AFC Champions League 2018

[Erebus]

Continuation from Davo above - 

Individual technical ability of most ACL players in East Asia >>>>>> average A-League player's technical ability.

And that is the difference.

So you have to organise your team to make up for the lack of individual ability. It also asks a larger question of the technical standard of players in this country and how do we address that.

[Edinburgh]

2 hours ago, Erebus said:

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.

This.

[Paul01]

4 hours ago, Erebus said:

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.

So the smurfs had Ninkovic, Bobo and Adrian all supposed Marquees (Adrian takes 2 squad spots) but they couldn't get a shot on target. The two fouling bookends (Brillante and O'Neill) were both carded. 

If i remember the first Sydney Derby this season, we were in their face in the first half. Then we tired in the second half and let them back in after being 2-0 up. 

The Mariners beat the Smurfs using the same tactics.

So everyone should try and crowd the Midfield and forwards like Suwon and we should see these blue muppets drop points from now till the end of the season. 

Plus if the Smurfs don't win or draw their next 2 ACL games, the FFA will be rethinking Arnie's potential appointment. 

[WestSyd]

6 hours ago, GrEmIoWaNdErEr said:

100% agree the commentators where adamant that it's just an off day but I reckon it's more than that I reckon Shanghai will tear them apart and ESFC who will be ****ed will play us and we will demolish there entire existence 

We probably won't beat them, so need to make fools of ourselves by making premeditated statements. Let's just see if we can match it with them first, and from there anything can happen in the game.

In relation to the ACL game, it was interesting to see if their style of play in the A league would hold up in Asia. It shows that their style is better suited to beating A league teams, rather than well organised Asian teams who don't have gaps in defence or don't lose their nerve when pressed. It seem like the physical, in your face, constant fouling style of Arnie ball doesn't phase the Asian teams. Lucky he is not our World Cup coach 

[StringerBellend]

Just as an aside when we won the acl Popa used a squad system he had players ready for the ACL  guys like Mullen, Golec, Appiah, and  Haliti played a lot in acl but not so much in a league he also rotated team. Especially for the away games where at times guys like Ono didn’t even travel

Arnold so far hasn’t  done this, only change was forced by 3+1 rule. 

Going to be interesting what he does with away game coming up and following a league games. 

Given they have such a lead in a league does he start resting players for ACL? 

[Paul01]

19 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Just as an aside when we won the acl Popa used a squad system he had players ready for the ACL  guys like Mullen, Golec, Appiah, and  Haliti played a lot in acl but not so much in a league he also rotated team. Especially for the away games where at times guys like Ono didn’t even travel

Arnold so far hasn’t  done this, only change was forced by 3+1 rule. 

Going to be interesting what he does with away game coming up and following a league games. 

Given they have such a lead in a league does he start resting players for ACL? 

Obviously, he will have to use Ferreira to rest Brosque most likely.  Buijs back for the derby. Probably Retre at right back with Zullo and Wilkinson.

He will have to use O'neill and Brillante in DM.

He will have to play Ninkovic, Bobo and Adrian unless he starts Carney.

Their going to be dog tired as they play Wednesday night in Shanghai and fly out that night or next day.

I heard that the Smurfs bought about 6 business class seats for the players returning from ACL games who were selected for their next match day squads.

 

[GunnerWanderer]

Id like to see them do well but I suspect arnie is out of his depth. Their campaign is far from over if they avoid defeat away

Popa always knew how to get his players through walls I don’t think these Nancy boys have them that in them 

a smacking in China and a long shitty flight and gombau will be licking his lips to win some love from the fans with a win 

Edited February 15, 2018 by GunnerWanderer

[StringerBellend]

1 hour ago, GunnerWanderer said:

Id like to see them do well but I suspect arnie is out of his depth. Their campaign is far from over if they avoid defeat away

Popa always knew how to get his players through walls I don’t think these Nancy boys have them that in them 

a smacking in China and a long shitty flight and gombau will be licking his lips to win some love from the fans with a win 

I’d like to see them get tonked in every game. I know I shouldn’t but I’m just not that bigger man

 

in other smurf acl news 

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2018/02/15/buijs-blunder-will-cost-sydney-claims-ognenovski

lovely stuff 

 

[luisenrique]

10 hours ago, Erebus said:

Continuation from Davo above - 

Individual technical ability of most ACL players in East Asia >>>>>> average A-League player's technical ability.

And that is the difference.

So you have to organise your team to make up for the lack of individual ability. It also asks a larger question of the technical standard of players in this country and how do we address that.

Wait wait wait...but Ange taught me that we should play sexy football all the time regardless of our technical ability??

I don't understand this 'conflicting emotions' bollocks. Do you think Barca/Atleti fans want Madrid to win the CL??? All over the world, you want your most hated rivals to lose all the time. I don't mind the other Aussie teams, even Victory doing well, but to suggest we should be rooting for esfc on any level is nonsense.

Especially because we've won it so to see them humiliated in the group stage would be extra sweet.

[Carns]

42 minutes ago, luisenrique said:

Especially because we've won it so to see them humiliated in the group stage would be extra sweet.

I sincerely hope they never win that trophy.

[Davo]

I don't mind the Australian clubs going deep in the tournament, as long as they don't win it. The better they do the more likely the AFC is to give us spots in the tournament and the longer they have to spread their squads thin across multiple tournaments.

[Carns]

9 minutes ago, Davo said:

I don't mind the Australian clubs going deep in the tournament, as long as they don't win it. The better they do the more likely the AFC is to give us spots in the tournament and the longer they have to spread their squads thin across multiple tournaments.

I honestly wouldn't mind any other Australian team winning the comp (for all the reasons you listed), just not the Smurfs.

[WestSyd]

5 hours ago, Davo said:

I don't mind the Australian clubs going deep in the tournament, as long as they don't win it. The better they do the more likely the AFC is to give us spots in the tournament and the longer they have to spread their squads thin across multiple tournaments.

^^^

This. The ACL trophy is something we have over all the other A-league clubs. We had a bit of luck winning it, but then we have had bad luck in grand finals. Maybe that is the sacrifice for winning such a huge trophy. Believe me that ESFC want to win it badly just so they can achieve what we did. They had it on their mission statement as "wanting to be the premier team in Asia". But that statement seems to have disappeared once we we won it 

 

[btron3000]

I don't understand anyone wanting the smurfs to win a single game, especially while that twat Arnold is in charge. The greatest front-runner and ****-talker ever when his team is winning, the worst finger-pointing, excuse maker when they're struggling. He's scum.

Anyway, for those of a like-mind, enjoy this article.  Not only calling Arnie's selection out, but praising us haha:

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2018/02/15/buijs-blunder-will-cost-sydney-claims-ognenovski

[btron3000]

Oh posted above by Stringer, great minds yada yada

[wswtragic]

10 hours ago, StringerBellend said:

I’d like to see them get tonked in every game. I know I shouldn’t but I’m just not that bigger man

 

in other smurf acl news 

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2018/02/15/buijs-blunder-will-cost-sydney-claims-ognenovski

lovely stuff 

 

I sweated on each goal - so delicious. Arnold is a prick of the first order, and Brosque is the apprentice.

[GunnerWanderer]

I don’t mind hoping A-League teams do well in this plus if the smurfs get out of group would make the finals series perhaps more challenging depending on match scheduling 

I don’t think anyone has to worry about them winning it! 

[wswtragic]

11 minutes ago, GunnerWanderer said:

I don’t mind hoping A-League teams do well in this plus if the smurfs get out of group would make the finals series perhaps more challenging depending on match scheduling 

I don’t think anyone has to worry about them winning it! 

Can't be as pragmatic as you. I want them to take it rough every time.

[MartinTyler]

I want them to be doing well enough to keep their interest during A-League finals time else they will just play their youth team in ACL if they have no chance. I still see their small squad being an issue with a lot of games in a short space of time

[wswtragic]

28 minutes ago, MartinTyler said:

I want them to be doing well enough to keep their interest during A-League finals time else they will just play their youth team in ACL if they have no chance. I still see their small squad being an issue with a lot of games in a short space of time

What I want is for them to be doing poorly enough that Arnie regularly yanks Bobo out of frustration, and Bobo gets the shits  

[luisenrique]

On 2/16/2018 at 8:17 AM, GunnerWanderer said:

I don’t mind hoping A-League teams do well in this plus if the smurfs get out of group would make the finals series perhaps more challenging depending on match scheduling 

I don’t think anyone has to worry about them winning it! 

I actually think the group stages in Asia are harder than the knockouts. Especially if you have a tough group. I mean all the three teams in esfc's group are far superior to them, so they need an extraordinary amount of luck to finish in the top 2 over 6 games. Whereas once it's the knockouts, you just need a bit of luck in each round, plus obviously good tactics, and you can take it game by game. 

So no, I don't want to risk them having a better chance of winning it, or even getting to the final, just so they're slightly worse off for our silly post season cup. The last time they were in it, if ol' mate hadn't sent that screamer past Vedran, they would have been two ties away from the final.

[StringerBellend]

1 minute ago, luisenrique said:

I actually think the group stages in Asia are harder than the knockouts. Especially if you have a tough group. I mean all the three teams in esfc's group are far superior to them, so they need an extraordinary amount of luck to finish in the top 2 over 6 games. Whereas once it's the knockouts, you just need a bit of luck in each round, plus obviously good tactics, and you can take it game by game. 

So no, I don't want to risk them having a better chance of winning it, or even getting to the final, just so they're slightly worse off for our silly post season cup. The last time they were in it, if ol' mate hadn't sent that screamer past Vedran, they would have been two ties away from the final.

this

I don’t want to run the risk of them winning it, I hope they get knocked out at the earliest opportunity 

I’m not buying into referee conspiracies but what you can get away with in acl and a league are very different and if smurfs are going to get out of the group they are going to need to adapt to that. No more pouring forward knowing that O’Neil or briliante will kick somebody over to slow the play  

[Paul01]

Melb Victory lose 4-1 to Shanghai SIPG

RIP Muscat. Made no attacking subs until 84 min when the game was lost.

In other news, Al Hilal lost as well and are bottom of the group.

One time potential A-League signing Diego Forlan has not scored a goal for Kitchee in the Champions League. Kitchee with back to back losses.

Today we will see if Arnold is up to coaching the national team. I reckon a big loss will make the FFA reconsider any offer made to that ....

[Unlimited]

Let us hope for a 7-0 seventh heaven drubbing of ESFC

[Smoggy]

Think they will get a draw actually.

[Paul01]

Shenhua drew with Kashima last round. 

Kashima up 2-0 on Suwon atm. 

Logically, Shenhua should win.

Both Brillante and O'Neill on yellow cards from last round.  How many yellows are required for a suspension in the Champions League?

[Edinburgh]

Just 2 yellows I think

[Paul01]

15 minutes ago, Edinburgh said:

Just 2 yellows I think

The bookends could get suspended together for their next group stage. 

Kashima beat Suwon 2-1.

[sonar]

Watching the game via the web with arabic commentary...love the pronunciation of the names......boo boo ( Bobo ) and brusky ( Brosque)....25 min 0-0

 

lol ESFC concede....1-0 down and ESFC score....1-1

Edited February 21, 2018 by sonar

[sonar]

38 min 2-2