The Grand Final. Western Sydney away.

[haz]

Eh. Hopefully this results puts a rocket up the club's arse. 

Also I hope all the City supporters who made the trip enjoyed supporting this farce of a decision 🤡. 

Edited June 3, 2023 by haz

[heart1011]

And to think they signed Rado on for a few seasons.. Yeah real good!

[Mr MO]

Would we have lost like this at home or at a neutral venue? I don’t think so.

There was concerns coming from the club around the players sharpness and scheduling of the finals seems very warranted. 

There were players on pitch too, can’t just solely blame the coach but starting Nabbout and Reis was a mistake.

[Cityamatic]

Could not care less if all of these defenders never play for us again. And Nabbout can stay in Sydney.

Gutless, heartless, shameful. Embarrased to be wearing a city shirt right now - never thought I’d say it.

Happy APL gets the result it has been pushing for a fortnight and we’re stuck with this bullshit Sydney GF for the indefinite future.

What a shocking night.

(edit - for context I’m a PAFC supporter in the AFL and was at the MCG for the GF in 2007 against Geelong, and this is much, much worse)

Edited June 3, 2023 by Cityamatic

[jw1739]

Thank goodness it's over at 6-1. Congratulations to Central Coast. They had the cards and they played them well.

TBH this result could be a good thing in the longer term and might wipe the smugness off a few faces at Casey Fields. I hope so anyway. 

Unless changes are made in our approach to the game we won't be seeing further trophies in the cabinet for quite a while. We are playing sterile football, we have an ageing squad and we haven't given enough match time to our young players coming through. All this has been visible for quite a while.

No point in saying any more really. We have a hell of a lot to do before the first ACL match in September.

[Heart Inaugural]

CFG take note: the Mariners do not have the same finances, global network or academy infrastructure, but they play for their community and fans.

I sincerely hope Scott Jamieson showed a level of basic leadership by steering the players towards the fans who travelled up to support them. 

Congratulations to Central Coast on their success and bring on the ACL.

[fensaddler]

The truth is we used to be a small club with passionate fans. We finished bottom too. But we go a different route and get the soul sucked out of us by corporate bastards. I don't want 'tough night'. I don't want 'we'll be back'. I want sorry, we've really fucked up. Not generally on the pitch but off it. Colours, name, corporate bullshit, selling out to APL. Not giving a flying fuck about our fans and why they identified with the club in the first place. And now we've fucked up on the pitch as well. Won't get it of course. We'll get served more of the same shit sandwich. Not sure I can be arsed any more. Seriously considering my auto renewal. Fuck off.

[Mr MO]

59 minutes ago, Heart Inaugural said:

CFG take note: the Mariners do not have the same finances, global network or academy infrastructure, but they play for their community and fans.

But they became second and won nothing of importance. 

[fensaddler]

12 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

But they became second and won nothing of importance. 

And yet they feel like a proper football club and I'm not sure we do.

[kiko]

It was their day, everything fell for them, that Nabbout penalty changed it. Just gotta bury this result from the memory banks, the football Gods farted on us today.

[MHFC-FAN]

"We're fucking shit...We're fucking sshiiittt...We're fucking ssshhhiiittt..."

[Mr MO]

31 minutes ago, kiko said:

It was their day, everything fell for them, that Nabbout penalty changed it. Just gotta bury this result from the memory banks, the football Gods farted on us today.

It’s karma, long may it continue for selling out your fan base.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Mr MO

[neio]

I don't know if it's cause of the movement of the game or what but I honestly don't feel anything that we lost. I was shattered when we lost the Sydney Gf, similar last year but I just don't have that at the moment.

Clearly would have preferred to win, but we were horrible apart from a 10 minute patch after half time. The final 30 was Melbourne Heart stuff, it's as bad as I've seen in a city jersey 

[Heart Inaugural]

14 minutes ago, neio said:

I don't know if it's cause of the movement of the game or what but I honestly don't feel anything that we lost. I was shattered when we lost the Sydney Gf, similar last year but I just don't have that at the moment.

Clearly would have preferred to win, but we were horrible apart from a 10 minute patch after half time. The final 30 was Melbourne Heart stuff, it's as bad as I've seen in a city jersey 

True: it was a pretty soulless display.

I'm just glad we weren't wearing red and white (stripes or sash!) and it's 'City Blue' that's associated with that catastrophic result.

[haz]

We got absolutely destroyed. Eh oh well. 

[HughJass]

8 hours ago, kiko said:

the football Gods farted on us today.

Karma for cfg sending the final to Sydney 

 

10 hours ago, Mr MO said:

Would we have lost like this at home or at a neutral venue? I don’t think so.

Last time mariners won at Aami Park was 2014..... 

[NewConvert]

Thankfully I was unable to watch the game bar the first 20 minutes. As soon as I saw the ref I told my brother that City were going to lose. Reading the comments I had already written elsewhere that Nuno had lost enough pace for him to retire. Unfortunately, he is contracted for another season. As far as Rado is concerned, I will give him another season as he now has to re-build the team given that Bos, Tilio, Glover, O'Neill, Berisha are departing and Jamieson is retiring. That is half the starting line up.

[jw1739]

3 minutes ago, NewConvert said:

Thankfully I was unable to watch the game bar the first 20 minutes. As soon as I saw the ref I told my brother that City were going to lose. Reading the comments I had already written elsewhere that Nuno had lost enough pace for him to retire. Unfortunately, he is contracted for another season. As far as Rado is concerned, I will give him another season as he now has to re-build the team given that Bos, Tilio, Glover, O'Neill, Berisha are departing and Jamieson is retiring. That is half the starting line up.

And now if there's any substance to the rumour, possibly Van der Venne going. This is going to be a very tricky rebuild because we still have a number of older players who are contracted for another season. 

Our first ACL match is 18-20 September, which is not long to get players signed, if visa players to get them here, get the squad fit, and get some sort of cohesion.

TBH the Grand Final humiliation exposed the weaknesses that have been evident for some time. If you couldn't see it you weren't looking. We can only hope that the club has done its homework and is ready in time for the new season just ahead.

[belaguttman]

I thought that I'd sleep on it before I commented on the game; I didn't sleep well😟

Positives:

4th Grand Final in a row

We stayed with our playing philosophy; at the end of the day, the outcome in a one-off game, a 1-0 loss, is no different from a 10-0 loss.

It would have been a 1-10 loss if it weren't for Tom Glover.

 

Negatives:

We were well beaten by a team that was set up to exploit our vulnerabilities and played at their best, on a day when we didn't. They were hungrier and more physical. CCM controlled space well, cut off our passing lanes in the front third; we had very few crosses, and only occasionally got behind their backs. They forced our attack central, then crowded the space. Maclaren was marked out of the game. They pressed very effectively and forced us into turnovers in dangerous positions. Our ball movement was predictable, and we allowed mariners to move us into dead-ends.

They took their chances; we didn't; this has been an issue over the past two seasons; we aren't efficient in front of goal.

Chris Beath's last chance for a spiteful performance, and he relished it. The second penalty looked tough; the ball struck Talbot's arm, which was in a natural position against his body; there wasn't a single VAR review all game. We only won 7 fouls all night.

We missed Berisha; there was no comment regarding his welfare or injury from the CCM barracking team doing the commentary. Is he OK? Having said that, the turning point of the game was his dangerous turnover in the first half; whilst Mariners didn't score from it, it gave them a shot on goal and allowed them into the game.

It was a team selection mistake to select Reis over Talbot; he's too slow when playing against speedy wingers like Silvera. I also would have played Leckie on the wing for the same reason - pin back CCM's fullbacks, and Florin as a 10.

The integrity of the result will have an asterisk next to it; played effectively at CCM's 'home ground', but with twice as many supporters; why weren't they restricted to 50% of the seats if APL is trying to create a neutral venue? CCM hasn't won at AAMI for nearly ten years, I doubt that it would have unfolded in exactly the same way, so if this is any guide, I expect that the next three winners of the Championship will be NSW clubs, should they qualify for the Final.

If I remember correctly, our franchise owners supported this decision.

Yesterday marked the end of this team's cycle; next season will be a rebuilding season, it may be a while before we make another Grand Final.

Edited June 4, 2023 by belaguttman

[CityBoyz]

Loosing 3/4 GF will be the legacy sadly of the club.

Agree next season is a big rebuild and is Rado the guy to do that 

[jw1739]

@belaguttman I don't think that we should conflate the two issues.

Whilst there is no doubt that the GF decision does favour NSW clubs, all five of which are within 150km of Sydney, they do have to get to the GF in the first place and Central Coast are to be congratulated on that and their AFC Cup place; they finished the season very strongly indeed. 

On the day, would they have humiliated us at AAMI? No-one knows. But on the day we made poor starting selection choices, made only two meaningful substitutions, and all the deficiencies that have been evident throughout our season were highlighted. I don't think you can blame the GF decision for that.

The GF trashes a tradition, and is a kick in the teeth for non-NSW fans. The result of the match should be a kick up the arse for City.

[kiko]

I know it's all doom and gloom in here but until that 2nd penalty after which I turned out (garbage time) we had some very bright patches, we had a couple of moments where we sliced them up; in fact in hindsight that Leckie ball on the break would have been the turning point for me, a different ball game, that was a certain goal 3 on 1. As it was the whole affair felt scripted for a CCM fairy tale. I take on board the comments that CFG backed this failed experiment in capitalistic opportunism and an AAMI Park home would have been a very different grand final. We had the quality to win it apart from some hopeless defending. Their first goal, simple poke home after Good couldn't clear it twice, same thing for the second in mf couldn't clear it away from Cummings feet who layed off the pass to Silvera, goals 3 and 4 a debacle blah blah who cares after that.

Edited June 4, 2023 by kiko

[CityBoyz]

 

[Nate]

Club totally got what it fucking deserved.

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, CityBoyz said:

 

Not a good record. You can dig into statistics for ever, but in the end it's the match on the day that counts. Nevertheless in the past two Premiership seasons we don't have a particularly impressive league record against the clubs that finished second and third.

This season, for example, yes we did get over CCM 1-0 at home, but we couldn't beat Adelaide who finished third. In 2021-22 we couldn't get over either MV (second) or WU (third).

So what this tells me is that we win our Premierships by getting enough points from the "also-ran" clubs, and this masks our failure against the better clubs. In short, we are not good enough to beat quality opposition.

Edited June 4, 2023 by jw1739

[belaguttman]

5 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

So what this tells me is that we win our Premierships by getting enough points from the "also-ran" clubs, and this masks our failure against the better clubs. In short, we are not good enough to beat quality opposition.

Better teams will punish us more often for our mistakes, we play a riskier game than teams that play a counter-attacking style. The big problem our past two seasons is our inefficiency in front of goal; we won the double in the year where we converted most of our chances

[haz]

[Mr MO]

Did JMAC really only have 6 touches all game? 

[CityBoyz]

23 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

Did JMAC really only have 6 touches all game? 

 

He did have the least touches of any outfield player 

[Mr MO]

8 minutes ago, CityBoyz said:

 

He did have the least touches of any outfield player 

I know it’s not his style but it’s frustrating to see a player like Cummings being able to control, hold and carry the ball.

[Mr MO]

https://keepup.com.au/news/a-league-final-highlights-melbourne-city-central-coast-mariners-vidosic-montgomery/
 

Even the media has picked up on his bad choices with the starting line up. Leckie and Tilio on the wings with Talbot and Bos would have kept their speedy wings in check a bit better.

 

[CityBoyz]

12 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

https://keepup.com.au/news/a-league-final-highlights-melbourne-city-central-coast-mariners-vidosic-montgomery/
 

Even the media has picked up on his bad choices with the starting line up. Leckie and Tilio on the wings with Talbot and Bos would have kept their speedy wings in check a bit better.

 

Massive question why we rushed giving  Rado the full time gig 

[neio]

The worst thing that happened was the Burgess red in the semi, Rado thought the 11 in that game was the way to go from a good result where we played against 10 for 75 minutes.

It was clear all season that we played our best football when the 11 was Glover Talbot Lam Good Bos ONeill Berisha VanDerVenne Tilio Leckie and Maclaren. Why there was a reluctance to play them all when all were fit is something I'll never understand.

CCM had their 11 set for weeks, Rado tried to get tricky with his and when it fell apart he had to move too many pieces to get it back to what it should be and it couldn't be done.

[belaguttman]

12 minutes ago, CityBoyz said:

Massive question why we rushed giving  Rado the full time gig 

To be fair to him, he hasn't done much wrong before this game, however I worry that he's too much of a nice guy and the players just aren't hungry enough.

[Mr MO]

10 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

To be fair to him, he hasn't done much wrong before this game, however I worry that he's too much of a nice guy and the players just aren't hungry enough.

But you are making that call on just  one game? I know it was important game for some, despite being meaningless.

Key moments in the game didn’t go our way and the love for Nabbout (who can barely cross anymore) and Reis as RB paved the way for the capitulation. 

Large patches of the game we had the  better of them IMO only to run into a dead end in the box. Poor crossing or a missing CF (who develops a habit of going missing in big games) don’t help. We’ve been in these games before and it always required some magic for us turn it around, mostly Leckie. Last night night that just didn’t happen.
 

[jw1739]

Let's move on. History is history. Mistakes on recruitment and contracts, mistakes on selection, mistakes on tactics. Shit decision on the GF. Chris Beath. Shit show all round. 

We have to do a lot better going forward. Takes 100 years to grow an oak tree, and 10 minutes to cut it down.  Fans forgive a lot, but not everything.

[belaguttman]

1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

But you are making that call on just  one game? I know it was important game for some, despite being meaningless.

Key moments in the game didn’t go our way and the love for Nabbout (who can barely cross anymore) and Reis as RB paved the way for the capitulation. 

Large patches of the game we had the  better of them IMO only to run into a dead end in the box. Poor crossing or a missing CF (who develops a habit of going missing in big games) don’t help. We’ve been in these games before and it always required some magic for us turn it around, mostly Leckie. Last night night that just didn’t happen.
 

Mariners really restricted our crossing opportunities. They let us have the ball but forced us into a crowded central area. We moved the ball too slowly and our movement off the ball was too slow to open up space

[Torn Asunder]

FIFA recognises us as Premiers / Champions ... fuck the Finals cup. Terrible, terrible concept  ... just look at the history of really shite one sided games ... it just doesn't work to produce a true champion  

The sooner they piss it off the better. Last game of the season should be the Australia cup. Least that has some legitimacy.

Harper and Beath are genuine cunts

Edited June 4, 2023 by Torn Asunder

[MHFC-FAN]

4 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

FIFA recognises us as Premiers / Champions ... fuck the Finals cup. Terrible, terrible concept  ... just look at the history of really shite one sided games ... it just doesn't work to produce a true champion  

The sooner they piss it off the better. Last game of the season should be the Australia cup. Least that has some legitimacy.

Harper and Beath are genuine cunts

This 100% thank fuck Beath has retired!! 

[MHFC-FAN]

This is absolutely infuriating to read!! Completely out of touch with the fans!!!

 

https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/a-leagues-still-rebuilding-fan-relationship-596530