R3 (deferred): Wanderers vs. Mariners at Pirtek Wed. 19/11

[Gratis]

great point
rose 3
reddy 2
duke 1

hutch and monty knight hoods

well said

 

[Wombat]

How shit are we when we are stoked to get a draw with the team coming last.

Btw tonight Monty was way better than Hutcho so it's 2-46.

Sully and Mossy......wtf.

 

[dibo]

Another Wombat classic. Keep up the good work chuckles!

 

[Capt. Awesome]

How shit are we when we are stoked to get a draw with the team coming last.

Btw tonight Monty was way better than Hutcho so it's 2-46.

Sully and Mossy......wtf.

From what we have dished up in all our games this year that was a great step forward. Defence held out (didn't conceed from a set piece for once). I though we owned the midfield but we still have no answers up front. hopefully Simon is the answer. Only time will tell.

 

[Wombat]

Sorry.....I think my head popped up from the sand for a minute.
Please fill me in on the quality we showed today Nero.

 

[Wombat]

From what we have dished up in all our games this year that was a great step forward. Defence held out (didn't conceed from a set piece for once). I though we owned the midfield but we still have no answers up front. hopefully Simon is the answer. Only time will tell.

So you now admit we had been horrendous thus far this season?

 

[yellowcake]

How shit are we when we are stoked to get a draw with the team coming last.

I had made the mistake of rather than "team coming last" thinking "team who in the last three months have beaten both last year's ACL finalists before going on to take this year's title, playing in front of a partisan home crowd for the first time since that achievement and the first time in this A-League campaign, desperate for a win after opening with 4 straight losses".
Feeling after taking 1 point and a clean sheet from Pirtek - yeah, stoked!

I was more confident about a result over 2nd placed Adelaide on Sunday than tonight.

 

[Roy Law]

Party Poopers​

This was the best performance of the season from the Mariners. They carried out the game plan to perfection; everybody was on the same page. Organised and efficient, skilful and desperate, they controlled large passages of play and seeped the hot air out of the Wanderers balloon. The Wanderers wanted to celebrate their Asian Championship in front of their fans but the Mariners party poopers are back.
Phil Moss surprised by making no surprise changes; the line-up and the bench the same as played against Melbourne City. Mané is now gone and Kim is very much on the outer.
It took the Wanderers more than twenty minutes to trouble Reddy, and all the trouble was brought on by him, as he dropped a regulation cross and Hutchinson had to block the ball away from the line. The incident summed up the game: the Mariners were calmly controlling the pace of the game, with the Wanderers feeding off the scraps of rare Mariners’ mistakes. Caceres was delighting with his close skills, Montgomery was gobbling up Wanderers attacks like PacMan, and Hutchinson was the cog keeping all the parts spinning.
All teams make mistakes and when the Mariners late in the half lost possession in midfield the Wanderers were able to work the ball through to Juric but Reddy stood tall and blocked the shot. When Anderson clumsily misread a header and allowed the Wanderers in Montgomery brilliantly cleared up the mess. This defensive scrambling, to help out mates, and to deny the Wanderers, was a feature of the Mariners throughout. It was a throwback to recent times when the Mariners’ defence was much feared.
In the second half, up to the hour mark, you would barely have known the Wanderers were playing; the Mariners were quite superb. Fitzgerald was taking the game to them, attacking down the right flank, Duke was making a vigorous nuisance of himself, the fullbacks were pushing forward, and the midfield with Caceres pulling the strings were calling the shots. Only a desire to take a point and not go for the kill took the gloss off the performance. Fitzgerald had a real opportunity to score but lifted the headed flick on from Duke over the bar; it was a difficult chance, Covic advanced to make it so, but Fitzgerald needs to do better.
Reddy then produced the save of the game, diving to deny La Rocca’s swerving shot, after the Wanderer had exposed Anderson with a sharp turn. It was a good shot but these days they have to be very good to beat Rocket. Sim then should have done better, shooting straight at Covic, after a flowing move from the Mariners.
Hutchinson gave us a cameo of the spirit he infuses into this team: a forward run, chasing a magnificent header from Duke, just beaten to the ball by Covic; a full blooded collision between the two with no harm done. Moments later, another collision, as Hutchinson again put his body on the line to deny the Wanderers at the other end. It was inspiring captaincy.
As bodies tired the Wanderers pushed on for the win; Reddy was equal to everything they could throw. Anderson muscled Juric away from a headed chance. Cernak replaced Sim and tackled like a demon and then amazed with a pacy run down the left and into the penalty area; it deserved better than the half hit missed chance from Fitzgerald. Trifiro came on for the exhausted Hutchinson; from one beautiful free kick Anderson was centimetres away from a decisive touch.
The Mariners saw out time; Moss had clearly set them up for the point which they well deserved. In a game where the team played well as a team I thought Rose was excellent at the centre of defence, Caceres showed brilliant close skills, Hutchinson attacked much more than usual, and Duke ran all day, but the MoM goes to the magnificent Montgomery, who ignored the lame calls from the referee and just kept doing what he does best: chopping down the Wanderers attackers and doing all the vital dirty work.
The call of the season came from the irrepressible Ned Zelic: “Life is too short to pass the ball backwards”. Pure gold.

 

[Roy Law]

How shit are we when we are stoked to get a draw with the team coming last.

Btw tonight Monty was way better than Hutcho so it's 2-46.

Sully and Mossy......wtf.

You can be a real turd at times...; get the yellow and navy specs will ya

 

[Bladesman]

We are certainly moving in the right direction and the game could have gone either way but for some awful finishing and a few good saves from both sides.

Set pieces seem to be a massive issue for us both attacking and defending, we certainly forced a lot more corners and got a lot more fouls around the box but I can't actually recall an effort on goal from one as the delivery was always over or under hit and we don't have anyone who can attack a cross well. On the defensive side my heart is in my mouth every time the opposition has one as our defending and marking is attrotious, luck and scrambling saved us on a number of occasions last night.

As for the lack of goals we have never been a team that has always relied on an out and out striker getting them we have tended to score from all round the park when you look at the contributions from players like Dutchy, Rose, Weemac, Bernie, Caceras, Pedj, Macca (when not playing as a striker) over the last few seasons. We have not replaced the goals from those who left and The goals from Rose and Caceras have dried up. When you get a lead there is often opportunity for more goals which we have benefitted from in the past as the opposition have to attack, fitzy could have played all night last night even by himself after the teams left the pitch and still would have not scored.

Unfortionatley the lack of strikers is a massive issue in Australia at the minute so not sure how we are going to solve the goal scoring issue but that is the issue facing mossy now he has started to at least get them creating. I would certainly be on the look out for another centre half as well.

 

[justafan]

Soooo much better !! I left wonderland very satisfied with the team's performance. Some individuals were excellent. First 45mins, the mariners displayed the best football that I've seen so far this season. We were pressing high up the field, there was movement to create space and receive the ball, there was intensity, determination and conviction in our play. Caceres was brilliant. He was the conductor of that first period and off his feet, our best combinations were created. He looks as if he has found new freedom to express himself in the more attacking role. Monty and Hutch were also superb as DMs. I've never rated Hutch as much as some of the forumites on this site, but I must admit, that he's been consistently good this season. He deserves to keep starting.Reddy, a couple of mistakes that could have cost us but overall another solid performance. Pacoliero keeps getting better. Roux will find it hard to feel at ease when he returns from international duties. Neill, can only get better. Fitzy,usual work rate but needs to look up a bit more. Duke is a menace to defenders. They bounce off him. All he needs for his confidence is to score and I'm sure that he'll be the striker that we all want. WELL DONE BOYS !!

Caceres: 3
Monty: 2
Hutch: 1

 

[yorkshireman]

I think some of the praise is a little over the top as Duke and Fitzy had abysmal ball control at points and our passing was also poor for several periods which put us under the pump a little. That said, it was by far the best we have played this season and I can see what we are trying to do. You can see the belief is returning (lack of a few players ego's?) and with more composure in front of goal, we could end up in a respectable position this season. Would be nice to think we could maybe get Macca back for the rest of the season to give us an option as well.

I went to bed content last night and looking forward to Sunday at home!

 

[dibo]

So you now admit we had been horrendous thus far this season?

Wombat, mate, you thought we were playing terribly the year we won the championship - complaining about us playing 2 DMs etc. Barcelona we ain't, adjust your expectations a little.

 

[Wombat]

I think I might need to.
I was pretty happy with us for 2 or 3 seasons.
Please can someone get me some of those yellow and navy tinted glasses.

 

[go you yellow]

Soooo much better !! I left wonderland very satisfied with the team's performance. Some individuals were excellent. First 45mins, the mariners displayed the best football that I've seen so far this season. We were pressing high up the field, there was movement to create space and receive the ball, there was intensity, determination and conviction in our play. Caceres was brilliant. He was the conductor of that first period and off his feet, our best combinations were created. He looks as if he has found new freedom to express himself in the more attacking role. Monty and Hutch were also superb as DMs. I've never rated Hutch as much as some of the forumites on this site, but I must admit, that he's been consistently good this season. He deserves to keep starting.Reddy, a couple of mistakes that could have cost us but overall another solid performance. Pacoliero keeps getting better. Roux will find it hard to feel at ease when he returns from international duties. Neill, can only get better. Fitzy,usual work rate but needs to look up a bit more. Duke is a menace to defenders. They bounce off him. All he needs for his confidence is to score and I'm sure that he'll be the striker that we all want. WELL DONE BOYS !!

Caceres: 3
Monty: 2
Hutch: 1

I think Hutch this year has been a revelation - Captain standing tall , leading by example as the pressure came on. I think he has been playing his best football for the last couple of seasons.

 

[true believer]

How shit are we when we are stoked to get a draw with the team coming last.

Btw tonight Monty was way better than Hutcho so it's 2-46.

Sully and Mossy......wtf.

I can't see what your on about . our passing was a lot better .
are we as good as 2013 , no . then again we didn't have juric , rukavytsya then subbed on bridge .
lets see how many teams get points from Cumberland oval

 

[greenlig]

I think I'm with the chorus of people who liked what they saw in last night's match.

While the end product is not quite there, we misplaced a few passes when we had the ascendancy, etc, the energy and spirit was right there, front and centre. Duke looks like he will never score, but boy did he put himself about. Caceres was everywhere, and generally ran things. Monty was very unlucky with 3 calls from the ref, and Hutch generally looked to go forward a lot more. Fitzy ran himself ragged, and should have been replaced by Vernes at around 70 mins for mine. He was good for his running and effort, but kind of ineffectual. Cernak looked really good when he came on, mainly for the fact that he can run around defenders and actually get in behind. Sim's touch was better.

The backs still scare me shitless, but Neill is fantastic. He will get better at defending, but he has some serious skill on the ball for a wingback. Not as decisive and influential as vintage Rose, but he'll get there. Reddy was scary at points when he should have been stronger, but made some really important stops too.

Overall, really happy with where we are going, and getting a point at Pirtek. Need to work out how to score, or even how to get into scoring positions, but once we do that, we'll be right. Our forward line has an average age of about 12, so it's no surprise that they don't really know how to force some goals. Need someone with experience up there to lead - cue Matty Simon.

 

[nearlyyellow]

Surprisingly *not* a full house at Parramatta! Is the gloss wearing off the red & black?
Popovic gave his usual "we wuz robbed" in the post match interview.
(As an aside they are the colours of my old team in another code but that doesn't persuade me to have a shred of sympathy for WSW)

 

[nearlyyellow]

.. Neill is fantastic. He will get better at defending, but he has some serious skill on the ball for a wingback. Not as decisive and influential as vintage Rose, but he'll get there. ..

I thought the same of Neill after seeing him at Pluim in the pre-season game. Here's hoping we're both right, and that if he develops into an A-League star that we are able to keep him for a few more years until we get the silverware again.

 

[dibo]

I'd f**king *love* to know how they were robbed. Seriously, FFS. How many times did Monty win the ball cleanly in the middle of the park only to have the numpty in blue blow his whistle - after the last one (where Monty made a very conservative block tackle that the WSW player ran into and fell over) I thought he was going to hit him. Quite unbelievable. Shouldn't be allowed out without his guide dog.

Interesting change of shape for much of last night, with Monty sitting deeper but not as deep as last year and Caceres and Hutch sitting higher - the 'triangle facing backwards' 4-3-3, or the 'Brisbane' shape, with Monty in the Paartalu/McKay role. I thought it looked pretty good.

I still don't quite get Sim, I'm trying but I don't quite understand what he's for, and then when Cernak came on and we got that dynamism... And short corners, save me...

Rose looked much better at CB last night, Poscoliero looked a little better at RB, Neill showed that his City game was an aberration and he's actually the real deal. Anderson still wasn't quite right, but maybe he just needs the minutes in his legs. And a yard of pace. And some better passing decisions. And a partridge in a pear tree. I'd *still* have him over Bosnar though, because he plays to a plan.

Reddy, excellent as usual (aside from the weeeeeeird one where he came for the ball and it went straight through his arms - a few people might've needed a change of trousers after that), and other than that we've still got this persistent issue of not quite getting the scoring touch. I think we'll get there.

Something to note is that at different points in the last month we've played a lot of different people in different roles and different shapes. We're showing a flexibility with tactics and personnel that isn't yet matched with execution and results, but I'm willing to see where we're going with it. We're still improving (last night was another step forward) so I'm not going to write off our season. We're not going to win the league, but we're going to be an uncomfortable, unpredictable opponent.