Rd 6 v Adelaide (home)

[Ancient Mariner]

Simply put, a striker is used to the game happening behind him.
A defender is used to the game happening in front of him
The difference is huge in terms of positioning and reading the game

Dean Heffernan was a striker originally.

Just saying.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Dean Heffernan was a striker originally.

Just saying.

And Matt Simon is a better defender than some of our defenders

 

[Coastalraider]

And Matt Simon is a better defender than some of our defenders

And some of our defenders are better strikers than Matt Simon

 

[MagpieMariner]

Well, still no clean sheets achieved, but at least we haven't conceded a clean sheet yet. Only 3 other teams can say that (AU, Jets & PG). 3 others haven't had one so far -- PG, FC, 'Nux.
We've been moaning about lack of fire up front, but Roar failed to score in 3 consecutive matches (then get 4 against MC - go figure). Also PG are matching us in goal scoring: 2 in one match and only 1 in the others.
While we've conceded 3 in consecutive matches, Jets & MC have conceded 4.
I'm encouraged having watched a replay of Saturday. OK we got done, but I believe we could have drawn with a bit of luck -- Izzo pulled off 2 great saves. We tighten up at the back a bit, and I haven't seen our defence play so badly in prior matches, and get someone who can consistently hit the inside of the net and we'll be OK. Certainly not top the league, but nowhere near the bottom.

 

[true believer]

Because it’s a terrible idea and totally disrespectful to defenders suggesting anyone can pick it up so easily and do well. I was working on the theory someone meant Miller.

so the legion of strikers that have become defenders were all just kidding themselves . good call .dion dublin dud , dimitar berabtov dud ,ruud gullit what a dud ,richard naylor , a leeds boy and a dud .
stop dribbling rubbish kiddies

and "disrespectful to defenders" really ! is that some hatfield v mccoys thing ?

 

[true believer]

Because Murray, from what I can see, has never played right back in his life.
Also because I have so much football insight, Murray scored 43 goals in 64 games for Apia in the NPL between 2016-18.
This is not insight, it’s google & it’s fact.
If you have a young promising guy that has scored plenty of goals previously, why would you panic after a few games & decide he’s a RB?

so thats a no , besides being able to score against cardboard cut outs in N obody p l .
middies point was indeed a bit of insight . that separates the sheep from lateral thinkers

 

[true believer]

Simply put, a striker is used to the game happening behind him.
A defender is used to the game happening in front of him
The difference is huge in terms of positioning and reading the game

so forwards don 't understand what backs are gunna do and vice versa . yep it's a mystery wrapped in an enigma

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I thought it was Fox who gave up. Didn't record the game so I can't check.

No it was Clisby. Sitting in a crowded cafe in Madrid watching the replay on my lap top... must be a few Spaniards wondering who “f**king Clisby” is. It’s not just on the one goal either - it’s on two, and he doesn’t track and just sits high and watches multiple times. Had to think he was playing injured it was that bad. Imho he cost us any chance of a point in that game.

The other goal began with Sammy getting done by their Dutch wunder kid. He needed to be better supported by Ziggy imo as he’s stepping up beautifully as an attacker, but he’s definitely not the finished article defensively yet. This should be expected.

Tongyik looks too slow for this level but we also turned the ball over consistently allowing AU to run at us, while our fullbacks were repeatedly caught high, (though at least Ziggy motored back) and so our CB’s were constantly forced to drop in to cover and or trying to turn quickly which just isn’t Tongyiks game - he has zero acceleration - however when facing forward he actually competes well and looks solid.

I’m also worried by our inability to win the midfield battle, keep possession and play the game in the other teams half.

With territory, a skilled striker will help somewhat and I think Kim really can also. He’s aggressive, reads the play way quicker than most, can pass and is strong on the ball. And I agree with Michael, I’d be dropping GG rather than Stens. GG puts himself about a lot more but is making a lot of errors too.

But when watching AU press us and consistently force turnovers I was hoping for Kim and Nisbet - we needed the control centrally that I think his ball skills can provide. Under pressure GG and Stens do not have the ball skills and are either playing it early - usually to Tommy (who was immense) or no one and turning it over. Happened repeatedly against City also. Dominated in the middle with only Milan able to do what is needed at present but any player is easier to shut down if they don’t have the options around them.

So we struggled for field position. And then when we do break via Tommy, we lacked the pace centrally to capitalise on the breaks he and Silvera are making. Muzz is no slouch but he’s no speed demon either. He was close twice but just not quite fast enough. A faster striker would have potentially been able to have been directly on goal 2 or 3 times. And Muzz is never going to be a high level hold up man, or a skin a couple players to get in on goal type either.

But, there are so many improvements in this side I’m anything but pessimistic. I think we’re very well coached. We still just need a bit stronger squad.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Cisse 3.0 being extremely lazy also contributed heavily towards each goal. Even Biri had a shocker though.....just shows how important he has been to our scoreline.
Thing is - look at the chances we had. I don't think you could actually say that Adelaide's defence was any better than ours. We had plenty of chances. Possibly even more than they did.
They have multiple players who can be expected to capitalise on those chances. We don't have a single one. We have a handful of players who might capitalise occasionally, and our attack is to hope that on average at least one of them pulls something out of their arse each game.

Agree on the chances. But they looked much more dangerous ball on the ground imo. Too many options. Better squad pound for pound tbh.

Birra a shocker? Don't get this. He let one fairly blistering shot in at the near post, but apart from that saved a pen and did a bunch of great work.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

so forwards don 't understand what backs are gunna do and vice versa . yep it's a mystery wrapped in an enigma

Very different skill set obviously, but good attacking players have been converted to full backs in the modern game, though typically wingers rather than strikers. And they still need time to be trained, trialed, and well tested... before you'd ever give it a shot in a league fixture.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

No it was Clisby. Sitting in a crowded cafe in Madrid watching the replay on my lap top... must be a few Spaniards wondering who “f**king Clisby” is. It’s not just on the one goal either - it’s on two, and he doesn’t track and just sits high and watches multiple times. Had to think he was playing injured it was that bad. Imho he cost us any chance of a point in that game.

The other goal began with Sammy getting done by their Dutch wunder kid. He needed to be better supported by Ziggy imo as he’s stepping up beautifully as an attacker, but he’s definitely not the finished article defensively yet. This should be expected.

Tongyik looks too slow for this level but we also turned the ball over consistently allowing AU to run at us, while our fullbacks were repeatedly caught high, (though at least Ziggy motored back) and so our CB’s were constantly forced to drop in to cover and or trying to turn quickly which just isn’t Tongyiks game - he has zero acceleration - however when facing forward he actually competes well and looks solid.

I’m also worried by our inability to win the midfield battle, keep possession and play the game in the other teams half.

With territory, a skilled striker will help somewhat and I think Kim really can also. He’s aggressive, reads the play way quicker than most, can pass and is strong on the ball. And I agree with Michael, I’d be dropping GG rather than Stens. GG puts himself about a lot more but is making a lot of errors too.

But when watching AU press us and consistently force turnovers I was hoping for Kim and Nisbet - we needed the control centrally that I think his ball skills can provide. Under pressure GG and Stens do not have the ball skills and are either playing it early - usually to Tommy (who was immense) or no one and turning it over. Happened repeatedly against City also. Dominated in the middle with only Milan able to do what is needed at present but any player is easier to shut down if they don’t have the options around them.

So we struggled for field position. And then when we do break via Tommy, we lacked the pace centrally to capitalise on the breaks he and Silvera are making. Muzz is no slouch but he’s no speed demon either. He was close twice but just not quite fast enough. A faster striker would have potentially been able to have been directly on goal 2 or 3 times. And Muzz is never going to be a high level hold up man, or a skin a couple players to get in on goal type either.

But, there are so many improvements in this side I’m anything but pessimistic. I think we’re very well coached. We still just need a bit stronger squad.

Nailed it. Very accurate summation of the match.

 

[turbo]

so the legion of strikers that have become defenders were all just kidding themselves . good call .dion dublin dud , dimitar berabtov dud ,ruud gullit what a dud ,richard naylor , a leeds boy and a dud .
stop dribbling rubbish kiddies

and "disrespectful to defenders" really ! is that some hatfield v mccoys thing ?

Could you convert someone with some work? Sure. If they’ve spent time playing there in their younger years even better. But if you think you’re just going to tell Murray he’s playing right back next week and have him do well then you’ve lost the plot.

 

[turbo]

Birra a shocker? Don't get this. He let one fairly blistering shot in at the near post, but apart from that saved a pen and did a bunch of great work.

Not his best game but did stop things getting even uglier. The near post one hurts more because he’s been doing so well. It looked to me like he was going to come out to a few attacks and then pulled out but I reckon he would have got there. Not sure if those were chances that resulted in goals or not.

 

[Ozhammer]

I was disappointed by the lack of heading quality. Duric and Simon straight at Izzo instead of back to where it came from or at least downwards and Silvera missing wide with what looked like an uncontested header.

Arguably GG’s header was worse imo, every player is coached to head any ball in the 6 yard box into the ground, as that makes it much harder for the keeper to save. He just headed it upwards, allowing Izzo to tip it over the bar FMD.

That would have made it 3-2 with 20+ minutes to play and might possibly have seen the boys salvage an unlikely draw.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Arguably GG’s header was worse imo, every player is coached to head any ball in the 6 yard box into the ground, as that makes it much harder for the keeper to save. He just headed it upwards, allowing Izzo to tip it over the bar FMD.

That would have made it 3-2 with 20+ minutes to play and might possibly have seen the boys salvage an unlikely draw.

Yep....we made chances, but did absolutely nothing with them. This game could easily have been a 3-all draw. Heading the ball straight at Izzo is a waste of an attack.

Agree on the chances. But they looked much more dangerous ball on the ground imo. Too many options. Better squad pound for pound tbh.

Birra a shocker? Don't get this. He let one fairly blistering shot in at the near post, but apart from that saved a pen and did a bunch of great work.

The shot near the front post was him being out of position. The other 2 they scored - he's been saving those all season in his sleep. Agree that they looked much more dangerous and had a better squad, but their defence was pretty leaky. Although they didn't step off their player as much as we did.

 

[priorpeter]

so the legion of strikers that have become defenders were all just kidding themselves . good call .dion dublin dud , dimitar berabtov dud ,ruud gullit what a dud ,richard naylor , a leeds boy and a dud .
stop dribbling rubbish kiddies

and "disrespectful to defenders" really ! is that some hatfield v mccoys thing ?

Dublin was a centre half before he transitioned into a striker.
Berbatov? Love the bloke, but never heard of him playing in the back line (Christ I wouldn’t want him there either!)
Guillit started as a sweeper before moving further forward. Struggled when he went back into the backline at Chelsea and played more games in the midfield. Brilliant player who could play anywhere.
The only one on your list who started as a striker before being redeployed as a defender was Naylor.
Hardly a legion of strikers who have become good defenders. With respect, you’re clutching at straws a little.
Im not saying it’s impossible, but it’s hardly an everyday thing and you’re not just gonna grab any striker and go “righto champ, you’re playing RB this week”...

 

[priorpeter]

so thats a no , besides being able to score against cardboard cut outs in N obody p l .
middies point was indeed a bit of insight . that separates the sheep from lateral thinkers

oh god this is a horrible take

 

[Big Al]

Chopping and changing our backline has been a major problem for the last 5 yrs.

I couldn’t tell you the last time we played the same backline for more than 3 weeks in a row.

We had the same back 4 for the first 4 games and have a couple of dumb mistakes but nowhere near the level of previous years and we now have a keeper could bail us out if needed.

We took one CB out and the keeper had a stinker and so did everyone in the backline.

Time for calm. If it repeats itself then look at solutions but one game is an overreaction.
Put Kye back in and a kick up the backside at training and we go again.

One player shouldn’t make such a difference but it can. Communication or just the feel for where your teammate is.

Fox or Tonyik are both suited to Right side of CB so Clisby doesn’t feel comfortable, they don’t feel comfortable and it flows on and look at the bad game they all had. Then our loosing record over the years probably kicked in as well

Just settle down with the chopping and changing

 

[finally retired]

No it was Clisby. Sitting in a crowded cafe in Madrid watching the replay on my lap top... must be a few Spaniards wondering who “f**king Clisby” is. It’s not just on the one goal either - it’s on two, and he doesn’t track and just sits high and watches multiple times. Had to think he was playing injured it was that bad. Imho he cost us any chance of a point in that game.

unfortunately Clisby does that every match.....I am NOT a fan.....but the sad thing is we don't really have better at the moment

 

[true believer]

Could you convert someone with some work? Sure. If they’ve spent time playing there in their younger years even better. But if you think you’re just going to tell Murray he’s playing right back next week and have him do well then you’ve lost the plot.

the belief that you can't change anything is tantamount to okon ball .murray was a bit of an idea .
the fact it was meet with such outrage .
Is hard to fathom from the club with the spoon