M.O.T.M From Phoenix CCM Game

Smeltz was poor

Totally agreee. Elrich and Lia (both short of game time) were out on their feet after 65 mins. And still they were faster than Aloisi......

Smeltz was fine. He still gets caught offside, but he worked hard.

The choice of subs was pathetic. Why would you put two strikers down as subs when we only have one on the park?
I'm not that impressed with George, but he's always keen.
Old should always be on the bench. Defenders are the most likely to be injured, and he's flexible enough to be anywhere in defence.

Paston should be the starting keeper.
He can organise the defence, and is more confident with the high ball.

agreed - please let's give Paston a try; there really is more to goalkeeping at that level than being able to make good saves; it should include organising and marshalling the defence.

It's natural that we're all looking for someone to blame after a loss like that. But Moss did keep us in the game with a couple of great one-on-one saves and he could hardly be held responsible for the goals.

In a game like that, you need your experience on the bench. Not a blodody 16 year old who has no ALEAGUE experience.

I thought it was a bit weird putting Costa on as well when we needed a goal. I would have thought Ricki would have put brownlie or Covney on the bench and chucked one of them on instead

Elrich played well for about 60 mins until fatigue set in.....Moss on the other hand gave it everything & performed very well pulling off saves everywhere until the final whistle....if it wasn't for his brilliance in the match we would have been about 4-5 goals down.... well done Glen Moss

What, no option to vote for the seagull? Travesty, I says...

I actually voted for Moss. He did flap at a few balls he should have caught easily, but realistically a couple of his 1-on-1 saves kept us in the game. This was perhaps our worst defensive performance of the season, both goals we conceded were the school-boy type stuff, and we always looked like we could completely break down defensively at any moment.
Elrich played OK - he looks class, excellent first touch, and a stunning goal. However, in the first half he was tucking inside too much and not exploiting the acres of space on our right flank which we should have used a lot better. His combination with Plodder in the first half was poor (understandable, given it's the first time they played together) but nevertheless frustrating. He also doesn't look as quick as I remember him from the old NSL days, but I don't know if he's completely lost it, or is still in the process of getting up to full speed.
Smeltz played well, he wins a lot of balls that I always expect defenders to clean up easily, but his complete inability to stay on-side is completely baffling. I also thought Aloisi had a very strong game, always composed under pressure, and if it wasn't for him we would have struggled even more defensively.

Dont agree with you on Elrich el grapadura one of the reasons he keep going inside was because when he did go wide and make himself available (which he did a number of times) for some reason our guys on the ball just wernt feeding him.I think once our guys get a bit more used to the lines he runs we will find him becoming even more involved.It was noticable where i was standing as many around me just groaned as on a number of occasions both Elrich and Christie had put themselves in a good position only to watch the ball be wasted elsewhere.

Tim Brown showed Aloisi how it's done. had a great game.
Elrich was MOM tho.

that thought went thru my mind too - the two Roar youngsters look so slight on the field they must be hard to take seriously by the opposition - until they score goals. So maybe that was Ricki's thinking.

However, settling for the draw might have been better, especially after the missed penalty and the previous 3-0 loss to CCM.

My vote went to Daniel btw - I can forgive his occasional show boating to see his enthusiasm and thoughtful distribution of the ball when given the chance.

And I've come to the conclusion that Scmeltz seems to operate best as a goal-stealer; given any thinking time in front of of the goal he tends to lose the plot.

I think everyone should realise that even though Elrich played well, he can play much better, he played very well today, but still isnt as fit, another point I would like to comment on, is how come everytime Smeltz gets into a one on one with a defender he doesnt have the ability to take him on and beat him, the more I see Smeltz play, I am convinced that all he does from time to time is finish, I mean that is the job of a striker, and dont get me wrong, he does that well. But I would just like to see him being a bit more creative and have that hunger to take a defender on etc....

elrich defo man of the match

I agree that we failed to get the ball onto the flank as quickly as we should - we were especially guilty of this in the second half when on at least 2 occasions Lochead was all on his own in acres of space on the left, and no-one had the vision to get the ball to him, that was very frustrating.
The reason I pointed out Elrich tucking in in the first half is that for most of the half there was space there - even if Elrich wasn't getting the ball, he needed to use the space to spread the defence and hopefully either create overlaps with Plodder on that side more often than they did, or create defensive gaps in more central positions. I thought we was hungry for the ball (understandable after such a long lay-off) and looked threatening every time he had it, but I thought his positioning in the first half limited our tactical options.
Having said all this, I thought he looked a very classy player, and did, in fact, play very well, although he clearly ran out of puff with about 20 to go. He seems an excellent acquisition overall, and should be one of our leading players for the rest of the season.

I voted for Lia - I continue to be impressed by him.  Lochhead had another decent game, Elrich is very promising, and I thought Daniel was okay too.  Feel most sympathy for Smeltz who had a hard game quite isolated against a good defender in Vidmar. 

Elrich, not just for the goal, but because he has the goal in mind all the time, he is always thinking to shoot or cross unfortunately smeltzy was about three or four mental steps behind elrich and the rest of the team.

Can anyone tell me if they spotted Aloisi at the game. I'm not talking about John!

Thought Aloisi was put to shame by Tim Brown. Someone even gave Aloisi a vote for MOM. His mum must be on the forum...

I'd say Aloisi does a ton of hidden defence work at the back but tim brown was good in the midfield.

Tough this week... D'Or? Christie? Thought I'd settle for Elrich...

Aloisi gave away foul after foul. he was bloody lucky not to be carded again. Johnson next week please. Oi Oi Edgecumbe2007-10-23 22:21:18

by the sounds of it, people either love or hate Aloisi

Closing at midday if you wish to vote.