AW v Slovenia Match Thread Sat 06:30 SS3

If only Wood had scored that volley! Could have changed the game, and done wonders for his confidence.

The keeper made a very good save though, I felt sorry for Chris.

Someone that knows more about football than me tell me - was I wrong in being so disappointed with that effort?

It did kinda look awkward in height but then he's a striker about to play in the FIFA World Cup.

My 2 cents:

Positives: All things considered, I don't think the team played all that badly. We defended rather well, and were unlucky to concede free kicks from some rather soft challenges.
We had a few good chances on goal, and look bloody strong in the air up front. Wood was bloody unlucky not to grab one, i feel for the lad. Smith and Reid looked bloody solid. Nelsen consistent as ever.

Negatives: We lost composure once we conceded said free-kicks. Paston looked like a fish out of water setting up his wall, and was slow to react to the shots. I believe Moss may have stopped the first one, and definitely would have stopped the second, simply because he positions himself a lot better. Better to learn this now than on June 15. Christie loses the ball FAR too often. Can't risk having him on the pitch against teams in our group, they have all proven to be clinical on the counter/break.

Ricki, why play Elliott and Christie for 90mins, 2 matches in a row? And then don't even give Mully or Clapham a look-in. You said yourself that the result against Slovenia didn't matter. Not even half an hour? I can't understand that. Especially since Plodder has been sub-standard for opposition of this calibre.

One lesson the AW's would have learnt from this game is the variability in contact allowed between players by referees. We are used to the A-League and EPL when players can smack into each other without a foul being given.....normally you need to take out a players legs or give them a decent body check before you see a foul.

Pretty big call/

No he was beaten by a fantastic save from the keeper. Of course he could have smashed a beautiful volley into the back of the net but he did the next best thing by playing the percentage shot with the bounce but it was saved brilliantly.

I assume the risk in the "ahmad" approach would be to send the pig of a ball into the back rows behind the goal?

Watch the replay and look where he's standing, and how long Pasty takes to react. The first free kick wasn't hit very hard. Moss may have got there. Second one was poor reactions, just wasn't on his toes.

1st one was into the far net over the top of the wall to the side he wasn't covering. 2nd goal he shifted more to the middle so he could cover further, was unsighted by Christie so moved late and got beaten low down by a good freekick.

3rd goal was a howler caused by looking to palm down the ball rather than catch it clean.

(All IMO having never been a keeper.)aitkenmike2010-06-05 23:04:18

For me, the match highlighted the real standard if the A-League. Leo, Lochy, Paston and even Smeltz to a lesser degree seem to lack a little somehting. Both Leo and locjy look void of ideas going forward, Smeltz always cutes inside onto his right foot and Paston will do anything but catch the ball. Brockie was a little quiet.

Watch Melbournes first few games in the 09/10 season and have a look at Moss' Positioning and reaction times.

Greetings from Frankfurt, not sure what the camera showed but Pasty was absolutely a ball of nerves after that first goal. Touched his mouth, head etc loads of times. Second half he seemed really with it.
What got me was replays of our fouls on the big screen, not theirs.
I did smile when Disco Mart piped up with 'she fell over....', I mean since when do we need acting lessons.
Anyway, we did well in open play, their shots on goal except for the obvious were none existent, wide or lacking power.
I couldn't believe that Wood shot didn't go in, but he did the right thng by trying to keep it down and away from the keeper. Noticed a lack of penetration after he was subbed. Either way Jeremy managed quite well against fresh subs from Slovenia.
Let's say we practice defending free kicks and bobbling grubber kicks across the ground; then this is still a pretty competent side.
I still think the AWs can grab points at THE World Cup. They have now scored in each of the last three games. I think we can continue this trend and tighten up on awkward errors. In that way we will have no 'bad day at the office.'

Paston seems to be getting worse in goal.

Is the grand plan really to bring back Moss in game 3?

Can't really make a call until after the Italy game.

Ok so considered in isolation, what would the risk be (in general terms) bringing any goal keeper back in pool game 3 after a prolonged international absence?

He played against Mexico not that long ago. I'd say it would very much depend on how Paston's first 2 games went. Unless he had howlers I think it would be a big call bringing in Moss, especially seeing as he is hardly in form for Melb.

Kudos to Edward for being there. Must be awesome.

because plan A appears to work with the squad we have, then I'm not troubled by that

like others though, i am a bit surprised that the game time so far has been rationed among a fairly narrow range within the whole squad (i guess the need to avoid the risk of a morale-reducing blow out, meant that Ricki didn't mix things up in 2nd half)

the Chile training game should be interesting in terms of how the management use it re any of the border-line starters for Slovakia

Looks like Brownie might be on his way to SA. Sure hope so. Despite his limitations in passing he is streets ahead of Christie in the holding midfield role. Christie is not even A-League grade. The Slovenia midfield just waltzed through our midfield all match. Brown has a big engine....he will run all day, tackle hard and break up the opposition attacks and win turnovers. with only three at the back you really need a strong defense midfielder to help cover. Thats why McClinchey is not partnering Elliot.

Posted this before the game with Serbia - Ricki's policy so far seems perfectly understandable to me.



Don't think we should be changing the starting line-up too much.

We need to work on our best XI, and get them as comfortable playing together as we can in these friendlies for the show time. All the other teams at the WC have much more team cohesion and experience playing together than us, and we need to work as hard in these friendles to catch up as much as we can.

Obviously use the more liberal subs rule to have a look at other guys who may be needed to play a role in the South Africa. But if I was Ricki, I'd look to settle on a starting XI and give them as much time together on the park as possible.

Totally agree with  this. ^^ 

How many times have this team played together?  Not enough. Not nearly enough. Some people need to get over whether it is fair or the others need time, this team needs time. I think it is ok to bank on your team being all there for the 3 WC games and working solely around them. If there is an injury, cope with it then. I expect they will start the first 30 mins against Chile. Ricki obviously likes what he sees of Smith and Reid and wants them to gel with Nelsen, and based on results he is right, they are better than Siggy and Ivan.

The front 3 need time together too, only one sub up there was fine for me.

Midfield, well the Cup isnt the place to try newcomers out, so no Clapham. Mulligan not rated enough, psychologically I think he is gone from Ricki's mind. McG doesnt look strong enough on the ball, I think he will only come on in later stages if desparate to get the ball forward.

Midfield /balls from the back are going well enough into the box for us to have chances



 

The three players I thought were poor were Locky,Reid and Christie.
Locky is not good enough and as for Christie, surely we MUST have better players than him.

I didn't think Reid was that poor at all. Certainly not worse than Paston, who seems to be low on confidence.

And I thought Lochhead was pretty good - much better than most of the Socceroos last night. StopOut2010-06-06 20:26:12

Steve-O2010-06-07 19:48:08

I'm sure he isn't the only keeper playing at the world cup to ever have made a mistake and certainly won't be the last

Is it the ball...

No.

If he's average for an international keeper, he's pretty good.

But I guess you meant below average?

Yeah...didn't really mean 'average' in the true sense of the word!

So you mean a poor keeper overall?

For an average keeper he makes some cracking saves, I think he just has too many lapses of concentration, such as the clanger against Slovenia.

To be fair to Paston, it's easy for a keeper to look bad - one poor effort and they concede a goal, no other player has that pressure.