FFA Cup 2016: Quarter-final v. WSW Wed 21 Sep 7.30pm AAMI Park

[Tesla]

I was very pleased with all our signings during the offseason (apart from Cahill, but that was nothing to do with his on field ability) and really rated  a lot of them, and tonight proved that they are indeed high quality acquisitions. There was no doubt that we had the best squad in the league last season, but we've somehow gone up another level this season.

Having said that, even though our squad is ridiculously good and should go undefeated with a half decent manager, the fact is we don't have a half decent manager. So I'm not going to get ahead of myself.

Maybe the squad is so good now that it doesn't even matter that JVS isn't up to the job, or maybe not. 

I thought we'd lose this game TBH, but I'm not surprised we gave them a bit of a thrashing either.  Firstly we have no idea how good WSW are right now. Secondly, as we saw last season, when you have a very good squad but a poor manager, you can come out and put on some impressive displays some weeks, when the ability of the players cancels everything out, but then other weeks it all goes to shit. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this has signs of something we've seen a few times from JVS. He has come out with a new tactical system that he has been working on all offseason and signed the players for, and it's worked today. And it will probably keep working for 3, 4, 5, 6 games. But then the opposition will figure it out, and JVS won't adapt. It's happened before, remember when he took over Heart for the second time, we went on a great run of games, but then the opposition figured out his tactics and it was over. So that's my main worry.

Anyway, I guess we'll see what the future holds. Tonight we can only be happy after that result.

[belaguttman]

Does anyone have a link to a replay that I can watch from OS?

[haz]

The one thing about Cahil playing is how much the Fox sport commentators are on their knees for him.  If anyone watches the highlights, every goal has some reference to Cahill. If Sorenson bombed it in from his own box and scored, cahill would still get all the praise.

[silva10]

Some nice goals there. Also in Cahill I think we may have found a leader on the pitch.

 

[belaguttman]

1 minute ago, silva10 said:

Some nice goals there. Also in Cahill I think we may have found a leader on the pitch.

 

Still doesn't make up for not having a leader in the coaching position. Still it's the best we can hope for until he goes

[KSK_47]

Didnt get to watch because i am not well enough to have fone to watch live and foxtel are idiots, but it sounds like i missed a cracker. Very pleasing to hear

[belaguttman]

5 minutes ago, KSK_47 said:

Didnt get to watch because i am not well enough to have fone to watch live and foxtel are idiots, but it sounds like i missed a cracker. Very pleasing to hear

That's no good, I hope that you're back on your feet soon

[HEARTinator]

Brilliant things from last night:

1. 4-1 win  and we have plenty of room for improvement. Our pressing caused problems for the visitors.
2. Bruno is still a legend. End of story.
3. Cahill is gonna smash it. He and Bruno make a great attacking pair.
4. Kamau could be a genuine star.
5. The Visa players are our best collection yet. Jakobsen is a rock.

Some shitty things from last night:

1. We conceded a goal to 10 men
2. WSW possessed the ball in a way that we didn't (their passing was crisper but they lacked the ability to convert into goals)
3. Some of our passing in the backline was shithouse and allowed WSW to press us and get back onto the front foot. Gotta iron that out.
4. Further to that, Rose makes me nervous and Malik should be played just forward of defence in a Jedinak-type role.
5. As good  as the scoreline was, need to improve to take silverware but at least we have the cattle if not the gaffer.

 

 

[n i k o]

13 minutes ago, HEARTinator said:

Brilliant things from last night:

1. 4-1 win  and we have plenty of room for improvement. Our pressing caused problems for the visitors.
2. Bruno is still a legend. End of story.
3. Cahill is gonna smash it. He and Bruno make a great attacking pair.
4. Kamau could be a genuine star.
5. The Visa players are our best collection yet. Jakobsen is a rock.

Some shitty things from last night:

1. We conceded a goal to 10 men
2. WSW possessed the ball in a way that we didn't (their passing was crisper but they lacked the ability to convert into goals)
3. Some of our passing in the backline was shithouse and allowed WSW to press us and get back onto the front foot. Gotta iron that out.
4. Further to that, Rose makes me nervous and Malik should be played just forward of defence in a Jedinak-type role.
5. As good  as the scoreline was, need to improve to take silverware but at least we have the cattle if not the gaffer.

 

 

Agree with a lot of your points. Our fullbacks in Chapman and Rose won't hold up during the season should they be asked to play there. Rose looked nervous whenever he didn't have ample time on the ball and chapman isn't strongest when playing forward up the wing.

Jakobson for me was easily MOM for me, even though a few other put in impressive shifts that would warrant it. Bicycle goal and calming influence in defence, making perhaps only one mistake, he looks like the central defender we've needed. Brandon was so influential as well. 

Overall impression last night was that the game was a result of our quality, intensity and pressing and perhaps WSW being a bit off. I would imagine they will be a different team to play come the season. Very good win, the goals keep rolling for the Mleb City express. 

[fensaddler]

A few random observations from last night.  We have a lot of pace in this squad, and that in itself is forcing the opposition deeper.  We are also going to win a lot of penalties because pace is going to beat defenders.

In a team of whippets, Bruno actually looks slow, when we know he isn't.  He looks as good as ever and could have had a hattrick last night.  The disallowed goal was a harsh decision IMHO, and of course he was brought down when clean through on goal, which resulted in the penalty.

Someone, and I didn't work out who, was knocking inch perfect passes up the wings all night, with the ball often dropping straight to Bruce's feet in space.  Bruce himself looks a great player, pacey, hard working, always in space, and always likely to cause problems for the oppo defence.

Jakobsen is the dogs bollocks.  Looks really capable, the guy we will build our defence around.  The rest of the defence still doesn't fill me with confidence, though Chapman looked solid playing full back.  Malik is not a central defender and always looked capable of a major cock up.

I'm glad our membership seats are in the home end, and not in the side stand.  It was like a morgue in there for much of the first half.  Thank you active support for your work, which was really important last night.  I'm quite sure that Fernando heard the drums.

We could be in for a hell of a season.  Whatever, it's going to be huge fun, and we are going to see some fantastic matches.  Enjoy.

[R410]

3 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Does anyone have a link to a replay that I can watch from OS?

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/ffacupondemand 

 

[KSK_47]

2 hours ago, belaguttman said:

That's no good, I hope that you're back on your feet soon

Thanks mate. It will probably be about another month or two before i will be up to it

[Jovan]

Wow. Totally. Did not see that coming. Very surprised at the team performance. As everyone has already posted agree with nearly all. 

Question. How shit were Wanderers especially the first half or was it we were that good. Obviously the early goal gave the players a massive boost but in the first 45 they were nowhere in the contest.

Not sure about Brattan and Kilkenny they looked competent but not outstanding and I really think Brattan is 5 to 10kg overweight. 

Our fullbacks were poor especially Rose going forward but defensively ok but I'm not convinced. Our wide players Kamau and Brandan were amazing then Fitzy late was superb. 

Finally my biggest fear was squashed. Cahill and Bruno can play together and in fact complement each other. 

All up a cracking game and even better result (which is the most important thing)

Massively more confident for the season and will be at the family day with a smile.

(New capos 7/10 my sons assessment )

Edited September 21, 2016 by Jovan

[Alexxxandro]

While it was a great win I was not feeling confident at 2-0. WSW were working their way back into the game and the energy of City was great but also felt a little frantic. We've all seen 4-1 scorelines before from CIty and even Heart so like I said before I will not take too much from this game- at least as far JVS goes. He will have much tougher tests than a home game to a WSW that seemed off on the night. BUT what I will take away from the game is that many players lived up to or exceeded expectations. I said beforehand that I will not judge the team and JVS on one game. Win another game in the FFA Cup against A-League opposition and I will enter the season proper with confidence. Win the FFA cup and I will be both amazed and delighted.

 

1 minute ago, KSK_47 said:

Thanks mate. It will probably be about another month or two before i will be up to it

Get well soon!

[JC22]

48 minutes ago, Jovan said:

Wow. Totally. Did not see that coming. Very surprised at the team performance. As everyone has already posted agree with nearly all. 

Question. How shit were Wanderers especially the first half or was it we were that good. Obviously the early goal gave the players a massive boost but in the first 45 they were nowhere in the contest.

Not sure about Brattan and Kilkenny they looked competent but not outstanding and I really think Brattan is 5 to 10kg overweight. 

Our fullbacks were poor especially Rose going forward but defensively ok but I'm not convinced. Our wide players Kamau and Brandan were amazing then Fitzy late was superb. 

Finally my biggest fear was squashed. Cahill and Bruno can play together and in fact complement each other. 

All up a cracking game and even better result (which is the most important thing)

Massively more confident for the season and will be at the family day with a smile.

(New capos 7/10 my sons assessment )

Fair assessment except for Brattan - thought he was sensational.

[JC22]

4 hours ago, haz said:

The one thing about Cahil playing is how much the Fox sport commentators are on their knees for him.  If anyone watches the highlights, every goal has some reference to Cahill. If Sorenson bombed it in from his own box and scored, cahill would still get all the praise.

Not sure if you were at the game but they actually credited Tim for our second goal.

[Torn Asunder]

Cahill exceeded expectations in terms of how brilliant he was in midfield with a free role. He was unplayable and his quality was at another level. He looks like he is ready to dominate. 

[bt50]

You honestly could have given MOM to any of Kamau, Brandan, Jakobsen, Cahill, Brattan or Fornaroli without any argument whatsoever. 
Though Malik looked way better next to Jakobsen than he did next to Chapman in the previous games, whilst Chapman, Sorensen and Kilkenny were all solid. 
Rose was solid defensively, did turn the ball over quite a bit tho, particularly in the first 20 minutes or so.
The understanding between Cahill and Bruno seemed top notch and hopefully will replace the onfield bromance that he had with Novillo.

Colazo was quieter than id hoped but still showed some flashes of quality and tbh very excusable given he's just got here. 

[rass]

1 hour ago, JC22 said:

Fair assessment except for Brattan - thought he was sensational.

Agree on Brattan. 

Not sure on Fitzy. Think sub is ideal for him. Did well when came on but given they were a man down and getting tired, he really needed to exploit that space- which he did, but has to work on that final ball in. Wont get that same opportunity during the season in tighter games.

[Deluka]

Just about everyone played very well, particularly for this stage of the season. But I wanted to mention some players who deserve some accolades.

Osama Malik, he cut out some really good passes throughout the entirety of the game and continued to put his body on the line as any good CB should do, even when the game was dead and buried and could have very easily spent a night in hospital.

Kamau and Brandan, these lads looked dangerous going forward. But their effort and work rate to get back to defend was incredible. Kamau at one stage chasing hard to win the ball back 2m from our goal.

But my man of the match was Brattan. This guy is a work horse and put absolutely everything he had into it last night. He won so many 50-50s and heck, won some 30-70s just to get back the ball. Our second goal came down to this determination from Brattan and I'm looking forward to seeing even more of it.

[playmaker]

An Kilkenny shutting down Nicoles in the middle was brilliant 

 

[Dylan]

23 hours ago, Dylan said:

All I am hoping for tonight is that Jakobson has a transformational effect on the defence like Wilkinson did

__________________________________________

[Hellenic Hero]

14 hours ago, thisphantomfortress said:

I was there I can confirm @Hackett tried to start a fight with @Hackett

I thought we were shit TBH. But that being said it was a Wednesday, everyone is tired from work and nobody was drunk. 

That's true, but you were definitely better than when we played the Nix at the same time last year.

[bt50]

On 9/21/2016 at 0:13 PM, Dylan said:

All I am hoping for tonight is that Jakobson has a transformational effect on the defence like Wilkinson did

Tbf, whilst Wilkinson was a great player and we were better for having him in our side, i don't think he 'transformed' the defence per se. He was an upgrade in cattle, but in reality we still shipped a heap of goals in the second half of the year.

I'm hoping that Jakobsen is more of a DelPierre style defender, where he makes the other defenders better around him due to his presence/marshalling. Either way, looked the goods last night.

[Kinnibari]

4 hours ago, HEARTinator said:

Brilliant things from last night:

1. 4-1 win  and we have plenty of room for improvement. Our pressing caused problems for the visitors.
2. Bruno is still a legend. End of story.
3. Cahill is gonna smash it. He and Bruno make a great attacking pair.
4. Kamau could be a genuine star.
5. The Visa players are our best collection yet. Jakobsen is a rock.

Some shitty things from last night:

1. We conceded a goal to 10 men
2. WSW possessed the ball in a way that we didn't (their passing was crisper but they lacked the ability to convert into goals)
3. Some of our passing in the backline was shithouse and allowed WSW to press us and get back onto the front foot. Gotta iron that out.
4. Further to that, Rose makes me nervous and Malik should be played just forward of defence in a Jedinak-type role.
5. As good  as the scoreline was, need to improve to take silverware but at least we have the cattle if not the gaffer.

 

 

I agree, that was shit and I had been hoping our defense would do better, but WSW at that stage had nothing to lose (having already lost, really) so they weren't sitting back and defending like death, they were still pushing on.

Anyway I'm sure our main defensive strategy this year is still 'score a lot of goals and hope for the best' so as much as I'd like a string of clean sheets I'm not holding my breath.

[NuggetsMcGreggor]

I might get banned for this but here goes:

I thought the ref was good last night. He allowed play to continue and didn't pull up every slide tackle just because it was a slide tackle. He laughed at players appealing for free kicks when there clearly was none. Gave the red when it was needed. Was happy to chat to players to explain his decisions. 

Keep it up!

[bt50]

5 minutes ago, NuggetsMcGreggor said:

I might get banned for this but here goes:

I thought the ref was good last night. He allowed play to continue and didn't pull up every slide tackle just because it was a slide tackle. He laughed at players appealing for free kicks when there clearly was none. Gave the red when it was needed. Was happy to chat to players to explain his decisions. 

Keep it up!

That disallowed Bruno goal tho....

Nah agree by and large, I'd much rather a ref that lets it go than is whistle happy. It's a bloody tough gig.

[mulhollanddrive]

If we didn't play old mediocre players and players out of position we'd win the league.

Rose gifted the ball away and Malik marked the wrong man.

Edited September 22, 2016 by mulhollanddrive

[Thrillhouse]

ref and linesman were gimps, linesman didn't know what offside was and straight after the 1st goal we attacked from the kick off and had a player professionally fouled but no yellow

[thisphantomfortress]

11 minutes ago, Thrillhouse said:

ref and linesman were gimps, linesman didn't know what offside was and straight after the 1st goal we attacked from the kick off and had a player professionally fouled but no yellow

I actually know the bloke who was ref last night. I'll tel him "thrillhouse thinks you're shit"

[recyclosaurusrex]

Ref also doesn't know how long 2 minutes of stoppage time should last...

[jw1739]

Just now, recyclosaurusrex said:

Ref also doesn't know how long 2 minutes of stoppage time should last...

Yes, what happened there? Must have been at least 5 minutes and probably longer.

[neio]

Really happy with last night,  first half was incredible. We keep that up for 90 minutes and good luck to other teams

Things I Loved

Jakobsen, immediately puts some solidity into defence.  I also thinks he helps Malik alot having a leader next to him (I think Malik could make a reasonable CB with the right pairing.  Him and Chapman were diabolical together as neither took up a leader role.  2 seasons ago he was really good there with boogard then he got injured etc)

Brandan, not much taller than the ball kids but just a ball of energy, if we use him correctly he could get to 7-8 goals with a bundle of assists

Kamau,  I really rate him,  I did at Adelaide. Love how he runs at defenders, he knew that hammill couldn't keep up

 

[CityWildcat]

Kamau is class.  He played a cracker in the GF.  Great signing.  

It was great to be back last night.  We looked damn good.

[Dylan]

1 hour ago, recyclosaurusrex said:

Ref also doesn't know how long 2 minutes of stoppage time should last...

Might want to brush up on your knowledge of the rules

[jw1739]

13 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Might want to brush up on your knowledge of the rules

You'll need to help me out on what you mean? I thought I heard the announcer say that there would be two minutes of added time. So what is the rule that extends this, because as above the period added on was way longer than that.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/20159223

[Dylan]

46 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

You'll need to help me out on what you mean? I thought I heard the announcer say that there would be two minutes of added time. So what is the rule that extends this, because as above the period added on was way longer than that.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/20159223

The referee can add extra time to time added on for other disturbances that occur within injury time. Because some of our players started rolling around on the ground the ref rightly added more time to it.

that might have changed by now but when I used to ref that was the rule. I never like bagging refs cause it's such a shit job and it's so much easier for supporters and people watching replays to see everything.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Dylan

[hakz7]

Wait, did they even employ the new kick-off rules of having to pass it backwards to start off?

[Tony999]

5 hours ago, NuggetsMcGreggor said:

I might get banned for this but here goes:

I thought the ref was good last night. He allowed play to continue and didn't pull up every slide tackle just because it was a slide tackle. He laughed at players appealing for free kicks when there clearly was none. Gave the red when it was needed. Was happy to chat to players to explain his decisions. 

Keep it up!

Ban him!

[Kinnibari]

2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

You'll need to help me out on what you mean? I thought I heard the announcer say that there would be two minutes of added time. So what is the rule that extends this, because as above the period added on was way longer than that.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/20159223

If you listen, the announcer will usually say 'there will be a minimum of X added minutes' aka the ref can add more on if something delays the game further in stoppage time.

Here's a simplified recap of the rules from FIFA. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law_7_the_duration_of_the_match_en_47401.pdf