Alen Stajcic Discussion

SBW · January 23

15 minutes ago, Sime11 said:

i still maintain if we can nab a CB and shore up our defence - we can unsettle the league

Just my theory that because we have Jeong in the team, I don't think the club will consider signing another CB

BoyFromTheWest · January 23

I wonder how his (Wookie) injury impacted us. I'm in two minds about him. He started slowly and looked a bit lost, despite coming in with some experience at a higher level. Before his injury he was slowly starting to get into the game more, perhaps acclimatising to A League? Would he be a star by now or a complete dud? I really don't know. What to do with him? I really don't know. Should we just cut our losses, send him back and get someone who can do the job now? If so, why did we wait this long thrifty his injury?

3 injuries have made a difference to us - Wookie, Scicluna and Cleur. The latter two were finding form and don't the job. With Cleur there, Panta on the left we were stronger. I wonder if Wookie might have just kept us stringer at the back but will never know, unless he comes back after injury quickly and well???

Davo · January 23

13 minutes ago, BoyFromTheWest said:

I wonder how his (Wookie) injury impacted us. I'm in two minds about him. He started slowly and looked a bit lost, despite coming in with some experience at a higher level. Before his injury he was slowly starting to get into the game more, perhaps acclimatising to A League? Would he be a star by now or a complete dud? I really don't know. What to do with him? I really don't know. Should we just cut our losses, send him back and get someone who can do the job now? If so, why did we wait this long thrifty his injury?

3 injuries have made a difference to us - Wookie, Scicluna and Cleur. The latter two were finding form and don't the job. With Cleur there, Panta on the left we were stronger. I wonder if Wookie might have just kept us stringer at the back but will never know, unless he comes back after injury quickly and well???

My feeling on Jeong is somewhere in the middle.

I don't think he's the catastrophic clown show, worst signing in history that some people made him out to be. When you look back at many of the goals we conceded it was down the Bonetig/Clisby side and Jeong was doing his job.

In saying that, he still had some pretty bad moments like his defending for the Lolley goal in the first derby, or the pen he gave away against the Jets. I don't think he is enough of an improvement on the local players to justify the visa spot. Our defense hasn't looked any worse without him and that shouldn't be the case with visa players.

If someone else was available I'd be looking at whether we have the option to end the loan early. If not I'd keep him for the rest of the season and give him a chance when fit, but I'd be parting ways at the end of the season.

StringerBellend · January 23

17 minutes ago, Davo said:

My feeling on Jeong is somewhere in the middle.

I don't think he's the catastrophic clown show, worst signing in history that some people made him out to be. When you look back at many of the goals we conceded it was down the Bonetig/Clisby side and Jeong was doing his job.

In saying that, he still had some pretty bad moments like his defending for the Lolley goal in the first derby, or the pen he gave away against the Jets. I don't think he is enough of an improvement on the local players to justify the visa spot. Our defense hasn't looked any worse without him and that shouldn't be the case with visa players.

If someone else was available I'd be looking at whether we have the option to end the loan early. If not I'd keep him for the rest of the season and give him a chance when fit, but I'd be parting ways at the end of the season.

He was at fault for both Derby goals the Kimala one he was way too deep nowhere near his man and gave a free header away.

Hopefully it was just him settling in and he'll come good.

I'm not sure what he brings, he is slow, doesn't play out well, and for such a tall guy gets beaten in the air. There has to be a player in there though somewhere given the level he has played at.

But at the moment I don't think he comes straight into the team, Bonetig and Brilantte has been our best pairing, which for some reason Staj decided to break up last week.

Edited January 23 by StringerBellend

Sithslayer1991 · January 23

There is also the Simmons issue where Staj is reluctant to play him at RB. Cluer injury is mitigated by just playing Simmons at RB, unless his not fit but how do we know when no one asks this questions at the presser.

Sime11 · January 23

if Jeong got more aggresive (especially contesting headers) - he'd be a completely different player

Davo · January 24

Jeong wins an average of 3.8 aerial duels per 90 mins, winning 82.6% of his aerial duels. For comparison Panta is 3.09 per 90 and 75.9% and Bonetig is 2.08 per 90 and 71.1%.

StringerBellend · January 24

44 minutes ago, Sime11 said:

if Jeong got more aggresive (especially contesting headers) - he'd be a completely different player

most def..

Hopefully this was a combination of being nervous in new team / league and maybe his injury.

I suspect though he doesn't have that in him.

StringerBellend · January 24

1 minute ago, Davo said:

Jeong wins an average of 3.8 aerial duels per 90 mins, winning 82.6% of his aerial duels. For comparison Panta is 3.09 per 90 and 75.9% and Bonetig is 2.08 per 90 and 71.1%.

He misses the ones that count e.g. the Derby although he wasn't even close enough to his man to contest it.

Davo · January 24

10 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

He misses the ones that count e.g. the Derby although he wasn't even close enough to his man to contest it.

So do the other CB's. Where were Bonetig and Panta when Edmondson headed in for CCM? Where were Bonetig and Pelekanos when Archie Goodwin headed in for Adelaide? Where was Bonetig when Courtney-Perkins headed in for Sydney?

If the only headed goals we conceded were Jeong's fault I'd agree with you, but for every one he's had I can point to one for each of the other CB's. So they all do it, but he's the one that wins the most aerial duals per 90 and the highest percentage of attempted aerial duals. Also I didn't include Pelekanos in the numbers before because he sometimes plays midfield, but if I exclude those games then he wins 2.70 aerial duals per 90 mins, 87.5% of those attempted.

StringerBellend · January 24

1 hour ago, Davo said:

So do the other CB's. Where were Bonetig and Panta when Edmondson headed in for CCM? Where were Bonetig and Pelekanos when Archie Goodwin headed in for Adelaide? Where was Bonetig when Courtney-Perkins headed in for Sydney?

If the only headed goals we conceded were Jeong's fault I'd agree with you, but for every one he's had I can point to one for each of the other CB's. So they all do it, but he's the one that wins the most aerial duals per 90 and the highest percentage of attempted aerial duals. Also I didn't include Pelekanos in the numbers before because he sometimes plays midfield, but if I exclude those games then he wins 2.70 aerial duals per 90 mins, 87.5% of those attempted.

Don't disagree apart from to say Bonetig and Panta are young CBs.

Jeoung is visa player, the expectations are higher and should be. To the old A League rule get your visa players right and you make the finals.

We have only used 4 spots and arguably one of them for CB badly.

Jeoung is replacing Marcello and so far (and yes I know Marcello was a big old and slow and got beat one on one) he isn't even close to being the same quality. Measuring Jeoung against Panta is a very low bar to set, a player in his first profressional season.

Even if Jeoung (was fit and performing) we went into the season a CB short (never replaced Mrcella) Bonetig is decent but ideally would be 3rd choice for another season, he's had to step up to being out senior centre back, a big ask.

To the Staj debate he was in early enough for recruitment we still now have spare visa spot available, having only 1 senior Centre Back (who is of questionable quality) going into the season is probably on him, I don't know to what extent he was / wasn't supported by the club in getting another CB.

I really hope we have a plan B other than Degnek

Sime11 · January 24

45 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

I really hope we have a plan B other than Degnek

this !!!

if your Degenek - the choice of Syd or Victory is more appealing than WSW. surely we can nab another import CB even until the end of the season

Davo · January 24

57 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Don't disagree apart from to say Bonetig and Panta are young CBs.

Jeoung is visa player, the expectations are higher and should be. To the old A League rule get your visa players right and you make the finals.

We have only used 4 spots and arguably one of them for CB badly.

Jeoung is replacing Marcello and so far (and yes I know Marcello was a big old and slow and got beat one on one) he isn't even close to being the same quality. Measuring Jeoung against Panta is a very low bar to set, a player in his first profressional season.

Even if Jeoung (was fit and performing) we went into the season a CB short (never replaced Mrcella) Bonetig is decent but ideally would be 3rd choice for another season, he's had to step up to being out senior centre back, a big ask.

To the Staj debate he was in early enough for recruitment we still now have spare visa spot available, having only 1 senior Centre Back (who is of questionable quality) going into the season is probably on him, I don't know to what extent he was / wasn't supported by the club in getting another CB.

I really hope we have a plan B other than Degnek

The original point was he needs to improve in the air, and I disagree as he's statistically our best CB in the air.

I've been pretty consistent that he should be better as a visa player. This is from a post I made in early November "He hasn’t shown enough so far this season to justify a visa spot and I wouldn’t be looking to extend his contract", this is from after the New Years game "But our defence is no worse without him and visa players should be an improvement on what we can get locally", this was from yesterday "I don't think he is enough of an improvement on the local players to justify the visa spot. Our defense hasn't looked any worse without him and that shouldn't be the case with visa players." But given that he's in the squad I can only compare him with the other players who play in his position.

If he wasn't injured I don't see a reason why he wouldn't be playing now based on performances. If Staj is taking the position that the young local players are performing near enough to Jeong, they have more potential to develop and maybe get the club a transfer fee, and they'll probably be here longer than Jeong's loan spell, then I can get behind that reasoning. I've also been pretty consistent that I don't think individual performances are our problem, I think it's the system we're playing.

StringerBellend · January 24

3 hours ago, Davo said:

The original point was he needs to improve in the air, and I disagree as he's statistically our best CB in the air.

I've been pretty consistent that he should be better as a visa player. This is from a post I made in early November "He hasn’t shown enough so far this season to justify a visa spot and I wouldn’t be looking to extend his contract", this is from after the New Years game "But our defence is no worse without him and visa players should be an improvement on what we can get locally", this was from yesterday "I don't think he is enough of an improvement on the local players to justify the visa spot. Our defense hasn't looked any worse without him and that shouldn't be the case with visa players." But given that he's in the squad I can only compare him with the other players who play in his position.

If he wasn't injured I don't see a reason why he wouldn't be playing now based on performances. If Staj is taking the position that the young local players are performing near enough to Jeong, they have more potential to develop and maybe get the club a transfer fee, and they'll probably be here longer than Jeong's loan spell, then I can get behind that reasoning. I've also been pretty consistent that I don't think individual performances are our problem, I think it's the system we're playing.

It's both our system is terrible and not getting the best out of the team but the individual errors have really cost us.

Smoggy · January 25

On 22/1/2025 at 8:34 PM, WHACKO said:

We've all got our opinions of Staj which is far enough.

Half the season is over and enough time in my mind to see if he has what it takes to make it.

With half the season left. The two questions I have is to any willing to put their opinions on the line is.

1. Is Staj the man to turn us around.

2. Will we make the six.

My answer to both questions is NO.

Over to all of you.

Table predictions?

Here is mine:

1. You

2. Just
3. Can’t
4. Make
5. Predictions
6. Yet

7. Wanderers

Davo · January 26

8. It’s

9. A

10. Waste

11. Of

12. Time

13. Brisbane

SBW · January 26

It's come to the point to say this.

#StajcicOut

StringerBellend · January 26

Looking at the next few games

Roar away, yes they are crap but we couldn't bear them at home

Sydney away - 3rd derby loss for the season?

Bulls home - they have beat us at home once already

Mariners away

How many points out of that?

immortalshogun · January 26

if theres no result vs Brisbane then old mate needs to go

Smoggy · January 26

1 hour ago, StringerBellend said:

Looking at the next few games

Roar away, yes they are crap but we couldn't bear them at home

Sydney away - 3rd derby loss for the season?

Bulls home - they have beat us at home once already

Mariners away

How many points out of that?

Uggghhhh…who has the motivation to head out to Moore Park…again….at the moment. That is a hard sell right there.

Edited January 26 by Smoggy

StringerBellend · January 26

5 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Uggghhhh…who has the motivation to head out to Moore Park…again….at the moment. That is a hard sell right there.

I'll moan and say I'm not going but I'll end up going

StringerBellend · February 1

Massive Deby for big Al

We are now 9th but only 3 of 4th

Loose next week and the gap opens up and also we will have lost 3 derbies in a season when was the last time that happened?

Smoggy · February 22

All aboard the Staj finals express! :good:

StringerBellend · February 22

A true leader of men isn't he

Perth at home next, could be a good run building

Smoggy · February 22

9 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

A true leader of men isn't he

Perth at home next, could be a good run building

I know…..and you have been so supportive of him too…

StringerBellend · February 22

1 minute ago, Smoggy said:

I know…..and you have been so supportive of him too…

Never doubted him

**mack** · February 23

With how tight the league is and that we're playing last next week we could be out of the 6 again by the time we kick-off!

William · February 23

4 hours ago, mack said:

With how tight the league is and that we're playing last next week we could be out of the 6 again by the time we kick-off!

Yep hysteria will set in again and out comes the backflippers demanding sackings and all that goes with it some of these blokes should head over to The bulls hysteria is riff over there and it is not far to travel

**matty** · February 23

30 minutes ago, William said:

Yep hysteria will set in again and out comes the backflippers demanding sackings and all that goes with it some of these blokes should head over to The bulls hysteria is riff over there and it is not far to travel

Criticising players or coach is not allowed?

William · February 23

19 minutes ago, matty said:

Criticising players or coach is not allowed?

Of course it is , criticism is healthy , paranoia is laughable so these days stringer posts are a joy to read the highs and lows of his mood swings are amazing

Alen Stajcic Discussion

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