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My highlights of the night include Berenguer getting hit with the ball in the warm up DeLaet winning a corner The beautiful passing sequence that went from our corner flag to Galekovic The game changing sub of Larocca on for Griffiths The final whistle

I 100% think we are trying to chase two good players, a striker and a winger. I also think its far harder to get them (good players that is) in January than most people realise. IMO the club isnt prepared to just sign anyone to appease fans short term, they'll only sign players that they think will play first team football, and that fit to Joyce's work ethic. Whilst signing anyone might appease fans for the next month, if it gets a month down the track and theyve signed some prima donna that doesnt want to work like the rest of the team and undermines Joyce's ethic he has instilled (and lost our best ever striker over), then the PR is going to be 10x worse than not signing anyone at all. (Don't get me wrong, thats highly undesirable!!!) I think the other factor is that there is far less players available in January then there is at the end of the season, so the club might be conscious that signing a player now, which would likely be at least an 18 month deal might hurt you in terms of a better player for next season. For that reason perhaps the club is searching for loan deals until the end of the season, and then they are probably at the mercy somewhat of the other club and the comings and goings of their transfer window.

And if they want to continue plucking our young stars, how do they expect them to develop under a system that doesn’t let them express themselves.

A relatively good performance from us, I was expecting a 0-4 pasting. We were never, ever going to score Positives: we didn't lose Catenaccio reinvented We did start with 2 attacking players Jamieson narrowly avoided going into the Joyce bad books after he nearly accidentally scored Defensively well organised Atkinson was finally taken off I've recorded the game as a non-medication alternative to temazepam Negatives: CFG team sets up for a scoreless draw at home with 9 defenders. Shameful. Offered nothing going forward. Nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Negative. Nil. No creativity whatsoever, minimal players committed to any attack, no attacking overloads created, no shots on target for the match Joyce will be pleased The worst negative is that this performance was way better than what I expected

We found a cure for insomnia. A win for science.

Holy shit. This has to go down as one of the most boring games in a league history

Maybe that's why we haven't attracted any strikers yet as they know their careers would be ruined with Joyceball?

i cannot understand how signing a proven centre forward is going to improve the team , the utter rubbish style of play from joyce is counter productive to forwards being involved in the game

I bet Joycey is proud of his achievement tonight

In this part of the world when a supporter pays to watch his team, he hopes for or expects two outcomes; to see his team win and to be entertained. If his team does not win but he is entertained that compensates for the loss of points. Should his team win and he is not entertained, he generally goes home satisfied with the knowledge his team has 3 more points. But when his team does not win and he is not entertained then he has a duty to express his disconnect at the club manager and players. This is especially true when playing at home where going for a win should be demanded by the supporters

I would think most of that 2000 would be poor souls that had lapsed into comas and had not awoken

It appears the amount of posts in the game day thread is directly proportional to the size of the crowd at the home games.

In a match with as much attacking threat as a lounge room cushion, I reckon we looked slightly more like scoring. But that's not exactly saying much. Still, we looked solid. Not thrilling though.

Meh, playing for a draw at home, did anyone really expect anything different from wazza? Damage control. MC 9 goal in 7 games with 2 matches against 10 men. PG 19 goals in 7 games. Under 12s Hoofball tonight fellas.

So, we start the game with 9 defensive players and 2 attackers, neither of whom is a striker. I'm counting Atkinson as a defender here, although he's played in defence and attack. Either way, this does not reflect the style of football promised by CFG

All coaches “play favourites”. It’s called selection. They pick the players they think suits their style the best. Under Stajcic we’ve become one of the best teams in the world. They’d need a bloody good reason to give him the lemonade.

IMO no-one outside a tight circle knows the cause of the Fornaroli Standoff, but it appears to be an irretrievable situation. No-one seems prepared to compromise, and so his contract will be honoured by both parties but Bruno will not play for us again. The club appears to be prepared to allow this to compromise our season, and quite possibly there will be spin-off effects on to other current players - for example, I can't see that the careers of Wales and McGree are being helped by the current way the team plays. I also can't see that the Fornaroli situation is helping "the brand." It seems to me that there can be no winner out of this at all.

I give my vote to anyone who sat through all 90 minutes Vote if you want

Damage has probably already been done... but what are the chances Joyce gets the axe and a new manager wants to keep Bruno if he does manage to hang on til seasons end? Its a joke. This uncompromising position on Bruno is compromising our season. I have the shake my head every time I think about it. Club legend - deserves a 2nd chance, deserves a look in and consideration.

I always see Jamieson as one of our weakest links going forward - he lacks basic skill in ball control and especially passing & crossing (one successful cross in 2 seasons) but he works hard at training so it’s fine.

coach's orders, I'm sure

Completely agree. In a 1off game I am all for playing for 1 point and probably this will be a valuable point come the end of the season. This point could mean a home final. But to play at home with such a clear attitude to me is just wrong and is everything that shits me about pragmatic tactics. I want to watch us at least try to score. Our only realistic chance was from a corner. Come finals time we are gonners.

We'll look back at this game at the end of the season and think why? Why the fuck didn't we let Perth win. No doubt Victory will probably win the league on goal difference from Perth and they'll be able to look back at this being 2 points dropped. All I've got left is hoping anyone but Victory win Silverware, because we're a disgrace to football.

I must be so used to watching the dullest football on earth this team has produced prior to this game that I thought it wasn't too bad, considering it was a 0-0 game. And seeing as we had 9 defensive players on the pitch it didn't drain the little joy I have left like I thought it would.

My take on this. We concede very few, but don't score many more. Perth, however, given the chance, score for fun. They've had some goal fests of the 4-3 variety. They've often engaged in "we'll score more than you" pissing contests with the opposition and come out on top. Had we played their game, we'd have lost. So logically, out tactics were to prevent them scoring. If we scored, it was going to be a bonus. A wet blanket strategy. The question remains why we find ourselves so poor offensively that this is our only logical approach to this match. More frustrating, Perth are top of the league, and on the evidence of their games with us, they're not much to speak of. Imagine what we would be able to do to them with some attacking threat, and how the league might look if that were the case? We're not that far off being a really good side. But just far enough to have to endure turgid shite like that.

We were the first team to prevent Glory scoring this season.

Usual suspects. Good, Schenkeveld and Delbridge the only possibles for me. Gave it to Delbridge - a couple of poor passes, but he saved the day for us on so many occasions.

Dreadful match to watch. Strategy seemed to be to frustrate Perth for about 88 minutes and then try to score in the final 5 minutes. To that extent I'd say we delivered what Joyce wanted. TBH, I didn't think Perth were much better, other than they did move the ball forward with speed and intent, and Castro was impressive. Galekovic did what he needed to do, but his distribution is awful. Our back line is our best feature. Atkinson poor again, Jamieson not much better, but IMO Good, Schenkeveld and Delbridge were excellent. Our midfield was shit all night - slow and predictable. We take ten passes to cover the same ground as Perth did in two. Griffiths is a red card liability, Brattan was invisible after he came on, and Baccus was fucking awful. Perhaps, Mr. Baccus, you'd like a reminder that when you have a clear sight of goal you might try a shot? La Rocca and McGree were invisible substitutes. No fluidity up front at all. Berenguer is OK, but what a waste of a visa place - can't see he does anything that Genreau couldn't. I enjoyed the result though - at least we didn't lose - and it was a cheerful little group who made the trip home on the train. But FMD, where are Joyce and CFG taking this club - our club? We can't win silverware this way, and we're not even going to produce young talent this way either. Attendance: 6,055 (I think they included the ball-boys). Pigeon index: Low.

I would add the booing Wazza got from supporters when he appeared on the big screen

So tbf to Joyce he has developed a new style of naccio. Just a defence.

No but we didn't lose. Mission accomplished WJ.

Just out of curiosity, how much have you spent this season?

Gee that was tough to watch, to be expected.

Disgraceful to present something like that in the guise of football.

One point is better than expected

Once again they fail to bring in people from next door that are coming from the tennis

Usual 4:2:3:1

Fold the Club!

This smacks of Stalins Star Chamber.

In the current social climate, not being reasonably specific as to what the issues were could be extremely damaging to Stajcic's reputation. I'm now reading that the issues included "bullying" and "playing favourites." https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/matildas/the-toxic-culture-and-hidden-issues-that-led-to-the-ffa-sacking-matildas-coach-alen-stajcic/news-story/a5d173812dba8f7fbb817473625f7ef0?nk=425dde2122ef39813eae8de5e4c16d4c-1547869470 Still pretty nebulous really.

And Maclaren accepting that offer. A backended deal could be unattractive for both parties because it makes the contract worth more to new clubs ie say Jamie was badly out of form and both club and player thought he should go elsewhere - the new club might be priced out cos his existing wage demands are too high, and likewise its harder for City to sell him because they'd probably have to end up paying some of his wages etc. There's also the possibility that Jamie plays really well and gets a European offer again, and he'd love to go, but the European club don't want to pay the transfer fee City commands, which is naturally higher due to more wages to come. Indeed back ended deals pretty much only make sense in a salary capped league on the world stage; the only other clubs that would do it would be cash strapped ones, which is prob a red flag anyway.

The impression I got is that Eli thought his natural talent would be enough and hard work wasn’t required. A pity, he certainly had talent, but lacked the hunger. Another Joyce mystery.

The problem is that the guest spot has to meet the FFA criteria, and imo there's no chance that Maclaren fits that bill. You need a player than even Joe Average recognises to meet that bill, so either a once prominent EPL player or a Champions League player. I agree its def something we should be looking at, but its going to be tough to fill that position on availability alone in January, let alone $$$.

Only way I can foreseeably see us winning: HUGEEN, Delbo, Bart absolute masterclass with a huge 10/10 shifts each. Break Perth down in midfield. No brain fades by whoever ends up there. Atkinson on bench. By the luck of the gods we keep them scoreless and luck our way with a 1-0 win. Ill be there - always am! Come on City

I think theyre listening to the fans and trying to be a bit more transparent, starting with explaining why its not as simple to work in the window as many would think. But there'll always be people that try to read more into it.

inb4 he's SPL player of the month for FEB

Nope, I want us to smash them off the park.

Take it easy with the fat jokes. There not funny anymore.

Dodged a huge bullet by losing to Jordan really.