Round 3 - PINK Round v Adelaide

[Tevor]

Only four players starting yesterday were from last years team and one of those was the keeper. Of those Rowles did not play a lot of games last year and Tommy H. was out a lot at the end.

It is only the third game in with what is an almost totally new squad. I expect it will take half a season to work out the best starting 11, some understanding and who were dud signings. With such a cleanup there are bound to be some, whether injury crocks, too old or just too useless. I am worried some of our signing gambles may not come off. I guess it is to be expected with so many new signings in such a short time.

Realistically, it appears that this rebuild is going to take time. I can only hope that some of the youngsters are going to develop because I suspect we are going to need them before the end of the season. January could be interesting.

It is far too early too start crying doom and gloom, but this season is not going to be any quick fix miracle turn around. At best a slow solid foundation build.

In such a tight competition a slow foundation build equals another spoon. The next two away games against very good teams could see us dead last and left behind by the pack after 5 rounds (sound familiar to last year). Then MM has to also try and keep confidence and culture within the team. He has said he takes responsibility for yesterday and will fix it, real test starts now and I hope he can work some magic as we need it after yesterday. Very interesting to see who starts next week and what formation.

 

[localpom]

Pretty dismal. But early day's and at least we have options. Hooley was our best as soon as he came on, not sure he is the answer but has to start next week for Tommy H. He was the only one who looked to have any vision.There will be changes but think we need to be cautious making wholesale changes while we are building cohesion. I would put in Hoole and Connor with Weemac and Tommy to the bench. Ross needs to be higher up. The goalkeeping situation is an absolute nightmare. BK just has to be dropped, he was fully at fault for at least 2 of the goals and his distribution was pretty woeful. I don't rate Pearce so that leaves Gauci?

 

[turbo]

Hooley was our best as soon as he came on, not sure he is the answer but has to start next week for Tommy H. He was the only one who looked to have any vision.There will be changes but think we need to be cautious making wholesale changes while we are building cohesion. I would put in Hoole and Connor with Weemac and Tommy to the bench. Ross needs to be higher up.

IMO it feels like Simon is the piece that doesn't really fit, not that he's been particularly good or bad but play Ross up front, maybe Hoole behind him and then we have room for Tom H & Oneil in the mids. He might bring attitude or leadership to the team but I'm not sure we can field our best XI with Simon starting and if we can't do that we'll have more bad results and any team culture will go down the drain.

 

[Insertnamehere]

Can anyone who was at home watching confirm on the so called hand ball if hit the post then the defenders chest and not the arm?

First angle at the ground showed it hitting a hand but another shows that may have been an illusion. Second made it look like it hit Simons arm

Hit the arm and the angle prior to hitting the arm was for a goal. Absolutely a pen as the arm which was away from the body stopped a goal. Intentional or not

 

[BrisRecky]

Well, after sleeping on it....methinks JMuzz and Josh from the Gong need a starting lineup go, with wee Mac and Oar as subs and pain as sub for ...somebody
Now a technical or positional query...would Simon being behind McCormack help their situation out

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Simon is only good at receiving balls though, not setting others up.
Simon and McCormack are not working at all so far. Our attack has no focus, no strategy, no connection.
Our defence is okay but if you can't stop the opponents before they reach your defenders then they will get through.
The back line is not supposed to be the first line of defence.
I'd say it's time for Plan B, but we didn't even see Plan A yesterday

 

[Tevor]

Just out of interest I wanted to compare the first three rounds this year to last year;

2017/18
Won 0 Draw 1 Lost 2 GF 4 GA 9 Diff -5 Position 10th on goal difference with 1 point

2018/19
Won 0 Draw 2 Lost 1 GF 2 GA 5 Diff -3 Position 9th on goal difference with 2 points

Boy do we have a lot to do to avoid a double. I still like MM and think we have a stronger team this year on paper with a better coach, I also like that they tried until the end. First two weeks I thought we played smart and used good tactics, can not help but think we went into this game thinking they would be fatigued and we should run over them towards the end of the game. We looked liked the team that played three games in a 8 days. They targeted our weak spots, pressed liked the were as fresh as a daisy and ran at us all game. Whilst we did play better in the second half they also sat back very comfortable and never looked like losing the game. How we respond this week will say a lot about this team and it's character. Honda could tear us a new one if we don't fix the gaps in midfield.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

IMO it feels like Simon is the piece that doesn't really fit, not that he's been particularly good or bad but play Ross up front, maybe Hoole behind him and then we have room for Tom H & Oneil in the mids. He might bring attitude or leadership to the team but I'm not sure we can field our best XI with Simon starting and if we can't do that we'll have more bad results and any team culture will go down the drain.

I agree with this. Was concerned as soon as we signed Ross that we’d try to fit in both, but also want two dm’s as that’s where our best depth was... and if so what would happen to our central midfield and link play. Which was non existent yesterday.

Matty does lead by example in a fantastic way though. So do understand the reasoning.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Well, after sleeping on it....methinks JMuzz and Josh from the Gong need a starting lineup go, with wee Mac and Oar as subs and pain as sub for ...somebody
Now a technical or positional query...would Simon being behind McCormack help their situation out

I’d prefer Simon in behind - he can link, knock the ball on and has a much better engine than Ross.

 

[turbo]

Matty does lead by example in a fantastic way though. So do understand the reasoning

I'm happy with the fire he brings but just don't see him doing enough to be a locked in starter or player to build around. We've got Pain who has added more goals (and been one of our more committed players in recent years) starting on the bench so Simon shouldn't be untouchable in his spot especially with Murray and Gameiro when fit looking to make their mark.

I also feel like Hoole is more likely to draw fouls in areas that would allow Ross to shine with spot kicks.

 

[BrisRecky]

Agreed about Matty Simon being a great strike weapon off the bench...but haven’t the club fubard that up by naming him captain, I mean you can’t the captain riding the pine until minute 60...can you ?

 

[Forum Phoenix]

If they drop Matty I expect we’ll just see Cisse become captain.

I don’t think anyone should hold their breath on Matty being dropped. Really don’t see mulvey sacrificing his work rate and leadership any time soon.

 

[Offsider]

No !!!............... yes ............. that was a terrible display.

But a bit of perspective.
Three home teams copped three zip scorelines against this last round.
Arguably, we struck the form team headed for the top four this season that will tuck away three plus scorelines on many occassions this year.
One of their goals could have been classified as an own goal and one was scored by kennedy, we were robbed of a penalty so to my mind ........ the result could have been a lot more flattering........... 1-1.

What has me more worried:
Clisby took a free kick away from Mc Cormack ????
Hoole took a cnr away from Clisby ......... again with a last season result ????
Oar has lost it. Every attempted cross was blocked giving mcCormack no service and Ross gets hooked.
Simon still hasn’t learnt what offside is ......... and only attempt at a shot on goal threatened the sauce bottles. There isn’t enough room in the opposition half for him to run like a bull in a china shop and not cramp mc Cormack.
Mcglinchy is way out of his depth.

 

[midfielder]

The back line is not supposed to be the first line of defence.

This

 

[Josho Howe]

Adelaide did what Roar or City couldn't, punished us when they had the chances. Goodwin is in some sort of form and Rowles couldn't cope. Kennedy was absolutely horrendous and some of us in 16 saw him run over to Goodwin after the game hugging him and having a laugh. That's not going to help endear him to Mariners fans.

 

[Tevor]

Adelaide did what Roar or City couldn't, punished us when they had the chances. Goodwin is in some sort of form and Rowles couldn't cope. Kennedy was absolutely horrendous and some of us in 16 saw him run over to Goodwin after the game hugging him and having a laugh. That's not going to help endear him to Mariners fans.

Wow, he seems to make a habit of being all cheerful after disgraceful efforts. I will be so disappointed if he isn't benched for Sunday.

 

[marinermick]

Wow, he seems to make a habit of being all cheerful after disgraceful efforts. I will be so disappointed if he isn't benched for Sunday.

Missus spoke to Pain after and he was visibly gutted. Told her that he is desperate to start to stop these efforts happening. She said the loss and the benching clearly hurt him.

 

[Tevor]

Missus spoke to Pain after and he was visibly gutted. Told her that he is desperate to start to stop these efforts happening. She said the loss and the benching clearly hurt him.

Yep, despite how Pearce goes it's all about the message. Who knows Pearce might have a blinder and keep him on the bench longer. Can not help but think he feels safe in a starting position and this shouldn't be the case. I can forgive one blunder in a game as that happens but not two, his hesitation on what to do on the second goal was so amateurish.

 

[Josho Howe]

Missus spoke to Pain after and he was visibly gutted. Told her that he is desperate to start to stop these efforts happening. She said the loss and the benching clearly hurt him.

I remember after a Melbourne away he came over and talked to Erin for about 5 minutes about the side. It's easy to tell how much he cares and how much he wants to turn around results. I think it was the wrong move to bench him for Oar who showed little.

 

[BrisRecky]

Adelaide did what Roar or City couldn't, punished us when they had the chances. Goodwin is in some sort of form and Rowles couldn't cope. Kennedy was absolutely horrendous and some of us in 16 saw him run over to Goodwin after the game hugging him and having a laugh. That's not going to help endear him to Mariners fans.

Kennedy has a bad habit of yucking it up with opposition after they make a monkey out of him, doesn’t he...geez, wait till you get down the tunnel you f**ktard