Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

Sign Up Now!

Official South Melbourne Hellas thread 🔵⚪

southmelb said:
If we dont win the ofc the vibe is going to become very toxic this time next week.
Click to expand...
The problem with focusing 100% on the OFC Pro League is that you effectively are putting all your eggs in one basket. If the team fails to win the OFC Pro League trophy, then all that sacrifices have been for little to no return on the park.

Win the OFC Pro League on Sunday - lift the trophy and collect the winners cheque - and all the sacrifices and points dropped will be relatively justifiable.
 
we
SMFC1959 said:
If last week was not proof enough that a U23s team cannot compete against a NPL Victoria Men's team, then last night was further confirmation of that. CS George Cross are truly awful and a team comprised of 4-5 fringe/bench players would have won that match last night. The fact that our U23s dominated patches of play against them just highlighted the mistake for me in taking a squad of 23 players to Auckland.


Spot on. Those players will not feature in either the semi final or grand final in Auckland. They should have remained in Melbourne for the matches against Heidelberg, CS George Cross and Avondale. We just have to get smarter in how we utilise our playing squad. You dont need 3 goalkeepers in Auckland. Even though Shalamanov-Trenkov is very average, he would have been useful last night.

The kids tried their best, and to be honest, they deserved to score a goal at least. Kufunda had a blinder last night. The young keeper Szmerling was at fault for the first and fourth goals, but did make some fantastic saves to be fair. The kids will have received amazing experience in their development, but I fear what Avondale will do next Monday. They are a good team, and against the U23s, they will rack up a record winning scoreline.


I'm assuming the players if they make the grand final will be flying back on Monday morning. Depending on the level of celebrations (assuming a grand final win), will these fringe players be in any physical state to even play 20 mins against Avondale? I very much doubt we will see any senior player until the Hume City away match on Saturday 30th May.
Click to expand...
We keep on fearing "record breaking" thumpings but they don't materialise.. sure 4-0 is dastardly but not embarrassing... The kids wee amazing last night, Agree, Kafunda MOM but Papadimitriou, Campbell and the young keeper also played well.
 
It must be pointed out that from a financial perspective, I dare say we have done well.

Even if we fail to progress or win the grand final, I would assume the club would earn prize money in the range of $100K-200K USD ($140K-280K AUD) for its efforts. I had heard talk of the winners prize money being in the hundreds of thousands USD, but there has not been a definitive figure published yet. I have heard $250K USD ($350K AUD) to $450K AUD. We will see eventually what the prize money will be at the conclusion of the competition and what we end up achieving.

Let's not lose sight of the work that is being done with both Federal and State Governments in securing funding, engaging with politicians to further the interests of the club, and not being seen as just another state league club, but rather as a credible footballing entity that engages at the highest levels.

If we can win this competition (and I am really hoping we can achieve this), then the club would have had all its logistical costs covered, hundreds of thousands in prize money, and a second international title in its trophy cabinet.
 
Spartan Warrior said:
What was with the lack of imagination on the social club monitors pre and post game. Resorted to watching a South emblem screen saver...
Click to expand...
This is one area that the clubs needs to look at. Its not rocket science. Put the match on, or just play free to air TV. Even some background music would make a difference.
 
SMFC1959 said:
Spot on. Those players will not feature in either the semi final or grand final in Auckland. They should have remained in Melbourne for the matches against Heidelberg, CS George Cross and Avondale. We just have to get smarter in how we utilise our playing squad. You dont need 3 goalkeepers in Auckland. Even though Shalamanov-Trenkov is very average, he would have been useful last night.
Click to expand...
Definitely agree that heading into next week's NPL Victoria game against Avondale we need to be bringing players back from Auckland who are not going to get game time in the OFC Pro League finals series like Coveny, Pope, Lackay and Singh in addition to having either one of Charlston or Shalamanov-Trenkov between the sticks to bolster a playing list which is going to mainly comprise our reserves and under-23s whilst still retaining Papadimitriou, Saristavros, the Angelatos brethren and Campbell Dovison in the matchday squad, along with Kunfunda and possibly Dali Gorr Burchmore's brother who should be right to return to play from his injury over the coming week also.
 
SMFC1959 said:
It must be pointed out that from a financial perspective, I dare say we have done well.

Even if we fail to progress or win the grand final, I would assume the club would earn prize money in the range of $100K-200K USD ($140K-280K AUD) for its efforts. I had heard talk of the winners prize money being in the hundreds of thousands USD, but there has not been a definitive figure published yet. I have heard $250K USD ($350K AUD) to $450K AUD. We will see eventually what the prize money will be at the conclusion of the competition and what we end up achieving.

Let's not lose sight of the work that is being done with both Federal and State Governments in securing funding, engaging with politicians to further the interests of the club, and not being seen as just another state league club, but rather as a credible footballing entity that engages at the highest levels.

If we can win this competition (and I am really hoping we can achieve this), then the club would have had all its logistical costs covered, hundreds of thousands in prize money, and a second international title in its trophy cabinet.
Click to expand...
Damn you, I'm gonna be guilted into going to Auckland aren't I? hahahahaah
 
SMFC1959 said:
I'm glad that we have the gyros back. Good to see it and have been enjoying the souvs on match days.
Click to expand...
I have too but I wouldn't be a true Hellatzi if I didn't complain about something. The latest I heard last night was "Where are we going to put this new trophy, we dont have the cabinet space?" hahahahaahahah
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
Definitely agree that heading into next week's NPL Victoria game against Avondale we need to be bringing players back from Auckland who are not going to get game time in the OFC Pro League finals series like Coveny, Pope, Lackay and Singh in addition to having either one of Charlston or Shalamanov-Trenkov between the sticks to bolster a playing list which is going to mainly comprise our reserves and under-23s whilst still retaining Papadimitriou, Saristavros, the Angelatos brethren and Campbell Dovison in the matchday squad, along with Kunfunda and possibly Dali Gorr Burchmore's brother who should be right to return to play from his injury over the coming week also.
Click to expand...
Not going to happen mate... Nobody is coming home early, the whole squad will be in Auckland for the final and will return on Monday... Some of the players may indeed play if they are feeling up to it though...
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
Definitely agree that heading into next week's NPL Victoria game against Avondale we need to be bringing players back from Auckland who are not going to get game time in the OFC Pro League finals series like Coveny, Pope, Lackay and Singh in addition to having either one of Charlston or Shalamanov-Trenkov between the sticks to bolster a playing list which is going to mainly comprise our reserves and under-23s whilst still retaining Papadimitriou, Saristavros, the Angelatos brethren and Campbell Dovison in the matchday squad, along with Kunfunda and possibly Dali Gorr Burchmore's brother who should be right to return to play from his injury over the coming week also.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, the Club President confirmed on social media that some of the fringe players are not coming back earlier to play against Avondale next Monday. Sadly, it will be our 5th straight loss.
 
SMFC1959 said:
Unfortunately, the Club President confirmed on social media that some of the fringe players are not coming back earlier to play against Avondale next Monday. Sadly, it will be our 5th straight loss.
Click to expand...

Do they need to come back earlier though? Everyone will be back by Monday night. Surely the fringe players can play.

I will not be attending unless a senior team of some sort.
 
southmelb said:
Do they need to come back earlier though? Everyone will be back by Monday night.
Click to expand...

You would assume the players would be back in Melbourne by Monday afternoon. Its only a 3.5 hour flight, so some of the fringe players who don't feature in a potential grand final, could get some match time. We just need the likes of Leech, Menelaou, Pope, Coveny, Singh, Charlston, and Lackay to play against Avondale. It will be a loss, but it would be a respectable loss.
 
SMFC1959 said:
We just need the likes of Leech, Menelaou, Pope, Coveny, Singh, Charlston, and Lackay to play against Avondale.
Click to expand...
Definitely we need at least Menelaou, Pope, Charlston and possibly Leech to be getting game time against Avondale in the absence of the first team, with Coveny, Singh and Lackay coming off the bench along with Dali Gorr Burchmore's brother who should start to be getting minutes over the coming week given how close he is to his return to play timeframe.
 
Depends on if they give the boys the day to recover before flying like in earlier matches of the tournament. I have a flight that arrives back at 3:30 so that would mean players nearly go straight to lakeside. In theory it could work but I doubt the club so it. Ideally the club should have moved the avondale game to Tuesday
 
It all comes down to this.

Lets go hard at them in the first 20-30 minutes and try and get to a 2-0 or 3-0 lead at halftime. The longer the match remains at 0-0, Vanuatu United will keep hoping and pushing. We've seen it in their previous matches.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top