MCFC v NEW - Round 2.

[KSK_47]

Just watched a replay of the game.

Agree with Defibrillator, Shahanga, Silva10 and Belaguttman’s summary of the game.

We clearly outplayed Newcastle in the first half, and outplayed them for large spells in the second half. The game stats tell the story:

- 62% possession

- 16 shots to 7

- 5 shots on target vs 2

- 7 corners to 3

So we bossed possession, and just needed to turn it into clear-cut chances. The team did create a number of good chances, like Williams good chance on the 9' minute when 1 on 1 with the keeper (which truly disappointingly he didn't get on target), Villa's header at the end of the 1st half off a Mooy corner and Villa's volley inside the box in the 2nd half following a Mooy corner. But apart from those standout chances, the team didn't produce enough gilt-edged.

There are lots of ways a team can work to create more chances, but I'd say that Melbourne City could do more first touch and fast passing football in the opponent's final third. Also, I agree that Murdocca didn't provide too much creativity in the final third (which Koren definitely will), however Mooy for most of the game was the most advanced midfielder and Murdocca played more centrally, so I don't think it was really Murdocca's job to be the creative outlet in the team.

I think the Jets deserve a little credit as well. They were well organised and defensively stubborn, and were somewhat effective at playing a spoiling/destroying role. They made no serious defensive mistakes, hence City had to work for the goal.

Annoyingly, the Jets scored with their 2nd shot on target. I agree that Ramsay was fundamentally to blame for giving Griffiths way too much space and time to provide a pinpoint pass to the Jets' striker. Another instance where using makeshift fullbacks has cost the team. I also think Ramsay and Hoffman were the poorest on the pitch for Melbourne City, as both were shaky for the majority of the game when the Jets attacked down the flanks, and neither helped many attacks when the team was in possession (and in rare instanced when Hoffman and Ramsay got in the final third when the team was in possession, neither provided any end-product).

The team rallied pretty well after falling behind. Let it never be forgotten that Melbourne Heart lost 19 out of 20 games under Aloisi when the team fell behind. People can easily take it for granted now that Melbourne City can get back into games, and the team has now done so two weeks in a row to get 2 points, despite half the starting XI and the playing squad overall consisting of Melbourne Heart players that lost those 19 out of 20 games after conceding. That is a significant cultural change, that has happened fairly quickly and despite many Heart players (e.g. Hoffman, Ramsay, Murdocca, Wielaert, Williams, Dugandzic) still playing regularly in the team.

Thankfully Villa came up with a good goal, and scored with his 6th shot. I agree with others that Villa simply did what a striker should do: take one of the multiple chances he is provided with. I think it's too soon to say the team is relying on Villa, and think that the criticism is unfair, because if Villa wasn't scoring goals JVS would get blamed for not using Villa effectively, and when he is scoring goals blame is given for 'relying' on him (its a criticism that's often put on teams that have great players). Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But it is true at the same time that other goal-threats (e.g. Williams, Dugandzic, Duff, Mooy) need to start stepping up, to make sure that Villa being the only goal-threat doesn't become too much of a pattern.

I am completely unsurprised by the negativity on this forum, as I'm familiar with this forum and know that negativity appears like clockwork after the team doesn't win. However, at this stage, there is no reason to be down about the team's season prospects. No A-League team has provided good back to back performances as of round 2, because all teams are rusty after the several month pre-season and are finding their feet. Melbourne City's performances have been solid, but not spectacular, and the results have been good but not great. The wins will come, and there's no reason to freak out at this stage and write the season off.

Murf, you remind me of that boy on you tube that opened up his present and got Robin instead of Batman. "Not Batman? Yeah, Robins okay"

The reason people are negative is because we are sick to death of people being positive about simply having possession. Time and Time again we have seen under JVS that creating loads of half chances and having the bulk of possession means fuck all if at the end of the day you can only get 1 point for games like yesterday. Especially when not only is it ineffective it's fucking boring too. It's like groundhog day around here sometimes.

Anyway. On to next week. I am predicting a solid win.

Edited October 19, 2014 by KSK_47

[hedaik]

So fuck off to anyone who thinks that the Heart chants need to go...

[schrecky]

The biggest dissapointment is that GA was almost full and you cant sit where you want if you're late 

Will be interesting to see how long it lasts.  

My observation was there were many "Casual" attired patrons and it looked like a footy crowd (As oppossed to last year when the whole crowd looked like it followed us) 

 

On the football side, we got potential, we seem to know how to hang on to the ball and win it back, the goals will come.

 

No matter what the critisism of our active area, the fact is it was full and there were double the amount of people getting involved compared to last year. 

I'm sure that will improve as time goes by as well. I Sat up the other end and was impressed. 

 

The new Era is here !

[MHFCROB24]

The mixture of the red and white and blue and white was good to see in the stands. The past the present and future was on full display.

[mattyh001]

Left the game with fairly mixed emotions, disappointed we let 2 points go but then again (as others have rightly pointed out) we dominated for the second week going and we all ready have a better record at coming from a goal down this season than we ever did under Aloisi.

 

Paartalu seems to be getting under represented in terms of how well he played.  thought he smashed it in.  

 

 

Active support seating was a mess. Me, my mates and plenty of other members were turned away as the entire section was full. The security guards were complaining to us that the club sold twice the tickets without expanding the area nearly enough. Not sure if that's true but regardless we wanted to be standing with the melburnians, not sitting on the wings. I bloody hope it's fixed for the next home game.

not to mention i had a 5 year old girl standing behind me in the terrace. Look she was standing ill give her that but seriously. need some age restrictions on the terrace. Its not a place for soccer mums and their daughters to enjoy a fine day out. Impacts the effort of the terrace's voice

 

 

 

 

Melburnians were also chanting really fast as well, thought i was at a rave. 

 

Too many passengers in the active area...the capo needs to bark some more orders at the crowd.

 

 

 

We need to have a security guard that checks the active area and if you're not chanting then you will be asked to leave. Too many people standing but not singing, and they're wasting the spot as there are enthusiastic fans who want to chant but couldn't get a spot

 

 

As for active support, Melburnians got better in the 2nd half but there really is a need to move on from any heart chants. Caused a fair bit of frustration with many in the crowd to hear Heart being called out.

Overall dissapointing start to get a big crowd but not get a win, however I still see many positives in the game.

 

 

Won't comment on the game, didn't watch it too closely.

 

Thoughts on the terrace:

-Too many kids with their parents, hate to put it bluntly, they need to fuck off and move the side bays or wings, no place for them in a terrace. 

-So many new people there, hated the heart chants, they will need to be phased out/used less often as more new chants are developed but they are still good.

-Disorganized in the first half with the chants and what chant is next, have a list of all the ones known and new ones so its seamless when going from chant to chant.

-Spoke to a lot of people around me, they didn't know the words and wanted to know them, need to be posting them up other than here for those ones. 

-Everyone needs to know what is expected of them if they are going to be apart of the terrace, this needs to be drilled into people to death.

-More passion needed from everyone.

-I'm sure if you asked all the people there, the majority of people wouldn't even know what the new terrace is called.

-Slow down the chants, it might sound slow when you singing it but it isnt. 

-2nd half was good, lost the volume near the end but that was to be expected being first game and vocal cords not up to it.

 

Overall, good start to the new terrace, can't expect it to be perfect from day 1, plenty of teething issues but we all need to take leadership and make it work. 

 

Also, i'm happy to step up and play the trumpet if its wanted, just give me the music to learn and i'll blow my chops off for the terrace. 

 

my general vibe (having sat in the middle of aisle 16) was that the chanting will get better over time as people get use to the new chants and the pacing of differing chants improves.

 

thought the second half went well when we had two different guys working the mic.  by all means i have massive respect to our bearded leader and thought he did a good job first half, just thought the rotation helped keep the chants going.

 

got shitty with the number of parents and kids (but mostly the parents) that thought active was about sitting.  had one knob come down the row i was in because he and his two boys 'had' to sit in their allocated seats.

 

 

main afterthought:

was wondering if we could possibly get a list of 'key' / 'new' songs for the day printed out and put on all active seats for each game.  as others have mentioned there were a number of guys there who didnt know the songs.  if we keep it to a number of 'key' / 'new' then i think it would help all newbies with the lyrics.  over time this list can expand or be just for new songs as others become active favorites / songs that people have well and truly learnt

 

having a couple of "spotters" spread amongst the crowd might help too so that for those who dont hear the capo the first time then the "spotter" can help re-address across the wider crowd

Edited October 19, 2014 by mattyh001

[japiedog]

Where to start with this???

met an old mate from playing days for the match, had a chat on the way in, came to the conclusion that really we must win 3-0 , 3-1 to keep the crowd that we got for this match

I remembered previous starts to the season, an ok first week, second week squandered

 

After the first 15 mins I mentioned to my mate that if we don't score soon I can see us getting caught out on the break,

well this went on an on and sure enough

 

My mate told me that Paul Wade ( who we both played with) explained to him that Yes he ran around like a headless chicken and covered every blade of grass, BUT it was his job to press, harrass, win every tackle, win every header , BUT when he got the ball he was to pass to Peterson or Trimboli, he was never to pass the ball more than 10 metres, He knew his role in the team

 

For the Newcastle coach, it must have been a pleasure to see Paddy trying to dribble out of defence and play 30 -40 metre  through balls, of to see Mass at the top of the D being the creative "Number 10"

This is where JVS needs to give the players a kick up the backside, someones not working this out, the specific roles of the players

 

Partaluu is not fit, every player that comes back from Asia ,  is a wreck, when he came off, I don't know why Mooy had to drop back rather than Retre or Mass

 

The ball to be channeled through Mooy or Partaluu (Koren when fit) when played out from the back, not hoofed forward,

 

Ramsay, again a waste of space,

Again the opportunities were there to put this game away in the first 20 minutes, but some things never change

 

the signing of Partaluu, gives us great options, as it allow the fullbacks to overlap and create options for the midfield, but alas neither really did, though the Hoff was overlapping and making himself available( but rarely used)

 

My 2 cents,

 

I m worried for the Derby

[Nate]

got shitty with the number of parents and kids (but mostly the parents) that thought active was about sitting.  had one knob come down the row i was in because he and his two boys 'had' to sit in their allocated seats.

We might have been in the same row, sounds exactly like the guy who called me a cunt for 'stealing' his seat.

[Nate]

Unless there's many of these idiots plaguing the active area.

[Mika]

Ahh it was a great day (despite the draw)

There was a bloke in Prem A heckling the shit out of Carney. I swear he made me laugh so much, was awesome.

Carney looked like he wanted to jump into the area and start shit. So we all joined in and gave it to him haha

I think I'm gonna like this season 

[Jovan]

Ahh it was a great day (despite the draw)

There was a bloke in Prem A heckling the shit out of Carney. I swear he made me laugh so much, was awesome.

Carney looked like he wanted to jump into the area and start shit. So we all joined in and gave it to him haha

I think I'm gonna like this season 

not if we dont start winning, another season of mediocracy perhaps.

[Mika]

 

Ahh it was a great day (despite the draw)

There was a bloke in Prem A heckling the shit out of Carney. I swear he made me laugh so much, was awesome.

Carney looked like he wanted to jump into the area and start shit. So we all joined in and gave it to him haha

I think I'm gonna like this season 

not if we dont start winning, another season of mediocracy perhaps.

 

True. I'm going with optimism here, however naive it may be. Let's see how it all pans out aye!

[MHFCROB24]

15K is this what we expected? Above expectations? .. Was good to see packed at either end and even the 2nd level had quite a few numbers in it. If this is what we hit consistently id be so stoked.

[japiedog]

unfortunately the result will nullify the amount of walk up supporters

 

we need to win , and win well to keep those numbers

in those terms, yesterday was a marketing disaster

[MHFCROB24]

unfortunately the result will nullify the amount of walk up supporters

 

we need to win , and win well to keep those numbers

in those terms, yesterday was a marketing disaster

If anything thou seeing Villa score would help somewhat marketing wise.

[mattyh001]

 

got shitty with the number of parents and kids (but mostly the parents) that thought active was about sitting.  had one knob come down the row i was in because he and his two boys 'had' to sit in their allocated seats.

We might have been in the same row, sounds exactly like the guy who called me a cunt for 'stealing' his seat.

 

 

if it was a 40ish year old bloke in a sky blue terry toweling club hat then probably was. particularly if he and his two boys (looked about 7 and 9) left at half time not to return.

[silverdust]

was a great day apart from the security guy telling us to move to level 2. he didnt want to give in and i told him i was meant to be in the active area. he just kept going and going. fuck he was annoying. a few more beers and i would of lost my cool. managed to push into a row and finally he stopped annoying us.

 

woke up with a sore throat and i didnt even sing much. its going to be hard for me to chant all 90 minutes. 

 

loved the active area even though i didnt know/sing all the lyrics but i was supporting the best i could. 

 

loved the beer shower. hopefully there are plenty more next time. 

[markn]

I'M BACK!

 

After being kicked off because I mentioned how poor of a striker Tadic was , and apparently spelling his name wrong....... I thought i might return for my two cents worth.

 

BTW - i was right about Tadic......reference to Cadette (or however you spell it)

 

Villa had a poor first 80 minuted.  His runs were poor, and a few times he would signal a left run but run right. But in the end a striker only needs to score - which he did with class.  Mind you he missed a sitter in the second half. From the resulting goal kick Newcastle scored. But he did his job, and thats what you want from a forward.

 

Mass has to learn that you need to score to win.  In the last 10 minutes he had two good opportunities to have a shot but passed them to the flanks. if he cannot shoot from 20-25 yards out then replace him.  Its actually sad watching him play in the final third.

 

Partalue (or however you spell it) has had two poor games.  For such a big man he has little presence. He looks slow.

 

That's my two cents.

 

BTW- when we scored did they play "get up". I love that track! It was too loud that i couldn't make out the song.

[SF33]

While I think some of the criticism of Murdocca is unjustified and we shouldn't expect him to be something he's not, I still think when he does get the ball in scoring range, he needs to just have a ping sometimes, or at least try to set someone up, instead of turning his back to goal and going backwards and/or wide every time. The other teams seem to play him like they know he isn't going to threaten and that hurts us. If he has a crack every once in a while, I wouldn't be expecting a flood of goals from him, but it might open things up a bit more for others who could do with a bit more room to operate.

[Davy21]

Thoughts from sitting in active, too many 12 year old kids that care more about their next Ben Sherman polo shirt than about the game, sitting down in active and a quote from one of them sitting in front of me "If City don't score in the first 15 minutes we'll leave" (second half) which I wish they would've left. Same with I thought the use of whoever was doing the Archie Thompson chant was unnecessary, when we aren't playing Victory

Overall, despite a chunk of active not knowing the new chants, I think it was successful, retaining the old Heart chants is a big positive aswell, gets everyone involved and still recognises our past, and the new chants which we started to get a swing with can only get better from here, Bring on derby day!

 

[Torn Asunder]

Firstly, great crowd and atmosphere and fantastic to see the upper stand opened up for the first time outside a derby.  City management would be high-fiving each other after that milestone.

 

Also, from where I was sitting, I thought the Melburnian's were great and the chants and the atmosphere was really enjoyable.

 

In terms of the game, highly frustrating to see such dominance, especially in the 1st half, without reward.  In the second half, it was completely predictable that Newcastle would sneak a goal, and in truth they probably should have won the game.

 

Villa's goal was brilliant, and Duff and Mooy were clearly our best.

 

It has already been spoken about that as a team we are not good enough at making the first quick pass into attacking positions, and Murdocca / Ramsay / Hoffman are clearly the worst culprits.  

 

A few times I saw Villa and Duff frustrated & grimacing after seeing the wrong pass made, effectively killing our attacks, dead.  

 

At 1 down, and towards the end of the game, Duff & Villa took it upon themselves to run at their opponents, often multiple defenders, as it appeared they had lost some faith in those around them to be able to create a goal scoring chance.

 

As the season progresses, I can see a lot of teams sitting back against us, allowing us to have the ball through the likes of Murdocca, Hoffman / Ramsay, but then pressing when our more skilled ball players are in possession, and then on turnovers looking to counterattack with width, where teams can badly expose us.  Also, knowing we are not blessed with top notch GKs, we will concede goals often.  

 

Honestly, I think that out of our back 4 & GK, only Paddy K would be starter in other A-League teams, so we clearly have some significant weaknesses in defence.

 

CFG have their work cut out to strengthen the team, but unless they do, scrapping into the finals is the best we can hope for. 

 

I would like for us to release or put Germano on the long term injury list and sign a foreign keeper, & when Villa's stint finishes sign Kennedy (or get Eli back!), and somehow find a solution to our full back problem ... perhaps the answer is a back 3 ... on reflection, it is a shame we didn't get Hamill back in the team.

 

On a side note, there were a lot of bandwagon jumpers in the crowd yesterday, and I know after speaking to a few who were there to see Villa, that they were frustrated with the game and may not come back.

 

Also, the problem is that Victory are looking good at the moment, so with interest high in the game following the World Cup, we MUST MUST MUST win these types of games at home otherwise our numbers will start to dwindle back to pre-CFG levels.

Edited October 19, 2014 by Torn Asunder

[Fentonthescreamingcactus]

crossing was too deep, played around with the ball to much in the front third and didnt shoot enough. we should play a 3-5-2 with willams and villa up front,paddy,robbie and hoff at the back and keep the midfeild with the exception of koren in for murdocca

[Nate]

 

 

got shitty with the number of parents and kids (but mostly the parents) that thought active was about sitting.  had one knob come down the row i was in because he and his two boys 'had' to sit in their allocated seats.

We might have been in the same row, sounds exactly like the guy who called me a cunt for 'stealing' his seat.

 

 

if it was a 40ish year old bloke in a sky blue terry toweling club hat then probably was. particularly if he and his two boys (looked about 7 and 9) left at half time not to return.

 

Must have been another bloke then! Good lordy

[silverdust]

was watching the spanish news just now on sbs and they showed villa scoring. 

[Red or Dead]

I don't know why Griffiths was constantly given so much space at the back post. I don't even think Ramsay knew Griffiths was behind him half the time. Especially when the ball was on the right side It's almost as if Ramsay thought, "oh what's he going to do from there all by himself?" or "David Villa will come back and mark him whilst I run aimlessly into the box because the ball is on the right of the pitch!"

 

Watching Ramsay is like watching under 12's chasing and marking the ball as opposed to their man. Griffiths scoring was inevitable.

[Jovan]

Watching spanish news on sbs?

You definitely went hard early yesterday.

[mus-28]

I blame the result on the lack of 'Bluey'. You could see the players struggling for that bit of motivation that a ranga mascot brings.

[interstatefan]

got shitty with the number of parents and kids (but mostly the parents) that thought active was about sitting. had one knob come down the row i was in because he and his two boys 'had' to sit in their allocated seats.

We might have been in the same row, sounds exactly like the guy who called me a cunt for 'stealing' his seat.

if it was a 40ish year old bloke in a sky blue terry toweling club hat then probably was. particularly if he and his two boys (looked about 7 and 9) left at half time not to return.There were two guys in front of me who threw there water bottle up in the air just like the beer showers when Villa got the goal. This was in G.A, the old bloke in front of them turned around and gave them a gob full. I repeat it was water and it was a hot arvo by game time. What's the big deal?

We are not at the polo, get into it.

Edited October 20, 2014 by interstatefan

[Nate]

People hate fun

[johnno cpfc]

Well after that game i am becoming very underwhelmed with the players we have, with the exception of Mooy, Duff, Villa kisnorbo. This is mainly because i thought those players at least tried to get us a win. Murdocca 

whilst he worked hard his passing let's him down every time, i lost count of the number of times he lost the ball after some good work simply because he hung onto it for a tackle too many when there was the oportunitty to pass it to someone in a better position. 

All this and the fact that the Jets Parked the bus once they scored and that they tried to mark Villa out of the game.

[agoalie]

People hate fun

 

like the old bastard on the train going there.

[interstatefan]

For someone who hadn't been to AAMI park at all I was quite impressed. I had good seat(s) on the edge. I'll be back in about a month when we play Sydney. Hopefully the good crowd numbers continue.

Edited October 20, 2014 by interstatefan

[Ando]

Noticed quite a number of people holding Keep the Red and White campaign placards at the game yesterday.

Great to see!

[japiedog]

Noticed quite a number of people holding Keep the Red and White campaign placards at the game yesterday.

Great to see!

Hey Uncle ! it was great to see so many wearing " the Away Strip"

[Ando]

Noticed quite a number of people holding Keep the Red and White campaign placards at the game yesterday.

Great to see!

Hey Uncle ! it was great to see so many wearing " the Away Strip"

Uncle! It was wasn't it? There's definitely still a red as white spark there for sure.

[carlings]

I enjoyed not seeing that smug smiling prick ticker yesterday

[Nate]

Instead of a smug smiling prick with red hair, we got a smug smiling prick with no hair.

[cadete]

 

 

Noticed quite a number of people holding Keep the Red and White campaign placards at the game yesterday.

Great to see!

Hey Uncle ! it was great to see so many wearing " the Away Strip"

Uncle! It was wasn't it? There's definitely still a red as white spark there for sure.

 

Not only that...

 

The #KeepMelbourneRedAndWhite campaign still has as much a chance at succeeding now as it did when the placards were first printed.

Edited October 20, 2014 by cadete

[HeartMillsy29]

New ground announcer is 20x better than the last one. 

[mus-28]

New ground announcer is 20x better than the last one. 

 

Needs to drop the decibels by about 1/4 when doing the player name announcements, sounded like those kids who turn the treble to max on their car stereo just to get the maximum sound.

[interstatefan]

New ground announcer is 20x better than the last one.

He would be great at the basketball across the road, he's that loud he could probably do both from where he is

Edited October 20, 2014 by interstatefan