ALM Round 4 - Mariners v Roar 5pm Sunday 12th

[Josho Howe]

Theoharous pass the f**king ball challenge (impossible)

 

[FFC Mariner]

This is the biggest issue you have highlighted - the speed of attack. Last season we would break so quickly and just roll off each other in attack. Now it is much slower.

The transition moments of play are killing us; BPO to BP is too slow and we don’t defend well enough in BP to BPO.

BP is passable and this is why people think we look good. However without a fast and effective BPO to BP we are making it easy for a team to set up an effective defence.

Conversely we are fine in BPO but getting caught out in BP to BPO.

Transition is the hardest to coach and the hardest to have a plan and structure. Monty excelled best in the transition phases for his team. Jackson is so struggling in these areas.

We have fast and mobile players that should excel in the transition moments but it appears the structure and tactics we have are holding them back.

Anyone who thinks we are looking good are way off the mark and clouded by our BP moments.

Fact is, is that we have had zero improvement against some of the weakest teams in the comp from round one to round four, and this is a major concern.

Jackson crying foul from game play and referee for all four games now is also not warranted. You get unlucky one game, maybe two and rarely three, but four losses is a pattern of failure. Last week it was the player’s fault, this week the ref. Next week he will blame FFC Mariner for having multiple forum handles.

A bad tradesman always blames his tools.

You never see @marinermick and I together do you?
Oh hang on.
That was today

 

[Neilmcloudy]

I really thought they were checking the foul that clipped Steele but I firmly believe that wasn’t even in the consideration.

Looking on it again I’m even sceptical that he grazed the shin from the angles.

Where Ballard got full set of studs on foot, even if clipped ground first the challange came in with studs up.

Seemed to me watching the big screen Steele was fouled from behind which meant how he impacted on the Brisy baby was a bit out of his control by then. But we had a man advantage and just needed to be calm, he didn't need to be so aggressive, 30 mind with a man up could have been a different result.

 

[Josho Howe]

You never see @marinermick and I together do you?
Oh hang on.
That was today

Yeah, l saw you both, and you both weren't chanting enough. Disgraceful.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Yeah, l saw you both, and you both weren't chanting enough. Disgraceful.

 

[Stuartmcateer]

We now have 2 weeks before the next game. No travel, no mid week games to distract us.

This will be a key period to be able to work on some structures.

If there isn’t a marked improvement for the jets, Terengganu and victory games then it could be time up for MJ.

 

[marinermick]

A few people were saying the first goal was over the line. The ball was close enough to the line to suggest this wasn’t the case.

The link below is a perfect scenario on how people get it wrong:

 

[Wombat]

My observations.....

Smith and DWH are NPL level players, simply not good enough. Ship them out in Jan.

The defence is soooo shaky, apart from Faz.

Farrell was outstanding. Kaltak does some brilliant stuff but just doesn't do the simple defensive things right. Storm and Paull are not great defenders......their respective ages partly being the issue. Again we were missing Triantis massively.

Maxy had a fantastic game and outshone Niz today.

I didn't understand the logic of bringing on Steele in the first place.

Kuol is starting to look the business and is our only sharp object up front.

Theo's run was outstanding and was clearly a penalty. Go 2.1 up and its a different game.

Wilson did a bit better and played two lovely cross-field passes. Missed an easy header that even i would have buried (at 10yo).

3pts Max
2pts Faz
1pt Kaltak

That ref was frigging woeful.

 

[gemkayem]

It is a worry that if we don’t start showing signs of life soon, the crowd numbers start to dip and then we are really starting to go back into a direction we don’t want to be heading

 

[Tevor]

Frustrating game, the pen being overturned was an absolute disgrace. The Ref blew the pen immediately and there is no way the VAR should be stepping in as that was not a clear and obvious error. Ref should be stood down for a week as well as the VAR. It’s why this league gets such a bad wrap. Not being consistent with cards is what makes the Steele decision also frustrating and gives you the feeling it was nothing less than a get square. I can handle their first goal as we shouldn’t have stopped playing, amateur hour defending and not good enough.

I feel for the players from last season and people have already mentioned them. They just don’t have the cattle around them anymore. It’s why fans are turning on each other, this is all very damaging, why wouldn’t these good players be looking to move on in Jan as we know it’s a long way to the bottom and out again. Here we go again.

I wouldn’t be concerned if Theo, Smith, DWH, Doka, Torres, Paull and Wilson were all moved on and replaced in January. Haven’t been adequate enough replacements. Problem is how do we get rid of them. It’s going to be a long and tough season, how long until the club does something about MJ or is it head in the sand stuff.

 

[Tevor]

A few people were saying the first goal was over the line. The ball was close enough to the line to suggest this wasn’t the case.

The link below is a perfect scenario on how people get it wrong:

I can cop the ball was still in as it was very close. I thought in real time it did stay in, the defending was the problem.

 

[Neilmcloudy]

We now have 2 weeks before the next game. No travel, no mid week games to distract us.

This will be a key period to be able to work on some structures.

If there isn’t a marked improvement for the jets, Terengganu and victory games then it could be time up for MJ.

2 weeks is good. I believe we have improved over the last 4 games, it seems clear to me the players are still getting to know each other, but our Transitions are getting quicker, the goal today was a good example. Theo passed the ball many times today, besides the pen attempt, and didn't hold up play as much. I wondered if not having Torres on the field gave Tulio more room? We won't get the wooden spoon this year, and finals are very likely as long as we continue to improve and perhaps a change or 2 in January?

 

[Corsair]

Theo's run was outstanding and was clearly a penalty

Won't be popular but I didn't think it was a pen. He was clearly looking for it and the ball was so far away from him if he hadn't deliberately fallen over he wouldn't have got to the ball anyway.

Could do with watching a replay though, only saw it live.

 

[gemkayem]

Frustrating game, the pen being overturned was an absolute disgrace. The Ref blew the pen immediately and there is no way the VAR should be stepping in as that was not a clear and obvious error. Ref should be stood down for a week as well as the VAR. It’s why this league gets such a bad wrap. Not being consistent with cards is what makes the Steele decision also frustrating and gives you the feeling it was nothing less than a get square. I can handle their first goal as we shouldn’t have stopped playing, amateur hour defending and not good enough.

I feel for the players from last season and people have already mentioned them. They just don’t have the cattle around them anymore. It’s why fans are turning on each other, this is all very damaging, why wouldn’t these good players be looking to move on in Jan as we know it’s a long way to the bottom and out again. Here we go again.

I wouldn’t be concerned if Theo, Smith, DWH, Doka, Torres, Paull and Wilson were all moved on and replaced in January. Haven’t been adequate enough replacements. Problem is how do we get rid of them. It’s going to be a long and tough season, how long until the club does something about MJ or is it head in the sand stuff.

We got some great coin from outgoings in the off season, and seemingly only spend a significant amount on Kuol and Tulio? Wonder if RP is realising he may have to actually reinvest a little when we lost 6 very high quality players

 

[Meerkat]

Gold crowd all around me, mostly rusted on, resigned to our fate under this coach. Welcome to loserville...population you. The worst part, don't even care now, it's easier to resign yourself to the fate. Never thought I'd say that.

Totally get it. “Resigned to our fate” is exactly how i felt walking in to that game. Took me back several years ago when we turned up as supporters, expecting to lose. Pleasant thing was I never felt stressed about a match, never felt devastated at the end. Wasn’t fun whatsoever but having no hope or expectation was far less emotionally challenging.

That said, still have no desire to be back there and would probably now, just stop going all together, never thought I would say that.

 

[Huddo]

Won't be popular but I didn't think it was a pen. He was clearly looking for it and the ball was so far away from him if he hadn't deliberately fallen over he wouldn't have got to the ball anyway.

Could do with watching a replay though, only saw it live.

I saw enough for it not to be given as there could be doubt on drawing the foul. Don't think there was enough for VAR to over rule on it, there was contact, the leg was outstretched when Theo hits it, the defender isn't going for the ball.

Just another stiff call from the VAR, the sooner it's gone the better.

 

[FFC Mariner]

What worries me is an exodus of quality in January. We don't have much to lose tbh.
Doka, DWH, Smith, Paull and Theo don't get a run in any other top 6 side.

 

[Meerkat]

We got some great coin from outgoings in the off season, and seemingly only spend a significant amount on Kuol and Tulio? Wonder if RP is realising he may have to actually reinvest a little when we lost 6 very high quality players

Kuol was not a significant amount.

I think wheras Monty had this magical ability to make something out of very little, our owner wants to make something out of nothing, with nothing. Wonder if he’s realised yet it won’t happen.. especially without the magician.

 

[Melange]

At the risk of sounding like O'Rudan, I'm quite happy with that game even though we lost. Maybe it's different watching on tv, but I saw massive improvement on the last two, set up plenty of clear opportunities to score, good to see Alou involved more and but just fighting for scraps.

Considering the midweek game and travel, absolutely massive shifts from Tulio, Niz, Fax, Max.

I think Steele was hard done by, to me it looked like the frog came down hard on his ankle from behind.

 

[Huddo]

S

What worries me is an exodus of quality in January. We don't have much to lose tbh.
Doka, DWH, Smith, Paull and Theo don't get a run in any other top 6 side.

Smith is lacking confidence, we saw what he could do last time he was here. Paull requires experience, would love to see a little competition for the defence roles. Theo is alright just needs to make the right final decision. The 2 I'm worried about are Doka and DWH, there's potential but no improvement.

Competition is king, Monty knew that, MJ just needs to continue building competition.