Player ravings v Jet Planes

Player ravings v Jet Planes

Talk about dedication to blody football. Tonight I was at a BOP Federation meeting that started at 6pm (!!!!!!), so I haven't seen the game yet! The first half of the game I spent driving to Tauranga and listening to about 2 min total of radio commentary.

Paston 5 - Should've stopped second goal but otherwise did fine.
Lochhead 7.5 - Far better than he was at start of season
Sigmund 6
Smeltz 8.5 - Ran lots, held ball up and of course scored twice.
Coveny 6 - Won a penalty and played OK
Kwasnik 5.5 - A few good runs but marked quite tightly
Gao 4 - Some poorly performed simulation, should've been carded.  Did not do much at all.
Durante 6
Dodd 6

Actually I thought Gao had quite a good game, he wasn't as attacking as he can be but his bandaged head was getting back and helping out defensively a lot more.  As for the simulation, the same could be said for at least two Newcastle players

Not sure how Kwas got 5.5 unless that is how often he touched the ball.

Still, I don't have any numbers posted so I shouldn't bag others.

Yep I remember a crucial block Gao made in our penalty box in the 2nd half. He played well imo apart from the dives. (penalty wasn't a dive though)

how did siggy go at right back?

Paston - 6 - Sometimes his positioning was dodgy, not at fault for either goal IMO
Siggy - 7 - Some wayward passes, but usual Siggy performance
Durante - 7 - Played well, crucial headers. Sometimes tries to overuse the long ball
Dodd - 7 - Much better as a CB
Lochhead - 8 - Good defending, kept Song relatively quiet and good overlapping runs

Gao - 7 - Did well for the penalty, some theatrics and should be less self-centred but you have the feeling no matter what anybody says to him, he's gonna play the same way. Best to utilise what he does offer, pace, skill and an eye for goal if he can get close enough.
Johnson - 6 - Missed a few shots, wayward passes but still worked hard
Brown - 7 - PLayed well again, dont want him injured thats for sure.
Kwasnik - 5 - Thought he wasn't very good at all. Bad passes, no penatration.

Covs - 6.5 - Did a lot, did well for the penalty using all his experience
Smeltz - 8 - Finishes.

Plodder - 6 - Some nice touches, bit suprised it was plodder making them and a half decent cross or two. I began to think with some pace he would be a half decent player...
Ferrante - 6 - Good cross ball, no massive impact
Daniel - 4 - Gave the ball away a lot, not great when he came on.

Herbert - 8 - Subs were well used (i.e pushing Gao further up - saw him signalling Gao to go further up ) and introduced Daniel at the right time, even though innefective.

Paston = not good enough.

Agreed. Finally he got the subs right and didn't leave them late. (though to be fair he did it against Sydney as well)

I question the use of Ferrante on the bench though when you could have a striker. He never really has an impact.

Makes it more impressive though that we held them to a draw two players down.

This is pretty bang on for mine. Their first goal took a decent deflection which made it very difficult for Paston, while their second was the result of a failed offside trap (although it looked offside to me).
Arsenal2008-10-07 07:52:50

What was Matt Thompson thinking?

Goa play pretty well I thought! as mentioned esarlier he wasn't as attacking as normal but he certainly caused the Jets defence a few issues, hence he was fouled quite often, hence he spent a lot of the time on the deck. Thought the ref had a shocker though, he runied what could have beena  good flowing game -  a whistle blew every 2 mins!!!!! Plus he missed an blatent offside, which resulted in their second goal!

how was paston not to blame for the second goal? failed offside trap or not surely you don't let their guy run onto the bouncing ball inside the box. from memory it wasn't even close to the edge of the box and he could've come out much further to meet it instead of being caught in no mans land.

BRING BACK MOSS
rodfarva2008-10-07 08:44:05

all paston had to do was continue off his line, but instead he came and stopped, let the ball bounce in front of him (which you should never do) and made to look like a donkey.

Paston - 6.5 - Gave me a couple of minor heartattacks with his positioning and looked completely out of it when Patafta got his goal.
Lochhead - 7.5 - Not quite as effective going forward but did well to keep the likes of El**ch and Hakkanson at bay.
Dodd - 7 - Very average, should have been on the bench with Siggy in the middle and Muscat on the right.
Durante - 7.5 - Pretty solid, but not the best distribution.
Sigmund - 7.5 - Did the best he could, but we have better options at right back. If we're going to start him, it should be in the middle.

Kwasnik - 6 - Didn't show any penetration or give his teammates the options they need. Start Gao or Daniel on the left instead with Bertos on the right because they sem to offer much more. I'm back to the presumption he's here for his slice of Terry S's dough and not much else.
Brown - 8 - Once again he wore his heart on his sleeve and ran and tackled and ran and tackled and did everything I want to see from him. Another game and another cardless display from Tommo, well done.
Johnson - 6 - STOP STARTING HIM RICKI!! He offers none of the positioning, distribution or heart that we require, what did Ferrante do to be replaced?
Gao - 7 - Sick and tired of his theatrics, but he needs more support if he's really going to flourish. Did well to win the penalty, and just needs a bit more desiveness on whether to pass, cross, shoot or keep running after beating his man.

Coveny - 6.5 - Up until winning the penalty I barely noticed him, like Johnson he his past the standard of being an A-League starter, I think I might of already said that last week as well.
Smeltzayyyy - 8.5 - Two well taken penalties, and so close to what would have been a great goal if not for the woodwork, still needs better support from the rest of the attack I think.

Oska2008-10-07 10:34:04

Yay, at last I've seen the game!! Wolfben, I'm pretty much in agreement with you, a few differences...

I've just watched it again (on sky now) and Lochead for me didn't gat back hardly at all in the first half. I thought so when I watched the game live but the replay confirmed. Dodd virtually played on the left most of the first 45 covering for him, so much so I thought Lochead was in midfield and we had 3 at the back again.

No more than 5.5 for Lochead for me, much improved in the second half

BRING BACK MOSS

And lochead played well!

  Erm.... what. Everything that Johnson offers is full of heart - it's whether he offers enough technically that is the question, but he is probably our best option.

Can still remember Johnson scrambling the goal off the line for the NZK... was against either Sydney or Jets, when we were under Ricky.

Has anyone been impressed with any games Kwasnik has played. He may have had the odd glimpse of form/ability  (personally i don't recall), but i think he needs to be out of the team for a while and battle hard to make it back in.

Kwasnik, IMO, hasn't done anything to justify his starting spot, I'd prefer Daniel was started and have Kwasnik on the bench, even Leo would be a better attacking option.

Agreed, though Kwasnik has yet to score his record with Mariners cant be overlooked

Yeah Daniel on the left over Kwasnik, surely.

If Kwasnik's record "can't be overlooked" then nor can Daniel's. No contest.

His record can only hold him in the starting lineup for son long, he needs to show us something or get dropped, at the moment he is a liability and seriously hindering our attack down the left side. Daniel whilst not in the best form at least provides moments of spark, perhaps Kwasnik should start form the bench.

Agreed, I really was expecting more from him so far

Most would prefer to have Kwasnik in form then Daniel in form. Daniel drifts in-and-out of games regardless of how good hes playing.

Who's 'Most'??

Anyone who knows how good he was at CCM being there top scorer at CCM is not easily done. He just doesn't seem to fit in at the Nix so doesn't seem to be doing so well.

At least Daniel has been in the games he's played in. Kwasnik, for the Phoenix (and that's all that matters) hasn't done anything of note - or to justify the hype around his signing.

Thats true. . . I just hope he starts becoming something more of a phoenix idol

I'm prepared to giove Kwasnik a few games to show some form, I'm not however happy about him starting.

has anybody bothered to take the conditions into account for the performance of the team on monday. That heat made free flowing football difficult for both sides, probably why there wasnt as much running off the ball and dribbling at defenders. The next home hame on a sunny Labour weekend afternoon will surely see an improvement.

What I see is someone with the confidence to have a go, someon who the opposition won't be able to work out quickly, someone who can run at defenders, someone with good ball skills.