R15 - Smurfs vs Mariners

[nebakke]

Simon would have been much more useful in goals, most likely. What is it with players who were guns on our team becoming useless when they return?

It pretty much summed up our game that when we did score it was practically by accident.

For the love of God I hope this week at training is nothing other than shooting.

Though fortunately SFC weren't any better - did Reddy actually make a save from a shot (as opposed to just intercepting the high balls in the box)? The 1-on-1 SFC had they did a Matty and kicked it straight at Reddy,

One of the worst games I watched all season.

I only watched the last half hour, as I was out, but you must've missed quite a few games if this one was the worst ;-) we were far from brilliant, but again, I thought the one-twos and crosses were looking decently...

 

[Brighty]

I didn't get to see the game but after coming home from a relo's bday party... and reading the foxsports article.... got a little confused with a quote in there "Minutes later Joshua Rose found himself one-on-one with the keeper and he should have scored, but he shot straight at Liam Reddy."

Just a little concerning if he's shooting at our own keeper much??!!?? Really??.... Good effort there from the journo Carly Adno!!

Read more: http://www.foxsports.com.au//football/a-league/frank-farina-under-pressure-as-sydney-fc-suffers-10-home-loss-to-central-coast-mariners/story-e6frf4gl-1226804941897#ixzz2qkUK89wd

 

[BrisRecky]

anyway...last night in the midst of my daily (legal and prescribed) drug induced ni-ni's...I think I dreamed we won by two...so there you go

guess I was only half dreaming...BUT...3 points is 3 points...Monty was immense and A.C made himself known...Sterj was brilliant, Matty Simon was lucky not to snap that blokes leg, clumsy dangerous unnecesary bullshit....further on Monty, the man should have the armband permanently

 

[Wombat]

Losing Hutcho was a massive bonus for us.
We are still low on confidence but with decent team set up an a central middy willing to go forward we dominated a shit Sydney team and should have won 3.0.

The ref was a plum as per usual HAL standards.

Reddy 6. Terrible error but thankfully saved by the linesman. A couple of decent saves after that.
Roux 7. Good game.
Rose 5. Great go forward but headless chook at times.
Ando 7. Very composed.
Tesco 7. Quality.
Monty 8. Should be the captain from now on. Clearly a better option than Hutch in every regard.
Caceras 6.5. Starting to belong at this level.
Fitz 6.5. 9 for his industry but 4 for his composure.
Macca 6. Not as gash as last week but very very lucky to be there.
Sterj 6. Invisible man until he scored.
Simon 7. Commendable effort. A real target man with huge work rate. I commend you mate and shake my head at the knockers.


Subs...Bernie 7.5. Looked a level above when he came on.

 

[eenfish]

How bloody good was Monty? Plus we were might unlucky not to score 2 or 3 more, but very promising efforts from Matty and Danny and even Dukey and Bernie when they came on looked very up for it.

Mile was pretty useless except for his goal. Same old Mile I guess, moments of real class but lots of moments where his body can't do what he wants it to do or it does and he just chose the wrong thing to do.

Fitz was a bit annoying to watch, mostly played it back when he had it. Not really doing much.

Caceres seems really rough around the edges. Some nice moments but a lot of clumsy moments too. You can put it down to youth and inexperience, but far cry from the highly talented youngster a lot of us saw him as at the start of the season (mind you when you think young and talented midfielder of Mariners past, you've got Rogic and Musty and even blokes like Jedinak, so theres a lot to live up to)

I love our defenders. Rose didn't have the best of games, but we know what he is capable of. Shame for Griffiths, I've liked what I've seen from him but how can you take out any of our starting back four when they're all so good. Roux is a future star, him and Sainsbury won't be around for too long I don't reckon. Would love to see them stay for the rest of the year.


The most stand out performance in the game for all the wrong reasons was Alesandro del Piero. Really showing his age, nothing like the player i watched last year (or even in the first game of the season). He seems wasteful and either unwilling or unable to put his body on the line. Seems very frustrated, either at the rest of the team, himself or the coaching. Maybe someone more in tuned with Sydney FC's coming and goings could fill me in on the deal there.

 

[Gratis]

I'm seeing improvement each game now which is all I can ask for

Monty was brilliant, Matty quite good except for his wasted shots but that goes for most of the team. defense was great and plaudits ahoy there. want to see more of caceres, he can really grow into his potential now I think
agree with the above except think Sterj was decent and Bernie was good but didn't really do all that much

seems each year this is how we develop,in this order -
* build up a solid defensive base,
* improve our transition from defence to attack and start to create chances
* create bucket loads of chances but convert them very poorly,
* start converting them and really hammer the odd team

half way through the season and it seems we're just entering point 2. whereas that should mean we're too late getting there for this season we somehow sit 3rd with a game in hand over the team coming 4th. continue to improve and could be ok, don't and we're in trouble. Welly weren't bad last week but we were lucky to play a weak Sydney today. could have been a different story if we were playing a run of strong teams during this transitional growth period

 

[eenfish]

I'm with you GrA. If we continue to improve we could be on for something good, at points we were playing some really good football.

The real test will be Brisbane away. If we can get something out of that, a run at the premiership might just be a possibility if things go our way else where.

Also considering we did well against Welly who then turned around and flattened a Victory side that only days ago beat the Wanderers 3-1, I won't read too much into last week's 1-1 result.

 

[Roy Law]

General Montgomery Leads the Way​

If ever a team can be said to have been thrashed by 1-0 it was Sydney FC today; the Mariners absolutely outplayed the Smurfs and but for their frustrating inability to score the match could have been over by half-time.
With John Hutchinson absent through suspension Anthony Caceres took his place in midfield and Nick Montgomery wore the captain’s armband. Mitch Duke and Bernie Ibini were on the bench.
The game started brightly with action at both ends; the Mariners had the best of the exchanges in the first ten minutes. Carle volleyed wide from the far post; Roux had a shot from a well worked corner move but blazed wide; McBreen had wretched luck when his powerful goal bound header was cleared off the line, and Despotovic brought a save from Liam Reddy before Josh Rose shot straight at Janjetovic when clean through.
The Mariners were very much in control and the chances kept coming with Simon heavily involved. His touch was too heavy from a Sainsbury pass, then he earned a yellow card for a late lunge on Petkovic after he had been too slow to head for goal and, finally, in the 25th minute a dreadful miss with a header at the far post well wide.
Sydney reminded us that if you don’t score you are always vulnerable as Despotovic thought he had scored but mercifully he was offside. And then Fitzgerald was far too slow when his well-timed run allowed him a clear shot at goal but he seemed not to believe in himself and shot well wide.
Reddy then produced a sprawling block after a rebound fell kindly for Abbas; a crucial save.
The Mariners would have gone to the sheds in confident mood; Sydney were really struggling to get a foothold in the game. The Mariners’ defensive structure was excellent with the whole team defending as a unit; the midfield, with Montgomery leading the way, was very much in control; it was only a matter of time before the attackers converted the superiority into goals.
There was one substitution at half time – a most unusual one with the referee replaced by the fourth official after sustaining an injury. You wondered if that meant the replacement official might not know Simon was on a yellow – would he use a different book?
The second half was quite unlike the first with the Mariners losing their fluency, lowering their standards to match those of Sydney. Corey Gameiro found space behind the defenders but his shot was pathetically weak. It was a rare blemish for the Mariners defence; they would have been relieved at the let off. Thankfully Mile Sterjovski brought sanity to the proceeding when his well struck left foot shot took a deflection to beat Janjetovic and open the scoring. You would have liked to think that as Sydney pushed forward to search for an equaliser then spaces would open up for the Mariners and ten minutes after Sterjovski’s goal McBreen was almost in, his well hit shot not quite having the placement to beat the diving goalkeeper.
The Mariners had by now resumed control: Bernie came on for Sterjovski and quickly had a shot which hit the side netting; Duke came on for the busy Fitzgerald and almost capitalised on an error from McFlynn. It was the Mariners calling the shots; Duke created another chance, a clever touch giving him space, but the goalkeeper was smartly off his line to smother the shot.
The Mariners defensive structure carried the day; the team clearly believed in themselves; they worked tirelessly and confidently and deserved the win. One day this season the Mariners will win a game by more than just a single goal; with any luck it will be next week against the Jets.
Nick Montgomery was inspired by the responsibility of captaincy and was a constant motivation for the team. He read the play superbly, tackled with authority and moved the ball forward positively. He was the clear MoM. He was well supported by his young partner in midfield, Caceres, who looked every inch an A League player. At the back Anderson was imposing and Sainsbury’s effortless elegant defending bordered on arrogance; Fitzgerald, Simon and McBreen were tireless up front. In fact every Mariner player put in a worthy hard working shift. This was an outstanding team effort.

 

[true believer]

the greatest display of piss poor shooting ever seen .
ew0 half time changes duke for simon and Bernie for fitz.
f**k'n inept

TB why would you take Simon off....it's nice to see us with a proper striker leading the line ??

yes I nearly got sent to bed at half time by mrs tb . i'd still have duke up front.

 

[true believer]

For the love of God I hope this week at training is nothing other than shooting.

amen brother

 

[gull]

Man we need to take our chances. We should have buried that game by the 20 min mark.

Agree that we are slowly improving, and the back four now looking very solid. Somewhere soon we're going to really put a team away when it all clicks (which I hope is soon).

Caceres was good, and Monty was immense.

Del Piero was a shadow of what he was. Sad to see.

 

[yellowcake]

sums it up for me.

Any of the other teams would have beaten last night's Sydney. More than 1-0.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Yeah, the back 5 are looking better, and all through the midfield we weren't too bad, for the most part. We created our attacks a little differently to usual - beating the offside trap isn't something we often do, but it's great to see that our strikers saw those opportunities and adapted. Versatility is an important skill, so that was a definite positive

 

[midfielder]

Wombat, eenfish & Roy

Thanks for the match summaries had to go to a family reunion and missed the match...

 

[dibo]

Losing Hutcho was a massive bonus for us.

Thanks for putting that in the first line; if the first thing you write is shitcanning Hutch when he's not even playing it's a pretty good sign I need not worry I'm going to miss any insights by ignoring the rest.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

A good result, but as others have said we should have won by more.

SFC played into our hands both by being shit and playing a fairly incompetent high line in defense, this allowed us to create as many chances without the need of a creative #10.

While our defense was good there were a couple of times SFC nearly got behind but were called back by very close offside calls. Sailing close to the wind.

On the controversial dm position I was impressed with Caceras' fill in for Hutchi, an adequate replacement playing a very similar role. In fact I was impressed by the similarity in the play, a similar number of back passes, some good passes starting an attack, one tired pass towards the end that was nearly fatal, and a good foil to Monty. I think it is about time that many here realise that this position is not about "creating killer passes" setting up a striker, and is more about the start of a complex series of plays leading to a goal. As Dibo (I think) has pointed out, in attack the position sweeps between the two centre halves. Hardly an attacking position.

Most impressive was Monty. Grew an extra leg with the armband. I hope he can keep playing for another 10 years

 

[true believer]

Del Piero was a shadow of what he was. Sad to see.

I was almost tearfull of this too . our inept shooting snapped me out of such charity

 

[Roy Law]

I enjoyed it when Robbie Slater described Anderson
and Sainsbury as 'Imperial'

 

[Roy Law]

Del Piero was a shadow of what he was. Sad to see.

Last year he ran rings round Monty; this game Monty was MoM.
I hate to see truly great players no longer able to perform.

 

[Roy Law]

I'm seeing improvement each game now which is all I can ask for

seems each year this is how we develop, in this order -
* build up a solid defensive base,
* improve our transition from defence to attack and start to create chances
* create bucket loads of chances but convert them very poorly,
* start converting them and really hammer the odd team

15 goals conceded in 15 games, despite a 4-0 thrashing by Adelaide, says we are well on track to match recent years even with a rebuilt defence. The Mariners have only lost three times - the best in the competition.
And I agree, we are seeing the transition starting to improve - I hope we can hammer the Jets