Strikers Fire In Brisbane

[mack]

A great team wide performance was the catalyst for a clinical Western Sydney Wanderers to take home all 3 points with a 2-0 win in Brisbane tonight.

The 2-0 win sees the Wanderers jump into the top 6 pending the rest of the round, with a game in hand & some winnable fixtures coming up they might be on pace to make a tilt at the top 4. With injuries, suspensions, player departures & youth national team call ups, Josep Gombau elected to play a 4-4-1-1 formation with Riera & Santalab up top with Lustica & Bridge on the wings, Kearyn Baccus & Chris Herd central with Raul Llorente filling in for Josh Risdon at right back with Clisby at left fullback, and the experienced central defensive combination of Thwaite & Cornthwaite screening for Janjetovic in goal.

Brisbane Roar had the better of the early stages, but their ineffective attack and inability to stay onside cost them any hope of making inroads into the scoreline. Corey Gamiero was perhaps unlucky to have been called offside just before the Wanderers opened the scoring but with the Roar racking up a total of 6 in the game it would be hard to blame the linesman if he got the tight decision wrong.

For their part the Wanderers stayed compact and rose into the game, their passing improving with Oriol Riera the standout with his back to goal play. The marquee striker began the move that saw him become the beneficiary of great work by Steven Lustica & Brendon Santalab. Lustica with the ball wide open on the right flank he hit a pinpoint cross into the 6 yard box. Santalab's diving header was on target and a wonderful save from Jamie Young happened to fall in the path of Riera and he couldn't miss from point blank range.

Brisbane tried to strike back through Corey Gamiero, who managed to keep himself onside in the 34th minute as he latched onto a long ball over the top of the Wanderers defence. As Thwaite & Llorente tried in vain to catch up, his shot was fired in from the edge of the 18 yard box but Vedran Janjetovic stuck out a left hand and held the ball to his chest.

Mark Bridge's selection saw him rise to the most capped player in Wanderers history and he celebrated with a goal before half-time. Once again Riera was the creator, picking up the ball on the edge of the area before finding Bridge with a penetrating ball into box that Bridge took a touch to get around Daniel Bowles before firing it past Young at the near post.

The second half saw the Wanderers turn the screws on the home side and they had multiple chances to go further ahead. Riera found himself in open space at a free kick with a free header he could only put wide of the post. Lachlan Scott came on to play wide and combined with Riera & Santalab well. His best chance was late in the game with a fierce shot from a tight angle that couldn't beat Young.

For yet another game the VAR system appeared to fail at it's task of finding major errors. After some pinball at a corner, Massimo Maccarone lined up Brendon Santalab, ignoring the ball completely then cut open Santalab with a nasty elbow. Despite the video replay showing the incident clearly deserved a penalty and a red card, the VAR astonishingly declined to intervene. The attack didn't even result in a yellow card for Maccarone. If the shoe was on the other foot and it was Santalab who had cut open an opposing player I have no doubt at all that he would have been walking off the field & receive a long ban.

The Wanderers closed out the game well and kept the Roar from any major opportunities the win seeing them leap into the top 6 for now, with a game against Adelaide United coming up on Wednesday they might be looking to push into the top 4.

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[DamnedUnited]

Where did that masked team come from 

[hawks2767]

Don't ask me how Brisbane beat us a few weeks ago, my god they're terrible.

[StringerBellend]

Two upfront is ace 

[wendybr]

3 minutes ago, DamnedUnited said:

Where did that masked team come from 

Gombau?? 

 

[tardotz]

2 minutes ago, hawks2767 said:

Don't ask me how Brisbane beat us a few weeks ago, my god they're terrible.

They need to get some players back otherwise they will end up fighting to avoid the wooden spoon.

[bkaza]

second half was good. great chemistry at the back. unlucky we couldn't score more. 

[sonar]

There are some good signs for us but we still need to improve our passing. Against the top teams we will get punished if we continue giving the ball away too easily.

Still, very happy for a win. Hopefully the players are gaining more confidence with what our manager wants. At least they're putting in.

[Hughesy]

Undefeated in 2018 and playing with 3 strikers on the field at once 

New Year, New Me

[WestSyd]

Imagine if we could get a decent goal scoring winger to replace Jumpei. Would be great and place us in a good position to make an end of season charge. One of Santa and Bridgey will eventually break down or need a rest, so I hope we get someone pretty soon.

[WestSyd]

btw is there an angrier coach than John Aloisi out there? The guy is a mad dog lol.

[xxBrandonxx]

Snake ascending to basilisk 

 

Edited January 5, 2018 by xxBrandonxx

[SomeGuy1977]

And so the post Jumpei era begins with a win.

Score 2 against the run of play in the first half. Control the second half and only denied by insane keeping by Young. How Santa wasn't awarded a penalty is equally insane. Evans seemed to have a pretty good view of it, but nothing. Not even a VAR review. Yet when the ball hits Thwaite (I think it was) in the back, it's reviewed immediately for hand ball. Go figure. next week

Winners are grinners. On to week.

[echidna]

Popa would never have played both Santa and Riera - effectively as a dual strikeforce - but I think it worked really well. You could see the joy they themselves felt in combining with the first goal, rather than having one on the field and the other on the bench. In fact, I think they are a great combination: both can lay off a high ball, but it is rare for a lone striker to have someone with the strength, determination and ball control who can take advantage of such a lay-off. Each can feed off the other.

Scott was certainly excellent when he came on in what was effectively a 4-3-3 and this too put Brisbane under pressure. If we are going to play this way under Gombau, I will take it any day.

Sure, there was some sloppy passing out from the back - and Herd was lucky to not be sent off - but overall, it was pleasing.

I think the VAR did not dare review the Italian noodle's challenge on Santa, for it would have been a penalty and a send-off, with the result that the most combustible coaching combination in the A-League would have needed urgent medical attention! [I think it was ignored to try to make up for the Gamiero 'offside' in the first half. This is not the way things should be done...]

 

 

 

[lloydy136]

that macarone elbow will get nothing now because its 'been dealt with on field' so mrp can't catch up with him. if it was an esfc player on the receiving end of that elbow there would be endless chat/print, coach whingeing, sympathetic hashtags and candlelight vigils. for us it will hardly rate a mention. what a mess the var is.

abc radio coverage pretty dodgey but it sounded like we bossed the second half - riera and baccus especially. they gave baccus man of the match on radio. its good to see the players that were on the outs with gombau coming back from it and being so crucial to success in last 2 games.

Edited January 5, 2018 by lloydy136

[Prydzopolis]

What a gritty win, wasn’t a great performance but good to see some application by the boys. Two weeks in a row, nothing that can upset either Newcastle or Easts in a grand final on the way things stand but two pleasing wins after months of..... (I’ll let you fill in the blanks).

Intetesting interview with Gombau prematch on Fox saying that (I’m paraphrasing here) it’s going to take time to implement the way I want to play but important to get results in the meantime.

The game reflects this mindset,  in attack our key players up front know how to find the net & are combining nicely in the last two games. In terms of controlling the game, defensive shape & defending in general it needs a bit of work but glad we seem to be sacrificing some of the Gombau “philosophy” for results. I wouldn’t call it a turnaround, we are a team in transition stuck between Popa’s old & Gombau’s new philosophy.

We were 7th playing Brisbane 8th, it showed. How Brisbane walked into half time at 0-2 I’ll never know. Could/should have been 1 with Gamerio through on goal & was some save by Vedran.

On controversial refereeing:

- Second yellow for Roar player (well those calling for it) he was very lenient with Herd so I think he gave the Roar player the same courtesy. Mind you, I didn’t think the first Herd yellow was a Card, does anyone remember Bobo on Wednesday night? People wonder why Easts have such a good record.

- Macca elbow: I’m either guessing that (1) After the central coast vs WSW game, they have tweaked system for only clear incidents & wasn’t clear (2) It wasn’t able to be picked up on there footage? They have the raw footage but not the Fox footage (3) If he didn’t get done in game, he’ll get a 3 game ban by MRP if VAR didn’t see the incident. Lucky it didn’t cost us the game.

Two overall comments:

I only wish he had come in with this mindset when he took over from Foxe. What these last two weeks had showed, that bringing in the more experienced players plus a more pragmatic style has yielded results. We move forward & hope that this continues!

(2) When Gombau started Oreo & Santa I thought he was going to play 4-4-2, then bringing on a third striker in the second half! My first thought was too many formation changes for us to handle  In the end it was just a rotating front 3 & playing them more out of necessity rather than by choice

[Horus]

Great result...2 up front for a WSW? Gombau the mad scientist!

Great game - especially the boys up front, and Vedran having another blinder - we had a couple go our way tonight I thought - but that hit on Santa was total bs, and I'm always mystified how keepers always play like David De Gea against us but we could've have plenty more than the 2 we ended up with.

 

 

[lloydy136]

8 minutes ago, Prydzopolis said:

I only wish he had come in with this mindset when he took over from Foxe. What these last two weeks had showed, that bringing in the more experienced players plus a more pragmatic style has yielded results. We move forward & hope that this continues!

100% this. huge credit to him (or management of the club if that is where it has come from) to make peace with key players, and amend his style to suit the personnel a bit better while we are a work in progress. many managers can't do this - look at villas boas at chelsea - wouldn't adapt to his players and lost his job in short order.

Edited January 5, 2018 by lloydy136

[tardotz]

10 minutes ago, lloydy136 said:

that macarone elbow will get nothing now because its 'been dealt with on field' so mrp can't catch up with him

How was it dealt on the field? If I remember correctly it was a drop ball because of head injury.

[lloydy136]

1 minute ago, tardotz said:

How was it dealt on the field? If I remember correctly it was a drop ball because of head injury.

the VAR checked it didn't they? so dealt with maybe not on field but within the confines of the match so won't that mean it can't be looked at after?

[bombagol]

I don't think the VAR checked the Santa incident.  Usually the little Macca's sign comes up in the top left corner of the screen when the VAR is checking an incident, but I can't remember seeing it this time.

This was the perfect case for which the VAR should have been used for.  It was a clear foul in the box (Maccarone had no eyes for the ball, he just jumped into Santa's head with his elbow up), the ref missed it, so it was an 'obvious error' --> yellow card for the pasta muncher and penalty for the Wanderers. 

[wanderersfanatic]

1 hour ago, DamnedUnited said:

Where did that masked team come from 

2-0-0 since. 

[wendybr]

8 minutes ago, bombagol said:

I don't think the VAR checked the Santa incident.  Usually the little Macca's sign comes up in the top left corner of the screen when the VAR is checking an incident, but I can't remember seeing it this time.

This was the perfect case for which the VAR should have been used for.  It was a clear foul in the box (Maccarone had no eyes for the ball, he just jumped into Santa's head with his elbow up), the ref missed it, so it was an 'obvious error' --> yellow card for the pasta muncher and penalty for the Wanderers. 

Pardon my ignorance...but who instigates the VAR check - is it the ref, who isn't sure, and requests it, or is it the person operating the VAR set up, who realises a mistake may have been made by the ref, and checks??

Or is it either one??

 The foul on Santa wasn't reviewed, which it should have been - so ultimately whose error is it that it wasn't reviewed?

[matty]

What needs to be clearer? 

At its most basic, a player was blocked from challenging for the ball by an opposition player who's eyes were not on the ball. That's a penalty. 

Maybe, mayyybe they couldn't pin him for the elbow etc with their replays but how that's not a penalty is ludicrous

[matty]

7 minutes ago, bombagol said:

I don't think the VAR checked the Santa incident.  Usually the little Macca's sign comes up in the top left corner of the screen when the VAR is checking an incident, but I can't remember seeing it this time.

This was the perfect case for which the VAR should have been used for.  It was a clear foul in the box (Maccarone had no eyes for the ball, he just jumped into Santa's head with his elbow up), the ref missed it, so it was an 'obvious error' --> yellow card for the pasta muncher and penalty for the Wanderers. 

True, it didn't come up. The commentators specifically said it had been checked though... Interesting

[bombagol]

1 minute ago, matty said:

What needs to be clearer? 

At its most basic, a player was blocked from challenging for the ball by an opposition player who's eyes were not on the ball. That's a penalty. 

Maybe, mayyybe they couldn't pin him for the elbow etc with their replays but how that's not a penalty is ludicrous

Maybe the VAR thought that Santa bit his own lip to draw blood.  Lucky he didn't get carded for simulation.

[SBW]

Is it just me or playing 2 strikers upfront we attack and defend better?

[Paul01]

1 minute ago, SBW said:

Is it just me or playing 2 strikers upfront we attack and defend better?

Despite Mack stating the formation as 4-4-1-1, multiple websites (including the A-League) stating we had a 4-2-3-1 formation.  All the players are familar with it so better result which is weird the men's team are now in outright 6th due to Adelaide's win.

And we play Adelaide at ANZ on Wednesday night. The have Absalonsen back but may have lost Adlung. We will be without Herd but get Roly back. We have Santalab and Cornthwaite on 4 yellows as well. 

[andypk]

1 hour ago, WestSyd said:

btw is there an angrier coach than John Aloisi out there? The guy is a mad dog lol.

Yes, Ross Aloisi lol

[Hughesy]

42 minutes ago, wendybr said:

Pardon my ignorance...but who instigates the VAR check - is it the ref, who isn't sure, and requests it, or is it the person operating the VAR set up, who realises a mistake may have been made by the ref, and checks??

Or is it either one??

 The foul on Santa wasn't reviewed, which it should have been - so ultimately whose error is it that it wasn't reviewed?

This is my biggest gripe with the VAR. There is STILL no formal process or consistency in how, who and what instigates a review. 

If you watch the replay, Shaun Evans was literally staring straight at the incident from about 10m away... the VAR shouldn’t have even been necessary