RD 2: Roar vs Mariners

[Big Al]

I think I will know refer to Austin as peg leg as his right leg is only there to balance his body. I can't believe how players make it to this level and can only use one foot. It's a good left foot but he has no cut in ability as refuses to use his right foot.

Could give a dollar to charity for every time he uses his right foot and you would only need small change to pay up

 

[Big Al]

I think there was a stat in the 2nd half when down 2-0 that we had 28-21 balls in the box. I don't think we did that all last year.

Just need some polish and we might go alright this year.

It's fun to watch. Not easy as defence always feels it's going to crack but so much better than last year.

 

[Wombat]

Better side won and our sloppy defence cost us the game.
But we had a dig and didn't disgrace our selfs.

Reddy 8. Great as usual.
Roux 7. Best of a shitful back 4.
Mcging 6. Still learning.
Ascroft 6. One minute woeful and the next excellent. Good potential but like his other team mates at times dreadful defensively.
Neil 4. Good when on the ball but possible the worst fullback we have ever had defensively. Amazingly clueless. Hopefully Rose is fit next week.
Monty 7.5. Solid.
Fitz 5.5. Pretty poor.
Caceras 6. Needs to man up. Has the skills but needs to lead from the front.
Fab 6. Defensively poor. Took many wrong options but did get the assist.
Austin 6.5. Tried hard.
Paddy 6. Should have equalised. Not bad but not good.

 

[Luca Brasi]

I like the look of our back four individually, but they have a long, long way to go before they are an effective defence.

Agree, I think it is a bit harsh on Neill for the second goal, Roar breaking at pace 2 on 2, he has made the decision to come infield before McGing has closed down Maclaren. Wrong call to come in for the 1st goal however, but look at how far apart the back 4 are across the pitch.

 

[Luca Brasi]

Interesting sub but Heff looked like he was lumbering a bit as was asked to be an outlet further into our own half and Roy was left right up front. If we do that again I think I'd prefer Roy coming back and Heff stay up front

Not sure how these 2 play together effectively in the current system.

 

[nebakke]

Not too disappointed. Everyone put in a shift except Fitzy but that's standard for him.

Wait whaaaaaaaa'? - I know that Fitsy isn't our most popular player, by any measure of it but... I hardly think he can be accused of not working for it/trying... His abilities can - perhaps rightfully - be questioned, but his workrate leaves most of the rest of the team in the dust.

Good effort, some of our football today shit on anything Moss came up with.
Like this team a lot

On this we agree though

 

[nebakke]

.
Patty Z

Does that mean that things are resolved and he's on speaking terms with the club again?

 

[nebakke]

Call me old fashioned but the defence wasnt the main problem, it was the open space in the midfield that allows opposition attack to run at the back four, they are always going to be under the pump. As expected, this is going to happen if we are playing 3 up front, cant compress as much across the back and this leaves gaps to exploit. Fitzy, Caceras and Fab were not as tight with the ball as last week but Roar are a better team than PG. I wish we had a plan for set pieces, especially corners. Plenty of crosses from Austin but nobody there to take advantage. At least TW has a game plan and at half time he identified the problems and what should have been occurring, second half I thought was better. As well as a dominant 6 we need a dominant 10, didnt happen today. But really positive stuff overall, better than playing 5 at the back and losing 6 - 1. COYY.

THIS THIS THIS!!!... I came here wanting to put a comment somewhere around the defense bits... Everyone's going on about how our defence is "weak az(tm)", perhaps because of what it once was but, look at the positions when we move to attack... We sort of end up with McGing in an offensive DM position, Ascroft/Posco as a lone CB and Reddy as the last-man-standing - everyone else basically sit in the opposition half... The mere fact that Neil for example, is even there to be criticised, is testament to just how bl**dy fast he hightails it back to defend.
I'm not saying that the defence is brilliant, but I think that, core to this strategy working, is Reddy's abilities and the speed of our players - defenders in particular. Considering how open and offensive we're playing and how decent Roar actually looked, I think the fact that we have one loss and a GD of one, is decent - especially if we can expect improvement as the season moves ahead.

I'm always positive at the start of the season, but I'm really positive about what I've seen so far...
Either we'll just not be good enough, but go out in style, or we'll be back to surprising everyone and overperforming - in style as well... Personally I think the signs of the latter are good but either way it'll be fun to watch... Again...

 

[nebakke]

Agree, I think it is a bit harsh on Neill for the second goal, Roar breaking at pace 2 on 2, he has made the decision to come infield before McGing has closed down Maclaren. Wrong call to come in for the 1st goal however, but look at how far apart the back 4 are across the pitch.

I think I commented in last weekend's thread as well... Both Neil and Ascroft were clearly completely out of legs at the end of the Perth game... Neil actually looked like he was struggling to think straight for the last 10, ball watching and stiff legs...
To me, that's a fitness issue, much more than an ability issue... Not that our fitness is bad - at ALL - just that they might not all be up to playing the pace that we're targeting just yet.

 

[dibo]

Agree, I think it is a bit harsh on Neill for the second goal, Roar breaking at pace 2 on 2, he has made the decision to come infield before McGing has closed down Maclaren. Wrong call to come in for the 1st goal however, but look at how far apart the back 4 are across the pitch.

I lean to being a bit down on Neill. He's not a bad player at all, but I think at both goals he made the wrong call to come inboard and leave his man. Come in if you need to be there in cover, but if there's already a defender in a 1v1 situation, let them do their job rather than coming in to make it 2v1 and leave an open man. If the CB gets done, the CB gets done, but you can't leave a bloke alone.

 

[Gratis]

overall though - we lost and most comments here are pretty happy. that's a pretty big turnaround on last season, we were disappointed after wins!

 

[FFC Mariner]

I tend to think 4231 away from home when the opposition will seek to come at us more would make us a bit more solid

Rose (L) and Monty sceening with Caceres ahead - I think Rose will be a first choice by seasons end

Roar worked out that if you double up on our wingers then we struggled to make headway through the middle (I wont rehash the Fitzy debate but he added absolutely nothing)

Rather see him at LM than through the centre. Not as quick as Austin but a bit cleverer perhaps.

We are a work in progress, devoid of the 2 or 3 quality experienced players that will make us more solid but it will take a transfer window (or 2) to get rid of the dead wood clogging up our cap space (thanks Mossy for that)

 

[FFC Mariner]

Does that mean that things are resolved and he's on speaking terms with the club again?

Im sure that was sorted out a little while ago following mediation but I'm happy to be corrected.

Getting him in to work with a very young an inexperienced back 4 would be a real help I think.

 

[soccer mad]

Aloisi is doing a good job at Brisbane they're playing sharp football again deserved winners yesterday. We had it in patches but not for long enough although we looked more composed in the last 20 min it was a good game for the younger players in defence they'll gain a lot of that unfortunately this is the only way to iron out the mistakes is in real game time . I don't mind the hi press game ,but when we last posession or got caught there were some big holes in the middle half which gave brisbane plenty of space .But hey learning process.

 

[Bell]

Long term lurker, first post but I couldn't help myself...

I'm honestly in awe of the negativity towards Fitzy yesterday. I watched him closely yesterday as he seems to get a bad rap on here and I wanted to see what I was missing. Playing in a 3 man midfield, he ran box to box all game and picked up the slack for a lot of others. He was the only one to create any space at all and made a 3 or 4 very smart off the ball runs that created space for the wide men and ROD. He turned over the ball in the last 5 mins a few times, but you're going to hang him out to dry based on that?? It seems people make their minds about a player before he's even set foot on the pitch... He was good yesterday, one of our best IMO.

As for others, ROD was invisible from 20mins on but I like what ive seen so far. Caceres can't seem to find himself any space at all, whether that's due to work rate or lack of game sense, I'm not too sure. Austin clearly has a left foot... only.

Overall extremely proud of the way the guys are taking the game to the opposition. Really enjoyable to watch.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Agree, I think it is a bit harsh on Neill for the second goal, Roar breaking at pace 2 on 2, he has made the decision to come infield before McGing has closed down Maclaren. Wrong call to come in for the 1st goal however, but look at how far apart the back 4 are across the pitch.

I think the second goal was a bigger mistake by Neill than the first. McGing was doing a very impressive job on Maclaren and as Dibbo said Neil has to leave him to it.

I am very impressed with Neill, Ascroft and McGing and look forward to watching them develop. They have all shown they have the ability they just need to learn the trade and to learn to work as a unit. It will take time and there will be many mistakes (especially as Tony's style of play will expose them frightfully to teams with the ability to break quickly).

It promises to be a steep learning curve with many accidents, but that is how they will learn quickly.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Isn't it wonderful, a 2-1 loss, everyone here pretty positive, good discussion of mistakes and positives of the game, criticism happening mostly where it's deserved and not just because someone has a "down" on a player.

Isn't it great to be a CCM member.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Just saw a "highlight" of the Victory-City match - seems Stebre is the only ref who knows the penalty rule.

I saw that match, a penalty each way denied. How are those full time refs working out?

Of this I am sure ... we have arguably the youngest team ever... the back four today teenagers or close to it..

This side with a years experience of playing like we have in the opening two rounds will be unstoppable next year and the year after...

Problematic for now. Under McKinna we lost many, many games - even Grand Finals - because concepts of 'marking' and 'back post' weren't enforced. I missed game 2, but in Game 1 our marking was a bit sub-par - although this also came down to communication; too often the ball is coming in from the side and the far defender would be stuck with 2 players. The issue isn't the ability of the defence, we just need some experience to keep the structure of the defence. Whether that's Reddy stepping up to fill the vocal role of the stopper / sweeper, I don't know.

Also means our midfield needs to be ridiculously fit if we're going to be pushing forwards like this. But, it's exciting to have a dynamic, forward style of play - I anticipate there may be some teething problems, naturally.

I recorded the game on Foxtel, I wonder if it's worth watching....

 

[dibo]

It is worth watching, there's enough in it to see we're moving in the right direction. Beaten by a better team on the day, but we've got *loads* of improvement in us.

 

[Arnie]

Long term lurker, first post but I couldn't help myself...

I'm honestly in awe of the negativity towards Fitzy yesterday. I watched him closely yesterday as he seems to get a bad rap on here and I wanted to see what I was missing. Playing in a 3 man midfield, he ran box to box all game and picked up the slack for a lot of others. He was the only one to create any space at all and made a 3 or 4 very smart off the ball runs that created space for the wide men and ROD. He turned over the ball in the last 5 mins a few times, but you're going to hang him out to dry based on that?? It seems people make their minds about a player before he's even set foot on the pitch... He was good yesterday, one of our best IMO.

I totally agree with this. He puts more yards in then anyone in the team and has tremendous vision. He was outstanding with the Roar under Ange, was coming along nicely with us under GA. Went backwards, like so manny others under Moss, but has looked good under TW. He will be one of our best week in and week out this season with a little support from the CCM faithful. I am looking forward to watching his and all of our youngsters development this season.