AFC Champions League 2018

[Carns]

2 minutes ago, WSWBoro said:

I was thinking Rolf Harris, but yeah Williams...

Rolf for the VAR.

[Paul01]

2 hours ago, mack said:

Referee: Ben Williams

Ben Williams is considered to be a west Asian referee now.

Anyone know Arnie's record with Williams? 

Maybe we'll see a red card.

[SomeGuy1977]

AFC must have missed the memo about not giving smurfs cards. 

[Paul01]

1 minute ago, SomeGuy1977 said:

AFC must have missed the memo about not giving smurfs cards. 

Waiting for the red to het flashed.

[mack]

Brilliante carded too 

[Paul01]

So 1 yellow card every 15 minutes. If this keeps up Smurfs will get 5 yellows by the end of the game.

[mack]

1-0 Suwon 63'

[SomeGuy1977]

Clearly there’s a comms problem at the AFC. The ref had now giving a pen against the smurfs. ONiel again the culprit. 

And that’s 2-0 76 mins in

[StringerBellend]

What in f is Simon hill going on about? Some doubt on the penalty,  It was about the clearest penalty you will ever see you total tit. 

How crap was nobo? 

[sonar]

Glad Suwon won. The best part is that the smurfs will not get away with the crap in the ACL that the refs in Aus allow them.

[Paul01]

Smurfs go down. 

Now they go Shanghai with their tails between their legs. Be perfect if they go down next week Shanghai Shenhua.

Then we get them after these two games. 

[MartinTyler]

Despite beating City 4-0 it was a physically tough game last Saturday and it looks like they hadn't recovered sufficiently. Shaky at the back too with Calver no-where near match-hardened. Here's hoping for a tough physical game in China next week and they are still licking their wounds come 25th !!

[Unlimited]

WE DA BEST

 

Stuff like that makes me feel so much better about our shiny gold star 

[Paul01]

So Melb Victory are the best place Australian team with a pt from a draw.

[mack]

13 minutes ago, GrEmIoWaNdErEr said:

Funny how they mention Wanderers losing first game in group 

It's a desperate comparison. That game we lost 3-1 but completely controlled it. We had much greater possession, more shots (we had 16 shots total, tonight the smurfs had 6 and none on target), and Ulsan scored off three goal mouth scrambles from long bombs into the box.

SFC had nothing the moment both Brillante & O'Neill got carded inside half an hour. That's NEVER happened to them in the A-League since they joined together last season.

[wendybr]

25 minutes ago, GrEmIoWaNdErEr said:

Funny how they mention Wanderers losing first game in group 

I remember it well.

World War 3 broke out here after it.    

 

[xxBrandonxx]

I rate Damjanovic so damn much. 

Remember him tearing us a new one last year as well. 

Would destroy the A-League.

 

 

[Paul01]

22 minutes ago, mack said:

It's a desperate comparison. That game we lost 3-1 but completely controlled it. We had much greater possession, more shots (we had 16 shots total, tonight the smurfs had 6 and none on target), and Ulsan scored off three goal mouth scrambles from long bombs into the box.

SFC had nothing the moment both Brillante & O'Neill got carded inside half an hour. That's NEVER happened to them in the A-League since they joined together last season.

One can only hope that the A-league referees were watching and ignore the FFA memo to lay off the smug b....s from the East. 

And pfft, there goes the chances of Smurf players being selected by BVM.

All i wanted was a red card. Maybe next game.

[luisenrique]

36 minutes ago, mack said:

It's a desperate comparison. That game we lost 3-1 but completely controlled it. We had much greater possession, more shots (we had 16 shots total, tonight the smurfs had 6 and none on target), and Ulsan scored off three goal mouth scrambles from long bombs into the box.

SFC had nothing the moment both Brillante & O'Neill got carded inside half an hour. That's NEVER happened to them in the A-League since they joined together last season.

Amazing isn't it? Don't let them cynically foul all the time and they don't look so hot.

Arnie's stellar Asian record continues.

[Paul01]

5 minutes ago, luisenrique said:

Amazing isn't it? Don't let them cynically foul all the time and they don't look so hot.

Arnie's stellar Asian record continues.

Credit to the referees to kill any notion of Fortress Allianz.

Referee:

Mohamed Abdulla Hassan Mohd

Assistants:

Mohamed Ahmed Yousuf Al Hammadi
Hassan Suqatari Al Mahri

Fourth official:

Muhammad Nazmi

[tardotz]

First competitive game this season for Sueon and they looked sharper and fitter.

They keep saying it was an off day for the Smurfs but Suwon looked better in every department.  If they lose next week the story will change to " we are only interested in the A-league"

[StringerBellend]

Here is where the only have a 13 player squad will be put to the test. 

[hawks2767]

The way they fouled the crap out of City last week really bit them on the ass tonight.

They were found out.

[GunnerWanderer]

2 hours ago, xxBrandonxx said:

I rate Damjanovic so damn much. 

Remember him tearing us a new one last year as well. 

Would destroy the A-League.

 

 

Plus he looks like zlatan we could sell him as Zlatan as a photo from behind 

Best part of night is broque air swing and then Tara saying are you going to be able to sleep tonight 😂

Edited February 14, 2018 by GunnerWanderer

[Prydzopolis]

I don’t know, part of me wants to see them do well in Asia. It’s the best team in the A-League by far, it’s a good yard stick to see how we match up in Asia. On top of that, I wouldn’t mind them getting out of the group & making a run at the finals.

On the game, wow, completely dominance by suwon. Am I right that they didn’t get a shot on target all night? They were never in the game. Just shows were the A-League is at right now.

We all joke about the cynical fouling but you have to give credit for the referee using his cards correctly. We all get frustrated how they seem to get away with it week after it. Sydney FC players were getting frustrated but if you make a challenge, get none of the ball & some of the player, what do you expect? It’s a key tactic used the last two seasons by breaking up the play & allowing them to get players behind the ball. As soon as he carded the players, the tactic was completely null & void. You wonder how the A-League refs have let them get away for it for so long.

The other issue with Sydney FC is that they have no squad depth. In order to win the A-League they’ve stacked there first XI & essentially put two players wages towards a foreign player under the cap. It means they can’t rotate there squad with fresh legs even if it was only 2-3 other players than they had last night. Feel sorry for the NPL kid who hasn’t had much or any exposure & looked way out of his depth. Carney & Simon can do a job at ALeague level (big difference between doing a job vs being a game changer) but they had nobody on the bench to change the game.

Got a huge game against Shaghai Shenua next week.

—————————

Victory game was insane, can’t believe the amount of goals. Victory played much like they have all season profiting from a team whose season hasn’t started & looked like a team in preseason. Reminds me of FIFA where it’s nearly impossible to stop the opposition from scoring on the counter  

Much like Sydney, the NPL kid looked way out of his depth. Even in previous seasons they have never had a deep squad and the youngsters seem not good enough to cut it.

Good point for Victory but it’s going to be a hard slog for them going forward not just in the A-League but in Asia too.

[Erebus]

11 hours ago, tardotz said:

First competitive game this season for Sueon and they looked sharper and fitter.

They keep saying it was an off day for the Smurfs but Suwon looked better in every department.  If they lose next week the story will change to " we are only interested in the A-league"

#QuestToBeTheBest

[Erebus]

No its not a measure of the A-League. Its a measure of how much they get away with every week.

SFC's tactic is to crowd out players on the ball and wait for a mistake. Foul them if necessary. The thing is, Asian players have better individual skill so this tactic doesn't work. They were also afforded NO space in the attacking third and were closed down immediately. They couldn't adjust because they are used to fouling for the ball in the midfield, getting away with it and breaking on the counter against slow defenders. The Korean defence was not slow. So the Dad's Army of SFC attack had no pace on them or any advantage at all. Did Ninkovic even play? Was anonymous. 

We all said it. Without the HAL refs and VAR on their side, they would struggle. They were schooled by a better team in all areas.

For Arnold to admit they underestimated them? That is our next Socceroo coach? What a joke. Complete arrogance from them, as always. They can't even blame the schedule because the entire group stage is extremely favourable to them because the FFA gave them no HAL games before any ACL games. They have no excuse except they were tactically inept and had no options on the bench.

They've been talking this up for weeks how they are going to win it. No team says that. Its pure arrogance from a team that has never been successful in Asia.

SFC are good in the HAL because everyone else is so bad for some reason. 2 years in a row. There's been HAL seasons where the top 4 is on par with one another and the entire top 6 is undecided until Round 27. They've had an easy run the last 2 years and the favourable decisions every week just compound it.

Welcome to reality.

[Sithslayer1991]

I am also conflicted with the result I mean Suwon still in pre-season missing two of their starters was able to beat the current best A-league side and make them look second rate. So was Easts that bad or is the entire A-league comp just that bad?

[sonar]

1 minute ago, Sithslayer1991 said:

I am also conflicted with the result I mean Suwon still in pre-season missing two of their starters was able to beat the current best A-league side and make them look second rate. So was Easts that bad or is the entire A-league comp just that bad?

Nah, I think Erebus nailed it with this......"No its not a measure of the A-League. Its a measure of how much they get away with every week."  Almost everyone here has said this in one form or another about ESFC....especially this season. They're not going tp get away with it in the ACL so they can suck it up.

It was so funny watchimg them (ESFC) spitting the dummy during the game and the ref taking no notice.....lol 

[Davo]

I don't think it's a great measure of where the A-League is.

The WSW side which won the whole thing weren't dominating the A-League in the same way the smurfs are now. The difference is in styles. We had a side that was built on being rock solid at the back, hitting on the counter and taking the chances that came our way. That's perfectly suited to playing in the ACL against teams that are far more technically superior so we could play our normal game.

The smurfs style is based on pressing teams high up the pitch which either wins the ball back in a dangerous position or forces them to play back, stopping the counter. If their press is broken they foul to stop the counter, knowing that A-League referees won't book them otherwise Arnie will have a whinge. In the ACL their opponents can play through their press a lot easier, meaning they need to resort to fouling more often and the AFC referees actually punish it correctly.

They could have changed their style to suit their opponents but between Arnie's comments and the visa player he chose to leave out that was clearly never going to happen.