Time for youth

[Stuckey]

It isn't just a matter of youth but also a matter of getting some game time under the belts of those players we need for the ACL. This needs to be our focus from here on in.

I wouldn't be writing the season off just yet. AU are still only three wins off the 6. Whether people agree with it or not that a side with one win for half a season can still make the finals is a good thing or not. Its still a decent possibility.

[mcjules]

My issue with dumping a whole heap of youth into the team is you end up like the Mariners (were particularly last season). Youth need experience around them to help them develop. At the moment our experienced players aren't performing though so it's tough.

[Stuckey]

My issue with dumping a whole heap of youth into the team is you end up like the Mariners (were particularly last season). Youth need experience around them to help them develop. At the moment our experienced players aren't performing though so it's tough.

I'm not really calling for the starting XI to be all NYL players. My point is more that, look at what some of the senior players are currently offering, and could a youth player in their current form offer a similar level of quality, skill, usefulness?

As mentioned (rightly or wrongly) there are some serious questions being asked of Holland, Carrusca, Guardiola, Euge just to name a few.

Could a youth player come in a offer a similar performance to those guys? If the answer is yes then that's great for the player and the club as it makes their development to HAL level more likely as they are now a key part of a side and have the opportunity to grow into a better player.
Of the three players I've been asking questions of,
Holland has a replacement in the waiting once he is fit in McGree I've been nothing but impressed with him all season.
Carrusca IMO has no clear replacement but IMO needs replacing. I think the club needs a turn around now and can't wait for him to take another few weeks to get back up to speed. His flicks and tricks are very entertaining but his primary role is to get balls into the area. He's not doing that anywhere near enough. So I'd be happy to see O'Doherty come in. Or I would love to see Kitto offered a chance there as I really don't believe has a natural winger. Which may allow O'Doherty the chance to play his natural position which is the wing.
Guardiola if he was only able to eat food when he received a ball to take a shot the bloke would have died of starvation weeks ago. The only time he gets fed the ball is when he has to go deeper and chase a kick but then everyone gets upset he's no longer up front. But he is still getting the odd chance and which is generally getting fluffed. So I wouldn't be sad to see him put into the NYL for a game to get his scoring boots back and Marino is offered a chance.


My XI

.......................................Euge
Elrich/Marrone..McGowan..La Rocca/Reegs..Garuccio
........................................Isaias
..........................McGree
..................................................Kitto
O'Doherty....................Marino.......................Cirio

Subs
Hall
Henrique
Elrich/Marrone
Holland/Mells
La Rocca/Reegs

[Old Gregg]

My take on Carrusca is that he's actually working as hard (or harder) than he ever has, as he has to take up some of the slack that comes with not having a Mauk or Jeggo alongside him in midfield (though to be fair Holland is improving workrate a little too).
The difference is that he had a wonderful understanding with Djite, and they were very effective playing off each other, whereas he and Guardiola are not on the same page at all.
Long story short, I want to keep Carrusca here until he retires, but we do need to think about bringing in another player who can do the things he does. Whether that's Vidosic, someone out of the youth league, or someone else, I don't know (it sure as hell isn't Makarounas or Mells).

[General Ashnak]

I don't want to dump Henrique out of the squad, I want him on the bench. Also Garuccio should be on the wing.

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[shinAUFC]

I dont really support throwing the youth players in.

They need to be supported and slowly built up to starting. Just throwing them into an inexperienced side will almost certainly kill their spirit and confidence.

Do i support playing marino ahead of guardiola who is out of here in a few months? Yes

[Old Gregg]

I would like to hear from Amor as to why Marino doesn't feature. Have any of our fearless local football journalists asked him in press conferences or anything? I'm starting to believe that Guardiola has some kind of 'must-play' clause in his contract or something, or that Marino shagged Amor's wife or something

[Interloper]

The only slightly-rational justification for continuing to play Guardiola is to be 100% certain before deciding he's not worth one of the import slots for ACL.

That said, other than Marino there's not much youth left to be played other than the ones already out there.

[Ghost]

I would like to hear from Amor as to why Marino doesn't feature. Have any of our fearless local football journalists asked him in press conferences or anything? I'm starting to believe that Guardiola has some kind of 'must-play' clause in his contract or something, or that Marino shagged Amor's wife or something

Grant Mayer was asked on twitter yesterday whether there was a must play cause in Guardiola's contract and he denied there was one.
.
Amor should be being asked the question and we should be able to hear an answer. For instance, to pull something out of thin air, Amor might say he that he does not believe Marino presses and chases enough and even though he has told him that he has not seen any improvement in youth team games. If we heard a explanation like that we might not agree with it but we could at least understand what is happening.

[sevengoals]

I would like to hear from Amor as to why Marino doesn't feature. Have any of our fearless local football journalists asked him in press conferences or anything? I'm starting to believe that Guardiola has some kind of 'must-play' clause in his contract or something, or that Marino shagged Amor's wife or something

Yes, I've also been thinking the same...
Either a "must play" or he costs so much the pressure comes from "above" to play him to justify the outlay and expense.

[Ghost]

I dont really support throwing the youth players in.

They need to be supported and slowly built up to starting. Just throwing them into an inexperienced side will almost certainly kill their spirit and confidence.

Do i support playing marino ahead of guardiola who is out of here in a few months? Yes

In the team I would be looking at.
Kitto now has played a number of games and he is not really just being thrown in.
Mileusnic seems to be finding his feet at the level and is not really that young
O'Doherty has performed well in his games.
Marino has played a number of games and played well for Melbourne City.

So it is not like we are throwing a number of players for their debuts or the whole team will be young players. The defence will be experienced A-league players and I include Garuccio in that he has played over 50 games. Isaias and Cirio would still be in the middle to guide O'Doherty. The front three would be fairly inexperienced but Henrique would be on the bench if more experience was needed. It could be a very good balance of youth and experience.

It would send a message to the senior players that they will be dropped if they are not playing near their best.

[Stuckey]

My take on Carrusca is that he's actually working as hard (or harder) than he ever has, as he has to take up some of the slack that comes with not having a Mauk or Jeggo alongside him in midfield (though to be fair Holland is improving workrate a little too).
The difference is that he had a wonderful understanding with Djite, and they were very effective playing off each other, whereas he and Guardiola are not on the same page at all.
Long story short, I want to keep Carrusca here until he retires, but we do need to think about bringing in another player who can do the things he does. Whether that's Vidosic, someone out of the youth league, or someone else, I don't know (it sure as hell isn't Makarounas or Mells).

That is very different to my recollection of the Djite-Carrusca relationship.
I don't recall them linking up very often at all.
IMO Carrusca is a shadow of the man that was busting a gut late last season. Not by choice I just don't think he has the fitness he had last season. He could get back to that but that is still weeks away.
I still struggle to see his true worth sometimes. He is rarely in a position to play his true role of the creative #10.
How often do we see this from him?

He should be the player just outside the area with the ball facing goal. From this position he is able to play an attacking ball into two areas. Either thru to a striker to take a shot from a very get-able position. Or out to the winger where from the edge of the area should be able to play a number of varied balls into the area. This ball also spreads the defence wider as well creating space for the #10 and other approaching players to find. This was something I feel Jeggo was very good at quite often he was able to get into this position and make a ball into the area then still have the legs to get himself into the area as well and make a contribution too.


Secondly he is rarely coming into the area late creating an additional option for the winger to play towards. This is where a striker can be critical (which is something Bruce was very good at) as they can draw multiple players closer to the goal mouth and a late running midfielder is more likely to find space around the penalty spot to take a relatively get-able shot, which if on target can be difficult to save with a number of players crowded in front of the keeper and the possibility of a deflection throws another aspect of difficulty towards the keeper.

As I've said before I'm not saying Carrusca is useless he often maintains possession very well and can be a wonderful outlet for players using his high level of skill to escape difficult situations but if he's playing as AU's #10 then I think that isn't enough from him. I'm also not saying he never does the things I've mentioned I'm saying we don't see enough of that from him.

[Stuckey]

[bpowell454]

Apart from a couple of wonder strikes for Jeggo, Barbiero, Djite and Isiais, have we ever had a great long distance shooter? We seem to rarely shoot from beyond 20 yards. Apart from Elrich's 'attempt' on friday night, not even sure that Thomas was off his line lol.

[Stuckey]

Apart from a couple of wonder strikes for Jeggo, Barbiero, Djite and Isiais, have we ever had a great long distance shooter? We seem to rarely shoot from beyond 20 yards. Apart from Elrich's 'attempt' on friday night, not even sure that Thomas was off his line lol.

I doubt the club really seeks out players who can shoot from long distance. In reality if a club is relying on that sort of goal to get ahead then there are serious issues.

That video was just an example of what can happen if a #10 is in position although its not exactly the situation I'm talking about that's a more a rough and spectacular example of it.