Asian Debut Ends In Defeat

Salary cap v no salary cap - its always going to be a struggle - Technically they were a class above but a pretty decent effort from us overall . Very enjoyable night though and well done on the tifo.

Best part of the night (other than our goal) was the occasion the team got on leaving the field at full time.

Just thought of it, where were Mebrahtu, Golec and Mullen?

 

If they were signed just for ACL then shouldn't we play them?

Or will they mainly play away games to keep a couple of regulars in Australia and fresh for HAL?

Popa said they weren't match fit yet. They've only been with the club for 3 weeks and he wasn't willing to play them underdone. Expect to see them in China in two weeks. I imagine these guys will all play all the away games due to travel time et al as you alluded too.

Ulsan are in pre-season. Our biggest advantage right now is that we should be more match fit than these other teams but it looked like we were the ones getting tired as the game came near its end.

Yes, Ulsan wouldn't be at full fitness, but they have played 5 pre season games before this one. And WSW played in Perth 4 days prior and at least 5 starters were in that first 11.

Although i'm disappointed with the result it wasn't entirely unexpected, i guess it hurts a bit more because we scored so early and then made errors we don't often make to concede. 

We learnt tonight that we will not get away with the errors and wastefulness that is allowable/standard in the A-league. But thats nothing we shouldn't have already known. 

The TIFO was amazing, very good work guys. and also a good effort by the RBB in relation to the consistency of chanting and also solid numbers present. We particularly enjoyed the Chanting for Santalab after the goal. very much appreciated. 

Don't know how anyone else felt but for me I had this amazing feeling of excitement, uncertainty, maybe even a strange sense of dislocation for the first few minutes that I've never experienced at a regular Wanderers' A-League game before. The huge Tifo and the goal were certainly contributing factors but perhaps more importantly was the sense of occasion that took things onto a new level early on. It was as if we were taking a step into the great unknown with no idea how far or how good the experience could be.

One thing is for sure, whether we win or lose ACL games I want to see our Wanderers playing them regularly, season after season.

Our defence was shocking. After scoring the opening goal I thought were gonna smash them and all of the sudden WSW died down. The away team wasn't anything special we just need to play more ground football than these stupid long balls. 

Our defence was shocking. After scoring the opening goal I thought were gonna smash them and all of the sudden WSW died down. The away team wasn't anything special we just need to play more ground football than these stupid long balls. 

Actually I thought our ground passing was where we came unstuck offensively. Did you see how many times someone like Aaron, Shinji, Spira or Hersi tried to put the ball through forward to another advanced player and the Ulsan guys were on it quicker than a seagull on a hot chip? No one can say any aspect of our game last night was great but I don't think our long ball game was worse than our ground passing, and it may even have been better/less bad.

The away numbers looked impressive last night and came through well on the TV, good to see them all make the difficult and time consuming trip all the way from Eastwood. 

Quite surprise not many got off at Strathfield, Korean in Strathfield might be Pohang Steelers fans.

I said the wife before the game that a draw would be a brilliant result - I copped a nice jab to the arm after the game for a 'I hate when you're right', but it was easy to see that we (Australia) struggle in Asia, they aren't the little, slender Asians we all think they are, they are big, mobile and technical.

 

Our defence was shocking. After scoring the opening goal I thought were gonna smash them and all of the sudden WSW died down. The away team wasn't anything special we just need to play more ground football than these stupid long balls. 

 

Actually I thought our ground passing was where we came unstuck offensively. Did you see how many times someone like Aaron, Shinji, Spira or Hersi tried to put the ball through forward to another advanced player and the Ulsan guys were on it quicker than a seagull on a hot chip? No one can say any aspect of our game last night was great but I don't think our long ball game was worse than our ground passing, and it may even have been better/less bad.

 

I tend to agree. The long passes didn't often come off but they were at least on was my gut feeling. And I noticed those passes also. Hersi trying to pass through their legs comes to mind. There were lots of occasions where passes were made to where the attacker wasn't running also.

everyone missing a major factor (that's reoccurring), D'appuzzo getting lapped every time on the left, getting caught in possession and then being out of position. Silly fouls that lead to goals, im not sure if this guy is doing poppas accounts or something but how he gets a run each week baffles me. If I was an opposing manager my game plan would be attack attack attack the left.

It also has to be said that Ulsan packed their defence centrally from their second goal and when Aaron or Shinji tried to do anything that way even if it did come off there were plenty of oppo players there to stop the attack. 

Also the usual Hersi and Polenz show was missing for almost the entire match. JP was probably not match fit and he wasn't running on past Youssouf anywhere near enough to create width, and from memory I think he only did it about 3-4 times in the second half. I think I saw Spira in JP's attacking wing back role almost as often if not more so.

Unfortunately ALeague clubs can't match it by buying players to fill in the shortfalls we seen last night.

I wonder if CCM experience in Asia is one of the reason they set up an Academy, to nurture footballers and fill this shortfall.

Asian team with incredible national and international players and astute coach versus aussie team with good up and comers and an emerging top coach. to be expected, Rome wasn't built in a day.

I thought the flares looked great, but probably not $30g great.

Looking forward to attending the next match, missed this one due to a last hour food poisoning incident ;(

why play the same team  that just got off the plane from perth.  This is when he needed to rotarte. We didnt string passes together. Mooy looked tired and probablr piss@#d of for not making the ozzie team, la rocca not interested, adam being adam.  Hersi average and polenz was a disaster. The game was not that fast.  We should have used fresh legs with enthusiasm.Hopefully we recover for Sunday? 

Great to be there. We gifted them the three goals though.

Mooy looked pissed about not making the Socceroos you say? I think I speak for everyone whose surname isn't Mooy when I say that is the least of his worries. Has been a passenger for a while now, not even in our top ten at his position.

Flares were dumb, cost the club, might cost them more if you do it again and you have to play behind closed doors. Unbelievably selfish and stupid behaviour. Gotta get these ****wits out of your club or you will pay the price.

Ulsan were just better. Good to see the play acting they delivered when they played us a couple of years ago has largely disappeared.

Mooy looked pissed about not making the Socceroos you say? I think I speak for everyone whose surname isn't Mooy when I say that is the least of his worries. Has been a passenger for a while now, not even in our top ten at his position.

 

Flares were dumb, cost the club, might cost them more if you do it again and you have to play behind closed doors. Unbelievably selfish and stupid behaviour. Gotta get these ****wits out of your club or you will pay the price.

 

Ulsan were just better. Good to see the play acting they delivered when they played us a couple of years ago has largely disappeared.

Mooy has been very good the last few games, but last night he was average.

If Ulsan's play acting has disappeared I'd hate to think what kind of theatrical production they presented when they played your mob. To see a guy go down quicker and harder than JFK on a drive through Dallas then get up quicker than a jet propelled Lazarus tells me still adhere to the the Stanislavski approach to football.

Some ordinary defensive headers tonight. Twice Polenz headed the ball in field when he should have been heading it away from the goal. He looked gutted afterwards and I now know why. He'll be better for it next time.

The third came from La Rocca getting underneath a header which just rebounded their way.

The bounce wasn't with us last night but we didn't help ourselves either in that regard.

At the opposite end, Santalab had a top strike to open the scoring after a superb Shinji ball. He failed to score from the corner of the 6 yard box later in the first half which he'll be disappointed with. Bridge looked off last night too and has for most the season really. He & Shinji are for me the two players struggling the most this season in regards to last season. Hopefully they'll turn it around quickly.

I was expecting a lot more play acting and time wasting once they equalised. Even more so when they went up.

But it wasn't that bad.

Go watch the SFC vs Shanghai game.

THAT was bad for time wasting.

Everything WSW did in attack was too slow, too many touches and basically everything the players did was telegraphed and the Ulsan players saw it coming before it happened. Hence why every pass was cut out.

The less said about the shocking defending for all 3 goals the better.

Some ordinary defensive headers tonight. Twice Polenz headed the ball in field when he should have been heading it away from the goal. He looked gutted afterwards and I now know why. He'll be better for it next time.

The third came from La Rocca getting underneath a header which just rebounded their way.

The bounce wasn't with us last night but we didn't help ourselves either in that regard.

 

At the opposite end, Santalab had a top strike to open the scoring after a superb Shinji ball. He failed to score from the corner of the 6 yard box later in the first half which he'll be disappointed with. Bridge looked off last night too and has for most the season really. He & Shinji are for me the two players struggling the most this season in regards to last season. Hopefully they'll turn it around quickly.

Hate to say it but yes, these two have been struggling to get back to their brilliance of 2012/13 (of course it would be unbelievable as an achievement if they could come close). I think you can throw in NTS and d'Apuzzo on that count too, with Hersi borderline.

I was expecting a lot more play acting and time wasting once they equalised. Even more so when they went up.

But it wasn't that bad.

Go watch the SFC vs Shanghai game.

THAT was bad for time wasting.

 

Everything WSW did in attack was too slow, too many touches and basically everything the players did was telegraphed and the Ulsan players saw it coming before it happened. Hence why every pass was cut out.

 

The less said about the shocking defending for all 3 goals the better.

Lets be honest though, it is nothing we haven't seen over the last few months in the A League is it. We haven't really been firing as we can all season and the game against Perth was our first clean sheet in a while.. In the fox commentary last night they were saying 'well this isn't typical WSW defending' but over the last few months it has been as there have been some sloppy goals conceded and some very average passing.

Add to that a team with a bit more technical ability than your usual Aussie side and the result isn't so surprising.

But we sit second on the ladder so we remain hard to beat, just not as effective as we were or as easy on the eye.

Ulsan are in pre-season. Our biggest advantage right now is that we should be more match fit than these other teams but it looked like we were the ones getting tired as the game came near its end.

The K-League plays a 9 month season then has a month off before preseason starts.  While players will have lost match fitness in that month they have now been training for 6 weeks and have had half a dozen pre season games.   Ulsan's players would be every bit as fit as ours.  The difference between the 2 sides fitness wise is that we had over half our team backing up after the game in Perth of Saturday night and travelling across the country while Ulsan has been quietly training in Sydney for 5 days prior to the match.

Disappointed with the result... but not too much as we were outplayed by a better team. We were getting dominated in the air and swarmed in defence when deep in their half. We're a young club and the experience playing asian clubs is valuable. 

Was pretty disgusted/embarrassed when the smoke from the flares contributed to us conceding the first goal, you could see how frustrated the players looked too. 

Strange that the seating on either side of the tunnel on the western stand had been roped off. Was very weird looking across the park and seeing full blocks of empty seats (I was in the eastern stands). I guess it was done to make the crowd look a bit more dense for the camera but seems like a waste of good seating since the areas on either side of the roped section were being used. 

Would love to get one of those WSW waterproof jackets - getting soaked on a weeknight (without my usual beer jacket) was pretty ordinary. 

Asian team with incredible national and international players and astute coach versus aussie team with good up and comers and an emerging top coach. to be expected, Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

I thought the flares looked great, but probably not $30g great.

 

Looking forward to attending the next match, missed this one due to a last hour food poisoning incident ;(

You didn't gamble on one of those pizzas at the Roxy did you ?

 

Strange that the seating on either side of the tunnel on the western stand had been roped off. Was very weird looking across the park and seeing full blocks of empty seats (I was in the eastern stands). I guess it was done to make the crowd look a bit more dense for the camera but seems like a waste of good seating since the areas on either side of the roped section were being used. 

 

It did look weird and wasteful. I think it is an ACL match requirement to have a certain distance between the "dugouts" and fans. 

 

 

Strange that the seating on either side of the tunnel on the western stand had been roped off. Was very weird looking across the park and seeing full blocks of empty seats (I was in the eastern stands). I guess it was done to make the crowd look a bit more dense for the camera but seems like a waste of good seating since the areas on either side of the roped section were being used. 

 

 

It did look weird and wasteful. I think it is an ACL match requirement to have a certain distance between the "dugouts" and fans. 

 

Don't tell me Frankie's been asking the ACL to keep the beer throwers that far away from him?

 

Some ordinary defensive headers tonight. Twice Polenz headed the ball in field when he should have been heading it away from the goal. He looked gutted afterwards and I now know why. He'll be better for it next time.

The third came from La Rocca getting underneath a header which just rebounded their way.

The bounce wasn't with us last night but we didn't help ourselves either in that regard.

 

At the opposite end, Santalab had a top strike to open the scoring after a superb Shinji ball. He failed to score from the corner of the 6 yard box later in the first half which he'll be disappointed with. Bridge looked off last night too and has for most the season really. He & Shinji are for me the two players struggling the most this season in regards to last season. Hopefully they'll turn it around quickly.

 

Hate to say it but yes, these two have been struggling to get back to their brilliance of 2012/13 (of course it would be unbelievable as an achievement if they could come close). I think you can throw in NTS and d'Apuzzo on that count too, with Hersi borderline.

 

To me Topor Stanley has a certain shelf life with this club before he starts to become more and more useless. He is good when it comes to a-league, but you saw last night as a defender how he gets exposed at international level.

But the reality is that we struggle to even score against a-league clubs. So how do you think we were going to go against an organised Korean defence? We are so predictable. We rarely ever score more than 2 goals in a game. Most of the time it is just 1. 

to me it just looked like they were very good at adapting we came out firing and both halve's we were playing well for the first 20 mins then it seemed they were just sitting back and waiting then kicked it up a notch and started putting real pressure on us witch is why i think we mad uncharacteristic mistakes usually against an a-league team we absorb pressure well but i think the next level of tactics uslan had was jsut a bit to much. all in all though i wasnt that disappointment with the loss considering these guys were 2012 champs and we could have easy beaten them. 

 

 

Strange that the seating on either side of the tunnel on the western stand had been roped off. Was very weird looking across the park and seeing full blocks of empty seats (I was in the eastern stands). I guess it was done to make the crowd look a bit more dense for the camera but seems like a waste of good seating since the areas on either side of the roped section were being used. 

 

 

It did look weird and wasteful. I think it is an ACL match requirement to have a certain distance between the "dugouts" and fans. 

 

surely only ESFC need such a rule.