Mariners schedule Shandong friendly

[swarey]

Hey Serious, I'm pretty sure that you really need to stop beating around the bush matey & just tell everyone what you really think  ???

 

[serious14]

Hey Serious, I'm pretty sure that you really need to stop beating around the bush matey & just tell everyone what you really think  ???

Hey, I'm not "doing a Razorback", there were some positives. 

 

[swarey]

Hey Serious, I'm pretty sure that you really need to stop beating around the bush matey & just tell everyone what you really think  ???

Hey, I'm not "doing a Razorback", there were some positives. 

hahahahahahahahaha

 

[Deej]

Hey Serious, I'm pretty sure that you really need to stop beating around the bush matey & just tell everyone what you really think  ???

I'd love to see serious tell the players what he thinks rather than hide behind a forum

 

[serious14]

Hey Serious, I'm pretty sure that you really need to stop beating around the bush matey & just tell everyone what you really think  ???

I'd love to see serious tell the players what he thinks rather than hide behind a forum

Bit late for that. 

 

[Paolo]

*sigh*  Adam Kwasnik is the most useless f*cking waste of space this club has ever had.  And yes, I am including Leo Carle in that list.  Re-signing him is quite possibly the stupidest decision we have ever made, right up there with letting Jedi go.  He offers nothing in attack, even less in defence, and has a skills list comprised of "can lose the ball in record time, in ever increasingly humourous ways".

blasphemy

 

[Marquee]

Could be a longggggg Champions league......

How did the trialist go?

 

[serious14]

Could be a longggggg Champions league......

Nah, it will be over by the third game. 

We played a triallist??  (proper question, I didn't see him come on, unless someone else did??)

 

[dibo]

*sigh*  Adam Kwasnik is the most useless f*cking waste of space this club has ever had.  And yes, I am including Leo Carle in that list.  Re-signing him is quite possibly the stupidest decision we have ever made, right up there with letting Jedi go.  He offers nothing in attack, even less in defence, and has a skills list comprised of "can lose the ball in record time, in ever increasingly humourous ways".

blasphemy

double blasphemy.

in practical terms we had no choice on the jedi thing - it was either sell him then and take the fee or give him the shits and lose him for free on pretty rubbish terms soon enough.

on kwas, i'm a broken record here but regardless of all the deluded whinging on here aside (sign gumps, don't sign kwas... FFS... : ), he's scored more goals for us than any other player than the treacherous maco. he's got his rubbish moments, but he's still scored buckets for us and will do so again in the coming season.

 

[Marquee]

Could be a longggggg Champions league......

We played a triallist??   (proper question, I didn't see him come on, unless someone else did??)

We according to Greenlion we have a triallist. I assumed he played, but judging by your responce i guess not.

former Chinese National Team and Shanghai Shenhua player Jiang Kun is on trial with Central Coast Mariners

 

[serious14]

he's scored more goals for us than any other player than the treacherous maco. he's got his rubbish moments, but he's still scored buckets for us and will do so again in the coming season.

Racist, reported.

Not sure if you saw the game today Dibo, but if we play five times as good as that in our proper ACL games, we will still get murdered to the tune of a few goals to nil at least.  The quality just isn't there anymore - the League (and Asia) moved past most of the team about a year ago.  Resorting to re-signing a player who was average at best and provides nothing in attack (his primary role, no??) is a disturbing lack of foresight......

We're not going to be in this comp. again for at least two years, I'd prefer we made a decent fist of it this time around so our lingering memories of our inaugural continental journey aren't ludicrously embarassing.  Because based on what's been seen so far (and taking V4 into consideration), that's where we're heading.

Marquee - we (Murphs, Adz, myself) were was too busy yelling at the TV most of the time to notice if he definitely didn't come on or not, await someone else's confirmation that he did or did not.

 

[swarey]

Marquee - we (Murphs, Adz, myself) were was too busy yelling at the TV most of the time to notice if he definitely didn't come on or not, await someone else's confirmation that he did or did not.

Marquee???????????  now I'm confused..... WHAT MARQUEE??????

 

[serious14]

Marquee - we (Murphs, Adz, myself) were was too busy yelling at the TV most of the time to notice if he definitely didn't come on or not, await someone else's confirmation that he did or did not.

Marquee???????????  now I'm confused..... WHAT MARQUEE??????

The lad three posts above this one with that username. 

 

[dibo]

he's scored more goals for us than any other player than the treacherous maco. he's got his rubbish moments, but he's still scored buckets for us and will do so again in the coming season.

Racist, reported.

Not sure if you saw the game today Dibo, but if we play five times as good as that in our proper ACL games, we will still get murdered to the tune of a few goals to nil at least.  The quality just isn't there anymore - the League (and Asia) moved past most of the team about a year ago.  Resorting to re-signing a player who was average at best and provides nothing in attack (his primary role, no??) is a disturbing lack of foresight......

provides nothing in attack? come off it - he scored 6 goals in his last season with us. he scored more goals that year than jedi did. until sasho got the last couple he remained our top goalscorer ever, and will likely take that back at least for a time unless matty has a storming start to the year.

i don't know what you think you've seen, but if you think kwas offers nothing then you've seriously got no idea. he's a frustrating player not because he doesn't threaten as much as other players but because you can see him scoring dozens if it all fell into place. i think he's been short of his potential and he's still been great for us.

 

[swarey]

Awwwww shit, I thought I'd missed something lol.  Are we perhaps referring to the aforementioned triallist? ???

If so, no, I didn't see him either, but as well as yelling, I was a bit busy waving to our boys

1st half, I saw (in no particular order) REDDERS, PEDJ, BOOGS, ALEX, ADRIAN, OZZIE, CLARKEY, DISCO, KWAS, HUKE (not sure who I missed)

2nd half, REDDERS, KWAS, OSSIE, ADRIAN, DYLAN, BOOGS, PEDJ, ALEX, TALL OGRADY, HUTCH, GREGGIE, ELRICH, BRADLEY & RIZZO.

It did drop out a few times tho ;D

 

[brett]

*Awaits match report from someone who was paying enough attention to notice if a Chinese dude ran on for us*

 

[dibo]

blades paying off through the chengdu channel?

 

[Marquee]

I do like Kwaz because he tries hard and provides the occasional brilliance to win a football game but the League, and also Asia, has past the point where just effort and physicality alone can win a game.

In previous seasons Kwaz has been a hit in an average league, but I think his inconsistency will become much more evident as the standard improves. Asia will tell us where he is at, but overall, our recruiting stinks and trying relive the glory days wont get us far... See: Perth Glory 

 

[serious14]

I do like Kwaz because he tries hard and provides the occasional brilliance to win a football game but the League, and also Asia, has past the point where just effort and physicality alone can win a game.

In previous seasons Kwaz has been a hit in an average league, but I think his inconsistency will become much more evident as the standard improves. Asia will tell us where he is at, but overall, our recruiting stinks and trying relive the glory days wont get us far... See: Perth Glory 

THIS. 

Perfectly worded, sums it up brilliantly.

*Awaits match report from someone who was paying enough attention to notice if a Chinese dude ran on for us*

Sorry, my Mandarin is okay, but not to the extent that I understood _everything_ they were saying.  Not to mention they never showed the actual substitutions taking place or lineups at any time (the coverage literally began about 10 seconds before kickoff). 

 

[Deej]

*Awaits match report from someone who was paying enough attention to notice if a Chinese dude ran on for us*

Asia awaits for battle hardened Mariners

The Central Coast Mariners' most fitting AFC Champions League dress rehearsal to date has ended in a spirited 2-0 defeat to giant Chinese club and fellow continental challengers Shandong Luneng at the Shandong Provincial Sports Centre today.

The most pleasant weather of the Mariners' Chinese tour to date greeted the yellow and navy at the impressive home of the reigning Chinese Super League (CSL) champions, which despite being less than a tenth full provided both teams with a colourful and noisy backdrop, against which goals from Li Jinyu and Lu Zheng sealed the home side's triumph.

Despite the score line, the Mariners' performance was one of vast improvement compared to that of last Saturday against Jiangsu Sainty and were it not for a goal line clearance, a telling save and some, at times, wasteful finishing, there could so easily have been a different end result for the yellow and navy.

Ultimately, the two-goal margin was an unjust reflection of a tightly contested fixture, which was exemplified by Shandong's second strike that came in second half stoppage time.

The Mariners will tomorrow depart Shanghai bound for the Central Coast where their AFC Champions League preparations will be fine tuned further ahead of Wednesday week's blockbuster opener against Korean FA Cup winners Pohang Steelers at Central Coast Stadium.

"Today was a reasonable performance and weve said that a few times in the past few weeks," said Mariners Football Manager Lawrie McKinna after the match.

"We copped a bad goal from a corner after fifteen minutes and probably dominated most of the first half.

"Second half, we totally dominated, Andrew Redmayne didnt have a save to make we pushed forward and had a few cleared off the line, their keeper made a few good saves and then they caught us on the break with one minute to play in stoppage time.

"2-0 is flattering to them and overall our performance against the top team in China was OK."

The Mariners' starting side featured three changes from the eleven that was defeated in Kunshan two days earlier, with Pedj Bojic, Adam Kwasnik and Dylan Macallister earning starts in a remodelled and perhaps more conservative line up.

Macallister was inserted as the visitors sole attacking focus, with fellow striker Nik Mrdja sitting deeper on the left hand side of a three-man attacking midfield contingent that also featured Adrian Caceres and Kwasnik.

Shandong, like the Mariners, will line up for the start of the AFC Champions League 2009 next week, where they have been drawn alongside FC Seoul, Gamba Osaka and Sriwijaya FC in Group F.

As the reigning CSL champions and one of China's all-time most successful club sides, Shandong came into the match as clear favourites, despite a recent 3-1 trial match loss to the Mariners' AFC Champions League Group H rivals, Tianjin Teda.

The line up that Shandong unveiled from the opening whistle featuring no less than ten former or current internationals underlined the hosts' desire for a positive outcome and that is what they achieved after 90 engaging minutes.

Before Jinyu's opener on twelve minutes, the Mariners so nearly seized the early ascendency when a Mrdja free kick stung the palms of Li Leilei in the Shandong goal.

Mrdja would have another chance by the end of the half after being slipped through on goal by Caceres, only to skew his right footed effort over the cross bar.

The Mariners started and finished the second half in barnstorming fashion without forcing Leilei into action on frequent occasions, though the Shandong shot stopper had team-mate and former Venezuelan international Alejandro Cichero to thank for denying an own goal in the last minute of regulation time.

Upon conceding the match sealing goal only seconds from the final whistle, the Mariners could only reflect on a solid showing that produced everything but the goal they deserved, but a performance that they will take some confidence from considering the quality of the opposition and the unfamiliar conditions the match was played out in.

"The amount of training that weve got in while weve been here and the game time that everyone has gotten this trip has been invaluable," said McKinna.

"Everybody has got a lot out of the trip, which stands us in good stead for the game against Pohang.

"Were looking forward to that game and looking forward to getting back to the Central Coast and getting a victory in front of our home fans.

"Were not far away from our best form, we know that weve got room for improvement its just getting that one goal and going on with it and Im sure that things will turn around for us."

The Mariners will next be in action in a competitive fixture for the kick off of the AFC Champions League 2009 at Central Coast Stadium against Korean FA Cup winners Pohang Steelers on Wednesday, 11 March. Kick off is at 8pm.

Tickets are on sale and available for purchase from any Ticketek outlet, from the Ticketek website www.ticketek.com.au, or via phone on 132 849.

Match Details

Central Coast Mariners 30. Andrew Redmayne (gk), 3. Shane Huke (22. Nick Rizzo 46'), 4. Pedj Bojic, 9. Nik Mrdja (7. John Hutchinson 46'), 10. Adrian Caceres, 11. Dylan Macallister, 15. Andrew Clark (5. Bradley Porter 46'), 16. Nigel Boogaard (13. Paul O'Grady 62'), 17. Matthew Osman (21. Ahmad Elrich 66'), 18. Alex Wilkinson, 23. Adam Kwasnik (12. Greg Owens 62')

Yellow Cards Elrich 74', Bojic 79', Macallister 80'
Red Cards None
Goals None

Ends