Poor refereeing accounts for a couple of our disappointing results but there were plenty of times this season where we managed to look terrible all by ourselves. There were also a few occasions where we looked brilliant. Why the discrepancy? I think that part of it is tactical - our setup and style was right for the situation sometimes but not other times. Some of it was personnel - when we had Rossi on the pitch we conceded far fewer goals than when he missed games for instance. Krishna's goals were important for us but we lacked amore traditional central striker often - Smeltz was too old and Watson not really good enough. Then I think some more of it was psychological - we seemed to struggle with motivation and teamwork, and some players were maybe even actively bitching about each other (see Moss complaining that guys weren't following the coaches' instructions). I think that the problem there is partly the fault of the club owners - upper management drives an organisation's culture, and their handling of the coaching situation particularly didn't exactly signal ambition or accountability (not accepting Ernie's initial resignation).
These feed into each other - tactics are constrained by personnel available, it's hard to get motivated when results just aren't going your way, etc. But ultimately most of these are things your manager should be doing. Buckacre did alright, better than I expected, but still not good enough for the permanent role IMO. We need an outsider who can come in and look at the squad with fresh eyes and shake things up if need be.
I said on another thread that I'm sick of our premade excuses about being a NZ-based side and not having the resources of the big boys. That type of attitude is already accepting failure before you start. We've shown we can beat the best sides in the competition so clearly what advantages they do have don't make them unbeatable. We're not like Ingolstadt playing Bayern, or Granada playing Barca or Real. Yeah the Sydney and Melbourne teams have advantages but so what? That's life - not everyone gets dealt the same hand. Their advantages aren't insurmountable.
I want to see a winning culture. I want a squad who will fight to the end for the club and the fans. I want to see evidence that people in the club give half as much of a shark about this as the fans do. Mostly though I still want us to have a club in 4 years time and beyond.
