FFA Cup @ Brisbane Strikers | Wed 7 Aug | 9:30PM | SS7

Lots for Talay to think about now.

Stayed up way too late for that shark. At least the goals we scored to level were good

Weren't you the one who said 4-1 to Brisbane before kickoff?

Alright, jog on fella... 

Ball was OK first half but for an expensive import signing he did not look a step above the rest. Really average and looked like he expected to be able to dribble through everyone.

On the plus side, at least we scored and we didn't lose to 10 men. So, baby steps..

Alright, trying not to get too angsty; so last word - we were far worse against Bentleigh last year and we ended up putting a decent team together. I thought there was enough shown tonight that we will be competitive, and we'll work our asses off. My only big concern is a) Ball; he doesn't look like an import level striker. He did work his ass off, though. b) Rufer/Payne in the middle; they're too similar, and I thought Payne was really poor for most of the game but grew into it. c) right back - TAHW got ripped apart and Elliott, imo, isn't good enough.

Pens are pens;  as certain as the sun rising, the Nix will be bad at them.

Fair assessment imho.

If we sign Steinmann as rumoured and a striker i'd like the see Cacace on the left in the midfield

I'm concerned about our defence. DeVere was solid but slow, got skinned a few times. Thought Elliot looked ok going forward. We need a creative midfielder, Rufer and Payne were ok at recycling the ball but not sparking anything significant going forward. Cacace was our best player, real shame he didn't connect with that late chance.

Embarrassing to lose against an average NPL team...... Again 

I thought McGing was very good, actually. Problem was at right FB; most of their attacks were down that side.

I'd give Ball a bit more time. Payne/Rufer looked better second half with Rufer getting further forward. Agree much better than last year at this stage. And imports to come in. 

Enjoyed the game from half time, some good play, two good goals, but didn't get the job done. 

He was bang average, just as many of us predicted. Missed TWO penalties. 

No better then the rubbish the Knights signed 13 years ago.

sounds like a good hit out. Ball as expected is not Krishna. Our two best players out. Probably injured.

Any youtube or extended highlights?

hope we make some killer signings (starting this Friday ) and get plenty more game time into these guys legs

When the shot takes a big deflection, not much you can do about if you had the original shot covered!!

Not impressed with Marinovic but then I’ve always thought him overrated.  I’m sure Ollie Sail will be No1 by seasons end.

McCowatt I thought had a good game though and had the surface not been so terrible I think Cacace would have really done the Brissy Strikers.  Impressed with Rufer too although it was clear as day that we missed Singh and his vision.

If I were the Nix I’d look to quickly offload Ball, loan him back to the UK or something and actually bring in a striker worthy of that spot.

Fixed.

Should have worn one in each half.

Or half of each in each half if we felt like being just a little bit more creative

Horrible result but promising signs for the season ahead. Defence was lost without Taylor and midfield lacked any creativity without Davila. The (apparent) addition of Steinmann should see the midfield and defence improve a lot and push Payne to the bench as a solid utility option - he's clearly not starting quality. Ball was so-so, he'd had one game (a preseason game against poor opposition where he was able to dribble past 2+ players every time he got the ball) since we signed him and obviously just needs more game time to settle in. I was never very hot on Devlin against Wairarapa or Wests and again I think he showed he needs a lot of work to be starting for us, would love to see us use a visa spot on his position and push him to the bench. We had a few good opportunities to win this game, which is a lot more than we can say compared to last season, and I think we definitely have the potential to seriously compete in the league, but we need a few more bodies and we need to gel a lot more before October so we can hit the ground running.

Could have told you that last October

On the plus side, eliminated at same stage as Perth, Sydney, and Victory, who were 1,2,3 in the league last year.  Might be some friendly opportunities with them on or around the Round 2 FFA cup date.

You could get reported for this post. We have rules on this forum about making disparaging comments. 

Lucky for you most donkeys can't read, so probably won't take offence.

LOL Exactly 

Lots of angst over a preseason hit out in early August. We were rusty in the first half and were better in the second when the coach made some adjustments...then lost on pens. 

How people can write off Ball and deVere already is beyond me. They will all get better. Dont forget we are building virtually a whole new team from scratch. The combinations will take time to work.

I have a feeling that McCowatt could do OK this season. I may have this wrong but are him and Cacace on only 1 year contracts?. Because, as we know after the Singh signing, clubs are following whats going down at the Nix.

Not saying McCowatt is going to end up at Bayern but if he has an OK year it would be really annoying to see him disappear to Melbourne or Sydney....ditto Cacace.

That's a bit presumptuous

Really..well that’s that then. Sign the Strikers prolific goal scorer then. 

I thought Cacace was the most impressive on the night, others to do reasonably well were McCowatt, Devere and Rufer.

wearing Black with that lighting was the problem! 

An inexperienced Roar impressed in their 2-0 win over reigning A-League champions Sydney FC on Wednesday night.

The concluding Round of 32 saw last season's top-three A-League sides all eliminated as Perth Glory fell to Western Sydney Wanderers, and Melbourne Victory were toppled by Newcastle Jets.

Wellington Phoenix crashed out against semi-professional opponents as Brisbane Strikers triumphed on penalties, leaving just six A-League clubs in the competition.

Hatter how did it look from the sidelines? Do we need more Kazoo or balloons? I know it's only one showing but Ollie Sail actually instills confidence. Last night I saw a keeper who appeared not to be really organising his defences. Can you enlighten me

Lastly, I still think this feels like a preseason tournament  and it should be during the A League season. I don't  think it will be taken seriously by many A League clubs until then.

Not that surprised to be honest. We essentially put out a side bar a couple, that as of last season were playing at a level that was either similar or below Brisbane. 

Amazing to see that after a decade of woeful penalty taking, the Phoenix still don't appear to practise penalties.

Ditto on Facebook  various users went after me for not liking those two kits. I hope they are all very happy now.

I do like the new hoodies though.

Ball was crap and Tim Payne looks terrible. Another FFA cup game down the drain. 

haha

Attempting to take a few positives here (excuse the mind dump), I thought we looked a lot more dangerous going forward than we did 12 months ago against Bentleigh, albeit against weaker opposition. The players showed a lot of intent to play quick passes and get in behind. Unfortunately when we did get in behind we tended to want to take too many touches, a few from Ball and McCowatt come to mind where we could and should have just pulled the trigger, but ended up getting closed down. We managed to get our fullbacks to the byline on a number of occasions but with very little final product. Thought McCowatt came into his own in the second half after a poor first half. Rufer looks like he could be good on set piece duty. Good to get 120 minutes in the legs, but disappointing we won't be getting at least another 90. Marinovic's distribution was just as poor as some of the compilation videos I've seen online. McGing looked solid enough. Devere got burned on the outside very easily but more worringly got gassed down the middle too when one of their midfielders went on a long run from his own half and went straight through. Cacace is going to be class again and looks like he's bulked up a bit. Think we created enough to have won that in 90 minutes.