Match 14 vs Macarthur | Sun 28th Mar | 6:05pm | SS7

Offside at the point of the shot doesn't matter ?

Ahh fudge off 😡

gah. shark.

I dont actually understand why that happened?!?!
edit - ah a deflection...

Steph1000

Is Hamed good? I don’t think he’s good.

We're a better team when he's on the field.

kwlap

gah. shark.

I dont actually, understand why that happened?!?!

We've done nothing all game? We've had our main form attacking player kicked out of the game and injured last game?
Our form central creator shunted out wide?
Nothing from our ex-EPL striker?
Very frustrating game 

djtim3000

Steph1000

Is Hamed good? I don’t think he’s good.

We're a better team when he's on the field.

 I don't think we were worse as a team when Waine started.

Colvinator

djtim3000

Steph1000

Is Hamed good? I don’t think he’s good.

We're a better team when he's on the field.

 I don't think we were worse as a team when Waine started.

 Waine should have started wide and left Lewis centrally. 

Strange Waine was looking like he was gaining confidence then we play 3 games in 7 days and doesn't get much time. 

We haven't really created anything this half. Worrying.

Come on Phoenix!

Waine one touch, one good chance 
Two touches, two good chances.

Suggests Uffie has under used him.

Must be 10 minutes of extra time with the fluffing around since the goal. 

martinb

Colvinator

djtim3000

Steph1000

Is Hamed good? I don’t think he’s good.

We're a better team when he's on the field.

 I don't think we were worse as a team when Waine started.

 Waine should have started wide and left Lewis centrally. 

We're a better team when he's on the field.

This is where we severely miss a big home crowd in the Fever Zone kicking up some real noise.

Bananas

Must be 10 minutes of extra time with the fluffing around since the goal. 

Should add on the 10 minutes played between someone being offside and the flag going up.

Not sure how there are only 4 mins added

And that is why we are a lower mid table team this season. 
Very deflating.

Waine's crosses were very good and very wasted. Sail offered more up front than some.

Poor substitution from Uffie bringing on Sotirio and Lokoli-Ngoy at the same time. Replaced an in-form goal scoring threat and one of our playmakers with quick but one-dimensional players. All the bulls had to do was sit deep and we had nothing.

We didn't seem like the worst team which almost makes it more annoying. 

Their good chance went in, but by all account it felt like an evenly matched game. 

Buuuuugger

Lonegunmen

Waine's crosses were very good and very wasted. Sail offered more up front than some.

That's probably where Hemed would have been at his best, attacking Waine's crosses.

That was a very underwhelming way to get through the arse end of a hangover for this Sunday evening...

Ufuk out coached in that one. Hard to hit teams on the counter when they are sitting deep... Against their set up Sotorio wasn't the person to bring on.  Tough having 3 games in 7 days so can't be too harsh on the team I guess. 

Tired performance maybe. Two mid table teams battling it out.

Piscopo was missed big time. Him on the park and Lewis playing deeper, is Nix's best setup unquestionably now.

More minutes Waine next game. You could even start him, and put Ball on the bench for a match.

Credit to the Bulls. They defended well. I think Taylor's loss early in the game hurt us. We gotta start picking up maximum points if we want to be in top 6. Need to re-group and get ready for a super in-form City.

It’s a pity we have no real natural back up left back (think it’s between Laws and Sutton) because I reckon with McGarry’s movement and delivery he could have done well in the left wing role today, he played there as a youth player so knows it, plus would have allowed Lewis to stay central and be more influential 

siac

Ufuk out coached in that one. Hard to hit teams on the counter when they are sitting deep... Against their set up Sotorio wasn't the person to bring on.  Tough having 3 games in 7 days so can't be too harsh on the team I guess. 

It's a wierd thing with Uffie, he's so conservative and predictable when it comes to team selections or substitutions, even our plan-b seems to be easily nullified by the opposition. When he is forced to make a more risky decision, such as replacing Devlin with Waine, it more often than not works out.

Bulls countered the counter and because of some stupid backline unmarking they got a goal off a world class save/rebound. Hemed was a let down again but overall not fussed as we should win next week. However we are not a top 6 side this season we just have to live with that fact and except it.

carlind

It’s a pity we have no real natural back up left back (think it’s between Laws and Sutton) because I reckon with McGarry’s movement and delivery he could have done well in the left wing role today, he played there as a youth player so knows it, plus would have allowed Lewis to stay central and be more influential 

Think this is on Uffie. 
He could have played Waine there or Sotirio even. Moving Lewis felt like we lost two play makers. No one was haring down the left wing and no one was picking passes through the centre or shooting from distance. We couldn't transition the ball quickly.
His pre-season decision on Ngoy was probably the right one, unfortunately. 
It's frustrating that the players who have been in form, McGarry aside, didn't get a chance to show it. 

Win next week? You are dreaming.

Given they've just moved up to 3rd, I'm amazed Macarthur are anywhere near the top of the table. They really didn't have anything all game. 

I think we will burst City's bubble come next week, But that will be as good as our season gets.

It was not a particularly bad game, but it was a very frustrating one to watch. The match was probably (marginally) won for the Bulls by Miligan, Juric and Federici.
Or actually just Milligan and Juric - as the goalie had little to do.

TreeFiddy

Given they've just moved up to 3rd, I'm amazed Macarthur are anywhere near the top of the table. They really didn't have anything all game. 

More then anything it shows the piss poor quality of officials in the A League.  They would have had 1 (corrected thanks Coochie) points less for a start if Rufer wasn't sent off against them last time and we would be 3 better off although in truth I think the officials owe us closer to 10.

Marto

TreeFiddy

Given they've just moved up to 3rd, I'm amazed Macarthur are anywhere near the top of the table. They really didn't have anything all game. 

More then anything it shows the piss poor quality of officials in the A League.  They would have had 3 points less for a start if Rufer wasn't sent off against them last time and we would be 3 better off although in truth I think the officials owe us closer to 10.

They would have 1 point less and Nix would have 2 more.

Lots of teams are getting bum decisions. CCM 3 pens conceded in 1 game, 2 at least being dodgy from memory will take some beating.

Well that sucks, such a tough way to come down from the high of beating Victory so well. Gotta start putting 2,3,4 solid games together. Thought we did well keeping control of the ball but we really didnt put enough pressure on their keeper. Neither did they (in the first half at least). Thought we could have brought Waine on earlier, he could have played those sweet crosses into Hemed. I would have taken Rufer off instead of Devlin and moved Lewis back to the center with Devlin. No idea why Uffie persists with Rufer for so long, he was woefully bad last night. Mind you so was Davila, nothing seemed to stick for him either. Hopefully Taylor and Piscopo are ok for the City game?

Also, really hoping the club gets their act together and locks in some player contracts, I do not want to see the likes of Devlin and Davila bolstering Victory's ranks next season. If we are not gonna make the six the club at least need to keep the squad and the coach together.
Note - I expect we will make the six, it might be a close run thing however.

I watched a replay late last night as was too busy at 6pm to watch live.
Thought it was a pretty 'meh' effort to be honest. We controlled the game for large chunks of the game, but other than Lewis and McGarry trying to beat players, we never really ran at them and kept a lot of the ball without really threatening.
Ball wasn't overly involved (uncharacteristically), Davila was fouled each time he had 1/2 meter of space (and didn't pull the trigger a couple of times where he could have). On the plus side we defended quite well. The goal was a fluke - and we were unlucky not to grab a point. 
Waine made a good impact, my only criticism is that he could have mixed it up once or twice. He made good crosses, but after the 3rd one he became predictable. Ball was free at the edge of the box a couple of times, he could have tried. Still, good to see him making an impact out wide - and unlucky not to score from that corner kick.
Charles was VERY APPIAH-ESQUE I'm sorry to say. He will need time to get up to this level, and it's a shame because we needed someone who was ready to go yesterday.

Also sort of angry at the whole Taylor incident. If he was under a cloud, I'm not sure he should have played at all. Big risk to take after a whole season and then 90 minutes after quarantine. I know it comes down to luck but you'd expect the physio/strength & conditioning coach - and Uffie - to be sensible.

Disappointing not to get anything out of that. Thought it was a pretty even game throughout but probably reflects us missing 2 of our best 3 players. Really missed Piscopo to take some of the target off Davilla. One of those games that can decide whether you make the play offs or not. Off the top of my head we've probably dropped more than we've gained this season, so it's probably going to make a difference when the table is tight. 

Looking at some basic math, our chances are pretty slim. If we look at ppg, Sydney sit in 6th at 1.46. If we extend that to 26 games, that's 38 points. Which means we need to gain 1.92 ppg in our last 12 games (or 23 points) to match that.

That's of course assuming teams above us go at the same rate. Reckon of the top 6, WSW might be one who could do worse in the second half of the season.