Rd 26 City vs Adelaide (Video Referee) 7:50pm Friday 7th AprilAami Park

[jw1739]

1 minute ago, Shahanga said:

Well we won a game we were favourited for and needed to win.

Adelaide were horrendous in he first half, improved to mediocre in the second half. We were just ok first half and poor in the second.

In the end though we won and that's what really matters. 

Random comments:

got to hand it to Kamau, the guy was great.

Good timed smart subs by Valkanis as both Cahill and Colazo had stopped contributing when he brought them off (though Colazo was on a few minutes too long, he'd been a passenger for a while). Probably should have brought Retre on in injury time to run the clock down, but meh.

Well, just goes to show how we can watch the same match and have very different views on certain subjects. IMO Kamau was awful - just not strong enough and very poor with his final ball. Can't believe that Colazo was taken off instead of him. Fitzy should have been on a lot earlier. As should Caceres. Agree Adelaide were terrible, but for a period in the second half we lost our shape completely and they were presented with a goal by Bouzanis but failed to take it. Players I thought were adequate were Bouzanis (just), Franjic Jakobsen, Malik, Kilkenny, Fornaroli, Colazo, and Fitzgerald. Brattan was awful - should be benched. Again far too much time taken by passing backwards and sideways, too many players taking one extra touch instead of getting off a forward pass. We are very ponderous and predictable. There looks to me to be tension within the squad, but perhaps I'm imagining things.

Hell though, we got a result, which in the end is all that counts.

Thought the officials didn't do too badly, and the VAR wasn't required. A couple more cards might have been shown because Bruno was being held every time he went for the ball, but overall the ref. was OK for me.

[n i k o]

How the fuck did la rocca still stay on the pitch after those shocking tackles on Bruno in the second half. 

[SF33]

Honestly can't believe what I'm reading...people think the active area was good tonight??! 

The beggars that I saw walking up Swan Street on the way back from the game were less pitiful, as far as I'm concerned. Instead of "Ole, Ole" or "If you love City, stand up" on repeat for about 20 minutes straight in the second half, why beat around the bush? Just chant "Please look at us...please look at us". The dead silence that they received in response to their commands for the rest of the crowd to act as their parrots was mildly amusing, but some of us are actually focused on the game and couldn't really care less whether you're there or not. Just in case you weren't aware.

[SF33]

Good to get a win that seemed about as comfortable as 1-0 can ever be, but really, we should have won that about 3-0, which could end up biting us, given we sit in fourth place on the ladder, one goal behind Brisbane.

[jeffplz]

4 minutes ago, SF33 said:

Honestly can't believe what I'm reading...people think the active area was good tonight??! 

The beggars that I saw walking up Swan Street on the way back from the game were less pitiful, as far as I'm concerned. Instead of "Ole, Ole" or "If you love City, stand up" on repeat for about 20 minutes straight in the second half, why beat around the bush? Just chant "Please look at us...please look at us". The dead silence that they received in response to their commands for the rest of the crowd to act as their parrots was mildly amusing, but some of us are actually focused on the game and couldn't really care less whether you're there or not. Just in case you weren't aware.

>contributes to making a chant look shit

>complains that it was shit

[SF33]

Just now, jeffplz said:

>contributes to making a chant look shit

>complains that it was shit

Um, no I didn't. I called it out for what it was: blatant attention whoring.

It may be a surprise to some of you, but most of us are actually there to watch the game, not the active area.

[RedAndWhitePride]

AFL *clap clap clap*

[RedAndWhitePride]

Fact: the A-League is barely half as entertaining without their active areas up and firing. 

And I'm not saying that people who choose to focus on the game are being fuckwits or whatever, but it goes without saying that more passion in the terraces = a much better match day atmosphere. 

 

Take for example a Visitor's home game that I went to recently. For forty odd mins you could hear a pin drop and the game itself was as bland as any that I've seen. 

 

Then, the back row North Terrace or whatever they're called now started to fire up, and bam, like magic, not only was it much better in the stands, but the standard of the game picked up too and the energy of the place became much more lively. 

 

I know using the Visitors is an extreme example, but they're the facts - active areas are a huge draw card to the league, and need to be embraced and not shitted upon. 

 

And that's my rant for the night.

 

 

Edited April 7, 2017 by RedAndWhitePride

[GreenSeater]

Or... and I know this is a crazy idea... enjoy the game however you see fit? If you want so sing and jump around, go to active area. If you want to sit and watch a game of football, go to the rest of the stadium! If only there were different seating options within the ground that allowed for different matchday experiences based on the way you wish to contribute to the atmosphere as a supporter 

[SF33]

Just now, GreenSeater said:

Or... and I know this is a crazy idea... enjoy the game however you see fit? If you want so sing and jump around, go to active area. If you want to sit and watch a game of football, go to the rest of the stadium! If only there were different seating options within the ground that allowed for different matchday experiences based on the way you wish to contribute to the atmosphere as a supporter 

You've just illustrated my problem with the way the active area went about things tonight. The two chants that I highlighted are essentially demands for fans in the other sections of the ground to do the same thing that the active area is doing, something that personally gets my nose out of joint. And this goes especially for the "stand up" thing. Nothing is more stupid than when they break it out at the most mundane points of the game, or when the team is playing like crap and you have half the people in an area (if that) standing up. But because a random selection of people in the area are standing up and blocking the view of everyone behind them, others are forced to stand up too, not to join in, but simply so they can see the game.

[Thrillhouse]

please be our last home game of the season
hope la rocca gets his head caved in 

[wombegongal]

7 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Well, just goes to show how we can watch the same match and have very different views on certain subjects. IMO Kamau was awful - just not strong enough and very poor with his final ball. Can't believe that Colazo was taken off instead of him. Fitzy should have been on a lot earlier. As should Caceres. Agree Adelaide were terrible, but for a period in the second half we lost our shape completely and they were presented with a goal by Bouzanis but failed to take it. Players I thought were adequate were Bouzanis (just), Franjic Jakobsen, Malik, Kilkenny, Fornaroli, Colazo, and Fitzgerald. Brattan was awful - should be benched. Again far too much time taken by passing backwards and sideways, too many players taking one extra touch instead of getting off a forward pass. We are very ponderous and predictable. There looks to me to be tension within the squad, but perhaps I'm imagining things.

Hell though, we got a result, which in the end is all that counts.

Thought the officials didn't do too badly, and the VAR wasn't required. A couple more cards might have been shown because Bruno was being held every time he went for the ball, but overall the ref. was OK for me.

Did we watch the same Kamau? Sure he makes mistakes but this guy has at times been our only dangerous outlet from general play and so it was again last night. I agree his final ball is missing and at times he drifts out of games but nearly all young players are inconsistent. Generally you talk some kind of common sense but I think you are wide of the mark on this one. I do however agree that Fitzy should get more of a run in general has earned it with his last few performances. 

 

Brattan is currently the forum kicking bag and is nowhere near as bad as many are making out while others seem to walk off with little to no share of the blame. He has been bad but he is far from the only problem.

[Hellenic Hero]

6 hours ago, RedAndWhitePride said:

Fact: the A-League is barely half as entertaining without their active areas up and firing. 

And I'm not saying that people who choose to focus on the game are being fuckwits or whatever, but it goes without saying that more passion in the terraces = a much better match day atmosphere. 

 

Take for example a Visitor's home game that I went to recently. For forty odd mins you could hear a pin drop and the game itself was as bland as any that I've seen. 

 

Then, the back row North Terrace or whatever they're called now started to fire up, and bam, like magic, not only was it much better in the stands, but the standard of the game picked up too and the energy of the place became much more lively. 

 

I know using the Visitors is an extreme example, but they're the facts - active areas are a huge draw card to the league, and need to be embraced and not shitted upon. 

 

And that's my rant for the night.

 

 

The Visitors example is a little different, as they also have the ST that only really get going when the NT get going (and recently the NT have actually chanted all game) thus making it the loudest in the league when both active areas are on song. However, do the rest of the crowd get fired up when active are chanting loudly? I know I actually stopped watching the game to see if GA would respond to Active, but does anyone else get really fired up by the noise coming from active?

[playmaker]

Kamau is the shittest player in the whole world. He can step over and dribble his way though a minefield yes, but if you can't do what the main purpose of a winger is, that is, deliver the ball into the box, into the right area, to the right player, at the right time, then basically you shouldn't be on the pitch. Kamau limits our scoring potential which is the opposite of what a winger's role is. 

Colazo should not have been subbed off at a time that you need players with good defensive abilities on th pitch, Valkanis made a mistake and showed he knows nothing about in-game management and that he is a mediocre assistant as best. Kamau should have been subbed off as soon as our fullbacks were staying back and we went to a back 6, as he is useless at tracking players and linking with the fullbacks defensively.

I was quite pleased with the defence tonight, Malik had one of the best games I have seen him play at CB and Jakobsen is just a rock, but I liked the fact that we held the middle with our mids staying closer to our CBs. The structure fell apart on a few occasions (due to lack of training drills I would say), but the mindset was there which probably is due to Roy's influences of keeping the centre defensive pivot deeper and intact rather than opening the whole structure to attack. Definitely saw a change though.

For the record I think the actives were great last night, they stayed at it all night and involved the spectators, but in fairness, being our last home game and how tight the score was, the crowd were more focussed on the game's dramas. But regardless they definitely added to the atmosphere. Well done.

I will take the win.

Edited April 7, 2017 by playmaker

[haz]

Valkanis in his post match interview said Bouzanis had a "good game". Wtf is Valkanis smoking? Bouzanis only faced one shot and almost fucked up 3 times.

I'd love to read Roy's notes he was taking down during the game.

Edited April 8, 2017 by haz

[thisphantomfortress]

Gotta admit it was pretty funny watching active try and fail over and over to get the north end involved. Give one shot then move on.

loudest cheezels and easily the biggest volume of cheezels I've seen in ages. Say what ya want about cheezels but i was up the back of bay18 and these kids were there - couldn't have been older than 5 or 6 - and they ran into the terrace throwing a bag of them up in the air was cute AF

Edited April 8, 2017 by thisphantomfortress

[mattyh001]

1 minute ago, thisphantomfortress said:

Gotta admit it was pretty funny watching active try and fail over and over to get the north end involved. Give on shot then give up.

loudest cheezels and easily the biggest volume of cheezels I've seen in ages. Say what ya want about cheezels but i was up the back of bay18 and these kids were there - couldn't have been older than 5 or 6 - and they ran into the terrace throwing a bag of them up in the air was cute AF

Thought it was gold too, particularly after watching the replay this morning and having the broadcast pan to the active bay for about 20 seconds while we did the Cheezels chant (around the 74th min of play during broadcast).

 

[SF33]

I think Kamau was great as well. Made a really positive start with his intensity and continued from there.

Colazo had a number of dangerous balls (including the corner that led to Cahill's goal) and I thought he did his job really well. He seems more like an icing on the cake player than someone who will ever dominate week-in/week-out in this league, but we really shouldn't need him to be anything more than that, with the right players around him.

It will be interesting to see what mindset the team takes to Perth now, whether they seem satisfied stumbling into a (likely) home final and fail to show up, or they go all out to try to secure third spot.

[Jovan]

4 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

Gotta admit it was pretty funny watching active try and fail over and over to get the north end involved. Give one shot then move on.

loudest cheezels and easily the biggest volume of cheezels I've seen in ages. Say what ya want about cheezels but i was up the back of bay18 and these kids were there - couldn't have been older than 5 or 6 - and they ran into the terrace throwing a bag of them up in the air was cute AF

Cheezels chant must be up with best chants this season. 

[xXCiTyZeNXx]

We played shit last night. A guy i sit next to was fuming when valkanis was taking colazo off.

He was saying," y r u taking one of our best players off. He is a fucking marquee for fuck sake.

Valkanis just looked at him.

This has been one of the worst seasons of the club. We have the best players in the league on paper but a shit coach. U would have thought he would have learnt something from Gombau, Amore and Van Shit. Yes we won last night but that doesnt mean we r any better. We will probably beat Perth next week because Perth r shit. But 3rd place should have been ours a while ago with all the stupid draws and losses we had. We wont win the finals. The only way we will is if the coach changes but even thats gonna be a massive challenge

[belaguttman]

5 hours ago, playmaker said:

Kamau is the shittest player in the whole world. He can step over and dribble his way though a minefield yes, but if you can't do what the main purpose of a winger is, that is, 

Colazo should not have been subbed off at a time that you need players with good defensive abilities on th pitch, Valkanis made a mistake and showed he knows nothing about in-game management and that he is a mediocre assistant as best. Kamau should have been subbed off as soon as our fullbacks were staying back and we went to a back 6, as he is useless at tracking players and linking with the fullbacks defensively.

 

Colazo should have been moved to full back seeing as they were sitting deeper anyway

[SF33]

51 minutes ago, xXCiTyZeNXx said:

We played shit last night. A guy i sit next to was fuming when valkanis was taking colazo off.

He was saying," y r u taking one of our best players off. He is a fucking marquee for fuck sake.

Valkanis just looked at him.

This has been one of the worst seasons of the club. We have the best players in the league on paper but a shit coach. U would have thought he would have learnt something from Gombau, Amore and Van Shit. Yes we won last night but that doesnt mean we r any better. We will probably beat Perth next week because Perth r shit. But 3rd place should have been ours a while ago with all the stupid draws and losses we had. We wont win the finals. The only way we will is if the coach changes but even thats gonna be a massive challenge

That's the problem though. We have underachieved, no question about it, but assuming we finish fourth and win a home final, this year we will have:

• won our first major silverware
• equalled our best ladder position (we could even have our highest finish ever, with a decent chance - on paper at least - of finishing third)
• had our second best home and away season (in terms of points)
• equalled our best finals position
• earned our second ever home final

How can you have such an incredibly disappointing season, that's simultaneously the best season the club has ever had? Welcome to the life of a Melbourne City supporter: perpetual disappointment, with just the bare minimum of positives that will keep us suckers coming back.

[jw1739]

58 minutes ago, xXCiTyZeNXx said:

We played shit last night. A guy i sit next to was fuming when valkanis was taking colazo off.

He was saying," y r u taking one of our best players off. He is a fucking marquee for fuck sake.

Valkanis just looked at him.

This has been one of the worst seasons of the club. We have the best players in the league on paper but a shit coach. U would have thought he would have learnt something from Gombau, Amore and Van Shit. Yes we won last night but that doesnt mean we r any better. We will probably beat Perth next week because Perth r shit. But 3rd place should have been ours a while ago with all the stupid draws and losses we had. We wont win the finals. The only way we will is if the coach changes but even thats gonna be a massive challenge

The big guy in Bay 28? Wow, he was really going off. At one point I thought Valkanis might even jump the fence to have a go at him.

[SF33]

2 hours ago, haz said:

Valkanis in his post match interview said Bouzanis had a "good game". Wtf is Valkanis smoking? Bouzanis only faced one shot and almost fucked up 3 times.

I'd love to read Roy's notes he was taking down during the game.

Yeah, I wouldn't go as far as to say he was poor, but Bouzanis barely had anything to do and still gave us a few tense moments, where he seemed a bit too keen for some 'me time' with the ball (and ultimately doing nothing constructive with i anyway), rather than just booting the bloody thing out of the danger area.

[belaguttman]

A major objective of the team is fan engagement through 'beautiful football' Barring the first derby I can't think of a single game where we played 'beautiful football'. That makes the season a major disappointment and a failure for me. As for Bouzanis, I don't know why he's on the pitch

[jw1739]

Confirmed that Elrich ruptured his ACL following his (unnecessary and clumsy) challenge on Malik. http://www.a-league.com.au/article/adelaide-united-defender-tarek-elrich-suffers-acl-injury/1mjbtmudd669g1ugjc8tllmk5p

[Shahanga]

1 hour ago, belaguttman said:

Colazo should have been moved to full back seeing as they were sitting deeper anyway

Colazo got moved to the right spot. The guy had had a good first half but had stopped contributing. 

Maybe it's because he had an interrupted pre season but he seems incapable of playing vigorously for anywhere near 90 minutes.

[jw1739]

44 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Colazo got moved to the right spot. The guy had had a good first half but had stopped contributing. 

Maybe it's because he had an interrupted pre season but he seems incapable of playing vigorously for anywhere near 90 minutes.

Sorry, I have to disagree. Colazo may not have delivered against some people's expectations of a marquee player, but IMO as a genuine left foot player he provides a lot more than some people are crediting him for. City's play has been so predictable this season, and Colazo provides something different. Unlike half our players he can actually cross the ball accurately, and he's good from from dead-ball situations. IMO should have been used a lot more instead of Fornaroli, Brattan and the like. Taking him off and leaving Kamau on the field was a poor coaching decision by Valkanis IMO. Colazo may not be able to last 90 minutes, but that's about 85 more than Kamau.

[n i k o]

How was that filthy outside of the boot ball that Colazo put on a platter for Kamau. Brilliant. 

[playmaker]

46 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Colazo got moved to the right spot. The guy had had a good first half but had stopped contributing. 

Maybe it's because he had an interrupted pre season but he seems incapable of playing vigorously for anywhere near 90 minutes.

Agree to disagree. We were defending and Colazo should have stayed on to block the fullbacks as they were pushing forward. Kamau is useless in that role as he gets blown over with the slightest breeze over and over again. There was no need for him anymore and he was cramping anyway. That's my take on it anyway.

[playmaker]

5 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Sorry, I have to disagree. Colazo may not have delivered against some people's expectations of a marquee player, but IMO as a genuine left foot player he provides a lot more than some people are crediting him for. City's play has been so predictable this season, and Colazo provides something different. Unlike half our players he can actually cross the ball accurately, and he's good from from dead-ball situations. IMO should have been used a lot more instead of Fornaroli, Brattan and the like. Taking him off and leaving Kamau on the field was a poor coaching decision by Valkanis IMO. Colazo may not be able to last 90 minutes, but that's about 85 more than Kamau.

Spot on, great delivery and very under utilised. TBH when we got him I thought his sole purpose was to pump balls into the box for Timmy as it was a logical relationship. Didn't happen and still don't understand why as Colazo wasn't played enough and Cahill wasn't in the box enough. 

[xXCiTyZeNXx]

2 hours ago, SF33 said:

That's the problem though. We have underachieved, no question about it, but assuming we finish fourth and win a home final, this year we will have:

• won our first major silverware
• equalled our best ladder position (we could even have our highest finish ever, with a decent chance - on paper at least - of finishing third)
• had our second best home and away season (in terms of points)
• equalled our best finals position
• earned our second ever home final

How can you have such an incredibly disappointing season, that's simultaneously the best season the club has ever had? Welcome to the life of a Melbourne City supporter: perpetual disappointment, with just the bare minimum of positives that will keep us suckers coming back.

I understand what u r saying. We did have a brilliant first half of the season but as clubs learnt how we played, we never changed the way we played and we started losing stupid games (newcastle 2-1, sydney 1-3) and drawing stupid games (perth 3-3, central coast 2-2). These r only a few games r am saying but there is heaps more like the 2 sydney teams 2 weeks ago and the 2 derbies we lost. Heaps of people r fed up as we could have had an ACL spot and should have came second. We probably had the best players in the league but 2 shit coaches who didnt change the structure of how we played

[n i k o]

14 minutes ago, playmaker said:

Spot on, great delivery and very under utilised. TBH when we got him I thought his sole purpose was to pump balls into the box for Timmy as it was a logical relationship. Didn't happen and still don't understand why as Colazo wasn't played enough and Cahill wasn't in the box enough. 

Do likes count if they're from your own multi? 

[Tony999]

3 hours ago, SF33 said:

That's the problem though. We have underachieved, no question about it, but assuming we finish fourth and win a home final, this year we will have:

• won our first major silverware
• equalled our best ladder position (we could even have our highest finish ever, with a decent chance - on paper at least - of finishing third)
• had our second best home and away season (in terms of points)
• equalled our best finals position
• earned our second ever home final

How can you have such an incredibly disappointing season, that's simultaneously the best season the club has ever had? Welcome to the life of a Melbourne City supporter: perpetual disappointment, with just the bare minimum of positives that will keep us suckers coming back.

And add to the list:

Our highest average attendance in a season

[SF33]

1 hour ago, xXCiTyZeNXx said:

I understand what u r saying. We did have a brilliant first half of the season but as clubs learnt how we played, we never changed the way we played and we started losing stupid games (newcastle 2-1, sydney 1-3) and drawing stupid games (perth 3-3, central coast 2-2). These r only a few games r am saying but there is heaps more like the 2 sydney teams 2 weeks ago and the 2 derbies we lost. Heaps of people r fed up as we could have had an ACL spot and should have came second. We probably had the best players in the league but 2 shit coaches who didnt change the structure of how we played

A brilliant first half of the season (I'd even argue that that's a bit over the top) is a hell of a lot better than we've seen in many seasons. Most of us are used to being resigned to the fact that we're making up the numbers by Christmas Day. Only last season have we even looked a pretty certain top six team throughout and we've at least managed to do that this year.

So, I agree, this year has been a bitter, tragic mess. But nevertheless, it's probably the high water mark for this club to date. 

[Jovan]

3 hours ago, playmaker said:

Spot on, great delivery and very under utilised. TBH when we got him I thought his sole purpose was to pump balls into the box for Timmy as it was a logical relationship. Didn't happen and still don't understand why as Colazo wasn't played enough and Cahill wasn't in the box enough. 

I think what has been lost is the fact that a major reason Colazo got dragged imo was Cahill had also been replaced. The thinking was Kamau can still run at defenders and take them on but without Cahill,  Colazos effectiveness was reduced. 

Both changes for me were a bit late. I would've pulled Cahill at 55 to 60 and Colazo at 60 to 65 and tried Retre for Brattan at 80+. 

FWIW I still don't understand why Fitzy didn't start. 

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, Jovan said:

I think what has been lost is the fact that a major reason Colazo got dragged imo was Cahill had also been replaced. The thinking was Kamau can still run at defenders and take them on but without Cahill,  Colazos effectiveness was reduced. 

Both changes for me were a bit late. I would've pulled Cahill at 55 to 60 and Colazo at 60 to 65 and tried Retre for Brattan at 80+. 

FWIW I still don't understand why Fitzy didn't start. 

I'd also like to see Fitzy given a few minutes in the middle. Bruno has lost a bit of pace this season, and lost the ball a couple of times trying to do too much when out-paced.

[belaguttman]

Has anyone seen a crowd figure for last night?

[Tony999]

6 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Has anyone seen a crowd figure for last night?

9500

[jw1739]

4 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Has anyone seen a crowd figure for last night?

HAL website has 9,238. Some other reports say 9,438. I've used the former, because IMO we can only go with the "official" figure. Didn't think it was that many, but Level 2 on the Eastern side was much fuller than usual.