FFA Cup

[midfielder]

The first half was beyond poor ... I don't think we have ever played that bad..

Just saying re our recent signings

Key replacements for weeJudas, Bernie, Olly, Macka, Trent Dutchy

Mane, Kim, Vernes, Bonsar...

Squad players

Sim, Tricky, Cernak, Poscoliero

Juniors signed and or developed

Liam Rose, Kalad, Neil, Morten, Slater

The juniors were signed by Arnold and look the part..

Of the squad players IMO only Poscoliero is of a standard to be selected in most teams as a regular starter, the others are good squad players.

Of the key signings Bonsar is OK without being great, Vernes I am still unsure as for Kim and Mane they are simply lazy players...

Tis time to bite the bullet and in the Jan transfer window sell or transfer Mane, Kim, and maybe Vernes, and get some talented players in

 

[sydmariner]

We can't sell mane or vernes as there on loan so we'd send them back to there parent clubs

 

[dibo]

The first half was beyond poor ... I don't think we have ever played that bad..

Just saying re our recent signings

Key replacements for weeJudas, Bernie, Olly, Macka, Trent Dutchy

Mane, Kim, Vernes, Bonsar...

Squad players

Sim, Tricky, Cernak, Poscoliero

Juniors signed and or developed

Liam Rose, Kalad, Neil, Morten, Slater

The juniors were signed by Arnold and look the part..

Of the squad players IMO only Poscoliero is of a standard to be selected in most teams as a regular starter, the others are good squad players.

Of the key signings Bonsar is OK without being great, Vernes I am still unsure as for Kim and Mane they are simply lazy players...

Tis time to bite the bullet and in the Jan transfer window sell or transfer Mane, Kim, and maybe Vernes, and get some talented players in

The replacements aren't 1-for-1 replacements, so I'd be wary of trying to do direct comparisons.

The call on Vernes is pretty early - he played trial games, was rubbish against Palm Beach, but since then he's shown two improved performances in the last few days that have me wondering how much improvement he has left. Kim I'm really doubtful about, I'm not at all sure he has it in him.

Harsh call on Mane too - lazy he ain't. He's as quick as anyone else we have in the final third and as strong too - he's certainly lacking polish (when he gets a cross on target I swear there's going to be a standing ovation) but there's certainly some raw material to work with.

Bosnar is certainly polarising; I don't want to comment on backroom stuff that I simply don't know anything about (and I'm not willing to simply believe rumours) but he doesn't especially suit our play and that hurt us badly last year. When playing out for much of last season neither he nor Anderson got into the shape that we had come to expect with Patty and Sainsbury or even Sainsbury and Anderson, and so we wound up losing our rhythm coming out, which had us lose our pattern of play and frankly losing the ball a lot. When we lose the ball a lot, we get less adventurous at LB and RB, and we get less attacking. We then score fewer goals. It's frankly amazing how much difference a simple bit of work in the first couple of passes between GK and CB can make for your attacking play, and Bosnar hasn't always shown the willingness to do the work we'd expect there. He also goes negative/over ambitious and lumps the ball far too often...

I don't blame Anderson, because he didn't bugger it up next to Sainsbury, only next to Bosnar. That's why I'm really keen to see us try Anderson and Poscoliero playing together to see if we get some of the old chemistry back.

Liam Rose and Anthony Kalik are both a way off being regular first teamers, I'd expect to see them being eased in later in the year, particularly if we see some injuries. They're cover, not front-line. Morton and Slater we might see more of as we get through the year too, and Neill we'll definitely see more of. We haven't seen Cairncross at all but he's got some good NYL and NPL experience and I'd be pretty surprised if he was awful.

 

[nebakke]

The replacements aren't 1-for-1 replacements, so I'd be wary of trying to do direct comparisons.

Harsh call on Mane too - lazy he ain't. He's as quick as anyone else we have in the final third and as strong too - he's certainly lacking polish (when he gets a cross on target I swear there's going to be a standing ovation) but there's certainly some raw material to work with.

This is a funny one... It feels to me, a bit like one of those 'in-the-know' comments, that's somehow gotten it's own momentum. He doesn't look trim in the shirt, so it seems to have started with him apparently being unfit and now it's progressed to him being lazy.
For mine, as you point out, he seems like a faster runner than most of our players and he works his arse off in attack. He doesn't follow Dukie's lead of running back to defend, but then, neither did Macca, or Matty or Bernie - when set up to do a bit of poaching up the other end... That seems to be the expectation. I think we're better with him in the team... He does seem to tire in the second half, when he starts, and I would think that, if someone like Matty is playing, it might be worth starting with him and throwing Mane on or vice-versa.

Bosnar is certainly polarising; I don't want to comment on backroom stuff that I simply don't know anything about (and I'm not willing to simply believe rumours) but he doesn't especially suit our play and that hurt us badly last year. When playing out for much of last season neither he nor Anderson got into the shape that we had come to expect with Patty and Sainsbury or even Sainsbury and Anderson, and so we wound up losing our rhythm coming out, which had us lose our pattern of play and frankly losing the ball a lot. When we lose the ball a lot, we get less adventurous at LB and RB, and we get less attacking. We then score fewer goals. It's frankly amazing how much difference a simple bit of work in the first couple of passes between GK and CB can make for your attacking play, and Bosnar hasn't always shown the willingness to do the work we'd expect there. He also goes negative/over ambitious and lumps the ball far too often...

I don't blame Anderson, because he didn't bugger it up next to Sainsbury, only next to Bosnar. That's why I'm really keen to see us try Anderson and Poscoliero playing together to see if we get some of the old chemistry back.

I have to admit, I don't like Bosnar at all, but I'm grudgingly having to admit that he has done better defensively, than I expected. I'm in two minds about the Ando/Pasco combination in defense. On one hand, I'd like to think that it'd work well, on the other hand, I think there's that whole 'mongrel' factor as you 'strayans keep calling it... It feels like our defense might be a bit clean without someone like him in there.
But I think that it's all perception, so I'd sort of like to see how it'd work.

 

[eenfish]

I think Eddy is more assertive at the back, Zac feels like he lacks the leadership skills to organise the defense. He had Rose as a partner, not a natural CB, and Morton on the other side who was out of position a few times. Like I mentioned before, seemed like no leadership at the back.

 

[nearlyyellow]

.. Harsh call on Mane too - lazy he ain't. He's as quick as anyone else we have in the final third and as strong too - he's certainly lacking polish (when he gets a cross on target I swear there's going to be a standing ovation) but there's certainly some raw material to work with.

This is a funny one... It feels to me, a bit like one of those 'in-the-know' comments, that's somehow gotten it's own momentum. He doesn't look trim in the shirt, so it seems to have started with him apparently being unfit and now it's progressed to him being lazy.
For mine, as you point out, he seems like a faster runner than most of our players and he works his arse off in attack. He doesn't follow Dukie's lead of running back to defend, but then, neither did Macca, or Matty or Bernie - when set up to do a bit of poaching up the other end... That seems to be the expectation. I think we're better with him in the team... He does seem to tire in the second half, when he starts, and I would think that, if someone like Matty is playing, it might be worth starting with him and throwing Mane on or vice-versa.

Quick, he is, and built like a brick 'shouse, watch him work against opposition defence, he covers the ball with his broad body making it very difficult for the opponent to steal the pill. I think that's very confrontational and disruptive to opponents. Where it seems to go wrong is the crosses. No-one else seems to be able to predict where and when his crosses will go. Is that his failing? Or the team's failing for not being able to read him? Of the 3 new boys I reckon Mane is the one Moss and the boys should persist with.

 

[gull]

It's best that I don't comment on the first half...

Second half was sooo much better than any other time this year. Agree with GrA that it was great to see the fighting spirit back. That was also my big concern as we seemed to have just given up too easily recently.

Vernes has hardly played this year and can't be anywhere near match fit, and there have been glimpses of his quality. Could still be a good signing.

Mane also has shown glimpses, and I like the fact that he is sometimes selfish and shoots. We need this just to mix things up. Agree that when we get some cohesion he'll start to shine.

 

[BrisRecky]

As relates to Malick...I reckon his a bit of a unpolished diamond...he had a couple of rather brisk runs goal wardin Adelaide (and v Perth)...the problem is, he either cant get a shot off OR no other f**ker is there to accept his crosses (more of the last by a long shot)...maybe our marvellous coaching staff should get Mane and Vernes to get their heads together as a goal attacking unit...but what do i know

 

[nebakke]

As relates to Malick...I reckon his a bit of a unpolished diamond...he had a couple of rather brisk runs goal wardin Adelaide (and v Perth)...the problem is, he either cant get a shot off OR no other f**ker is there to accept his crosses (more of the last by a long shot)...maybe our marvellous coaching staff should get Mane and Vernes to get their heads together as a goal attacking unit...but what do i know

Yeah, I'm loathe to comment too much on his crossing qualities as I'm just not enough of an afficionado ...
But it strikes me that a lot of the cross I see from him, would be perfectly placed... If someone made the run that is... I said it in pre-season and I stand by it, if we could get someone to actually make those runs into the field, I think we could see our conversion rate explode.
I suspec that, part of the reason, why his crosses go awry, is that he occasionally looks up and realises that the players are not where he expected them to be, so he has to try to hack it back much further than he had originally anticipated.
Don't get me wrong, that's not just a problem for the other players, it shows that he's not entirely aware of his surroundings... But I think it's easier to fix the run-on-goal thing... Certainly more directly fruitful

 

[localpom]

So we scored two goals? That's an improvement, all the match reports were saying we got flogged though...

Also conceding more on set pieces...

Also Matt Simon looks leaner, thinner... I know he went off injured, hamstrings usually not a season long injury.

Just read an article with Mossy that said Matty would only be out for up to 2 weeks. If so...good news.

 

[sydmariner]

yeah i heard him say it on the podcast this morning

 

[VicMariner]

But it strikes me that a lot of the cross I see from him, would be perfectly placed... If someone made the run that is...

I agree with this.
Mane has put a few crosses across the face of goal and no one had attacked the goal to take advantage.
If Mane has the ball out wide, just run in and go for it because you might get it served on a plate.

 

[nebakke]

I agree with this.
Mane has put a few crosses across the face of goal and no one had attacked the goal to take advantage.
If Mane has the ball out wide, just run in and go for it because you might get it served on a plate.

I missed most of the second half against Adelaide but it's for this reason that a part of me would really like to see what we could do with Mane on the wing and Matty in the middle, he's usually quite willing to run

 

[Wombat]

It's not rocket science.
Mane is a winger not a striker. He has probably never played in a team that's camps 10 of its players in its own half for 90% of the game.
Wingers.....beat players with pace or skill and head for the edge if the box and cut the ball back to the waiting players (strikers if you have any and usually 2 or 3 middies) powering into the box looking to slot the ball home.
Poor old Malik has never played in a side that coaches it's players not to drive forward and didn't realise he was expected to score off his own crosses.

 

[VicMariner]

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/arti...fa-cup-winner-earn-afc-champions-league-place

So if the cup winner gets a spot, what about the other spot? Premiers or GF winner? AFC views the play offs as a cup afaik so will it be Premiers and FFA cup winners?
Hope so.

 

[nearlyyellow]

Hmmm, AU are 1 up against a 10 man PG at 70 mins. Interesting game. Anyone else watching?

 

[sydmariner]

Yeah

 

[nearlyyellow]

Great save by Vukovic

 

[nearlyyellow]

Well, there ya go. AU are the inaugural FFA Cup winners. Damn, I was hoping it would be ours. Oh, well, next year.

 

[sydmariner]

Well, there ya go. AU are the inaugural FFA Cup winners. Damn, I was hoping it would be ours. Oh, well, next year.

we had the easier draw sth coast wolves, olympic fc, palm beach sharks & adelaide united & yet we still didn't win the cup