Round 4 - Victory away

[Insertnamehere]

Fine to say we won the second half but on reflection MVC really let us have it. They didn't pressure at all. They didn't show much intent to go forward and they certainly didn't play as a unit.
So while it was satisfying it's still concerning because the high pressing game is the vogue.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Maybe he is at last realising what a basket case he has taken on. And maybe he will also realise that a few past it players from the "good old days" are not going to bring them back.

He needs to develop a new mongrel culture of punching above our weight. It is no good looking to the past.

The culture of punching above our weight was in the first few seasons under Lawrie.

When we had Arnie as coach we had a top flight team and were definitely not punching above our weight. It was such a good team that it sent the club broke.

There is a good culture on the Coast but Mulvey needs to recognise it and build his team on it, not try to re create the past which is long gone.

Get on with it!!!!

 

[Wombat]

Good post. Regarding your early comments on the approach - the problem with trying to get the mongrel back is that the mongrels are going to lose their mongrel if we keep getting beat.
A can-do attitude tends to lose a bit of steam when we clearly can't.

I think you might be right that it will take too long to gel.

Doesn't mean a top 6 is out of the question.......

Anyway, somebody on Reddit was commenting on BK's warmup.....how other keepers are always really intense, really focussed, while BK is just not giving a shot, not bothering to save shots - same with our reserve keeper. Just not switched on.

A mongrel never loses his mongrel.

 

[Wombat]

I didn’t think we would beat Victory in all reality, but those 3 goals were soft as
I totally agree , the team got zero pre season together and the two big spends had been playing solitaire on their phones instead of playin* footy....I can only hope Dutch Tommy gets back next week and I think it’s time to rattle the ranks and give J Muzz, Josh from the Gong , Super MARIO, M Millar, and Hoole a run on start
Oh yeah ...#MellingOut....I hope he starts looking for a new job

I think people are making Melling a scapegoat. Apart from the 3rd goal, there were worse culprits.

 

[pjennings]

I think people are making Melling a scapegoat. Apart from the 3rd goal, there were worse culprits.

I'm not making him a scapegoat - he is a squaddie and shouldn't have started.

If there is a problem there between Tom and Mike it needs to be sorted quickly and Tom needs to be playing.

We all know we are short a keeper and a RB. Until Gauci has some game time with the NYL though Kennedy and Pearce are there by default.

McGing is the closest to a RB we have so he can start there. Golec's decision making has been poor since his injury comeback so he is my scapegoat. Hoole showed enough to start as #10. I'd give Murray the nod over Oar because Oar also struggled on the right.


---------------Kennedy--------------

McGing----Cisse----Rowles-----Clisby

----------Hiariej------O'Neill------

-----------------Hoole--------------

Murray---------McCormack--------Pain


Bench: Pearce, Golec, Millar, Shabow, Oar

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Have to love his attitude. Only way to turn it around is belief.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

I'm not making him a scapegoat - he is a squaddie and shouldn't have started.

If there is a problem there between Tom and Mike it needs to be sorted quickly and Tom needs to be playing.

We all know we are short a keeper and a RB. Until Gauci has some game time with the NYL though Kennedy and Pearce are there by default.

McGing is the closest to a RB we have so he can start there. Golec's decision making has been poor since his injury comeback so he is my scapegoat. Hoole showed enough to start as #10. I'd give Murray the nod over Oar because Oar also struggled on the right.


---------------Kennedy--------------

McGing----Cisse----Rowles-----Clisby

----------Hiariej------O'Neill------

-----------------Hoole--------------

Murray---------McCormack--------Pain


Bench: Pearce, Golec, Millar, Shabow, Oar

Agree on everything except Oar, thought he was our best after Pain.

Oneil needs to step up though too imo.

Melling makes terrible errors but he still put in a bigger shift than ONeil.

 

[pjennings]

Agree on everything except Oar, thought he was our best after Pain.

Oneil needs to step up though too imo.

Melling makes terrible errors but he still put in a bigger shift than ONeil.

Two reasons Oar is on the bench (1 ) Oar being left- footed cut into the middle too much and left acres of space for Melbourne to exploit. He unbalanced the team. Pain has a better game so stays on the left. He can play in the middle but Hoole looked more effective (2) He got injured and I'm not even sure he will be on the bench. I agree that O'Neill needs to step up but he looks like he is capable of that, Melling doesn't.

 

[Wombat]

Agree on everything except Oar, thought he was our best after Pain.

Oneil needs to step up though too imo.

Melling makes terrible errors but he still put in a bigger shift than ONeil.

Agreed with your 1st sentence.
Disagreed with your 3rd.

O'Neill is coming to grips with the speed and intensity of the A League but his class is evident. His work rate is not in question imho.

 

[Antlion]

I find it hard to cope with fans saying they are supporters and then saying they are not renewing their memberships when the club is going bad.

I do not understand. I tend to be outspoken on this subject which leads to trouble. I am slowly learning to watch my ps and qs, and thus express bewilderment rather than ire.

Being a football club supporter is something like marriage, through thick and thin, illness and health, etc. Except that it is more serious than marriage.

It is easy to support a team that is winning but it is important to support through the crap times.

As I see it if you support a team only when they are performing, in my eyes, you are a bandwaggoner, simple.

I also have difficulty coming to terms with the sense of entitlement that some here show. ie I come to the games, the team owes me more or the owner owes me. I am just thankful to have a team. As one of my golf mates used to say when someone was complaining "Remember, you have a short backswing in a coffin".

Maybe I am living in the past and still view football as a sport, while others view it as entertainment and demand quick and easy satisfaction.

I do think that if ever I did not renew my membership, I would not come on a fan forum and talk about it. I find the very idea quite shameful.

Maybe some clarity would help. It would be nice to think that it's a one dimensional story with supporters at one end and bandwagoners on the other.

My story is that I have a young family, one income, a mortgage and a budget that is counted in dollars on a weekly basis. Seriously scraping by. That will change in years to come when my wife is back to work, etc. etc. but for the moment it is the reality I live within.
I have been rusted on since the beginning and maintained my membership throughout. I genuinely care about the club. Truth is I can barely afford it right now. Worse, as of the end of last season, I can't justify the cost this year.
Until this year (since the GF 2013 that is) I have watched the club/MC put in less and less commitment or giving an F. I am now at a point where year after year the product I am buying is of sub-standard quality and I am not enjoying watching a single game anymore. I still can't miss games where possible. I took the whole family to the adelaide game. I can't really say any of them had much fun that game unfortunately.
If I had the money I'd have renewed. But as it stands, despite me doing this previously, I can't justify the cost currently.

At some point the club has to meet the fans in the middle and until now they absolutely haven't been doing this.
I do believe the club is honestly trying to give it a solid shake this year and I so hope it comes off. I actually expect things will improve and hope it happens quicker than it looks like happening.

The end point is though - I do love the club, I will be back when I can, but while I'm this tight I can't justify a membership to a club that has barely given a shit about results or fans for 5 years straight with little appearing to change until a last minute purse opening.

I know that won't satiate those who see it as a marriage. But relationships are 2 way streets, and there is only so much any person can give before they need a little back.

 

[Insertnamehere]

Soooooo at the risk of being shouted down, who wants to start the thread for the Perf game so we can move onto what to do next match. I reckon we've dissected the match, bandied around some issues and on occasion insulted each other enough for now.

 

[Scotty]

Soooooo at the risk of being shouted down, who wants to start the thread for the Perf game so we can move onto what to do next match. I reckon we've dissected the match, bandied around some issues and on occasion insulted each other enough for now.

I dream of a Monday when we can post positive and exciting thoughts about a big win instead of the doom, gloom and finger pointing that we've had to talk about for the past few seasons.
I'm forever optimistic, but running out of patience.

 

[Offsider]

Maybe some clarity would help. It would be nice to think that it's a one dimensional story with supporters at one end and bandwagoners on the other.

My story is that I have a young family, one income, a mortgage and a budget that is counted in dollars on a weekly basis. Seriously scraping by. That will change in years to come when my wife is back to work, etc. etc. but for the moment it is the reality I live within.
I have been rusted on since the beginning and maintained my membership throughout. I genuinely care about the club. Truth is I can barely afford it right now. Worse, as of the end of last season, I can't justify the cost this year.
Until this year (since the GF 2013 that is) I have watched the club/MC put in less and less commitment or giving an F. I am now at a point where year after year the product I am buying is of sub-standard quality and I am not enjoying watching a single game anymore. I still can't miss games where possible. I took the whole family to the adelaide game. I can't really say any of them had much fun that game unfortunately.
If I had the money I'd have renewed. But as it stands, despite me doing this previously, I can't justify the cost currently.

At some point the club has to meet the fans in the middle and until now they absolutely haven't been doing this.
I do believe the club is honestly trying to give it a solid shake this year and I so hope it comes off. I actually expect things will improve and hope it happens quicker than it looks like happening.

The end point is though - I do love the club, I will be back when I can, but while I'm this tight I can't justify a membership to a club that has barely given a shit about results or fans for 5 years straight with little appearing to change until a last minute purse opening.

I know that won't satiate those who see it as a marriage. But relationships are 2 way streets, and there is only so much any person can give before they need a little back.

So there you have it ........... you just don’t see it.
When you say “the club” ............ today it is not really a club is it. Not in the real sense. It really is now an a-league franchise ........... a rich man’s toy so to speak.
Mc has recently ......... and previously I was a dedicated critic of him for his tightarse treatment of his team/club ........... come out as one of the a-league franchise owners ( notice I did not call it a club) that was dissatisfied with the lowey ffa model etc.......... blah blah blah.
Now his preferred admin direction is going to take place, just recently with the new board to be blah blah blah ........he tried to inject more funds and close the gap by spending with players etc........... but as current results show he was too late as the squad was already recruited on the cheap. Now we all have to pay for it with what is shaping to be the worst records in a-league history being shattered.
(At this point, as much as I detest the arsehole muscat, he needs to be commended for not pressing the shit out of us and set a scoring record last weekend )

The real problem is the team itself. They are the ones that will have to go out and be humiliated every weekend through no fault of their own, they were just recruited under a thunk up excuse to go cheap without consideration to how the league has changed. If you give credit to npl clubs getting results in the ffa cup it is a misnomer to think that a squad of them backed by a reasonable spine of experience would get results in this years talentd a-league.

The upshot of this crap is that mc appears to be going to come to the party ........... mulvey, phelan, spending etc .......... and we have to now wait till the bullshit is rectified.

IF ............ the long term injuries come good it may help the defensive balance of the team and allow the squad plodders to be excused from duty ............ and a spend in the jan window we may just avoid the spoon history record.

We are going to just have to hang in there .......... albeit for different reasons

Cheers

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Two reasons Oar is on the bench (1 ) Oar being left- footed cut into the middle too much and left acres of space for Melbourne to exploit. He unbalanced the team. Pain has a better game so stays on the left. He can play in the middle but Hoole looked more effective (2) He got injured and I'm not even sure he will be on the bench. I agree that O'Neill needs to step up but he looks like he is capable of that, Melling doesn't.

All good points PJ. I had noticed Oar drifting too central and too far. Rowles keeps finding himself as our entire right flank.

Oar still offers a lot as a player though and I think is getting better game by game so there’s value in playing him into top form. Can’t he just be disciplined into holding his shape? If he did that with an actual RB behind him we should strengthen.

Or yes Hoole wide and Oar central but Hoole is best central imo - he likes the ball- doesn’t hide and can pick a pass. We clearly need his link play.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Agreed with your 1st sentence.
Disagreed with your 3rd.

O'Neill is coming to grips with the speed and intensity of the A League but his class is evident. His work rate is not in question imho.

He’s not soft. And he’s fit, but unless I got confused he was one of the joggers I saw. Can’t abide that.

 

[ccmmic]

Did anyone listen to Mulvey's post match interview (https://www.a-league.com.au/video/full-press-conference-mike-mulvey-2). He stated at ~2:10 that "there is no promotion and relegation in this league, ahhh, we will give our full squad the opportunity, ..., and we'll see who will stand up." Hmmm...

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Maybe some clarity would help. It would be nice to think that it's a one dimensional story with supporters at one end and bandwagoners on the other.

My story is that I have a young family, one income, a mortgage and a budget that is counted in dollars on a weekly basis. Seriously scraping by. That will change in years to come when my wife is back to work, etc. etc. but for the moment it is the reality I live within.
I have been rusted on since the beginning and maintained my membership throughout. I genuinely care about the club. Truth is I can barely afford it right now. Worse, as of the end of last season, I can't justify the cost this year.
Until this year (since the GF 2013 that is) I have watched the club/MC put in less and less commitment or giving an F. I am now at a point where year after year the product I am buying is of sub-standard quality and I am not enjoying watching a single game anymore. I still can't miss games where possible. I took the whole family to the adelaide game. I can't really say any of them had much fun that game unfortunately.
If I had the money I'd have renewed. But as it stands, despite me doing this previously, I can't justify the cost currently.

At some point the club has to meet the fans in the middle and until now they absolutely haven't been doing this.
I do believe the club is honestly trying to give it a solid shake this year and I so hope it comes off. I actually expect things will improve and hope it happens quicker than it looks like happening.

The end point is though - I do love the club, I will be back when I can, but while I'm this tight I can't justify a membership to a club that has barely given a shit about results or fans for 5 years straight with little appearing to change until a last minute purse opening.

I know that won't satiate those who see it as a marriage. But relationships are 2 way streets, and there is only so much any person can give before they need a little back.

I can totally understand if you cannot afford membership. That is perfectly understandable and a perfectly valid reason for not renewing.

It is supporters not renewing because of poor results that does not compute for me.

 

[Big Al]

All good points PJ. I had noticed Oar drifting too central and too far. Rowles keeps finding himself as our entire right flank.

Oar still offers a lot as a player though and I think is getting better game by game so there’s value in playing him into top form. Can’t he just be disciplined into holding his shape? If he did that with an actual RB behind him we should strengthen.

Or yes Hoole wide and Oar central but Hoole is best central imo - he likes the ball- doesn’t hide and can pick a pass. We clearly need his link play.

That’s where O Neill needs to cover the gap. No problems with Oar drifting in for me

 

[turbo]

When Hoole played right he used to drift in as well, but you had mcging behind him who was getting forward so we still had a presence there.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Did anyone listen to Mulvey's post match interview (https://www.a-league.com.au/video/full-press-conference-mike-mulvey-2). He stated at ~2:10 that "there is no promotion and relegation in this league, ahhh, we will give our full squad the opportunity, ..., and we'll see who will stand up." Hmmm...

Might be reading too far between the lines, but that potentially worries me. sounds a little like I’ll drop players like Tom if they disagree with me and play younger guys instead.

I really want our best 11 on the park.