9th? Woo-hoo, check out the optimist!
R5 vs Melbourne Victory | Sun 10th Nov | 6:00pm | SS7
Gotta say, it's funny scrolling through all the Facebook comments of all the A-League teams. Even when they're winning, they are convinced they're playing like crap
Happy we got a point, shame about the way we played to concede like that.
Such a hard working performance. A pity Rufer's shot was well saved, he was strong in that midfield. Payne did well. Davila very calm pen taker. Devere did well and Sotirio too.
I don't like the way we're playing but can see a logic behind trying to get the basics right first - i.e. defending as a team, working hard. It's pretty uninspiring stuff, though; for most of the game we had 9 men behind the ball and just immediately long balled it hoping for Sotirio to get on the end.
This is not a good Victory side at all; the reason I thought we defended better against them was because they barely ever used width. They only really had Elvis and sometimes Roux, and barely ever tried to get beyond the fullbacks. When they did, they caused issues. Other teams were doing it a lot more.
I was at the game and the one thing we did better with for most of the game was pressing players in midfield and not just sitting on the edge of the box - that started to change towards the game when we tired, though.
It's nice to have a penalty taker i'm confident in, though
Gotta say, it's funny scrolling through all the Facebook comments of all the A-League teams. Even when they're winning, they are convinced they're playing like crap
It's strange to have our GM come out and say it's a great performance getting a draw against a comparable team when we were dominated for most of the game; do you see the Victory or Sydney GM's doing that? Just a different mentality.
I thought the change of having Sotirio and McCowatt often on the wings, Sotorio on the left and McCowatt on the right, with Davila centrally helped our defense.
Last couple of week frustrating our build up play from defense.
Therell be some tired legs. Great result. Performance wasnt amazing but 10/10 for effort. What was the deal with the ref blowing up when we were on the attack?!?
Thought ball looked knackered, and a bit hesitant at times. Could have got his shot away or put some blocks in at times. Still, overall, very happy.
Ball gave everything.
As I said, I was pleased. No doubting his effort, just hesitated a couple of times. Thought it was a confidence thing. I really want him to get the goal his play deserves.
Review of the match
While always happy for a point in Melbourne. I still feel a bit down about this result. Great that we took the lead, but then very naive from players and coach to try and parked the bus for the next 80mins. Not sure who thought that that would work.
But underlying that, I still think we are having the same formation issues as every other game this season. Where we don't really have the players to play the way Uffie wants to. Victory had a night off with their shooting boots, but really should have blown us off the park. Their forwards and supporting midfielders found so much space all in front of our back four. I think our full backs did a good job once they grew wise to it, but there were still gaps.
We are enough games into the season now to know what works and what doesn't. It is disappointing to see Uffie persisting with this ''Sydney style and not something that suits the players he has. "(and Yes Hooper changes this. But we need a better alternative plan when he isnt playing).
As for what is working, Davilla looked better centrally, Libby and Payne worked well and Ball just needs a goal.
Hooper is a worry. It was risky from an injury view point buying a player who had not played for so long. Hopefully he will be right in a fortnight for our next game.
I think Fenton is far more of a worry than Hooper is, to be honest.
Hooper is a worry. It was risky from an injury view point buying a player who had not played for so long. Hopefully he will be right in a fortnight for our next game.
I think Fenton is far more of a worry than Hooper is, to be honest.
lul wut?
Have we got a bye? up next week?.
Hooper is a worry. It was risky from an injury view point buying a player who had not played for so long. Hopefully he will be right in a fortnight for our next game.
I think Fenton is far more of a worry than Hooper is, to be honest.
Fenton is far less important to our team going forward though
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
arm was close to body? he was moving his arm away from the ball was the argument for it not being a peno….that's what Tolvenon said in his half time interview - given the way the VAR is interpreting the laws it was always going to be called in our favour,
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
Because it was awarded to the Nix
Hooper is a worry. It was risky from an injury view point buying a player who had not played for so long. Hopefully he will be right in a fortnight for our next game.
I think Fenton is far more of a worry than Hooper is, to be honest.
lul wut?
From an injury perspective.
I’m somewhat satisfied with a draw? This must be how Tottenham fans feel.
Missed this game due to illegal streaming unreliability, I’m make sure to miss the next away game so we get the result.
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
Even when I saw it at the ground in real time it look like a pen, tbh.
There was one incident where Ola was convinced we handballed it and they deserved a pen - did anyone catch that? I was shocked that we were given anything by the VAR tbh.
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
Even when I saw it at the ground in real time it look like a pen, tbh.
There was one incident where Ola was convinced we handballed it and they deserved a pen - did anyone catch that? I was shocked that we were given anything by the VAR tbh.
They only showed one replay of that incident, but it looked reasonably clear that there was no handball.
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
Even when I saw it at the ground in real time it look like a pen, tbh.
There was one incident where Ola was convinced we handballed it and they deserved a pen - did anyone catch that? I was shocked that we were given anything by the VAR tbh.
hit one of our players thigh on the replay shown
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
Even when I saw it at the ground in real time it look like a pen, tbh.
There was one incident where Ola was convinced we handballed it and they deserved a pen - did anyone catch that? I was shocked that we were given anything by the VAR tbh.
hit one of our players thigh on the replay shown
That is correct. I saw the replay being played back on FOX during the game and Archie Thompson said "that's off his leg" and that was that. Toivonen was the only one shouting for a VAR review. He was also the only one claiming he was hard done by for the handball against him. Not quite ready to call him a cod but there is a difference between being "passionate" which is what Robbie Slater called it, and Ola forgetting the basic rule of fairness, that is do unto others, etc.
Why was there any debate about the penalty? Looked nailed on to me
Even when I saw it at the ground in real time it look like a pen, tbh.
There was one incident where Ola was convinced we handballed it and they deserved a pen - did anyone catch that? I was shocked that we were given anything by the VAR tbh.
That definitely wasn't a pen, never hit hand
Ola can argue till the cows come home, thats always a penalty. He jumped and diverted the ball with his hand away from a nix player in a scoring position.
He's the captain of a big team with crap results, and Taylor and Marinovic weren't taking a backward step for a moment. Tough day at the office for him.
He's the captain of a big team with crap results, and Taylor and Marinovic weren't taking a backward step for a moment. Tough day at the office for him.
To be fair, with the quality of chances he had, he should've had a hattrick. And the only reason he didn't was his own poor finishing, not great defensive efforts from our lot.
He's the captain of a big team with crap results, and Taylor and Marinovic weren't taking a backward step for a moment. Tough day at the office for him.
To be fair, with the quality of chances he had, he should've had a hattrick. And the only reason he didn't was his own poor finishing, not great defensive efforts from our lot.
Our defensive efforts were pretty average by world standards, but by our efforts so far this season, they were better than I expected.
He's the captain of a big team with crap results, and Taylor and Marinovic weren't taking a backward step for a moment. Tough day at the office for him.
To be fair, with the quality of chances he had, he should've had a hattrick. And the only reason he didn't was his own poor finishing, not great defensive efforts from our lot.
Our defensive efforts were pretty average by world standards, but by our efforts so far this season, they were better than I expected.
Basically this, though if Ola shot like he normally did; it would've been 3-1. I guess you can 'What If' after every game like that, though; we're just lucky Marinovic has been low-key brilliant this season.
Personally I don't think our defence was much better, and was hindered by us being unable to play out at all for most of the game. We *did* move together a bit better as a team and our DM's were more willing to push up and pressure, which helped. Not as many shots from good positions outside the box.
Also, I can't believe I'm the same age as DeVere; he looks like a 50 year old.
To all of those who said we should have been more progressive against Victory last week, I have to say, after watching them tonight, you were right