Jw1739 & King of hearts birthday round, 6th January, 7:50 KO

[Tony999]

So who was the knob in the black singlet next to the capo sticking up his finger at fans who were chanting while the Melbournian's were doing the silent treatment?

[Forever City]

Wazza survives for another week.

[Thrillhouse]

more disappointed tonight than the derby, emotionless from the shit we're putting out
jakobsen was dog shit and could/should of lost thanks to his horror defending (malikesque)
bort saved him, imagine how fucked we'd be if he went to another aleague team
muscat getting hate? he did nothing wrong, often pushed on 
ross did fuck all but scored 2 like any high profile player should of
atkinson and fitzy anonymous first half, fitzy 2nd half too while atkinson getting exposed in defence
thought vidosic did the mauk role better than mauk's done it all season, winning flick ons and chasing down defenders and the gk to put pressure on, officials must of been family of the wellington coach cause he missed out on everything

2 free big macs tonight, season tally up to 5  

[kingofhearts]

I'm shit faced and drunk,  I should be more upset probably but we fucking won wooo fucking hooo!  Happy birthday to me and @jw1739 what a night Z drinks on me ❤️

[Dylan]

While Joyce cautioned that Arzani “was a talent that needed to knuckle down and listen”,

 

Fuck off Joyce

[HEARTinator]

Game will forever be known for the fact that a kid saved Wazza’s arse.

Arzani gave us the Bruno style injection of fizz, swagger and momentum that’s been lacking all season. He was the reason we pulled ourselves out of a shit hole last night, an overall dire fcuking performance that can’t the ignored. It was a one man whirl wind effort that allowed us to leave the ground with a small spring in our steps. Up to half time it was as inept a performance as we’ve seen, Heart or City.

Arzani must continue to be groomed as our Bruno protege. He needs to keep getting more game time. Bring on more yoof.

Wazza is still a shit fcuking coach who got lucky last night.

[belaguttman]

10 hours ago, Shahanga said:

What a novel idea. Making subs when losing to change the game.

What is novel is that he didn't take off McCormack and bring on a defender

[HeartLand]

Didn't understand why the active area chanted "We're fucking shit" Why chant something negative like that? How's that productive? 

 

I see Wazza still coaching until the end of the season. Probably until the end of next season.

[LB]

Gees I finally see why everyone raves about Arzani. What a game. He has a Cahill sized ego but tbh we may need a player like that.

Good to see Waz use his subs but I think We looked most dangerous in the first 20 of the 2nd half & bringing Carrusca on for anyone other than Vidosic was a case of too many chefs etc. etc.

Edited January 7, 2018 by LB

[n i k o]

With 12 hours between me and that game I've settled down a bit. It was a pretty dour experience up until when Arzani came on. Fwiw I still back Wazza regarding his comment about the kid. I've been an advocate for him as much as the next person, perhaps more, but I think his work rate can improve and his defending can also be improved. I think he needs to learn to bring other players into the game more often to help him get into bettter position to work off them. 

But last night was exactly why he should be ahead of Kamau and should have been from round 4 onwards. Kamau whilst scoring some goals (very fortunate ones) was relatively useless during those games otherwise. And given his exposure etc. he should be well ahead of Arzani but he's, imo, behind him and has been for quite a while. 

Im glad Wazza took off Fitzy as it was probably his worst game in a City shirt. I agree with Embee about his performances the last month, albeit I believe they're more a reflection of the team as a whole over that period of time. 

Malik was again relatively solid, made probably only a few mistakes, but he's still not what we need in that position. 

I thought in the first half Brattan was by far and away our best. He's been criticised of dwelling on the ball lately and I took note last night his ball distribution was much quicker than usual. Only at times he would get stuck on the ball however it was again more to do with the lack of movement from other players and the system as a whole. 

Muscat was serviceable without being anything great, I find for an experienced player he doesn't position himself well enough on a consistent basis. Happy he didn't get a yellow card last night which was refreshing. 

Vidosic was solid and certainly provided a lot more going forward than Mail has this season  

Jakobsen, Bouzanis and Wazza were spuds of the match for me for obvious reasons. 

Janeison continues to show for whatever reason that his distribution with the ball is poor and he is a pretty average player when he's in the final third of the pitch. 

Finally again Wazza clearly can't get this team to play a system of football that's creative enough. As everyone's alluded to, Arzani took it upon himself to take on multiple defenders at times to win us the game, something we haven't had since the Novillo days. This game was a bandaid on a wound that's been getting bigger and bigger. As much as I believe Wazza can do some good things for our young players I dont think he can do good things for this football club. 

Edited January 6, 2018 by n i k o

[Thiem]

Smart, but still common sense substitutions by Joyce, I don't think he deserves any credit for the come from behind win. Armani will be on the bench next match, Muscat will be in starting eleven (even though he didn't perform too bad in comparison with jakobson). Whatever happened to that defence wins championships quote? Well Joyce isn't even good at executing his preferred, defensive gamestyle and relies on individual brilliance from schenkenveld to have a somewhat competent yet still lackluster defence.

[JMSTEP123]

5 hours ago, Dylan said:

While Joyce cautioned that Arzani “was a talent that needed to knuckle down and listen”,

 

Fuck off Joyce

Such a demoralizing choice of words. I could see what Joyce was trying to say, but he left it wholly open to be interpreted a number of ways that dont serve to inspire or encourage Arzani who lit AAMI Park on fire lastnight. He seemed to play the opposite of how Joyce likes it, and probably ignored Joyces instructions which led to the 2 goals in the first place. Seemed a spark in a rusty cog lastnight.

3 hours ago, belaguttman said:

What is novel is that he didn't take off McCormack and bring on a defender

Thank fuck he didnt! I like Ross got a full game in. He is a subtle menace. I enjoy watching him off the ball - reads the play for 90 minutes. Granted, he does not have the speed or flair of Fornaroli, but he is an intelligent player who knows and plays within his limits. Credit also for sticking it out with his injuries! 

I am a fan of Ross. Strike me down, he has copped a lot of shit over recent weeks but he is the reason we are 3rd and not 8th on the ladder. 

[JMSTEP123]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

 

I thought in the first half Brattan was by far and away our best. He's been criticised of dwelling on the ball lately and I took note last night his ball distribution was much quicker than usual. Only at times he would get stuck on the ball however it was again more to do with the lack of movement from other players and the system as a whole. 

This 👍

[jw1739]

5 hours ago, Dylan said:

While Joyce cautioned that Arzani “was a talent that needed to knuckle down and listen”,

 

Fuck off Joyce

IMO at times we're all a bit too sensitive on here about a comment, a phrase, a figure of speech that someone uses and we could be guilty of over-analysing.

From the little I know about Joyce he tends to use this sort of language about many talented young players. And whatever we might think about Joyce he was a youth coach at Manchester United for quite a while.

Just as a point of interest I'd like to know how he gets on with Joe Palatsides. The latter has a good record with our youth players, but he's very much in the background. Perhaps he prefers it that way.

[Hellenic Hero]

Terrace was interesting last night; big divide between front and back, plus there was a bit of verbal jousting between terrace leadership and guys on the wings, what was that all about?

[JMSTEP123]

2 minutes ago, Hellenic Hero said:

Terrace was interesting last night; big divide between front and back, plus there was a bit of verbal jousting between terrace leadership and guys on the wings, what was that all about?

Yeah sure was interesting. Divide made obvious by lack of crowd numbers.

Still hats off to the terrace. Entertaining and relevant singing whilst highlighting the current disharmony and lack of cohesion amongst supporters and the club. Its ugly but important to highlight. For too long has his club suffered mediocrity whilst its supporters stick through. The papers reporting the booing off is important too. I hope the players felt it, and Joyce acknowledged it in his Pep talk. 

[belaguttman]

What was interesting was that the "If you love City stand up" chant echoed around the stadium and almost nobody stood up. Maybe there should be 2 chants: "If you love City, stand up" followed by "If you love the way that City is playing, stand up"

Edited January 7, 2018 by belaguttman

[HeartOfCity]

32 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

What was interesting was that the "If you love City stand up" chant echoed around the stadium and almost nobody stood up. Maybe there should be 2 chants: "If you love City, stand up" followed by "If you love the way that City is playing, stand up"

Meh, would rather "if you want Joyce out stand up" 

 

[Murfy1]

My thoughts on Brattan, Vidosic and Carrusca against Wellington. 

 

I fully agree that Brattan is an hugely frustrating figure. His last assist was on December 10th against CCM (and he's only clocked up one other assist, in the 3-1 loss against Brisbane in November). I think most of his "chances created" (passes leading to shots) this season have come from set pieces. And perhaps even more than his creativity, Brattan hasn't dictated the tempo of games, and hasn't helped give us slick ball circulation like he certainly can. All up I agree that Brattan this season has normally dwelled on ball and has taken too many touches. But last night Brattan lifted his performance IMO, and moved the ball much better (read: faster), and Brattan actually laid the groundwork for the first goal, starting the lovely build up play in a triangle with Vidosic and Arzani down the right that led to the cross and McCormack's first goal.

Vidosic said post-match that he certainly still needs to get familiar with the runs and positioning of his teammates. Nonetheless, he provided "secondary assists" (the pass to the assisting player) for both of the goals, so not at all a bad first game IMO.

And Carrusca played an excellent teasing forward pass that led to the second goal. Vidosic jumped on ball after a defensive header, then Vidosic laid it off to Arzani, and then Arzani to McCormack and goal (and ultimately win).

 

Overall, we have an attack where most players (Brattan and Arzani, Arzani and Vidosic, Vidosic and Carrusca, and so on) have never played together before. This is in the context of pretty much every City player not playing to their full potential for several weeks (Brattan, Fitzgerald, Kamau, Mauk, Malik, Jakobsen, Bouzanis, Muscat, Jamieson, maybe McCormack). So I'm saying these players were good not great last night, and IMO no city players have been great for several weeks.

 

IMO Vidosic, Carrusca, Brattan and others all have much more to give, and I'm hopeful that if we can get a few absolute basics right--midfielders in midfield, attacking players (not Brattan) like McCormack, Arzani, Vidosic and Carrusca in the front 4 positions, and less than 2 really silly goals gifted per game (of course, ideally 0)--then Melbourne City's quality players can show their stuff, and we can see some respectable performances going forward.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Murfy1

[Thrillhouse]

tara looked fucking amazing 

[FFC1996]

On 07/01/2018 at 0:30 PM, JMSTEP123 said:

Yeah sure was interesting. Divide made obvious by lack of crowd numbers.

Still hats off to the terrace. Entertaining and relevant singing whilst highlighting the current disharmony and lack of cohesion amongst supporters and the club. Its ugly but important to highlight. For too long has his club suffered mediocrity whilst its supporters stick through. The papers reporting the booing off is important too. I hope the players felt it, and Joyce acknowledged it in his Pep talk. 

Yeah well done with the cricket chant btw, summed up the first half nicely.

[Dylan]

The majority of the game was a result of what happens when you have a manager that just focuses on defence and nothing else. They all looked like they had no idea what to do. 

[JMSTEP123]

11 hours ago, FFC1996 said:

Yeah well done with the cricket chant btw, summed up the first half nicely.

It was spot on

[playmaker]

5 hours ago, Dylan said:

The majority of the game was a result of what happens when you have a manager that just focuses on defence and nothing else. They all looked like they had no idea what to do. 

My argument is we looked no better in attack last season. Same problem, same cluelessness and lack of creativity, and same lack of service to our striker.

 

 

[jw1739]

33 minutes ago, playmaker said:

My argument is we looked no better in attack last season. Same problem, same cluelessness and lack of creativity, and same lack of service to our striker.

I was going to make that point also. Having a sound focus on defence does not mean that you cannot be effective in attack at the same time (see Sydney FC). The two are not mutually exclusive. Having good passing statistics means nothing if those passes are sideways and backwards. As soon as Arzani came on, a player prepared to try something different we looked a lot more potent and a lot more likely to score.

[playmaker]

49 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I was going to make that point also. Having a sound focus on defence does not mean that you cannot be effective in attack at the same time (see Sydney FC). The two are not mutually exclusive. Having good passing statistics means nothing if those passes are sideways and backwards. As soon as Arzani came on, a player prepared to try something different we looked a lot more potent and a lot more likely to score.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Brattan, Kamau and Fitzgerald are the problem.