What a fucking pathetic performance that was. There are no excuses for serving up a performance like that. Every single player on the pitch and Merrick deserve to be criticized for that.
How many losses does it take to make anybody realise that the team setup is NOT working? Brockie did nothing all game. Burns had a horror. Lia is Lia. Riera looked oddly off. Bonevacia looked the best, but gets subbed. I have no idea what is going through Merricks mind right now. Oh and our centre backs are now i'd say starting to get among the worst pairings in the A-League. The amount of times one or both are caught out of position and make a desperate lunge for the ball is extremely poor.
(I'm totally expecting hate for that, but in every game this season we've looked far from solid.)
Lia brings absolutely nothing to the team. Isn't good enough to take anyone on or spot a smart pass. Most of the time plays wide or to Riera, even when Riera is sometimes in a worse position than he is.
Brockie didn't even register a shot. (Not counting that excuse for a cross in the first half). Mind telling me why he gets recalled to play wide, when we have two NATURAL wingers on the bench?
Merrick waits too long to make a sub in the game. If things aren't working (i.e. Being completly outplayed in the first half) then change something. Then again if that doesn't work. We're 2-0 down before he even seems to think about a sub. Then subs Bonevacia. Arguably our fittest player at the club. He's been quoted to have said that the fullbacks provide the width. Then why are we playing a 4-3-3 that already should have wide men in the wide areas? I don't know.
Perth at times looked like they were toying with us. Even with 10 men they created far better opportunities. We won't come close to making the top six if we play like we did. Against Adelaide and Perth we have been exposed over and over. You can't play Newcastle every week...