R14 vs Victory

[MagpieMariner]

What was worse

Loosing the 3 goal lead

Or

TW shit joke about it being our biggest home crowd of the season?

Neither, watching SBS and having to listen to sackwacker doing commentary.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Neither, watching SBS and having to listen to sackwacker doing commentary.

Could not have been worse than Harper and Hill. There was only one team on the field if you listened to Fox. All mariners' goals were Melbourne mistakes. All Melbourne goals were just brilliance. I would have preferred those 2 unbiased commentators fom NZ.

 

[FFC Mariner]

I now don't have the sound on.

Much more enjoyable

 

[Wombat]

So who do we blame for 3rd goal?
Roux for loosing 50/50
Ashcroft for being caught by Berisha being more alert
Tinker Belle for not coming and getting it

Roux. Absolutely woeful defending on the third goal.
Shame coz he played ok apart from that.

 

[midfielder]

Out of left field would Roy have done a better job tonight in leading the line... me thinks not ... and with That Trent Boy he may be fighting for his spot ...

 

[Wombat]

Crazy game.
Our finishing and work on the break was outstanding.
Or battling was great.
Our "anywhere will do" defending was interesting.
Victory's 2nd goal was stupendous football.

Victory butchered so many chances so we were lucky really.

Tinker belle......couple of great saves. Looks like a real prospect.
Roux....cost us the game with his signature comical defending of the 3rd goal but that error aside, had a reasonable game.
Rose....good game.
Posco.....very good. I'm really starting to like this kid.
Harry....great goal and overall a good game.
Monty....great game
Neill......pretty good game. Looks much better in the midfield than in defence.
Austin......brilliant game.
McGing....not bad.
Fab.......top game, lovely assist.
Bingham.....pretty good starting debut, great finish

3pts Austin
2pts Fab
1pt. Posco

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Austin had nothing left to give though... He was almost walking more than he was running at the end there... You could see that he was going to have to come off before the change was prepped.

Not sure about Bingham but I'm guessing it would be similar,

Yeah I listened to Rosey post match on grandstand, he said he was personally feeling pretty done about 65 - 70 (he put in a good shift) and he praised Bingham but said he was done at 60 which was to be expected with no match fitness and also how good he would be once he could do it for the full 90.

All in all, I feel like that is a pretty good reflection of where we're at. Great potential, but still missing some of the quality and experience that is also required.

The first half was our best half of football in a long time . MV weren't bad, we were awesome. It showed the real footballing potential of this group, beyond just the power of a unified and spirited performance against the nix. FFC called it, we're best as a counter attacking side.

Second half, unfortunately showed up our inexperience and lack of depth, and let MV show theirs. But boy, it was impressive quality. Easily the best squad in the HAL for mine. (Though Popovic looks possibly the best coach) Barbarouses run, which Archie ended up scoring off the rebound was fantastic. He was almost unplayable in that second half. They were getting in behind almost at will.

But as others said, some more belief and we could have held out... a bit more quality and we could have held out... a bit more experience and we could have held out...

We really had to try and keep the ball and maintain a foot in the game. Only Fab and Monty and L.Rose when he came on seemed to understand and try and do this.

Middy's right the third goal shouldn't have happened if I think was it Neil? Just stayed calm and put it upfield or back to the keeper or even just not as badly over the side line. I don't think you can blame Roux for that header Wombat, he was moving backwards to try and leap, Barbarouse was running forwards and definitely favoured to win that. And Berisha the prick is always such a bloody handful.

It's always bizarre though, you see it season after season the world over, teams leading and in the clear ascendency, then change exactly what has been working; and it's often not just switching to try and defend a lead. It's also all but giving up any pretence at even attacking. Sit deep, give the ball straight back, never force the opponents to even retreat or rebalance... For some reason, when scores are equal you believe you can intricately pass the ball out from your own 18 yard box, and can do it... but then you're 3 up, and if an opposing player is inside 20 feet of you, then you have to hoof the ball for fear that with the super human speed they must now possess, they will steal it from you... Dominating teams literally start playing like the other side are suddenly comprised of 6 Messi's, 4 Sergio Ramos's and have 25 odd keepers in the goal as well. The accepted tactic seems to be to invite their constant attack with panic passes and a total capitulation of your own attack.

I always admired how when Ange coached Roar he had them playing their game whether it be when behind, when even or when in front or hugely in front.

Anyway, it's good point "at home" a great improvement and there's a lot to like and take away from that game. And we'll be better for it you'd have to imagine.

 

[midfielder]

^^^^^^^

AS always FP a great read and I agree with what you posted.

 

[Luca Brasi]

Great potential, but still missing some of the quality and experience that is also required.

This.
Agree with TW that the second half we lacked the composure to retain possession. The high press in the first half took a lot out of us, the front three did more defending than I have seen all season and as Kosmina said in the pre game, u cant play that sort of game against MV for the whole 90. It is easy to attribute blame for the goals (McGing failing to track Barbarousos; Ascroft booting the ball out then failing to track Berisha; the penalty) but they are just kids under enormous pressure in the second half without any possession to take the pressure off. The back four stability is working better, the team is becoming battle hardened and the spirit is returning. If we had a dominant midfielder who was comfortable on the ball we may have kept all three points but when you look at the MV chances in the second half then we should be happy with the point. I dont think Izzo would have got to that shot of Khalfallah in the first half but you can still see that the back 4 are still coming to terms with H-B. The ball thru by Fab for the run of Bingham is what has been missing all season in the front third.

Anyway, it's good point "at home" a great improvement and there's a lot to like and take away from that game.

 

[true believer]

Not to sure who it was but the play before the full back had heaps of time and no player anywhere near him .. either the keeper should have come ..

You were almost right . The lads came within a bee's dick of pulling it off.
The kid has season behind him and there is no 3rd goal.

 

[true believer]

You must have been watching SBS - TW was definitely interviewed on Fox.

And fab

 

[BrisRecky]

there was no way in any way,shape or form that i thought we would have Victory down 3-0 at the break...3 bonz goals to be fair, good to see Bingaz get his first starting goal and The Central Coast Harryner must of been watching the GF dvd cause his invoked the spirit of Zwaanje with those flying goals and then there was The Flash, outstandinng effort keep it going ( just dont blow them like you did your second that would of give us 4-0...
as for the second half.....WE DIDNT LOSE!... I think some of the ref calls were a bit hows ya father, BUT he let the teams play which is more than I can say for KGJ .
As for our blokes disappearing in the second half, I keep hearing how they run out of legs around 70 mins...this shows that #NotClarky is either pushing them too hard or not hard enough.....bollocks to a marquee, buy Clarky back off Sydney
TW aid we would turn the corner after xmas, and we are on the way to doing it

 

[true believer]

Could not have been worse than Harper and Hill. There was only one team on the field if you listened to Fox. All mariners' goals were Melbourne mistakes. All Melbourne goals were just brilliance. I would have preferred those 2 unbiased commentators fom NZ.

Harper was disgraceful . We blew them off the park with pace . Next time the lads will nail them.

 

[nebakke]

there was no way in any way,shape or form that i thought we would have Victory down 3-0 at the break...3 bonz goals to be fair, good to see Bingaz get his first starting goal and The Central Coast Harryner must of been watching the GF dvd cause his invoked the spirit of Zwaanje with those flying goals and then there was The Flash, outstandinng effort keep it going ( just dont blow them like you did your second that would of give us 4-0...

One of the biggest things for mine I think - is that there's no arguing any of our goals.... No controversy to discuss... No excuse for MV, claiming that the ref was blind or treated them unfairly.
They were out-and-out goals, no doubting it... That's a big - positive - difference and I liked it.

As for our blokes disappearing in the second half, I keep hearing how they run out of legs around 70 mins...this shows that #NotClarky is either pushing them too hard or not hard enough.....bollocks to a marquee, buy Clarky back off Sydney
TW aid we would turn the corner after xmas, and we are on the way to doing it

I dunno actually... Clarkie's good, but I think whatshisname must be doing something right... Consider that the ones running out of legs are the guys that have only been with us this season. Give them till next season and I think you'll be positively surprised.
Rosie saying that he was at 70% at the end, I think is a very different 70% to that of Austin and Bingham... Another pre-season in their legs and it'll be interesting to see how they all go

 

[true believer]

I also think it's time tw started giving stick about aĺl the cynical fouls on austin.

 

[FFC Mariner]

I think our style demands a lot of players and LB is a high energy position. Its possible that Rosey no longer has the legs to play our way (or at least not for 90 mins)

Shame

 

[gull]

Like others if we'd been offered a point before the game would have taken it. Shame to give up two though.

I said before the match that the bench lacked experience. It would have been great to have a couple of old heads to bring on late and slow the game down, oh well.

Commentary was sooo one sided. Even in the first half all they could talk about were the number of corners Victory had, which were generally completely ineffective anyway. All this meant was that we weren't allowing crosses, and they couldn't get us through the middle.

Onwards and upwards. May take a few more games before we learn how to hold on to those types of games, but very good signs for the future.

Just a thought - if this match was at CCS with the crowd behind them it would have been a win. Great to get the money, but we're giving up points for it.

 

[gull]

The other thing, tbh... I'm aware that we're not world-beaters at this point but, if teams start to consistently play their worst against us, someone's going to have to have a think about whether perhaps part of the play is that we put them off a bit?

This!

Funny how the other teams always play badly against us. Surely we're due some credit for disrupting them with our play.

 

[BrisRecky]

One of the biggest things for mine I think - is that there's no arguing any of our goals.... No controversy to discuss... No excuse for MV, claiming that the ref was blind or treated them unfairly.
They were out-and-out goals, no doubting it... That's a big - positive - difference and I liked it.



I dunno actually... Clarkie's good, but I think whatshisname must be doing something right... Consider that the ones running out of legs are the guys that have only been with us this season. Give them till next season and I think you'll be positively surprised.
Rosie saying that he was at 70% at the end, I think is a very different 70% to that of Austin and Bingham... Another pre-season in their legs and it'll be interesting to see how they all go

Yep...can't argue with any of that Nebakke, some of the young guys would never have been pushed this hard, so yeah, next year will (hopefully) be different

 

[tim...]

I couldn't disagree more with the assessment of the Fox commentators. Harper as usual was savage at the start (despite the fact we won last week), but when we scored both he and Hill were full of praise for our goalscorers, the technique and passing leading up.

EDIT: And I normally get shitted off with how Fox treat us