What a difference daylight makes when you are trying to see what is happening.
Roar fielded a pretty strong line-up to start the game:
Bouzanis
Halloran Parkin Number 4 Ferkranus McGarry
Stajic
O'Shea
Hore Ruhs Vidic
I missed the first 25 or so minutes waiting for my lunch and peering unsatisfactorily through the gaps in a timber batten wall. It sounded like a pretty even contest with chances at both ends.
Finally getting into the stands, the game was pretty even, but with Auckland keeping us more in our half both with and without the ball. Their goal off Randall in the 33rd minute came when he received a ball level with the defence and raced away towards goal. Whichever Roar player (Halloran maybe?) chased back with him over committed so that when Randall cut back inside the defender went past and left him with a couple of moments to steady and shoot to the far corner; beating Bouzanis in a very composed finish.
Ruhs received the ball from Hore a few minutes later and drove his shot home to level the scores before halftime.
Auckland built their play better than us in the first half, with the ball receiver often being just that half metre away from his defender and us chasing them to apply pressure rather than us holding the pressure on them close. It allowed them to pass the ball more freely and how they wanted to.
Charlie Parkin (16 year old Roar Youth player and Joey) was heavily involved in the game and got great experience playing in the seniors. He was not flawless, and got some guidance from Bouzanis in the odd stoppage (whether he asked for it or not), but he really held his own against a well organised attacking team at he base of our defence. His slight frame would appear to be a disadvantage but he used his body well and was not pushed around. Should continue to improve that aspect as his body develops over time.
The bloody mysterious Number 4 (definitely not Ben Warland despite the Roar website saying so) was equally involved and was not out of place back there. He is not a short player and he can use his body as well as his brain.
Ferkranus is equally strong and heavily involved in the back three, and across the backline there was a physical presence and capability that showed a lot of promise for us.
McGarry was solid in defence and brings a level of thrill when he takes on his opponents and especially when he gets into the final third. In the second half he beat his player with a chip over the top, used his pace to go deep, then delivered a fantastic cutback cross into the middle to a couple of Roar players. Unfortunately the first player swung and missed and the second skied the ball over the goals but it was a joy to see McGarry's involvement.
Halloran got more physical this game in the close challenges; disrupting Auckland at the least and winning the ball at the best. Held back in our half as we were most of our first half was long balls so there was not a lot of constructive play that I saw from Halloran going forward.
Hore was his usual probing and scheming self. It is a shame he does not have the pace to take full advantage of his skill on the ball and his positioning. As it is, he contributes to the team creativity and you can count on him to make some excellent passes to create something in any game. He could have taken a hasty shot himself but he put a good diagonal pass though to Ruhs for our first goal.
Stajic seems alright in the DM role. Valkanis is obviously testing him out for the role since he gave him half a game then brought on the also mysterious Number 33 for the second half. They both take an active part in the game (not out of place) but Stajic seems to position himself intelligently where Number 33 covers more ground and gets into his opponents more physically. Hard to say which is the better DM at this stage - Stajic the more composed and careful - Number 33 the more enthusiastic (slightly reckless) and involved.
O'Shea is O'Shea. He was not as dominant on the ball this game - sometimes losing out in challenges he would have held in previous seasons. I will see a lot more of him before I know if it is less pace or just holding himself safe in pre-season.
21 year old Vidic is enthusiastic, strong and quite driven. He contested well for the ball in the front third and works hard to present. He had a fantastic chance in the second half with a ball that bounced over the defensive line to him running through. One on one with their keeper, I could feel the tension in him as he waited for ball to come down off the bounce but he did not have enough composure and sent the ball a mile over. To his credit, very soon after that he received another airborne ball and put it in the net. A lot of promise in him.
Ruhs is a weapon. He gets the ball anywhere from halfway forward, uses his strength and speed to create something or his vision to pass to someone, and is a threat with the ball at his feet. I like his speed on the ball through traffic and his willingness to contest anything within his reach. He has been a great pick up for us.
In the second half we saw Valkanis ring the changes again - although he started the second half with only the Stajic/Number 33 swap.
I found that in the second half we were much more committed to winning the ball and the 50/50 challenges - looking like the team that wanted it more. As a result, we were the better team in the second half - to the extent that it was a travesty that we let them score a pissweak goal in the last 30 seconds of the game to equalise with us instead of us walking away deserving winners.
Bouzanis, for the second game in a row, did not know whether to come or go and hovered in no-mans land when he could have been first to the ball if he committed when he first saw the danger. The Auckland player was level with our defence and coming through onto a ball between him and Bouzanis. Bouzanis started to go then stopped and backed off a step or two, then sort of went in again. The Auckland player lightly chipped the ball from about the edge of the 18 yard box and it dawdled untouched across the line and into the goal.
I can imagine there is a level of confidence that Bouzanis needs to develop to make those split second decisions that can make or break games. Last time it was not his fault he got stranded - this time he had a choice and stuttered.
Other players to get a run in the second half were:
Durrington, Kasawaya, Amanatidis, Brazete and Ozzi - with some other unknown numbers too.
I think Durrington was played as a CM to AM rather than DM this time to good effect - giving us options going forward in the midfield in front of Number 33 (whether effective or not I did not really notice but I did not come away noticing anything bad about his play).
Brazete deserves a shout out for his play up front though. He was constructive and threatening without simply running into danger, and made one very good run up the left then delivered an excellent and unexpected inside pass off his left foot, without looking, that unfortunately went untended between the penalty spot and the 18 yard box. It was not actually passed to anyone particularly, but it looked so slick and good
.
Amanatidis was useful with some nice contributions - perhaps more than I have seen of him anytime recently so that is a good sign for him.
Kasawaya is so deceptive. He has the appearance of a 14 year old, but his speed, skill and presence belie his youthful demeanour. He has been quite effective the couple of times I have seen him this pre-season.
Ozzi was the opposite of Vidic and Ruhs when his opponents had the ball today. Where the other two got right in with strength and pressure, Ozzi had a tendency to lope along beside or behind them until he tangled with their legs and everyone fell over - conceding a free kick each time. If they were deliberate professional fouls with us being a goal up he concealed them with extraordinary cunning through the appearance of a 1 week old colt without any control of its legs.
Overall, it was a much more professional, composed and capable performance today.
Even without Herrington, Burke-Gilroy, Klein, Ludwik, Bility and the recovering Warland we were cohesive and competitive. I am not sure how many 'new' or young players Auckland had in their line-up - but their defence seemed very solid and capable, their press difficult to evade, and their attacking play was positive and effective - so I am counting it as a proper game against proper opposition.
2-2 final score - but we won the game really.
Thinking about that South Melbourne v Auckland tip now...
