Perth Sunday 7pm

Agreed - Perth were better.

Perth were better... but we were pretty sh*t as well

I thought it was a considerable improvement on last week

Yup, better than last week for sure, good to see Ricki spice it up by starting Daniel, hopefully this encourages everyone to up their game. Plenty of room to go before we win the league though!!

Nice one mate. Still waiting for your replacement for Ricki.

I felt Pav played well when he came on. Though I'm still not a fan of this hoofing it up over the midfield for Macallister to not get it, at least it looks like Pav wants the ball lol :| Didn't think Ward was any worse than Brown.

Bring on the return/arrival of Muscat/North.
raynes2010-09-05 21:12:42

When you bring back in Muscat and then North. Our defense looks a lot more stronger.

There's a positive

big mac was sh*t. The 1st goal was his fault. Gave it away far too easily and then showed no passion to try and get the ball back.
Start the 2nd half team next week.

No complaints with the result. 2-1 reflected the game.

I'm glad we didn't persevere with the long balls, and for a period in the second half we looked to have our sh*t together. We looked a lot better when we passed to each others feet. However as soon as Perth were on the break we were exposed. Looked as though Hearfield and Lochhead were coming to far forward/not tracking back quick enough. Didn't help players losing the ball so easily in the midfield.

Every time Ifill has the ball there are two guys on him. Surely that means someone can get free and find some space...

Better than last week. I look forward to seeing us back at home (I'm thinking of making the trip down)!
Footpaul2010-09-05 21:14:12

Also I think start Pav, He adds a bit more mobility up front

I thought we looked ok going forward, but I'm frustrated by a couple of things:

Thats why we go him, he should fit in nicely.

Can't defend like that. Now I know why the big guy's comin. Pav's a starter for next week. Looks hungry. Greenacre needs timeout, and general need for a bench shakeup all round. All a bit cushy.  Think the 2 subs at halftime proved that's what management finally think too.         

Also, did Ifill play today?...

On the positive side, I thought Daniel gave us good balls in to the box, Pav looked good, and Ward looked keen and put himself about,and eventually played some nice passes.

On a postive note from me: the 65-90 min period was good

Pav has impressed me - I don't think he's a goal scorer but he still does a better job than Mac.

Poor again. Didn't start playing until 2 down, and with about 15-20 minutes to go. Not the first time this has happened either.

I thought that was one of our better performances as far as passing through the midfield went. We actually played it along the ground and made nice short passes through the midfield instead of just hoofing it forward. Shame Ifill and Greenaces shots didn't go in but same could be said for a few of the saves that Pasty made. I thought Hearfield did ok. he's no Manny but he was better than Lochhead. Ifill was MIA in the second half until Siggys goal.

I find he plays a lot better at home. I know the whole team does though

Better performance than last week for me.

What was our formation in the first half? Was it a 4-3-3? It looked like Daniel spent a lot of time in central midfield. The midfield was better than last week. Still think Muscat should fill the hole in between defence and midfield. I'd contemplate this next week to shake it up a bit:
                     Paston
Hearfield Sigmund/North   Durante Lochhead
                     Muscat
            Ward             Lia
Ifill               Pavlovic        Daniel/Bertos

Subs:
Vukovic
Greenacre
Brown
Daniel/Bertos

Or even more radical:
                   Paston
Muscat   Sigmund/North   Durante Lochhead
                  Lia
           Brown      Ward
Hearfield        Pavlovic      Ifill
simon_hampton2010-09-05 21:27:06

Perth contained Ifill, as any team should try to do.

I almost replied no - and actually had to check online that he actually did play.

But as someone else just said, we did pass a bit better today and i was impressed with the build-up play we did. We got let down by terrible defense (Hearfield should not play at the back. If there is no one else to play there, sign someone please!), and poor 'final passes, crosses' into the box

Isn't Muscat still away next week?

hhhm, not a great way to head out of Fathers' Day and into as Monday

some better football in 2nd half, perhaps our expectations have got out of kilter with reality

let's see what Jade North arriving and Ward settling in brings

i certainly hope we don't take Sydney too lightly

Nah.

Route one..NO

                   Vukovic
   North   Durante Lochhead
                     Lia 
        Brown  Daniel   Ward
                   Ifill
         Greenacre  Pavolic

wtf has happened, the games against boca and GCU were great too watch with the later in terrible conditions but now it is all just long balls straight ahead. It appears as though getting a target man has been a terrible decision for the nix as they completly neglect thier width.

Lochhead in the back three ?

Um.  Brave.

When the opposition mark Ifill out of the game we look one dimensional. Need more from the midfield and need a win against Sydney this week who have their backs against the wall.

Less Kiwis and Brits on the park the better far as I'm concerned.  Scrap Lia, Big Mac and Hearfield while you're at it.

Yeah we were brilliant in the Boca game and we weren't too bad against the Roar in Hamilton either. It seems as though we're playing completely different tactics for no reason whatsoever.

So much angst!

When is Tegal and the like coming on to tell us to stop being so negative?
Footpaul2010-09-05 21:39:35

../Siggy/Muscat

Too much f**king angst. Seriously, we've played two of the better teams in this league away from home been very close to snatching points in both. We're not going to win every game FFS. Should we get dismantled by a pretty sh*t Sydney team at home then there might be some cause for angst.

What was Leo thinking with that freekick? It was terrible. Just because he scored one long range free kick last season which took a massive deflection. Is he our best option at set pieces?

We were sh*t last week.  We were better this week, despite schlepping to Perth and missing Manny who'd been our best until now.

Last week I felt pissed off, this week I'm more Meh.  sh*t in the first half, better in the second.  Hopefully we'll start to see players getting better as we roll along, and coming away from Perth a goal down isn't exactly the worst we've done there.