No chance of silverware till we learn how to defend

[David Votoupal]

Should I not mention the fact that on Saturday, Hutchinson put in a performance of Gerrard-esque mediocrity?

 

[serious14]

Should I not mention the fact that on Saturday, Hutchinson put in a performance of Gerrard-esque mediocrity?

Bit harsh on Hutch to compare him to something _that_ mediocre...... even I have my limits. 

 

[brett]

Nik back to full fitness is possibly the best striker in the HAL - if we make the finals, he should just about be at match sharpness.

Our secret weapon?

Surely we don't need to take a chance on a secret weapon at the pointy end of the pitch? We've got proven players up there.

 

[jaypee]

I may be alone here but to me Danny's reflexes aren't as sharp as they could be. I think he has to accept a fair share of the responsibilty though us he is the last stop.

For sure - lets blame Danny not the 10 guys in front of him..... FFS have you ever kept before...first rule of keeping its gotta go through 10 guys before they get to you... 

 

[blastbum]

Solution is simple. Go back to 442, bring Boogs into the backline and shift Heff up to left wing.

 

[loyalist]

I may be alone here but to me Danny's reflexes aren't as sharp as they could be. I think he has to accept a fair share of the responsibilty though us he is the last stop.

For sure - lets blame Danny not the 10 guys in front of him..... FFS have you ever kept before...first rule of keeping its gotta go through 10 guys before they get to you... 

so by your logic no keeper is ever at fault for letting a goal in?

 

[Wombat]

Solution is simple. Go back to 442, bring Boogs into the backline and shift Heff up to left wing.

Not a bad solution but is Heff any better than out existing middies. I'd be tempted to play boogs at LB becuase he would not have allowed Minnicon to make a fool of him all match...i.e U can't run if u don't have any legs.

GK.  Danny....criticism is OTT. One mistake does not make him a bad keeper. he is top draw just a bit inexperienced at times.

LB. Boogs
RB. After watching the game again, Porter was the best of the back four but still has that where the f**k am i suppossed to be look on his face when under pressure.
CB.  Wilko...can't possibly be that shit again and we haven't got anyone else
CB. Bojic...ditto.

CM. Hutcho.
CM. Caceras...due a good game.
RM. Gumpy...no one else has any penetration
LM. Simon....looked good out wide and crosses quite well

Fw:Macca
Fwisco or Sasho

Subs; Redman/Clarke/Osman/Disco or Sasho

 

[Part_Timer]

boogs is far too slow to play lb wilko out boogs in..ozzy or heff at lb

 

[David Votoupal]

Compared to last season, it was always going to be more difficult because the league overall is stronger and two teams who failed to deliver last season are now the top 2.

There was even an early season prediction that the Mariners would struggle this season considering the loss of Kwasnik and Pondeljak- but this hasn't happened even though Sydney's win in Round 2 seemed to give credence to such claims early on- of course, we all know what's happened since. So in short, the side is where I expected them to be considering all that.

 

[Rowdy]

Classic 442 is probably best for us as we go into the final 2 rounds.

Danny
Pedj Wilko Boogs Heff
Porter Osman/Gumps Adrian Hutch
Nik Dylan

Matty could play RM if needed but would be a waste

surely you would start the bloke who scored eleven goals for us this season?

Dylan is always the first to start for me out of our 4 strikers but def Matty b4 Nik, because he DOES defend from the front!

Nik is just down'right lazy and had me shaking my head all night at his failure to get back and do a 'little' work. On the other hand we have a central striker in DMac working his arse off, imo a MOM peformance, sublime touch he has. Likewise it was Matty's work ethic, the harassing of defenders from behind, the side, them never knowing if they have 'time'. It's these tactics that resulted in his goals on the nite and also having contirb'd to probably most this season, remember QLD away when both DMAC and Matty bagged 2 each?

Harrassed.........won ball.........SCORED! Pressuring in all areas of the pitch gets results, we did it for about the first 15mins and that was it.

Playing 2 defensive midfielders in front of the back 4 and starting with 3 up front left one midfielder to defend quite a lot........in fact toooooo much fcukn space! especially with Niks lack of dropping back to help on his LHS thus leaving Heff 'exposed' to having his  lack of match fitness, his rustiness, his bout of the flu all to be also exposed.

Compare this to Qld playing a back 3 and 5 in the midfield then this made it just too much of a task for our '1.5' midfield(2 who were deep) This is why Qld could string 10-15 passes together and looked the better team......that's da'shit that we do well.......when we do it.

Frank didn't change this until around the 35min mark because he felt his back 3 having to keep tabs on our front 3 for that amount of time were perhaps starting to stretch the them a bit too much, so he then goes to a back 4 and the our 3 strikers now had an even greater task to score. EXCELLENT COACHING hands down! see's a potential problem b4 it happens and rectifies. We should have bagged at least 3 goals in those first 35mins  :'(

Nik to me is not a team player, he was wanting to get as close to the goals as possible at every opportunity after scoring, his running was always diagonal and towards the centre of the 18yrd box instead of the space that was in front of him. he kept sucking in so much at times that Dylan thought fcuk this and just let him have the centre and dropped back and to the left quite a few times, showing he's the smarter of the 2 knowing all good tradesman need a work area to create magic. Nik just wants to pull rabbits out of his arse and watch the replay on the big screen with one of those 3-4 stupid grimaces he pulls everytime he was 'so far' yet 'nowhere near'

Imo when you play with 2 DM infront of a back 4 you MUST play with 3 AM, NOT 3 strikers, just the one. Dylan should have been 'The One', holding it up and laying off for the 3 AMs who all sit behind, sqaure or slightly forward off his shoulder, not wanting to BE 'The One' #cough Nik #cough  :

 

[jaypee]

I may be alone here but to me Danny's reflexes aren't as sharp as they could be. I think he has to accept a fair share of the responsibilty though us he is the last stop.

For sure - lets blame Danny not the 10 guys in front of him..... FFS have you ever kept before...first rule of keeping its gotta go through 10 guys before they get to you... 

so by your logic no keeper is ever at fault for letting a goal in?

Yes you are correct - but hey I am a keeper...

I was obviously taking the piss above and you only have to look at my other posts to know I have already stated Danny made an error on Saturday night, but to say his reflexes are less and to also state he has to take responsibility as he is the last stop is a bit ridiculous - hence my piss take comments.....

 

[FFC Mariner]

I may be alone here but to me Danny's reflexes aren't as sharp as they could be. I think he has to accept a fair share of the responsibilty though us he is the last stop.

For sure - lets blame Danny not the 10 guys in front of him..... FFS have you ever kept before...first rule of keeping its gotta go through 10 guys before they get to you... 

so by your logic no keeper is ever at fault for letting a goal in?

Yes you are correct - but hey I am a keeper...

I was obviously taking the piss above and you only have to look at my other posts to know I have already stated Danny made an error on Saturday night, but to say his reflexes are less and to also state he has to take responsibility as he is the last stop is a bit ridiculous - hence my piss take comments.....

If a goal is conceded, its always the Keepers fault.

Unless his LB goes walkies/gets skinned/ball watches/ does a hammy as the guy goes through him/fails to cover the CB's

 

[Arabmariner]

Isn't the keeper just the fat bloke ,who can't play, left over once the sides are picked ? 

 

[FFC Mariner]

Isn't the keeper just the fat bloke ,who can't play, left over once the sides are picked ? 

Thats the LB (saved you the bother JP)

 

[Wilson]

Matt Simon cannot play any other position than striker!!!!
He can do a job out wide, but you dont want 'job doer's" out wide.
In his first season his "job" was to run like mad chase down everything and pressure the oponents into making errors.
This season his job is to score goals..

 

[Bear]

Isn't the keeper just the fat bloke ,who can't play, left over once the sides are picked ? 

Worked for me for years

 

[jaypee]

Isn't the keeper just the fat bloke ,who can't play, left over once the sides are picked ? 

Thats the LB (saved you the bother JP)

Thanks AT.....

 

[loyalist]

Matt Simon cannot play any other position than striker!!!!
He can do a job out wide, but you dont want 'job doer's" out wide.
In his first season his "job" was to run like mad chase down everything and pressure the oponents into making errors.
This season his job is to score goals..

reckon hed be a pretty handy keeper fwiw

 

[brett]

We have defensively susceptible fullbacks who can run all day and get forward, and no genuine wide midfielders.

Isn't this the usual answer to that:

              Danny
      Wilko  Boogs Pedj
Porter                          Heff
          Ossie  Hutch
              Caceres
        Matt        Dylan

 

[serious14]

We have defensively susceptible fullbacks who can run all day and get forward, and no genuine wide midfielders.

Isn't this the usual answer to that:

               Danny
       Wilko  Boogs Pedj
Porter                          Heff
           Ossie  Hutch
               Caceres
         Matt        Dylan

I get annihilated on Football Manager 09 when I try that...... they just tear down the flanks and bang in deep crosses all day long.  Does my head in.

And we all know FM is a 200% accurate representation of real life, yes??