The Petrillo Derby vs Adelaide - Sun 16/12 7pm AWAY

[HEARTinator]

Bart reckons Galek MOTM. Seems fair to me.

Great to get the 3 points BUT the Tards won’t waste as many chances in front of goals as the Pissants did tonight.

[belaguttman]

A win. Not pretty, but a win. It's hard to get excited

Positives:

We scored a goal of our own

Solid, without being brilliant debut from Najjarine

Defensive central pairing was good

Good game from Eugene, saved us the win

Away Win

 

Negatives:

No striker

No plan

No shape, too much space between our lines

No excitement

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by belaguttman

[Afif Adam]

We won because of Najjarine, up the yoof 

[Shahanga]

Terrible game.

thought Adelaide had the better of most of it, but when they can’t shoot and gift 2 goals they are surely going to lose and they did.

[DukeVader]

2 minutes ago, Afif Adam said:

We won because of Najjarine, up the yoof 

Sell him for profit asap

[Inchcolm]

A better team or on another day we could have conceded more than 2 goals. But we did not, we will take the 3 points and run. Was this a sign of things to come, go 2 up and try and hold on. That last 25 mins Giriffiths on for Vidosic two banks of 5  and let them come at us wave after wave. It was painful

Edited December 16, 2018 by Inchcolm

[HeartOfCity]

So Bratts scores a rippa from outside the box and we had a Elsy own goal, cant rely on goals like this, we need the tap ins and to force the keeper to make saves alot more often. Joyce still hasnt fixed anything, Adelaide were off and maybe thats because its the way we played them, our defence was rock solid but going forward is still a massive issue. Groundhog day

[jw1739]

6 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

A better team or on another day we could have conceded more than 2 goals. But we did not, we will take the 3 points and run. Was this a sign of things to come, go 2 up and try and hold on. That last 25 mins Giriffiths on for Vidosic two banks of 5  and let them come at us wave after wave. It was painful

Plenty of times over the seasons that's been done to us. It might not have been pretty, but we're going home with the points and that's what counts for me.

It's still not clear to me, though, what Joyce thinks he's doing with the squad.

[rass]

Obviously not a great game, but it was a great result, especially considering the derby next week.

Would've loved to see MOH but with the home team stung and coming hard, He Laet off early and Baccus on a yellow, it was understandable he didn't come on.

[Shahanga]

2 minutes ago, HeartOfCity said:

So Bratts scores a rippa from outside the box and we had a Elsy own goal, cant rely on goals like this, we need the tap ins and to force the keeper to make saves alot more often. Joyce still hasnt fixed anything, Adelaide were off and maybe thats because its the way we played them, our defence was rock solid but going forward is still a massive issue. Groundhog day

Did you see the lead up to Bratts goal? Their defender passed it to us!

The brats hit it at the keeper and he didn’t save it.

when the opposition plays like that, you simply have to win and we did, but let’s not get too excited 

[Afif Adam]

17 minutes ago, DukeVader said:

Sell him for profit asap

Word is that he is better than Arzani when together last season but was held back due to injury 

[Inchcolm]

1 minute ago, rass said:

Obviously not a great game, but it was a great result, especially considering the derby next week.

Would've loved to see MOH but with the home team stung and coming hard, He Laet off early and Baccus on a yellow, it was understandable he didn't come on.

In my bias opinion he could have replaced,Wales or Mcgree for the last 20-15 mins. Malik came on with 2 mins to go. My only thought was Joyce was afraid of another injury on the field and would not commit his last sub.I believe his lack of game time today rules him out for a start next week.

[HeartOfCity]

2 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Did you see the lead up to Bratts goal? Their defender passed it to us!

The brats hit it at the keeper and he didn’t save it.

when the opposition plays like that, you simply have to win and we did, but let’s not get too excited 

Im not excited at all, there is still a major deficiency in our front 3rd, god help us this week coming

[Inchcolm]

6 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Did you see the lead up to Bratts goal? Their defender passed it to us!

The brats hit it at the keeper and he didn’t save it.

when the opposition plays like that, you simply have to win and we did, but let’s not get too excited 

You forgot about our two misplaced passes which saw the ball land at Brattan's feet

Edited December 16, 2018 by Inchcolm

[Imtellingyou]

Misfortune outcomes continue for disgruntled forum fans.

[haz]

I missed the game cause my train was delayed in the snow.

Did we play well? Or were Adelaide shit?

 

[kingofhearts]

30 minutes ago, Afif Adam said:

Word is that he is better than Arzani when together last season but was held back due to injury 

Hes exactly like Arzani but just not very good at football.

Our front third is still a mess. The amount of times we get the ball on a bit of break, then stop at the edge of the penalty box and pass it around aimlessly is infuriating. It's like our players don't have anyone to pass to, or don't know what to do when we get into that final third

Pray for us next week

Edited December 16, 2018 by kingofhearts

[AntiScum]

Been told today's game will be a 3-0 forfit as City played an illegible player in Baccas, who is MOH injury replacement. FFA waiting for an official complaint from United 

[HeartOfCity]

6 minutes ago, AntiScum said:

Been told today's game will be a 3-0 forfit as City played an illegible player in Baccas, who is MOH injury replacement. FFA waiting for an official complaint from United 

They explained on fox that he was injury replacement for Florin so all good

[mattyh001]

1 hour ago, haz said:

I missed the game cause my train was delayed in the snow.

Did we play well? Or were Adelaide shit?

 

Largely sums it up.

We had moments, but they were poor to say the least

[Dylan]

Jesus Christ that made me feel worst. This season is just going to fade out I can see it now

[AXIOM]

1 shot on target 1 shot off target that sums it up for me. 

[HEARTinator]

Some stats from https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/match-centre/HAL2018-190805/stats

Great work from Galek. Both Bart and he were the difference between 3 points and a draw IMO.

 

  Adelaide United             Melbourne City       

                             Shots

		3  On Target  2                   4  Off Target  2                    1  Blocked  3
		Passes            7  Crosses Completed  2             28  Balls Into Area  16               4  Corners  2

Edited December 16, 2018 by HEARTinator

[fensaddler]

Well I gave us a snowball's chance in hell of getting anything out of this match. In the end, typical away win, not pretty, absorbed a lot of pressure, took our chances and rode our luck. Credit to a defence that held up well, and increasingly impressed with Delbridge, who is looking head and shoulders above where he was last season. Also liking what I'm seeing from Lachie and Riley. 

Downsides? On another day it wouldn't have worked out as well. We struggle to create chances, we're not easy to watch, and we obviously and desperately lack a striker. Perth and Victory are already way ahead, and the best we're doing is fighting Sydney for third. We're still horribly inconsistent so that's probably way too optimistic in itself. Unfortunately we find ourselves waiting for the transfer window again. De Laet is injured, Bruno frozen out and the Melburnians have imploded, again. 

[n i k o]

Fwiw at any other point in time if we played away in Adelaide, lost our marquee in the first 10 minutes of the game, subbed on an inexperienced youngster and won 2-0 we'd be ecstatic and praising the team. Funny how things have changed so drastically. 

[rass]

7 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Fwiw at any other point in time if we played away in Adelaide, lost our marquee in the first 10 minutes of the game, subbed on an inexperienced youngster and won 2-0 we'd be ecstatic and praising the team. Funny how things have changed so drastically. 

Agreed - and it does my fukn head in that we're at a point now where people on here are actually disappointed we won and still only look at the negatives of a game.

The one massive positive for me out of this game is that we now go into a derby with a win behind us. A loss last night would have made this week unbearable.

[jw1739]

11 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Fwiw at any other point in time if we played away in Adelaide, lost our marquee in the first 10 minutes of the game, subbed on an inexperienced youngster and won 2-0 we'd be ecstatic and praising the team. Funny how things have changed so drastically. 

I'm beginning to think that this Forum is so disconnected from the club that we are just not able to get things in perspective any more. Are we disconnected from the rest of City supporters? Perhaps we should do a Melburnians and call it a day.

[SF33]

I think people are just burnt out by it. Yeah, it beats propping up the table like the last couple of Heart seasons, but anything other than a win next week (against the form team of the comp, by a mile, who've had a habit of killing our enthusiasm with our team in this very fixture the past couple of seasons) and we're looking like also-rans. We're well and truly overdue to finally have a top two finish in the league and unless we can show something on Saturday, that looks to be out of our reach and it looks like a 3-5 place finish yet again.

EDIT: plus of course the negative publicity with Bruno and some truly baffling decisions from a brand/marketing perspective recently and the club is really testing the patience of its loyal supporters.

Edited December 16, 2018 by SF33

[fensaddler]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

Fwiw at any other point in time if we played away in Adelaide, lost our marquee in the first 10 minutes of the game, subbed on an inexperienced youngster and won 2-0 we'd be ecstatic and praising the team. Funny how things have changed so drastically. 

Indeed. It was an away win, hard fought, against one of the better sides in the league. I reckon despite all the caveats, perhaps even because of them, our best performance of the season. Not our prettiest or most memorable, but the one that indicated we can do more than win at home against weak sides. Ps, I know, derby. We fluked it, and it was a first day of the season derby win. I think in real terms this means more. Adelaide were only as good as we let them be. 

 

[SF33]

1 minute ago, fensaddler said:

Indeed. It was an away win, hard fought, against one of the better sides in the league. I reckon despite all the caveats, perhaps even because of them, our best performance of the season. Not our prettiest or most memorable, but the one that indicated we can do more than win at home against weak sides. Ps, I know, derby. We fluked it, and it was a first day of the season derby win. I think in real terms this means more. Adelaide were only as good as we let them be. 

 

It's been this way for years. Encouraging win, of course. But look at Sydney of the past couple of years, look at Victory at their peak.

We have good games, then we crap the bed the following week, after the players have spent a few days reading about how good they are. Then they'll get stung by reading about how shit they are and put in a good performance again and rinse and repeat, month after month, season after season. The good teams, on the other hand, just keep banking 7-12 points every month throughout the season. Build on the Adelaide win, make a statement against Victory, then take a minimum of seven points from Wanderers, Jets and Mariners and we can start getting optimistic.

Not having a go at all, but saying that's our best performance of the season sums it up. that should be an absolute bog standard away win by any team with aspirations of doing more than making up the numbers in the first week of finals.

[playmaker]

I fell asleep by the 60th minute so this is all I witnessed.

0-2 win was great.

It was the worst football I have seen for a long time.

No goals from open play, nor any creativity at all.

Attacking metrics are very concerning, in other words we can't score off our own back.

Adelaide are bad, very bad, and we still couldn't manufacture a goal.

Their defensive errors were epic.

But we won so job done.

Let's see where our goals come from next week.

I want to know why our more senior players are getting injured.

[belaguttman]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

Fwiw at any other point in time if we played away in Adelaide, lost our marquee in the first 10 minutes of the game, subbed on an inexperienced youngster and won 2-0 we'd be ecstatic and praising the team. Funny how things have changed so drastically. 

True, a win is a win and a win away against Adelaide is even better. A win when we are playing poorly is even better. The scoreline does obscure the ongoing concerns expressed here and elsewhere, and there are no real signs of progression in the team. As I've said elsewhere, Joyce has applied the dementor's kiss to the players and supporter's enthusiasm and joy.

[Jovan]

On 12/12/2018 at 6:14 PM, Jovan said:

It's either a draw or win.

So far 

WDLWLWL, so after a L it can only be W or maybe a D.

This was last week's predict. 

Put everything you own plus your wife's money on a loss this week in the derby.

Edited December 17, 2018 by Jovan

[fensaddler]

49 minutes ago, SF33 said:

It's been this way for years. Encouraging win, of course. But look at Sydney of the past couple of years, look at Victory at their peak.

We have good games, then we crap the bed the following week, after the players have spent a few days reading about how good they are. Then they'll get stung by reading about how shit they are and put in a good performance again and rinse and repeat, month after month, season after season. The good teams, on the other hand, just keep banking 7-12 points every month throughout the season. Build on the Adelaide win, make a statement against Victory, then take a minimum of seven points from Wanderers, Jets and Mariners and we can start getting optimistic.

Not having a go at all, but saying that's our best performance of the season sums it up. that should be an absolute bog standard away win by any team with aspirations of doing more than making up the numbers in the first week of finals.

Agreed. Consistency. We don't do it and never have. 

[Harrison]

Adelaide was playing some very nice football - crisp passing, a lot of movement, solid defending - and then the first goal completely changed the course of the match. From then on, we traded blows and somehow wound up with a second. Then the pendulum swung back towards Adelaide and they couldn't buy a goal. 

Galekovic and Bart were both excellent and Baccus, Delbridge and Atkinson were good. I thought we looked a lot better when we changed our shape after RDL went off. It looked to me like a 4-3-3, which suits our midfielders and outside forwards.

Still, there were definitely periods of the match where we looked very shaky. We also looked pretty toothless in the box. The build up was ok but there is a noticeable lack of potency up front. If we sign Berisha or another marksman, I think we will be a lot more dynamic. 

[Inchcolm]

22 hours ago, Missing_Moy said:

Najjarine is also a winger, sports science blokes would’ve said how many minutes of a game would be optimal for MOH as game is much more intense than training!

 

MOH was passed fit to play the 90 mins. Joyce as @playmaker stated decided to develop one from his puppy farm. By his actions Joyce has now made it clear to MOH that he will continued to prioritise developing talent rather than playing him. This reinforces what he did in the cup matches no MOH, yet he played on the tour of India. I am now used to Joyce's strange attitudes and choices . No wonder City fans get frustrated, no way can you have a winning team when and it is obvious that his priority is to develop young talent for another club and sell them as soon as they show they are a hot prospect. Our marquee is a full back is because this position does not interfere with his up and coming puppies development. He certainly does not want a marquee if it means dropping one of his puppies. It now makes sense why we signed a Youth coach.

MOH has a big decision to make over the next couple of weeks my guess is he is not playing in the derby he will return to Scotland where 9 of 12 clubs offered him a contract before he came to Australia. May be he would be better off playing in a league with Australian internationalist rather than future ones.  

[jw1739]

18 minutes ago, Inchcolm said:

MOH was passed fit to play the 90 mins. Joyce as @playmaker stated decided to develop one from his puppy farm. By his actions Joyce has now made it clear to MOH that he will continued to prioritise developing talent rather than playing him. This reinforces what he did in the cup matches no MOH, yet he played on the tour of India. I am now used to Joyce's strange attitudes and choices . No wonder City fans get frustrated, no way can you have a winning team when and it is obvious that his priority is to develop young talent for another club and sell them as soon as they show they are a hot prospect. Our marquee is a full back is because this position does not interfere with his up and coming puppies development. He certainly does not want a marquee if it means dropping one of his puppies. It now makes sense why we signed a Youth coach.

MOH has a big decision to make over the next couple of weeks my guess is he is not playing in the derby he will return to Scotland where 9 of 12 clubs offered him a contract before he came to Australia. May be he would be better off playing in a league with Australian internationalist rather than future ones.  

I think you're going a bit too far here. If Joyce was freezing out O'Halloran completely he wouldn't have selected him for the Adelaide squad at all.

It could well be that he brought Najjarine on instead of O'Halloran in the 23rd minute because he didn't want to risk the latter playing 70 minutes, when the intention for the match was to give him, say, 10-20.

All this speculation about what's going to happen will be confirmed as correct or incorrect come 3rd January.

[fensaddler]

6 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I think you're going a bit too far here. If Joyce was freezing out O'Halloran completely he wouldn't have selected him for the Adelaide squad at all.

It could well be that he brought Najjarine on instead of O'Halloran in the 23rd minute because he didn't want to risk the latter playing 70 minutes, when the intention for the match was to give him, say, 10-20.

All this speculation about what's going to happen will be confirmed as correct or incorrect come 3rd January.

I'm so hoping there will be some news to lift us JW. I can't rouse much enthusiasm for the club right now. Time for a serious reset with the fans. 

[Tony999]

3 minutes ago, fensaddler said:

I'm so hoping there will be some news to lift us JW. I can't rouse much enthusiasm for the club right now. Time for a serious reset with the fans. 

Requires a protest buddy at CFG HQ. I'm a 5 min drive from there so I'll be there first whoever organises one.

[n i k o]

10 hours ago, rass said:

Agreed - and it does my fukn head in that we're at a point now where people on here are actually disappointed we won and still only look at the negatives of a game.

The one massive positive for me out of this game is that we now go into a derby with a win behind us. A loss last night would have made this week unbearable.

I agree with most of your post. But I'd say It's a sign that people are so dissponted with many aspects of the club that even a win can't mask it. 

10 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I'm beginning to think that this Forum is so disconnected from the club that we are just not able to get things in perspective any more. Are we disconnected from the rest of City supporters? Perhaps we should do a Melburnians and call it a day.

Not really. There are so many people that resonate these sentiments.