R4 v Perth away

[Tevor]

When Kim came on it's hard to judge his full talent however he did some great attacking passes however his team mates were gassed and had no intention of attacking so I feel we haven't seen the best of him as yet however what a great player to come on and freshen up the defence. Liked when he stood up to their players as well. It's a long season so an eventual starting spot will come, maybe Friday as it was very hot and plenty of players will be sore after that one. Ruon was solid and he needed to be as Fox was great again. My wife hasn't seen me jump that high in a long time when the final whistle went. Great feeling and really looking forward to the rest of the season watching this team gel together more and really like how they play for each other. I'm with Oz, give Milan an extension sooner rather than later. Surely he is loving life in Aust.

 

[Blackadder]

The ability of Staj and his team to adapt to various tactics, is something we haven't seen for a very long time. Under Mulvey,Okon,Walmsley it was very much one plan, and if that didn't work then that was it.
Hopefully the momentum from the result from Perth can be backed up next round, and as the season progresses.

 

[turbo]

For the guys worried about the short turn around keep in mind that City played Sunday afternoon as well in a pretty tight contest with the Nix that should have been a draw if it wasnt for a VAR shocker. Delbridge will be back from his red card which will help them but no Maclaren helps us given the form he has been in. With a win under our belts this one will be there for the taking if we can play like that again. Friday night game should help with how long they can keep up the intensity too.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

We looked like a solid football team at every end of the park. Our attack was great - they knew how to play together. Our midfield is linking up both ends really well, our defense wasn't lapsing. We were probably on the back foot for more of this game than any other so far this season, but we didn't make critical errors and we did enough to keep them out. We're showing some excellent 1-on-1 skill - Silvera's goal was just brilliant. Even better that a few minutes before that defender had to foul him with a firm hold of his shirt to stop him getting away.
On that goal, I noticed that PG's left back should have been sprinting back to cover the goal - however he just stood there pointlessly watching play. That's what our defenders did over the last few seasons. How things have changed!
Everything is looking great - and I love how we change our structure and game plan to suit our opponents. That's going to make us really hard to play against.
I don't think any team should have an easy time against us this season. We've certainly had issues where we drop right off if our heads go down after a goal or a red card, but with a couple of wins under our belt we shouldn't lose confidence that easily - so really, our biggest threat is probably injuries and suspensions. But I think our structure will allow for one or two key players out.
Simon is best suited to his sort of sub - come in late when players are tired, and just try to change direction of play a little and make them run more. we don't need him to score goals in games like this - if he does it's a bonus. He just needs to have an impact on play. Up front he tends to wait for the ball a bit where I think he could have frustrated the defence a bit more with some better off-the-ball running, but at least he tracks back to defend which is golden at that point in the match when everybody is exhausted. And with that approach, even if he picks up dumb yellow cards I don't care - as long as he does it by disrupting the opposition and doesn't do it near our box.
A few players cramping but I took that to show their effort more than lack of fitness (though I think PG were the fitter side towards the end, but defending tends to be more tiring than attacking).
We look nothing like the team of the last few seasons.
And the attack and structure we had today really compensated for our lack of a key attacker.
This was a game where PG really should have won it. In that I'm talking about going into the game - everybody still rates them, last year's champions versus wooden spooners - but we were simply too good, both as a team and with individual skill.
Perth fought well, but Staj has clearly worked on the defense and even since FFA cup we're really reducing those key defensive errors.
Things are looking really exciting. Keep this up and we could well hit top 6 even without a key attack signing.

For the guys worried about the short turn around keep in mind that City played Sunday afternoon as well in a pretty tight contest with the Nix that should have been a draw if it wasnt for a VAR shocker. Delbridge will be back from his red card which will help them but no Maclaren helps us given the form he has been in. With a win under our belts this one will be there for the taking if we can play like that again. Friday night game should help with how long they can keep up the intensity too.

The only real concern I have with the short turnaround is how many of our players were cramping towards the end - I think our match exhausted us more than City's did. But, I still feel good going into this.
Sadly I won't make it to the game because I don't finish work until 7 (and I work too far away from the stadium).

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Signing him to a longer contract would be mine...

Ha! You’re right!

 

[Forum Phoenix]

The ability of Staj and his team to adapt to various tactics, is something we haven't seen for a very long time. Under Mulvey,Okon,Walmsley it was very much one plan, and if that didn't work then that was it.
Hopefully the momentum from the result from Perth can be backed up next round, and as the season progresses.

Yeah absolutely. Staj is doing a terrific job so far.

 

[Big Al]

I am no longer panicked when we give away a corner. We are a very big team and strong in the air at the back and mids (someone mentioned it a while ago). The commentary was like corners are 10-2. I was like you haven’t looked like scoring on any of them.

Well structured defence

 

[Big Al]

Kim was an aggressive little so and so when he came on. I liked it. Probably pissed at being on the bench. That’s the resolve we’ve been missing

 

[Ads]

40 clearances

15-1 corners
33 completed crosses by Perth

 

[Big Al]

Great win with real guts but it’s still a worry we crumble so badly so early in the second half. Our structures that were so beautiful in the first half had gone to complete shit early in the second.

Everyone is saying we are so fit. But i am no so sure or we aren’t smart enough and are coming out of the gates really hard and then exhausting ourselves.

Fantastic effort and desire don’t get me wrong just not a very good final 30mins from an offensive side of the game.

This is hopefully the win we need to change that loosing culture.

Here’s hoping it’s not a one off like when we beat Sydney under okon.

Finally we found a secure leash for our lead

 

[Ads]

I thought might be worth mentioning we do have one similarity to last year in that we have scored first in all 3 games.

This will always be a preference now we have the resolve to hold a draw or play for the win.

But still interesting, each week is a
‘this will be the big test’.

Get 2,3 or 4 wins in a row and hopefully that thought and way of thinking will become old news.

 

[Ironbark]

We had to play out of our skins to dominate PG and it's a tiring thing to do. Individual PG players have the quality to turn it on (as does the whole team as unit) and they did so once we tired and we were no longer stretching them all over the place. By then we had the lead and the resolve to hold it.
All attributes winning teams have...

 

[turbo]

Everyone is saying we are so fit. But i am no so sure or we aren’t smart enough and are coming out of the gates really hard and then exhausting ourselves.

I think Perth is a team we had to take the fight to early. Let their front three do their thing and they could quite plausibly shut up shop. Obviously any team can get a lead and do that but Perth have a strong attack that makes it a very viable strategy. You’re not wrong about us tiring in that situation and perhaps the evolution of that game plan is transitioning in to something more sustainable after the hour mark. The most obvious one would be how we use our subs to change our shape and strategy - do we use the likes of Murray and Majok to keep pushing or do we look to lock things down with defensive subs. I thought we would see subs sooner but it worked out for the best when Rowles needed to come off which we probably wouldn’t have accounted for in the plan.

 

[true believer]

I’d bring Kim in for Stens. I thought GG was excellent and Stens gave the ball away a couple of times but a great player to have as cover.

stens defence is pretty good , but he's in the melling league for stupid passing .
stens physicality also helps us . kim has come on and changed the game both times ,
particularly against the scum .id like to give him a few more weeks of 60 minutes control situations

stens needs to work on his concentration .

 

[true believer]

ruon tongyik two cameo's have been a joy .
yesterday running through at the end and not having a blast when in range .
instead passing it on , as if another 60 seconds may be needed to burn the clock
down .
very happy , looks a real pro

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

I would have lost my shit of Ruon scored then. Would have been an early GOTY contender!!
Although I still love Silvera's goal, the whole thing was basically just a casual 'f**k you' to Traitt after Silvera was fouled last time

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Great win with real guts but it’s still a worry we crumble so badly so early in the second half. Our structures that were so beautiful in the first half had gone to complete shit early in the second.

Everyone is saying we are so fit. But i am no so sure or we aren’t smart enough and are coming out of the gates really hard and then exhausting ourselves.

Fantastic effort and desire don’t get me wrong just not a very good final 30mins from an offensive side of the game.

This is hopefully the win we need to change that loosing culture.

Here’s hoping it’s not a one off like when we beat Sydney under okon.

Finally we found a secure leash for our lead

I think fatigue was mainly a combination that our attack is based on playing a serious running game, so Silvera Oar and DDS had all put in a big shift by half time but we lack the depth for like for like subs.

DDS loss clearly impacted our ability to hold the ball and we surrendered the middle. Good news is Staj mentioned it in his presser and I’m sure he wasn’t pleased with us riding our luck that heavily. So expect continued improvement, which is genuinely exciting.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Great win with real guts but it’s still a worry we crumble so badly so early in the second half. Our structures that were so beautiful in the first half had gone to complete shit early in the second.

Everyone is saying we are so fit. But i am no so sure or we aren’t smart enough and are coming out of the gates really hard and then exhausting ourselves.

Fantastic effort and desire don’t get me wrong just not a very good final 30mins from an offensive side of the game.

This is hopefully the win we need to change that loosing culture.

Here’s hoping it’s not a one off like when we beat Sydney under okon.

Finally we found a secure leash for our lead

I don't think it's fair to say that we crumbled. Yes, we did lose our structure a bit, even a bit of our cool and played a lot of reactive football and generally playing off the back foot for a lot of the game, but don't forget we played against last season's premiers and a team people still reckon have the goods. And while we played off the back foot, we didn't fall apart or have our defensive lapses we used to.

Of course playing scramble defence for that long is never desirable against any team, and it sounds like Staj is looking at how to improve that - compared to MM who would have glossed over it, and we all know how Okon says the team would have needed to improve.

And part of that is going to be how we keep structure and movement if a key player such as DDS comes off.

We did exhaust ourselves, but I think that's because we kept fighting the scramble defence - and had we been less fit, we may have made more errors.

While I think it's valid to identify that we spend quite a bit of this match with our opponents having the upper hand, I think it's a bit harsh to say we 'crumbled badly'

 

[style_cafe]

What a joy to watch!
I must admit I had a tear or too at full time,such a fantastic feeling.
Every player gave his all and after this win I think our worst days are definitely behind us.
Staj has the players believing in the themselves and in each other which is the cornerstone of a good team in the making.
It`s still a work in progress but i think by year 3 we`ll be top 4 material.

DDS has made a remarkable turn-around.
He still has so much potential and by the end of the season players like Silvera,Oar and Milan will benefit greatly from having played alongside of him.
Rowles has also has stepped up a level this season and by seasons end could be knocking on the door for the Socceroo`s greater squad.

I`m just so proud of the lads and the coaching staff for such a great win...

 

[greenlig]

Loved it, will be truly happy if we back it up this week.