I'm a bit bewildered by the questioning or outright hostility towards CV on this forum. Veart is doing a very difficult job with very limited resources. The side is much diminished from even last season's edition and yet we are attacking, fluid and dangerous - everything that we were not under (say) Aurelio Vidmar or Marco Kurz. The ultra defensive compact model has been comprehensively thrown out the window for a wide game of attacking fluidity - and 3 cheers to CV for adopting that strategy.
There was an interesting statistic revealed on the telecast that I only learned when I watched the match at home - in our last 3 games, AUFC has out-passed, out-possessed and out-shot every team in the competition - bar none. We've had something like 42 shots on goal in those 3 games. Granted, we didn't win any of those 3 games, but it's the gaffer's job to set the team up and get them playing as he wants them to play and then it's the job of the players to execute. If the players don't score, having been set up correctly to get them into scoring positions, then whose fault is that? An average of 14 shots on goal in our last 3 matches says to me that the gaffer IS doing his job and that it's the players who need to sharpen up in front of goal.
There was a match against the filth last season in which the filth did not get a single shot into our 18 yard box for the entire game. That is when hard questions need to be asked of the gaffer - as indeed the filth fans did and their gaffer was eventually sacked.
My question to the critics of CV is - if you were in his place, what would you have done differently? Our side this year looks like the seconds team from last year, but we still look competitive, we are creating loads of chances and some of the kids coming through are looking really impressive. I think that we should all take a deep breath and be grateful that we are not absolute last and looking like the competition's easybeats.
Anyway - enough of a rant. A couple of thoughts from the last match -
1. Wellington have been gutted by departures. Losing Stephen Taylor, Davila and the Israeli (Hemed?) has torn the heart out of them. Unless they can pick up some bargains in the transfer market this month, or bring on some kids who are knocking around in the NZ semi-professional leagues, then it's a long, long season ahead for them and another wooden spoon beckons.
2. Bernardo is a keeper (pun intended). He has his dad's mercurial ability to dance around his opponents and had a couple of chances to score. With a full season in his legs, he could be the ready made replacement for Isa when he eventually retires.
3. On the subject of keepers, how lucky are we with our junior keepers? Every time that we have to throw a kid on to the pitch for an unexpected injury, they pass with colours flying. Full credit to Eugene and his goalkeepers program; whatever he is doing with them, it's working.
4. Ryan Kitto could have found his true home at LB. It's been a massive hole for us since Ryan Strain left; so maybe Ryan K. can replace the departed Ryan S. Ryan K. can then feed Goody (as the old Ryan used to do).
5. Javi Lopez is finally showing us what 200 games in La Liga does to a player - makes him effortlessly classy on the ball. We have a lot of upside to come with him.
6. Goody is finally knocking the rust off. Having a shortened pre-season and the ankle surgery really showed in the first 5 - 6 rounds. Now he is close to his darting, dangerous best. A sharp Goody is a potent AUFC.
There were only 4,400 at Coopers on Saturday evening, which was a shame. My daughters and I watched the first match of the double header as well and they both said that they enjoyed the women's match more. It was a quality display by the women (who won 4 - 2 - and Emily Condon scored a contender for the GOTY), so I'm perplexed as to why the crowds were down. (The women's match had a crowd of 1,400). There wasn't any cricket on and the AFLW hasn't started yet. Maybe a few Reds fans are fairweather fans only ....?
IMO we’ve been better than our results would indicate.
I agree CV is doing a good job.
(Mind you, I’ll support our coach as long as they’re our coach, regardless of who it is.)
I reckon that Covid and the fear of transmission is a big part of the drop off in attendance numbers. The longer the pandemic goes the more that the habit of attending games is disrupted and people find alternative ways of attending to their interests. For example, watching on TV. In some cases, there interests continue on a reduced basis or eliminated altogether.
RedTide - I am critical of Carl's lack of a plan B, unwillingness to adapt to the players we have and his player selections (Kitto showed this week why he should be starting above Cavallo at LB). I have said a few times though that I don't want CV to go, I want him to improve and do better. I am more than happy to eat my words if I am proven wrong though. Like everyone riding Bruce Djite during his drought, everyone just wants him to do better, not get the flick and forgotten about.
I wholeheartedly agree that CV can only be as good as the players he is given allows. The current owners have given up obviously, hopefully new owners aren't far away.
Good rant RedTide, this is why I log in. (Though should probably be moved to the Veart? Thread)
I'm not sure how much fault sits with Carl, I've raised elsewhere the concerns around strength and conditioning and clearly recruiting with any cohesive plan is an issue.
But like bPowell mentions, it's his lack of plan B, his substitutions, his inability to take a squad and use a formation to get the best out of them rather than shoving square pegs in to round holes that are a worry.
Like most of you, I want to keep him on but want him to do better.
Acknowledge what both BP and Rojos are saying - but I think it is less that CV is too rigid; much more like he has a system and he expects professional athletes to be able to work to his system. In my extremely humble opinion, he has a vision for the style of football that he wants to play and he is determined to impose that on the squad that he has.
Perhaps past gaffers have been too ready to change their vision/system and fall back on a Plan B? For my money, I like his determination.
It's probably worth noting too that there are some large gaps in what he would have thought was his best XI at the end of last season - no Strain, Goodwin undergoing surgery, Yengi doing his ACL in a training run, Halloran being snapped up by the K-League and then last weekend, having to call on our fourth choice goalkeeper. (Maybe Stephen Hall should be renamed Stephen Bradbury?!). So now the burden falls on the younger players to execute a plan for which they were only expected to be the supporting cast, not the main leads.
It's understandable that everyone wants success from Rd 1, but professional sport doesn't work like that. Our most successful gaffers were Josep Gombau and Gui Amour; we didn't win a match for 8 rounds under Josep and it took Gui a full year to get the side playing to his system, but then look at the success that we had with both of them.
I guess that my point is that success takes time. Deep breaths ... and a little patience, hey chaps?
