

AU play MV again this pre season in Mildura early October I think.

With the season still a month away. I presume there will be more games.

[sub007]

Are there many more pre-season games to go?
I have noticed that clean sheets appear to be a rarity with United and cant help but feel our defence is still a major issue. LB and CB is very thin and I’d hat to think what happens if Pana or Bart get injured or lose form. I would say that it’s similar up front if Luka goes down, it’s basically someone out of position or a youth striker.

I’m not feeling optimistic when I look at our off season recruiting and unproven coaching panel.

Hope to be wrong.

We have two strikers coming in and plenty of depth at LB. CB depth is scary and not in a good way.

[MartinAUFC]

We have two strikers coming in and plenty of depth at LB. CB depth is scary and not in a good way.

Any rumours on who these strikers might be Sub ? From what I could understand from his broken English, Ernest was suggesting they would be "young" players. Now is that young compared to the rest of our off season recruitment ? Which would be anything under 30. Or young as in they go straight into the NPL squad for "development" ?

[MartinAUFC]

2-2 Draw yesterday vs The SA NPL All-Stars. Goals from Goody and Burkitt which is hopefully a good segue towards Brody getting a senior contract!
AUFC ended up winning 5-4 on penalties.

Great to see the blend of NPL and AL sides coming together. Although I think a draw v an NPL side who have never played as a squad together isn't a huge boost of confidence.

Was anyone else at Service FM on the weekend ? Looked like we were playing a good old fashioned 4-4-2 with Ayoubi and Goody up front.

At first I thought Craig must be playing as 10 in behind with Austin as a lone striker, but as the game wore on they both seemed to be coming deep quite a bit. Kinda like 2 false nines.

It didn’t really work though – no shots on target in the first half. It might have worked better with a box to boxer like Mauk making runs, but Alagich and Duzel mainly stayed put while Madana and Dukuly patrolled the wings.

I thought things improved once Burkitt came on. He provided more of a focal point up top. I’m not convinced Ayoubi can be effective playing centrally.

[sub007]

We beat Metrostars 6-2 behind closed doors today.

https://adelaideunited.com.au/news/reds ... -premiers/

[sevengoals]

What happened in Mildura?