Had a glance at r/ALeague. All the Sydney fans on there are moaning about how the ref shafted them. Have I lost my mind? How can they think that? I haven't seen game on TV so maybe I missed something but I couldn't believe it.
it's because they're not used to having calls go against them. They think that a handball in the lead up to a goal should have been ignored, and that an on side player was off side for our goal, but ignore a blatant foul in the lead up to their goal.
I'm an utter pedant who's brought this up elsewhere but I'll bring it up again - it wasn't a handball as such, but even if it's not a handball, you CANNOT score directly from a rebound off hand or arm (Laws of the Game 12.1)
Faghani isn't biased against us. He just allows more physicality and our players are not used to it. Just look at the tantrums Kraev had. Combine that with him tending to get the big games & us normally having him away, it's unsurprising our record is terrible under him.
What annoys me with Faghani is you can murder someone for 70 mins and then suddenly breathing on someone is now a foul.
Yeah, he is easily the best ref in the league which doesnt say a lot for the quality we have in the league. I enojoy how he wants to let the game flow, but his tolerance for clear fouls is ridiculous, and it goes both ways. But their first goal should not have been allowed, even though the contact on Pennington was at the light end it was still a push in the back which then enabled the Sydney player to take the ball. Clear foul, why VAR decided it wasnt is beyond me. Second goal been disallowed was always going to be the case, as said before any goal from any contact to the arm is automatically handball. Despite the two concerning hammy injuries we came away with the three points. It was always gooing to be tough, Sydney on an 8 game unbeaten run, they play the very high fast press which is Talay's style. All we needed to do was unlock a couple of times and then beat Redmayne who is a beast in goal. top of the league, Kosta leading the way as he has since Zawada's injury, the midfield did really well Rufer/Pennington and Old - especially in the second half. Our run home is tough, but we have 4 games at home so we as fans need to make that count for something!
I thought Sydney's goal that did stand was fine, I thought Pennington was naiive in the extreme to go down so easily like that, given who was the ref. He should have known better, and if he didn't, the coaches should have reminded the whole team before the game, stay on your feet if you can because this ref lets a lot go.
But I was watching us get nothing at all from the ref and any minor contact we made on them got whistled. The linesmen were in on it too, waving their flags for nothing challenges.
And I genuinely believe that as soon as we were ahead, the ref all of a sudden turned into a madman, sprinting around, frantically gesturing at the Nix to get play going again for every break in play. It was honestly bizarre. Sprinting over when a player is getting his leg stretched out for cramp. He wasn't acting this way when Sydney were doing similar things. Didn't care in the slightest when Redmayne pretended to be injured for 2 minutes when we had 5 minutes of good momentum in the first half, he was clearly doing it to stop that momentum and it worked.
Though again I have no qualms with the Sutton yellow either. But Wootton's time wasting yellow was preposterous.
The club have stats to show we have bias against us. Often it's because we get inexperienced refs with the more experienced refs being reserved for the bigger games in a round. I remember when Merrick was here he couldn't believe how bad it was and things he could get away with at victory and decisions he'd expect to go his way were going against him.
This year we seen to be getting more calls go our way. Maybe it's because we're going well, maybe it's the league trying to be more even, maybe it's just luck. And look where we are. So, for Sydney, when you come from a position of privilege and are used to marginal calls going your way, then equality feels like oppression. Same as victory fans claiming the league is being rigged to stop them winning because they've had a couple of calls go against them.
"Maybe it's because we're going well, " - probably that. It's a recognized phenomenon in Italian football that refs are much less likely to make borderline calls against the leading clubs.
I dont agree with those that say the ref just "let things go". He was way way too lenient, letting blatant fouls go. A prime example was for the first goal, and how the hell VAR didnt overturn that I shall never know.
But I have to say I think it was a brilliant "old fashioned" game, with both sides going hell for leather, and little of this "pass the things backwards" all the time shyte.
Sydney pressed full on and disrupted our style, and they did it bloody well I thought (apart from fouls that should have been called). It was much more like a man to man marked battle from days of yore, and it was all the much better for it.
Ultimately we overcame all of that, which is what matters, and we got a fantastic result. I would watch that kind of football every day of the week.
Kostas goal was sensational, although the defensive pair really should have done better and shepherded him wide - but they both went for the same ball and got turned inside out.
If the womens game is half as entertaining this afternoon, I will be well pleased.
Ref was shark and inconsistent as he always is, best in the league my arse.
Massive victory for us though, we played fairly poorly and come away with three points, thats a winning mentality imo. The team is massive, the mentality is incredible and we have the best coach in the league. What a time to be a Nix fan.
Faghani isn't biased against us. He just allows more physicality and our players are not used to it. Just look at the tantrums Kraev had. Combine that with him tending to get the big games & us normally having him away, it's unsurprising our record is terrible under him.
What annoys me with Faghani is you can murder someone for 70 mins and then suddenly breathing on someone is now a foul.
I usually enjoy watching a Faghani game.
His faults we saw yesterday. He obsessed over time wasting and issues yellows, but didn’t consider deliberate fouling to stop counters worth a yellow. The worst was one where the ball had gone and the player was just kicked. Still it was only 3 times compared to King’s feckless display.
Perhaps Kraev or Sutton got his back up, or he listened to the Sydney complaints because he behaved very oddly when Hughes was injured. Compare it to when Redmayne was injured or perhaps time wasting in the first half.
Actually nothing makes me angrier than seeing a player try to pull an injured player to his feet, which a Sydney player did to Hughes. Faghani then rushed his treatment, making him limp to the sideline and bizarrely carding Wootton for waiting for Hughes’ substitute to enter the play. That was quite an odd series of events.
That moment aside, I thought the game flowed and the first goal annoyed me as we were slow to adjust and slow to cover. And Sutton definitely earned his yellow. Cacace-esque that was.
Hope most of you are still in la la land! It was a great result. We’re still in our own hands. Who was Man of the Match? Salas? Rufer? Kosta? And I always appreciate Al-Taay.
Our first win with Faghani reffing lads. Here’s to many more. The secret is to play much better than the opponent imo!
Faghani isn't biased against us. He just allows more physicality and our players are not used to it. Just look at the tantrums Kraev had. Combine that with him tending to get the big games & us normally having him away, it's unsurprising our record is terrible under him.
What annoys me with Faghani is you can murder someone for 70 mins and then suddenly breathing on someone is now a foul.
I usually enjoy watching a Faghani game.
His faults we saw yesterday. He obsessed over time wasting and issues yellows, but didn’t consider deliberate fouling to stop counters worth a yellow. The worst was one where the ball had gone and the player was just kicked. Still it was only 3 times compared to King’s feckless display.
Perhaps Kraev or Sutton got his back up, or he listened to the Sydney complaints because he behaved very oddly when Hughes was injured. Compare it to when Redmayne was injured or perhaps time wasting in the first half.
Actually nothing makes me angrier than seeing a player try to pull an injured player to his feet, which a Sydney player did to Hughes. Faghani then rushed his treatment, making him limp to the sideline and bizarrely carding Wootton for waiting for Hughes’ substitute to enter the play. That was quite an odd series of events.
That moment aside, I thought the game flowed and the first goal annoyed me as we were slow to adjust and slow to cover. And Sutton definitely earned his yellow. Cacace-esque that was.
Hope most of you are still in la la land! It was a great result. We’re still in our own hands. Who was Man of the Match? Salas? Rufer? Kosta? And I always appreciate Al-Taay.
Our first win with Faghani reffing lads. Here’s to many more. The secret is to play much better than the opponent imo!
Pennington is worrying me this match too, far too prone to coughing up possession.
Pennington was poor today, loads of passes to nowhere, missed takles etc. Al-Taay should have played but I wonder if he's fasting due to Ramadan so can't play a full 90. Al-Taay our best Aussie now for me.
Wasn’t it his cross before the forced og? Even in a poor game he’s still a class footballer and him and Rufer we looked better in midfield. But yes, mate Al-Taay is just fantastic.
Faghani isn't biased against us. He just allows more physicality and our players are not used to it. Just look at the tantrums Kraev had. Combine that with him tending to get the big games & us normally having him away, it's unsurprising our record is terrible under him.
What annoys me with Faghani is you can murder someone for 70 mins and then suddenly breathing on someone is now a foul.
I usually enjoy watching a Faghani game.
His faults we saw yesterday. He obsessed over time wasting and issues yellows, but didn’t consider deliberate fouling to stop counters worth a yellow. The worst was one where the ball had gone and the player was just kicked. Still it was only 3 times compared to King’s feckless display.
Perhaps Kraev or Sutton got his back up, or he listened to the Sydney complaints because he behaved very oddly when Hughes was injured. Compare it to when Redmayne was injured or perhaps time wasting in the first half.
Actually nothing makes me angrier than seeing a player try to pull an injured player to his feet, which a Sydney player did to Hughes. Faghani then rushed his treatment, making him limp to the sideline and bizarrely carding Wootton for waiting for Hughes’ substitute to enter the play. That was quite an odd series of events.
That moment aside, I thought the game flowed and the first goal annoyed me as we were slow to adjust and slow to cover. And Sutton definitely earned his yellow. Cacace-esque that was.
Hope most of you are still in la la land! It was a great result. We’re still in our own hands. Who was Man of the Match? Salas? Rufer? Kosta? And I always appreciate Al-Taay.
Our first win with Faghani reffing lads. Here’s to many more. The secret is to play much better than the opponent imo!
"We're still in our own hands". Ummm...
I mean if we win every game from here it doesn’t matter what the other teams do, we’ll be champions.
I have three points to make, after rewatching the highlights (again). - Faghani let the foul on Pennington go in the buildup to Mak's goal, because just seconds ago an identical foul on a Sydney player took place few metres upfield. I think that this was a matter of his consistency (I would have blown the whistle on both). This was probably (arguably) no worse foul than that on Old in the dying minutes of our game away to Brisbane. - Unlike some posters I reckon Pennington had a good game for someone coming back from an injury. He had a mix of good and bad moves (poor shot on goal, etc) but he was overall the same good player. None of our defense and mid coped very well with the high press all first half, so I would not single out Pennington. - We won the game because of Sydney's errors, in that they should have anticipated our breakout on a counter, since Kosta almost scored on a break in the first half (trying to chip the keeper). The error is seen in that their experienced defenders went up to help with the high press late in the game, but did not have the legs to track back; it was their less experienced defenders that stayed back. We know how it ended: one of them turned Kosta's squaring pass (aimed at Krayev) into his own net; then two of them allowed Kosta to cut inside and score an imperious, classy, indefensible goal. And of course Paulsen's triple save late in the game made the whole difference.
Couple points after watching the replay - Faghani actually had a pretty good game overall, much better than I thought from watching at the stadium. But his yellow to Wootton was criminal and pretty representative of his attitude for the last 15 minutes, acting like he was desperate to keep play going & overreacting to every pause in play. Sydney would foul us, our player would go down and then he would appear incensed that we weren't taking the free kicks extremely quickly. He needed to chill out, the Nix weren't doing particularly bad time wasting other than Sutton's yellow and he could always add time on at the end if he thought we were.
The other thing is corners. Again we were completely impotent when it was our corners, and when it was theirs we looked very shaky. Sydney hit the post from a corner in the first half which was very reminiscent of City's goal last week, the Sydney player was in acres of space behind the back post and at least 2 Nix players were ball watching at the back post and apparently weren't aware of the Sydney player's presence, same as LKH for the City goal. Things need to change, set pieces are a huge weakness but Italiano never mentions them in interviews or press conferences, and he is never asked about them by journalists either.
Couple points after watching the replay - Faghani actually had a pretty good game overall, much better than I thought from watching at the stadium. But his yellow to Wootton was criminal and pretty representative of his attitude for the last 15 minutes, acting like he was desperate to keep play going & overreacting to every pause in play. Sydney would foul us, our player would go down and then he would appear incensed that we weren't taking the free kicks extremely quickly. He needed to chill out, the Nix weren't doing particularly bad time wasting other than Sutton's yellow and he could always add time on at the end if he thought we were.
The other thing is corners. Again we were completely impotent when it was our corners, and when it was theirs we looked very shaky. Sydney hit the post from a corner in the first half which was very reminiscent of City's goal last week, the Sydney player was in acres of space behind the back post and at least 2 Nix players were ball watching at the back post and apparently weren't aware of the Sydney player's presence, same as LKH for the City goal. Things need to change, set pieces are a huge weakness but Italiano never mentions them in interviews or press conferences, and he is never asked about them by journalists either.
Maybe that's what all the chat and pointing was about with him & Talay post match.
I think their errors also came because we played well. The OG would have been a tap in otherwise. Salas had no right to get away from two defenders and play the ball in behind. Kosta sold a good dummy, and could because we had two players in the box waiting for a cross.
It felt like we were back, tbh. We’ve had 3 matches with doomy ball in parts and here we were tighter in defense and finally more composed on attack.
I have three points to make, after rewatching the highlights (again). - Faghani let the foul on Pennington go in the buildup to Mak's goal, because just seconds ago an identical foul on a Sydney player took place few metres upfield. I think that this was a matter of his consistency (I would have blown the whistle on both). This was probably (arguably) no worse foul than that on Old in the dying minutes of our game away to Brisbane. - Unlike some posters I reckon Pennington had a good game for someone coming back from an injury. He had a mix of good and bad moves (poor shot on goal, etc) but he was overall the same good player. None of our defense and mid coped very well with the high press all first half, so I would not single out Pennington. - We won the game because of Sydney's errors, in that they should have anticipated our breakout on a counter, since Kosta almost scored on a break in the first half (trying to chip the keeper). The error is seen in that their experienced defenders went up to help with the high press late in the game, but did not have the legs to track back; it was their less experienced defenders that stayed back. We know how it ended: one of them turned Kosta's squaring pass (aimed at Krayev) into his own net; then two of them allowed Kosta to cut inside and score an imperious, classy, indefensible goal. And of course Paulsen's triple save late in the game made the whole difference.
Watch the full game for the amount of misplaced passes to the opposition and no man's land he made. That's been cut out of the highlights.
He's not the only one guilty mind, but he was the worst offender of a bad lot especially in the first half. Salas helped tighten up our passing as the goal showed.
I think Salas has the potential to relegate Payne to the bench when he's fully up to speed at RB.
Totally agree re: corners, nixsupporter. We seem to always setup to hit the back post and rarely make or target. I wish we either aimed to hit LKH at the front post from an inswinger or played it short and worked into the box via different route. Hopefully that is picked up as an area to work on.
I have three points to make, after rewatching the highlights (again). - Faghani let the foul on Pennington go in the buildup to Mak's goal, because just seconds ago an identical foul on a Sydney player took place few metres upfield. I think that this was a matter of his consistency (I would have blown the whistle on both). This was probably (arguably) no worse foul than that on Old in the dying minutes of our game away to Brisbane. - Unlike some posters I reckon Pennington had a good game for someone coming back from an injury. He had a mix of good and bad moves (poor shot on goal, etc) but he was overall the same good player. None of our defense and mid coped very well with the high press all first half, so I would not single out Pennington. - We won the game because of Sydney's errors, in that they should have anticipated our breakout on a counter, since Kosta almost scored on a break in the first half (trying to chip the keeper). The error is seen in that their experienced defenders went up to help with the high press late in the game, but did not have the legs to track back; it was their less experienced defenders that stayed back. We know how it ended: one of them turned Kosta's squaring pass (aimed at Krayev) into his own net; then two of them allowed Kosta to cut inside and score an imperious, classy, indefensible goal. And of course Paulsen's triple save late in the game made the whole difference.
Watch the full game for the amount of misplaced passes to the opposition and no man's land he made. That's been cut out of the highlights.
He's not the only one guilty mind, but he was the worst offender of a bad lot especially in the first half. Salas helped tighten up our passing as the goal showed.
I think Salas has the potential to relegate Payne to the bench when he's fully up to speed at RB.
That's a fair point (Pennington) in that I watched the highlights to see things I might have missed in the first place, so may not have gleaned that if the highlights did not show much of that. Still, a lot of our short passes out of the defence (both from Hughes and from Wooton) went straight to the opposition, and only some of the long passes were effective.
I was foolish enough to give some credit to what Marto was saying. More fool me. Mainland and the Prof got it much more accurately. I've just rewatched the game and counted Pennington's misplaced passes, it totaled (1). It looked spectacular but he had his ankle clipped as he made the pass, so ended way short of the intended target. I counted 15 duels won by him, and that's me counting. And the equaliser started with his ball... etc etc
I also think the referees have a predisposition to think that Pennington is a diver because of his Italian background. Rufer would have been given the free kick for the 1st goal. Pennington- fudge off...
I have three points to make, after rewatching the highlights (again). - Faghani let the foul on Pennington go in the buildup to Mak's goal, because just seconds ago an identical foul on a Sydney player took place few metres upfield. I think that this was a matter of his consistency (I would have blown the whistle on both). This was probably (arguably) no worse foul than that on Old in the dying minutes of our game away to Brisbane. - Unlike some posters I reckon Pennington had a good game for someone coming back from an injury. He had a mix of good and bad moves (poor shot on goal, etc) but he was overall the same good player. None of our defense and mid coped very well with the high press all first half, so I would not single out Pennington. - We won the game because of Sydney's errors, in that they should have anticipated our breakout on a counter, since Kosta almost scored on a break in the first half (trying to chip the keeper). The error is seen in that their experienced defenders went up to help with the high press late in the game, but did not have the legs to track back; it was their less experienced defenders that stayed back. We know how it ended: one of them turned Kosta's squaring pass (aimed at Krayev) into his own net; then two of them allowed Kosta to cut inside and score an imperious, classy, indefensible goal. And of course Paulsen's triple save late in the game made the whole difference.
Watch the full game for the amount of misplaced passes to the opposition and no man's land he made. That's been cut out of the highlights.
He's not the only one guilty mind, but he was the worst offender of a bad lot especially in the first half. Salas helped tighten up our passing as the goal showed.
I think Salas has the potential to relegate Payne to the bench when he's fully up to speed at RB.
If Payne is out for a couple of games, it is fairly obvious that the thinking will be to put Salas at RB. The other option is Al Taay. If that was the management thinking then Al Taay would have been the sub on Saturday not Salas. I agree that Payne might find it hard to get his place back. There will be and should be no room for sentiment in the crucial run in.
Chiefy said post match that Payne heard a pop when he did his hamstring. I'm pretty sure that's not a good sign, and the way he was limping when he walked off indicated more than a low grade strain injury. I hope I'm wrong but a two week recovery seems unlikely. Hope we can get him back soon , definitely before the playoffs.
Just wunna throw love to you all. The amount of passion for the team is amazing and the amount of people watching the game more than once is just awesome.
Chiefy said post match that Payne heard a pop when he did his hamstring. I'm pretty sure that's not a good sign, and the way he was limping when he walked off indicated more than a low grade strain injury. I hope I'm wrong but a two week recovery seems unlikely. Hope we can get him back soon , definitely before the playoffs.
Having done both my hammy's a couple of times, a pop is definitely not a good noise. 6 weeks min.
I'm guessing as a RB, where you are mostly looking forwards communication is a bit easier, especially with Salas having limited English?? But in midfield where you more often have your back to goal (ie unsighted) you more often need to hear what your team mates are saying, clearly & fast??
It wasn't until near the end of last year's winter season here in QLD, that my shyest Peruvian nephew (a 6 or 8) asked me 'what does man on' mean?!
Rudan recommended Talay, who brought in Italiano. All good coaches, each better than the one before. LG
InsulinMachine
number8
Perth trashing WSW later tonight would be the perfect result to round up a fantastic evening.
Poor Wanderers, I feel sorry for them. We must'nt forget they breathed life back into the league when they joined and Marko Rudan (as much as many Nix fans despise him) I thought he was the manager who turned the Nix around after a disastrous few seasons.
He was and he introduced a more professional approach for the club whom have followed suit. I think some of my fellow Nix fans need to let it go and enjoy having the reign of Chiefy, rather than slagging off Rudan.
Rudan recommended Talay, who brought in Italiano. All good coaches, each better than the one before. LG
InsulinMachine
number8
Perth trashing WSW later tonight would be the perfect result to round up a fantastic evening.
Poor Wanderers, I feel sorry for them. We must'nt forget they breathed life back into the league when they joined and Marko Rudan (as much as many Nix fans despise him) I thought he was the manager who turned the Nix around after a disastrous few seasons.
He was and he introduced a more professional approach for the club whom have followed suit. I think some of my fellow Nix fans need to let it go and enjoy having the reign of Chiefy, rather than slagging off Rudan.
I'm guessing as a RB, where you are mostly looking forwards communication is a bit easier, especially with Salas having limited English?? But in midfield where you more often have your back to goal (ie unsighted) you more often need to hear what your team mates are saying, clearly & fast??
It wasn't until near the end of last year's winter season here in QLD, that my shyest Peruvian nephew (a 6 or 8) asked me 'what does man on' mean?!
Salas did not had a problem with his english when he passed this perfectly weighted ball to Kosta that lead to the 2nd goal. Pure poetry!
