Melbourne City v FC Bendigo

[elieanid]

 

Nice goal and assist from Prelevic in his little cameo. Only saw the 2nd half so a bit hard to read much into it.

Sign him up.

 

#signhimup #signhimup #signhimup

[RedAndWhitePride]

Yawn.

 

Was kind of weird seeing the red and white again, but don't mind the black shorts to go with it.

 

Half time entertainment the most exciting thing to take out of it.

[jw1739]

Seems the more "triallists" we bring on the more goals we score...

[Nate]

Seems the more "triallists" we bring on the more goals we score...

They've got more to prove than some of our regulars who consistently under-perform, yet retain their spot.

[thedukeofhearts]

Sign their keeper up!

EDIT: Just found out it's Sebastian Mattei.

Mattei has been a gun for us (FCB) this season. He's been playing as an outfield player the last few years, so still getting back in to the gk swing of things.

[jw1739]

Not an impressive performance in the least from us. Toothless as usual, possession without penetration, ball speed too low.

I hope we're going to get an independent report from someone who was there tonight and don't have to rely on the same old platitudes on the club web-site...

[Shahanga]

He was the GK coach at my local club last year and apparently didn't play at all that season.  Great to see him back (presumably) playing for love.  Football shouldn't just be about pro contracts etc etc. 

[thedukeofhearts]

He was the GK coach at my local club last year and apparently didn't play at all that season.  Great to see him back (presumably) playing for love.  Football shouldn't just be about pro contracts etc etc. 

yeah apparently he was even going to play this year. His dad talked him in to give it another go. I think he's enjoying playing again

[AlexDaGroza]

So is Anthony Rizsk signed up? didnt see a T next to his name on twitter.....

[Tommykins]

He'll be part of the the youth team.

[schrecky]

I thought we looked very poor, i'm hoping they were just playing to a JVS training type game plan.

[AlexDaGroza]

He'll be part of the the youth team.

other players on the bench are NYL players too

[belaguttman]

I thought we looked very poor, i'm hoping they were just playing to a JVS training type game plan.

Yes, we struggled in the first half, and even though we had the majority of possession and pressed well in midfield we struggled to break down a well organised defence that was compact and deep. Now all teams struggle with this but it requires good movement off the ball to create and move into space as well as accurate crisp passing. As usual our passing in the final third of the pitch is poor and much too slow.

[n i k o]

I'm a bit suprised how many of you guys think that we are having trouble in the attacking third. More so from the fact that a lot of you think this is happenning because we simply aren't effective in that area, as opposed to the fact that we are not focusing on this during this particular game. Remember this is a practise match that we could win very easily, and that's no disrespect intended towards Bendigo. If jvs goal was solely winning the score would have been far different, perhaps double the difference if not more. No, the team goes out with a specific goal in mind that they're working on, and banging in goals is not what they're looking for.

[cadete]

I take it no Ethnic Food was being served at ground because otherwise it would have been mentioned by now... 

 

I guess Gillies Pies are just not Aussie Sokka.

[Tonyboozeadams]

I could go for a kebab right now

[belaguttman]

I'm a bit suprised how many of you guys think that we are having trouble in the attacking third. More so from the fact that a lot of you think this is happenning because we simply aren't effective in that area, as opposed to the fact that we are not focusing on this during this particular game. Remember this is a practise match that we could win very easily, and that's no disrespect intended towards Bendigo. If jvs goal was solely winning the score would have been far different, perhaps double the difference if not more. No, the team goes out with a specific goal in mind that they're working on, and banging in goals is not what they're looking for.

If banging in goals is not the aim of football then what is? Yes, it is a practise game ut I'd at least like to see good movement and crisp fast passing in the front third. It isn't happening.

[agoalie]

Take lasts night game as a youth league trial match. Saturday's game against CCM will be much more of an indication of the season ahead.

[Heart_fan]

At this stage what they would be working on is specific focus areas of a game, not pure number of goals scored.

 

What it did show though is that Marino may well be a good signing. He has the potential to be a very good player, and is already showing some very promising signs.

 

The amount of youth players that were involved should be an indicator of just how the game was approached though. It was designed to get more run into the legs of certain first XI players, mixed in with youth to ensure everyone got a run.

 

I agree that the CCM match would be the target, but the main focus would still be a month away

[NewConvert]

I did not watch the game but going by the comments above, I would hope that the players can do more than one training drill at the same time.

[SF33]

Didn't like the black shorts/socks at all. It's like they're going out of their way to not use red.

[belaguttman]

At this stage what they would be working on is specific focus areas of a game, not pure number of goals scored.

 

What it did show though is that Marino may well be a good signing. He has the potential to be a very good player, and is already showing some very promising signs.

 

The amount of youth players that were involved should be an indicator of just how the game was approached though. It was designed to get more run into the legs of certain first XI players, mixed in with youth to ensure everyone got a run.

 

I agree that the CCM match would be the target, but the main focus would still be a month away

I agree, but movement and passing speed and accuracy in the front third has always been an identified issue and has never been fixed.

[n i k o]

I'm a bit suprised how many of you guys think that we are having trouble in the attacking third. More so from the fact that a lot of you think this is happenning because we simply aren't effective in that area, as opposed to the fact that we are not focusing on this during this particular game. Remember this is a practise match that we could win very easily, and that's no disrespect intended towards Bendigo. If jvs goal was solely winning the score would have been far different, perhaps double the difference if not more. No, the team goes out with a specific goal in mind that they're working on, and banging in goals is not what they're looking for.

If banging in goals is not the aim of football then what is? Yes, it is a practise game ut I'd at least like to see good movement and crisp fast passing in the front third. It isn't happening.  

My post of in response to those harping on that were not creating chances etc. Scoring a lot more goals against a team from Bendigo will prove what exactly? Not much. This game was about things the manager wants to work on other than scoring goals. You must be able to see that while we are capable of scoring a lot more than four goals last night this wasn't what was the focus. So don't think that last nights game was a reflection on the coming season.

Take lasts night game as a youth league trial match. Saturday's game against CCM will be much more of an indication of the season ahead.

 

This I agree with, more first eleven players starting and will give us a better indication of where we're at than last nights game

 

At this stage what they would be working on is specific focus areas of a game, not pure number of goals scored.

 

What it did show though is that Marino may well be a good signing. He has the potential to be a very good player, and is already showing some very promising signs.

 

The amount of youth players that were involved should be an indicator of just how the game was approached though. It was designed to get more run into the legs of certain first XI players, mixed in with youth to ensure everyone got a run.

 

I agree that the CCM match would be the target, but the main focus would still be a month away

I agree, but movement and passing speed and accuracy in the front third has always been an identified issue and has never been fixed.

Tbh I don't remember last season really having a problem 'creating chances' in front of goal and had a lot more opportunities to score than other teams that finished above us. I don't think this will be a problem for us this season, the bigger concern is our back line and our defensive midfield position.

[Deviant]

[Red or Dead]

...farken!

[belaguttman]

 

Tbh I don't remember last season really having a problem 'creating chances' in front of goal and had a lot more opportunities to score than other teams that finished above us. I don't think this will be a problem for us this season, the bigger concern is our back line and our defensive midfield position.

 

I think that we have the same problem we have always had of poor movement, slow ball speed and inaccuracy in the front third. This will be temporarily alleviated by the arrival of Villa.

I agree that we need a solid DM and effective solutions at RB and LB. These are all crucial issues with the way that we want to play. Ramsay and Hoffman are not effective solutions, a solid DM will take the pressure off our 2 CBs, I see no improvement at all in the front third players, in fact they are not even in the top half of the HAL in those positions. We will continue to create lots of chances, I don't want to see more chances, I want to see more efficiency with those chances. David Williams could have easily scored 20 goals last season with the number of effective chances that he had.

 

The problem we have is that if we become more effective at pressing and ball retention then we'll be facing the problem of compact teams sitting deep against us so that we need to be able to create and see opportunities to open defences. I can't see it happening on recent performances.

[HeartFc]

So we won 4-0.

[jw1739]

TBH I watched about 20 minutes of the second half on video before becoming so bored I turned to something else. We were stringing 10, 20, possibly even 30 short passes together and going nowhere, and certainly not finishing off with a goal, and I must agree with Bela that the object of a football match is to score goals.

 

I accept the point that last night may have had different objectives than just walloping Bendigo by as many goals as possible, and that's fair enough. But if you play that sort of match you will frequently see the team advertised as (in our case) " a Melbourne City XI", meaning that you are deliberately not fielding your strongest team and indicating that some trialling and experiments may be going on. Those sorts of matches are also often played behind closed doors, or admission is free. I'm glad I didn't travel all the way to Bendigo to watch some NYL triallists and glorified training drills and pay $10 for the privilege of doing so.

 

The good thing to come out of last night from my perspective is that in Marc Marino we have a young player who knows where the onion bag is and isn't afraid to put it in there, and that there were several other young players out there showing a lot of quality and determination.

 

Other than that I hope that in future the club is more transparent about these pre-season "matches."

[Tonyboozeadams]

We have become masters of sterile possession

[Kiro Kompiro]

 

 

Tbh I don't remember last season really having a problem 'creating chances' in front of goal and had a lot more opportunities to score than other teams that finished above us. I don't think this will be a problem for us this season, the bigger concern is our back line and our defensive midfield position.

 

I think that we have the same problem we have always had of poor movement, slow ball speed and inaccuracy in the front third. This will be temporarily alleviated by the arrival of Villa.

I agree that we need a solid DM and effective solutions at RB and LB. These are all crucial issues with the way that we want to play. Ramsay and Hoffman are not effective solutions, a solid DM will take the pressure off our 2 CBs, I see no improvement at all in the front third players, in fact they are not even in the top half of the HAL in those positions. We will continue to create lots of chances, I don't want to see more chances, I want to see more efficiency with those chances. David Williams could have easily scored 20 goals last season with the number of effective chances that he had.

 

The problem we have is that if we become more effective at pressing and ball retention then we'll be facing the problem of compact teams sitting deep against us so that we need to be able to create and see opportunities to open defences. I can't see it happening on recent performances.

 

 

If I was to cut and paste your comments to season 1 threads, it wouldn't look out of place.

 

I know we don't agree but we kept the same coach, so why do we expect a different outcome?

 

My hope is that the heat is really turned up on JVS during Villa's stint because I will give this club away if we go through another 3 seasons with JVS-football.

[belaguttman]

I don't think that it's just a coaching issue, we need players who have these skills or we need to recruit better players

[Heart_fan]

We have become masters of sterile possession

 

We always have been really.

 

Slow transitions from the first 1.5 seasons gave way to fast but useless long ball football for 2 years. Deep down though, the DNA still seems to point to an inability to pass and move quickly in any effective manner.

[rass]

I get what people are saying about slow passing etc, but there's been no mention of our #10 Koren who has only played a half or so and is still not match fit.

How he links up with Villa/Kennedy? , plus Duff and Mooy is vital (all players new to this year). I'll wait to see how that all works before I pass my judgement on how our final third work...

[Murfy1]

Don't get the handwringing in this thread. 

 

I was at the game, and it was a solid, albeit not spectacular, pre-season performance and result.

 

 

- We won 4-0

- The team maintained possession very well, despite it being an experimental squad and there being lots of subs throughout the match

- Linked to the team maintaining possession well was the fact that the team made few turnovers, and next to no sloppy turnovers that gave our opponents real chances to score. Sloppy turnovers, especially in dangerous areas, have really hurt our teams in the past, so it's a valuable improvement that they have been reigned in. It's not an especially entertaining thing, turnovers not happening, but the team will be much the better for it

- The team included a starting front 4 of Damien Duff, Marc Marino, Anthony Rizk and Paulo Retre, and we still ended up scoring 4 goals. Still, unsurprisingly the team wasn't truly top class and at its best in the final third, because we didn't have our best players playing in the final third. 3/4s of those players will be fringe players next season. So when we have Duff, Koren, Villa or Kennedy(assuming) and Williams or Dugandzic all fit and firing and all on the pitch at once, our attacking third will unsurprisingly be much more potent. 

- Duff has seemingly made a full recovery after his knee injury last season, and is impressively putting in the effort and doing the hard yards in pre-season. It looks like we'll have a motivated and fully fit Damien Duff in the team next season, and that would be a big asset

- We trialled 10 players (a whole 10 players!): Ross Archibald, Anthony Rizk, Nick Symeoy, Tom King, Luka Prelevic, Philip Petreski, Hernan Espindola, Alex Dao, Wade Dekker and Adam Fadljevic (pretty sure it was Adam). That unto itself is a pretty useful pre-season game

- And last, but perhaps most important, lots of players got more match fitness, and none of our players are injured. That is a very big plus, and it's very different from every other pre-season where we've always had at least a few injuries. As Gombau said after the match in Alice Springs: "If we lose this game and we don't have any injuries, it's better than to win this game and to have the injuries". So once again, non-events like no injuries, although not eye-catching like a 7-0 win, are a very big plus 

 

 

So it was a useful and solid pre-season match. That is, it was a solid preparation match for the competitive football that the team will play in 5 weeks from now. And for all the reasons above, the match against Bendigo was a solid pre-season hit-out.

So things are tracking well for the season, and the CCM game will provide further evidence about how the team is shaping up for the season. 

Edited September 3, 2014 by Murfy1

[Tonyboozeadams]

It's not so much the slow passing. It is the inability of attacking players to get into space and provide good attacking positions. So we just pass around halfway or move it to the flanks, where duga or ramsey hit crosses to the keeper or defence. Hopefully koren provides some threat up near the box or duff is able to hit a usefull cross

[jw1739]

The handwringing?

 

Possibly the utter boredom of the so-called "pre-season" more than anything else, and a series of matches against nothing opponents. If you don't play in the finals series, the "pre-season" is actually 25 weeks, only just shorter than the actual season itself, and it therefore receives far more attention and assumes far more importance than it should.

[belaguttman]

It's not so much the slow passing. It is the inability of attacking players to get into space and provide good attacking positions. So we just pass around halfway or move it to the flanks, where duga or ramsey hit crosses to the keeper or defence. Hopefully koren provides some threat up near the box or duff is able to hit a usefull cross

It's both, they are linked. When a defence is tightly packed and deep movement off the ball creates space by pulling defenders away from an area that a player can run into and receive a ball. There's little time for this if course and not much margin for error. Our poor movement, poor passing and clumsy first touch slows this process down to an ineffective pace. Now of course if all our players were great at this they would be playing in the Bundesliga but it is a skill we should aspire to and at ;east match the other HAL teams rather than being one of the worst. It's particularly important for us with our style of play and also it'll be a common problem if we are controlling games and controlling possession.

Edited September 4, 2014 by belaguttman

[Tonyboozeadams]

Other teams in the league have great off the ball movement and positioning. Obviously roar, but also Adelaide and even Wellington were good at this, last season.

Stagnate and sterile. I hope Jvs is trying to fix this

[Alexxandro]

The handwringing?

 

Possibly the utter boredom of the so-called "pre-season" more than anything else, and a series of matches against nothing opponents. If you don't play in the finals series, the "pre-season" is actually 25 weeks, only just shorter than the actual season itself, and it therefore receives far more attention and assumes far more importance than it should.

A good reason to take the FFA cup seriously. Imagine how much better it would be for both the team and the fans if we now had an FFA game to prepare for. 

[moops]

I don't think that it's just a coaching issue, we need players who have these skills or we need to recruit better players

I disagree to an extent, I think the coaching is holding people back. Which is two fold, it creates doubt (conference falls) and positive movement, the guys are hesitant moving from position.