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Matchday 23: v WSW - Saturday 14th March 7.30pm at AAMI Park


Harrison
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4 minutes ago, Harrison said:

Making a sub at 91 minutes. If it’s time wasting then I’m not sure why we’re doing it. If it’s to help us score it’s almost pointless. 

Pretty standard time-wasting tactic. IMO substitutes is a weak area for Mombaerts, as it was for Joyce.

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Scrappy game. Was tough work for us. They sat back and countered and it’s always tricky to stop Duke but we did well. Lucky to not cop a goal there with Curtis but that was just freaky. Never seen anything like it.

Still feels like a missed opportunity. 

Edited by Harrison
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1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

There is a little pattern of being flat in the second half. 

Well WSW always have a slow first half. Effectively they sit back and defend using minimal effort, then in the second half they come at teams who by now have tired enough to enable their counter attacks to be effective. So if in the first half you haven't scored two or more goals against WSW then in the second half they will get you. Atkinson was cramping and the team slowed right down. This is a tactics issue not a team issue.

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We’re still shit. Incredibly boring slow play with shit finishing. 
Wales must leave, closer to putting it in his own net than scoring a sitter tonight. 
Atkinson was tragic, would like to think jamo going off injured is the only reason he didn’t get dragged. 
delboy is shit

disappointing that glover let an easy one in near post. 
poor use of subs again tops off a shit game. 
big chance lost in what could be our last home game for a while 

Edited by Thrillhouse
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Honestly i think Mombearts decision to play Suseata in the midfield and wales on the wing was poor. Should have left Susuaeta on wing and Metcalfe into midfield. This is far less disruptive overall. Wales cannot score under pressure and Susaeta is very weak physically and this does not suit A league. Susaeta in space on the wing gets more out of his skills. 

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21 minutes ago, citymad said:

Honestly i think Mombearts decision to play Suseata in the midfield and wales on the wing was poor. Should have left Susuaeta on wing and Metcalfe into midfield. This is far less disruptive overall. Wales cannot score under pressure and Susaeta is very weak physically and this does not suit A league. Susaeta in space on the wing gets more out of his skills. 

Agree. Mombaerts decision to play Susaeta in midfield last night was a fail. The midfield was a mess. Floppyburger and Susaeta couldnt string two passes together. Why Mombaerts waited till the 70th min to make a change I'll never know. He did the same thing over in Wellington. Lucky to get away with a draw last night.

One thing no one has mentioned is the clear handball on Mourdakoutas. Why didn't the VAR check it? Should have been a penalty. 

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The handball came off Maclarens foot onto Mourdakoutas hand. Thats a Penalty. Clear and obvious error form Ref. VAR should have corrected that and it would be 2-1. whole different story then. there is no 'accidental handball' 

Edited by citymad
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42 minutes ago, citymad said:

The handball came off Maclarens foot onto Mourdakoutas hand. Thats a Penalty. Clear and obvious error form Ref. VAR should have corrected that and it would be 2-1. whole different story then. there is no 'accidental handball' 

Disagree. Read the rules again. If it comes off an opponent who is close and straight into a hand/arm then it’s not a handball provided the player’s arm isn’t making their body unnaturally bigger. His hand/arm wasn’t above his shoulder either and it was close to his body.

Correct decision and definitely not a clear and obvious error. 

Agree with those criticising Susaeta in midfield. He was poor in the middle against Adelaide and poor again last night. It just doesn’t work but Metcalfe looked rusty. No obvious solution except for Luna straight back in next week, if the game goes ahead. 

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18 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Which position mitigates Wales ability, or lack there of? Being in the centre of midfield or on the wing? If anything is questionable it's why he even gets a run. He's hopeless. Give the position to Colakovski at the very least. 

The bench, sadly. I like the kid’s effort and his pace but he cannot score and as a forward that’s a big problem. Luna back in next week moves Susaeta back to the wing and Wales to the bench.

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A little perspective, sure, we were lucky to get away with a draw last night, but every other season it would have been a loss, particularly in a game after a big performance where were expected to do well at home.

Positives:

we didn't lose

We didn't lose and we didn't have Luna or Griffiths in the team

 

Negatives:

We didn't win, we had the chances but failed to convert. The difference is Maclaren's drop in form + poor service. He likes to drop into space or run into space, the problem is a mixture of poor service and lack of movement off the ball by other players that creates space for him (or them)

We're still trying to find the best use of Susaeta, he performs best on the wing, but lacks pace and that's why Wales is preferred, although Wales provides no attacking threat

Terrible ball retention by everyone last night kept allowing WSW back into what should have been a one-sided game

Delbridge's pass selection was dreadful, a real error-prone performance

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I avoided the crowds last night and went to the game.  A draw was a fair result TBH. 

These games happen and it was good we didn't lose,  as that was the expected result.

I thought our Spaniard was good in midfield, JMac seemed to be developing a bit of confidence as the game progressed, and Frenchy has some genuine quality that is slowly coming to the fore

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2 hours ago, Harrison said:

The bench, sadly. I like the kid’s effort and his pace but he cannot score and as a forward that’s a big problem. Luna back in next week moves Susaeta back to the wing and Wales to the bench.

Well yes however my point was more toward him and Suaseta switching. At  very least on the wing Wales mistakes are less problematic. 

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4 hours ago, Harrison said:

Disagree. Read the rules again. If it comes off an opponent who is close and straight into a hand/arm then it’s not a handball provided the player’s arm isn’t making their body unnaturally bigger. His hand/arm wasn’t above his shoulder either and it was close to his body.

Correct decision and definitely not a clear and obvious error. 

Agree with those criticising Susaeta in midfield. He was poor in the middle against Adelaide and poor again last night. It just doesn’t work but Metcalfe looked rusty. No obvious solution except for Luna straight back in next week, if the game goes ahead. 

'Metcalfe looked rusty.' Compared to who????? 😂😅😅 They all looked rusty!!!!!!!!!!!! At least Metcalfe has an excuse. Coming back from a knee injury and only played about 40 mins in the last 6-7 weeks. The rest of the team should hang their heads in shame after that effort. Metcalfe needs to be starting fullstop, he's not a bench/impact player. 

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3 hours ago, Tomi said:

'Metcalfe looked rusty.' Compared to who????? 😂😅😅 They all looked rusty!!!!!!!!!!!! At least Metcalfe has an excuse. Coming back from a knee injury and only played about 40 mins in the last 6-7 weeks. The rest of the team should hang their heads in shame after that effort. Metcalfe needs to be starting fullstop, he's not a bench/impact player. 

He was very rusty. The team wasn’t rusty, they weren’t sharp but they looked buggered after a six-day turnaround from Perth. There’s a difference.

Now I agree that Metcalfe should’ve started but he clearly needs minutes to get back to good form and that’s a risk. 

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58 minutes ago, Harrison said:

He was very rusty. The team wasn’t rusty, they weren’t sharp but they looked buggered after a six-day turnaround from Perth. There’s a difference.

Now I agree that Metcalfe should’ve started but he clearly needs minutes to get back to good form and that’s a risk. 

The 6 days turn around from Perth with 3 hours time difference makes me laugh a little. Other top teams only had issues with it because they played mid week ACL.

This isn’t AFL who uses that as an excuse.

We run out of steam every second half 75% of all games played.

Edited by Mr MO
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18 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

The 6 days turn around from Perth with 3 hours time difference makes me laugh a little. Other top teams only had issues with it because they played mid week ACL.

This isn’t AFL who uses that as an excuse.

We run out of steam every second half 75% of all games played.

It is a big deal, not only the distance but playing in heat, the Sydney Perth game was also very tame.

Weve got 7 points out of a possible 9 in the last 4 weeks and got a couple easy games coming up (if they get played) 

So for me we should be looking at things positively not picking holes in some obvious flaws. 

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31 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

The 6 days turn around from Perth with 3 hours time difference makes me laugh a little. Other top teams only had issues with it because they played mid week ACL.

This isn’t AFL who uses that as an excuse.

We run out of steam every second half 75% of all games played.

One of the players said it in an interview and Mombaerts said they weren’t fit enough after a long trip and six day recovery. 

I’ll go with them.

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1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

The 6 days turn around from Perth with 3 hours time difference makes me laugh a little. Other top teams only had issues with it because they played mid week ACL.

This isn’t AFL who uses that as an excuse.

We run out of steam every second half 75% of all games played.

different sports - AFL players run a few extra kilometres per game by comparison + jumping and tackling 

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18 minutes ago, Nate said:

different sports - AFL players run a few extra kilometres per game by comparison + jumping and tackling 

Exactly, 6 days is plenty to recover for an pro athlete footballer player. It’s a soft excuse to hide results behind not being fit enough. We just aren’t the top team we would like to be.

1 hour ago, Jovan said:

It is a big deal, not only the distance but playing in heat, the Sydney Perth game was also very tame.

Yes Sydney and Perth both play ACL, we don’t.

Edited by Mr MO
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7 hours ago, Mr MO said:

Exactly, 6 days is plenty to recover for an pro athlete footballer player. It’s a soft excuse to hide results behind not being fit enough. We just aren’t the top team we would like to be.

Yes Sydney and Perth both play ACL, we don’t.

Which means that although City are second on the ladder, this means that the team remains short of a couple of good players and better fitness and match conditioning. Plus better tactics. Looking it from a positive point of view, the team has never been this close to the top for so long. Not only am I happy where we are at but also with better recruiting at season's end, the team could evolve into a consistently decent side.

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25 minutes ago, moops said:

I thought Atkinson was best on field for us, he is starting to mature and looked pretty good.

He seems to be defending quite well, too. My main knock on him was (and usually is with wingers converted to full-backs) is that he was due a few howlers a game at the back, he seems more settled there now.

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1 hour ago, Tommykins said:

He seems to be defending quite well, too. My main knock on him was (and usually is with wingers converted to full-backs) is that he was due a few howlers a game at the back, he seems more settled there now.

Agree, I appreciate his bursts forward - unfortunately he seems to be only one in team able to do that. Extend his contract I would say.

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3 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

Agree, I appreciate his bursts forward - unfortunately he seems to be only one in team able to do that. Extend his contract I would say.

Agree. TBH I would say that most of his errors came about due to Wales not having a clue where to position himself so Atkinson having to second guess his decision to pass to him.

Feel sorry for any player having use Wales as a pass recipient.

 

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1 minute ago, playmaker said:

Agree. TBH I would say that most of his errors came about due to Wales not having a clue where to position himself so Atkinson having to second guess his decision to pass to him.

Feel sorry for any player having use Wales as a pass recipient.

 

It was the long cross ball which went wrong too often for this game as well. Imagine another one or two players like him with drive forward - we would look completely different.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Galloway as right back and Atkinson on the wing.

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12 hours ago, Mr MO said:

Exactly, 6 days is plenty to recover for an pro athlete footballer player. It’s a soft excuse to hide results behind not being fit enough. We just aren’t the top team we would like to be.

Yes Sydney and Perth both play ACL, we don’t.

Like you I just don't buy this fitness excuse. It is such a tame excuse for poor second-half performances. The squad commenced track work on 8th July 2019, and if they aren't fit enough by now after all that time including 20+ matches then they bloody well ought to be. They are professional athletes for goodness' sake. Many professional footballers play two matches per week for a longer season than ours is, and they manage it.

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59 minutes ago, playmaker said:

Agree. TBH I would say that most of his errors came about due to Wales not having a clue where to position himself so Atkinson having to second guess his decision to pass to him.

Feel sorry for any player having use Wales as a pass recipient.

 

Yeah not a bad shout - the best I've seen him look is still behind Arzani, because it encouraged him to get outside, whereas Wales isn't really a threat cutting in, so you see Atkinson making a lot of those runs inside, where he'd be probably be more suited to getting outside and using his pace to get the ball in.

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