Mariners v Queensland Minor Semi Finals

[NewyForever]

You get the impression the boys are all more concerned about the ACL and couldn't give a damn about the remainder of the A-League season.

Now you know how it feels to be a Newcastle fan..

 

[whiteon]

Was at the game and it was one of our worst performances in the history of the A League. Also to all those complaining about the ref, if we score goals you can effectively take him out of the game.
Why the hell can't we get a decent midfield and a least one decent marquee. Things do not look good for the ACL but like all true fans we will be there to support OUR team.

 

[yellowcake]

Looking forward to getting Friday out of the way

Friday will be out of the way at 9:20pm EST.

Bleak mathematical chance to get through maybe (but repeating our last result at Suncorp would do it), but I haven't ever missed being there for the teams last outing in a campaign and expect them to reward my effort by at least playing for pride in the shirt.

Would be interested to see what gambling with a Sash / Mrdja starting strike combination could produce.

 

[brett]

You get the impression the boys are all more concerned about the ACL and couldn't give a damn about the remainder of the A-League season.

Now you know how it feels to be a Newcastle fan..

No we don't. Thankfully, not even close.

 

[Redline]

First home game I've been able to get to this season. I wish I hadn't bothered. It was a crap environment (smoke), worse pitch then the local public fields here in Forster, I gotta how much Hutcho is swallowing to not get taken off, to continually be allowed to take free kicks when is rubbish, rubbish captaining - we didn't even HAVE one last night, the armband needs to be taken off of Wilko, he is NOT leadership material, he can't get the backline sorted, let alone the team, rubbish subbing, rubbish tactics...our first touch was a long ball, and we continued to use them and got closed down most every time, there is no width, no flair...we had a clear open man on the opposite side of the pitch to the ball so many times, and instead we tried to get through a wall of Roar players, losing the ball basically every time, the reffing was so obviously biased it was disgusting....so much work needs to be done. We have no chance of getting through to the final, or out of the group stage of the ACL, and I seriously doubt we'll be in the top 4 next season without some major changes...I think Laurie is running out of time as well.

 

[kevrenor]

 

[Redline]

We did look and sound great right at the start.

 

[Sym]

How did it look and sound the rest of the night ?

 

[FFC Mariner]

Brett, absolutely excellent post. Nice objective balance.

My view is our playing squad is nowhere near good enough and our coaching is NSL standard and that was ok when everyone elses was, but we have now been over taken.

LM can go upstairs (Director of football seems fashionable) and we retain the community link.

 

[LFCMariners]

Where I was standing, it sounded like this thread, but in spoken form.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Should have heard it in the smokers area at HT lol

 

[Redline]

Watching the Matildas play Italy...better game then ours last night tbh.

 

[BrisRecky]

MAYBE...just maybe..laurie was lulling farina into a false sense of security...ya think...sounds reasonable to me...

 

[blastbum]

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 Musc**t. 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.

Thanks Tiger for some sense and a great post in what has become a shit thread.

"Let's get rid of LM he has only got us to the finals in 3 of the 4 seasons, only 2 GF's and only one plate. It does not matter that he is the heart and soul of the club, we demand better"
Arnie and Kossie are available.

"Let's drop D Mac and Danny, They only got call ups to the Socceroos squad a fortnight ago, they must be shit"

There is one thing worse than Friday's result and that is the stupid, ignorant, whinging and the demanding of heads on this thread.

Read through it all and see how many players we would have for next year.

Then have a serious look at Sydney and Newcastle. That is what you will get.

Idiots.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. That is mine.

Finally, some clear heads have brought some clarity and GOOD SENSE. All you guys calling for heads - GET A GRIP!

 

[Part_Timer]

KUTGW coastie boys -- top standards

 

[Wombat]

good hands?
those hands have lead us to 4 losses in a row and a terrible preparation towards the champions league.
plus who's going to take us into the new season? lawrie? tobin? lyall?
we are talking about old men who are past their worth now.. and this has been proved in the latest form and latest media interviews. they have no positive outlook, they have no answers to give.
from a spectators point of view it seems as though they are relying on the luck of the scottish.
why try to wash off the tarinsh and start again when the problems are always going to be there... week in and week out...
get some new hands. it looks for a much better outlook.

Your talking shit......how is Tobin an old man?  Lyall is a board room backer so age has nothin to do with it.
Lawrie's age is pretty normal for a professional manager/coach.

The bottom line is we didn't invest any money into the club and payed the penalty and even worse we sold our best player, without having a replacement.
The simple fact is the Squad is not strong enough and LM's loyalty to sub-standard players...Wilko, Hutcho etc, while admirable hurts us badly.

We need a Marquee player of the highest order or we will be left for dead next season.  We need to bring in some quality and clear out the deadwood and believe me bringing in more second tier wasters like Kwasnik could result in the Wooden Spoon next year.

LM should be on notice that we have to do better but our players are lazy, ineffective, technically poor and for the first time in four seasons often lacking in ticker this year. A Coach can't make a silk purse out of a Sow's ear.

Aloisi's goals papered over the cracks last year but this year, once Jedi left (and stopped carrying the defence) the cracks were massive and we got humiliated.

We need to invest and LM has to be ruthless with much of this squad.

 

[scottmac]

good hands?
those hands have lead us to 4 losses in a row and a terrible preparation towards the champions league.
plus who's going to take us into the new season? lawrie? tobin? lyall?
we are talking about old men who are past their worth now.. and this has been proved in the latest form and latest media interviews. they have no positive outlook, they have no answers to give.
from a spectators point of view it seems as though they are relying on the luck of the scottish.
why try to wash off the tarinsh and start again when the problems are always going to be there... week in and week out...
get some new hands. it looks for a much better outlook.

Your talking shit......how is Tobin an old man?  Lyall is a board room backer so age has nothin to do with it.
Lawrie's age is pretty normal for a professional manager/coach.

The bottom line is we didn't invest any money into the club and payed the penalty and even worse we sold our best player, without having a replacement.
The simple fact is the Squad is not strong enough and LM's loyalty to sub-standard players...Wilko, Hutcho etc, while admirable hurts us badly.

We need a Marquee player of the highest order or we will be left for dead next season.  We need to bring in some quality and clear out the deadwood and believe me bringing in more second tier wasters like Kwasnik could result in the Wooden Spoon next year.

LM should be on notice that we have to do better but our players are lazy, ineffective, technically poor and for the first time in four seasons often lacking in ticker this year. A Coach can't make a silk purse out of a Sow's ear.

Aloi$i's goals papered over the cracks last year but this year, once Jedi left (and stopped carrying the defence) the cracks were massive and we got humiliated.

We need to invest and LM has to be ruthless with much of this squad.

Ruthless and Lawrie seems odd in the same sentence???

 

[Wombat]

We did play crap last night and were beaten by a better team.

We had a penalty shout turned down and a soft one given against us. William only seemed to want to referee one side.

Danny looking solid but not great. Why doesn't he keep people on the post at corners? And once getting to the ball from the penalty you would think that harder hands would turn it round the corner.

The real problem though is the midfield. Osman was superb last night. Gumps started well but faded quickly. Hutch and Caceres didn't turn up. So lets's freshen the side up.

Next week


              Danny

      Wilko   Stringers  Pedj

                Ossie
Smitta                              Heff

                Owens

      Simon                 Sash

                Mrdja/DMac
        
Bench Redders, Clarky, Gumps, Elrich/Hutch, Dmac/Mrdja

Smitta and Heff will have to work bloody hard - but our current midfield will just not do the job. Maybe start Nik over Dmac who has not looked like scoring.
  

Osman was superb....WTF???  One lovely strike is hardly a great performance.  He has zero penetration.

Shows how bad the other three were doesn't it.

Hutcho was borderline pathetic and very lazy.  Gumps tried hard but didn't achieve much. Caceras had two good dribbles but was lazy and basically shite after 20 mins

 

[Part_Timer]

lol at dmac not looking like scoring ......best striker on field forced to go looking for ball in midfield

 

[FFC Mariner]

I'm sure Dmac and Matty will have much more chance of scoring if we had a midfield that could win the ball and actually deliver it to them in forward positions.

I note the posts denying any need for change and would ask what their suggestions might be?