Okay..so why no plan C....we are totally stuffed with 20min to go I will use two subs to give both of them a run and just maybe score a goal which might make difference if we pull our socks up.
R24 V Melbourne Victory | Sunday 5th April | 7:00pm
We get a flat tyre and the comments here talk like the whole fudgeing car has exploded.
It was a poor performance against what is recognised to be the best team in the comp. Anyone not thinking they are odds on to win it all has rocks in their head. After that game, we have to question Ernie, formations, players......just wow!
Plan B: we used that tonight vs McGlinchey not dropping to create space for Burns and Krishna and played 1 more striker and 1 less midfielder. If that's not departing from the normal game plan then you folk are not watching.
Ernie does not need to be questioned. It was a poor game with some personnel missing and some tired against a good team. Considering more than a few doom merchants never had us in the playoffs this year at the start of it (you were one JD) now we need to question Ernie???
I think the players know they were poor but if you look at the pattern of the season (and after the AFC is a good one) we have never turned in 3 shark performances in a row. We missed Riera whom showed exactly why he is the best DM in the comp and an emotional leader in Sigmund.
Just some real over the top reactions. It was a poor performance. That's all - not a reason to go re-investigate our reason for being.
My concern is that the changes in personnel from this week to last week weren't different enough to blake the results on. Last week we had Riera and Siggy, but no Burns and McGlinchy, and we got pumped 3-0. This week we have the opposite, and get pumped 3-0. Can we only play our style effectively with every first choice player available? That's not going to win us any silverware.
Moss did a couple of excellent saves, Boxall actually didn't do too bad as he kept the guy with the weird haircuts quiet. Has Muscats time finally come? Game after game this season (Except when he scored that ripper) he has been disappointing and if not seeing the red mist is just not there. Dura, what was he thinking? He's gotta stopping spewing at the refs as they are now just ignoring him and concentrate on his game. Normally he would have hoofed that ball into row Z instead of scoring.
We missed Riera and Lia imo. The Griff has been playing a right/wing, midfield role which at his age is kinda weird. I would have had him as a straight center forward. Fenton did well considering. Roly was below average and Weemac even more so for a couple of games now - again imo (Which counts for nothing). Cunningham showed some effort and that save was excellent to deny him from scoring.
This ref, what can I say? Anyone who thinks he's quite good and I can point a liar out to you. He was shark. Missed too much going on especially off the ball.
The only thing to ask now is: did Hard News actually put a curse on Nutpuncher?
Griffiths played more down the right from what I saw from aisle 30 and was dropping deep as well. Don't recall seeing him in up the middle role. Also he went down in left midfield in our own half IIRC.
"Everyone" was all over the place really and struggling to find space.
I am less impressed with A Rod as each game passes...and whats with the bunny hop he often does?
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We get a flat tyre and the comments here talk like the whole fudgeing car has exploded.
It was a poor performance against what is recognised to be the best team in the comp. Anyone not thinking they are odds on to win it all has rocks in their head. After that game, we have to question Ernie, formations, players......just wow!
Let' not kid ourselves. The tards are the form team. We shouldn't have folded against Bling, but we would do well to nab 2nd spot with our remaining games.
Time to focus on the last three games.
The only thing to ask now is: did Hard News actually put a curse on Nutpuncher?
I think he has morally high standards, he never would.
Well, we beat Victory last time we played them in Melbourne, and lost to them last night when we played in the Wellington. So maybe finishing below them on the table isn't such a bad thing if it means we can beat them away in the GF!
The league is still so congested in the top 5 though that anything could happen. Victory are definitely favourites because of that game in hand but they have to play Brisbane away twice in a row and all of a sudden Brisbane are looking good and they might think they're still a chance for 6th place. Perth might also get docked points or barred from playing in the finals if this salary cap thing blows up too. I think we're still odds on for a top 4 place and then it's game on.
I know people say "no team has ever won from outside the top 2" but there really haven't been that many seasons to get a proper sample size for that stat to have any real meaning.
The real concern for me coming from these 2 consecutive heavy losses isn't really the league position but what it'll do to our confidence and momentum.
Hmmmm
I don't know, just another perspective after a nights snooze:
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Melbs were pretty solid. But you never felt that our A game wouldn't have been good enough. Just frustrating we couldn't get that on the park.
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A-Rod's getting a fair bit of grief but I thought the problem was in front of him. Rolly was pretty much his only option.
McG is the guy I'm tempted to put the finger on. To me he looks like he's just coasting through games and is not available enough? As a result Rolly was getting shut down and we failed to find Krishna and Burns. And Burns did look like a guy just back from an overseas trip.
Griff looked pretty slow and not effective coming back into midfield. Sad injury but Kenny added more than Griff had been imo.
Picking up on ConanTroutman's comment, I thought we looked like the NZ cricket team in the final. A bit of lack of belief. Manny was panicking, coming central when he should have stayed with his man, and then overly conservative not getting forward. Rolly was trying to win the game by himself and the few times Burns and Krishna did get opportunities they also overplayed their hands.
The nervousness without Riera and Sig, coming off an embarrasing munting v Sydney and the uncertainty and lack of combinations with a rejigged midfield made us look a mess.
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I thought Melbs very wide formation - two on each touch line - made it very hard to press effectively unless the whole front six got involved and could match their man for pace. Some didn't get involved, some didn't have the pace.
Might have been worth defending a bit deeper and more compact.
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Still a chance for second, but only if we get back to form and confidence, and with our starting 11 consistently back on the park. And you never know, Melbourne could still get tripped up.
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Looks like we are still one good utility DM/FB short of a very good squad and we'll be needing another CB and FB very soon also. Possibly two CBs if Boxall leaves. Some near potential in the reserves?
The only thing to ask now is: did Hard News actually put a curse on Nutpuncher?
I think he has morally high standards, he never would.
Wow.
Not a single mention of the Tifo...
I had fun.
The Tifo was awesome. Well done to those who put hours of effort sorting it from approval to hoisting it. Definitely the only aspect of the game I enjoyed from viewing a twitter feed.
I knew from that first free kick for Khallfallah that the ref was going to be inconsistent, but I didn't realise he was going to lose his knitting quite like this.
Hope we can pick it up in the second half.
Which is why I shuddered when I saw he would be today's ref. All the later problems in the half stemmed from the ludicrous yellow card he gave Roly, which was totally out of proportion to the offence. Both teams then went into a cycle of tit-for-tat fouls and general frustration, forcing the weak and inconsistent KGJ to keep trying to even the tally. A classic example of a poor referee negatively affecting the rhythm of a game.
yep, the ref had too much say in the style and flow of the game. And the decision not to card Georgevski for lining up Fenton.
How good does that Nathan Coe save look now. 1-1 has become 0-3.
All the people talking about plan B etc etc.
I always felt if we got one, we could easily get 3. 10 minutes, 15 minutes...We were attacking and just didn't have the patience or the right option.
And often our attack was disrupted by their mucking around...there were 2 or 3 times when we were really building pressure on them, but couldn't get the goal.
remember when we got in behind and then their goalie decided to go down after 5-10 minutes of faffing around on his fitness?
I knew from that first free kick for Khallfallah that the ref was going to be inconsistent, but I didn't realise he was going to lose his knitting quite like this.
Hope we can pick it up in the second half.
Which is why I shuddered when I saw he would be today's ref. All the later problems in the half stemmed from the ludicrous yellow card he gave Roly, which was totally out of proportion to the offence. Both teams then went into a cycle of tit-for-tat fouls and general frustration, forcing the weak and inconsistent KGJ to keep trying to even the tally. A classic example of a poor referee negatively affecting the rhythm of a game.
yep, the ref had too much say in the style and flow of the game. And the decision not to card Georgevski for lining up Fenton.
And what the goalie did was a big joke. Injury himself, then doing 10 minutes stretching, and immediately we went for and full attack via Fenton, he needs to come off. Same Milligan, big concussion playing on, and then get of 10 minutes later. This is maybe all legal, but shows the ref lost the control. I hope my team never pulls that shark, if they where so good, just shoot more goals. And then only 4 minutes extra time, not that I wanted to see much more. At least Berisha did not score even his offsides (ignoring the assist)
After conceding the first goal in 90 sec. we were always going to struggle. Having to make a sub when Griff came off would not have helped but we never seemed to be in control. Muscat was ball watching for the first goal and that was it.
MV always seemed to be in the box seat and that is what surprised me. In Ernie we trust?
In 2 years I haven't seen a lot of Ernie re-jigging a team, more getting them to refocus on the game plan and get it right again (I said earlier he doesn't really vary the game plan a huge amount). But he has made some good switches so far this year. We lack depth and no-one has really emerged from the squad during the season other than Krishna, no bolters from the youth team etc. So I'd say he has his work cut out for him!
Totally agree. Most clubs have a flyer who comes from no where in the youth/reserve setup, but we have no-one who has taken the next step. A few who think they have, but have yet to prove it eg Ridenton and Rufer.
Well...Hicks has stepped up and got us points, so has Boyd. I'm sure that if they had to cover in their natural positions we would get something out of those two and might yet.
Valeo suggested Hicks might have started. I thought McG missed several counter-attacking options, because he was looking to keep possession and play back, rather than releasing play. That coulda been ok.
Disappointing performances the last two games, but it's been like that for all the top teams this season - good runs followed by bad patches...and often very lengthy bad patches...
Amazing to think that Perth led the league until a month ago and now have only won one of their last ten games...
From 13 December to 7 March Melbourne Victory only won three games out of ten (including that home loss to the Nix on March 1st)
From 7 February to 21 March Adelaide won only two of seven.
Sydney FC had a streak of seven games with no wins 29 November to 3 January (but have had the biggest wins percentage of all teams over the last seven games of five wins and two losses)
Melbourne City have snuck into the sixth play-off spot but that looked unlikely until their recent run of three wins in their last four considering they opened the season with one win in their first eight games and then had two only wins in their seven games 26 December to 22 February.
The Phoenix's record over their last seven matches is still one of the best in the league over that period: four wins, a draw and two losses.
The Phoenix's best period of the season was the seven matches where they gained six wins and a draw from 30 November to 4 January.
The Phoenix's record from 30 November:
W W D W W W W L L D D W W W W L L
So, there's a pattern of the Phoenix going on four match winning streaks followed by two losses and two draws - and then four more wins !!!
Future Prediction:
So, if that pattern is repeated, we've already got the two losses out of the way - and can now look forward to remaining undefeated the rest of the regular season with two draws and a win in the remaining three league games, plus wins in all the play-off games !!!
Did anyone else see that Sky had us at the Hutt Rec?
Disappointing performances the last two games, but it's been like that for all the top teams this season - good runs followed by bad patches...and often very lengthy bad patches...
Amazing to think that Perth led the league until a month ago and now have only won one of their last ten games...
From 13 December to 7 March Melbourne Victory only won three games out of ten (including that home loss to the Nix on March 1st)
From 7 February to 21 March Adelaide won only two of seven.
Sydney FC had a streak of seven games with no wins 29 November to 3 January (but have had the biggest wins percentage of all teams over the last seven games of five wins and two losses)
Melbourne City have snuck into the sixth play-off spot but that looked unlikely until their recent run of three wins in their last four considering they opened the season with one win in their first eight games and then had two only wins in their seven games 26 December to 22 February.
The Phoenix's record over their last seven matches is still one of the best in the league over that period: four wins, a draw and two losses.
The Phoenix's best period of the season was the seven matches where they gained six wins and a draw from 30 November to 4 January.
The Phoenix's record from 30 November:
W W D W W W W L L D D W W W W L L
So, there's a pattern of the Phoenix going on four match winning streaks followed by two losses and two draws - and then four more wins !!!
Future Prediction:
So, if that pattern is repeated, we've already got the two losses out of the way - and can now look forward to remaining undefeated the rest of the regular season with two draws and a win in the remaining three league games, plus wins in all the play-off games !!!
Do the bookies have any influence?
Did anyone else see that Sky had us at the Hutt Rec?
That would explain why the camera shots were all from far away!
Disappointing performances the last two games, but it's been like that for all the top teams this season - good runs followed by bad patches...and often very lengthy bad patches...
Amazing to think that Perth led the league until a month ago and now have only won one of their last ten games...
From 13 December to 7 March Melbourne Victory only won three games out of ten (including that home loss to the Nix on March 1st)
From 7 February to 21 March Adelaide won only two of seven.
Sydney FC had a streak of seven games with no wins 29 November to 3 January (but have had the biggest wins percentage of all teams over the last seven games of five wins and two losses)
Melbourne City have snuck into the sixth play-off spot but that looked unlikely until their recent run of three wins in their last four considering they opened the season with one win in their first eight games and then had two only wins in their seven games 26 December to 22 February.
The Phoenix's record over their last seven matches is still one of the best in the league over that period: four wins, a draw and two losses.
The Phoenix's best period of the season was the seven matches where they gained six wins and a draw from 30 November to 4 January.
The Phoenix's record from 30 November:
W W D W W W W L L D D W W W W L L
So, there's a pattern of the Phoenix going on four match winning streaks followed by two losses and two draws - and then four more wins !!!
Future Prediction:
So, if that pattern is repeated, we've already got the two losses out of the way - and can now look forward to remaining undefeated the rest of the regular season with two draws and a win in the remaining three league games, plus wins in all the play-off games !!!
Interesting stats.
If your predictions are correct, can you give me the six lotto numbers?
Another thing that annoyed me late on was at corners - 3-0 down, and yet at corners we have only 5 players
in the box?! Victory had nobody up front either. Surely we should've been piling bodies forward?
We are the crappiest team in the world defending corners and the crappiest team in the world trying to score from one...
It's ridiculous. When we take corner kicks it's either a half-hearted ball in or play it short and lose posession....
The Phoenix's record from 30 November:
W W D W W W W L L D D W W W W L L
So, there's a pattern of the Phoenix going on four match winning streaks followed by two losses and two draws - and then four more wins !!!
Future Prediction:
So, if that pattern is repeated, we've already got the two losses out of the way - and can now look forward to remaining undefeated the rest of the regular season with two draws and a win in the remaining three league games, plus wins in all the play-off games !!!
Interesting stats.
If your predictions are correct, can you give me the six lotto numbers?
All his fault -
Did anyone consult Ken Ring first?
#simplemistakes
Me after the first 35 seconds yesterday...
I really hope we can bounce back from this. Going to be a tough 3 weeks if we can't.
We've found our level, which is third or fourth in the league. Still a great place to mount a successful campaign to "knock the (Aussie) bastards off"
Damage was done but 15 minutes to go, we should've had some more players in the box!! Inexcusable for them to have all 11 back and we have 5 attacking players. No wonder we never score from corners
Once we were knocking the ball around the back four in our own half, as we do, and after about 4 passes I noticed we had 7 players behind any of theirs, and they had far from parked the bus I can assure you.
Is it impossible to complete a pass isn't along the deck and either square, backwards (more usual) or forwards to someone with their back with someone immediately behind them?
We held on to the ball for too long and always had one or two of them closing us down. When we did break and look to get into the box it was invariably through quick short passes.
Couldn't agree more. We dwell on it too long and overcook it. Which is pointless if we end up giving it away anyway. We need to be bolder and do more first time passes - remember when we did that at the Hutt once and it was electrifying.
We've found our minimum level, which is third or fourth in the league. Still a great place to mount a successful campaign to "knock the (Aussie) bastards off"
Agree- when we are at our worst we are about the level of fourth in the league. On form- in the top one! I strongly believe
We held on to the ball for too long and always had one or two of them closing us down. When we did break and look to get into the box it was invariably through quick short passes.
Couldn't agree more. We dwell on it too long and overcook it. Which is pointless if we end up giving it away anyway. We need to be bolder and do more first time passes - remember when we did that at the Hutt once and it was electrifying.
Griffiths played more down the right from what I saw from aisle 30 and was dropping deep as well. Don't recall seeing him in up the middle role. Also he went down in left midfield in our own half IIRC.
"Everyone" was all over the place really and struggling to find space.
I am less impressed with A Rod as each game passes...and whats with the bunny hop he often does?
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Sorry yeah I meant to say he played down the right and burns was down the guts until he got injured and then it changed
Another thing that annoyed me late on was at corners - 3-0 down, and yet at corners we have only 5 players in the box?! Victory had nobody up front either. Surely we should've been piling bodies forward?
We are the crappiest team in the world defending corners and the crappiest team in the world trying to score from one...
It's ridiculous. When we take corner kicks it's either a half-hearted ball in or play it short and lose posession....
Holy shark. I am so over them taking short corners. It has not ever worked.
Highlight of the game for me was the "Berisha's a shark cod" chant
What was the attendance? It looked pretty good on tv. (was about the only thing that looked good last night).
Only highlight for me was the Kenny 'beast face'. Nice wee bit of skill to almost score that goal too.
What was the attendance? It looked pretty good on tv. (was about the only thing that looked good last night).
Around the 8400 mark.
Thought it was more than 8.4k at the ground as well.
Probably fairly good turnout for a long weekend.