ACL | Ventforet Kofu | 8PM Wednesday September 20TH | AAMI Park

[Zanty]

3 hours ago, neio said:

I imagine the 3 Visa players we use in this one is Arslan, Sakhi and Reis. Natel not ready and Soupy misses out.

Young - Talbot Reis Good Behich - Ugarkovic Sakhi Arslan - Lopane Maclaren Jakolis is my guess at the 11 

the 3 visa rule is not a thing anymore

its 5+1 now not 3+1

2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

JMac is still on baby-waiting leave at the moment?

he did train today so he could play

[citypool]

Can't make it tonight but watching on TV goo lads 

[haz]

Midweek football at 8pm. 

Stay in the office till 7pm, head to the game, then after the game travel for over an hour home. 

Love it. 

[Mr MO]

1 hour ago, haz said:

Midweek football at 8pm. 

Stay in the office till 7pm, head to the game, then after the game travel for over an hour home. 

Love it. 

Why not go straight back into work after the game? Much more efficient that way.

[jw1739]

The other match in Group H is also on tonight - Buriram vs. Zheijang, and two matches in each of Groups F and J.

[Baka1]

Cold, rainy Wednesday night football. No lines for beers 

[kingofhearts]

Let's fucking gooooooooooo 

[haz]

Loving the away fans. 

[kingofhearts]

Is this being broadcasted on 10 play?

[Bannon]

3 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

Is this being broadcasted on 10 play?

think its only on paramount, the ccm match is on 10play

[Tommykins]

Looks great you lucky barstads. I've managed to tear my ACL, on the night we're playing in the ACL. 

[Mr MO]

We have no idea nor a real idea in these first 15 minutes. Technically the Japanese players are better.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Mr MO

[KSK_47]

Jeez we are looking rusty

[Mr MO]

Urka has been very poor.

We struggle with their quick close in speed.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Mr MO

[kingofhearts]

They are running rings around us. They are way too quick for us. Our team looks disjointed and rusty as hell.  Very disappointing so far. We'll be lucky to escape with a draw at this rate.

Edited September 20, 2023 by kingofhearts

[icantthinkofacoolname]

Rado out

[Mr MO]

How fortunate that we get to play lower league teams in the UCL.

Bar Young, every player has had horrible touches.

[haz]

We're missing O'Neill so much. 

Also Nuno is past it. 

Aslan will be a baller. 

[Mr MO]

4 minutes ago, haz said:

We're missing O'Neill so much. 

Also Nuno is past it. 

Aslan will be a baller. 

Concerning how his tall slowish striker just runs a away from him. 

[kingofhearts]

Callum Talbot is fucking terrible, how Galloway isn't starting over him baffles me.

[Mr MO]

34 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

Callum Talbot is fucking terrible, how Galloway isn't starting over him baffles me.

Behich is worse tonight, his age is showing too.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Mr MO

[MHFC-FAN]

Gee what an average and uninspiring performance. If that's how we're going to play this season we will struggle...

[Mr MO]

There is no fire in this team, everybody plays a little meh.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Mr MO

[MHFC-FAN]

Just now, Mr MO said:

There is no fire in the this team, everybody plays a little meh.

Mehdiocre

[Mr MO]

Just now, MHFC-FAN said:

Gee what an average and uninspiring performance. If that's how we're going to play this season we will struggle...

Well we know issues at the back already, the rest just doesn’t seem have any idea how to attack.

[kingofhearts]

We are terribly slow. It feels like we are now a very old team and that are youthfulness has left us.We need to find some speed and cohesion because tonight showed we are nowhere near our lofty standards. 

[jw1739]

Well, that was a horrible performance. Quite frankly we were listless and outclassed - lacking in skills, lacking in pace, and totally devoid of creativity - did we actually have a clear shot on goal in the whole match? I'd say only several saves by Jamie Young kept us in the game. They closed us down quickly and Rado is taking this sideways and backwards possession game to an absurd level. None of the visa players showed anything whatsoever. Can't see us taking much out this season based on what I've seen in the FFA Cup and tonight.

Oh, and by the way, special thanks to to City for opening a part of the ground where everyone got wet, and for not having any ladies facilities open at the southern end, and also to the AFC for the advertising hoardings inside the the wall around the ground obscuring about 1/3 of the actual pitch for the front row of seats.

[rass]

Looked like to me that our coaching group hasn't bothered to change our playing style since last season. Even with a settled team who had all gelled last year, that style was all too predictable by the end of it.

Now we're trying to use the same tactics with an 80% new team. The only thing unpredictable about it tonight was watching players run into each other, have shit touches and turn the ball over at the slightest hint of pressure. Throw in no genuine skillful and direct players like Bos and Tilio who could at least drive into the box, what you have is a very stagnant and ponderous team. It may work against shit A-League teams but not against teams like tonight. We have a lot of work to do.

Proves to me our league would be lucky to compare to a Japanese 3rd tier. But hey what do you expect when your football governing bodies and such are only concerned about how many brown paper bags they can receive off the privileged clubs instead of actually focusing on how to improve the sport for everyone in this country.

[KSK_47]

This brings me back to a comment that was made when CFG first took over. 'We want to turn this club into an Asian powerhouse' *or words to that effect.

At the time I said to do that they will need to heavily invest in coaching. We have a capped leauge so we can't just buy a team of superstars. We need to create a team of superstars. There is no cap on coaching. Why not a marquee manager?

Other than the appointment Mombaerts I have seen no evidence to suggest  CFG are remotely serious about bringing us to a level where we can compete with bigger Asian clubs. Our managerial investment was shown for what its been last night. Outplayed by a low level J2 club. What a joke

[bt50]

I reckon ive been to over 150+ City/Heart games, and that one was definitely up there with the worst.

Boring, stagnant football where we insisted on trying to walk the ball into the net, to not even get anywhere close i might add. You wouldn't find Harry Potter at AAMI Park last night, because Callum Talbot the Dementor sucked the life and enjoyment out of everything he touched and the tempo that came from the mids and wingers was utterly non-existent.

Jamie Young literally the only player that can remotely hold himself high after that, and i would hope that there's serious alarm bells ringing internally. They were no good whatsoever imo, we made them look half decent with an almost impressively lazy performance at this level.

[neio]

Very uninspiring, that's the only way to describe it

The one thing that annoys me, and it has for a few years is the complete lack of a different option when things arnt going our way. Nothing against Jmac, he worked hard with no opportunity to do anything but we need something different at times. When victory were good and they had Berisha, they also had Kenny atihu. He was barely good enough but he was 200cm tall and gave them something different if it was needed and created or scored a few goals just due to his size and ability in the air. 

Being a back up for Maclaren would be tough job cause opportunity would be limited, but you can't tell me there isn't a seasoned NPL player or younger player who has a skill set that we could use when needed that would jump at opportunity like this.

Last night they were happy for us to pass it around in front of them knowing their goal was never under real threat 

[belaguttman]

Oh dear.

That took me back to the old JVS games when we built up our passing and possession stats by having the CBs aimlessly pass the ball between them. It was hard to discern our game plan unless ponderous ball movement between 10 pale blue traffic cones was magically going to open up a well-organised compact defence. Our wingers seem to offer little threat; in fact, we lacked width, and we lacked balls into the box. They struggled to clear balls into their box, yet we didn't seem to prioritise making this a problem for them.

Ugarkovic is a key player in our style of play, both defensively, but also in setting up our attacking transition but is creating little; it did take O'Neill time to settle into the position, so, hopefully, it'll happen with more time. Jakolis is little more than a peripheral figure.

Early days, much work to do.

[haz]

The way we play just reminds me of how I view Rado. 

Dull and boring. 

 

Also, we only made 2 subs. The latter only occurring in the final minute. 

[Le Hack]

Firstly let me thank the Metro girl at Richmond station for pointing out to me that we could catch the bus replacement to Burnley station only for the bus driver not to actually drive to Burnley station. Thank god for Uber. Glen Waverley line might be all that but doesn't get me to Lilydale

That was pretty dire game but I'm going to be generous and put it down to preseason, team not yet gelled etc. 

Saying that I'll make the following comments. Young kept us in the game, he must be getting pissed by having to do that so often now but to his credit didn't seem to go off too much. Good was the pick of the defenders and even he ran into trouble a few times. Reis is past it, too slow not sure of his passing, Hall should have started or at very least been subbed on. Behich was abysmal, seemed to me played like an angry old man, wouldn't have been surprised if he had looked to the heavens and shook his fist at the clouds. Talbot at least seemed to do some attacking now and again but touch was poor. Sakhi was so-so, Arslan same but also seemed to have a touch of the Behichs. Ugarkovic had a poor first half, better second but did nothing productive. Lopane actually play a wing? Antonis did more in a minute than Lopane for his 70 off minutes. I may be wrong but this kid isn't up to it. Jakolis was ok but his touch at times let him down. Maclaren looks like he's had a pretty good off season out in a paddock.

Total two subs, Souprayen on in injury time. Rado Kisnorbo should have bought on Hall for Reis Caputo for Maclaren, and Galloway for Behich for mine to inject some run at least. 

[Le Hack]

One other point I do want to make. I was in Section 2 right next to the Kofu active. That is the template for Active right there. Did not stop singing or banging their drums for the whole game. Really enjoyed what they bought to the game. By comparison our Active was about as interested in the game as our team.

[Mr MO]

1 hour ago, neio said:

Very uninspiring, that's the only way to describe it

The one thing that annoys me, and it has for a few years is the complete lack of a different option when things arnt going our way. Nothing against Jmac, he worked hard with no opportunity to do anything but we need something different at times. When victory were good and they had Berisha, they also had Kenny atihu. He was barely good enough but he was 200cm tall and gave them something different if it was needed and created or scored a few goals just due to his size and ability in the air. 

Being a back up for Maclaren would be tough job cause opportunity would be limited, but you can't tell me there isn't a seasoned NPL player or younger player who has a skill set that we could use when needed that would jump at opportunity like this.

Last night they were happy for us to pass it around in front of them knowing their goal was never under real threat 

I’ve said this many times before but you almost play with 10 man at times if you can’t involve your CF in combination and hold up play. 

[citypool]

Mariners lost last night if it makes us feel better 

[jw1739]

Our past four competitive matches - a thumping in the Grand Final, just getting over two NPL clubs in the FFA Cup, and last night's lacklustre draw with J2 club...

We're going nowhere. I don't buy this pre-season stuff either. This is a professional club - staff, coaches, players. The coaches and players have been back since early July - and we should be better. Last night was woeful.

12 minutes ago, citypool said:

Mariners lost last night if it makes us feel better 

It doesn't. It likely means that our ranking in the AFC will just keep going down.

[haz]

1 hour ago, Le Hack said:

One other point I do want to make. I was in Section 2 right next to the Kofu active. That is the template for Active right there. Did not stop singing or banging their drums for the whole game. Really enjoyed what they bought to the game. By comparison our Active was about as interested in the game as our team.

What I noticed was that their chants were really simple, doesn't need to be some articulate lyrics. 

We could hum the happy birthday tune and it would still sound great with enough energy and drums. 

Edited September 21, 2023 by haz

[citypool]

Probably helps that the Japanese aren't interested in flares, singing lewd songs or jumping fans from other teams.