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Matchday 2: v Adelaide United - Sun 20th October 4:00pm at Aami Park


IssySG
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I won't add to the cliches by saying it was a game of two halves. The team was better than anything Joyce served and for the first time in  two years I could see that players were intent on scoring.

I had a good look at Ramy and as being said earlier he puts himself in good positions, runs well but he over does it or his finish is not good enough - I have decide to put him in the too good for the NPL but not good enough for the A-League. I hope I am wrong and that in due course he does improve but right now I am not putting any money on him.

As for the Uruguayans - no impact what so ever. Had a look at their playing career and both seem to hover between first division La Liga and second division. In either case there is an argument that perhaps the A-League is not too far off from the its overseas counterparts (excluding the major leagues). The flip side to this is that they are not going to make much of an impression on the A-League and we are stuck with them for two years.

The third point is that the team just fell apart in the second half. Given that we added three fresh players in Luna, Cabrera and Brillante the team was submissive. Disappointed with their performance.

Finally Noone copped a knock on teh knee (it happened right in front of us) and after that he was not so effective. Surprised he was not replaced and more than likely a non-starter on Wednesday.

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Goodness, I thought it was a poor game all round. Our passing was atrocious, and we completely butchered a number of chances in the second half - player after player taking the wrong option by passing instead of shooting, and then the final shot ballooning over the bar. Sick of watching us pass the ball backwards ending up with Bouzanis who then kicks straight down an opposing player's throat. Little entertainment for the uncommitted. Maclaren is the only real goalscoring threat we seem to have at the moment. The Uruguayans look very ordinary, and Najjarine wastes all his good work by taking on one man too many.

Adelaide weren't much either, but they had several near misses, and but for the safe hands of Bouzanis could have easily stolen a point or even three. The whole match gave me the impression that I was watching two mid-table sides.

The crowd was piss-poor. People need to remember that the first home match last season drew 12,086, and the season before 9,589.

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27 minutes ago, playmaker said:

We are in trouble , we struggled to get 2000-3000 today and 4 o'clock on a a Sunday is rubbish.

Time will tell.

It's going to take quite a bit of time before we recover from the Joyce era and people are willing to take a risk on Melbourne City as an entertaining few hours. Expensive ticket prices don't help either

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6 hours ago, belaguttman said:

It's going to take quite a bit of time before we recover from the Joyce era and people are willing to take a risk on Melbourne City as an entertaining few hours. Expensive ticket prices don't help either

I initially felt recovery would be measured in years not weeks. Membership numbers have seen the rusted ons come back much quicker than I thought, but the more casual will take a lot longer.

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8 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Goodness, I thought it was a poor game all round. Our passing was atrocious, and we completely butchered a number of chances in the second half - player after player taking the wrong option by passing instead of shooting, and then the final shot ballooning over the bar. Sick of watching us pass the ball backwards ending up with Bouzanis who then kicks straight down an opposing player's throat. Little entertainment for the uncommitted. Maclaren is the only real goalscoring threat we seem to have at the moment. The Uruguayans look very ordinary, and Najjarine wastes all his good work by taking on one man too many.

Adelaide weren't much either, but they had several near misses, and but for the safe hands of Bouzanis could have easily stolen a point or even three. The whole match gave me the impression that I was watching two mid-table sides.

The crowd was piss-poor. People need to remember that the first home match last season drew 12,086, and the season before 9,589.

I thought that our passing had improved compared to last season and last season there was a lot more back passing than in yesterday's game. Definitely there were butchered chances and wrong options taken. In the second half fear of taking a shot reminded me of Aloisi's reign. But the defense held its nerve, AU never had a clear shot and McGree's goal was from a crowded field.

You are right in that Maclaren is the only goal threat that the team has. This is Mombaert's task to ensure that there are other options. As for AU, they need to improve but watching some of the other games I would argue that City are definitely top 4 material.

7 hours ago, playmaker said:

Mombaets needs to realise after this game that Le Najjarine and Le Wales are Le shit, and we need to start Le Cabrera and Le Luna from now on to Le win.

Good game to verify the Le above.

Come on Le City.

Naijarine definitely needs to improve if he wants a professional career. As I said earlier, too good for the NPL but not good enough for the A-League. Wales has speed and...

BUT neither Cabrera nor Luna have shown anything that inspired confidence - not even flair.

 

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1 hour ago, Shahanga said:

I initially felt recovery would be measured in years not weeks. Membership numbers have seen the rusted ons come back much quicker than I thought, but the more casual will take a lot longer.

Recovery to what? That was the lowest first-match attendance since the 7,229 in 2011-12, the second season of Heart!

The level of entertainment and excitement is funereal compared with the past and especially compared with the Heart days. I don't see the same sort of connection of the fans to the club as I used to.

CFG has ruined our club.

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1 hour ago, citypool said:

Most of the games this season we are going to start as favourites so if that won’t get people in not sure what will but it’s an a league problem not a city problem but city winning the league when there is the lowest interest is a city thing to do.

We can’t blame the league or FFA for everything. There’s plenty of off field stuff and recruitment what’s turned fans away, it’s a deliberate path CFG has chosen. It’s going to take a some years to be back on the same levels but this season is a good start.

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1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Recovery to what? That was the lowest first-match attendance since the 7,229 in 2011-12, the second season of Heart!

The level of entertainment and excitement is funereal compared with the past and especially compared with the Heart days. I don't see the same sort of connection of the fans to the club as I used to.

CFG has ruined our club.

I disagree sorry JW, I see this an overall problem with our league and shouldn't just be aimed at us.

Take a look at last week for example. That was a victory home game and I thought considering their size and history; their crowd and passion was crap compared to ours - given the relative sizes of course.

Yesterday wasn't too bad, active was noticeably louder and more passionate, so well done there.

2 hours ago, NewConvert said:

...

Naijarine definitely needs to improve if he wants a professional career. As I said earlier, too good for the NPL but not good enough for the A-League. Wales has speed and...

BUT neither Cabrera nor Luna have shown anything that inspired confidence - not even flair.

 

Najjarine frustrates me in all honesty. He undoubtedly has the talent, but to my eye he gets around the pitch likes he's still playing a youth league match. Don't know how many times the ball came out to him and his marker reacted quicker and got in front of him. There was one time in the first half where he was out and running towards goal only for the defender to nip in from behind and get the ball off him. Sadly you just knew it was going to happen.

I'd love to see more urgency from him and to be on his toes more. He can get there....

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9 minutes ago, rass said:

I disagree sorry JW, I see this an overall problem with our league and shouldn't just be aimed at us.

Unfortunately we don’t know the percentage of fans turned away by the CFG regime or general decline of the league. I would say it’s 50/50.

I do think that Victory has taken a bigger than most with WU coming into the league.

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20 minutes ago, rass said:

I disagree sorry JW, I see this an overall problem with our league and shouldn't just be aimed at us.

Take a look at last week for example. That was a victory home game and I thought considering their size and history; their crowd and passion was crap compared to ours - given the relative sizes of course.

Yesterday wasn't too bad, active was noticeably louder and more passionate, so well done there.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I agree absolutely that there's a problem with the League and FFA. The issues with our club and CFG are superimposed on top of that.

I just think it's time to stop using FFA and the League as excuses for what has happened to our club - IMO City Football Group are fully accountable for the latter.

A couple of things that I was pleased about yesterday were that there were no yellow cards, and VAR didn't interfere with the game.

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I was at the game and found the attendance very disappointing.  It will take a while to get the casual fans back, that's for sure.  But if we keep winning, we keep growing. Again.

I actually think Cabrera is dangerous and a couple of his runs reminded me of Fernando.

Thank God we have JMac, though. 

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The number one reason for lack of attendances is next to no marketing from A League headquarters + secondly the sport's near abandonment from mainstream media. The sport is bust and we need to reach out to government to develop the game. Money for new stadia and pitches to play on. The failure of Heart = the reason crowds are not double in size right now. City Group have merely revived a dead horse. I would love to know the amount of ex Heart members who do not even follow the results let alone attend games. I see no familiar faces from year one or year two or year three etc. The fans who attend are to be congratulated and encouraged and all these miserly observations  are not going to help grow the sport. As members we need to either talk our club up or shut the fuck up until the next batch of fans arrives to replace us.

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Not sure why people are so critical of Najjarine. The kid is 19 and has more talent than just about any other 19 year old I’ve seen for our club. That’s his first A-League start too so a bit of patience is needed. 

As for the match, we slaughtered them in the first 20 then sat back. Given that a fair few will be playing again on Wednesday, it made sense to me to be a bit more conservative and not put the hammer down. Sloppy to concede in the box with so many behind the ball and being too passive but that can be rectified. The subs seemed to throw us off balance a bit with a few players out of their regular positions. And just on that, Wales shouldn’t be in the middle, he’s much better suited out wide. 

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7 minutes ago, kiko said:

The number one reason for lack of attendances is next to no marketing from A League headquarters + secondly the sport's near abandonment from mainstream media. The sport is bust and we need to reach out to government to develop the game. Money for new stadia and pitches to play on. The failure of Heart = the reason crowds are not double in size right now. City Group have merely revived a dead horse. I would love to know the amount of ex Heart members who do not even follow the results let alone attend games. I see no familiar faces from year one or year two or year three etc. The fans who attend are to be congratulated and encouraged and all these miserly observations  are not going to help grow the sport. As members we need to either talk our club up or shut the fuck up until the next batch of fans arrives to replace us.

When there are only 36 votes for MOTM I doubt that what's written on this Forum carries any weight at all.

Actually I see that as our Number One Problem - City fans have no collective voice at all - any contact with the club must be as an individual.

The FRG and City Voice have been shut down.

Perhaps City Terrace still has dialogue with the club - can someone answer that please?

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35 minutes ago, Jovan said:

Agree totally. 

I understand why he got dragged and our right side doesn't look as complete as the left, but as much as Najarine looked lacking he was also where we looked the most dangerous. I'm still confused slightly with Wales in midfield. 

The left side lookes complete with Noone and Metcalfe and the occasional run from Jamieson but like the derby the rightside is a little clunky.

Najarine needs a more experienced central midfielder inside him, I think. I would like to see him get another crack with Brillante. 

Griffiths to me deserves another start maybe not in the cup but definitely next Sunday,  but a Griffiths holding and Metcalfe left and Brillante right might be more balanced with Najarine Maclaren and Noone up front. 

Imagine when the Uruguayans find form (and show they arw half decent) and Berenguer returns, we seriously have a decent list.

As far as crowd numbers goes, who really cares?

Does it matter if its 7.5k 10.5 or 20k, ultimately its about if you enjoyed the game. If you yearn for crowds than good luck to you, but for me personally I enjoy a Sunday arvo watching the best level available, being able to get a car park within walking distance. Not waiting more than 10  minutes to get in. Being able to get couple beers without waiting (normally 2 if I'm driving) and having a piss without a queue. Not to mention having to listen to mundane uniformed conversations from obviously less intelligent people than myself nearby. Crowds are only good for the first 5 minutes and then they are really annoying. Be careful of what you wish for. 

Haha, you make a good point 😂

I think some, including myself just worry for the league's long-term viability and attendances are a huge component of that so that's where the care factor comes from, at least for me. 

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50 minutes ago, Jovan said:

Agree totally. 

I understand why he got dragged and our right side doesn't look as complete as the left, but as much as Najarine looked lacking he was also where we looked the most dangerous. I'm still confused slightly with Wales in midfield. 

The left side lookes complete with Noone and Metcalfe and the occasional run from Jamieson but like the derby the rightside is a little clunky.

Najarine needs a more experienced central midfielder inside him, I think. I would like to see him get another crack with Brillante. 

Griffiths to me deserves another start maybe not in the cup but definitely next Sunday,  but a Griffiths holding and Metcalfe left and Brillante right might be more balanced with Najarine Maclaren and Noone up front. 

Imagine when the Uruguayans find form (and show they arw half decent) and Berenguer returns, we seriously have a decent list.

As far as crowd numbers goes, who really cares?

Does it matter if its 7.5k 10.5 or 20k, ultimately its about if you enjoyed the game. If you yearn for crowds than good luck to you, but for me personally I enjoy a Sunday arvo watching the best level available, being able to get a car park within walking distance. Not waiting more than 10  minutes to get in. Being able to get couple beers without waiting (normally 2 if I'm driving) and having a piss without a queue. Not to mention having to listen to mundane uniformed conversations from obviously less intelligent people than myself nearby. Crowds are only good for the first 5 minutes and then they are really annoying. Be careful of what you wish for. 

I didn't realise you sit close to me, whether I'm uniformed or uninformed...

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14 minutes ago, Nate said:

Haha, you make a good point 😂

I think some, including myself just worry for the league's long-term viability and attendances are a huge component of that so that's where the care factor comes from, at least for me. 

Actually soccer has changed,  crowd numbers are not as important as they were back in the day. Clubs revenues now are more derived from TV money. Yes Tv want a good product but that's more so on the pitch than in the terrace. 

Don't get me wrong nobody wants 5k games for tge highest level, but really it's the not biggest challenge. Quality on the pitch should be a higher priority.  

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16 hours ago, Imtellingyou said:

Najjarine is not yet ready for the senior team starter, in the team with high aspirations. Noone is a disappointment so far after excellent preseason.

Do you not think that the other sides have been watching him and decided to double team him as that's what i saw , so they controlled the amount of his influence on that wing ?

 

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Enjoyed the game, thought we looked good for first half and second half sort of upset the apple cart with the substitutions. Also thought Active was good, could hear them from the other end. Thank god Maclaren can put them in. Suspect if Ramy's shot early had gone right through the keeper we would have been talking differently but agree he does get caught behind too many times. Thought both the senior cits in Griff and Windy were good value. Probably will not start on Wednesday, Windy in particular was blowing hard at the end. If I can touch on Adelaide, McGree does nothing all match then rips that one out. Surely one of the most exasperating players in the league

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47 minutes ago, johnno cpfc said:

Do you not think that the other sides have been watching him and decided to double team him as that's what i saw , so they controlled the amount of his influence on that wing ?

 

Exactly this. Hit the pre-season with a bang and as such, opposition managers are already putting more effort into containing him.

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As much as I think wales can be an effective player, fmd the bloke can't shoot for shit. So often as many of our young players do, they do all the hardwork and than blast the ball over the net.

Not all doom and gloom, quite happy with a win but if McLaren goes down, nfi how we are going to score!

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10 hours ago, NewConvert said:

I thought that our passing had improved compared to last season and last season there was a lot more back passing than in yesterday's game. Definitely there were butchered chances and wrong options taken. In the second half fear of taking a shot reminded me of Aloisi's reign. But the defense held its nerve, AU never had a clear shot and McGree's goal was from a crowded field.

You are right in that Maclaren is the only goal threat that the team has. This is Mombaert's task to ensure that there are other options. As for AU, they need to improve but watching some of the other games I would argue that City are definitely top 4 material.

Naijarine definitely needs to improve if he wants a professional career. As I said earlier, too good for the NPL but not good enough for the A-League. Wales has speed and...

BUT neither Cabrera nor Luna have shown anything that inspired confidence - not even flair.

 

Lets treat his potential - an Arzani is rare. He is a hard worker and dropped at half time. If he has the right attitude then in the coming seasons he could be great for us. Its also been a long off season for everyone, let alone the young guys.

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4 hours ago, johnno cpfc said:

Do you not think that the other sides have been watching him and decided to double team him as that's what i saw , so they controlled the amount of his influence on that wing ?

 

On that point JMac was also double tagged. Didn't do them any good.

Also I thought that Jamieson had quite an average game. Any thoughts?

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42 minutes ago, NewConvert said:

On that point JMac was also double tagged. Didn't do them any good.

Also I thought that Jamieson had quite an average game. Any thoughts?

I thought his first half was average, Maria looked their most dangerous player. But second half he was better, dunno if Maria got tired or what. I'd worry if Adelaide switched and put mileusnic on Jamo side, Jamo doesn't look quick enough anymore 

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1 hour ago, JMSTEP123 said:

Lets treat his potential - an Arzani is rare. He is a hard worker and dropped at half time. If he has the right attitude then in the coming seasons he could be great for us. Its also been a long off season for everyone, let alone the young guys.

The best young guys who are in the seniors don't really get a rest at all do they? They are in the NPL and then the NYL as well as being called up to the seniors for pre-season and then the A-League.

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