Mariners v Queensland Minor Semi Finals

[jaypee]

David, while your coaches may be proven, they are going to cost a lot, and I can't see them sticking around for long. One of the best things about the club and why we have been reasonably successful over 3 of the 4 years is because of the stability with-in the club - Stability that a team like Sydney doesn't have, which is why they have only 1 Premiership to their name with so many big name players.

You also have to consider the work Lawrie has put into getting the community behind the team and keeping them keen. He still does this work and I can't see one of your big name coaches putting the effort into this.

I don't think a new coach is really necessary, but it is definitely time to get a good marquee who will lead the team, play good football and get the crowd's faith back.

Let me set the record straight.

I am loathe to play musical chairs with managers, and I admire what McKinna has done for the club and community.

At the same time, I also think the club needs to rethink its style of play and its approach to signing players, because these are two things holding the club back more than anything.

Ever thought that the style of play is dictated by the cattle we have.... I think recruiting is the key and we have heard Sweet FA out of our Blades partnership..... We need a Marquee quickly - one who can be a play maker...

 

[David Votoupal]

Of course, I understand that well. Improvements must be made not only in midfield but also defence, which has been a major problem all season.

 

[jaypee]

Of course, I understand that well. Improvements must be made not only in midfield but also defence, which has been a major problem all season.

I think one CB at most is required - my theory is that the MF are putting our backs under way too much pressure that in the end something gives...

 

[woodchuck]

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.

"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"

I don't think anyone on here would disagree that Lawrie has been/is great for the club in many ways.I just think he's taken us as far as he can.

The record of 3 finals series in 4 years also deserves a bit more scrutiny.

The facts are.....V1 finished 3rd in the league 11 pts behind the winner.
                      V2 finished 6th 21 pts behind the winner.
                      V3 finished 1st (34 pts lowest winning total)
                      V4 finished 4th 10 behind the winner.

It's also worth noting that Sydney are apparently in turmoil yet we finished only 2pts in front........... ???

To me that record says "not bad but hardly brilliant".

As far as the two grand finals are concerned,I enjoyed them as much as anyone but really imo it's a farce when a team can finish 10 pts behind the league winner(us this year) and potentially be crowned "champions".

I really don't think RESULTS should be the 'be all and end all' !  LM has constantly said for four years, he won't apologise for playing ugly football.  He even was quoted before Fridays game , we'll scrap away at QLD.  Is this the coach who we want as fans to lead us forward, if that's his style then that is all we'll get, long ball rubbish ! Which is getting very old, even for the faithfull 9k.  Caceres our only genuine ball player, LM can't even get this guy settled into his ideas, Why ?? He knows he's coming off after 60min.  Anyone watched EPL games lately ? How many goals are scored with mins and even seconds to go.  Our squad for the most part of the season has been available, not many injuries like other years, this is the squad LM has put together.  Route one football at times is necessary and a great tactic, however if it isn't working then that's when you look to the guy in charge for his management qualities.  LM is without doubt a fantastic guy, however doubts are starting to increase about his ability to manage.  It will be interesting to see if the Board is backing LM or is this their way of showing him the door by not working with him and opening up any funds for new players ???  Oh we did just recruit Kwasnik back, and a 4th tier English player (Huke)  again is this us being ambitious ?  Tough times ahead.

 

[Omni]

Huke & Kwasnik to tear up the ACL - heard it here first.

 

[tyson]

It is quite clear that we really just need a creative midfielder and a good DM to replace Jedinak.
We need the Jedinak replacement to take the pressure off the backs and keep some possession, and a creative midfielder to give the strikers the ball. We had 4 quality strikers who can score goals, yet DM and Matty had to come back and play as target men to try and get the ball.

 

[Don]

i think the first half we played not to bad.and i don't think the whole team were as bad as everyones saying.i just don't think the strikers were on the ball.and to you wombat oz played very well ???

 

[dibo]

i think the first half we played not to bad.and i don't think the whole team were as bad as everyones saying.i just don't think the strikers were on the ball.and to you wombat oz played very well ???

are you still going to post on here next season even though oz is off to GC?

 

[ponno]

First 20 mins I honestly thought we were going to win ... we looked sharp... after that...well ... we just got worse and worse... i seriously felt like they gave up in the 2nd half.... anyway.... fire up because we are not out yet but another 2nd half like that and we will be....

 

[typool]

yeh very true, i'd hoping for a nice early goal to get our boys firing for a secong.. i know easier said than done

 

[ponno]

exactly...if we get 1 goal then its game on because the whole mentality of the side seems to change and nothing is impossible...

 

[Alicia]

i think the first half we played not to bad.and i don't think the whole team were as bad as everyones saying.i just don't think the strikers were on the ball.and to you wombat oz played very well ???

are you still going to post on here next season even though oz is off to GC?

I'm guessing no

 

[Don]

of course i will,have to keep an eye on you guys.

 

[Bladesman]

2 departures have killed our season in my opinion.  When Ferguson went it became blindingly obvious that he was the main coach and tactician.  The standard of play, work rate, team structure went rapidly downhill following his departure.  I think NQ will go very well under his guidance and with Robbie Fowler up front.

Mile leaving was the nail in the coffin as what became obvious there was how much work he was doing in both preventing the opposition pressuring our defence and also covering for the very big deficiencies with our other midfielders which we are now seeing.  I imagine he is killing it in Turkey where he only has to do the work of 1 man.

The other massive disappointment for me the season is the lack of young players coming through, I look around and see all of the other teams blooding good young players that have far more skill than most of the guys on the park for us and as much as I hate to say it I have enjoyed watching some of the football Sydney and Newcastle have played far more than ours as at least they have tried to get it on the floor and played a passing game.

Now do we need to replace Laurie?  I would say he brings a great community connection and also some good management so if we can replace Ferguson with a coach of similar quality that can fill the gap maybe not.  If we cant then we do need to replace him otherwise we will be back to playing in front of 5000.

 

[Paolo]

Now do we need to replace Laurie? 

who is this Laurie fellow you speak of?

 

[Jesus]

We need someone hard as nuts. End of story i dont care where they play

 

[Bear]

Eggy for CB?

 

[Alicia]

Eggy for CB?

Mick said on the weekend, there's only one person harder than DMac and Eggy's manlove stringers, and that's Eggy himself!

 

[jarrad]

But Hutch is hard as f**k!

 

[bulldogmariner]

Just hope the Mariners try to play football on Friday and not get stuck into playing long balls up to the strikers. We need to play football and wait for the first goal. We actually have a fair record in Brisbane and will have the advantage of queensland being without key defenders and Craig Moore would have player 90 mins for national team on Wednesday night. Play wide and get Porter and Heff overlapping and cross in for Matt and DMac.