R4: Away to Smurf Village

[sydmariner]

as most of you know I'm generally an optimist but JESUS FUKING CHRIST that was a pile of sh.t

as for todays game & that penalty miss

 

[Wombat]

The Antonis goal was class and for that they deserved the win. All in all we could have ended up at 2-2 and that would have been highway robbery.

I'm not understanding Mossy's selections or replacements. Sorry - but Sim is a state league player and a good squaddie that sometimes makes the game day squad - not a first XI player. Fitzy needs to be starting ahead of him and Monty has to be in the team. I'd love to see our top team - just for 1 game - so that I know whether we have anything to look forward to this year.

Frustrated

Yep. It would nice to see our best players on the park and nice to see us playing our players in their proper positions.

Its ok to be stubborn Mossy but you are starting to come across as stupid or agenda driven.

 

[Wombat]

Is probably going to have to show a bit to be selected.

Why. Half of Mossy's favourites do less than sweet FA and still get selected each week.

 

[Wombat]

That was pathetic. It started with a poor team selection which led to a gutless team effort.

Our movement is pathetic. We played long ball rubbish and certain players do not show themselves when the ball is available. Our off the ball movement is laughable. Defensively we are a shambles and our midfield simple don't close down. We are also a little bit soft physically with the exception of Duke.

Nash 4. One great save. He caused the 2nd goal and was basically very suspect.
Roux 6. Showed some guts and go forward. One great goaline clearance to save our blushes.
Bosnar 5.5. Did some good things but too loose for my liking. Appears to be a nutter.
Pasco. 3. WTF. He had a nightmare. I think I gave Ando an 8 in his last game. Mossy must view things very differently. This bloke looks state league.
Rose 6. Not perfect but showed more composure than most and showed some guts in attack.
Sim 4. Terrible.
Hutcho 5. Not woeful but just creates nothing going forward and doesn't really defend very well either.
Caceras. 5.5. Weak effort.
Triffiro 6. Too pedestrian. Playing like it was a training run.
Duke 6. Headless chook at times but our only player with any gumption.
Mane 5. Played slightly out of position again and given no support but apart from 2 good touches he did f**k all.

Monty obviously should have started we looked much better when he came on.
Mossy needs to wake up as he starting to embarrass us.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

As West Sydney showed in Saudi Arabia, good sides make their own luck.

I struggle with the implication WSW area good side. I think they're a below average side this year but still very well coached.

 

[Wombat]

I struggle with the implication WSW area good side. I think they're a below average side this year but still very well coached.

As opposed to us who are very poorly coached but have the potential ( if the obvious players start and we start them in the correct positions) to be a top 4 side.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

No need to blaspheme. That is offensive to many people.

You do realise many people find the word "cnut" offensive right Wombat?

...and people still kill other people for "blasphemy". And other religious people are giving their lives trying to get "blasphemy" laws removed...

We don't have blasphemy laws. And people don't have to take offence to anything, especially not on the behalf of a purportedly omnipotent deity over what has become inconsequential common place slang.

If they find themselves so inclined, perhaps they should look to other parts of their doctrine for guidance that is a lot more conducive to a peaceful society where free speech is allowed.

"Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense."

"Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. "

Unless perhaps it's to take offence to having servants in the first place...
...or quite possibly what you must have done to them to make them feel they need to curse you.

And to get back on topic, what did that guy say about a good offence... because ours clearly still needs some work.

 

[MrCelery]

Not sure why some are singling out Nash. There were 10 in front of him that did worse.

Don't normally agree with Harper, but he got it right. He found the Mariners slow pace puzzling, especially when we were 2-0 down.

And if all we are going to do is lob long balls to the forwards, at least make them accurate. Sydney did it too and nearly every one was pinpoint. Ours were 'kick and hope'. I felt sorry for Mane.

We have a serious problem tactically with our midfield-to-forwards disconnect. Too many times the midfield were looking for options forward and everyone was just standing around. At least we made a few penetrating runs from Roux and Rose, but found no-one to capitalise. Looking at you Dukey.

Any why on earth give all the free kicks to Bosnar to hammer, and then hand the penalty to Duke? No keeper would be able to stop a well-placed Bosnar rocket.

Sydney just toyed with us once they were 2-0 up, and coasted to the win (excuse the pun).

The only positive is that I thought we were going to be taken to the cleaners this game. So 0-2 away from home is almost respectable.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

On players... and coach...

I'm pretty sure Posco is being chosen over Ando by Mosso, because he can passo under pressuro.
I liked Anderson and thought WTF like others, but I'm not sure his selection would be making any difference.

Agree with Celery on Midfield to forwards transition. How could you not. But I think it's cattle, the only way to respond to pressure on the ball in the middle of the park is to go away from it - ie; backwards, sidewards. Go over it - you need a big first class nine, or someone very fast. Or preferably both. Or have the quality to play through it. Which is where I think we're coming undone. People think it;s Mossy, but look at it this way, our foreign import number ten presumably on some of the highest coin, got (rightfully) dragged for a 10 who was playing State league two seasons ago. When the spine of the engine room isn't working, your always going to have big problems. And when in previous years it wasn't, having the ball skill of Weemac made a huge difference in still helping us have penetration regardless.

That said: Monty on the bench is crazy for mine too. Would have preferred to see Caceres at 10 over Trifiro and Monty included. But maybe I'm over rating Caceres. Kim made no impact as an impact sub, and we'd have been better off with another genuine striker to be able to come off the bench for Mane, and swap Sim out for Fitzy.

I'm not jumping on Moss yet. He did a great job last year in more trying circumstances, and the major difference I see this year, is that he may well have lost the tipping point of quality still required for even the "best dressing room" "always fight for each other" under resourced...under dogs...

On Nash: No one was responsible for first goal. He was responsible for the second. And could have punished twice more bad errors. You could also see how unsettled he made Eddy, and that flows through a backline. He did improve second half though, and did make one quality save.

Oh, and f**k RIGHT OFF Fox sports with your, "Was Ibini's move to SFC from the Mariners the right choice?" Poll.

 

[Roy Law]

Arnie Wins the Mind Games​

It took less than half an hour; when Sasho Ognenovski deflected home Sydney’s second goal this game was as good as over. The Mariners might just as well have hopped on the Coastal Liner and headed home up the Freeway. They never looked like they would win this game.
The Mariners were forced into a late change with Nash stepping in for the injured Reddy but it was other changes by Moss which caused the most surprise; Caceres and Trifiro both started with Kim Seung-yong and Montgomery on the bench. Poscoliero again kept Anderson out of the line up.
The early exchanges were relatively uneventful; Sydney held a slight edge but the Mariners appeared untroubled. Nash was coping well, impressing with feet and hands; Bosnar was noisy and belligerent; and Abbas got a yellow for bizarrely blocking Bosnar’s run for a free kick. And then Arnie’s mind games kicked in.
Graham Arnold had said in the week that he knew Phil Moss too well for him to have any secrets; Moss clearly fell for the trap as he assumed that Arnie would also have no secrets for him. He was wrong; the old pachyderm had an ace up his sleeve.
Sydney’s first goal owed everything to Arnie exploiting a weakness; springing the unexpected. A corner, played deep outside the area, apparently a benign move, but Antonis knew what to do. One touch, and his perfectly placed and wonderfully timed shot, with all the sweet timing and power of a Mark Waugh off-drive hitting the boundary fence, was in the bottom corner of the net before you could blink. The stretching Nash needed to be eight feet tall to have any chance of saving it.
To the Mariners’ credit they responded positively. Roux’s brave run was rewarded with a free kick craftily placed by Trifiro. Bosnar’s header was blocked on the line, he kept the ball alive and Hutchinson had a great chance to score but his header had no puff behind it and Janjetovic comfortably claimed the ball.
On 26 minutes it was 2-0 as another similar corner routine saw Ognenovski’s deflection wrong foot Nash and creep into the net. John Crawley was stressing on the sideline; Phil Moss was scribbling notes studiously as if on assignment. The Apprentice is still learning from the Guru.
Duke almost made his mark with the first of three chances after a Roux cross deflected towards him. He strained his utmost to get power to his header but just did not have the purchase to beat Janjetovic. It was a good chance which the Mariners desperately needed to be taken to get them back into the game.
The Mariners lifted briefly at the start of the second half. Mané, who for the most part had fought a lone battle up front, got away from his marker only to be grapple tackled by Ryall who received a yellow for the offence. Hutchinson was almost in after tidy approach play, the Mariners at last playing good football. Duke then was desperately unlucky not to score. Chasing a long ball the ever willing front man out paced the defenders and hit a powerful half volley on the run which beat the keeper all ends up but crashed back off the bar. Nash then splendidly flew through the air to deny Dimetrijevic after Roux had lost possession. The Mariners were now carelessly giving the ball away and Sydney almost scored again after a most desperate scramble in the Mariners’ penalty area.
Fitzgerald had replaced Mané; Ibini, looking nothing like a potential Socceroo also came off, and then Trifiro was replaced by Kim. It was a strange decision: Trifiro had been our best player, willing, inventive and constantly involved; Kim, who has made no impact this season, could not possibly play the role of the much needed impact player. With just ten minutes to go Monty replaced Sim, far too late to make any difference, he should have come on at half time.
As the game wound down there was just time for one last drama. Bosnar was adjudged to have lost his arm wrestle with Petkovic and referee Debrovski gave a penalty. Duke stepped up, hit the ball firmly but not firmly enough; on another day the keeper might have gone the wrong way but Janjetovic went the right way and the ball was at a comfortable height for him to save. Kim even managed to miss the chance on the follow up with a half hearted effort.
The Mariners put up as much resistance today as a Sleeping Policeman on a busy suburban street; they were bossed all over the park, and off it, by the Sky Blues. There was a worrying lack of character today, they lacked direction and belief. Sydney's innate big city arrogance has been lent another veneer by Graham Arnold. Duke worked his backside off but really needs to bury those chances; Sim worked hard without making any headway. Caceres made no impression on the midfield; he really has got to step up. Roux had an intriguing battle with the lively Ali Abbas. Mané disappointed; a visa player with the first touch of Pedj Bojic. Nash impressed, he may well have earned another start. Trifiro was my MoM, a State League player putting others to shame; the Mariners need to have more of his get up and go, otherwise this is going to be a long and painful season.

 

[Blackadder]

Are you serious!? Did you see the game? Wanderers had very little to do with not losing that match... Not that I'm not a little giddy about the ACL champions coming from the A-league...
And no, I'm not saying we deserved a win today, just that on top of everything else, the 50/50-type chances all went the wrong way too.

All I am reading is excuses, excuses.
Simply put, if you are relying on the 50/50 calls to go your way to win games you need to look at what is going wrong, to put you in that position.

 

[Gratis]

honestly I thought thought the
poos with their firepower and
being more advanced towards
being the finished product,
combined with with us not near
hitting our straps, would win.
in truth they were the better
side and there was a real element
of luck in both their goals and
poor luck in the ones we
didn't get. luck combined with
execution of skill. that is.

what I couldn't stomach was the
lack of Mariners fight. Hutch
tried to start the fire blazing a
couple of times but the flames
just didn't take. when we lose
we go down in a blaze of glory,
not a tepid, wet sputter. this is
what angers me to undiplomatic
words

 

[justafan]

We all have different opinions in regards to game and player's performances. Mine, is no exception to the rule. I agree and disagree with a lot of what's been posted. My belief is that the game was lost before even playing it. It was lost in the sheds and Mossy as the coach is responsible for it. The tactics, formation and starting 11 suited SFC. It was as if Mossy was still Arnie's assistant. He played straight into what SFC wanted. It's also obvious that there is no good feelings between coach and some players. I get the impression that most of the players have no belief in the coach and his staff. Players like Monty, Fitzy and Zac who should all be starting must be asking themselves "wtf have I done to deserve this ?", " Is the guy playing in my position better than me? F**k NO!! ". For those of us here that have played the game would know and understand exactly how it feels when a coach benches you for no obvious footballing reasons. The team performance due to the coache's structure and formation was poor.

Nash: early days to be judge but l blame him for both goals.
Roux: 5. Our best defender. Had problems with Gameiro first half. Improved in the 2nd half.
Pascoliero: 3. Not better than Zac atm.
Bosner: 3. Our Sasa OGNENOVSKI.Loves the camera and carries on like a dh.
Rose: 4. Very little.
Hutch : 4. More of the same : nothing. Monty should captain and play instead.
Caceres :6. Our best player. Good attitude and never lost a ball. Ran for both Hutch's and Triffiro. No movement of the ball for him to distribute and create Got tired due to lack of match fitness as this is his first start.
Sim:3. Struggles v a-league sides.
Triffiro: 3. Agree with Wombat.
Duke: 6. All heart. Only attacker with movement to create space so that Caceres could give him the ball. Fitzy shoul have taken the penalty.
Mane: 2. Was he on the field?

Would like to see:

....................................................Reddy.........................................................

Roux..........................Zac.............................(?)......................Rose.............

...............Caceres..................Monty..................Hutch/Triffiro..........

Fitzy..................................Duke.......................................Mane/Cernak

 

[BrisRecky]

the first sign of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result...hence, Mossy (and Sully) , again and again, keeps trotting out the wrong cattle in the wrong positions and expecting a resounding win.
Moi, Ozbaggie and the respective better halfs went to the smurfdome and were thoroughly disappointed...im thinking of hitting Mossy up for a refund actually [JOKE}

I knew we were in trouble when I found out Reddy had done a rib cartilage and then I saw Ando on the bench and the runt of the litter taking his spot again..Poscowhatsits is TOO small to be a defender...Baggie said that Moss appears to be trying to relive his glory days in the premier League by coaching a premier league side......I am starting to agree
Reading the posts in the thread, its fairly obvious that even us fans could construct a starting 11 and tactics that would accomplish a result opposite to the 2-0 drubbing, and yes it was a drubbing, CCM applied about 4 minutes pressure in the 90..if this had been Victory , Adelaide or Perth, we would have suffered a major slapping, maybe even double figures.......and it dont seem like a happy camp at all, and when Mane got subbed off , he threw his toys out of the pram along with his hi-vis vest and water bottle......you hear of vicious rumours coming out of tuggerah about this player or that player being decidely unhappy since the coronation of Moss and Sullivan and wanting out, one being that Rosey has had a gutful, and normally i dont listen to 'em, but, i'm starting too.....someone on twitter said Tony Walmsley should be installed as coach.....if it dont improve by transfer window time, i'm thinking it might be a good idea
Oh and the penalty hoodoo is back with a vengeance....

 

[scoober]

Monty on the bench and I guess we can safely say Anderson has done something to put Moss offside.?

Re: Anderson. Not mossy but the guy who plays next to Anderson in mossy's ear on who should play next to him

 

[localpom]

Re: Anderson. Not mossy but the guy who plays next to Anderson in mossy's ear on who should play next to him

Hadn't thought of that but quite possible.

 

[localpom]

Disappointing but could have been worse i guess...at 2-0 i thought it might have ended up 5. We are looking still in pre-season mode and are not playing fluently. The players don't look match fit at all, i'm hoping we are due to hit some form in a week or 2. We have had slow starts before even in Arnie's reign and come good, too early to throw the towel in. Saying that the worrying thing for me is team selection and we really need to give players time to gel and get match fit.....we look underdone compared to other sides. Nash did ok but we missed Liam's quality and leadership. Monty has to start every game, i just don't get it. We need to continue with Caceres and Tricky, i'm convinced they will be great for us as long as they get some game time. I like Sim but to have Kim and Fitzy on the bench and Matty on make no sense to me. Hopefully we will get it right this weekend, a win and all is well again but another loss and there will be some serious questions.

 

[midfielder]

In Hal 2, I went to watch SFC play in the ACL, Branko Culina was their coach and I went away saying to myself, by fark he is a good coach.

During the following week I was speaking to a client who was a SFC fan and I said you have a decent coach…

His reply over coffee and cake went for over an hour were he showed me what Branko’s biggest problem was / where…

This conversation I have never forgotten as I have seen it in other coaches and I am starting to wonder aloud if this applies to Phil Moss…

He told me Branko was brilliant in the first half of any season by season three he had a wooden spoon. His reason was Branko was brilliant at coaching an already established team with an established set up… but hopeless at picking replacements and introducing new systems..

If I look at our key losses and key gains… we lost weeMac who said he did not wanta play under Moss, Abini even when we were told he had resigned, we let Flores go for Triffiro… we signed Kim, Bosnar, Paco, Sim, Vernes and Mane…

Triffiro, Kim, Bosnar, Paco, Sim, Vernes and Mane… it’s a salary cap league, FFA pay the wages, we lost a midfield of Flores, Abini and weeMac … Hand on heart not the other thing this seems like Branko.

Caceras is either over rated or not supported he is our best ball player, yet gets the least time of Hutch, Monty …

It’s still early in the season, however for the first time in our history I starting to think our coaching staff when compared to other teams is closer to the bottom than the top… Let’s hope I am wrong Abini saved us last year when he came back… I don’t see another Abini coming to save us this season..

My clients words keep ringing in my ears, Branko was great until he had to make replacements and introduce new systems … when I look at our signings under Phil’s rein I see Branko, not a GA or LM…

 

[tsd]

im not totally convinced moss is getting the tactics or personal wrong, what I'm not sold on is the motivation and man management side of his coaching… is he suffering from ex-assistant coach syndrome?

 

[nebakke]

All I am reading is excuses, excuses.

You're not reading what I'm writing then... Copy/Paste from my previous post:
"And no, I'm not saying we deserved a win today, just that on top of everything else, the 50/50-type chances all went the wrong way too."

I also think that the round four (including a by) is a bit early to start questioning the coach, especially considering we did significantly better, last season, after he took over from Arnie, than we did before.
And I think that, much as I like Duke, in front of goal, he feels more and more like McBreen - prior to the Championship season... It would be good to see them with some bl**dy accuracy on the shots.
And I think that Trifiro is getting a bit of a bum deal on here, my perception, during the game yesterday, was that he spent a lot of time trying get us/keep the ball, with little help. He would get swamped by three Sydney players and noone running to his aide... That's a big ask of anyone.