Major Semi-final: The mariners vs The scum

[cruiser]

No way could you fit another 400 into the ground today let alone another 4000. Somebody needs to do a recount.

The offside decision that cost us an away goal was a disgrace and the linesman who called it had better go find other things to do on weekends during February.

I thought we probably were the better team overall but even counting the offsided goal we'd have lost 2-1. That's football.

The 1000s of Mariners supporters at the game made me feel very proud to be part of the Yellow Army.

I still hate Sydney more than I do Newcastle.

 

[marinersman]

I feel absolutely shattered at the result.

Overall, a good performance I thought. We gave a very good account away from home, looked steady at the back and were dangerous up front all game. Obviously should never had lost. It just wasn't to be our day unfortunately.

To the f**kwitts up top pouring beer and spitting on us, if I didn't have my young bloke with me, I would've walked up there and f**ken jobbed you, you coward pieces of s**ts. If security is not improved up there and at BT, it's going to boil over one day and there will be trouble.

I still think we've got it in us to get back to 2-2 at home. JA won't miss again and Sash is definitely due. Sadly, we can't rely on Matty for goals.

To top it all off, I've got to go to the UK for 10 days tomorrow on business. F**k me, if losing tonight wasn't bad enough, I've got to go there.

 

[Omni]

2-0 in 90 and minutes, CCM to the grand final on penalties Serious - there you go we don't need to "score three"

had that goal have been allowed it'd be VERY different but home leg's coming up so who knows, it's a funny ol game football.

 

[soccersensei]

Well, don't we just have to do everything the hard way....

Firstly though Mattsy & Thomas,
Well well, you are doing the Jets proud, probably the most reasonable and non antagonistic posts I think I've probably seen from Jets supporters. (Not too mention the correct spelling! ) And though despite my hilarity at reading Serious and ADZ troll slaying exploits, it's a real nice change of pace. Well done to you, and congratulations on the victory today.

My 2 and a half cents...

Newcastle played well, as to ultimately a lesser degree I think did we. It was certainly a hell of a lot better game than that complete load of shite between Sydney F(ouling) C(**ts) and QLD.

But to be completely honest I think Lawrie surmised it all very well when he said "the bounce just didn't go our way today"

Right from the opening coin toss, the football gods seem to speak...
The Jets call on which way to run first was very astute (as you would expect at home) with the higher sun at that time not presenting as much of a problem during the first half as it was obviously during the second. (THATS RIGHT- WE LOST BECAUSE THE SUN WAS IN OUR EYES!!! ;D I'm joking of course, but it certainly didn't bloody help, which was my point. Also there was the howling north easter to contend with, which any surfer on the coast worth their salt knows, usually starts to drop off as dusk approaches... this wind was used to very good affect by the Jets -  those curling corners with the wind pushing them in had me grinding my teeth in my chair.  I was looking forward to blasting the Jets with the same medicine in the second half...yet while still present, it backed off measurably as North Easters do at that time. It was a smart tactical football decision and I think helped in its way.
But now back to the heart of the play...

Our early pressure was outstanding, though hats off to the Jets as their desperate and effective crowding of the box - managed to somehow keep us on a blank sheet under some darn pretty relentless attack. However... as it often so can.... against the run of play we then let through a VERY soft goal. Don't get me wrong, it was a good header and ball in... but it was also that complete defensive lapse of concentration that the camp had precisely talked about avoiding. Hearfield was practically strolling towards the box and A Griffiths run was barely even tracked in terms of truly serious defending. Was disappointing to say the least... But unlike my 10 year old, my faith was still running high...

And true to my trust, on they went, newly fired up... Sasho drew the penalty...alls now looking very well indeed... then Johnny has one of those gut wrenchingly terrible football moments.
I personally wanted Sasho to take it. I had a bad feeling, but probably more so for me as  there's just something about letting the actual striker who gets fouled as he's coming on goal that always makes me feel like he's going to be in the zone and score it for sure. But how the hell do you deny Aloisi a penalty!!!? LOL

Still even then...all was far from lost as the fire kept coming, redoubled in fact! We were clearly edging ahead in general play and control.. then John's - desperate to atone - blinding crack smashed against the inside corner of the woodwork and bounced away at a ludicrous angle.... but then,mercifully, OH SWEET GOD, another attack... and finally.... YESSSSSSS!!!!! it's headed in, another Aloisi goal! AN ATONING ALOISI GOAL!!! YAY...!!! WE ALL CELEBRATE..!!! In front of 20,000 odd Newcastle supporters, who had screamed and jeered all around us not long before... it was now our turn to dance.... jump...scream... and.... collapse...?? WTF? Numb with disbelief, as we now watch as Johns gloriously redeeming goal is denied.??????
My f**k but that hurt!!!! PAIN......sti..ll........flood...ing.....my.....errrrghhhh.........system.....

1 all,, from their on in would have made for the possibility of the rest of the game being a real derby/major semi classic match!!! But oh no, no MR LINESMAN...nooooooooohhhhhhhh!!!! You have to try and have an impact on the game... Was it a moment of panic...???? A flashback??? Was the penis hanging from your forehead obscuring your vision? Did Gary van Egmond demonically possess you??? What on f**king earth do you think that you saw?? You bring new meaning to the word TARDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!! You out f**ked up Breeze! I thought that was impossible!!! Oh yes you had an impact, an impact of DENYING A NATIONAL ICON HIS REDEEMING GOAL AND OF DESTROYING THE DESTINY OF A COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT GAME, AND YES, MAKING FOOTBALL, AS WELL AS US, THE REAL LOSER ALL ACROSS OUR GREAT NATION!!!!!   

And now it's Half time folks...

FARRRRRRKKKKKKK....me.....

But sadly it gets worse for us not better...

We now seem to struggle in midfield at times more so than usual... players just keep seeming to get caught in each others space, a sign of fear/lack of confidence probably caused by the high stakes, as it is usually not present.
Jedi is slightly less than his usual unstoppable self, Hutch's distribution is not it's usual very high quality, but it was also hard to tell whether sometimes he just plain couldn't see. Kwassie, who has been in stellar form again, (some excellent defensive sweeping first half) then began to lapse in the second half and would have made a better sub than Sasho in my opinion. Sasho while we're there.... If there's just nothing on, and nothing going to be on... then might as well blaze away all day son!!! And not wait for three defenders to eventually strip you of the ball instead!!! And on now the tale of woe went... Nothing seemed to want to give...and Matt Simon clearly needs to go and see a Voodoo priest and have the curse removed from his right f**king boot. Mmmmmm... this probably occured when his header was denied earlier in the season. (WHAT f**kING LINEY WAS THAT BTW???)
Jesus wept though... anywhere else matty...anywhere else...

Aloisi should also have drawn another penalty in the box again later for my mind, but it appears in A league as per Sydney, thugball club, you can get away with far too much man handling which is really dumbing down our level of football. Breeze's general ineptitude allowed this to happen to both sides however... (Though Aloisi does always comes away the poorest of all) which does shoot somewhat of a happy hole in the conspiracy theory buffs, because damned if it the rides not hard enough already without believing that biased reffs will ensure our demise regardless of what we do...

And now we drizzle away toward full time... The Jets are now playing slow, controlled and smart... a few worrying breaks which amount to nothing...but then a break...and Gumps, who should sadly just have harassed/pressured and let Danny put the would be scorer to the test...instead sends them in for the dot shot. And 2 nill...

I don't think it's unfair that the Jets won, yet sadly nor can I say I feel it was a fair result. I think 3's going to be a big ask, the Jets are very hungry, but ultimately I'm with you where'sdadspants, Do I think we will do it... I don't know... but can we? Of course we can! And so will U be rooting for it? Of course I will! I think we would have drawn better odds with this than of us winning the Minor as we were going into round 21 ))

So, I'm going to visualise, 3 - 0.

In fact I'd love as an experiment for any willing - as it can do f**k all harm except perhaps waste 1 minute a day of our time each day - to ask everyone to at some point between 6 and 8pm over this next week fortnight, to visualise the Mariners winning three nill over the Jets.

Don't ridicule me too heavily lads and lasses. I just can't help but feel some irony in the fact that the team we put the most effort/focus into, also becomes our bogey team... and I'm interested in seeing what may happen if instead we put all (well... at least most maybe ) of our bogan bashing energy into positively visualising the Mariners succeeding instead.

A load of absolute shite, yeah maybe, perhaps probably, yet quantum physics does show a clear relationship between thought and the creation of matter... and while its also far from provable in trems of "manifestation" or that any such practices definitively work in any way whatsoever.... many great minds, athletes and leaders swear by it.
So I'm personally willing to waste a minute a day on even a 1 in a billion chance that it could make a difference in the Mariners getting over the line on the 10th

So I'm going to post a thread, re what to do, it's super simple and only takes 1 minute.
If it's complete bollocks to you, then just ignore it.

Best Wishes All
Long Live the Yellow Army verhead:

 

[thomas477]

Don't believe everything you here on FOX

Law 12

A direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following six offences in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:

kicks or attempts to kick an opponent

Law 14

A penalty kick is awarded against a team that commits one of the ten offences for which a direct free kick is awarded, inside its own penalty area and while the ball is in play.

I didint read/ hear it on fox - at the game when it happened i thought it was a high foot, unless north collected petrovski, i dont see how it was a penalty.

Firstly though Mattsy & Thomas,
Well well, you are doing the Jets proud, probably the most reasonable and non antagonistic posts I think I've probably seen from Jets supporters. (Not too mention the correct spelling! ) And though despite my hilarity at reading Serious and ADZ troll slaying exploits, it's a real nice change of pace. Well done to you, and congratulations on the victory today.

Thank you and you were unlucky, in reality the score should've been 2-1 to jets.

 

[Gopher of Pern]

I don't know how anyone can say Breeze had an alright game. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he has been, but he made plenty of dubious decisions!

Newcastle shouldn't have gotten the penalty kick. Gumps was in front of the newcastle player and got all ball, then the player ran into him just to milk the penalty.
The number of yellows given out was disgraceful. Most of the fouls we commited i can't really complain about, but newcastle seemed to commit far more than was given!

And don't get me started on the linesman........

 

[CCM-JAM80]

A lot of it has been said in this thread, so I will won't go over it all AGAIN.

Firstly, as noted above, it's most refreshing to see some rival fans log on and contribute constructively here. Cheers. Congrats on the win, hope you can make it the second leg on February 10 where hopefully we will all be treated to another exciting game.

What now?

Well it's not all doom and gloom. On another day, John Aloisi scores a great hat-trick, last night he walked away with out a goal and a yellow card for his effort. That's football.

There were a lot of positives to take from the game, likewise, there were some concerns that have reared the head over the final eight weeks of the season. Lawrie has some work to do.

Both teams played really well, I can confidently say that both teams would account for Sydney or QLD based on the four teams performances over the weekend.

Back to the drawing board.

I am still digesting this loss, it's a bitter pill to swallow this morning.

Congrats to the Newcastle Jets who quite simply continue to impress me. They are well coached team with a similar fighting spirit that we (Mariners) pride ourselves on.

 

[thomas477]

I believe Aloisi didnt have a good game - in any other games he would've scored. Aloisi has had his off game and should have a better one next time CCM vs Jets

 

[fedelta]

I believe Aloisi didnt have a good game - in any other games he would've scored. Aloisi has had his off game and should have a better one next time CCM vs Jets

He was having a great game up until the penalty. He was involved in alot of the play and was doing well. He seemed to go off his game after that penalty

 

[thomas477]

I believe Aloisi didnt have a good game - in any other games he would've scored. Aloisi has had his off game and should have a better one next time CCM vs Jets

He was having a great game up until the penalty. He was involved in alot of the play and was doing well. He seemed to go off his game after that penalty

Yeah, that penalty and the goal that was disallowed seemed to throw him off his game - a real pity, i like aloisi and wanted to see him on his game.

 

[CCM-JAM80]

I don't think Aloisi played all too bad at all - he was busting his ass out there and lady luck wasn't on his side. It happens. He caused Newcastle headaches.

There are no excuses for the missed penalty (though let's be honest, better players have missed from the spot in the history of our game - not detracting from Aloisi, he is a great player, though missed penalty kicks happen) when he had Covic beat, though the free kick that hit the post couldn't have as easily dropped in and he did score a goal that was wrongly judged off-side.

 

[midfielder]

Alosis played OK, problem is he playing a holding roll up front and is often isolated with markers and hackers all over him remember the Flying Choppers game they did the same thing.

We can still do it but our defensive mid field and the mids getting back to help the backs is not working as well as it should.

Every time Tommy got the ball he was being closed down and the other mids or backs did not give him much support. I mention Tommy as Newcastle followed him all day. But the same can be said of the backs when caught with the ball.

This lead too many long balls being hit and I through F U Jade North.

I am not talking here about all match, but we seemed to tire at different times and the more we chased the more we fell off in getting into position to support the person with the ball.

Bye the Bye any idea on Hutch when he came off it was ice on his leg he did not look that good still recovering from Flying Chopers match I think, knee and leg never been the same since.

Remember its in the Darkest hour that support is needed the most.

 

[Gen (MarinerMum)]

If we play Sydney at bluetongue, whose leg do we break on a 4th caution - ukc Talay.

 

[georgemladenov]

I'm confident of securing a 2-0 result at home. Newcastle have all the pressure on themselves now to secure a result (most likely in their usual "counter-attacking lets keep what we have" style). If we dont condede in the first half, they'll play for a draw.

I'd love to see Lawrie play a 4-3-3 formation or 4-5-1. Ceccoli doesnt provide the penetrating runs down the left flank as Heff used to, mainly due to his lack of pace. We know that Hutcho isn't exactly a lightning bolt, so our attack from the left just hasnt been as effective since the beginning of the year. The fact that Sash isnt exactly a workhorse, and that John is acting as a pseudo-target man hasnt helped the situation.

Perhaps something like:

            Danny
Boogs, Viddie, Wilko, Ceccoli
    Tommy, Jedi, Hutcho
    Sasho, Aloisi, Simon

With Clarkie, Gumps, Kwas, Owens and Trott on the bench.

Or a 4-5-1 of:

                   Danny
        Boogs, Viddie, Wilko, Ceccoli
Owens, Pondeljak, Jedi, Hutcho, Kwassie
                    Aloisi

Bench: Clarkie, Gumps, Sasho, Simon, Trott.

Owens and Kwas provide the pace out wide, Jedi would be able to sit back more often ensuring the midfield, which would allow Hutcho and Tommy P more time for creativity in attack.

 

[thomas477]

if newcastle scores at bluetongue stadium then ccm HAS to win by more then 3

 

[Auburn Mariner]

The Newcastle back four looked their most vulnerable in a long time last night, in the first half. They shut us down effectively after that. You can see why they are ALL in the 'Roo squad.

Young Zac picked the crowd to within 14 people last night; he guessed 22974 and there were 22960 registered. Won't be bringing the little smarty pants again.

ABC Newcastle Radio stayed on until 9.00pm, cutting into the Djokovic-Tsonga match, which was a most impressive step. Good to hear the positive attitude towards football, lots of Novocastrians showing new or renewed interest in our game.

What was interesting was hearing Newcastle-based commentators PLEADING for urgent upgrades to the NISC. The Andrew Johns Stand MUST be replicated on the Western side, and they probably should dispense with the grassed areas to create a 40k all seater stadium. Kevin & Morris, come on down.

I was happy enough with our game last night. A lot more 10-25 yard passing, less Route 1 stuff, Sasho looking dangerous, Kwassie on the improve.

Geez, we lack some footspeed. Take Adam and Matt out of the equation and our attacking players cannot outrun their backs, relying more on subterfuge and the occasional delightful nutmeg.

Great to hear the Marinators in full voice, although I missed being in there more than you would believe.

Onto Gosford, and a 4-1 win to take us straight to Stadium Australia.

 

[marinermick]

great to see viddy and sash were amongst our best players

they have been bagged in the past but put their a-game on for finals football

 

[brett]

The heat took the sting out of the Jets normal passing game which helped us, but we didn't really play smart football in it either. Too often we passed it to a player who was isolated (hard to get support there quickly when it's hot) but we should have moved the ball side to side patiently, put players into position and then gone forward. It wasn't long ball, but it was too direct and it buggered us out.

The substitutions should have been made about 10-15 minutes earlier and when they were made, Kwassy should have come off. He played well enough but by the 55th minute he was out on his feet and by the 70th minute he was an absolute passenger. Did Gumps, Simon and Clark look tired at the final whistle? They got to run around in the shade at the end and we could have got more out of them during the 55-65 minute period where the game basically ground to a halt.

Breeze - truly terrible. The guy doesn't know how to play advantage, and come back and give a yellow card later. Musialik should have had 3 yellows in the first half while Breeze was playing his leniency game, then Clarky gets booked for his first tackle. Linesman - die.

No way was the Jets penalty a penalty! You could see at the ground and on the replay, despite what Harper says, that Gumps nicked in and got the ball first. Holland then put in about 3 rolls as he was all game and Breeze feels the need to make an equaliser. He lets everything - the crowd, the context, the score, the player involved - come into his decisions instead of just playing one by one. And also, how can kicking a player in the head, whilst denying him a goalcorng opportunity, not even warrant a yellow card. Especially when Gumps copped a yellow for his non-penalty.

In all that we played quite well, and were just very, very unlucky with a little bit of poor execution up front and one poor moment at the back. Someone should have got themself out the front for their first goal to defend the short cross. The Jets defenders were sharp all game, not giving Aloisi an inch and nicking in to win balls in front as well as outrunning our strikers every time we put it through.

Fitness was clearly an issue, playing a stretched 4-4-2 in that heat was murder on our midfielders, and the boys almost looked still hungover. The Jets were struggling too and to be honest the game was a bit ruined by the conditions.

I think we'll give it a red hot go at home but the odds are against us. I'd happy to at least get a 1-0 win against them, and then welcome SFC or QR to a ravenous Bluetongue in the Prelim and take on the Jets in a blockbuster Grand Final.

 

[SNOWMARINER]

great to see viddy and sash were amongst our best players

they have been bagged in the past but put their a-game on for finals football

I agree and glad to see both players putting in the effort. I think we had a pretty good game and without the defence napping to allow adam's goal we could have come up with a win. We had one of the woodwork, one denied and a missed penalty. Plenty of possession, more time in the box that had the Jets defence scrambling and plenty of last pass mistakes that could have produced shots. The disallowed away goal makes it very difficult but 3-0 is not impossible if the gods are with us not to mention the officials having a good game. 2-0 is all we need to go to penaltys and I would be confident dispite yesterdays miss that we would do well in that senario.

 

[pommypete]

It was one of our best performances of the season,if the disallowed goal would have counted we would have won the game in the second half.Dodgy ref decisions have probably cost us the tie now.Breeze should be hung drawn and quartered.