Round 17 - Sydney away

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Drop him down to RB? Interesting.
To be honest, if he could lift his head and look, and pass/cross with some accuracy, then he would probably be doing enough without scoring more than a goal or two a season if he's playing further back down the field. Would depend if he could play in a defensive position.
Maybe even making his job to run it up the field and look for the short pass and have somebody playing off his shoulder could help clear his head a bit?
the buggar has more pace and ball control than Matty Simon ever did.

 

[Ozhammer]

After tonight the line up for me is a no brainer:

Skapetis
Hoole - DDS - Wales
Wout* - Tommy
Rose - Baro - Golec - McGing
Bench: Powell, Melling, Appiah, Trent
*if available

I'm loving how much I've come to rate McGing. The RB position is his to lose now. Pushes Roux even out of a bench spot for mine.
Reality is though you do need Roux on the bench for defensive cover. Guess Trent has to make way.
Be an even harder choice when Pain is back for bench spots
Melling has been solid too and deserves plenty more game time.

I reckon Okon sees Roux as being more effective at RW and an emergency fill in at LB and that does give him some tactical versatility.

 

[VicMariner]

Drop him down to RB? Interesting.
To be honest, if he could lift his head and look, and pass/cross with some accuracy, then he would probably be doing enough without scoring more than a goal or two a season if he's playing further back down the field. Would depend if he could play in a defensive position.
Maybe even making his job to run it up the field and look for the short pass and have somebody playing off his shoulder could help clear his head a bit?
the buggar has more pace and ball control than Matty Simon ever did.

RB might just work.

 

[Ozhammer]

In all seriousness, we could have had a winning team if we didnt get 2 defensive midfielders. 1 Tommy + $$ on a striker.

Not sure I agree there, all we needed was a better striker than Asdrubal and that may still happen.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Given the mediocrity of the league, there are literally 5 teams battling it out for sixth place. It's insane.

Of the five, I believe we have the most potential - but realising it is another thing. If we can build on that result we should be cruising past WSW and sitting in the six within a few weeks.

If not, well, it's up to us to head off Wellington for the dreaded utensil

Definitely a couple of plain old flat games and I’m really not trying to be an apologist, but I do sincerely think our consistency issue - despite some terrible ups and downs with referees/VAR - has been mostly the following 3 things.

• Disruption to our most important pairing and heart of the side - Wout and Tom. But very good news is afoot, because I think after last night we’ve seen the answer. Melling has shown he is truly up to it and we have not had that. Hence Okon making his crazy town DDS as DM call etc. Those weeks without our Dutch pairing we couldn’t get going or when we did, stay going. From okon mad scientist to midfield inconsistency, I think that shits over with now. And that’s big for us.

• Inconsistency in our wingers. This is not over. But Wales is looking like an excellent addition and Skapetis has shown he can play better there than most. Though I’m hoping to see him up top.

• Striker injury, experimentation. Adsrubal looked the goods first two games... but then I like others was growing skeptical even before his injury... The Appiah experiment did not work as a replacement, Powell was still underdone, and we learnt Paolo did not think Bingham or TBT could lead the line. Probably fairly. Now with Powell back up front, even though we’re still not getting the goals we need, you can see we’re at least a fully functioning side. Add Skapetis. There’s room for optmiimism. Add another striker. Even more so. But I think either Powell or Skapetis vs Adsrubal or Appiah is going to do much better by everyone.

So as the mighty loaf said... 2 our of 3 ain’t bad. And I think we have good reason to expect a more consistent side from now on.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I think Liam will make the bench

At whose expense PJ?

 

[pjennings]

At whose expense PJ?

That's the hard one. Liam can cover CB and DM. Melling can't but seems to add more at DM. If not him then one of TBT and Appiah. I would drop Appiah because I think Trent offers more in front of goal .

 

[Ancient Mariner]

That's the hard one. Liam can cover CB and DM. Melling can't but seems to add more at DM. If not him then one of TBT and Appiah. I would drop Appiah because I think Trent offers more in front of goal .

I am pretty sure with the purchase of Melling that Okon sees Liam as a CB. From what I have seen of him this season I definitely agree that he is more effective there than as a DM. Having said that I think he could cover for many positions and will be a regular on the bench.
Rowles is also there for consideration.
I see left back as our biggest problem at the moment. Hopefully Josh can come good, stop grabbing and have a great final few games for us. I would like to see him go out on a high.

 

[Gratis]

Josh R will be fine if the winger in front of him does his defensive duties, as per last night

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I was thinking his red and subsequent loss of the derby looked like it had been a massive wake up call.

None of his former nonsense and he did not bite in or over commit himself as much either which previously led to him being exposed for pace when unable to turn and catch up when he gets skinned, so he had been increasingly resorting to grabbing.

Was a markedly improved performance. Having better defence in front certainly helped. But his main issues that he corrrected were also of his own making for mine.

 

[Ozhammer]

Josh R will be fine if the winger in front of him does his defensive duties, as per last night

That’s true of any FB tbh. If they get support from their wide midfield counterpart, they can just focus on their core responsibilities. Hoole was 10 times better last night than Pain has been in that regard all season. Pain tracks back at times but there is no intent in his defending and opponents know it. That’s why I would prefer him to be on the bench.

 

[MrCelery]

On Appy - Okon said in the presser: "And in the end if Kabbsy [Appiah-Kubi] had of cut the ball back to Hooley [Andrew Hoole] it's an empty goal tap in and we go away with three points."

He noted it.
Conversely, in the clubs press release it's all glowing praise for Appiah. He did contribute a lot in the game (up to the final third). I imagine Okon sticks with him because he assumes it's only a matter of time before he gets that part of his game right. If/when he does he'd better bloody well hang around for a bit and reward us for our patience and suffering!

I was going to comment that Appiah must see a sign on the edge of the penalty box that reads: 'Deposit your football brain here before advancing'. But that's a bit harsh when the whole team does the same. Not a single decent shot on target and no goals from open play. Damn frustrating when all the other work was excellent.

 

[true believer]

appiah has to be told if you get to the penalty box drive in and shoot .or take it all the way to the goal line and sling it in .

Keep it simple for him and his loose canon factor will lead to goals

 

[MagpieMariner]

We don't have a Tassie club in the league yet!

Oh you are rude!
We do have Tassie supporters though.

 

[Big Al]

So missed the game but watched today.

Wales was ordinary no idea where the love came from. He turned it over every time, either intercepted passes or pushed off the ball. Maybe bench if lucky but has a lot of work to do. Maybe I’m harsh but was looking for something special after the love on here about his game and shinning that tap in was just typical Mariners right now. It does happen but it shouldn’t. He over stretched for it.

Hoole should be our left wing while Pain is out. The fact he has the whole pitch open to his right foot helps him. The further away from the right touch line the better. He attacks the middle from his position which suits him.

Appiah enough has been said but also there is a total lack of understanding between him and the striker and left wing. There was one he cut back but no one was there. Powell just can’t keep up to support him and on another Wales was in the middle and ran away from him to a LW position while Appiah attacked up the right. Wales needed to stay central and Powell was no where near either of them. Appiah crossed to no one and it was a bad option but he knew Wales was around but Wales made himself no option at all, little own a bad one. So when he gets selfish when Hoole was there for a should be goal it’s bad by Appaih but the lack of consistency from his attacking partners confuses him.

The stat before the game was Bobo 15 goals and Mariners 16. We have killed our season with the mess up front. We now have no proper LW and Appiah who will fluff everything on the right. I think Skapetis could get it done if we had better wing play but we don’t.

Melling is a genuine option in the midfield and we now no longer need to play the dutchies if they aren’t right or tired. Was a lot of criticism of the pick up but he’s been a very good signing.

The rest of the team was there usual strong self

More points blown

 

[Big Al]

https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/arnold-we-had-enough-chances-to-win-two-games-481511

Oh Arnie you are special
Gastro now should have won two games. You should have been belted as well

 

[greenlig]

We do have Tassie supporters though.

I'm one of them

 

[Forum Phoenix]

https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/arnold-we-had-enough-chances-to-win-two-games-481511

Oh Arnie you are special
Gastro now should have won two games. You should have been belted as well

Yeah god didn't want you to win your 200th game Arnie, that must be it.

That's some seriously next level tossing right there.

 

[Wombat]

I'm one of them

Dont admit it Greeny!.

 

[Wombat]

https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/arnold-we-had-enough-chances-to-win-two-games-481511

Oh Arnie you are special
Gastro now should have won two games. You should have been belted as well

Arnie has always been a tosser......now he is a delusional tosser. We dominated them.