CCM v An Orange

[scottmac]

what do you want cummings to do ? he got stuck in and chased. got 2 points from me.
3 beni
1 rowles

Yeah......m, you didn't understand what I wrote

 

[Ironbark]

If we were switched on we could have won that 3 or 4 zip. Started with a higher press and bris sat back and tried to slow things, often taking the piss. It was ours to lose for much of the game.

Concerned again when we dropped the tempo and passed around briefly after the second goal - showing we haven't learned our lessons properly yet. Then surprise surprise we let in a goal. After that the 6-recent-goals-crazy-late-in-the-game nerves kicked in and the boys were decidedly cagey.

Can only hope we can move into a new tunesheet for the next game

 

[pjennings]

TBH - I think the missing link is Nizz. He looked better today - but is still not the energiser bunny that we saw earlier in the season and is noticeably slower. I could blame Covid but I'm not sure I should be blaming the podcast boys. Maybe with all the love for Dan Hall from the boys Nizz is feeling neglected.

 

[true believer]

TBH - I think the missing link is Nizz. He looked better today - but is still not the energiser bunny that we saw earlier in the season and is noticeably slower. I could blame Covid but I'm not sure I should be blaming the podcast boys. Maybe with all the love for Dan Hall from the boys Nizz is feeling neglected.

yeap , yeap . i thought nizzy was better ,but still only 85%. he was the best midfielder in the league before new years.
lets hope he's 90% wednesday .

 

[bikinigirl]

. ok i'm gonna need someone that understands formations and tactics to break this one down for me - why are we so often 4-2-4?

. is it no wonder we cannot control the midfield! so often you look across the front line and see 4 (and sometimes 5) all in a row. i can only assume that there is meant to be some rotation going on

. as some have pointed out we are relying on either of our strikers to drop back to take things forward ... but i feel this only happens successfully when they don't push forward rather than drop back. dropping back the momentum and odds are stacked against them

. the fact that they seem to be thinking the same, i s'pose, may be a good thing ... the problem is they are doing the same thing. a couple of times in the first half Farrell put in what i thought was a dangerous cross - we had three attackers in a straight line and none of them attacked the ball

... and don't even get me started on our panic-stations 7 in a row at the back with nobody to pick up their moves into vacant space

 

[bikinigirl]

. this may be related to my last post but i'm not sure

. early in the season, playing with what appears to have been superior fitness, we always had three players presenting for each ball. it allowed us to play through anything ... but it has been missing this year

. i saw evidence of it in the first half last night when everyone was fresh ... but it was only in the back third ... and it disappeared pretty quickly

. it appears that the call is to 'get/push forward' but the problem is they are not doing it with the ball. our DMs are being stranded with the ball and no forward passing options are making themselves available - they are forced to go back and with the DMs now under increased pressure the backs typically knock it long ... as our fowards sit in a straight four upfront the ball is almost always intercepted amplifying the pressure on our non-existent midfield again

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Good observation BG. There is a definite change in formation in attack and with it we lose lot of midfield structure.
It appears to me that the FBs push up to the wingers and then play mix and match. If the full backs get the ball, Fazz usually crosses and miller sometimes crosses sometimes attacks. if the wingers get the ball Beni usually goes forward as a traditional winger and works well, while Muller forgets everyone else is on the park and tries to do it all himself.
Our two forwards rarely get quality ball and we have no attacking midfield. Crosses are mostly met with a straight line, often flat footed, with no attack running onto the cross.
Beni and Nizz (when on the wing) appear to be the only two who can interact positively with or forwards.
We look to have a massive hole in the central attacking midfield position.

I think I need someone who understands forward structures of football better than I do to explain it. Maybe it would work when players build a better understanding or maybe with more skilful players, but at present we are wasting two quality forwards with no service.

Also think playing two DMs in a purely defensive role is costing us in attack and leaving us often on the back foot.

 

[Charlie1]

My 2 cents worth I left the game last night feeling very flat yes we won but I felt frustrated at the way we played. My son told me not to be negative all the positive I could say is we played well for the first 20 minutes of the second half.
I hate playing with 2 DM’s I would like to see us play with someone in front of Ollie. A 4-1-3-2. I would rather watch us lose but trying to attack than lose trying to defend a lead. We were entertaining at the start of the season attacking teams I don’t know what have changed. Not blaming Covid as all teams have gone through it .

 

[turbo]

My 2 cents worth I left the game last night feeling very flat yes we won but I felt frustrated at the way we played. My son told me not to be negative

Sometimes it just takes that one win to get things ticking over again even if it’s a sketchy or dubious one. Adelaide completely turned it around after that 3 penalty farce last season and

Spoiler: Other game results

Im wondering whether WSW turn a corner with that convincing derby performance

 

[Ancient Mariner]

The only players we have in the squad who will take on an opposing player are Miller and Beni.
The rest of the team are happy to try and open up the opposition with passing. The problem is there are no effective give and goes or triangles happening on the edge of the box. Opposition backs are comfortable and are strikers have to work by themselves to set up quality chances.
Not very effective.
We need a skilful AM to scare defences like a Perez,

 

[FFC Mariner]

My 2 cents worth I left the game last night feeling very flat yes we won but I felt frustrated at the way we played. My son told me not to be negative all the positive I could say is we played well for the first 20 minutes of the second half.
I hate playing with 2 DM’s I would like to see us play with someone in front of Ollie. A 4-1-3-2. I would rather watch us lose but trying to attack than lose trying to defend a lead. We were entertaining at the start of the season attacking teams I don’t know what have changed. Not blaming Covid as all teams have gone through it .

Oh good. I thought it was just me. Left feeling pissed off

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Thoughts on the game.
Birraz, essential, excellent as always.
Rowles, as above
Tongyyick, showed touches from the past plus some errors late in the game, still making his way back.
Farrell, getting back to his best and still developing skills in the attacking third.
Hall, made a good fist of an unfamiliar role, prefer him to Storm.
Ollie, the most experienced and possibly most skilful member of the squad, but to me he is looking tired especially getting back in defence. He fills a Jedi, Stens role, but is not a beast and still needs Nizz's mobility to assist. Late in the game I noticed he was playing more as a #8 and leaving Nizz as the #6. I would prefer it the other way round, however better than two #6s. He cannot be left out but would prefer him on the wing with a quality beast DM in a narrow diamond 4 4 2. Have to play the cards your dealt I guess.
Nizz, back to his best, doing everything everywhere. If we had three of him, we could be unbeatable.
I have said enough already about our wingers and strikers, apart from again saying told you so, Beni is rough quality. Awesome. And a great free kick by Muller, good to have options for those situations.
3 points - Nizz
2 Points - Beni
1 Point - Birraz.

 

[Rising Sun]

I thought Roun was quite good apart from his defending on their goal. We are less insipid when he is there as he is more positive than Dan and is happy to play forward.

There were 2 other occasions where he lost his man behind him and nearly cost us a goal. Not going to be too harsh on him because he has hardly played in the last 3 months.

As for playing forward, I think Dan is pretty positive as well - if Ruon plays forward more, it is only because Ruon is more prepared to play a low percentage ball (and therefore create more turnovers).

Not an RT-bashing post - I am an RT fan, just making some observations. If RT keeps his spot than I think we'll see some real improvement over the next 2 or 3 games and getting back closer to the 20/21 model. But if everyone is fit on Wednesday then I would be inclined to have Dan at CB

 

[Rising Sun]

Good observation BG. There is a definite change in formation in attack and with it we lose lot of midfield structure.
It appears to me that the FBs push up to the wingers and then play mix and match. If the full backs get the ball, Fazz usually crosses and miller sometimes crosses sometimes attacks. if the wingers get the ball Beni usually goes forward as a traditional winger and works well, while Muller forgets everyone else is on the park and tries to do it all himself.
Our two forwards rarely get quality ball and we have no attacking midfield. Crosses are mostly met with a straight line, often flat footed, with no attack running onto the cross.
Beni and Nizz (when on the wing) appear to be the only two who can interact positively with or forwards.
We look to have a massive hole in the central attacking midfield position.

I think I need someone who understands forward structures of football better than I do to explain it. Maybe it would work when players build a better understanding or maybe with more skilful players, but at present we are wasting two quality forwards with no service.

Also think playing two DMs in a purely defensive role is costing us in attack and leaving us often on the back foot.

I think you are a bit harsh on Muller but the point is a valid one about the contrast in styles depending on which side we attack from. Faz likes to cross from deeper positions, something for the strikers to run on to, and Muller likes to cut inside. Whereas Miller and Nkolo both willing to take men on and attack the byline bit often on the edge of the box and looking for cut backs rather than crosses. I don't see the different styles has been a problem though if everyone knows what to expect,

At the moment the "whole" seems to be less than the "sum of the parts". I think we are underachieving in attack given the quality and level of football intelligence. But I don't think there is a problem with the structure - more that players are just struggling to read each other at the moment in and around the box.

In fairness, it is a new looking attack. Cummings and Muller have only come into the team over the last month, Beni has only cemented a place and hit his straps in the last fortnight, and Niz is in a new role. There is plenty of potential for improvement if we do start to click, and without having to change the formation or structure

 

[turbo]

Watching the Beni goal back again on socials is it any wonder Cummings doesn’t have more goals? I count 5 or 6 players in front of him when he dropped the ball over the top for the goal. We’re used to seeing Urena drop back to more of a 10 or CM role to pick up the ball but that was DM territory.

 

[Tevor]

Roar played a smart game plan and just watched us pass it around for 45 mins and they had the best chance of the first half with a free header that hit the post. Teams are now aware you throw everything at us in the last 25 mins and you will get a few good chances. They dominated us at the end and we were only saved by them not being good enough. I don’t see that as a turning point game to be honest and like some I was not excited by that win at all. I guess we will find out on Wednesday if it gives the team a shot in the arm or was just a lucky win. Play like on Wednesday and we will get smashed. Although we do play to our opponents level so perhaps we will be better against the Victory.

 

[Tevor]

Watching the Beni goal back again on socials is it any wonder Cummings doesn’t have more goals? I count 5 or 6 players in front of him when he dropped the ball over the top for the goal. We’re used to seeing Urena drop back to more of a 10 or CM role to pick up the ball but that was DM territory.

Yeah we are lucky he is providing assists and Beni has been good enough to capitalise. Problem is they both will start becoming more heavily marked as they are our only threat at the moment.

 

[Allreet?]

Surprised at the positivity re Farrell on here - I thought he had a shocker yesterday and has been disappointing since the time he failed to track Nabbout's run for the Berenguer cross a few weeks back.

Don't get me wrong, I was delighted with him up until then but it's like he's been reading too much of his old good press.

Yesterday he was constantly caught out - and not communicating with his outside midfielder. They were really obviously targeting him and when Beni switched sides late in the first half we suddenly had two guys not doing any picking up and there were a procession of opportunities for them.

I note also the cross for their goal came from his side - and because it was an early ball from a turnover Ruon had no time to pick up the run. It was an outstanding ball to be fair.

Obviously he's young and learning but he's been making these same errors for weeks now.

He's also quite frustrating in attack - constantly cutting back instead of taking the FB on. Maybe Monty's told him not to?

 

[AuzDutchy]

Without lookin at the stats, id say atleast 90% of Brisbanes crosses came from Farrells side, time and again he didnt do enough to close down or stop the crosses, Zavala in particular got atleast 4 past him in a short period.

I like Faz but i think he needs a little bit of a rest and to feel some competition for his spot, Smith has done well enough when hes come in to get a start on Wednesday

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I think you are a bit harsh on Muller but the point is a valid one about the contrast in styles depending on which side we attack from. Faz likes to cross from deeper positions, something for the strikers to run on to, and Muller likes to cut inside. Whereas Miller and Nkolo both willing to take men on and attack the byline bit often on the edge of the box and looking for cut backs rather than crosses. I don't see the different styles has been a problem though if everyone knows what to expect,

At the moment the "whole" seems to be less than the "sum of the parts". I think we are underachieving in attack given the quality and level of football intelligence. But I don't think there is a problem with the structure - more that players are just struggling to read each other at the moment in and around the box.

In fairness, it is a new looking attack. Cummings and Muller have only come into the team over the last month, Beni has only cemented a place and hit his straps in the last fortnight, and Niz is in a new role. There is plenty of potential for improvement if we do start to click, and without having to change the formation or structure

Very valid response and I hope the understanding comes. I am not suggesting a formation change at this point in time, it would be suicide, but if we lose a few more and have no chance at the six, then it is time to start thinking about structural changes.

I do like Beni's ability to find the back of the net.