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  • Dismal 3-0 Defeat To Melbourne Victory

    mack

    By mack

    The Western Sydney Wanderers have been torn apart by clinical Melbourne Victory tonight at ANZ Stadium.

    Josep Gombau faced a selection headache in central defence which he looked to solve by shifting fullback Jack Clisby into the heart of defence alongside Michael Thwaite. Marcelo Carrusca was elevated to the starting lineup with Roly Bonevacia forming an attacking midfield duo. 

    The changes did little to help the Wanderers on either side of the ball. After a half-hour of back & forth ineptitude from both sides, where neither side could do much to challenge the goalkeepers, the Victory put together the first moment of class in the 35th minute. On a counter-attack Besart Berisha found Kiwi international Kosta Barbarouses with an outlet ball after Herd missed a tackle, Barbarouses flew down the right flank and squared up Raul Llorente, then fired through the attempted block. The ball looked to have taken a deflection but it may not have made much difference to the end result.

    The Wanderers thought they had an equaliser right after the break, as Josh Risdon fired in a cross to the 6 yard box that marquee striker Oriol Riera tapped home. Steven Lustica then destroyed great lead up work by Carrusca & Bridge when he skied a shot deep inside the Victory penalty area.

    Melbourne went two in front with Berisha answering some of his recent criticism with an assist from Leeroy George. After the Wanderers turned the ball over in midfield, Mark Milligan lofted a ball over the top of the Wanderers defence who were caught square. George cut back onto his opposite foot twice to beat the cover defence of Llorente & Clisby then laid the ball off neatly to Berisha whose shot was helped home with another deflection.

    Llorente's failure to close down hurt the Wanderers last week in Wellington, and having already been at fault for one goal due to his failure to mark, you would have thought he would have avoided getting caught out again. Instead when Barbarouses picked up the ball 20 yards from goal in the 92nd minute, Llorente stood back and watched as the man of the match blasted a shot into the top corner, giving Janjetovic no chance.

    The action capped off an abysmal night defensively, and with the little quality the side had going forward wasted by poor positioning, a failure to attack the ball or wayward shooting, the 3-0 scoreline reflected the clear technical dominance of the visiting side. The loss leaves the Wanderers with little chance of finishing higher than 5th, and if they continue their slipshod football it's more likely they will drop out of the top 6.

    The Wanderers play Perth Glory next Sunday in Western Australia and Perth will give themselves a huge chance of ending their 5 game losing streak.

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    StringerBellend
    2 minutes ago, lloydy136 said:

    punting corny has already proven to be a mistake imo.

    dependable reliable leader and still a very good cb at a-league level (as shown by 2nd half of last season).

    carrusca is a very good footballer - definitely a positive.

    Unless we have someone lined up, and it doesn’t look like we do. 

    Bizzare isn’t it 

    Link to comment
    Unlimited
    13 hours ago, Paul01 said:

    Carrusca made the HAL team of the week. We need Cejudo on the park and need a decent winger instead of Lustica on the wing. Unfortunately, we have Sotirio.  Definitely agree on the CB.

    Next weekend we do not want to raid the NYL team as they need their full strength team to play the Jets NYL otherwise the smurfs get to the NYL GF.

    With Hamill & Aspro back, Tass should go back to NYL

    With Cejudo and Sotirio in full training, Majok should go back to NYL.

    Meh

    If the A-League team needs them and is going to use them, who cares?

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    • Popular Comment
    btron3000
    • Popular Comment

    Wow. Reading through this thread reminds me why I wrote "I ate a pie".

    I respect the opinions in here, but to me it's all immaterial. I turned up the other day with little excitement, and not because of our position on the ladder, or the coach, or whatever. It's because I knew it was going to be dull. Remember what a game against Victory was like? Walking through Parra you could feel the buzz, get into the ground and it's heaving, cops outside worried something might kick off, everyone on edge, electricity in the air. Of course success helps the atmosphere, but so does the stadium, the way the FFA/police/our club have decimated the support etc.

    Got there the other night, walked in... nothing. Small pocket of RBB, little atmosphere. I'm as much to blame as anyone, I couldn't get into it. Was starving, so just before kick-off I went and bought a pie. Missed kick-off, and then instead of standing and singing I sat there and ate, sauce and everything, while some players in red and black shirts played a game somewhere just at the edge of my field of vision. Couldn't care less. Did it feel like the two biggest teams playing each other? Hell no. I barely opened my mouth in the first half except to complain about a **** pass, dumb decision etc. Sang a bit in the second half. Ashamed of my effort, but not ashamed.

    And now we get online and speculate about whether a coach should be judged on his ability to get results with the old squad, or bring in a new one. Just like every other ******* team and their ******* supporters. ARRRRRGGGGHH was it always just a mirage that we were different, was mediocrity and normality (off the pitch, I never thought we'd stay at the top on the pitch every year) always lurking underneath?

    Bring back Parra, bring back flares, bring back excitement.

    Link to comment
    wendybr

    Great post Btron! :good:

     

     

     

     

     

     

    well....except for mentioning the "f-" word.  

     

    Nah...seriously....great post, which probably reflects how most of us feel.

    Sigh.

    Link to comment
    beatsurrender
    7 hours ago, btron3000 said:

    Wow. Reading through this thread reminds me why I wrote "I ate a pie".

    I respect the opinions in here, but to me it's all immaterial. I turned up the other day with little excitement, and not because of our position on the ladder, or the coach, or whatever. It's because I knew it was going to be dull. Remember what a game against Victory was like? Walking through Parra you could feel the buzz, get into the ground and it's heaving, cops outside worried something might kick off, everyone on edge, electricity in the air. Of course success helps the atmosphere, but so does the stadium, the way the FFA/police/our club have decimated the support etc.

    Got there the other night, walked in... nothing. Small pocket of RBB, little atmosphere. I'm as much to blame as anyone, I couldn't get into it. Was starving, so just before kick-off I went and bought a pie. Missed kick-off, and then instead of standing and singing I sat there and ate, sauce and everything, while some players in red and black shirts played a game somewhere just at the edge of my field of vision. Couldn't care less. Did it feel like the two biggest teams playing each other? Hell no. I barely opened my mouth in the first half except to complain about a **** pass, dumb decision etc. Sang a bit in the second half. Ashamed of my effort, but not ashamed.

    And now we get online and speculate about whether a coach should be judged on his ability to get results with the old squad, or bring in a new one. Just like every other ******* team and their ******* supporters. ARRRRRGGGGHH was it always just a mirage that we were different, was mediocrity and normality (off the pitch, I never thought we'd stay at the top on the pitch every year) always lurking underneath?

    Bring back Parra, bring back flares, bring back excitement.

    From this moment forward when the game is just 'Meh' we can use the euphemism, "I ate a pie" and everyone will know exactly how we feel.... :)

     

     

    Edited by beatsurrender
    Link to comment
    WHACKO
    On ‎23‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 1:55 PM, theguyyouwishyouwere said:

    F*CK me what a goal by Kosta though

    Yes it was, but with three touches and ten minutes to put the ball where he wanted to hit it from and the closest player being Llorente no closer than five metres from him applying no pressure you hope it would be.

    Edited by WHACKO
    Link to comment


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