RD 19 We're having some visitors over at AAMI

[Shahanga]

2 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Best thing about tonight is that Berisha didnt score

Wilkinson owned his sorry Alabanian arse.

[KSK_47]

6 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

 

As to the non goal didn't see it

Was 500% over the line

[Ando]

7 minutes ago, KSK_47 said:

Was 500% over the line

Which makes the result, even though it was a draw, quite nice really. 

[Jovan]

2 minutes ago, KSK_47 said:

Was 500% over the line

That was the best thing of the night. Lol

Seriously why can't we play with that intensity every week. We were actually too intense especially first 10 mins. Then the start of the second half we waltz out there and play at a noticeable level less. What do they expect. Really frustrating to watch such an obviously talented group no being able to play with any semblance of intelligence for 95 minutes on a weekly basis.

 

Only answer is a crazy Balkan coach.

[Shahanga]

6 minutes ago, KSK_47 said:

Was 500% over the line

How sweet it would have been if we got the same sort of goal incorrectly ALLOWED at the death!

[HEARTinator]

24 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Positives:

Bratwurst with onions, cheese and mustard

An undeserved draw, what makes that good makes that bad too  Is there such a thing as an undeserved draw against the Tards when you're a man down and fighting like hell to hang on to a point????

Fornaroli 2: Berisha 0. Wilkinson wore Belisha like a glove and Berisha had as much presence as James Brown  Wilko had a good game IMO.

Much better organisation and shape with a back 4.   Malik finally likes like a worthy replacement for Srhoj. Wilkinson brought a sense of calm to the back line 

Mooy more influential in a 4-3-3 but has dropped his form somewhat from earlier in the season. His corners were terrible tonight Mooy ran his arse off in this game and really tried to cover for the fact we were a man down. Kudos to him. But his corners were shithousen 

Chapeau to Melburnians tonight, you sounded great.

 

Negatives:

North Terrace behaviour. Ripping flares and even worse, throwing bottles just gives the moral high ground and initiative back to FFA. Dumb dumb dumb. $50k fine and 3 points suspended surely 

2 consecutive red cards to Caceres, I accept that all of the yellows were soft but really he is trying too  hard. Hopefully someone looks after him so this doesn't crush him.

We're still struggling to retain possession in midfield, our midfield positioning in attacking transition was poor tonight, instead of expanding the field we seem to be compressing it. Fornaroli's brilliance is covering up our ordinariness across the park  Signings like El Tuna don't come often. Pity his great efforts are being squandered under a shit coach.

I don't know what JVS says to the team during the half time breaks but whatever it is he should try the opposite.

Chris Beath, what can I say, the only good thing about his woeful performance was that he was terrible to both teams. Fcuk me, I don't know either

Melbourne must have been a free crime zone tonight, every single cop on the force was at AAMI Park tonight

Agree

Novillo needs to concentrate on the game not let his mind wander about his next root. Times where he seemed far too casual.

[hakz7]

35 minutes ago, hakz7 said:

It's like Fox Sports sees our tifos and says "Meh fuck it"... Not sure if it was different on TV, but at the match on the screens, they showed it in the background for like 1 second. Even in the December derby, barely showed it...

Can't even find any good photos of it lol.

 

[Dylan]

1 minute ago, hakz7 said:

 

What is it?

[hakz7]

1 minute ago, Dylan said:

What is it?

Was thinking the same thing lol... Credit as always for the guys who put in so much time and effort for setting it up but it didn't seem to turn out well unfortunately.

[belaguttman]

9 minutes ago, HEARTinator said:

Novillo needs to concentrate on the game not let his mind wander about his next root. Times where he seemed far too casual.

Undeserved draw because we should be dominating the visitors not playing counter-attack at home. Undeserved because we really conceded 3 goals and had to rely on Beath's incompetence. Undeserved because our indinariness was disguised by Bruno's individual brilliance

[Murfy1]

That game was another instance where Melbourne Heart would have lost in the end, but Melbourne City managed a draw IMO.

 

No debate, we have the best no. 9 and the best no. 10 in the league. Fornaroli got 2 goals and Mooy got 2 assists. More output couldn't be asked from them. And to produce in a big game as well like the final derby of the season, playing for 3rd place, is a big credit to both of them. Credit to Mooy in particular for returning to his stellar form after his rib injury setback (his defensive pressure was exceptional IMO).

 

Beath was whistle-happy as usual. The early yellow to Caceres was a shocker. Beath had issued 2 yellows against us before 1 victory foul was called I believe, and he was slow to hit them with yellows for offences comparable to ours. It also looked like a clear non-foul for Finkler's free kick. And of course after that free kick there was a big call that went our way.

 

I thought the team looked better and more balanced with Malik in midfield. From around the 10th minute to the 35th minute I thought we played some good stuff. And of course Fornaroli's first goal was pure magic, with multiple players involved but Fornaroli being both the main creator and the finisher. All up we had 10 shots (4 inside the box) compared to victory's 15 (5 inside the box), so some decent attacking especially when the upheaval to our starting lineup and the chaos of the second half (drama around the non-goal, reshuffle to the team following the required sub to not fully fit Wilkinson and the Caceres sendoff) is considered.

 

I thought defensively the team was much better than in previous weeks, being pretty well organised for most of the game and pressing intermittently and smartly. Victory only managed 5 shots from inside the box all game, with only 3 shots from inside the box coming in the second half, and they managed only 2 speculative shots from distance over the last 15 minutes after the sendoff. If Melbourne City can keep playing Wilkinson and a settled defence, I'm pretty confident our defending will improve significantly.

 

A few other points: Garuccio was good going forward but defensively he was suspect, Fitzgerald was a serviceable RW (I reckon he could show even more quality over the next 2 weeks against CCM and Wellington) and Wilkinson wasn't showy but I reckon his presence stabilised and improved our defence.

 

 

An especially sweet point given that the visitor's fans will be smarting after the non-goal. And potentially a performance City can build on if we can play most of the same starters 2 weeks in a row.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Murfy1

[strider]

Didn't go to it but saw the highlights.

Seriously, Fornaroli is a freak. Rabona and chip goal? I can't even...

 

To be fair, their goals were utter shit. 

[KSK_47]

23 minutes ago, Ando said:

Which makes the result, even though it was a draw, quite nice really. 

I am not complaining but just pointing out that we really should be discussing this game as though it was a loss

[kingofhearts]

Victory are just the biggest scumbags:

-Lighting flares

-Throwing bottles and other shit onto the pitch and at sorenson

-There assistant coach (?) or a victory coach berading the ball boys before the start of the second half. Yelling at 8 year olds are you serious?

I know we drew but everytime we play this mob i could not be more prouder then to be supporting Melbourne city. Victory fans are just massive dropkicks.

[Kinnibari]

1 hour ago, belaguttman said:

I don't know what JVS says to the team during the half time breaks but whatever it is he should try the opposite.

Drives me up the wall, we never come out firing after half time.

Not our best game but Wilko looked solid and Mooy and Fornaroli played well. Novillo was disappointing.

[thisphantomfortress]

43 minutes ago, Dylan said:

What is it?

City skyline with a rising red and blue sun. Black didn't come out as nice as we'd have hoped. Lesson learnt, still looked nice

[Thrillhouse]

surprised we nearly got 26k
fucking over conceding shithouse goals, defence is horrible giving their players so much time and space
lol at the free kick, looked in from the wing, stupid cunt mongs throwing shit on the ground after
can't believe we fucked up that 2v1 chance in the 1st half would of made it 3-1 i think
could hardly hear our active bay at times
wilko only managing 60 mins
gooch starting over zullo 

[Kinnibari]

3 hours ago, Falastur said:

So it's just been  threats and posturing in the papers, though? I thought that, from the way the commentators talked about it, there had been someone who had died while huffing one or they had been blamed for Hitler's rise to power or something. 

Wanderers fans let off 19 flares and temporarily stopped the game due to too much  smoke affecting visibility. Wankers. Anyway they've been given a fine and suspended points loss.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/western-sydney-wanderers/western-sydney-wanderers-hit-with-hefty-fine-and-suspended-points-penalty-over-crowd-misconduct-20160211-gmr92k.html

9 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

City skyline with a rising red and blue sun. Black didn't come out as nice as we'd have hoped. Lesson learnt, still looked nice

Anyone got a better picture?

 

[Melburnian]

16 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

City skyline with a rising red and blue sun. Black didn't come out as nice as we'd have hoped. Lesson learnt, still looked nice

Appreciate the effort but the place card thing doesn't work when we never have a full crowd behind the goals. It will always look disjointed and not finished. 

A banner tifo is the way to go for us to be honest. Yarraside produced absolute pearlers back in the day and always looked forward to them. 

 

[thisphantomfortress]

1 minute ago, Melburnian said:

Appreciate the effort but the place card thing doesn't work when we never have a full crowd behind the goals. It will always look disjointed and not finished. 

A banner tifo is the way to go for us to be honest. Yarraside produced absolute pearlers back in the day and always looked forward to them. 

 

Please pass this feed back onto vicpol. We would much rather pull overs but this is all we can get approved by the stadium and police. Sustained good behaviour and we a can hopefully get some pull overs in the future. Until the we don't have a lot of choice

[belaguttman]

Speaking of Police, it looked like there were 15,000 paying spectators there tonight and 10,000 Police

[Torn Asunder]

[thisphantomfortress]

2 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Speaking of Police, it looked like there were 15,000 paying spectators there tonight and 10,000 Police

And not a single incident down our end 

[Torn Asunder]

[belaguttman]

2 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

And not a single incident down our end 

The derby specials stayed away tonight

[dr lime]

Thought we looked better with the "non 3-5-2" formation tonight. Mooy was more influential working a tad deeper and getting forward rather than vice versa. And I generally liked what Caceres and Malik did in midfield. Reckon Fitzy will be good for us too. Looked to be just about our strongest possible line up, although with a back four I would play Zullo instead of Garrucio, he loses his man far too easily. Could shoehorn Melling in, I like him but his passing this year has been poor and who is he going to replace (if Caceres stops getting suspended...)?.

Ref was rubbish, totally overawed by the occasion. Flashed too many yellows early and then wouldn't be consistent in booking their blokes. Feel a bit sorry for Caceres, two pretty soft yellows. But Garrucio could easily have gone earlier out near the corner flag, very clumsy. 

Harry was very ordinary early but improved. Wilko looked like he will be very useful once a bit fitter. But again, a couple of shit goals conceded. And Jesus, does no-one realise that Ben Kerfuffle ALWAYS cuts inside? Any analysis at all being done? Him skipping inside about 3 of our blokes cost us the second goal.  

I have been mildly critical in the past about the lack of variety in chants, etc. by our Active, but kudos to them tonight they were really good and an obvious contrast to the dickheads at the other end. 

Happy with a point in the end, especially  as their "third"was disallowed. And El Tuna is now 3 ahead of Berisha i think. 

The glass is half full. 

[n i k o]

Someone please explain why Caceras received the first yellow card? Taking into consideration he won the free kick. Did he say something to the ref or....

[silva10]

3 hours ago, Murfy1 said:

That game was another instance where Melbourne Heart would have lost in the end, but Melbourne City managed a draw IMO.

 

No debate, we have the best no. 9 and the best no. 10 in the league. Fornaroli got 2 goals and Mooy got 2 assists. More output couldn't be asked from them. And to produce in a big game as well like the final derby of the season, playing for 3rd place, is a big credit to both of them. Credit to Mooy in particular for returning to his stellar form after his rib injury setback (his defensive pressure was exceptional IMO).

 

Beath was whistle-happy as usual. The early yellow to Caceres was a shocker. Beath had issued 2 yellows against us before 1 victory foul was called I believe, and he was slow to hit them with yellows for offences comparable to ours. It also looked like a clear non-foul for Finkler's free kick. And of course after that free kick there was a big call that went our way.

 

I thought the team looked better and more balanced with Malik in midfield. From around the 10th minute to the 35th minute I thought we played some good stuff. And of course Fornaroli's first goal was pure magic, with multiple players involved but Fornaroli being both the main creator and the finisher. All up we had 10 shots (4 inside the box) compared to victory's 15 (5 inside the box), so some decent attacking especially when the upheaval to our starting lineup and the chaos of the second half (drama around the non-goal, reshuffle to the team following the required sub to not fully fit Wilkinson and the Caceres sendoff) is considered.

 

I thought defensively the team was much better than in previous weeks, being pretty well organised for most of the game and pressing intermittently and smartly. Victory only managed 5 shots from inside the box all game, with only 3 shots from inside the box coming in the second half, and they managed only 2 speculative shots from distance over the last 15 minutes after the sendoff. If Melbourne City can keep playing Wilkinson and a settled defence, I'm pretty confident our defending will improve significantly.

 

A few other points: Garuccio was good going forward but defensively he was suspect, Fitzgerald was a serviceable RW (I reckon he could show even more quality over the next 2 weeks against CCM and Wellington) and Wilkinson wasn't showy but I reckon his presence stabilised and improved our defence.

 

 

An especially sweet point given that the visitor's fans will be smarting after the non-goal. And potentially a performance City can build on if we can play most of the same starters 2 weeks in a row.

The trouble with Gooch, is that he tries to nick balls where it is 60/40 against him and goes to ground to easily when trying to defend. The best defenders stay on there feet, cut off the passing lanes and don't go for balls you can't win. He is a winger and I was very surprised to see him play ahead of Zullo and Clisby in that position.

 

[dr lime]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

Someone please explain why Caceras received the first yellow card? Taking into consideration he won the free kick. Did he say something to the ref or....

There was a foul to us (Malik I think), ref played advantage and Caceres was immediately involved in a 50-50 which ref wan't happy about. He had already "given" the earlier free kick but Caceres got pinged for his challenge. Which was bullshit, absolutely just 2 guys going in for a 50-50, no malice whatsoever. The Victroy player did exactly the same but somehow Caceres got a yellow. Ref needs to go to the bush for a few weeks, terrible! 

[NewConvert]

I think everyone has pretty much covered the game reasonably well. I will add that I am not sure about Franjic, he played better than the last two games but I am still wondering why he has even been capped. Whatever deal he got from the club was based on his past reputation and as far as I am concerned, he is just not delivering to that level. And also what is the problem with Novillo, last night he was hot and cold.

Thankfully the Jets drew with the Roar and Sydney went down to PG. Now for WP to pull an upset.

[neio]

I'm pleased with a draw from where we were but disappointed it was a draw after leading twice

Thought the Wilkinson kisnorbo Malik triangle looked good, although they did score twice we didn't get cut open multiple times. It took a pretty tidy finish from Khalfallah and a goal that finkler knew nothing about.

Really feel for caceras, thought it was 2 pretty softish average yellow cards. Take that away and he showed that he will fit in

Novillo was nowhere, still don't understand why he never goes to the right if only for 10 minutes to try something new, geria is probably the perfect match up against him, quick, tall and doesn't dive in and let you get around him.

Finish off on a positive, what more can be said about Bruno. He is a star, make him marquee, give him whatever he wants 

[rass]

I think Novillo is much more dangerous when closer to Bruno than as a winger.

One thing i did notice with him though was he made more effort to track back and help out.

Not much else you can say about the refereeing that hasn't been said. Absolute disgraceful. It was pure amateur. Everytime someone touched someone in midfield, it was a foul.... actually correct that, everytime we touched a victory player, it was a foul.

...and Barbarouses?  How many times can you dive in a game without being called for simulation. 

Proud that we fought out a draw when all odds were against us.

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, NewConvert said:

I think everyone has pretty much covered the game reasonably well. I will add that I am not sure about Franjic, he played better than the last two games but I am still wondering why he has even been capped. Whatever deal he got from the club was based on his past reputation and as far as I am concerned, he is just not delivering to that level. And also what is the problem with Novillo, last night he was hot and cold.

Thankfully the Jets drew with the Roar and Sydney went down to PG. Now for WP to pull an upset.

Pretty much what I wanted to say. Want to add, though, that I like the look of Fitzgerald - looks quite a good player, has pace, and handled himself well in his first taste of a Melbourne Derby at AAMI. 
 

[MICHAEL_MACGYVER]

technically we will win that match....once the FFA hand down the fine and loss of points (probably 3 or more) but we should have really won that one...espeicllay  since  we were leading twice in the game...I don't know what happened at the half but it took us ages to get going after the break.

[MHFC-FAN]

13 minutes ago, MICHAEL_MACGYVER said:

technically we will win that match....once the FFA hand down the fine and loss of points (probably 3 or more) but we should have really won that one...espeicllay  since  we were leading twice in the game...I don't know what happened at the half but it took us ages to get going after the break.

Err...it was another highly motivating JVS rev up

[Shahanga]

11 hours ago, KSK_47 said:

I am not complaining but just pointing out that we really should be discussing this game as though it was a loss

I know what you're saying, but All the times we lost or drew due to a ref mistake did we discuss it like it was a win? Look no further than last week with that ridiculous pen.

[raw10]

10 hours ago, thisphantomfortress said:

Please pass this feed back onto vicpol. We would much rather pull overs but this is all we can get approved by the stadium and police. Sustained good behaviour and we a can hopefully get some pull overs in the future. Until the we don't have a lot of choice

Appreciate the effort! Melburnians were awesome yesterday. We really gave it to Victards. I for one look forward to the day we have bigger crowds, a stadium to call our own so that we can do whatever fuck we want.

[HEARTinator]

11 hours ago, Murfy1 said:

That game was another instance where Melbourne Heart would have lost in the end, but Melbourne City managed a draw IMO.

Yes everything and especially this. Yes, we could have done this or that, and the Funkler disallowed goal but then again he scored using his scone by complete accident LOLz holy shite. We don't play possession against the top sides and that has been evident the whole season. Our defense has gone through massive changes this season - a major flaw in our pre-season recruiting. Our game plan is to get forward (on the counter) and for Mooy, Novillo and Fornaroli to do the business. And geez how bloody exciting it is to watch them score. In all our seasons there hasn't been this much excitement around our scoring capability. It's just that we can leak goals as quickly as we can score. A headache for the coaching staff.

So:

1/ Bruno to become marquee  - a no brainer. Mooy and Bruno are irreplaceable ATM.

2/ Malik/Wilko combination could be what we need in a post Paddy world (the poor bastard is being held together by gaffer tape but still puts in - kudos). Wilko had a good game as did Osama (Bin) Malik.

3/ Caceres - good smart player just needs to take the edge off some challenges.

4/ Franjic needs to show class because right now he is playing some uninspiring stuff.

5/ Harry goes 'walkabout' mentality. Probably the reason he's in the A-league and not at some credible Euro club. Just love the way he takes on opponents and barges his way through. A really good asset who just needs to focus for 90min.

6/ JvS out.

[Pandev]

Every derby game, I wonder how many City fans turn up. How many City fans compared to Victory fans?

My opinion, (I could be biased) I think it's fairly well balanced 50/50.

I know of many of my friends (through kids clubs) are hard core Tard fans and they stayed home,  when I asked why they replied 'not our home game'.

Without stating the obvious "memberships comparison" etc, do you think we are outnumbered?

Would love to know your opinions...

[thisphantomfortress]

2 minutes ago, Pandev said:

Every derby game, I wonder how many City fans turn up. How many City fans compared to Victory fans?

My opinion, (I could be biased) I think it's fairly well balanced 50/50.

I know of many of my friends (through kids clubs) are hard core Tard fans and they stayed home,  when I asked why they replied 'not our home game'.

Without stating the obvious "memberships comparison" etc, do you think we are outnumbered?

Would love to know your opinions...

Loudest point of the night was "stand up if you love city" probably 60/40 in their favour til their capo tried to fight a scarfed for not singing and a bunch of them go booted, then 50/50