Mariners vs Smurfs (Sydney)

[Bex]

Not worried if porter is out for the next two seasons!

That's a bit harsh. I believe he could be useful in our current team. Recall he was often playing right back previously; a position which is not his intended role and probably made him look worse than he is.

He would currently slot in on the right of the midfield diamond. Yes, McGlinchey has made that one his own, but who do we have as backup? The only other player who you might slot into right side midfield is Hutch or Perez? Neither is ideal. Porter is the only other player in the squad whose first choice is that position. He has a fantastic engine (or did have before the lack of game time) and that could have been very useful for a period like this with frequent games. I think it's a damn shame he is injured right now - I would have liked to see him get some game time combining with Pedj for some busting runs and some crosses (which Porter does do reasonably well) in to Simon/Perez.

 

[shipwreck]

Far out this is so terrible to watch, we are playing shithouse!

 

[shipwreck]

Lol the bias shown by mark rudan is almost painful...

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Not worried if porter is out for the next two seasons!

Goose.

 

[Roy Law]

We have missed Porter; I'd rather him today than Sainsbury

 

[Wee-mac]

Dutchy's slip up for the 2nd goal was very vidmar-esque from the grand final.

 

[Redshirt]

Pat's just lucky he's been amazing for us all year otherwise i'd be distraught at him...

Apparently he made a few comments pre-game writing Sydney completely off... watch what you say Dutchie! Anyone can beat anyone in this league (unless you're Perth and NQ)

 

[midfielder]

Personal opinion but I think Perez second half is the best by any player in a Mariner shirt ever...

 

[universalmind]

Personal opinion but I think Perez second half is the best by any player in a Mariner shirt ever...

Really? Didn't get the chance to watch as i am overseas for work. But that is a big call.

The ball is now in the teams situated below us to overtake us. We should be able to beat them to maintain second. A lot of pressure for all parties involved.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Awful first half for us... but imo it was in no small part due to the fact that Lavicka got it tactically spot on. Flooding midfield to outnumber our narrow diamond, lots of direct play/long ball that defensively cut out our diminutive midfield and particularly targeting Sainsbury's flank - who did well several times to be fair but just had so much work to do that he was exposed many times and needed to be replaced. We use our fullbacks strongly in our system and it was just another gear required when Sydney were pressuring really hard that he doesn't quite have yet. And so eventually we became flustered and disjointed and gave away two soft goals. Credit to Sydney though as they were clearly hungrier than us for the second ball and so made their own luck in the first half.

Dutchy... It was what it was... but while it's not an excuse, mistakes like that are FAR more likely happen when your midfield and forwards are losing the battle and failing to provide enough options and the sense of pressure is THICK in the air.

2nd half, weirdly at half time I was actually looking forward to the second half and not without hope because I wanted to see how the team would respond form a likely scorching by GA and also how GA would tactically respond. I was certainly not disappointed. A literally fantastic response by both the coach and the team. Such good football.

It was brave coaching that paid off tremendously and GA was very unlucky not to end up taking the three points his outstanding coaching deserved.

2 nil down, within 12 minutes it's back to 2 all and we completely dominate the other team for the remainder of the game... That's one hell of a response.

And we learnt some valuable things from that game...

1) We can come back from being significantly down.

2) It was great to see we can go to a back 3 when required or desired and how well it can work for us. SFC looked like they only 9 or 10 players on the park for much of the second half as we totally dominated proceedings.

3) It was great to see we can go to front 3 when required.

4) That Perez and Amini can play on the field at the same time. (Which as far as I was concerned of course they always could) Bit of experience and calm and Amini would have/should have won the game for us. We are definitely more dangerous in the front third when he's on as well - though I'm not implying we should change formation right now - as as soon as Rose is back I'll be happy to revert to our 442 again.

5) Rose is immense for us - in case we didn't know that

6) I hope we learnt - that that is how we can play and should imo play against teams when we are a man up or 2 goals. You have to put them to the sword, go for the throat and kill them off, but above all make _them_ cope with _you_
Not even allow them to believe they can still play.

Points...
Perez was wonderful but Bozanic was still probably my MOM being probably our best on park in a poor first half followed then by a great second. Wilko was also very good except for allowing a massive hole for two SFC players to run through. One very offside the other on... A debatable one... as while he didn't interfere with the play, he continued running towards the ball and our goal and was within ten yards or so...

So anyway, anyone know how far Rose is off? Hope he'll be travelling to AUFC.
MASSIVE possibly season defining game coming up folks!!
So....



Also anyone know if the Kendall bar might be open next week for the game?

 

[midfielder]

GA said Rose had a bad flu.... up all night and coming from both end no sleep... sounds like he will be fit next week...

 

[Wombat]

I heard he's out for the season.

Wish the bloke well but am in no hurry to see him back around the first team. Would be a great asset to Yoof team.

 

[Wombat]

We have missed Porter; I'd rather him today than Sainsbury

I'd rather a 11 yo girl than Sainsbury on that performance.

But I think Porter's injury has been a blessing in disguise for us this season.

Yes Porter would have been better than Sainsbury (as a RB) however a flat back three was preferable to standard back four with S'bury in it.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Just watching highlights.

Thought so at game, but now positive. McBreen should have had a pen off Coles high foot and then knee into the head that splits his cheek straight open. Hard to see to be fair to the ref, but terrible in slow mo and definite pen.
Very dangerous play not dealt with by the ref - so shoud be MRP territory.
As if :

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Fricking INEPT and biased commentary. Drives me spare.

 

[Wombat]

Enjoyed this game and atmosphere at BT was great. The stands were great tonight(esp Eastern one). Well done to all who attended and active support was very sound.

I thought we were pathetic in the first half and superb in the second.

MOM 3 pts Perez. He dragged us back into this game and was amazing after a relatively lame (if somewhat isolated) first half.
2pts Simon. Loved this performance.
1pt Bozanic/WeeMac. Neither was flawless but both were dangerous, effevescent and excellent.


Ryan 6. Could have done better but was let down by poor defending on both goals. Improved in 2nd half.
Bojic 7. Very Good going foward. Need to see TV replay for marks on defending.
Wilko 7.5. Good game.
Dutchy 5.5 His worse game of the year but has been so superb all year he is still the stand out for player of the year.
Sainsbury 2. Horrendous. Haven't seen such a train wreck since Trott played in goals. He had absolutely no idea. Credit to Arnie for hooking him.
WeeMac 7.5 Good game. Would like to see him skin players on the outside rather than always cutting back in but pretty good apart from shot in first half...duck!!
Griffiths 7. Solid.
Perez 8. Game of two halfs but was amazing in second stanza and finish was superb.
Olly 7.5. Some lovely quality at times. He is a real asset but still panicks too much.
Simon 8. He is never going to be a Van Basten but I wouldn't swap him for anyone. Great game. Only player to show himself in the first half.
Kwas 5.5 Poor. Back to the bench.

Subs; McBreen 7. Much better shape when he came on and Perez performs better with him around.
Hutcho 7. Pretty good. Showed some hunger.
Amini 6. Could have won us the game. Was off the pace a little but was only given a brief cameo, however i love the fighting spirit he is starting to develop to go with his obvious quality.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Arnies post match on fox is terrific and well worth watching!

My link

 

[style_cafe]

It`s very easy to single out the rookie to use as a scapegoat but I thought Sainbury did well overall & certainly wasn`t our worse performer in the first half.

Quite a few of our players were below par in the first half. I think we lose our balance without Rose &/or Bojic on the field.

They give us our width,thus creating more space when we get to the front third.With Rose out we lost this balance.

The second half was a much better performance.

I was disappointed when Sainbury was taken off but TBH Arnie`s tactics worked superbly for the first twenty minutes.
After the second goal Sydney picked up a bit defensively & although we dominated the third goal just eluded us.

Ryan...7 Couldn`t do much about the goals & had little else to do.His distribution is getting better each week
Sainsbury...6.5 was under pressure with Sydney targetting him but did well defensively & improved on the midweek game.
Wilko...7tradesmanlike effort.Not outstanding but did his job
Dutchy...6.5 I just hope he doesn`t have another game like this
Bojic...8Played his heart out & apart from a few defensive errors in the second half played great.
Wee-mac...7played more defensively in the first half but had a great attacking second half
Olly...8only needs to add shooting to his game to be a complete player
Griffo..7.5very strong defensively
Perez...7played sensational & owned the park for the first 20mins of the second half but other than that was ordinary.
Matty...7it`s hard not to love him.He`s an exiciting player who gets the crowd on it`s feet every time he touches the ball
Kwassie...5did someone forget to tell him he was only rested for one game?
McBreen...6I`m not a fan but at least he tried this week
Hutcho...7played well but don`t let him take quick free kicks
Musty...hard to score him with so little time on the field.

Overall I was impressed that we came came back into the game from 2-0 down. The lads showed great character & determination.A fine effort after a hard week on the road.

MOM...Olly 3
Bojic 2
Perez 1 if we could get him to play like he did
for those 20mins we`d be on top now

Footnote:I thought the refereeing was sadly well below
standard.Apart from the obvious McBreen
should have had a penalty in the dying minutes
when he hit the side net. The defenders boot
almost took his head off

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Liam Stomper reddy is back to his best, throwing a deliberate sly punch into the back of Simon.

Premeditated and sly, ala Muscat style. Cut from the same filthy cloth those two.

Better get at least 3 weeks.

 

[Roy Law]

A thriller in two parts; first half was the worst I have seen us play this season, Sydney were no great shakes but we gifted them two goals. Only Pedj Bojic, dynamic as ever, the right footed left back, stood up to be counted. We were languid, slow, soft and sloppy; our passing, perhaps influenced by the strong wind, was way off, our tackling feeble and indecisive.
Bozanic was working hard but his crossing was woeful, way too much air. McGlinchey workd hard too but sent his trademark shot over the bar and into the road (before the start, while I went to get the beers, my mate watched the players going through their shooting drill – Perez hit every shot on target and in the corners, McGlinchey missed each one - wide or high every time). Perhaps McGlinchey’s game was put off by the truly awful game from Trent Sainsbury. This was the same Sainsbury who had been so confident against Perth on Wednesday. It seems incredible that a player can be so confident in one game and so down in the next. He was the proverbial rabbit in the headlights; it was if he didn’t want to be there. And finally we realised that Patrick Zwaanswijk is human after all; I reckon Halley Comet will come around before we see such an error again.
And then the sun came up; or somebody flicked the switch to on; or the Mariners found Saul’s road to Damascus: it was like a bloody epiphany. Arnie’s half time decision to play three at the back was predictable and masterful – there was nothing to lose and Sainsbury had to be taken out of there. Three at the back often became two as Bojic ran rampant down the right but most of all it was Perez who ran the show, it was Perez who showed just what he can really do and what a no.10 should do. Inspired by a superb goal by Perez from an early pass from Bozanic, finished beautifully with skill and grace, we lifted about ten gears. The 10,000 plus crowd lifted too. Simon’s equaliser was well deserved, we should have got the winner; there were so many should have beens and might have beens.
Two points lost or one point gained? I’ll take the one point after that first half.
MoM – 3 points – Pedj Bojic – 90 minutes of mayhem
2 points – Patricio Perez – 45 minutes of genius
1 point – Mikey McGlinchey – if I twisted and turned like that I would throw my back out