FFA Cup Final

[turbo]

Ruon would not get away with the number of fouls that Ollie does. Being the older pro and captain saves him from a few yellows I think. Ruon wouldn't have that luxury.

I couldn’t believe Ollie didn’t go into half time without a card. On a lesser occasion he would have been on one 30 mins in.

 

[BrisRecky]

so, that was that...a pretty good effort all round , given that James Johnson tried his level best to make us a afterthought, the boys played good , nizzy got triple teamed all night , Kye was IMMENSE, probably the only complaint I got is , when your trying to get the ball to Mi Amigo Marco, dont put the f**king thing in the third row ringside ...he aint sitting in the crowd

 

[FFC Mariner]

Didn't know about this, thanks that's perfect

I did a few weeks ago. His constant drunken abuse gets tiresome

 

[Forum Phoenix]

yep but in balard and steele we lack the physicality we need at 6

I like them, but there’s no denying we’re getting walked over atm.

 

[Ironbark]

Still have to catch up on the reading of this thread so apologies if I'm just repeating others.

At half time I thought we should take off Steele, move Nizzy into the middle and put Cy on the wing. We needed Nizzy there with Ollie to wrestle it back, relieve the pressure so we could take it to them. Monty knows better than me but it's the one main difference I would have like to have seen.
I also suspect a JCum might have really helped too...
Moresche, I hope, has silenced some critics. His touch particularly when receiving the ball was the best on field.

Ultimately though - MV had triple the money and their team played to their potential. Only luck on top of how we played was going to overcome that.
In response I thought we played as well as we could have, especially considering our covid run. The balls and steel in the team made me crazy proud.We played smart and strong. We nearly held on too - our defence has to be the best in the league - and without two absolute worldies we could have taken them. We have a team to be proud of and they'll only get better yet.

In the end it was a shame to not take it, but I am proud of what we've done and how we executed the night. Had we lost to poor refereeing or against the run of play I'd have been gutted. On net it was a fair result from two teams that played their best. The difference really was the money.

CCM is without question the legendary team it was once again. We have returned -

Viva la CCM!

 

[Ironbark]

Having a good chat with Monty after the game and he said Covid has really affected the team. Players can’t play with the intensity they did pre-illness.

Spoke to a player recently who told me the same thing. Without covid breaking our stride, the way we were playing before - I believe we would have won. Massive shame really.

 

[Michael]

Watch the replay.

I’m not a Beni loyalist or anything.
All I know is he stole a lot of ball back off the opposition and was a workhorse hassling them into mistakes.

He fumbled a few but you can’t say he’s shit when he did 90% good vs 10% bad. movement off ball, hard work, tackles, good positioning and leading Farrell to come into the attack was good.

I’m sorry but I just can’t agree with you on this one. In my opinion, running hard and showing heart isn’t a sign of playing well. It’s the bare minimum. Playing well (particularly for an attacking player) is being sharp on the ball, he wasn’t from the get go last night and in general he has issues with dribbling, precise and firm with your passing (he just wasn’t), smart with your off ball movements (that basic offside in a crucial moment when he could see across the entire line).
subs need to inject something into the game. He didn’t. Balard and Cy did, they helped change the flow, were sharp on the ball quick touches and firm passes.
I don’t mind beni, he has the tools. But he needs to improve drastically otherwise I don’t see him here next season. I’d prefer hatch or McCarthy taking his minutes.

but regardless of all that, I believe victory deserved the win. 2 very good goals that we can’t complain about. Ikonimidis’ strike was incredible. Free kick very well hit.
I do think it’s time we deploy 3 centres we are just constantly outnumbered and over run in there since the rona hit the squad.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I did a few weeks ago. His constant drunken abuse gets tiresome

Haven't used the ignore button for a while, but drunken abuse really ruins the whole discussion as well as being unpleasant. I seriously think a suspension should be considered by the mods.

 

[true believer]

I like them, but there’s no denying we’re getting walked over atm.

The big man can ballplay and is hard as .
When cy and nizzy get back to anywhere near fitness .we will still have one of the tinyest midfields in the a-league .
We need to replace stens physicality .roun is the lad.

 

[Tevor]

Haven't used the ignore button for a while, but drunken abuse really ruins the whole discussion as well as being unpleasant. I seriously think a suspension should be considered by the mods.

I might use it for the ones that constantly sledge our players. It’s just relentless and if you think they are so crap why aren’t you playing?????

 

[true believer]

Young Kuol looked good-hopefully more game time during the season.

yes but baby steps .

 

[marinermick]

Wow, Anton

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Some fans have favourite players that can do no wrong along with players who are always wrong. It is the nature of things.
I find it easier just to ignore their comments and question their judgement.
It is important to see the virtues and vices in all our players, in the interest of quality and interesting discussions.
Many of our players are young and developing and are being asked to play at a level above their comfort levels. They will make mistakes.
Personally, while not being blind to their limitations, I prefer to concentrate on their good points and watch how they improve over time.
It is far less depressing than continually looking for reasons to dump on players.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I am concerned about how long the effects of covid may remain in the team.
It has been reported that returning too song to extreme physical exercise can lead to long covid.

 

[Big Al]

First and most important congratulations to everyone it was a fantastic effort by the players the staff the club and the fans. How good is it to be proud of our team win loose or draw they did everything we begged for years to get back. They never gave up and showed tremendous fight against a hostile crowd and a pretty good team with some quality players. To see so many young men out there giving everything was amazing.

Very proud of everyone. We’ll done

 

[style_cafe]

I like them, but there’s no denying we’re getting walked over atm.

It`s the first few games of their first A-league season.
Let`s cut them some slack,they`ll improve so much this season,just like Stensness did.
Even though some on here would have cut him in his first few weeks...

 

[Big Al]

Game wise unfortunately we were out coached. Poppa squeezed our counter attack style expertly. They cut Urena off as the link man and smothered us in the midfield.

Monty has been excellent as a coach but he will need to have a look at a couple of things. His setup has become a little predictable and the other coaches are now strangling us in our weak 2 man midfield. Ballard and Steele are promising players but still a bit raw and need help (Nizzy into a more prominent midfield role). Now we have a lot more attacking depth Nizzy MUST go back but especially in this game when it was clear we couldn’t get out of our own half. We needed to try something.

The boys at the back were outstanding. Considering their age and experience under that much pressure from the crowd and the MV they stayed solid. Such a shame Birraz got caught out but it was still a sizzling free kick. We simply were under the pump for to long and brought it on ourselves a bit. That said they never looked like breaking us.

In attack we were unfortunately horrible. End of. No cohesion at all.

 

[style_cafe]

The big man can ballplay and is hard as .
When cy and nizzy get back to anywhere near fitness .we will still have one of the tinyest midfields in the a-league .
We need to replace stens physicality .roun is the lad.

Ruon needs to get back to fitness first but i`m with you on this one TB.
He`s too good a player to leave on the bench and with him as a DM it would give us height for the aerial balls and strength in the centre of the park.
Olly would then be able to concentrate more on his attack and captaincy too...

 

[Big Al]

For anybody that hasn’t seen the replay or post game Davidson said he saw Birraz cheating and covering more middle on Brimmers free kick in the first half and when they got that chance he said let me have this one as he’s doing it again and he caught him out. You can see Birraz move two steps to the left and Davidson hit it right back where Birraz should have been

Such a shame he was the culprit but he will learn from it. You must trust the wall but don’t ever get beaten on your side.

Very clever from Davidson and great insight

 

[style_cafe]

It needs to be said what a great game Dan Hall had.
He played like a seasoned professional.
His defending was first class against very good opposition and some of his tackles were just sensational.
If Miller does go Hall would be the logical replacement with Ruon coming back in, and we still have an incredible backline.
Nigro must have been kicking himself after last nights game,he wasn`t even sighted last night (unless he was injured)...