Vedran Hands Sydney FC Derby Win

[mack]

Vedran Janjetovic threw away the derby with a moment of madness that saw him sent off for a handball outside the box, with the Wanderers incapable of defending their early 1-0 lead, the Wanderers eventually succumbing to a 3-1 defeat at Homebush tonight.

The match began much later than expected as a thunderstorm lashed the Sydney region and forced the match commissioner to postpone kick-off by more than half an hour. Once it was underway the Wanderers controlled the early going, and their 20 minutes of pressure paid off through Alexander Baumjohann and Oriol Riera. Baumjohann delivered a wonderful curling free kick into the penalty area, Bruce Kamau's diving header caused Andrew Redmayne to hesitate momentarily, and the ball found the feet of Riera and subsequently the back of the net.

Riera's goal was the highlight of the game for the home side. Mere minutes later, a garbage long ball over the top caused confusion with Vedran Janjetovic deciding he needed to rush out of the area, he knocked over Ziegler his central defender, and then dived at the shot despite being well out of the area. The red card was inevitable at that point, and shortly after Baumjohann followed Vedran down the tunnel as the Wanderers attacking spark was sacrificed to bring on substitute keeper Danijel Nizic.

Sydney FC attacked at their leisure from that point on, knowing the Wanderers had no real potency in attack, and they equalised in first half stoppage time. Josh Brillante was let run into the penalty area by Jaushua Sotirio, his shot struck the woodwork after Nizic failed to palm it away, and typically for these derby games, the rebound was perfectly placed for Alex Brosque to hammer the ball home.

From that moment on a Sydney FC win was inevitable, and they took the advantage from a dreadfully defended corner in the 57th minute. The ball flashed through a sea of bodies until it reached De Jong at the back post who scored with his left boot.

Sydney FC sealed the game in the 80th minute, a lofted corner to the back post was buried with the head by Jacob Tratt. Western Sydney had less than 0 in attack and wouldn't have scored in 500 minutes let alone the dozen remaining.

Western Sydney just find new ways to give up points and wins in the A-League. Whatever Babbel is doing on the training pitch isn't being applied on the big stage, and he hasn't displayed any of the tactical nous one would expected from a manager who engineered Hertha's rise to the Budesliga in 2010/11.

The vagaries of the A-League finals system means that the Wanderers will likely limp along with some small hope of turning around their form at the back end of the season, but the league premiership is gone already, and the season looks set to be another long slog to try and wrestle 5th or 6th spot away from the likes of Wellington, Melbourne City and Newcastle.

The Wanderers play Adelaide United, in Adelaide, on Wednesday the 26th of December, at 7:50pm Sydney time.

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[sonar]

Totally depressing and deflating. We now have had three games against ESFC this campaign....FFA Cup and two comp games....We have lost all three....0-3, 0-2 , 1-3 for a combined conceded 8 and scored 1. Not good enough. 

[SBW]

I've made my points in the other thread

 

26 minutes ago, mack said:

Whatever Babbel is doing on the training pitch isn't being applied on the big stage, and he hasn't displayed any of the tactical nous one would expected from a manager who engineered Hertha's rise to the Budesliga in 2010/11.

Our squad cannot compete against the top 4 teams in the A-League this season, I have faith in Babbel but he will have to get rid of the duds in our team and it starts with Shitirio

[wengerboy]

Shout out to the RBB, tonight especially in the second half was the most passionate I've heard you guys in in the last 3 seasons, at since we moved from Parramatta.  Keep it up!

[scarcev]

45 minutes ago, SBW said:

I've made my points in the other thread

 

Our squad cannot compete against the top 4 teams in the A-League this season, I have faith in Babbel but he will have to get rid of the duds in our team and it starts with Shitirio

Our squad was competing more than effectively until Vedran handed them the game

Edited December 15, 2018 by scarcev

[btron3000]

2 hours ago, mack said:

Western Sydney just find new ways to give up points and wins in the A-League. Whatever Babbel is doing on the training pitch isn't being applied on the big stage

For reals Mack? We were totally and utterly dominating them until Vedran's ridiculous ... well I was going to say "decision" but that would suggest a brain was involved.

[mack]

50 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

For reals Mack? We were totally and utterly dominating them until Vedran's ridiculous ... well I was going to say "decision" but that would suggest a brain was involved.

It's not just tonight that I'm talking about.

WSW are always dominating games. Until we're not. And then we lose. There's always a red card, or our striker doesn't take his chances, or someone gives away a penalty, or the VAR screws us over, or we have injuries, or the pitch isn't good enough, or we cop goals from 25 yards out. It's always something that stops us "dominating" and turns it into a loss. We've played 9 games against MV without a win. Against SFC it's now 6 without a win. We can't be that dominant with that many games without a win.

Rinse repeat the last 3 seasons, maybe 4 if you consider our choking of the league title and the grand final loss to Adelaide to be the same thing. WSW didn't win the league in the first year or the ACL by dominating games then losing. We got there by winning.

We've had four big matches this season and we've been awful for the majority of the game-time in them. We've already lost three derbies already this season by a collective goal tally of 8-1, and the other big match (Victory away) ended in a 4-0 defeat. We look like we're going to finish 6th or worse for the 3rd year in a row.

Is it really too much to ask that after 6 months under a new coach who was a top class defensive player we should be defensively compact and hard to beat, instead of having the 2nd worst defensive record in the league.

[jockman]

12 minutes ago, mack said:

It's not just tonight that I'm talking about.

WSW are always dominating games. Until we're not. And then we lose. There's always a red card, or our striker doesn't take his chances, or someone gives away a penalty, or the VAR screws us over, or we have injuries, or the pitch isn't good enough, or we cop goals from 25 yards out. It's always something that stops us "dominating" and turns it into a loss. We've played 9 games against MV without a win. Against SFC it's now 6 without a win. We can't be that dominant with that many games without a win.

Rinse repeat the last 3 seasons, maybe 4 if you consider our choking of the league title and the grand final loss to Adelaide to be the same thing. WSW didn't win the league in the first year or the ACL by dominating games then losing. We got there by winning.

We've had four big matches this season and we've been awful for the majority of the game-time in them. We've already lost three derbies already this season by a collective goal tally of 8-1, and the other big match (Victory away) ended in a 4-0 defeat. We look like we're going to finish 6th or worse for the 3rd year in a row.

Is it really too much to ask that after 6 months under a new coach who was a top class defensive player we should be defensively compact and hard to beat, instead of having the 2nd worst defensive record in the league.

This....

[jockman]

Had enough......

Got to seven hills station.

No trains

Drove like a lunatic to Lidcombe

Got on Lidcombe to SOP train

No Driver..couldn't get there due to storm sat at Lidcombe for 30 mins

Saw storm coming over..thought stuff this got off train went to Dooleys

Then found out game delayed.by this time had ordered food..long wait.game started. 

Watched the debacle unfold on TV.

Stated to drive home. Going thru poorly lit street in Auburn drove over fallen tree branch.punctered tyre bucked wheel.

Changed wheel eventually got home totally demoralized..

Not sure I can face anymore of this crap this season might just stay at home.. 

And if anybody criticizes me here with the old " well don't bother showing up next season when we move back to Parra"  crap they can get forked...too 

I've been to every derby..lots of away games. Only missed a handful of games since club came into existence due to illness.

We deserve better than this sh@te week after week and now season after season..big club my ass . if the club are deluded enough to think that moving back to New stadium will be enough to pacify us but continue to put together mediocre squads is enough they grossly underestimate us IMO. Sure the whole game day thing New stadium will be great. But ultimately I go to be entertained by watching my team play consistent competitive football not rubbish every week. The novelty of the new stadium will wear off pretty quickly if we  don't field better teams, might have best purpose built stadium in A League with sub par 10k crowds every week

Could be a watershed season for the club next season..time will tell

Good morning and enjoy your sunday..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smoggy]

Jock...hear your frustration man. It just isnt good enough and what a way to go in to the holiday season, WSW - the grinch who stole Christmas from its fans.

My wife told me to cheer the **** up last night as 'just a game', but with WSW and Boro on a losing streak it is hard going right now. I am actually glad i wont be going to a game until 2019 now as going away on the 27th for a few weeks. If you are going to Adelaide on the 26th you need a medal or your head testing 

For Vedran....he has saved us a few times and is a decent keeper, but he just had to pick last night to **** up didnt he ffs

Babbel took off ABJ as he said he doesn't track back as well and an attacking player that doesn't work at the back was a luxury we couldnt afford..not totally sure about that.

Babbel looked like he wanted to puke at the end.....but then so did we all.....

Edited December 15, 2018 by Smoggy

[Cynth]

I am having doubts about a coach who would take off ABJ when we were dominating the game and who was by far the best player on the pitch, over maybe Riera or little Baccus. I just don't get it. Even an ABJ who doesn't track back as well, is 100 times better than a lame duck Riera on the pitch or some of the other players. I just don't get it, I think he gave away the game. 

Really pissed about this one. And so tired of facing my smurf brothers after games.

[scarcev]

12 minutes ago, Cynth said:

 I just don't get it, I think he gave away the game. 

While I was also surprised at the decision to take him off, make no mistake Vedran gave this game away and noone else, we were 1-0 up and cruising.  

Edited December 15, 2018 by scarcev

[Smoggy]

18 minutes ago, Cynth said:

I am having doubts about a coach who would take off ABJ when we were dominating the game and who was by far the best player on the pitch, over maybe Riera or little Baccus. I just don't get it. Even an ABJ who doesn't track back as well, is 100 times better than a lame duck Riera on the pitch or some of the other players. I just don't get it, I think he gave away the game. 

Really pissed about this one. And so tired of facing my smurf brothers after games.

Riera was preferred in that lone isolated   role as he can put in a defensive shift and hopefully hit ESFC on the break....it was just a shite situation and as we have such a thin squad quality wise it was always going to **** us over.

Bad day at the office for Vedran anyway, we have all had one of those. He is going to have to lift himself and give us a few match saving performances....

Edited December 15, 2018 by Smoggy

[Cynth]

4 minutes ago, scarcev said:

While I was also surprised at the decision to take him off, make no mistake Vedran gave this game away and noone else, we were 1-0 up and cruising.  

I'm not denying Vedran ****ed up badly but I still think Babbel's decision left us with a floundering team with no steadying playmaker in the middle. I think ABJ would have brought more confidence to the other players and he is much more likely to get a random goal than Riera.

[sonar]

8 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Riera was preferred in that lone isolated   role as he can put in a defensive shift and hopefully hit ESFC on the break....it was just a shite situation and as we have such a thin squad quality wise it was always going to **** us over.

Babbel said as much in his presser after the game about Riera...... saying he was a better defender than ABJ.  I have to say he looked and sounded mightily pissed off with the team....good, 

Edited December 15, 2018 by sonar

[marron]

Oh.

That actually did happen, didn't it.

FFS.

 

[Smoggy]

Riera had already scored and is a CF target man.....you kind of traditionally leave a CF target man in the kinds of situations. That is not to say i agree with the decision by Babbel this time.....i think he was hoping that Kamau and Roly would break forwards and target Riera when possible.

Babbel did the traditional thing...but you have to take in to account the lack of quality in this team...where the engine in midfield is and could we take a hit like losing ABJ.......

I think we were ****ed either way...regardless of who he took off...this team doesn't have the kind of fight needed to hang in there in these kinds of situations.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Smoggy

[Hughesy]

My girlfriend broke her ankle yesterday morning and then I spent the afternoon clearing fallen branches off the roof from the storms. First derby I’ve missed in I don’t even know how long, think it may be the only one. I was hoping that my absence may be a lucky charm. Nope lol.

Again, we have no mental strength or fortitude against Sydney. We’re weak as piss. They just have to turn up these days and they’ve got 3 points. Even if Vedran stayed on there was a very good chance that we would’ve bottled it. Garbie interviewed Hamill after the game and he sounded like a timid school boy. The club needs to get a sports psych in to toughen the boys up a bit. Arnie did it when he took over at Sydney and look where it took them...

Vedran was dumb but he’s also just a scapegoat for what is a deeper lying issue that was exposed yet again.

I’ve never actually watched the derby on tv before but over the years I’ve heard people say they couldn’t hear the rbb despite us being loud af. It’s true, I could hardly hear us yet the cove came through all game. Fox mustn’t put a mic near the RBB anymore haha 

[jockman]

51 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Jock...hear your frustration man. It just isnt good enough and what a way to go in to the holiday season, WSW - the grinch who stole Christmas from its fans.

My wife told me to cheer the **** up last night as 'just a game', but with WSW and Boro on a losing streak it is hard going right now. I am actually glad i wont be going to a game until 2019 now as going away on the 27th for a few weeks. If you are going to Adelaide on the 26th you need a medal or your head testing 

For Vedran....he has saved us a few times and is a decent keeper, but he just had to pick last night to **** up didnt he ffs

Babbel took off ABJ as he said he doesn't track back as well and an attacking player that doesn't work at the back was a luxury we couldnt afford..not totally sure about that.

Babbel looked like he wanted to puke at the end.....but then so did we all.....

At least for me Smoggy I have City to fall back on, feel for you with Boro.

[tardotz]

Very disappointing outcome all round.

A crowd of 18000 for the Derby is really bad . Even if 5,000 might have stayed home due to the weather the total would still have been miserable.

Refereeing was as bad as what we are used to. Bad calls and lack of consistency but would not be able to blame them for the result...this was self inflicted.

The positive was the first twenty minutes. We were all over then and should have been at least two up. We were hungry and didn't give them time on the ball, the tackles and steals (in the 20 min) was something very rare and a pleasure to see. 

Then came the Vedran moment of madness. As soon as that happened everything changed, the heads all went down....hard to blame them, the saw Nizic coming in and the best player being sacrificed. 

Technically sacrificing AB might be the correct decision but it also killed the moral of the remaining players....not looking forward to next week.

The RBB once again proved they are the best. Other might try and the cove sure did last night...from chanting "who do we sing for " and a few other things chants to throwing a smokie (sure we won't here about that) but they are still nothing compared to the RBB

 

[beatsurrender]

I hear Babbels explanation about ABJ and ultimately it's his decision to make but imagine the Smurfs joy at seeing him trot off? Mentally they would have thought "Their best player is off. We don't need to worry about them scoring anymore, it's just a matter of time now for us".

Sure enough we hardly saw the ball again. Defeat became inevitable and we all knew it.  We should have least kept a threat on the pitch.

[btron3000]

Re: the decision to take off ABJ, it's pretty normal to take off a creative player who doesn't defend much, and leave yourself a hold-up man with pacey wingers. You can say "he was the only one causing damage" all you want, but the game changes. We were leading 1-0 and would have been looking to defend and hit on the counter. That doesn't suit him nearly as well, and his impact would have dropped anyway.

Anyone remember this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Baggio

In a disappointing first match against Republic of Ireland at Giants Stadium, New Jersey, Italy were defeated 1–0. In the second match against Norway, he appeared more inspired. However, Italy goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was sent off for handling the ball outside the area. Luca Marchegiani was brought in to replace him, and Arrigo Sacchi decided to take off Baggio in what produced an outcry amidst the fans. Baggio later stated that Sacchi was "crazy". Italy won the match 1–0.

 

Exactly the same situation, Sacchi took off the best player in the world in a must-win match! If the other player's heads dropped last night then that is a problem for them, and the coach needs to work out who can handle this type of thing and who can't.

Anyway, I don't think they dropped so much as they struggled with the task. Riera let Brosque get goal side of him. As Babbel said afterwards, you have to have 100% desire to hold on to the lead, and if you're a professional footballer who has played in Spain you have to know that you cannot let a striker get goal side of you at a set piece.

 

Even that though, is insignificant compared to the most ridiculous piece of play I can remember from any player. Maybe rivalled only by Liam Reddy going walkabout a few years back. As far as I am concerned the coach and the other players are absolved of any blame. Vedran should man up and come out and apologise to the fans, and explain himself. Utterly atrocious.

[Generator]

“When you’re one player down, you can afford no luxuries.”

 

I’m one of those ‘not a real fan’ type people now - when the additional delay was announced I walked out given I didn’t want to arrive home in the dark hours of the morning. I’m glad I did leave, though, because it was bad enough listening to the game on the radio. I can’t imagine what it would have been like hanging around to watch that and then drive home, or be one of those poor fools stuck on public transport.

 

Anyway, I’ll next be up for the Victory game. I can’t wait to see that frontline in action, even if it’s at the expense of our team. Whether I make it to the game against Heart is still to be determined, but I guess it depends on whether or not I want to start the year on a bright or downcast note.

[Bob]

The way we played had SFC got a player sent off they still would have pumped us 3-1.

[wendybr]

7 hours ago, jockman said:

Had enough......

Got to seven hills station.

No trains

Drove like a lunatic to Lidcombe

Got on Lidcombe to SOP train

No Driver..couldn't get there due to storm sat at Lidcombe for 30 mins

Saw storm coming over..thought stuff this got off train went to Dooleys

Then found out game delayed.by this time had ordered food..long wait.game started. 

Watched the debacle unfold on TV.

Stated to drive home. Going thru poorly lit street in Auburn drove over fallen tree branch.punctered tyre bucked wheel.

Changed wheel eventually got home totally demoralized..

Not sure I can face anymore of this crap this season might just stay at home.. 

And if anybody criticizes me here with the old " well don't bother showing up next season when we move back to Parra"  crap they can get forked...too 

I've been to every derby..lots of away games. Only missed a handful of games since club came into existence due to illness.

We deserve better than this sh@te week after week and now season after season..big club my ass . if the club are deluded enough to think that moving back to New stadium will be enough to pacify us but continue to put together mediocre squads is enough they grossly underestimate us IMO. Sure the whole game day thing New stadium will be great. But ultimately I go to be entertained by watching my team play consistent competitive football not rubbish every week. The novelty of the new stadium will wear off pretty quickly if we  don't field better teams, might have best purpose built stadium in A League with sub par 10k crowds every week

Could be a watershed season for the club next season..time will tell

Good morning and enjoy your sunday..

Good post Jockman - although its content is sad.

Hope your Sunday is a good one - compared to your Saturday!

[GD07]

They were there for the taking and we bottled it. 

[jockman]

23 minutes ago, wendybr said:

Good post Jockman - although it's content is sad.

Hope your Sunday is a good one - compared to your Saturday!

Read my post again.Yes pretty depressing..sorry folks..also my grammer and spelling went down the toilet when I wrote this .I was just so pi@@ed off and frustrated. Apologies again..

[Erebus]

Vedran should be stood down for the next couple of months. I don't care if Nizic is a poor keeper. He can gain XP as Ved watches in the stands. Suman can be on the bench.

[xxBrandonxx]

I’m now convinced this club is run by a cult of sadists. 

[Redwog]

East Sydney had nothing until the send off. Babbel had prepared the boys well. We totally dominated with 11 men. Lacked some quality in the final third but that is a player issue not coach. 

I don't think there is a huge argument for keeping ABJ on, I thought Roly should have been inserted earlier in at number 8 to give a bit more go forward on the break. 

Once we were down to 10, their fire power was always gonna be tough to contain, the fact that it was all set pieces is crap though. They seemed to have no ideas to break us down in open play. 

It's a tough result to take, and there has been too many. But a healthy squad that can execute the given plan makes us competative against all the teams for the remainder of the season, barring Glory and Victory I reckon.