R1 vs Western United | Sun 13th Oct | 6:00pm | RoF

Also, should've been a DFK (a pen) as he did interfere with play.

Here's a pic from under it, smoke cannister was released about the same time too (lol)

From where I was sitting it definitely looked like a yellow to Taylor

I was confused a bit by the lack of Option B in this match. We looked like we only knew one way to play.

Towards the end, if all they were going to do was lump balls into the box, why did DeVere or Taylor not go up? Our team is very small and WU had a field day clearing the long balls. We also seemed to be very sluggish getting to the second phase ball once it was cleared too, a WU player almost always seemed to win it.

reminded me a lot of the days we were crossing the ball into greenacre and hoping head score with his head

The letter from the APRA is on its way to HQ explaining how n why decision was respectable.

Dario Jertec is in between the ref and Taylor when the card is shown.

I remember when Bayern Munich played under Guardiola a few years back, when they faced opposition that sat deep and were content to defend, Bayern often resorted to hitting balls into the box with very little effect but that was all they could do. Cant remember what formation they played and I'm no expert but must have something to do with Talays style if play. I much prefer a team that quickly wins the ball back and counter attacks quickly. We did last year, but I don't think we have the players for it now.

Going from last year, Rudan often packed the defence, particularly when a goal up and later in the game. So no surprise really that they sat deep and had 10 players behind the ball for alot of that 2nd half. If we had of gone 1 up and they were chasing the game it could have been quite different.

It was interesting watching WU, they played pretty similarly to how we played last year.  Without Roy and Williams banging them in I think they will struggle against better teams like we did.

We had all the ball in the second spell but couldn't really hurt them.  Still, I think we seem to want to play in a more progressive way.  I do think we need much better possession and movement in the final third.  WU just funneled us out wide and the crossing wasn't at all threatening.  I thought we looked better with Ball on the pitch so was surprised when he went off.  Still feel like we have a lot of work to do on the attacking structure.  

Both the fullbacks looked unsure about whether they were supposed to be attacking and seem reluctant to push into the final third.

Defensively we looked much better.  Their attacks got shut down pretty quickly and Steinmann looked like a classic European no. 5.   

Steinmann looked very solid. Reding the game

McDonald is a better all round player than Williams, and Berisha a better finisher than either - both don't have the pace, but both are very good goal scorers. Think they'll be fine unfortunately.

Agree re: Steinmann. Disappointing we've got him only for 1 year, and he's come in once our attacking stocks have been raided. Bit cautious as Paracki looked like a world beater in his first game, but Steinmann just seems generally solid. Still unsure if Rufer offers enough alongside him.

I was also surprised how good McDonald was considering his best years were arguably behind him.  It could be the result of the relative difference in quality between HAL and European competitions.  This is his first A-League outing. 

Steinmann looked like a calming influence on the team and I hope Rufer will continue to improve by playing alongside him.

I also thought Ball looked a much better player against WU than he was in the early FFA Cup outing.

Had to laugh at people in the match thread who said he wouldn't be a threat cause he's old. McDonald was the best on the pitch; will be interesting to see how he holds up over the course of a season.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/ale...

Refs already fudgeing nix over.   Shouldve been a penalty not indirect free kick 

Meh. We would've missed anyway

Referee FIFA  ref

AR1 FIFA ref

4th Official FIFA ref

VAR Official FIFA ref

How can 4 FIFA  referees get it wrong

And the referee is getting a VAR job against Sydney this week so he study the rule book while he watchs the game

Yeh- the perspective of the article is interesting. Summary- hohoho won't the Nix fans be angry. 

Rather than- why wasn't the VAR consulted. 

VAR was consulted, they got it wrong as well

Nick Waldron - Nuff said. the man whom sent 8 off in a lower level game I believe. Same issues with him last season. I have only one word for him - RETIRE.

I can’t hold back any longer because you should consider changing the record mate. 

You’ve never once had a good/accurate take on referees and the one above is poor. He’s at the WC u17s in Brazil. Must be doing it all wrong.

Referees of a feather? Even you have to admit he has had made some very debateable calls. Yes, he has made some correct ones too. Some of the A League referees have been awful over the years. You know that and so do a lot of players and fans alike. Unfortunately, the TV cameras and replays are merciless these days with about 6 different angles and slow motion etc.

The good news is, that these very same cameras can either fully support a decision or crucify you if you make the wrong one. Classic example is the change on the handball rule. That makes it so much easier to call by the referee on the pitch and the VAR off it.

I liked Mathew Breeze. He did pretty well for the most part, Steib was too for the most part. I don't envy their position hence I would not go for the job but if you do, you roll the dice and you get the calls right, people will respect you but when you get them wrong, there is no appeal against it.

Cullina was the very best referee I saw. Nothing ruffled him and he was fair. Let's see how Nick goes in Brazil. If he does a good job there, I will acknowledge it, as I would if he were on the pitch in the A League but if he doesn't, I would like you to acknowledge it please.

As a side issue Chris Kerr, you accidentally raise another discussion - Should match officials be allowed to be interviewed on TV post match to explain any decisions? On this issue, I look forward to everyone's input because to me, It would certainly help clear up any controversies.

Don't know about right after the game, I hate those half time/full time interviews but I did like they did this for the VAR in Sydney v Adelaide game. Would like to see more of this, also to know what's happening in the crowd while you're at games but neither the commentary or referees knew what was happening in our game. 
https://youtu.be/KH0xYhqnxrQ

I stopped reffing after doing it for 4 years in high school because of the constant belittling of refs by people who have never given it a go. You get shark wrong, you get shark right. Not enough people do it and unfortunately you cannot pull the best of best out of thin air.

Looking forward to when we can hear the refs talking to each other. Think that's works well in Rugby. 

I believe the SPFL linesmen (still shark and corrupt) have a buzzer to alert the ref when they want to talk, not sure if that's the same here?

I just hope the Nix learning something from this. Everyone should know the rules of the game, especially Taylor and Rufer. They should go to the Referee and say ‘Hey I’m pretty sure after Rule XYZ Section ZXY this should be a pen, please double check’

Knowing the rules would also avoid getting into similar problems against us.

They do have beep flags as well as comms. It was the fourth official that told the ref the player was back on the field without permission through the comms. It's just that both the referee and AR got the law wrong. 

Reckon far to much is made of blaming the refs and other officials for a bad result.Players probably make more mistakes in both attack and defence that have a direct affect on the result but because they are an easy target its the officials that cop it. We seem to have an issue with officials in many sports gets a little tiresome at times.

true, but while we know that players will make mistakes a lot and not be perfect, referees are expected to get everything right and failing to do so is a failure of their job

Why the impossible standard of perfection for referees?

What an utter load of crap. 

bit of a fudge up on my part there lads, not what i meant.

look, the job of a football player is very different to a referee. there's not a set standard of perfection for a football player - they go out there and do their best. But for a referee, it's simple - their job wants them to get every single call right. Obviously I don't expect refs to get everything right and they won't 

They're not going to be perfect but they'll inevitably be scrutinised more than a player if they mess up; a player mistake is part of the game but a referee mistake is a misrepresentation of the laws so a team is going to feel a lot more hard done by.

Drastic oversimplification. Ref errors typically fall into two broad categories; what did we see/not see from that angle. The other is an error in law. Referee scrutiny doesn't happen in the media, it will happen in the post game debrief with assessors.

On the first one, refs need to work to be in the best place possible, but mistakes will happen. Comms helps on the day, and bring the wider team in to a position to help - but different views of match incidents is very much part of the game as well.