R14 vs CCM Sun 12 Jan 7pm - Kids Go Free

He's had 5 in his a-league career and has only played 4 games this season.

Even Dewhurst got it right saying it was three and he usually fluffs his lines.

442 Stats Zone app suggests Riera was MOTM for us today and I'd agree with that.

Carlos is a class player but today he was woeful. When Carlos is on form he is no doubt one of the best players in the league. I agree that he is definitely not performing well enough at the moment. If he were to be dropped next week would Hicks replace him? Hasn't Ernie said that he doesn't see Hicks as a creative midfielder? 

Interesting.  I thought Riera had a poor game by his standards.

Manny was solid as.

Manny is about second in terms of the stats.

As for the Carlos conundrum, Stein has been better in that position so I'd go back to that, perhaps start Boyd up front.

Carlos is just offering zero at the moment and a lot of moves broke down when it got to him today. His dive near the end was embarrassing too.

Jeez, I thought Riera was great today, won so much ball and didn't make silly fouls

What worried me most with Hernandez was his free kicks and corners, which were woeful apart from the one were Siggy fouled.

Way past time to give them to someone else, or maybe PRACTICE them a bit more(?) .

Hernandez's Hideaway?

Arse.

Feck.

Worthington's match report on Stuff now. Pretty accurate I say.

Dont think Carlos has shown us anything like his best form in any game this season.Yes when he brings his A game he is one of the best but we have still to see it.

Seem to recall he used to drift in and out of games when he was at the Victory,but unlike with us when he was in the game for them he was delivering a lot more. 

I wonder if Hernandez should be benched against Victory. He would have no secrets  - they all (well, most of them) know him well and what he does. I agree with others that dropping him, and putting Stein in his place instead, might work against the Tards.

The problem is, Carlos is expensive. Keeping him on the bench is not a long-term answer, especially just after he hastily re-signed for the second season ("The Totori Clause"). Welnix may not have a say on the player selection, but they would be entitled to ask questions if they're getting value for their investment.

At least at a Victory he was scoring a few goals and free kicks were immense. His shooting for us has been wayward to say the least.

It's odd looking at no Leo even in the squad and two similar players in Hicks and Ridenton, as well as two similar players in Boyd and Khrishna. Surely we lacked width and our experienced winger and last years full back wasn't even in the squad...

I agree totally

I am slowly developing paranoidal suspicion that we may need Lochhead back for a guest stint.

I still don't know if Boyd was fouled. Possibly not to be honest. Went over a little easy and needs to work on his diving technique!

My first reaction from aisle 23 was that he went over a bit too easily. I haven't seen the tv coverage.

There was contact at the knees, very slight. But I hate seeing players go down for this especially when they simulate as Boyd did, it ruins the games reputation. Im glad the ref didn't award it. Unless its blatantly obvious contact I don't like seeing them be awarded.

Both teams were playing with their backlines very high, especially in the first half, which compressed all 20 players into about 30 metres of the field at times. It was especially noticeable from the kickoffs. This made it quite hard for us to work the ball through the compressed midfield, and so we often resorted to trying to put balls over the top for Stein/Brockie to run onto with little success. In this scenario someone with a bit of pace like Boyd would have been very handy to have on in the first half.

Agreed Carlos wasn't the best today, but to be honest I'm more worried about Kenny. Might be hidden by the goal that he scored (which was absolute class), but his defensive "work" down the right really puts us under pressure IMO. He either goes missing too often, or if he is there gets strolled straight past. Not just this game either.

I haven't heard too many good things about Matt Simon this season, but he must be one of those players that defenders hate playing against, and was very effective I thought. For a big man he puts himself about a lot, and doesn't back away from challenges. Good finish also.

No. Not even close.

My 2c: 

MOM Riera. Or possibly McBreen :)

Bench Brockie.

Cunningham is not a midfielder, he's a striker, use him as such. So many times he butchered the "midfield type" action that I was moaning about how crap he was just before he scored.

So:

  Boxy (or leo who brings more on attack but less on defense), Siggy, Dura, Muscat

  Riera, Lia

  Hernandez

  Boyd Waffles Cunningham

Subs: Brockie (on for Cunningham or Boyd @60mins), Leo/Boxy, Ridenton, Krishna(on for Cunningham or Boyd @80mins), Italiano

Benefit of Boxy on the bench is that he effectively provides injury cover for the entire back four. Krishna showed enough to get another run off the bench (emphasis on the "run").

So many of our goals have come from turnovers and quick attacks that I was quite grumpy when I was seeing Riera or Hernandez looking like they were about to get a turnover and Waffles, Brockie and Cunningham all sitting in an offside position because they were too slow to get back by 3 meters.

Thought CCM were good value, and we did well to get back in the game and get a point out of it. We were flat with no momentum from WSW game in the first half after the 11 day break (or whatever it was) and were outplayed until the second half. That compressed midfield in the conditions didn't suit us either, so hope the wind stays away next Sat night.    

First 30 odd minutes was complete dross. I think that period was the worst we have played this year. Gradually started coming into it after that. Not impressed with the ref at all, haven't seen a replay but looked like he made a huge number of mistakes. Krishna looked pretty sharp when he came on, better than I expected, hopefully I was wrong about him. All the subs did actually although I think Merrick should have taken off Hernandez rather than Hysugems. Time well past it for Brockie to be moved to the bench; completely out of form, low on confidence and doesn't look to be working hard enough off the ball.

We need more of a game plan against CCM. We struggle with their compact defence. We aren't prepared to release a quick counter through ball and out wide we only have our fullbacks who are not prepared or not able to attack quickly. Our passing isn't good/creative  enough yet to break them down. The number of through balls that didn't get through was a lot. I think maybe when cunning/waff/Brockie all stuffed up in a row it was one of the only successful ones?