Copes

The fact that we get to be the team to take on Ottawa has me over the moon. Great game tonight!

I'm also not on the Arnone train yet. I think I prefer both Hocine AND N'Sa... so we'll see what Hart prefers over time.

Yeah he played well. Thats why I think replacing him would be a downgrade. He and John looked good together.

Borges and Ingham are the two that standout this early on, but there is still a lot of season to play. From our side, I don't think there are realistically any at this point. However, I predict Langwa will make an upward move sometime in the next few years. He has talent, and I think Hart will really do well developing him. My favourite Wanderers player so far for sure!

I hope not, but I suspect you're right. I think that the team we saw last night was quite close to our "preferred XI". I always want to see Schaale / Langwa / John / Kourouma / Perea on the field so I hope we can at least maintain that. If we had Bona -> Sukunda, Iida -> Guti I think those would be sidegrades. Arnone -> N'sa or Hocine would be an upgrade. Williams -> Oxner is a slight downgrade. Garcia -> anyone, Simmons -> Outtara would likely be downgrades. We'll see what we see. Perea is the biggest one for me though. He is all about the holdup play, which is fine, but there were numerous instances where he successfully launched other attackers. That is something we haven't had, and its something we desperately need. I feel like Skublak has a build that could also play this way, but he is very very raw compared to Perea.

My thoughts echo yours. I know both teams wanted it, but Halifax should feel a bit more hard done I think. Far more clear chances, a crossbar, and a called off goal that I don't think should have been called off. This performance was sloppy, but I'll take it over most of our others. There were some flashes of attractive soccer and some quality shown.

I'm very optimistic for Halifax. If both Perea and Williams are back, I think we are stronger across the field. I hope we see the "Staring XI" that Hart plans to play moving forward. York and Pacific are the two teams we are fighting with at the bottom. Two wins at home against other low-table teams would give us 6 points - for a total of 9 after 6 (just one point behind Forge at the same number). I'm done hoping we win the Spring - time to get ready for the Fall. But I do think we can finish mid-high table if we can string together some solid performances with a healthy squad. York and Pacific will of course be hoping to do the same. Hopefully we can put the home field to good use.

I don't know if Hart knows what our Starting 11 is yet haha. We've had rotation every single game so far, with players experimented in positions all over the field. I hope we do see the lineup so I can stop speculating.

I agree with your assessment. York, Pacific, and unfortunately Halifax have some work to do. Valour I place above them but below the other 3. Edmonton and Forge are most likely to beat Calgary in their current form I think. Eyes on the Edmonton / Cavs game coming up. That'll be a big one!

Thats my main issue - I don't want to question Hart. For all I know his entire plan is to use the Spring season to try things so he can make a run at the Summer season. I don't particularly like that strategy... but in the first year I'm putting my feelings aside and just supporting the team. But maaaan... personally, having seen 6 games and 6 different lineups, I don't like a lot of what he is trying even if it is experimental, its stuff like playing defenders in the midfield that I just really dont like. That doesn't inherently seem like something that is going to solve the problems we are facing early in the season. I expected more. I still hope we eventually see it.

Man. Cavalry is (rightfully) running away with the Spring season. It's going to be hard to prevent them from getting the 6-10 more points that they need to properly lock it down. My Wanderers on the other hand... pretty painful to watch. Not having our primary goal scorer for the majority of the year has been tough, but that's not a good enough excuse. If we are this impotent on offense without Perea we have a serious issues to address. I don't know what the summer transfer window will be like but I hope we bring someone else in.

Yeah I consider myself properly schooled. It looks like I have pretty much everything incorrect haha.

I've been thinking similar things. If anyone on this team has the potential to break into the CMNT, I think its Langwa. Probably my favourite player so far.

Last night's game was pretty painful, and cements more than ever my desire to see a formation shift that allows for some of our midfielders to play a bit more offensively. And man oh man do we need Perea back. Our defense though I'm very, very happy with. So let's get more of them on the field.

From my team, Langwa and N'sa have been the unexpected standouts. Wanderers have a solid defense I think. Other teams players that I've noticed have been Thomas and Borges on Forge and Chung for Pacfic. Telfer has impressed as well but that doesn't surprise me.