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Round 25: Melbourne City v Wellington, AAMI Park, Sun 12 April 5.00 pm


Murfy1
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What's happening in the corner under the screen city end? Few police and security there.

Seems the same group who broke away from the terrace last game did it again. Tried to act tough but security kept them in line. We couldn't even hear them from the centre of the North end. To us they looked like a bunch of dicks. Saw them after the game trying to start a chant out the front. Bunch of knobs if you ask me.

 

I was sitting close to them, they actually behaved well but had 7 police and 3 security guys hassling them to sit down. Ridiculous.

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First game I've enjoyed watching us play for quite a while.

 

Positives

Intensity and effort for 90+ minutes, positive play with much less back passing than usual.

Looked much more fluid with the midfield diamond and more than matched Phoenix' midfield

First penalty save since Clint Bolton, I've lived long enough to see it.

 

Negatives

Kennedy playing well but nobody running off him when he holds or chest the ball, nobody crossing to him .

We could have easily lost but we should have won!

6720 crowd really reflects how little City has captured the Melbourne sports fan's imagination.

 

Not sure what to think of Novillo. Seems to be a massive ball hog when there are plenty of opportunites to lay it off to a player in a better position. Probably not better than Willo TBH - and we already have the authentic article signed for next year ;)

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What a boring shit game.

 

We just don't move the ball quick enough the create enough chances. As much as i love Jailens the guy can't keep getting played at RB.He just offers us nothing going forward. Even Safuwan hardly offered us very little too.

 

Kennedy is still a hack. Doesn't do nearly enough for what hes getting paid to do. It's a shame Marino isn't in better form because i'd rather see him playing over Kennedy atm.

 

Don't know why Novillo was take off early too? He's the only player on the team that looks threatening when he has the ball. Tando MVP easily today too. What a star.

 

Disappointing result and now we move onto next week.

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As far as I'm concerned, both Novillo and Williams are required players next season as they both actually offer something in the attacking third. 

Dugandzic's time however surely has to be up.

 

 

Intrigued to know what Williams "offered" tonight. And when Novillio isn't hitting 30 yd screamers his general play is questionable 

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First game I've enjoyed watching us play for quite a while.

Positives

Intensity and effort for 90+ minutes, positive play with much less back passing than usual.

Looked much more fluid with the midfield diamond and more than matched Phoenix' midfield

First penalty save since Clint Bolton, I've lived long enough to see it.

Negatives

Kennedy playing well but nobody running off him when he holds or chest the ball, nobody crossing to him .

We could have easily lost but we should have won!

6720 crowd really reflects how little City has captured the Melbourne sports fan's imagination.

Orthodox easter played a big part in crowd number

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First game I've enjoyed watching us play for quite a while.

 

Positives

Intensity and effort for 90+ minutes, positive play with much less back passing than usual.

Looked much more fluid with the midfield diamond and more than matched Phoenix' midfield

First penalty save since Clint Bolton, I've lived long enough to see it.

 

Negatives

Kennedy playing well but nobody running off him when he holds or chest the ball, nobody crossing to him .

We could have easily lost but we should have won!

6720 crowd really reflects how little City has captured the Melbourne sports fan's imagination.

 

Not sure what to think of Novillo. Seems to be a massive ball hog when there are plenty of opportunites to lay it off to a player in a better position. Probably not better than Willo TBH - and we already have the authentic article signed for next year ;)

 

If he were a complete player he wouldn't be playing for us. I'd sign him with 1 qualification, we need a winger on the other side who can accurately cross the ball to JK

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As far as I'm concerned, both Novillo and Williams are required players next season as they both actually offer something in the attacking third. 

Dugandzic's time however surely has to be up.

 

 

Intrigued to know what Williams "offered" tonight. And when Novillio isn't hitting 30 yd screamers his general play is questionable 

 

Pace, energy and a desire to get forward. Finishing is still shit though. 

 

 

I thought retre was good when he came on, really good 1v1 and technically 

Agreed, I thought he was outstanding.

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As far as I'm concerned, both Novillo and Williams are required players next season as they both actually offer something in the attacking third. 

Dugandzic's time however surely has to be up.

 

 

Intrigued to know what Williams "offered" tonight. And when Novillio isn't hitting 30 yd screamers his general play is questionable 

 

I thought Williams was a constant threat when he came on.  No coincidence his (and Retre) presence coincided with most of our second half chances.

 

Put it this way, he looked more dangerous than Novillo anyway.

 

Overall a frustrating game, I thought we were the better side but Moss made some great saves but of course Tando had plenty to do at his end too.  Melling looked well short of a run when he came on.

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What a boring shit game.

 

We just don't move the ball quick enough the create enough chances. As much as i love Jailens the guy can't keep getting played at RB.He just offers us nothing going forward. Even Safuwan hardly offered us very little too.

 

Kennedy is still a hack. Doesn't do nearly enough for what hes getting paid to do. It's a shame Marino isn't in better form because i'd rather see him playing over Kennedy atm.

 

Don't know why Novillo was take off early too? He's the only player on the team that looks threatening when he has the ball. Tando MVP easily today too. What a star.

 

Disappointing result and now we move onto next week.

 

He was taken off because he wouldn't release the ball to a better placed player. I know some others do it at times, but he did it more than a few times.

 

I am still not convinced about him. Maybe he will show more in the last few games of the season.

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First game I've enjoyed watching us play for quite a while.

 

Positives

Intensity and effort for 90+ minutes, positive play with much less back passing than usual.

Looked much more fluid with the midfield diamond and more than matched Phoenix' midfield

First penalty save since Clint Bolton, I've lived long enough to see it.

 

Negatives

Kennedy playing well but nobody running off him when he holds or chest the ball, nobody crossing to him .

We could have easily lost but we should have won!

6720 crowd really reflects how little City has captured the Melbourne sports fan's imagination.

 

Not sure what to think of Novillo. Seems to be a massive ball hog when there are plenty of opportunites to lay it off to a player in a better position. Probably not better than Willo TBH - and we already have the authentic article signed for next year ;)

 

If he were a complete player he wouldn't be playing for us. I'd sign him with 1 qualification, we need a winger on the other side who can accurately cross the ball to JK

 

A 'complete player' in the HAL would be hard to find - if at all. But I'd have Krishna over Novillo in what I've seen so far. Maybe it's not enough time to judge him accurately but as a Visa player he doesn't stand out from the pack enough. Would be competent at HAL level but is that enough?

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What's happening in the corner under the screen city end? Few police and security there.

Seems the same group who broke away from the terrace last game did it again. Tried to act tough but security kept them in line. We couldn't even hear them from the centre of the North end. To us they looked like a bunch of dicks. Saw them after the game trying to start a chant out the front. Bunch of knobs if you ask me.

 

I was sitting close to them, they actually behaved well but had 7 police and 3 security guys hassling them to sit down. Ridiculous.

 

This.

 

Sat near them as well.. Did absolutely nothing wrong, police and security was a little excessive.

 

Families around the area seemed to get involved in a few chants too.. Kids especially loved it.

 

Good to see some atmosphere down there.

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Typical Melbourne Heart match. Out of the blocks like a million dollars, gradually conceding possession by the 15-minute mark, on the wrong end of the referee's whistle, some terrible passing in midfield, an ineffective forward line, and almost winning it in injury time.

 

We were stretched defensively for long periods. Wellington were much faster in transition, and man-for-man their ball control and passing accuracy was far superior to ours. However, the defence held on manfully, some good saves from Tando, and some good last-ditch tackles. Thought Retre did exceptionally well coming on - both defensively and going forward.

 

Midfield is just too congested - needs to be sorted quick smart.

 

Up front we are completely toothless. Koren needs far too many touches and is too slow to move the ball. Kennedy - waste of space. Novillo, greedy and selfish. Williams coming on at least provided a bit of sensible running.

 

Disappointing end to a mediocre season.

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Since I still consider myself a newbie to the game, I thought today was perhaps the best goalkeeping I have seen in the A-League so far. Both stoppers were stretched, a bit of luck on their side but played really well. Also both had some brain fades but I can overlook that.

 

Spoke for a few seconds to Germano afterwards and he said that he can apply for citizenship but does not yet qualify. He needs another 12 months.

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29 shots, no goals in thrilling draw

 

Matt Windley

 

April 12, 2015

 

 

A HUGELY entertaining, end-to-end affair between Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park ended in the most unlikely of scoreless draws on Sunday night.

 

The result was largely inconsequential for City, now safely ensconsed in the top six after Perth Glory’s axing from the finals series.

 

But on a weekend of upsets the Phoenix became the latest in a string of teams to spurn the opportunity to establish a lead on top of a cluttered A-League table.

 

For one rare occasion City was the best friend of cross-town rival Melbourne Victory, as Kevin Muscat’s men managed to keep top spot despite their shock loss to Newcastle on Friday.

 

Victory will be able to return the favour by keeping Brisbane Roar at bay for City in its Suncorp Stadium double header on Wednesday and Saturday nights - although in terms of the finals wash-up there is barely a difference between finishing fifth and sixth for the Manchester City-owned side.

 

Of course, it could have all been different had Socceroos stirker Nathan Burns not inexplicably missed a 16th minute penalty.

 

But in fairness it was City that had the better of the play.

 

Wellington might have just shaded the possession stakes (52 per cent to 48) but City had 20 shots to the visitor’s 12 and if it weren’t for the heroics of Phoenix goalkeeper Glen Moss then the result would surely have been different.

 

Moss made at least five crucial saves, the best of which were to deny two stinging Robert Koren shots in the third and 69th minutes and another fingertip effort to stop Josh Kennedy’s deft close-range shot in the 57th.

 

He couldn’t get a hand to Erik Paartalu’s header in the 95th minute, but instead it was the crossbar which this time denied City all three points.

 

Still, that’s now five games unbeaten for John van’t Schip’s team as it continues to make its presence in the top six felt.

 

And in what was the club’s last home game for the season, it was also a ninth game without defeat at AAMI Park.

 

The match, played before 6720 fans, started as it finished - as an open, attacking contest in which the momentum swung wildly throughout and both teams threw attacking haymaker after attacking haymaker at each other.

 

Jonatan Germano, Koren, Safuwan Baharudin and Kennedy each had chances in the first five minutes before the visitors got a foothold in the match.

 

It was Safuwan who clumsily brought down impressive Wellington right back Louis Fenton in the box in the 15th minute, but Burns’ tame penalty was struck straight at Velaphi.

 

The match settled somewhat for the remainder of the half, but re-exploded back in to life after the break and kept its breakneck pace for the duration of the match.

 

How City did not win given the chances it created from its 11 second half shots would have had van’t Schip scratching his head, but Wellington to its credit created plenty of chances too, the best of which fell to Burns midway through the second stanza, but his effort was saved by Velaphi at his near post.

 

There is still everything to play for for the top four in the last two rounds, with Victory and Sydney FC now on 44 points and Adelaide and the Phoenix locked on 43.

 

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/melbourne-city-v-wellington-phoenix-follow-live-a-league-with-video-and-stats-in-match-centre/story-e6frf4gl-1227300483889

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What a boring shit game.

We just don't move the ball quick enough the create enough chances. As much as i love Jailens the guy can't keep getting played at RB.He just offers us nothing going forward. Even Safuwan hardly offered us very little too.

Kennedy is still a hack. Doesn't do nearly enough for what hes getting paid to do. It's a shame Marino isn't in better form because i'd rather see him playing over Kennedy atm.

Don't know why Novillo was take off early too? He's the only player on the team that looks threatening when he has the ball. Tando MVP easily today too. What a star.

Disappointing result and now we move onto next week.

Boring??? Really?

That was one of the more exciting matches I've seen in the league this year. Constant action, attacking football and great goalkeeping displays from both teams.

Just because we didn't win and no goals were scored, it was far from boring.

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Given that Melbourne City had 20 shots to Wellington's 12, and 9 on target to 6 (inc. their pen) from Wellington, it is somewhat disappointing the team didn't win. But at the same time Melbourne City were playing a highly motivated team that only needed to win to go top with 2 rounds to go. And given that Wellington had a pen as well, I wouldn't call this a bad result. IMO this is exactly the sort of game Melbourne Heart would have lost, so getting a draw to stretch the team's undefeated run to 5 matches is a decent outcome.

 

I agree as well that Melbourne City's performance looked better than the performances in recent weeks (even where the team won, like away to Sydney). The team kept roughly half of the possession against a team in Wellington this season that's liked to dominate the possession. Further, the team created 20 shots, including several good chances, which highlights the main negative of this match: finishing.

 

Melbourne City had 8 shots inside the box, 7 on target [Yellow on target, Grey off target]:

 

m9t5s1.jpg

 

 

To Wellington's 5 shots inside the box, 3 on target (and 1 of those 3 was the pen):

 

2h3to28.jpg

 

 

 

So not only did the team have more possession, but it created a respectable amount of chances as well, while keeping pretty good opposition forwards like Nathan Burns fairly quiet.

 

 

Some other miscellaneous observations of mine:

 

- Paartalu played either his best game, or second best game for the club (the other match being the 3-1 away win at Brisbane). He had the equal most tackles in midfield with 4 (Germano also had 4), and by far the most interceptions out of the whole team with 6. Paartalu also won 100% of his aerial duels. His tackles and interceptions aren't as eye-catching as Melling's, but what Paartalu does (when he plays well like this) really keeps the team ticking in midfield

 

- Koren looked a bit more busy, and had more good moments in the final third. I still want to see more from him, but still it was one of his better games and perhaps he is finally finding his feet in the team and the A-League

 

- The defence keeps on working, no matter who's in the back four. Just that 1 goal (against WSW) conceded in 5 games

 

- If there was any uncertainty, Velaphi proved today that he deserves a new contract. He's not perfect, but he can consistently do a good job in the A-League

 

- The front 3 didn't combine well, and Kennedy in particular didn't combine well with other players in the final third, and looked largely ineffectual. There was 1 time when Koren combined with Kennedy, on the 55 minute where Kennedy got a low shot off on goal, but ATM Kennedy isn't looking very useful up front, and just doesn't look like the goal-every-2-games Socceroos striker of recent years 

 

 

All up some pretty good play from City. The keeper, the defence and the midfield pretty much ticked most boxes. The team just needs to finish more chances (for example, Victory get 1 goal from every 2 shots on target, and Sydney get 1 goal from every 3 on target. City simply have to score if they have 9 shots on target like they did in this game). If the team can just find an avenue or two to goal then Melbourne City can really ruffle some feathers come finals time.

Edited by Murfy1
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What a boring shit game.

We just don't move the ball quick enough the create enough chances. As much as i love Jailens the guy can't keep getting played at RB.He just offers us nothing going forward. Even Safuwan hardly offered us very little too.

Kennedy is still a hack. Doesn't do nearly enough for what hes getting paid to do. It's a shame Marino isn't in better form because i'd rather see him playing over Kennedy atm.

Don't know why Novillo was take off early too? He's the only player on the team that looks threatening when he has the ball. Tando MVP easily today too. What a star.

Disappointing result and now we move onto next week.

Boring??? Really?

That was one of the more exciting matches I've seen in the league this year. Constant action, attacking football and great goalkeeping displays from both teams.

Just because we didn't win and no goals were scored, it was far from boring.

 

No goals though so boring soz :)

 

Nah look it was probably just more frustrating then boring in all honesty, I've seen this general heart game a 100 times. We play well, dominate the game but yet can't score.I'd trade all the exciting nil all draws in the world for a boring 1-0 win with 3 shots on target all game.

 

Doesn't help to the fact i'm a diehard essendon man and the game of the round was happening across the road.

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I would reiterate what a lot of folks are saying here.. Not a bad result against a good side, though our attack remains a bit disjointed. Tando obviously played well, and Retre did very well when he came on- added a real spark from fullback. I thought Mooy and Germano were both brilliant yesterday- Mooy is just getting better and better, and I highly doubt he'll be here next season. Paartalu played really well I thought too.

The front 3 (Koren as #10 behind Jesus and Novillo) seems like a good idea but didn't really work. We often really lacked width, and I just don't think Koren has the nous to play that role anymore. Novillo is better suited to a wide role too.

I think the diamond was a tactical move from JVS to nullify Wellingtons attack through Bonavacia and McGlinchey, which it largely did. I also think that our fullbacks were told not to get forward, in order to nullify the threat of Burns and Krishna on the counter- attack. JVS made the change to this plan when he brought Retre on and he was getting forward much more. The issue with this though is that a diamond with defensive fullbacks means everything is channelled through the middle of the pitch and as we saw it can get very congested and only players with top awareness and first touch can play in spaces like that. This is what ( I think) Koren is meant to be, but he plainly isn't. Mooy is so far ahead of him in every aspect and I really feel that we have to look at getting rid of him next year. A marquee player should be the best (or at least top 2) player in the side and he hasn't been that in any game this season.

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I've seen all this before ! at least we didn't concede at the end and throw away 3 points

 

a multitude of chances , which we couldn't put away

thank you Nathan Burns for one of the worst penalties I've seen, I reckon Redder's still wouldn't have saved it though

 

Willo, trying to catch up to Mifdud for the most offsides 

 

on the whole though I reckon we played okay

there was some nice one touch going on in midfield at times, I though Germano played a very good match, getting forward as an option, and covering back

Harry was very ordinary, ( injured?)

Mooy was Mooy,

 

3 points dropped in my opinion

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Not the best final game, but could have been worse. Story of the season really.

Positives: Paartalu had a good game, consistently involved in the play. Retre actually did really well when he came on too. Another solid performance from Kisnorbo and it was good to see Melling coming back. One of Koren's better games too although we still need more from him.

Cons: Jaliens is better at centre back and struggled. And we still have issues with our forwards and it's not possible to draw your way to the grand final, you have to actually score some goals.

 

Disappointing the team didn't come around post match given it was the last home game of the season, I assume because of the members function afterwards? Did anyone go, my friend wasn't keen so we skipped it.

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I can't help but notice that once again like many times in the past the team just doesn't gel. There's a lot of hesitation happening between players, which isn't a good thing for a team that's been training together for a while now. Every now and then, and it happened a few times yesterday, do we link up with relative ease (the switch to Mooy and one touch onto Germano to shoot comes to mind). This surely must be the failure of the coach to get the team working cohesively. For me it explains why we often can't get the ball moving quick enough.

Edited by n i k o
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To add to your point, there was clear hesitation from williams to cross is in, then when eventually he did, ended up in the side netting.

 

We all hope for team perfection, but that won't happen. Not even the top teams this year are playing perfect. 

We are, however, playing better than we were at the start of the season. 

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Deviant it doesn't have to be perfect. It's more a case of 'all to often' we don't look cohesive as a team.

But we are getting a lot better! - in comparison to how we started. 

 

I was having a similar conversation yesterday. We wont be push over's in the finals series. The depth on the bench yesterday was heartening. Also in comparison to how we've started.

If we can keep from getting injured or missing games due to too many yellow cards (Bahuradin as an example), we will have the most successful  finals series in our short 5 year history.

 

Cohesion, if you're worried about it, won't come until another 2 - 3 seasons time. We'll have a clear out at the end of the year and the new personnel are going to need time to play our style.

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The only thing that fills with me confidence that we'll do anything in the finals this year is our defence. Kisnorbo,Safuwan,Chapman, Jailens and Tando have been amazing. I have a massive amount of confidence we can keep a team scoreless, but have no confidence in ourselves whatsoever that we can score.

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Yes we are looking better defensive but in possession we still lack cohesiveness. Have to agree to disagree there. Under JVS it's been over a season and a half now. Your telling me I may have to wait for two more seasons before there's team cohesiveness that will win us a title?

Edited by n i k o
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Yes we are looking better defensive but in possession we still lack cohesiveness. Have to agree to disagree there. Under JVS it's been over a season and a half now. Your telling me I may have to wait for two more seasons before there's team cohesiveness that will win us a title?

Quite possibly, if we don't get the the right personnel then we'll have to wait for cohesion. 

If we get quality personnel, then we might rely on individual brilliance. 

Sacking the coach would only delay the inevitable cohesion.

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