Heart V Mariners

[Rising Sun]

Not seen the ins and outs posted yet but I am hearing Stensness is out

 

[Ironbark]

Bah!

 

[Pirate Pete]

Not seen the ins and outs posted yet but I am hearing Stensness is out

Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 4.Joshua NISBET, 5.Stefan NIGRO, 8.Oliver BOZANIC (c), 10.Daniel DESILVA, 11.Jack CLISBY, 12.Marcos UREÑA, 14.Daniel BOUMAN, 15.Kye ROWLES, 19.Matt SIMON, 20.Adam PEARCE (gk), 21.Ruon TONGYIK, 22.Michal JANOTA, 23.Dan HALL, 25. Matthew HATCH, 26.Jaden CASELLA, 29.Alou KUOL, 32. Max BALARD


INS: 32. Max BALARD (Promoted)


OUTS: 6. Gianni STENSNESS (Foot – 1 week)


Unavailable: 6. Gianni STENSNESS

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

well shit

 

[Big Al]

Stens pulled up sore. Wasn’t the best conditions for someone coming off an injury but i am sure they thought he was right because it did seem he was training the week before

 

[FFC Mariner]

Love to see Ballard get a decent run even if off the bench.
Super player

 

[Rising Sun]

If Nizzy is remaining central in the absence of Stensness then I would like to see Janota get a start and keep Bouman as an impact option off the bench

 

[Corsair]

Some of the boys are starting to fatigue earlier in the last couple games

Although we've been getting results I'm not too happy with the substitutions, I think we're leaving them too late. It's also become a very predictable strategy, none the less, one that is working so I understand the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach.

 

[sydmariner]

 

[Ironbark]

I was feeling like this might be a loss, but the closer we get to the game my confidence is rising. Staj always has an effective plan and the boys will be up for a big fight.

 

[Allreet?]

Game day. What's the weather like in Melbourne?

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Game day. What's the weather like in Melbourne?

Drizzly and 24deg

 

[Wombat]

Drizzly and 24deg

Luxury.

 

[Allreet?]

We have to keep Nabbout and MacLaren quiet to win this. Last time we stifled MacLaren's service but Nabbout wasn't playing and he's a lot harder to keep out of the game - especially right now, in red hot form. He'll target both Nigro and Clisby so they'll have their work cut out.

I wonder if it's worth doing something quite radical to stop them - like going to three at the back in defence with the wide fullbacks given special missions to stick close to Nabbout and Noone?

 

[Forum Phoenix]

If Nizzy is remaining central in the absence of Stensness then I would like to see Janota get a start and keep Bouman as an impact option off the bench

This for me too.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

We have to keep Nabbout and MacLaren quiet to win this. Last time we stifled MacLaren's service but Nabbout wasn't playing and he's a lot harder to keep out of the game - especially right now, in red hot form. He'll target both Nigro and Clisby so they'll have their work cut out.

I wonder if it's worth doing something quite radical to stop them - like going to three at the back in defence with the wide fullbacks given special missions to stick close to Nabbout and Noone?

Midfield battle will be harder to win but Nabbout still likes space to run into - go 3 at the back and in transition he’ll find it and we’ll get ripped apart. I think the two banks of four kept very disciplined is still our best bet.

The main difference I see is their striker quality. They ruthlessly take their chances. But that said Matty and Urena are only getting better and we’re creating plenty of good chances against all teams. This should be a good game.

Where I think we have the edge on city is hunger and spirit. We need to really compete and dig in again imo.

 

[turbo]

I wonder if it's worth doing something quite radical to stop them - like going to three at the back in defence with the wide fullbacks given special missions to stick close to Nabbout and Noone?

Huge risk in upsetting our system in the hope it hurts their game more than ours. IMO we do what we've been doing with some tweaks and close analysis on their danger men. Make sure we turn up and play our game.

 

[Allreet?]

I only mean in defence - not as something static. It would mean that whenever we don't have the ball we've got (say) Ollie dropping into a back three with the two wide backs man marking instead of zonal. The number ten would have to drop to fill Ollie's spot, which would largely mean surrendering our high press (which we don't always use anyway).

Maybe I'm overthinking it... We tend to out-swarm other teams other teams with fitness and enthusiasm so chances are we'll be trying that again tonight. But City will be REALLY up for this. It's a massive challenge and I can already feel the adrenaline.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

I was feeling like this might be a loss, but the closer we get to the game my confidence is rising. Staj always has an effective plan and the boys will be up for a big fight.

I'm nervous, that's for sure.

I do worry about our mids giving them too much room. The last few games in particular I think our midfield has opened right up - compared to the first few games when our midfield compressed massively as soon as we lost the ball and gave them no room to move - and when we've struggled most in the last few games is when we lost control in the midfield (and then lost out feed to the attack as well).

If that happens, it's all over. And City will know that.

 

[jacobsfl]

I'm still curious as to what the story is with Jankovic.... odd that one of our VISA imports would only have played 9 minutes up until now.