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Saturday 19th March v Victory


malloy
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7 minutes ago, mjake1234 said:

Why does this team continue to disappoint? No drive, no enthusiasm, no passion, nothing to pump up pride, always a feeling of "almost". How can you play 19 games and draw 7 of them?

Players are buggered, no squad rotation. 

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Coulda lost, shoulda won.

Positives:

We scored from a set-piece and should have scored more from 5 very good opportunities and maybe one pen. But we didn't.

Solid game from Glover, the time on the bench was helpful for his game.

 

Negatives:

No service to JMac until the final 5 minutes

Too much space between our back 4 and midfield, allowed Folani far too much space.

Ball movement was too slow, I don't have a problem with a patient buildup but when there's space the ball needs to move quickly, so do the players off the ball. We rarely overloaded the stacked visit0rs backline as we committed too few players forward, yet were often caught short at the back after the inevitable counter-attack.

The bench was a bit light on for experience but we could have gone to the bench earlier. Colakowski's rustiness is related to his lack of match time

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1 hour ago, mjake1234 said:

Why does this team continue to disappoint? No drive, no enthusiasm, no passion, nothing to pump up pride, always a feeling of "almost". How can you play 19 games and draw 7 of them?

But using those same stats we have only lost 3. 

I'm not disappointed, I think we are on the verge of a spell of games were everything works.

The ingredients are there, we are just missing something to put it altogether, maybe it's a player, maybe its a positioning, maybe it's simply a just a dumb luck incident, whatever it is I'm pretty confident we'll get there.

We are not playing great at the moment, but at the end of the day we are not losing. 

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1 hour ago, neio said:

Thought we were incredibly poor tonight, but I also think victory played as well as they could, and we probably should have won. 

2 points dropped against a team we should be beating everytime

I think the last two games against WU and Victory really showed that the quality of league is different this season compared to last year - you just need that little bit extra to win games now!

Using your full squad, use your full salary cap, full foreign visa allocation etc is going to get most results.

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58 minutes ago, Colombo said:

What we win last season with him in charge premiers plate and the grand final and the derby 6-0 7-0 must have no smarts about him 

We’ve been around long enough to know that last season PK was appointed as caretaker covid coach with a fully inherited squad and setup. Please keep in mind that the whole league was under par in quality last season.

This season with his own hand picked recruits and a stronger league with better opposition it’s just a different story. 

What’s the point to keep referring to last season if the results aren’t there this season? We need judge what’s in front of us and not the past.

Edited by Mr MO
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Interestingly, if you want to dig deeper on why you don’t win these type of games, looking at our attack for example;

Florin was fully man marked today and it worked for Victory.

Is more game time making Tilio any better?

Nabbout is hit and miss plus still looks unfit.

The highest paid player on the field for both teams was JMAC - invisible for 87 minutes, under 15 touches all game and missed composure when it mattered.

No quality to make difference on bench. Boy we miss a creative player like Atkinson in our squad now. 

Edited by Mr MO
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12 hours ago, mjake1234 said:

Why does this team continue to disappoint? No drive, no enthusiasm, no passion, nothing to pump up pride, always a feeling of "almost".

I don't think that it's a lack of drive and enthusiasm. I think that it's a lack of balance in our style of play, it leaves us more vulnerable to counter-attacks than we were last season. I think that it'll be our undoing in the ACL

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13 hours ago, KSK_47 said:

Fook me. Not only only can we not sell out a derby, we don't even need to open the top tier. So sad how far the game has fallen

To be absolutely correct, one side of the top tier was open and fairly  full.   But yeah, official crowd figure was 18,000. Hardly 2015, eh?

We can't give the ball away all night like that and look like champions.

We only (nearly) got lucky in the last 10min because their fatigue finally appeared in defence.

I thought we were lucky not to lose.

 

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This season we are chased. We play like that, overall slow and defensive attitude.  Not taking any risk,  just trying to keep possession with slow build up.  It's very different to the last season.  We miss a few key players, which is showing now. Cola should be given a chance to play regular minutes,  somewhere else next season. 

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I think we’ve somehow lost our style of play this season. Man City, of course play with more pace, but also use more vertical balls than we do. We sort of play a tica taca style, but it worked for Barca because they played it with ball pace and good player movement off the ball. We lack the ball pace this season, we did see it last week against Tarneit but that was unusual. We play some diagonal long balls but generally we try to play through the lines rather than over. Last season we regularly overloaded opposition teams in the box, we rarely do it this season. It is like, in a topsy turvey way, we are defensive in the front third, but very attacking (in terms of the space we leave) in the back.

Edited by belaguttman
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1 hour ago, belaguttman said:

I think we’ve somehow lost our style of play this season. Man City, of course play with more pace, but also use more vertical balls than we do. We sort of play a tica taca style, but it worked for Barca because they played it with ball pace and good player movement off the ball. We lack the ball pace this season, we did see it last week against Tarneit but that was unusual. We play some diagonal long balls but generally we try to play through the lines rather than over. Last season we regularly overloaded opposition teams in the box, we rarely do it this season. It is like, in a topsy turvey way, we are defensive in the front third, but very attacking (in terms of the space we leave) in the back.

Playing the man City style is difficult enough when you don’t have the quality players to do so but even harder if your opponents are from a higher level and give you less space and time on the ball - that is what is happening now with the top teams. 

Edited by Mr MO
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One thing that was evident for me is the way in which we would turn over the ball. It comes from simply misplacing a pass. Its not that the pass has hit its target and the ball has been dueled for and lost. The pass is directly to the oppositions feet. I'm pretty certain the goal we conceded was due to this as well and it happened numerous times during the game. The worst thing about losing the ball in this way is no one in the team is expecting it and isn't set up defensively to prepare for the counter attack. At least if the pass hits it target, players can see if a turn over may occur depending on how much pressure the receiving player is under. To play this style of high press with acres of space behind the last thing we can afford of giving teams opportunity to exploit this space with speed. Simple errors are and will continue to be the bane of our season. 

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8 hours ago, CityWildcat said:

To be absolutely correct, one side of the top tier was open and fairly  full.   But yeah, official crowd figure was 18,000. Hardly 2015, eh?

We can't give the ball away all night like that and look like champions.

We only (nearly) got lucky in the last 10min because their fatigue finally appeared in defence.

I thought we were lucky not to lose.

Official attendance was 18,080. IMO that's pretty reasonable considering COVID. You need to be mindful of the fact that quite a few people aged over 50 remain very wary of unnecessary exposure to the virus, even though the vast majority of them have been triple vaccinated. That's not only a matter of being in the stadium, but it's also because of the risk of infection on public transport and also at the pinch points at the stadium such as the entrances and toilets.

When I also consider how the game's administrators have castrated the atmosphere at A-League matches with bans on flags and banners etc., VAR, shit websites and poor publicity of matches, and that for the City-Victory derbies there isn't a single bums-on-seats player in the two squads put together, 18,080 looks pretty good. We never really drew more than around 25,000 in the halcyon days anyway.

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53 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Official attendance was 18,080. IMO that's pretty reasonable considering COVID. You need to be mindful of the fact that quite a few people aged over 50 remain very wary of unnecessary exposure to the virus, even though the vast majority of them have been triple vaccinated. That's not only a matter of being in the stadium, but it's also because of the risk of infection on public transport and also at the pinch points at the stadium such as the entrances and toilets.

When I also consider how the game's administrators have castrated the atmosphere at A-League matches with bans on flags and banners etc., VAR, shit websites and poor publicity of matches, and that for the City-Victory derbies there isn't a single bums-on-seats player in the two squads put together, 18,080 looks pretty good. We never really drew more than around 25,000 in the halcyon days anyway.

Just to add to this for some perspective 5 of our group couldn't attend due to being in isolation with covid. 

Edited by n i k o
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8 hours ago, Imtellingyou said:

It was a good attendance and great atmosphere. Is covid really affecting footy crowds any more. 

I can speak only for our gang. To my knowledge, of the eight of us, six of whom are over 50, there has been a total of c. 6 attendances over the season so far. By my reckoning we've played 11 home matches, so that's 6 out of 88.

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1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

Have we ever played a derby with only 2 thread pages on the forum?

Sad isn't it? Particularly given we're in the hunt this season and won the double last season... Has been a bumpy season with fixtures and postponements etc. Paramount hasn't helped at all either! 

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1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

Have we ever played a derby with only 2 thread pages on the forum?

Have a look at the previous months of posts. Complete abandonment of discussion. 

Obviously down the general malaise of the League and the game.

But what also doesn't help is the continued snipes and negativity, its very difficult to continually read posts about about whats fucked. 

I'm not saying to sugar coat or push out deluded shit.

Post match 100% if we lose or play crap, unload don't hold back. But pre game to have to go through endless miserable posts about who should be playing, who shouldn't be playing, who should be playing more.

Its hard work, and many posters I think have given up, and to have 2 pages from a Derby is as you say is concerning. 

All I'm saying and its not directed at you personally or your posts, we should try and contribute to a solution and not be more of the problem. 

Just an opinion. 

 

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Many regular posters have left. The talking city guys for example were continuously posting but then all but abandoned the forum due to the negativity (and increase in connection with the club as opposed to the forum as the podcasts on different platforms evolved). Last season the forum was mostly positive which should have seen an upturn in forum use, however many have not returned.

I attribute most of it due to the feel/interest of the league in general. Inside sport (442) forum is already discussing their demise and possible 'death' of the forum.  

Edited by n i k o
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5 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Inside sport (442) forum is already discussing their demise and possible 'death' of the forum.  

So its not just a Melbourne City thing?

I don’t really buy into the “negative post” reasoning behind the demise. 

Critical and negative posts are always and have always been present on online forums in general, this is nothing new - the term “keyboard warrior” was invented many years ago.

Obviously there is a little more going then us grumpy old rusty fans calling a spade a spade or expressing disappointment when not winning a game. 

Coming originally from Europe, I’ve always found it very mild here in Australia in terms of criticism not just from the fans but even our press is very soft.

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19 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Many regular posters have left. The talking city guys for example were continuously posting but then all but abandoned the forum due to the negativity (and increase in connection with the club as opposed to the forum as the podcasts on different platforms evolved). Last season the forum was mostly positive which should have seen an upturn in forum use, however many have not returned.

I attribute most of it due to the feel/interest of the league in general. Inside sport (442) forum is already discussing their demise and possible 'death' of the forum.  

It probably doesn't help that most of City Terrace are youngish n less likely to use a forum, especially if they are using someother form of social media to manage themselves.

I know when Yarraside was around there was a section on this forum that was available only to partially vetted forum members. There was also an area that was only available to those running YS. I think these things were a big driver in the traffic the forum used to get. These days there is no source of natural growth in the user base.

 

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3 minutes ago, malloy said:

It probably doesn't help that most of City Terrace are youngish n less likely to use a forum, especially if they are using someother form of social media to manage themselves.

I know when Yarraside was around there was a section on this forum that was available only to partially vetted forum members. There was also an area that was only available to those running YS. I think these things were a big driver in the traffic the forum used to get. These days there is no source of natural growth in the user base.

 

Yeah good point, maybe we just are stuck in the past in terms of social media.

I’m occasionally lurking on Facebook and there’s plenty of chatter going there at times.

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6 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

So its not just a Melbourne City thing?

I don’t really buy into the “negative post” reasoning behind the demise. 

Critical and negative posts are always and have always been present on online forums in general, this is nothing new - the term “keyboard warrior” was invented many years ago.

Obviously there is a little more going then us grumpy old rusty fans calling a spade a spade or expressing disappointment when not winning a game. 

Coming originally from Europe, I’ve always found it very mild here in Australia in terms of criticism not just from the fans but even our press is very soft.

I completely agree with you. I believe that the major factor influencing how we feel about our club and the league in general is that the quality of player that we had in the past, and indeed the quality of the coaching staff, is just not there at the present time, and in my post about the derby attendance I've mentioned other factors that I believe are influencing interest in the league. And  I would suggest that once interest in the league eases off, all the other things that have happened with our club - seemingly each rather minor when looked at individually - suddenly begin to bite. It's the "straw/camel's back" adage - you will cop all the changes until suddenly you can't take the last one.

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46 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

So its not just a Melbourne City thing?

I don’t really buy into the “negative post” reasoning behind the demise. 

Critical and negative posts are always and have always been present on online forums in general, this is nothing new - the term “keyboard warrior” was invented many years ago.

Obviously there is a little more going then us grumpy old rusty fans calling a spade a spade or expressing disappointment when not winning a game. 

Coming originally from Europe, I’ve always found it very mild here in Australia in terms of criticism not just from the fans but even our press is very soft.

No it's not just a Melbourne City thing. The negative comments was precisely the reason many regular forum members left. You can find their posts where they say this in black and white. Since then they haven't returned. Unless you can tell me another reason they left and haven't returned? 

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19 minutes ago, n i k o said:

No it's not just a Melbourne City thing. The negative comments was precisely the reason many regular forum members left. You can find their posts where they say this in black and white. Since then they haven't returned. Unless you can tell me another reason they left and haven't returned? 

Exactly this.

Having robust debate is Exactly what a forum needs, but if you are  unable to to differentiate between that and endless negativity then there is nothing more to say.

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16 minutes ago, Jovan said:

Exactly this.

Having robust debate is Exactly what a forum needs, but if you are  unable to to differentiate between that and endless negativity then there is nothing more to say.

For sure. As to why they havent returned, thats another thing. In no particular order some factors that come to mind are... having won the league already, low crowd numbers, general interest in the league dropped off, 'covid distraction', vested interest elsewhere (other platforms). 

Edited by n i k o
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1 hour ago, malloy said:

It probably doesn't help that most of City Terrace are youngish n less likely to use a forum, especially if they are using someother form of social media to manage themselves.

I know when Yarraside was around there was a section on this forum that was available only to partially vetted forum members. There was also an area that was only available to those running YS. I think these things were a big driver in the traffic the forum used to get. These days there is no source of natural growth in the user base.

 

Fair point. I guess my question is where are the older rusted on supporters that have been here since day dot. They're the ones that really make for a great 'forum atmosphere.'

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UOTIH: There's never been a real significant drop in forum traffic. It's more or less losing 2-3 consistent posters just makes it seem like we've lost more traffic then we actually have

There's only ever been 10-15 (maybe 20?) consistent posters on this forum. It's just losing 2-3 of them makes it seem like the forum is dying when in reality,things aren't that much different then before. Most threads still get 1000's of views on here (including this one), we're just a grumpy bunch on here like to complain about anything lmao.

For the record this forum stills kicks ass and gives most of us something to do instead of working. And it's still, by far the best soccer forum out there. I do agree however it would be nice if the club or some marketing department out there could advertise the forum to new people as the more the merrier they always say.

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I would like to add that on quite a few occasions it is this Forum that has made me aware of something that otherwise would have passed me by. And those things might have been about the club and/or a particular player, or in one of the Club Room threads. And also without @malloy I wouldn't have ventured anywhere near EPL Fantasy Football.

I also think it's a bit rich to somehow "blame" the Forum members who've stuck it out through all the highs and lows and who remain for the defection of those who have left.

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