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Rd 01 City vs Brisbane (AAMI Fri 6/10, 7.50KO)


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7 hours ago, Embee said:

Exactly.

Everyone was complaining about our defensive frailties when we played 'beautiful' football and now we're concerned about pragmatic and defensive football being dour? If being 'boring' stops us conceding stupid goals on the break and actually gives us a solid platform to compete from I'll take it any day. 

ditto

we ground out a win, not pretty at all, but how many times have i seen Heart/City cough that up in the last 10 minutes to end up drawing a match.

okay we were missing, Killer, Timmy Bruno and Oscar ( winner) Tip rat

Macca as just off a plane 3 days before hand, Kudz had 10 minutes ,

so there was a makeshift team out there, Sheesh Jako at LB, FFS.

If we can grind out 20 wins like that we'll be near the top and I'll be happy

 

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What I'm hoping for and after Friday night I'm more optimistic about it happening. What I'm hoping for is that we build a rock solid defence that regardless of the personal the unit operates the same every match and then slowly develop and improve going forward. 

Now if we can get through the first part of the season tight at the back I'd be stoked. Also I'm hopeful we can become adventurous going forward and with the players we have we should be able to. My only concern is the Attacking Midfield role. 

This weeks derby will see exactly what sort of team we have.

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1 hour ago, Jovan said:

What I'm hoping for and after Friday night I'm more optimistic about it happening. What I'm hoping for is that we build a rock solid defence that regardless of the personal the unit operates the same every match and then slowly develop and improve going forward. 

Now if we can get through the first part of the season tight at the back I'd be stoked. Also I'm hopeful we can become adventurous going forward and with the players we have we should be able to. My only concern is the Attacking Midfield role. 

This weeks derby will see exactly what sort of team we have.

Agree with that, I'd be more than happy to go through games like Friday's in return for wins. Your last comment I'd normally agree with if it wasn't for last seasons round two derby which told us nothing regarding how the rest of the season would pan out. 

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10 hours ago, Embee said:

Exactly.

Everyone was complaining about our defensive frailties when we played 'beautiful' football and now we're concerned about pragmatic and defensive football being dour? If being 'boring' stops us conceding stupid goals on the break and actually gives us a solid platform to compete from I'll take it any day. 

Let's not see it as a dichotomy, we can play exciting football and have a structured and effective defence

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11 hours ago, Embee said:

Exactly.

Everyone was complaining about our defensive frailties when we played 'beautiful' football and now we're concerned about pragmatic and defensive football being dour? If being 'boring' stops us conceding stupid goals on the break and actually gives us a solid platform to compete from I'll take it any day. 

IMO we should be able to discuss the attractiveness or otherwise of the match as an entertainment spectacle without compromising our satisfaction, as City fans, with the result and the three points.

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11 hours ago, Embee said:

Exactly.

Everyone was complaining about our defensive frailties when we played 'beautiful' football and now we're concerned about pragmatic and defensive football being dour? If being 'boring' stops us conceding stupid goals on the break and actually gives us a solid platform to compete from I'll take it any day. 

The thing is, we never actually played beautiful football. This forum spent most of last season complaining about a lack of creativity and a reliance on set pieces to score, not just our poor defence.

And while we didn't concede against roar they cut us open several times in the first 30. Our defensive effort was great but the organization was poor. Our pressing was uncoordinated and chaotic, leaving massive gaps off the ball and free opponents in the centre of the park. If we were playing against an actual football team we would've been destroyed.

We have always had talented players but we have always been disorganized. When we come up against well coached teams we struggle and have no mechanisms to combat our opponent's system. How many times have we complained about city players who performed better at their other A-League clubs?

It shouldn't be a discussion about an attacking philosophy vs defensive philosophy. Nor should it be a discussion about ideology vs pragmatism. It should be about a poorly coached team that relies on individual brilliance to compete with teams with far less talent (and far smaller wages on and off the field).

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I watch football for entertainment and to be social. I'll take the 3 points but the game on Friday was dour. That display would not encourage me to follow the A-league if i wasn't already. If they were all like that I'm not sure I would renew my membership. 

The reason i was frustrated last year was not that we lost but the way we lost. The capitulation, the lack of "heart", the obvious coaching mistakes of playing out of form players and not changing up a losing formula. I can take winning and losing, but at least go down fighting.

I can live with us not winning the league each year but i want us to be a chance. I hope that this year we build on a solid defence with some creativity in midfield and wingers who are willing to run at their men and have a shot. I'd take that football (and a slim shot at glory) over us grinding out 1-0 wins. 

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Lots of replies, I can't be bothered addressing them all individually but it seems they're mostly along the same line.

To put it simply, my priority is for this team to win and be successful, and to be honest I don't really care how that's achieved on field as long as we take the 3 points and ultimately, silverware. Yes, attractive and winning football are not mutually exclusive and it can be done, but given the choice between the two I will take winning football every day and I personally feel it will ultimately be success that brings fans into the stadium.

Look at the best team in the competition lasts season (perhaps the best ever), they were constantly accused of being negative and playing dour football, but if we had the season they just had, would any of us be complaining? As far as us last season, no, we didn't play attractive football, but the team was clearly built to do so and it was the end game but we failed terribly. I'm much more comfortable with attempting to implement a rigid structured defense and then building from there.

Regardless, it's still early days and we could essentially have the same weaknesses we had last year, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

Edited by Embee
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18 minutes ago, Embee said:

Lots of replies, I can't be bothered addressing them all individually but it seems they're mostly along the same line.

To put it simply, my priority is for this team to win and be successful, and to be honest I don't really care how that's achieved on field as long as we take the 3 points and ultimately, silverware. Yes, attractive and winning football are not mutually exclusive and it can be done, but given the choice between the two I will take winning football every day and I personally feel it will ultimately be success that brings fans into the stadium.

Look at the best team in the competition lasts season (perhaps the best ever), they were constantly accused of being negative and playing dour football, but if we had the season they just had, would any of us be complaining? As far as us last season, no, we didn't play attractive football, but the team was clearly built to do so and it was the end game but we failed terribly. I'm much more comfortable with attempting to implement a rigid structured defense and then building from there.

Regardless, it's still early days and we could essentially have the same weaknesses we had last year, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

This. 

And I think most people would agree that we have a strong squad. By that token, surely if we build a side that can defend first and foremost, we'll have the quality up front to nick more than the odd goal and do very well against all teams. 

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55 minutes ago, haz said:

I hope we play well all season. Although I'm not confident yet as I have trust issues with this club after the first Derby last year...

The trust issue isn't from the first derby, it stems from what followed the first derby and in particular what followed the FFA Cup....

... and what preceded it for every other season.

I'm not complaining that we won, I'm pleased that we won.

I'm pleased that we kept a clean sheet although that was as much down to luck (Roar hitting the upright) and poor play by Roar as anything that we did.

I'm concerned that we still failed to unlock Roar in the first half but accept that we had important players out, unfit or just too new to the club.

We did better when Roar came at us in the second half although other teams will be content to sit back and counter-attack (like the smurfs) and we'll struggle unless the missing players massively improve our inventiveness.

I'm concerned that our opening game crowd was so low given that there were no competing major events. I was one of the ones that were missing, this is the first season where I'm not prepared to drive for 3.5 hours each way as I just don't trust the men's team will change. I hope to be proven wrong and hope to be back. Incidentally, I've contacted the franchise about the possibility of a 5 game active season ticket, that option would help as I'm not happy driving all that way for GA.

I'll still watch and decide though

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10 hours ago, kingofhearts said:

We have the grumpiest 'fans' in the world smh...

"The natural state of the football fan is bitter disappointment, no matter what the score"

Nick Hornby.

But Bela does make a valid point. This club has given us very little to #believe in over the years.

Edited by KSK_47
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Watching the replay of the game shows we had it over the Roar but with plenty of improvement required if we're to challenge for silverware. Just a pet hate of mine here in a few pics. With Mooy we had a guy who would change direction to find a better path to goal, a quality you need in a midfielder who's there to pull strings, an orchestra leader. Here is a snapshot of Brattan doing just the opposite (he actually had not a bad game overall BTW). Malik nicely laying it off to Luke who's running into good space.

37421459240_c36de8e196_b.jpg

He's got plenty of room between himself and Roar players right in front of him. But now he decides to close that space by running directly towards them! He could have turned 180deg away, to his right side where there was empty space for us to exploit.

37646860782_619ab07d83_b.jpg

Guess what?

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Well there you go, lost the ball. A completely avoidable situation if he'd just had more nous about him.

37421463020_f86ed638f8_b.jpg

If he can improve his decision making it'll lead to fewer turnovers and he'll be more effective.

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Nicely picked up. He turns what was an effective 8-10m pass into a turnover, pretty much in the same spot as Malik would have been if he had held the ball himself.

Another major fault that several City players have - including Brattan - is that they take too many strides towards the player they ultimately release the ball to. This, and turning the wrong way, are major reasons why our ball transition is so ponderous.

Let's hope that Joyce is right on to these things in video review sessions..

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