Mi Amor! Layouni Strikes Late For Adelaide Draw

[mack]

A clash vital for the top two calculations took place with Adelaide United hosting the visiting Wanderers on a very warm South Australian day, ended in the first ever 4-4 draw in the A-League. Hiroshi Ibusuki scored a double for Adelaide, so did Brando Borrello for the Wanderers with Alexandar Popovic, Calem Nieuwenhof, Ryan Kitto and debutante Amor Layouni splitting the difference for each team.

Western Sydney had to name Tom Beadling in the starting lineup after the injury last week to Marcelo, the french midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin made his starting debut as well and Amor Layouni was in the frame to make his debut should he come off the bench. Adelaide began brightly with several attacks coming through Craig Goodwin though they couldn't find a clear shot at goal. Western Sydney had their first chance of the game with Schneiderlin taking a crack with a direct free kick from 20 yards out that took a deflection out for a corner. Brandon Borrello had the best shot of the game to open the scoring in the 15th minute, the Wanderers broke down the right through Amalfitano, he cut back to Borrello and shot on his left, curling the ball just past the far goal post.

The home team thought they had a penalty in the 25th minute when Ibusuki knocked the ball into Tomislav Mrcela's arm, replays showed it came off the body first then into the hand, no penalty and the corner was cleared away well enough to defuse the attack.

Ibusuki was at the centre of drama on the half-hour. Adama Traore failed to clear quickly despite a shout from his team, he turned it over in a bad area, Adelaide quickly lobbed it into the area where Ibusuki was lurking at the far post. Cleur was in no man's land and decided to try a sly shove in the back to take out the high jumping striker, the ref didn't fall for it and he went straight to the spot. Cleur was lucky to avoid a straight red for what was a pretty clear goal scoring chance, and also avoided a yellow. Adelaide's normal penalty taker Goodwin handed it off to the winner of the penalty, and he broke his 10 game streak without a goal by blasting it past Lawrence Thomas to make it 1-0. Traore compounded his terrible match by picking up a card.

There was a blowup from the Wanderers after Kusini Yengi went down hurt, with the referee continuing the game and Adelaide refusing to kick it out, they were unhappy on the pitch and on the sidelines, annoyed that the game continued after a foul rather than it stop so Yengi could get treatment. Amalfitano picked up a booking for protesting the call.

Borrello then scored one of the goals of the season just minutes before half-time completely against the run of play. An initial free kick a long way out from goal was blocked by the wall, and instead of dinking it into the area and probably getting players called offside, Borrello struck a sweet right foot shot that surprised Joe Gauci and beat him all ends up.

Despite the instructions from Rudan to his charges to "get through to the half the 1-1 draw lasted seconds. A simple Goodwin cross was flicked to the back post by an unmarked Ben Warland, where an unmarked Alexandar Popovic was first denied by Thomas' point blank save but at the second attempt he had no-one stopping him from a tap-in. Adelaide looked to have made it 3-1 in the final seconds of the half when a sweeping attack was finished off at the back post by Zach Clough but the blushes of the defence was saved by a tight offside call.

Kusini Yengi and Oliver Bozanic making way for Layouni and Milos Ninkovic with Leyouni making an immediate impact. He took on Goodwin, beat him all ends up as if he wasn't there and found Borrello at the back post region, with a lot of work to do still he bought it down from the chest, steadied and blasted on his left with an unerring shot to the far post that beat two defenders plus the keeper then he took off to make his patented flipping celebration.

Western Sydney took what seemed an impossible lead before half-time, as Adelaide suffered from being down a player. Josh Cavallo limped off the pitch and like Adelaide did in the first half with Yengi down, decided to play on. Ninkovic took a long range strike that was blocked inside the penalty area but bounced perfectly for Nieuwenhof who side footed first time into the same corner of the goal that Borrello had picked out for his second.

This crazy game twisted yet again as Adelaide drew it level at 3-3. Goodwin turned Cleur inside out and found Ibusuki totally unmarked at the back post, as Beadling had backed off and tried to hand over the marking job to Traore, but the fullback was never going to get there in time or out-jump the striker and he finished the chance from point blank range into an open net.

The goal scoring deluge continued in the 79th minute when Kitto popped up from his left fullback position to make it 4-3. Nestor Irankunda stood around in the box threatening to kick the ball into the hands of two defenders, they backed off, standing still and watching him until he made a lobbed cross that Mrcela knocked high in the air with his head, the Wanderers couldn't clear the ball away and it fell for Kitto who banged it off the back of Beadling leaving Thomas with no hope of a save.

Traore had one of the worst games for a Wanderers defender since Aritz Borda was in the red & black, and he finished it off in the 1st of 8 stoppage time minutes by picking up a blatant 2nd yellow for tripping Irankunda at the second attempt. It was maliciously stupid and one has to question just what was going through his mind going down the tunnel after the red card.

Just when it looked like the 10 men would succumb to Adelaide's possession, Amor Layouni popped up to add a goal on debut to his assist from earlier. Adelaide conspired to give Nicolas Milanovic the ball near the corner. He found Layouni on the edge of the box and he found the gap between two Adelaide defenders, fearful of taking out the winger for a penalty he was able to jump clear of their attention, a shoulder swerve opened up space on his left boot and finished with aplomb with just enough curve to defeat the outstretch hand of Gauci.

Adelaide pushed with several late corners but weren't able to make them pay like they had earlier in the game, capping off the crazy game as the first ever 4-4 draw in the A-League. Defensively the match was poor but most people watch football for the goals and there was a variety that would leave no-one unsatisfied except perhaps the players & coaches.

The Wanderers remain in 4th place, just a point ahead of a massive pack of teams within a single win of jumping over them, with just 1 win from the last 7 games and only 9 games left in the season the Wanderers need to get more solid at the back and keep up the attacking momentum they gained from this one to make a push for the two 2 finals berth. The next match is against Macarthur FC in Parramatta on Saturday the 25th with kick-off at 7:45pm.

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[pseudonym]

[VedranRozic]

Bonkers game. Boy we missed Marcelo. Traore needs that week off. Borello was ace. Layouni is a great get.

I would leave Yengi in Adelaide. He is good (mostly) when he is not crocked but he is almost always crocked.

[MartinTyler]

39 minutes ago, mack said:

and it fell for Kitto who banged it off the back of Bozanic leaving Thomas with no hope of a save.

 

That must have been some deflection given that Bozanic was sitting on the bench 

[mack]

Who was it then?

Edit - It was Beadling.

[Potkorok]

Well the red card after second yellow saves Rudan from dumping Traore to the under 10s next week. Geez he was awful. 
On the positive side, Borello, Nieuwenhoff and Layouni!!

[tardotz]

Traore had a a nightmare, a week off might do him good.

Layouni looks good hope he keeps it up (or gets better 😆)

[Wanderboy]

4 minutes ago, tardotz said:

Traore had a a nightmare, a week off might do him good.

Layouni looks good hope he keeps it up (or gets better 😆)

 

Traore needed to be given a week off regardless of his red card.

He was so ******* lazy today in defence and cost us two goals. Therefore, the win.

Layouni certainly does look good. I was a bit disappointed in Schneiderlin today but I put that down to the heat.

We have such a strong squad. It's so disappointing that we are not making more headway. Coach and tactics maybe? We do try to play attractive football mostly though so I don't know what the problem is.

Maybe it's just shoot farkin" which Borello did today.

Anyway, a draw is better than a loss.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Wanderboy

[WSWJACK]

looking back at the AU goals, geez our defence went missing, wtf were Beadling and Traore doing when Hirusti? scored, oodles of time before the ball comes to him, he's strolling along the 6 yard line in total freedom ffs

[matty]

Big positive, Rudans subs and having the quality of player to do the job. 

Big negative, defence. Surely Rudan can sort it out

[Keithie]

The stupidity of summer soccer at 3 pm

[Potkorok]

Anyone got the footage of Veart losing it after the equaliser? Stupid Paramount won’t let me record it…..

[Wanderboy]

3 minutes ago, Potkorok said:

Anyone got the footage of Veart losing it after the equaliser? Stupid Paramount won’t let me record it…..

Yeh, that was funny.

[xposedPatricK]

Amors goal is just sexual 

up there with some of the best goal in wanderers history

really good to get on some highlights when we’re attacking rather than scorpion kicks/halfway free kicks when defending 

 

[GunnerWanderer]

The only thing more exciting than that game was me spending 20 mins reading the match thread just now and listening to the likes of stinger and mack tell us we can’t score 🤣

it was just one of those crazy games, I don’t really care about the 4 goals we conceded it was moreso just elation we scored more than 2 for once and **** our goals were good! 
 

@Potkorokthat Veart footage was absolutely awesome 😎 

that Nesta bloke for them is a very bright prospect, speed to burn and good technical player for someone 16!

Edited February 19, 2023 by GunnerWanderer

[tardotz]

19 minutes ago, Keithie said:

The stupidity of summer soccer at 3 pm

30 mins earlier in Adelaide 😡

[Wanderboy]

46 minutes ago, GunnerWanderer said:

The only thing more exciting than that game was me spending 20 mins reading the match thread just now and listening to the likes of stinger and mack tell us we can’t score 🤣

 

Stinger (lol) and Mack certainly do tend to go off half-cocked on more than the odd occasion.

[mack]

Pretty sure I said we weren't going to win because we weren't going to score enough. And I was right. 

[EmMac]

I'll take the draw, cause we didnt give up and that is awesome

I believe we do have the capability and skill in the team, but not sure we have as yet have the cohesion and composure to consistently command games. We need to boss it for 90mins and I think thas only happened once this season

Amor 

Anyway 4th on the ladder, onwards (and hopefully upwards).

[WSWJACK]

goal down deep in injury time, I'll take that draw all day long, but both defences were bloody average today.

[nmh94]

Must. Beat. Macarthur. A tonne of sides breathing down our neck. 

[GunnerWanderer]

33 minutes ago, mack said:

Pretty sure I said we weren't going to win because we weren't going to score enough. And I was right. 

Haha touché credit where it is due. 

[GunnerWanderer]

8 minutes ago, nmh94 said:

Must. Beat. Macarthur. A tonne of sides breathing down our neck. 

Has been this way ever since World Cup resumption fortunately sides like Perth, roar and jets have been taking points off everyone around us. It definitely is a log jam.

 

I really only think western United is done the 11 other teams can make finals. 

[StringerBellend]

2 hours ago, Wanderboy said:

Stinger (lol) and Mack certainly do tend to go off half-cocked on more than the odd occasion.

A bit but then again I hold with 

Our fullbacks were defensively shite

That first half lineup didn't look like scoring (other than a wonder goal)

Ninko is where it's at 

 

[Paul01]

34 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

A bit but then again I hold with 

Our fullbacks were defensively shite

That first half lineup didn't look like scoring (other than a wonder goal)

Ninko is where it's at 

 

Traore looks like he needs a rest. 

We have had too many Sunday afternoon games and it saps the players 

[Keithie]

This type of heat is draining I think we have seen the effects of That culminating in yesterdays effort,

I would love to send the blokes and women who schedule these matches out for 20 minutes at 3 pm and make them walk laps of the field , a fleet of ambulances would be needed.

we should be playing 6:00pm and 8:15pm games Friday Saturday and Sunday , the argument about Sunday and crowds is offset by the lack of attendance at 3:00pm in the heat 

[Hughesy]

I really don’t know what to make of this team. Feels like we’re in a very odd spot.

2 wins from 11 starts since the World Cup break. Death by a thousand draws yet somehow we’ve been in the top 4 the whole time. 

We don’t concede alot but we don’t score a lot either (21:17) - some of the lowest figures in the comp for each. Ironically, the last 2 games in which we scored 2 or more goals, we also conceded 2 or more goals as well. 

The wheels are turning but we aren’t moving. Our negatives nullify our positives and leave us in this stagnant state. It’s weird.

Luckily we’ve been spared by the fact 80% of the competition have been dogshit this season. Any other season and we’d probably be well outside the 6

[JustWandering]

Yengi was pretty much invisible, which when I think about it has been the case more often then not. I am starting to wonder whether he suits our possession based style of play. He would probably be more effective in a counter-attacking team. Ninkovic was much more energetic this week, compared to his late cameos off the bench over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully he is close to being able to start the match against Macarthur. Borello and Layouni, wow! Can't wait for Ngbakoto to be back to see the three of them together up front.

[mack]

10 minutes ago, hughsey said:

2 wins from 11 starts since the World Cup break. Death by a thousand draws yet somehow we’ve been in the top 4 the whole time. 

If we go back 10 games, after our 7th match we had 14 points with 4W, 2D, 1L. 17th match we have 25 points, 6 W, 7D, 4L, which on a points per game level is 1.1 which is barely above Melbourne Victory's level.

We're still in 4th because the handful of teams below us are as woefully consistent as we are. Nix last 4 they went DLLW, Smurfs WWWD but they started that run in 10th, Jets are WDWW but they started in 11th, Macarthur are DLWL and Perth went DDLD.

With our misfiring attack (at least until yesterday) our defence needs to be even more rock solid that it already is, closer to SFC's 2016/17 not-Invincible season where they only copped 12 goals the whole year. But we're at 17 already.

[SBW]

Bonkers of a match, we deserved nothing more than a draw with that performance.

Unbelievable how weak our defence is without Marcelo leading it. There was no communication and direction whatsoever from any of our defenders. Cleur and Traore had absolute shockers yesterday. I am glad that Traore got that red card because Rudan was unlikely to drop him against MacArfa next week. Cleur was also lucky to get away with just a yellow because the cynical fouls he committed were only worth a yellow, and he deserves a stint on the bench. Doggie and Wilmering should both start at RB and LB on Saturday.

Schneiderlin, he struggled big time in the heat, he was slow, lethargic and was MIA for most of the game. 

Some players like Amalfitano and Bozanic need to be dropped. Milanovic and Ninkovic have done more in their cameo appearances than those 2 have done in the last few games.

As for the positives, Layouni, wow! He is quality, has so much pace, the footwork and his ability to drive the ball into the box and confidently able to finish it off with little effort, he’s the kind of striker we have been missing since Riera, I cannot wait for him to start more games for us.

Borello, he’s like Mitch Duke just has so much energy, fight and the quality to score those bangers yesterday.

Attacking wise, lets hope more of the same against MacArfa, but defensively, we need much more improvement.