That was tough to watch, for the most part we fought hard for the ball but kept giving the ball away with simple skill errors that professional players shouldn't be making, the Bentleigh Greens are a mile above us just in simple pass completion.
Adam Pearce:
It's pretty clear that Pearce isn't ready for the A-League, will he ever be? He has been with us for four seasons now, if he cannot improve to at the very least challenging an under performing Kennedy for number one, what was the point of giving him a contract. He now has a senior professional contract and he needs to be judged by that standard would Velaphi, Acton, Margush, Birighitti, Delianov, Italiano, White, Theo, Oldfield, Scott, Cisak, Sail, Henderson, Tyson, Bray have done a better job? Personally I think all would have. While I will let him off the hook for the first goal, considering it got a deflection, he had to do better for the second he made barely any second effort to stop it. He made a couple of great saves to deny Krishna and looks to have at least improved the setting of his walls, but he doesn't command his box well especially for such a tall keeper. His distribution was atrocious but we needlessly passed it back to him on so many occasions even when we knew that his distribution was a problematic part of his game. Considering he is contracted and if Gauci and Munford are nowhere near ready for the A-League I think we should start him for at least the next five games to see if he is capable of playing at this level, if not then I think his time is up.
Jake McGing:
I was impressed by Jake McGing today, I thought he fought hard for the ball and was close to being our best, his defensive positioning was good and he never gave his opponents and inch.
Kalifa Cisse:
Constantly out of position and constantly gave the ball away despite minimal pressure, should be dropped next week, made a couple of good tackles and improved a bit in the second half but frankly was an atrocious performance from a much heralded foreign player. If he is not significantly better than a young Australian player we could have signed then what is the point of him being here?
Kye Rowles:
Terrible defensive positioning for much of the match and seemingly had no concept of where to position himself when players ran at him with the ball. Made some good tackles but needs to improve.
Jack Clisby:
Battled manfully for the ball and always gave the opposition player a contest but also gave away some silly and unneeded fouls. Clisby has always struggled with his crossing, it was his biggest problem at the Wanderers and why they let him go, why are we expecting him to play so many pin point ones? He has his defensive strengths but we are asking him to do far too much when going forward. I do not understand why we are asking him to take our free kicks and corners, McGlinchey is a specialist free kick tacker, why are we not utilizing him?
Matthew Millar:
Always looked dangerous when he had the ball and was our most direct and positive player in possession. Was our best player for me, tirelessly ran all night and made some good combinations with Connor Pain.
Michael McGlinchy:
He is not a central midfielder and cannot tackle, I cannot understand why we persist with him there, is Adam Berry that bad? When we had possession he looked aimlessly and failed to get into good passing areas for his teammates.
Aidan O'Neill:
Should have closed down the initial shot for the first goal better but overall put in a decent defensive performance and positioned himself quite well. For a player developed in a Premier League academy and who has played in the Premier League he gives the ball away too often with simple skill errors.
Connor Pain:
Looked dangerous when he got the ball but rarely had any, when given an opportunity he was dangerous and looked our most likely to provide an assist.
Matt Simon:
Looked slow and his combinations with Murray, apart from in the air, were abysmal. Looked like he had never even trained with Murray let alone played with him. Considering for much of pre-season they looked like our front two, how is that possible? He was good in the air, as he always is, but if he is going to continue as a starting A-League player he has to offer more than that.
Jordan Murray:
Fashioned some good opportunities for himself but was left completely isolated surrounded by Phoenix defenders far too often. He held the ball up terrifically well and ran at defenders well, only to have nearly no options. Would be good to see him starting up front with Pain and Hoole as wingers.
Andrew Hoole:
Didn't offer much when he came on but made a few decent dribbles.
Mario Shabow:
Had a small impact when he came on but gave the ball away a few times. Was at least positive in possession but was weirdly often positioned at left full back. Was willing to take on players and made Kurto work with a good shot from outside the box.
Josh MacDonald:
Produced a dangerous cross from a corner for probably our only real chance of the game. Didn't look out of place at A-League level and wouldn't mind seeing him on the bench again next week.
Mike Mulvey:
Our tactics were poor, and worked out within the first fifteen minutes, seemingly our only forward strategy is to hoof it long to Simon and hope he can head it down. Our defense was porous and the injury excuses do not hold true, this was going to be our squad without the extra late investment from Charlesworth. It feels like Tony Walmsley is back in charge because we seem to have no game plan or if we do we have absolutely no idea how to execute it. Frankly I think Cisse should have been dragged at half time, or at least some sort of change should have been made at half time, our subs felt late and like we were out of ideas. I think we need to give Mulvey the same amount of leeway we gave Walmsley, if not we will become even more of a poisoned chalice for prospective coaches.
What scares me is I cannot see our season getting any better from here, I cannot see us getting a win this season unless by some miracle. I am afraid for the future of our football club if horrific records keep tumbling. We will have to compete for players with WMG next season, we need to find a reason why we would be a better option for top NPL talent and frankly right now I cannot think of one. I am terrified for our future, I cannot see a way out of this.
