13 Feb v Homeless FC (Perth)

[Ancient Mariner]

Looking through my rose coloured glasses and reading Big Al's post. I can interpret that Monty used this game, as the squad was coming back to full fitness and after a quick turnaround, to try some alternate combinations in order to cope with what will become a frighteningly hectic schedule in the future. It was a chance to give Muller and Smith a good stretch out.
This is a totally stuffed around season.
Hopefully it will pay off in the future.

 

[Tevor]

I must be the only one really concerned by that game and not think it was a positive step in the right direction. Game plan = Failure. I watch a lot of A league games through the season and I feel we are getting left behind now and we just cannot afford positive experience games, we need to win the games that we should and that was one we should have won for many obvious reasons. Playing well in patches does not cut it for me.

How long do we allow excuses for coming back from illness, so is every other team and to be honest we have now had consistent football since the illness break so this is no longer an excuse in my opinion.

We now go on the road to play three top 6 teams, Victory will not keep losing for much longer and they dominated us in the Cup final. City are starting to ramp up with Leckie now finding his shooting boots and they look ready to defend their title. Adelaide are not rubbish and historically very hard to beat at home. Being a realist and based on our last 3 or 4 games if we get 1 point from 9 it will be a successful road trip.

Mark that Glory failure in the diary as it will be a defining moment in the season where we lost touch with the 6 and are now battling to avoid the spoon.

Our defence was sledged for letting Noone score the goal of the season so what do people think of the blundering mess we made of a speculative long ball we couldn't clear to save ourselves. Negative play equals negative results and that is exactly what happened in that last 30 mins.

 

[pjennings]

Not sure Beni offers anything Koul or Tskenis couldn’t.

Garang will be out for a few more weeks

 

[booney]

For the record, I don't think Miller is a bad player, I think he is a poor defender.
Like Snake he is an athletic Right Mid at best.

It would be interesting to ask Nick Fitzgerald for his opinion re: Miller's defensive capabilities.

 

[Tevor]

It would be interesting to ask Nick Fitzgerald for his opinion re: Miller's defensive capabilities.

Miller owned Fitzy that game and was every enjoyable to watch. Perfect welcome back to CCS.

 

[turbo]

I must be the only one really concerned by that game and not think it was a positive step in the right direction.

I would have still been very critical if we escaped with the 1-0 win. We needed the 3 points and really didnt need to give Perth any as they are one of the teams below us on the ladder. We are lucky the wanderers game was bumped back as we weren't looking good for it. We stopped playing and invited them back in, cost us a few times last season as well including against the bottom ranked Victory side.

Victory will not keep losing for much longer and they dominated us in the Cup final

They havent played with anywhere near the same intensity or quality since.

 

[Tevor]

I would have still been very critical if we escaped with the 1-0 win. We needed the 3 points and really didnt need to give Perth any as they are one of the teams below us on the ladder. We are lucky the wanderers game was bumped back as we weren't looking good for it. We stopped playing and invited them back in, cost us a few times last season as well including against the bottom ranked Victory side.


They havent played with anywhere near the same intensity or quality since.

Correct, it was heading towards a very ugly win which are not what you generally call momentum builders.

 

[Ironbark]

Not disagreeing with the disappointment or that the result should have been comprehensive.

What I saw was around the 70min Perth tired, and had we upped the tempo would have rolled them with another 2 or 3. But at the same point we just didn't seem to have the gas and tired too, so maintained possesion and passed around - which I put down to our recent run. It has been an intense period.
Tired Perth consolidated their defence and made it hard to break down their back line and players like Calvar had an excellent game. Without that extra bit of tempo we couldn't break it down in the final third and so coasted too much.
I don't think this represents where we are at as a team or how it will be in future. Watch for renewed vigour after a weeks rest between games and with Faz back on and both backs attacking along with Mueller, Urena and Cummings creating together I think we'll only see more of the potential that didn't come off this game.

 

[Corsair]

Garang will be out for a few more weeks

Injured or Covid?

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Garang will be out for a few more weeks

Bugger. Was just about to post, that he’s the player I’d like to see coming on regularly with 10 or 15 to go,

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I must be the only one really concerned by that game and not think it was a positive step in the right direction. Game plan = Failure. I watch a lot of A league games through the season and I feel we are getting left behind now and we just cannot afford positive experience games, we need to win the games that we should and that was one we should have won for many obvious reasons. Playing well in patches does not cut it for me.

How long do we allow excuses for coming back from illness, so is every other team and to be honest we have now had consistent football since the illness break so this is no longer an excuse in my opinion.

We now go on the road to play three top 6 teams, Victory will not keep losing for much longer and they dominated us in the Cup final. City are starting to ramp up with Leckie now finding his shooting boots and they look ready to defend their title. Adelaide are not rubbish and historically very hard to beat at home. Being a realist and based on our last 3 or 4 games if we get 1 point from 9 it will be a successful road trip.

Mark that Glory failure in the diary as it will be a defining moment in the season where we lost touch with the 6 and are now battling to avoid the spoon.

Our defence was sledged for letting Noone score the goal of the season so what do people think of the blundering mess we made of a speculative long ball we couldn't clear to save ourselves. Negative play equals negative results and that is exactly what happened in that last 30 mins.

I hear you, but we’ll see. I think we’re a very good team who just had two luckless draws and the consistent wins will come. And yeah we need that fast, and this is a hard time to do it. But be a great time.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

It would be interesting to ask Nick Fitzgerald for his opinion re: Miller's defensive capabilities.

Nice… just don’t ask about Fitzys attacking skills either.

 

[Ironbark]

I've heard Garang has a niggling knee thing but no details

 

[midfielder]

.

Beni was very ordinary on and off the ball.

Moresche's decision making isn't where it ought to be either - there was one chance in particular where he should've found Müller but instead found a foul and we wasted the free kick.

And again, concentration was lacking at the death.

Upsides? Müller, Ureña and Cummings were all threatening, Smith put in a good shift, Hall and Rowles both looked good and Lewis Miller had a good crack.

We're not a bad team, but we're certainly not at the top echelon. The league is close enough in standard that it's not far to fall to the bottom, but if we put a floor under this slide we can still make finals.

One to rue rather than rage over, but (at risk of trying to win the game/s just played) in combination with Wednesday there appears to be a vulnerability that must be addressed.

Beni was very ordinary on and off the ball.

Agree and should IMO ever only be sub as a forward, his passing is poor and his defence no existent


Moresche's decision making isn't where it ought to be either - there was one chance in particular where he should've found Müller but instead found a foul and we wasted the free kick.

It was close to full time and a difficult pass to make we should have been able to hold out.

And again, concentration was lacking at the death.

Not with everyone that was Beni pick up or at least close down space and he was the one with the fresh legs ...

Agree with the rest

 

[FFC Mariner]

It would be interesting to ask Nick Fitzgerald for his opinion re: Miller's defensive capabilities.

Hardly a test is it

 

[booney]

Let's see how Miller defends against Folami/Ikonomidis in next weekend's clash and then we can agree/disagree on his defending.

 

[dibo]

Pretty sure we played them recently. Any idea how we went?

 

[Tevor]

Pretty sure we played them recently. Any idea how we went?

The whole team was dominated. Hopefully Monty has a plan to avoid the same scenario. CD will not make a difference if we cannot get the ball to him in good positions. He is being double marked after the Sydney game and Victory will be all over him. Lets face it we will probably concede so need to score some goals, need to fix the midfield to service our attack. Miller has no fear he is the one player I'm sure will have a go at them, just need some others running at players as well.

 

[Ironbark]

I've heard Garang has a niggling knee thing but no details

Meniscus surgery, keryhole, 4-6 weeks until available. Expected to recover fully and return.

Shame on that timing.

 

[midfielder]

As we settle some players are showing weakness.... we play I think with two 8's.... Olly is fine but we are missing that player to break up there attack and in part open up the game...

Muller I can't decide on... he runs at people well but if we want him as a 10 he is not creating enough for those in front.... but as a deep sitting false 9 he is great...

The only player I have huge concerns about is Beni...

I think we will make the top 6.... the table is so tight a run of victories will see us in the finals...