Matchday 15: v Newcastle - Saturday 18th January 7.30pm at AAMI Park

[Imtellingyou]

Delbridge makes heroics tackles and that looks good in the public eyes. That's because he's positioning is not as Good as Good.

[Mr MO]

5 minutes ago, Imtellingyou said:

Delbridge makes heroics tackles and that looks good in the public eyes. That's because he's positioning is not as Good as Good.

Hence I mentioned there are 2 camps.

[Mr MO]

15 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

In regards to subs I think the key problem was that with 6 players unavailable we basically had no one to bring on.

Griffith is just a “keep what you’ve got” sub, Susesta looked like he’d met everyone in the sheds and the rest arent old enough to drink.

Challenging for any coach.

Well Colakovski has shown enough for me to easily replace a winger for 20 minutes or so - especially leading with 2 goals. Certainly isn't anything worse that Wales.

[CDM3]

Just finished watching the reply, gosh Andy Harper talks some rubbish 

[neio]

With regards to the flying last ditch tackles by Delbridge that he only does cause he is out of position, I don't think that's entirely true. I think he does them cause he has the pace to get back and execute the tackle. This isn't a crack at good but when he is out of position, he doesn't have the pace to get back and make a tackle

The combo of the 2 is fine, they are different to each other so it works. I wouldn't want 2 Delbridges nor would I want 2 Goods in defence 

So if Hendry comes in and is good enough to start, whichever he is less like is probably who he starts with

[NewConvert]

19 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

In regards to subs I think the key problem was that with 6 players unavailable we basically had no one to bring on.

Griffith is just a “keep what you’ve got” sub, Susesta looked like he’d met everyone in the sheds and the rest arent old enough to drink.

Challenging for any coach.

I presume that you would have kept Beringuer since his sub was Griffiths.

I think the question is the timing. For me the two mandatory subs were Beringuer and Wales. I would have subbed Beringuer off at HT, and Wales at the 65 minute mark. The third sub could have been Atkinson because I thought that he was spent. However this needs to be balanced against an injury occurring later in the match and therefore it is worthwhile keeping a sub in hand.

 

[Mr MO]

11 minutes ago, CDM3 said:

Just finished watching the reply, gosh Andy Harper talks some rubbish 

I turn the commentary off sometimes, it’s rubbish - they seem to have no idea. This handball with the swinging arms was all done correct and he kept going on about it. I have noticed he’s not a fan of Melbourne City.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Mr MO

[Harrison]

Got to watch the game replay after missing it last night.

A bit of an uneventful game. Had control of the first half and they had the upper hand at times in the second half. Again, not sold on the midfield with Brillante and Griffiths because we lose some of our attacking drive without Berenguer. I liked his link-up play. Luna was relentless all night, combining with Maclaren up top in the press.

Still suffering somewhat later on in games when the team can’t close down as quickly but we haven’t learned how to defend as a compact unit. It would help us a lot because I think we can pick teams off with counter attacks to give us a buffer in close games. 

Bouzanis was our best IMO but I also liked Good, Luna and Noone. 

[rass]

On Good and Delbo, have they been watching Warwick Capper videos? Why is it they're always jumping at attacking set pieces with their hands on their opponents shoulders? I've noticed it's happening more and more frequently.

In regards to who would you have out of the two, I'm not sure. But if you want Good, he needs to stop those poor passes out of defence. So often kicks it to the opposition.

[Shahanga]

3 minutes ago, Harrison said:

Got to watch the game replay after missing it last night.

A bit of an uneventful game. Had control of the first half and they had the upper hand at times in the second half. Again, not sold on the midfield with Brillante and Griffiths because we lose some of our attacking drive without Berenguer. I liked his link-up play. Luna was relentless all night, combining with Maclaren up top in the press.

Still suffering somewhat later on in games when the team can’t close down as quickly but we haven’t learned how to defend as a compact unit. It would help us a lot because I think we can pick teams off with counter attacks to give us a buffer in close games. 

Bouzanis was our best IMO but I also liked Good, Luna and Noone. 

I’m surprised by the Flohate elsewhere. I’m with you, I thought he had a good game and I agree, I watched Rostyn closely when he came on and where Flo would turn an advance the attack, Rostyn passed it to the centre backs, every time. 
I didn’t mind the sub though as I don’t think Flo has 90 in him and at 2-0 up closing the game up made sense.

I thought Dean was good as well.

and I wouldn’t have subbed Atko because we had no one else, even though he was getting skinned.

[haz]

3 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

I’m surprised by the Flohate elsewhere. I’m with you, I thought he had a good game and I agree, I watched Rostyn closely when he came on and where Flo would turn an advance the attack, Rostyn passed it to the centre backs, every time. 
I didn’t mind the sub though as I don’t think Flo has 90 in him and at 2-0 up closing the game up made sense.

I thought Dean was good as well.

and I wouldn’t have subbed Atko because we had no one else, even though he was getting skinned.

In my view he's serviceable but he's not marquee quality.

[Harrison]

3 minutes ago, haz said:

In my view he's serviceable but he's not marquee quality.

Yeah I think that’s the view now. I’m probably his biggest supporter and in my view he’s probably just good enough to be a foreign player, the minimum we expect. I like what he brings but he’s a link-type player, not an output merchant or a dominant match winner. Anyway, we can hope Susaeta is that last type. If he is, we’re looking very good. 

[neio]

Berenguer has some qualities, but he has been here for 18 months and we're still waiting to see it. If we had a full squad here and could be picked, I doubt he wound start. He isn't in front of Brillante or Luna at the moment and you could argue that Metcalfe or Genreau deserves a start in front of him. We can't have visa players as really 2nd 11 players 

[Mr MO]

21 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

I’m surprised by the Flohate elsewhere. I’m with you, I thought he had a good game and I agree, I watched Rostyn closely when he came on and where Flo would turn an advance the attack, Rostyn passed it to the centre backs, every time. 
I didn’t mind the sub though as I don’t think Flo has 90 in him and at 2-0 up closing the game up made sense.

I thought Dean was good as well.

and I wouldn’t have subbed Atko because we had no one else, even though he was getting skinned.

The flohate is easily justified because he is second highest paid player and not the second best player in our team. Florin is a normal visa player (who can’t shoot) and unfortunately people expecting a bit more from a marquee player.

Edit; others above explained it already.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Mr MO

[Harrison]

4 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

The flohate is easily justified because he is second highest paid player and not the second best player in our team. Florin is a normal visa player (who can’t shoot) and unfortunately people expecting a bit more from a marquee player.

Edit; others above explained it already.

I think you’re too hung up on the marquee part. If it’s even true, it’s just because his deal was back-ended. If you looked at his deal in total it might not actually be marquee-level wages but it just so happens to be more than others for this season. Now you could make the argument that he’s not worth say $700K over two seasons (assuming $100K last season and $600K this season), but the marquee part I think isn’t that important because we might’ve just back-ended it to accomodate RDL and Schenkeveld and the other highly-paid players last season. 

[Shahanga]

29 minutes ago, Harrison said:

Yeah I think that’s the view now. I’m probably his biggest supporter and in my view he’s probably just good enough to be a foreign player, the minimum we expect. I like what he brings but he’s a link-type player, not an output merchant or a dominant match winner. Anyway, we can hope Susaeta is that last type. If he is, we’re looking very good. 

Very true.

but those issues are in essence contractual matters and shouldn’t be considered when you assess “did he play well”.

in my opinion he did play well.

obviously he didn’t rip the game apart but that doesn’t mean he was poor.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Shahanga

[Mr MO]

23 minutes ago, Harrison said:

I think you’re too hung up on the marquee part. If it’s even true, it’s just because his deal was back-ended. If you looked at his deal in total it might not actually be marquee-level wages but it just so happens to be more than others for this season. Now you could make the argument that he’s not worth say $700K over two seasons (assuming $100K last season and $600K this season), but the marquee part I think isn’t that important because we might’ve just back-ended it to accomodate RDL and Schenkeveld and the other highly-paid players last season. 

It doesn’t matter either way you look at it’s bad squad and recruitment management without any significant payoffs.

[MHFC-FAN]

1 hour ago, CDM3 said:

Just finished watching the reply, gosh Andy Harper talks some rubbish 

Watch a reply? 🤔

[Harrison]

12 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

It doesn’t matter either way you look at it’s bad squad and recruitment management without any significant payoffs.

Well that might be true but my issue is with judging the guy through the lens of a marquee player. He’s a marquee player because of the way they structured his deal, not because he’s the best player in the eyes of the Club. 

If he was a new signing and just an ordinary foreign player I think people would be pleased with his performances. He looked very good in pre-season and then had injury setbacks. Now he’s fit and he’s contributing well to our system of play. Granted, he isn’t Toivonen or Ninkovic, but there aren’t many of them going around. 

[Shahanga]

In regards to the ref, whilst I agree she had a decent game, she missed what was a clear pen and had to be be bailed out by VAR. 

(Harpers comments in regards to the pen are just ridiculous and whilst you could say “it doesn’t make sense that that should be a pen”, under the new law there can be only one decision)

Edited January 19, 2020 by Shahanga

[Nate]

16 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

In regards to the ref, whilst I agree she had a decent game, she missed what was a clear pen and had to be be bailed out by VAR. 

(Harpers comments in regards to the pen are just ridiculous and whilst you could say “it doesn’t make sense that that should be a pen”, under the new law there can be only one decision)

Yep, and in response to his question of "what else can Topor-Stanley do in that instance?", it's pretty obvious that if he actually times his jump correctly and gets the header first, then there's no way the ball hits his arm. 

Aerial contests are a risk just as last-ditch sliding tackles are, if you mistime it you open yourself up for punishment.

[haz]

18 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

In regards to the ref, whilst I agree she had a decent game, she missed what was a clear pen and had to be be bailed out by VAR. 

(Harpers comments in regards to the pen are just ridiculous and whilst you could say “it doesn’t make sense that that should be a pen”, under the new law there can be only one decision)

She was interviewed post game and said that she saw it but wanted to confirm it with the VAR.

[NewConvert]

17 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

In regards to the ref, whilst I agree she had a decent game, she missed what was a clear pen and had to be be bailed out by VAR. 

(Harpers comments in regards to the pen are just ridiculous and whilst you could say “it doesn’t make sense that that should be a pen”, under the new law there can be only one decision)

From where I was sitting it was a clear penalty but I also had a clear view of where the ref was and the ref would not have had such a clear view. However the linesman is a different issue. The linesman should have seen it and it is possible why the ref went to the VAR but the linesman never raised the flag.

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, Harrison said:

Well that might be true but my issue is with judging the guy through the lens of a marquee player. He’s a marquee player because of the way they structured his deal, not because he’s the best player in the eyes of the Club. 

Surely any marquee player who underperforms, whether because of the structure of his deal or for any other reason, is poor squad and recruitment management? Whatever way you look at it you have wasted the marquee place on your roster. And that's what we have done with Berenguer.

[Harrison]

4 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Surely any marquee player who underperforms, whether because of the structure of his deal or for any other reason, is poor squad and recruitment management? Whatever way you look at it you have wasted the marquee place on your roster. And that's what we have done with Berenguer.

Again, that might be true, but it’s expecting marquee performances from a guy who shouldn’t really be considered one that I don’t really understand. As a foreign player he’s been serviceable when he’s played this season. 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Harrison

[mhfcwa]

21 hours ago, Mr MO said:

I turn the commentary off sometimes, it’s rubbish - they seem to have no idea. This handball with the swinging arms was all done correct and he kept going on about it. I have noticed he’s not a fan of Melbourne City.

I once counted that he mentioned the Vuck 5 times in 45 minute in one of our games. We were playing United

[Mr MO]

1 minute ago, mhfcwa said:

I once counted that he mentioned the Vuck 5 times in 45 minute in one of our games. We were playing United

They seem to be so out of touch with modern football and so annoyingly biased towards certain clubs and players. Archie Thompson fits right in, and probably the smartest of the bunch.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Mr MO

[Nate]

2 hours ago, Mr MO said:

They seem to be so out of touch with modern football and so annoyingly biased towards certain clubs and players. Archie Thompson fits right in, and probably the smartest of the bunch.

Simon Hill is a superb commentator and Brendon Speed isn't bad either.

[Mr MO]

8 minutes ago, Nate said:

Simon Hill is a superb commentator and Brendon Speed isn't bad either.

Simon Hill okay.

Slater and Speed yeah nah - both biased and incompetent. I lost speedy when he used the term “out of bounce” once in a game.

[IssySG]

30 minutes ago, Nate said:

Simon Hill is a superb commentator and Brendon Speed isn't bad either.

I like Simon Hill but I find he is often overbearingly critical of City. I think it's a biproduct of his love of Man City, he doesn't want to be seen playing favourites so he goes the complete other way with it.

[Tommykins]

31 minutes ago, Nate said:

Simon Hill is a superb commentator and Brendon Speed isn't bad either.

The thing I quite like about Speed is that the bloke is just an absolute sports tragic, can commentate and add value to NRL, AFL and A-League games.

[citypool]

This might be a stupid statement but if we moved some guys from active to general admission and got them to sing the same chants at the same time. Could that improve the atmosphere a bit?

[MHFC-FAN]

54 minutes ago, citypool said:

This might be a stupid statement but if we moved some guys from active to general admission and got them to sing the same chants at the same time. Could that improve the atmosphere a bit?

It could be worth a shot and get both ends doing the same chant "ole ole" "ole ole" "we are Melbourne" "we are city" for example. 

[rayv36]

2 hours ago, Tommykins said:

The thing I quite like about Speed is that the bloke is just an absolute sports tragic, can commentate and add value to NRL, AFL and A-League games.

The bloke commentates everything from AFL, NRL and BBL he is bound to fuck up occasionally.

I do like when watching AFL he will chuck some soccer terms into his commentary.

[Torn Asunder]

Harper is a victory flog

[Dylan]

What is going on with active anyway? There was almost no one there against the jets.

[Afif Adam]

best commentator in HAL is Teo Pellizeri, no cap

[mjake1234]

13 hours ago, Dylan said:

What is going on with active anyway? There was almost no one there against the jets.

But they still made a lot of noise and created atmosphere. These guys should get discounted membership. Keep it up.

[jw1739]

2 hours ago, mjake1234 said:

But they still made a lot of noise and created atmosphere. These guys should get discounted membership. Keep it up.

Bloody good idea @mjake1234 . Suggest you put it to Ryan in the membership section. Without City Terrace and their predecessors AAMI Park would be like a morgue.

[bt50]

3 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Bloody good idea @mjake1234 . Suggest you put it to Ryan in the membership section. Without City Terrace and their predecessors AAMI Park would be like a morgue.

They do. Hence why Active membership is the same as GA for a reserved seat.