Worst posts in this thread: "I'm never coming back", "Waste of money attending", "Unlucky if you're going to Qld" etc.
There are three very good sides in the comp this season - and we ain't one of them. In many ways, it's unfortunate that we have to be the finals bunnies. We lost our best player (for better or worse) and all our momentum a month ago, and we'd been looking better than we should have at that point because we'd saved up our games against the top sides for last. Wellington, Sydney, Perth, Newcastle...they all would have struggled big time in the finals too.
What was most disappointing for me was the lack of belief in the team that saw us making great comebacks earlier this season. After the first goal (another schoolboy marking error by Pedj in recent weeks), heads went down, effort went down.
Looking forward to getting Friday out of the way and moving towards Asia for a bit of a fresh start.
The squad is due for a refresher, but not a massive cleanout imo. There just isn't the talent floating around that is better than what he have. I propose we simply need 2 high-quality signings on top of the core squad we have now, including an experienced leader, and we'll be right in there. We were there or thereabouts when we had Mile.
And in the last four games, against the A-League benchmarks, we have been 'in' each game, and with some luck could have come away with something. Last night we almost scored in the 2nd minute and I haven't seen a replay but thought Matty should have had a penalty. Probably didn't deserve to win any of the four, but we're not miles away.
We don't have depth in the right areas. We looked brilliant at times with two up front but again changed to a 4-3-3, probably more because we have no decent midfield replacements but plenty of strikers to spare. The balance needs to be adjusted, and Huke's signing is a starting point to that.
One fairly consistent factor in the successful teams is an experienced, influential player who has runs on the board and will lift the rest of the team to a higher level. MV have Muscat. Qld have Moore. Sydney were top of the league while Popovic was still playing. CCM V3 had Vidmar. When heads have gone down this season, there's been no one to turn to.
The team has troughed and peaked over the four seasons. Most A-League teams have. Melbourne have gone from shite to brilliant to shite to excellent. Adelaide have been more consistent but had their shocker in V3 and Asia preceeding that. We've had great years in V1 and V3 but poor years in V2 and V4 - poor but far from diabolical.
Given that, it would be an overreaction to look at Lawrie's head. I know you can't excuse bad results forever, but there surely has to be far more reason than where we're at now for a change of empire. Look at our short history - McKinna is more than capable of winning games with the right players, and he is more than capable of recruiting the right players. I, like all, bemoan the effect of Jedi's absence on the team. But I remember where he came from.
There other thing is, and people on the forum tend to moan and groan at this sort of statement but it IS a factor worth considering, McKinna had a huge role in the creation of the club and a bigger role in its connection with the community. If you throw McKinna out you risk throwing out the identity of the club and going down the Sydney FC route - disillusioned fans occasionally turning up in the hope that a decent club might eventually present itself.
I'm not an apologist for the tactics, selections and subs, because I don't agree with a lot of that recently. But it's about pros and cons, and perspective. This is one of the most frustrating times in the club's history, because it seems like there is little hope the situation will change moving forward. But you're kidding if you think Farina or anyone else would have done any better with the cattle we had last night. And if you could have swapped Moore and McKay onto our team, I'll bet we would have won 2-0.
Let's get Friday out of the way, look forward to an exciting Asian journey, make a couple of key additions to the squad hopefully including an influential marquee, and get back to a peak year rather than this trough. And if nothing's changed in 12 months, come and see me again.
