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A-League Mens 25/26 - Round 26

Have to sum up the Roar as "lacking".

We played a 4-1-4-1, with no McGarry or Vrakas on the left (baby and bathwater I feel), replaced by Dench and Hore, with Maieroni in defensive mid.

Vidic alone up front ahead of Hore, Klein, Lauton and Ruhs.

Our midfield and wings held up the ball pretty well under pressure, and brought it forward all game - but we go back to Bouzanis far too often - almost as a requirement - and it limits us too badly.

I can understand going back to the keeper when your opponents are either pressuring you or they are sitting deep and you need to draw them back out. But when we constantly go back to Bouzanis and he then uses the long ball as the most frequent attacking path our opponents just sends one or two forwards to apply light pressure and they are completely unconcerned about our attacks.

Especially limiting when we are behind on the scoreboard because they have no need to come out while we have the ball deep in our own half.

Once we got the ball forward we had no drive or constructive play with purpose. Plenty of passes to someone in a position to do something with it but not much actually penetrating and often either a slightly off pass, or sluggish handling on receipt and the defence stepped up and closed off our options.

70% possession - and a lot of it in the front half - and bugger all pressure on goal let alone any sort of clinical finishing. I won't say Glory were parking the bus - because they were playing intelligent defensive football without much of the ball and that is what they needed to do. Quick to get back and set up defensive structures, with a good team effort keeping us out.

We just did not have enough threat up front to unlock them or take our chances.

Lauton is our most consistent attacking option - so close to getting his head on a cross with a lunging effort and throwing himself at anything coming his way in the box. O'Shea, starting from the bench and coming on in the first half to replace an injured Maieroni, curled a beautiful shot into the side post from just outside the box later in the game. So close and as is always the case in football a near miss gives the same result as not taking a shot at all.

Vidic put the one reflexive shot into the net with offside play in the buildup and produced nothing else all game really. He was way too slow to move onto another dangerous ball which pretty much highlights his weakness. He does not have the pace to be a well rounded striker and will have to rely on strength and a clinical finish that he has not shown he possesses to become a genuine threat.

Ruhs starting made a few promising runs but was kept pretty quiet. He looked to be well out of form - although his runs in behind were rewarded with over hit passes that went dead often enough to limit the effect of his good play.

Hore was working hard all game and often surrounded by two or three opponents. He lost a few, but his quality was still there to see.

Damning that our only goal came from Valkanis jumping into the Glory keeper in a bit of a laid back defensive moment on the goalline and having the ball come off the back of Dimi's head into goals.

And then we get to our defensive side.

We conceded at least 4 goals and were lucky that Glory were only good enough up front to accept two of them.

Lode, who seems to be OK rather than good or solid, went in to a cross in the box with his arm up and out sideways. I want to check his bank account and betting slips because there was no reason for it and what professional defender puts his arm out like that when he is first to the ball? I can give you the name of one. It was just such a stupid thing to do. Crushed us from the start.

Salas, in a very season-tired moment, followed up with a lunge that tripped the Glory player in the box. Black and white penalty and lucky that Pennington hit the crossbar.

Bouzanis passed the ball to the Glory in the front third in what has become a pretty regular stuff up from him - you can depend on at least a once-a-game mistake like that from him. Again, Glory missed the chance that gave them.

Valkanis finished us off with a high ball chested back into the centre of the final third and straight to an unmarked Glory player. And Glory were good enough to finish that chance. Where is the basic defensive mindset that puts a ball in a dangerous place out wide or plain out rather than blindly knocking it into the central attacking corridor? Stupid play.

For all the effort of the team collectively keeping Glory out, we made several really stupid mistakes and gave away the game.

And I won't die in a ditch over it, but having Glory given a clear penalty for a trip on driving into the box, there was an equally clear trip on O'Shea when he drove into the box surrounded by three Glory defenders. Sure, O'Shea took the ball in looking for a penalty - but that is within the rules. It was not seeking contact, no dive or exaggeration - his right foot was caught by a defender as he wove through and VAR should have sent the ref to the monitor at the least. I wouldn't care if he then waved it away - but there is enough likelihood that the ref missed the actual foul contact so why the f@#k didn't VAR get him to check his decision? Coming straight after a penalty at the other end for the same reason puts lemon juice on the papercut of my orange soul.

We had the defensive resilience and luck to keep Glory scoreless - and stupid moments threw away all that effort. Valkanis and Lode are not a centreback pairing worth having at this level. They do not have a physical presence that owns their space and they do not have the pace or positioning sense to stop opposition teams from simply running through us at some point in every game.

Maieroni getting injured in the first half disrupted our defensive system - but it was the stupidity of professional players that cost us the game. As poor as we were up front, we still scored enough to win that game with our single goal.

I will be watching the comings and goings within the team with great interest in the lead up to next pre-season.

At least we have a place in the 'every Australian aleague team gets a guernsey' Australia Cup next year to show how we develop over the off season.

Frustrating game to watch last night - we ended up where we deserved to be in the table this season.
 
well I was wrong it was 2-1 to us , but some odd refereeing decisions , Like us getting awarded a pen when it looked contact just outside but then went into the box and the O'Shea not getting the same result , also as much I agree with the call on Brisbane;s goal when did the change there idea on making contact with the keeper in the box for the last 10 years that's a foul and last night it wasn't even though I do agree they should never be called as Valkanis did jump fairly for the ball.

Good to see Bobby's son showing the potential hes always coming through ,

bug improvement for the glory for us after Zdrillic left hopefully we can have a normal off season for once
 
Imo the Jets this season have been the best thing that has happened to the A league in many years. This is the first time in a long while that I have been able to feel optimistic about the future of the competition. Congratulations to Mark Milligan and his players. Now what we need is for Sydney to hire a coach who can get them playing decent football and Wanderers to hire a coach who can somehow sought out the heinous mess that they are. Sadly, I very much doubt that is Talay. I hope to be proven wrong, but his appointment looks to me as just another in a long, long line of poor decisions at the club.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
Imo the Jets this season have been the best thing that has happened to the A league in many years. This is the first time in a long while that I have been able to feel optimistic about the future of the competition. Congratulations to Mark Milligan and his players. Now what we need is for Sydney to hire a coach who can get them playing decent football and Wanderers to hire a coach who can somehow sought out the heinous mess that they are. Sadly, I very much doubt that is Talay. I hope to be proven wrong, but his appointment looks to me as just another in a long, long line of poor decisions at the club.
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I am happy for Wanderers to suck - but I wonder if Talay's strength in coaching may be with a team that has the 'us and them' mentality that Nix had and Wanderers can have.

Perhaps he is good at getting players who can identify as outsiders beyond the mere scope of football to play well together.

Wouldn't work at SFC because they have an elitist club mentality ('everyone wishes they were us') but might when the world is against his grubby Wanderers.

Just a thought.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
Imo the Jets this season have been the best thing that has happened to the A league in many years. This is the first time in a long while that I have been able to feel optimistic about the future of the competition. Congratulations to Mark Milligan and his players. Now what we need is for Sydney to hire a coach who can get them playing decent football and Wanderers to hire a coach who can somehow sought out the heinous mess that they are. Sadly, I very much doubt that is Talay. I hope to be proven wrong, but his appointment looks to me as just another in a long, long line of poor decisions at the club.
Click to expand...

Sorry - I can't feel the same way.

This is a very good squad. Many will look back to the Ange years with fondness but they were pretty dire - just as now. Brisbane, Mariners and the emergence of WSW were great back then, but the rest of the league, in general, not so much. City dominated for a while, others were dire?

How good is the Newcastle academy? We saw some young ones come through, but how deep is the well?

We all talk about the merry go round of players. That is what will happen here. Some coming off contract will look for more money in the ALM as the Jets wont be able to accomodate their new value, some will go OS and the squad will look very different next season. This is reality.

Good luck to them, Stanton assembled a good squad and Millsy took them to another level. But we need the level of the whole competition raised - not just a few clubs at a time.
 
patjennings said:
Sorry - I can't feel the same way.

This is a very good squad. Many will look back to the Ange years with fondness but they were pretty dire - just as now. Brisbane, Mariners and the emergence of WSW were great back then, but the rest of the league, in general, not so much. City dominated for a while, others were dire?

How good is the Newcastle academy? We saw some young ones come through, but how deep is the well?

We all talk about the merry go round of players. That is what will happen here. Some coming off contract will look for more money in the ALM as the Jets wont be able to accomodate their new value, some will go OS and the squad will look very different next season. This is reality.

Good luck to them, Stanton assembled a good squad and Millsy took them to another level. But we need the level of the whole competition raised - not just a few clubs at a time.
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I will opt for glass half full for now...

Not feeling good about the next tv deal, however.
 
Ahmet Arslan and Víctor Campuzano got hyped up so much and haven’t lived up to it at all.

Also, what’s everyone on Adelaide United’s Instagram going on about Ancient Egypt on a Yaya Dukuly post for?
 
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southmelb said:
Is the talent in the league too thin? I wont focus on the bottom teams but the top 6 outside the Jets are really average.
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I don’t think other clubs trust the kids as much. Look at us (Sydney) for example, we’ve got two bang average strikers replacing each other while Akol Akon sits on the bench. Guys like Wataru Kamijō and Joe Lacey are hardly playing.
 
RIMB said:
I am happy for Wanderers to suck - but I wonder if Talay's strength in coaching may be with a team that has the 'us and them' mentality that Nix had and Wanderers can have.

Perhaps he is good at getting players who can identify as outsiders beyond the mere scope of football to play well together.

Wouldn't work at SFC because they have an elitist club mentality ('everyone wishes they were us') but might when the world is against his grubby Wanderers.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...
in the end he's the coach of an important team and there is nothing we can do but delude ourselves into thinking he is perfect
so I guess pass the coolade :D
 
RIMB said:
Have to sum up the Roar as "lacking".

We played a 4-1-4-1, with no McGarry or Vrakas on the left (baby and bathwater I feel), replaced by Dench and Hore, with Maieroni in defensive mid.

Vidic alone up front ahead of Hore, Klein, Lauton and Ruhs.

Our midfield and wings held up the ball pretty well under pressure, and brought it forward all game - but we go back to Bouzanis far too often - almost as a requirement - and it limits us too badly.

I can understand going back to the keeper when your opponents are either pressuring you or they are sitting deep and you need to draw them back out. But when we constantly go back to Bouzanis and he then uses the long ball as the most frequent attacking path our opponents just sends one or two forwards to apply light pressure and they are completely unconcerned about our attacks.

Especially limiting when we are behind on the scoreboard because they have no need to come out while we have the ball deep in our own half.

Once we got the ball forward we had no drive or constructive play with purpose. Plenty of passes to someone in a position to do something with it but not much actually penetrating and often either a slightly off pass, or sluggish handling on receipt and the defence stepped up and closed off our options.

70% possession - and a lot of it in the front half - and bugger all pressure on goal let alone any sort of clinical finishing. I won't say Glory were parking the bus - because they were playing intelligent defensive football without much of the ball and that is what they needed to do. Quick to get back and set up defensive structures, with a good team effort keeping us out.

We just did not have enough threat up front to unlock them or take our chances.

Lauton is our most consistent attacking option - so close to getting his head on a cross with a lunging effort and throwing himself at anything coming his way in the box. O'Shea, starting from the bench and coming on in the first half to replace an injured Maieroni, curled a beautiful shot into the side post from just outside the box later in the game. So close and as is always the case in football a near miss gives the same result as not taking a shot at all.

Vidic put the one reflexive shot into the net with offside play in the buildup and produced nothing else all game really. He was way too slow to move onto another dangerous ball which pretty much highlights his weakness. He does not have the pace to be a well rounded striker and will have to rely on strength and a clinical finish that he has not shown he possesses to become a genuine threat.

Ruhs starting made a few promising runs but was kept pretty quiet. He looked to be well out of form - although his runs in behind were rewarded with over hit passes that went dead often enough to limit the effect of his good play.

Hore was working hard all game and often surrounded by two or three opponents. He lost a few, but his quality was still there to see.

Damning that our only goal came from Valkanis jumping into the Glory keeper in a bit of a laid back defensive moment on the goalline and having the ball come off the back of Dimi's head into goals.

And then we get to our defensive side.

We conceded at least 4 goals and were lucky that Glory were only good enough up front to accept two of them.

Lode, who seems to be OK rather than good or solid, went in to a cross in the box with his arm up and out sideways. I want to check his bank account and betting slips because there was no reason for it and what professional defender puts his arm out like that when he is first to the ball? I can give you the name of one. It was just such a stupid thing to do. Crushed us from the start.

Salas, in a very season-tired moment, followed up with a lunge that tripped the Glory player in the box. Black and white penalty and lucky that Pennington hit the crossbar.

Bouzanis passed the ball to the Glory in the front third in what has become a pretty regular stuff up from him - you can depend on at least a once-a-game mistake like that from him. Again, Glory missed the chance that gave them.

Valkanis finished us off with a high ball chested back into the centre of the final third and straight to an unmarked Glory player. And Glory were good enough to finish that chance. Where is the basic defensive mindset that puts a ball in a dangerous place out wide or plain out rather than blindly knocking it into the central attacking corridor? Stupid play.

For all the effort of the team collectively keeping Glory out, we made several really stupid mistakes and gave away the game.

And I won't die in a ditch over it, but having Glory given a clear penalty for a trip on driving into the box, there was an equally clear trip on O'Shea when he drove into the box surrounded by three Glory defenders. Sure, O'Shea took the ball in looking for a penalty - but that is within the rules. It was not seeking contact, no dive or exaggeration - his right foot was caught by a defender as he wove through and VAR should have sent the ref to the monitor at the least. I wouldn't care if he then waved it away - but there is enough likelihood that the ref missed the actual foul contact so why the f@#k didn't VAR get him to check his decision? Coming straight after a penalty at the other end for the same reason puts lemon juice on the papercut of my orange soul.

We had the defensive resilience and luck to keep Glory scoreless - and stupid moments threw away all that effort. Valkanis and Lode are not a centreback pairing worth having at this level. They do not have a physical presence that owns their space and they do not have the pace or positioning sense to stop opposition teams from simply running through us at some point in every game.

Maieroni getting injured in the first half disrupted our defensive system - but it was the stupidity of professional players that cost us the game. As poor as we were up front, we still scored enough to win that game with our single goal.

I will be watching the comings and goings within the team with great interest in the lead up to next pre-season.

At least we have a place in the 'every Australian aleague team gets a guernsey' Australia Cup next year to show how we develop over the off season.

Frustrating game to watch last night - we ended up where we deserved to be in the table this season.
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I'm still team valkanis in but next season has to be slightly better for results and better at working on bringing youth in

One challenge of changing coaches is it makes it hard to get continuity with the sort of young player who gets a look in

Brazette has been marginalized despite looking good last season because only physically gifted players get a go under valkanis. That is fine if that is our philosophy, but we need to be consistent across the clubs so we know what players we want to develop and sell
 
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