Have Western Sydney's player decisions paved the way for big signings ahead?...

Have Western Sydney's player decisions paved the way for big signings ahead? [VIDEO]

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In 2041-15, a record of 38 players were used by the Western Sydney Wanderers. Since playing their last game of the season, a total of 14 of these names have gone back out the door, with the Japanese duo of Yojiro Takahagi and Yusuke Tanaka coming as the most recent.

They join the departing ranks of Steve Kuzmanovski, Yianni Perkatis, Iacopo La Rocca, Ante Covic, Jason Trifiro, Tomi Juric, Antony Golec, Nikita Rukavytsya, Kerem Bulut, Nick Ward, Nick Kalmar and Adrian Madaschi. The new arrivals so far have been Scott Jamieson, Scott Neville and Jacob Pepper. Only five foundation players – Shannon Cole, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Labinot Haliti, Mateo Poljak and Mark Bridge – remain at the club. The turnover is as large as it was last year.

Wanderers fans are a demanding lot, and as one of the larger and more passionate fan bases in the league, even in only three years of the club’s existence, they are right to demand a certain standard. Fan frustrations are understandable, if there is a feeling expectations are not met. Yet most understand, or at least should understand what may be going on, and here is how it is explained.

Firstly, getting back to basics. It is not a stretch to say that Tony Popovic put together his inaugural squad from a mix of unknowns, those discarded by other A-League clubs, foreign recruits and Australians returning home – hardly different, really, from the norm in these situations. The signings of Scott Neville and Scott Jamieson have been very much in this vein as new building blocks are being put in place. Home-grown talent such as Jaushua Sotirio, Jonathan Aspropotamitis, Daniel Alessi, Alusine Fofanah, Kearyn Baccus and Liam Youlley all should play a bigger role next season.

In a salary-capped league, it is important to get as much value for money as possible from each tier of player recruitment. Not about how much is spent, but whether the quality and level of performance justifies it. It is the run-of-the-mill A-League players and “squaddies” or ‘filler’ that often gets you there. Based on the use of 38 players through the season, it was clear that not all were up to the job, or while basically decent were simply not value for money. Others had reached the end of the line, as was clear with Covic towards the end of the campaign. This informed the decision to release many of the above players. While those such as Rukavytsya, Takahagi and Tanaka (to name a few examples) could be decent at best, the club has decided that it can do better and recruit those it believes will deliver better value for money within the salary cap. If, as is generally acknowledged, only Romeo Castelen and Brendan Hamill have been unqualified successes among the recruits of the past year, it would be difficult argue with that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zhRU2xMDOY

For the most part, the Wanderers appear more or less sorted in the defensive department. This has always been the team’s strength and perhaps the only thing that was remotely good during the past season, even if only relatively. The onus now is on Popovic to recruit in midfield and attack and find a successful formula for the fourth season and beyond. The club now has an opportunity to recruit big in midfield and attack to fill gaps that many will feel have been virtually void since the end of their second go around. Perhaps it is with this in mind that the decision was made to cull players and reshape the squad again. Especially as it is in these positions where value for money factor is even more critical. There should not be a repeat of the rotation policy, if it ever was one, over the last year – especially without the added pressures of Asian Champions’ League. One should not be spending a whole season searching for a solution.

Few would doubt that Western Sydney’s entrance into the league has been a game-changer as much as the recent successes of Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners had been. But even for these clubs it is necessary to “reinvent the wheel”, so to say, and that means recruitment to maintain standards or evolve with improving expectations.

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