2012/13 pre season

[MFKS]

Didn't make the game as was stuck at work but Chicken Busters comments on Virgili are interesting. The kid has been very good in recent yoof league fixtures scoring goals last 3 games. Has been looking in pretty good form be it at NBN level so hard to gauge where he is at as far as HAL team pecking order. Been showing promising signs though that he may be about to start giving GVE a selection headache though.

On a more pressing note I did see the name Kale Bradbury on the team sheet. How did he go??

MFKS has big wraps on this kid and sees him as the future(VERY SOON) heir apparent to make Griffology a thing of the past

[militiamon]

Re Virgili, I've talked about him quite a bit after the pre-season last year. My concern is that despite showing similar promise then, he never ended up even appearing as a substitute in the latter stages of the season. I think the same thing will happen again this season unless something dramatic occurs. fwiw I thought he was ok tonight without being outstanding, he did score the goal but he also made a few mistakes.


Kale played well I thought, I think he was part of one of the best moves of the night where him and Mitch Cooper linked up with some neat, one-touch passes all the way into the penalty area. I don't think he's ready for the first team yet, but I see the potential for a senior contract in the future.

[samus]

How much time did bridges get on the pitch? Interesting seeing him start, would have thought he would become a sasho type player this year.

[halo se7en]

Very impressed with the Korean & Brown in the first half, and Goodwin and Brilliante (was he the guy wearing the skins? anyone confirm??) in the second half. The Jets looked pretty sharp in the first half and a more realistic score would have been 3 or 4-0 by half time. We still need that experienced striker and #10. I think this is the first season I'm considering Zadkovich a liability rather than a potential x factor. It might make a gut busting run or hard tackle every now and then but the rest of his play is very erratic. From last night's performance, I didn't see a single thing to suggest he's going to be any better this season than the last few.

[pv4]

without reading too much of what's already been posted, here's what i thought of the game:

i will consider the game as two games; first half against the jets and second half against the reserves.

first half: compared to playing magic last year, the jets had a hold of the game a bit more last night. for the jets it was about playing fairly direct from defence, most of the time missing the midfield, then playing off the strikers. for magic, the game was about compressing the field into 20-30 metres of space, and trying to compress the jets up a lot.

tiago and josh mitchell saw heaps of the ball and were superb at playing. it's worth noting that i'm not sure if the numbers worn last night were indicative of squad numbers, but taylor had #5 and tiago had #16 which, if tiago wears #16 this year, expect this guy to get his jersey made. tiago looked his usual awesome (note: i consider him amazing) - he had one extremely rash tackle which i cheered with glee for, and had a couple of little mission runs, but basically kept it simple by playing on the deck. he could probably have claimed the most possession for the entire jets team, he saw the ball heaps. mitchell looked great, seemed to talk a bit and didn't look like it was a new team he was trialling for. he mostly played it to tiago, but there were moments the two were under pressure and the calmness & composure they showed to play it out was amazing.

now to go onto the widebacks - neville & light-haired-byun. they saw a fair bit of ball, magic compressed the field in the middle so it was a fairly regular option to play out to them. light-haired-byun looked exactly, and i mean exactly like byun did last preseason - which was amazing for a leftback. got forward at all the right times (and when his run went too far, was able to track back to recieve the ball very well also, then bounce the ball off for one-twos), took players on, wasn't afraid to use his rightfoot. it was noticeable from the opposite side of the field that there's a language barrier - he yells "aauhauahaohaoah" when he wants the ball and that's the extent of his talking. when goodwin came on, he moved to high-right. so you know he's a decent attacking option. i will tie in his defensive side of things when i get to kanta's talk. neville looked solid. the right-defensive side of things he owned, it was his zone. rarely got beat, and just looks hungry for the ball when faced by a player. played out really well, rarely lost possession, and ran the ball forward when necessary. tried to take a player on once and got tackled, but overall was pretty good. i will feel much more comfortable with him at rb than i used to with tarek.

kanta played holding mid. the game was so compressed, he rarely got played the ball and spent most of the game coasting, looking for the ball, and screening defensively. the major thing we lacked last night was an orchestrator in the middle, but that was more a point of looking how little playing room magic allowed, and how high tiago and his defence line were sitting and playing the ball out, rather than looking at the correct/incorrect players in the middle. is it just me, or does kanta look to lose the tiniest amount of pace each year? my only real issue with kanta was when the jerks were playing forward, and light-haired-byun was well forward in a great attack, when we lost the ball (see my future description of bridges game) magic seemed keen on playing fairly directly out for a quick counter, and at times the jets were 2-on-2 in defence as it was noticeable that kanta didn't do the paartalu trick of covering in defence for his 1-2 wide backs getting forward. this was the only time magic looked closesly dangerous, when they had the opportunity to punt a through ball for a quick counter, and i personally put a bit of blame on kanta not becoming part of the defence when the widebacks were getting forward in attack.

the mids and forward line were rubez, brown, ryugriff, taggart & bridges. from here it was all about one-twos, first time touches, at-times sexy football. rubez was amazing - i'll leave it at that. brown had moments of greatness but at times i thought he was struggling to see enough of the ball. the issue all these guys had high-up was for magic it was all about the 1-on-1 battles so they basically held to a man-marking game. so wherever bridges ran to, piddo was nipping at his heels. wherever brown ran to, young-kanta & hakan were following. there was no real freedom for the jets to play, as they were hounded by 1-2 men at all times. it was only when they played a neat flick, a little dink, something like that did the space start to open up. brown was sitting directly in the congested zone, so while having some neat touches he really didn't get much breathing space i didn't think.

ryugriff did his thing, missed a basically open goal, not much there. certainly not the standout i thought he was last preseason. taggart was lively, hounded the ball, and i thought was great. as much as i hate labi going, taggart is imo an excellent replacement for him. runs his heart out, scores goals. had excellent composure and touches for his goals, i thought he did really well.

now to my main man bridges - i go into this description with a heavy bias so don't be too offended. bridges had moments of absolute class, some of his touches were superb and he played a couple of really nice balls. but for every moment of brilliance, he gave the ball away twice. i don't think he realises how counter-productive he is on such a regular occasion. he bounced off the defender to come back and receive the ball off tiago and co very well, but there were moments where he'd receive the ball facing his own goal, have two players ramming behind him, and he'd turn to face them & they'd just walk the ball away. bridges looked better in the first 20mins of the half, but in the last 25 just gave the ball away so much. i think he's oblivious to how much he gives it away. the only real time the play broke down when the jets were playing high with the ball was when bridges would just do this shitty touch to no-one & magic would play from there. we're screwed if he is our striker option this year.

for magic, piddo barely played feet which surprised me a bunch. he did well with the one-on-one battles defensively, but didn't look overly calm with the ball. his name escapes me but piddo's cb partner, #4, looked good. old-chill looked scared on the ball & barely got forward. hakan was mostly anonymous in the middle - never got any of his trademark skillz out. young kanta basically the same. shane paul is a poor mans' john bennis - i've heard the jb has really dropped form recently but it was a totally different magic side without him, and paul spent the majority of the game not really doing anything with the ball and seemingly getting frustrated in defence. pete haynes i barely noticed. berlin i only noticed for his pace on the counter sometimes. rhys tippet spent the majority of the game doing defensive duties and playing in a really deep, wide position. sorry to his fanbois, but jon griffiths was the worst magic player out there for me.

second half: yoof/reserves plus rubez. rubez carved, again. goodwin came on in the first half to replace taggart, and played half of the second half. he didn't look as good as i was hoping. light-haired-byun looked a lot better, a lot more composed. goodwin looked more like a fringe-firsts, youth player that was a little scared on the ball. never got tested defensively really.

regan and chapman played cbs. regan is noticeably a terrific leader, basically dictates every play with his yelling. it's good. but it's noticeable he's not technically at the level chapman is. chapman looks more composed & quite frankly looks more ready for first-team action than regan.

a couple of faces i didn't recognise, i assume they were mitch oxborrow or someone. josh brillante played holding mid, and i thought he was superb. dictated play, knew when his defender was too close, rarely lost the ball. the game had opened up a bit by then so he got to see a lot more of the ball than kanta did. brillante reminded me a tiny bit like dapuzz used to - good turning on the ball, rarely loses possession, plays ball to feet. a few times he had it, there was an alex song chip through ball begging to be played but he didn't seem interested, so played possession. never got high enough to assess his attacking abilities.

front three were left mitch cooper, middle kale bradberry, right virgilli. to start off, none of them looked up to first team action (including cooper - who, by the way, looks so effing young in the flesh). cooper showed moments of brilliance, nutmeggsed jon griffiths, but for the most part he looked a little scared on the ball & when he got in decent goal-positions he'd take an extra touch, take on an extra man, and seemed to always have the ball that little bit too close to a defender and paid the price a few times. he was ok, but not brilliant. he has a lot of work to do to prove to me he's ready for first grade. virgilli did his usualy thing - ran, seemed interested, but when that killer instinct was needed he seemed to be missing. scored a goal, but it wasn't anything to rave about really. kale looked lost upfront. man he's small. peppz was amazing in the middle, played many defence-cutting balls and looked a class above the rest of his team.

my thoughts after the game - we need a striker. we need griff.

[GazFish35]

And we need paragraphs!

[boz-monaut]

easier to read like this


irsthalf:comparedtoplayingmagiclastyear,thejetshad aholdofthegameabitmorelastnight.forthejetsitwasabo utplayingfairlydirectfromdefence,mostofthetimemiss ingthemidfield,thenplayingoffthestrikers.formagic, thegamewasaboutcompressingthefieldinto20-30metresofspace,andtryingtocompressthejetsupalot.t iagoandjoshmitchellsawheapsoftheballandweresuperba tplaying.it'sworthnotingthati'mnotsureifthenumbers wornlastnightwereindicativeofsquadnumbers,buttaylo rhad#5andtiagohad#16which,iftiagowears#16thisyear, expectthisguytogethisjerseymade.tiagolookedhisusua lawesome(note:iconsiderhimamazing)-hehadoneextremelyrashtacklewhichicheeredwithgleefo r,andhadacoupleoflittlemissionruns,butbasicallykep titsimplebyplayingonthedeck.hecouldprobablyhavecla imedthemostpossessionfortheentirejetsteam,hesawthe ballheaps.mitchelllookedgreat,seemedtotalkabitandd idn'tlooklikeitwasanewteamhewastriallingfor.hemost lyplayedittotiago,butthereweremomentsthetwowereund erpressureandthecalmness&composuretheyshowedtoplay itoutwasamazing.nowtogoontothewidebacks-neville&light-haired-byun.theysawafairbitofball,magiccompressedthefield inthemiddlesoitwasafairlyregularoptiontoplayouttot hem.light-haired-byunlookedexactly,andimeanexactlylikebyundidlastpr eseason-whichwasamazingforaleftback.gotforwardatalltherigh ttimes(andwhenhisrunwenttoofar,wasabletotrackbackt orecievetheballverywellalso,thenbouncetheballofffo rone-twos),tookplayerson,wasn'tafraidtousehisrightfoot. itwasnoticeablefromtheoppositesideofthefieldthatth ere'salanguagebarrier-heyells"aauhauahaohaoah"whenhewantstheballandthat' stheextentofhistalking.whengoodwincameon,hemovedto high-right.soyouknowhe'sadecentattackingoption.iwilltie inhisdefensivesideofthingswhenigettokanta'stalk.ne villelookedsolid.theright-defensivesideofthingsheowned,itwashiszone.rarelygo tbeat,andjustlookshungryfortheballwhenfacedbyaplay er.playedoutreallywell,rarelylostpossession,andran theballforwardwhennecessary.triedtotakeaplayeronon ceandgottackled,butoverallwasprettygood.iwillfeelm uchmorecomfortablewithhimatrbthaniusedtowithtarek. kantaplayedholdingmid.thegamewassocompressed,herar elygotplayedtheballandspentmostofthegamecoasting,l ookingfortheball,andscreeningdefensively.themajort hingwelackedlastnightwasanorchestratorinthemiddle, butthatwasmoreapointoflookinghowlittleplayingroomm agicallowed,andhowhightiagoandhisdefencelineweresi ttingandplayingtheballout,ratherthanlookingattheco rrect/incorrectplayersinthemiddle.isitjustme,ordoeskanta looktolosethetiniestamountofpaceeachyear?myonlyrea lissuewithkantawaswhenthejerkswereplayingforward,a ndlight-haired-byunwaswellforwardinagreatattack,whenwelosttheball (seemyfuturedescriptionofbridgesgame)magicseemedke enonplayingfairlydirectlyoutforaquickcounter,andat timesthejetswere2-on-2indefenceasitwasnoticeablethatkantadidn'tdothepaa rtalutrickofcoveringindefenceforhis1-2widebacksgettingforward.thiswastheonlytimemagiclo okedcloseslydangerous,whentheyhadtheopportunitytop untathroughballforaquickcounter,andipersonallyputa bitofblameonkantanotbecomingpartofthedefencewhenth ewidebacksweregettingforwardinattack.themidsandfor wardlinewererubez,brown,ryugriff,taggart&bridges.f romhereitwasallaboutone-twos,firsttimetouches,at-timessexyfootball.rubezwasamazing-i'llleaveitatthat.brownhadmomentsofgreatnessbutatt imesithoughthewasstrugglingtoseeenoughoftheball.th eissuealltheseguyshadhigh-upwasformagicitwasallaboutthe1-on-1battlessotheybasicallyheldtoaman-markinggame.sowhereverbridgesranto,piddowasnipping athisheels.whereverbrownranto,young-kanta&hakanwerefollowing.therewasnorealfreedomfort hejetstoplay,astheywerehoundedby1-2menatalltimes.itwasonlywhentheyplayedaneatflick,a littledink,somethinglikethatdidthespacestarttoopen up.brownwassittingdirectlyinthecongestedzone,sowhi lehavingsomeneattoucheshereallydidn'tgetmuchbreath ingspaceididn'tthink.ryugriffdidhisthing,missedaba sicallyopengoal,notmuchthere.certainlynotthestando utithoughthewaslastpreseason.taggartwaslively,houn dedtheball,andithoughtwasgreat.asmuchasihatelabigo ing,taggartisimoanexcellentreplacementforhim.runsh isheartout,scoresgoals.hadexcellentcomposureandtou chesforhisgoals,ithoughthedidreallywell.nowtomymai nmanbridges-igointothisdescriptionwithaheavybiassodon'tbetooof fended.bridgeshadmomentsofabsoluteclass,someofhist ouchesweresuperbandheplayedacoupleofreallyniceball s.butforeverymomentofbrilliance,hegavetheballawayt wice.idon'tthinkherealiseshowcounter-productiveheisonsucharegularoccasion.hebouncedofft hedefendertocomebackandreceivetheballofftiagoandco verywell,butthereweremomentswherehe'dreceivethebal lfacinghisowngoal,havetwoplayersrammingbehindhim,a ndhe'dturntofacethem&they'djustwalktheballaway.bri dgeslookedbetterinthefirst20minsofthehalf,butinthe last25justgavetheballawaysomuch.ithinkhe'sobliviou stohowmuchhegivesitaway.theonlyrealtimetheplaybrok edownwhenthejetswereplayinghighwiththeballwaswhenb ridgeswouldjustdothisshittytouchtono-one&magicwouldplayfromthere.we'rescrewedifheisours trikeroptionthisyear.
formagic,piddobarelyplayedfeetwhichsurprisedmeabun ch.hedidwellwiththeone-on-onebattlesdefensively,butdidn'tlookoverlycalmwitht heball.hisnameescapesmebutpiddo'scbpartner,#4,look edgood.old-chilllookedscaredontheball&barelygotforward.hakanw asmostlyanonymousinthemiddle-nevergotanyofhistrademarkskillzout.youngkantabasic allythesame.shanepaulisapoormans'johnbennis-i'veheardthejbhasreallydroppedformrecentlybutitwas atotallydifferentmagicsidewithouthim,andpaulspentt hemajorityofthegamenotreallydoinganythingwiththeba llandseeminglygettingfrustratedindefence.petehayne sibarelynoticed.berlinionlynoticedforhispaceonthec ountersometimes.rhystippetspentthemajorityofthegam edoingdefensivedutiesandplayinginareallydeep,widep osition.sorrytohisfanbois,butjongriffithswasthewor stmagicplayeroutthereforme.

secondhalf:yoof/reservesplusrubez.rubezcarved,again.goodwincameoni nthefirsthalftoreplacetaggart,andplayedhalfofthese condhalf.hedidn'tlookasgoodasiwashoping.light-haired-byunlookedalotbetter,alotmorecomposed.goodwinlooke dmorelikeafringe-firsts,youthplayerthatwasalittlescaredontheball.ne vergottesteddefensivelyreally.reganandchapmanplaye dcbs.reganisnoticeablyaterrificleader,basicallydic tateseveryplaywithhisyelling.it'sgood.butit'snotic eablehe'snottechnicallyatthelevelchapmanis.chapman looksmorecomposed&quitefranklylooksmorereadyforfir st-teamactionthanregan.acoupleoffacesididn'trecognise ,iassumetheyweremitchoxborroworsomeone.joshbrillan teplayedholdingmid,andithoughthewassuperb.dictated play,knewwhenhisdefenderwastooclose,rarelylosttheb all.thegamehadopenedupabitbythensohegottoseealotmo reoftheballthankantadid.brillanteremindedmeatinybi tlikedapuzzusedto-goodturningontheball,rarelylosespossession,playsba lltofeet.afewtimeshehadit,therewasanalexsongchipth roughballbeggingtobeplayedbuthedidn'tseemintereste d,soplayedpossession.nevergothighenoughtoassesshis attackingabilities.frontthreewereleftmitchcooper,m iddlekalebradberry,rightvirgilli.tostartoff,noneof themlookeduptofirstteamaction(includingcooper-who,bytheway,lookssoeffingyoungintheflesh).coopers howedmomentsofbrilliance,nutmeggsedjongriffiths,bu tforthemostparthelookedalittlescaredontheball&when hegotindecentgoal-positionshe'dtakeanextratouch,takeonanextraman,and seemedtoalwayshavetheballthatlittlebittooclosetoad efenderandpaidthepriceafewtimes.hewasok,butnotbril liant.hehasalotofworktodotoprovetomehe'sreadyforfi rstgrade.virgillididhisusualything-ran,seemedinterested,butwhenthatkillerinstinctwasn eededheseemedtobemissing.scoredagoal,butitwasn'tan ythingtoraveaboutreally.kalelookedlostupfront.manh e'ssmall.peppzwasamazinginthemiddle,playedmanydefe nce-cuttingballsandlookedaclassabovetherestofhisteam.

mythoughtsafterthegame-weneedastriker.weneedgriff.

[pv4]

it's split into intro, first half, magic, second half, conclusion.

forgot probably the two most impotant parts of the night:

chevapi from behind the goals i rated 7/10.

and for the best moment of the night, they played this over the PA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iiryJwvDtc

[Blackmac79]

will use some of your stuff in the season review pv4 with whatever else i manage to scrounge. i found a photo of a team sheet. if only they did that for every match i could have it at the start of each match! epic.

[furns]

It will come out in a few weeks lads but in our interview with GVE he specifically stated that we need a proper #9 and the money we have saved in the cap by moving on the pricey players NTS et al will give us the money to get a decent one.

Not saying what he said about Griff so you will all have to download it to find out

[militiamon]

Yeah, excellent coverage pv4. Read it if you missed out.

Second your thoughts about light-haired Byun (lol) vs Goodwin. Light-haired Byun seemed very sharp on the ball to me, always knew who he was going to pass it to before the ball even got to him, and he linked up well with the forwards and midfield. Goodwin on the other hand did an ok job, but that's about it, he looked like a guy who hasn't played a lot of senior football.


I'd still want to see how these guys play against an A-League team before making any strong conclusions, Magic just didn't have the quality to test them at all.

[snake]

pepper > the rest

rubez has been practicing keeping his shots down - none over the cross-bar from memory.

[Tommyjet]

Interesting views on the Korean, and I accept all opinions without judgement. I just feel we can and should be doin better with our imports. I personally don't think he was anywhere near byun's level but I do hope, if he signed, to be proven wrong as song wasn't a instant hit in my opinion and took time to make his mark.
Keen to see more of taggart.
Also think we need import who plays similar to brown but more experienced just to add a bit more composure to the midfield

[pv4]

rubez has been practicing keeping his shots down - none over the cross-bar from memory.

he probably had one from memory. bridges, though, had many ridiculous potshots that the ballboys are probably still looking for.

[Chickenbuster]

I'm still not convinced if the passion of the youth can bring us very far in a serious A-League competition. It's all very good about strength, possession and high power.

But this team seriously lacks experience. The overview and decision making which comes with the 'Men' is quite out of balance here.

[pv4]

does anyone know where the gate-takings went to last night? last year iirc it was all about charity (possibly breast-cancer charity). was it going to charity last night, or just to magic?

[snake]

does anyone know where the gate-takings went to last night? last year iirc it was all about charity (possibly breast-cancer charity). was it going to charity last night, or just to magic?

greece bail out

[sh10]

It will come out in a few weeks lads but in our interview with GVE he specifically stated that we need a proper #9 and the money we have saved in the cap by moving on the pricey players NTS et al will give us the money to get a decent one.

woah back up the truck, did NTS move on? Did this happen during the great foz famine of 2012?

[boz-monaut]

it was also in the papers and news websites

or so you exclusively get your Jets news from the bed wetters on this godforsaken forum?

[plague]

woah back up the truck, did NTS move on? Did this happen during the great foz famine of 2012?

At least we now know who is running the Captain Oblivious multi.