Sad Game (Drawn So Much)

Thomas and Mrcela were key for us in getting draw, Wilmering with the best chance early on should have buried it. Remi with a good chance at end but draw probably fair result. 
 

Without Ninko and Yengi the attack is even more toothless. So until they are back it’s obvious we are struggling. 

RBB made great noise - well done to those who made the trip. 
years past we lose this game so at least that’s a positive.

Hoefully marcello was precautionary coming off next week against mariners we need him!

Well we had a go.

Just now, Legionista said:

Well we had a go.

Krpic was again useless, he hardly breaks a sweat. He doesn’t even deserve to be on the bench.

Great thread title Mack. We really need a rocket man up front.

Real tough watch, if we are relying on blokes like Wilmering, Borello, Najjarine up top in front of our import then we are going to struggle to score every week and it is showing.  That game should be over at half time and instead we go into the break 1 down.  Glad we got the pen cos we were never scoring otherwise, our set pieces FMD surely one player in the club can put a corner across that doesnt meet the first defender or end up in the keepers hands, every week it is the same, our corners are simply pathetic.

On the positive, we didnt lose, Mrcela was immense as was Thomas and Bozanic went alright as well.  Callum had a decent game but just held on to it a few times too long the result of playing with different team mates every week.  Just need some stability somewhere.  CCM are a much better side than us so next week will be dire.

Anyone else happy Hoffman didn't score that tap in during stoppage time?

I was worried it was a resurgence of the dark days of 2017 when he'd play like Messi against us

Borrello is a great supporting cast winger.

Instead of playing that supporting role picking up a few goals and assists every 3 or 4 games while more dangerous players win us matches weekly, he's our equal top scorer with Bozanic the defensive midfielder who didn't start playing until round 7. 

3 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

Anyone else happy Hoffman didn't score that tap in during stoppage time?

Selfish git cost his team the points by not seeing the cutback for a tap-in against our slow ass defence.

I get all the criticism, but man we are so hard to please. We are 3rd still on the ladder. A decent striker and we are challenging for top spot. We played some sweet football in parts. Some lovely placement and passing, just not the whole package. Yet. 

Maybe this season is more about building than conquering? We certainly are not as bad as the last few seasons that's for sure. 

If we had lost that I'd have felt a bit more downbeat.  For sure. But we are still in it... maybe even to win it. 

I know , i know... way too positive. I stand by it, come at me biatches 

Google has the line up as this:

Borello
Najjarine - Ngbakoto - Wilmering
Bozanic - Nieuwenhof
Traore - Marcelo - Mrcela - Cleur
Thomas

^ LOOKING AT THIS IS A MASSIVE CLUSTERF*CK! ^

It should of been the following:

The back 4 as it is. (Traore, Marcelo, Mrcela and Cleur)

The defensive midfielders should of consisted of Amalfitano (which leaves a massive question mark on why was he benched in the first place and why was he not used this game?) with Nieuwenhof along side him. 

The front 4 should of consisted as Najjarine as the left wing, Bozanic pushed up the field as the attacking midfielder and Borello as the right wing with Ngbakoto as the lone striker. 

Having Wilmering as a right wing up the field really mind boggles me. If he was playing as a right back, I would of had no issue with it.

He's not the type of player to have up the field and I'm not sure why Rudan decided to do that. I'm going to assume that Rudan thought Wilmering could be in the starting line-up so then there's a player to provide crosses for any corner kicks. However, I would of had Bozanic doing that anyway. I'm not going to say that there's no denying that Wilmering is good at providing crosses. However, as I said, he's not a right wing player. 

Not sure why Blair has been dropped...then again he's not any better than Krpic (maybe too early to call?) I would of had Lopane on instead of Krpic. He's barely had any game time.

The squad got a point, it's better than getting none. However, this performance was mediocre and it's not helping that the casualty list just continously grows:

- Marcelo (hope it's a minor injury)
- Yengi (high doubt he'll play next week)
- Ninkovic (same applies)
- Russell (who knows when he'll be back)
- Beadling (it's now gotten to the point that it seems he was a pointless signing)
- Carluccio (I thought he would of been back by now)
- A.Bonetig (hope he's ankle is alright after Elton John f*cked him up pretty badly)
- Sapsford (seems to be an ankle injury and could be back around March)

Tongyik looks to be gone completely and will head to West Asia.

I just hope the squad can hold onto a top 6 finish and eventually these players are back before the final series commences.

The Mariners next week is actually the REAL test for the squad.

3 minutes ago, EmMac said:

I get all the criticism, but man we are so hard to please. We are 3rd still on the ladder. A decent striker and we are challenging for top spot. We played some sweet football in parts. Some lovely placement and passing, just not the whole package. Yet. 

Maybe this season is more about building than conquering? We certainly are not as bad as the last few seasons that's for sure. 

If we had lost that I'd have felt a bit more downbeat.  For sure. But we are still in it... maybe even to win it. 

I know , i know... way too positive. I stand by it, come at me biatches 

The bitch is back…..

30 minutes ago, mack said:

Maybe we just like to be kind. 

1 hour ago, EmMac said:

I get all the criticism, but man we are so hard to please. We are 3rd still on the ladder. A decent striker and we are challenging for top spot. We played some sweet football in parts. Some lovely placement and passing, just not the whole package. Yet. 

Maybe this season is more about building than conquering? We certainly are not as bad as the last few seasons that's for sure. 

If we had lost that I'd have felt a bit more downbeat.  For sure. But we are still in it... maybe even to win it. 

I know , i know... way too positive. I stand by it, come at me biatches 

Yeah I'm with you here !!

Post match presser:

On Ninkovic:

-Laughed when asked when he will be returning

-Has been at full training for a few days

-Didnt want to risk him for an away game 

I'm not sure why it matters whether it's a home or away game. I guess he didn't want to play him on the wet ground. Based on that, it sounds like he'll be back for the next home game.

Why are relying on a 38 year old Ninkovic?

Great addition to the squad, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just madness. 

I'd say its a fairly settled debate that Rudan hasn't got a ******* clue how to setup a team. The structure in and of itself is pretty decent, he's even recruited sort of OK. But as @MathyouWSWaptly pointed out he's got **** all idea how to use his cattle. I'll never understand what in the ever living **** he is thinking.

Since I know for a fact Rudan used to read the Wellington forums when he was there, theres a good chance he reads this one too. Some quick pointers:

- WILMERING IS NOT AN ATTACKING PLAYER
- Borello isn't much of a striker. There was little to no attempt to get in behind. Even Krpic has that concept down pat
- WILMERING IS NOT AN ATTACKING PLAYER
- Najjarine at 10 has produced far less than Bozanic did with the same service. He attacks nicely off the edges and gets in behind down the bi-line, why even bother to use him if you're going to take away one of his best assets?
- WILMERING IS NOT AN ATTACKING PLAYER
- Why would you leave Amalfitano on the bench when he provides more running at the right times (cant stress this point enough) than the other 2 DMs? We were up against a side that plays on the break and theyre ******* fast. We also needed someone mobile to get past thurgate, but it seems that this wasnt considered
- WILMERING IS NOT AN ATTACKING PLAYER

Here's to hoping we make the 6. Theres a non-zero chance we drop out of the six next week when CCM put one up us

23 minutes ago, Upthehill said:

WILMERING IS NOT AN ATTACKING PLAYER

He's a ball boy 🤗

While he was out injured, I said that our season rests on N'Gbakoto being the x-factor our team needs to be successful. 

We were expecting a Castelan or Hersi type of player, that would not only excite the fans, but be a real threat to the opposition. 

He looks like he is just going through the motions. Instead of being explosive and creating chances in the final third, he looks like he is on idle. 

Get out of neutral and go through the gears, lad. 

15 minutes ago, SNS100 said:

While he was out injured, I said that our season rests on N'Gbakoto being the x-factor our team needs to be successful. 

We were expecting a Castelan or Hersi type of player, that would not only excite the fans, but be a real threat to the opposition. 

He looks like he is just going through the motions. Instead of being explosive and creating chances in the final third, he looks like he is on idle. 

Get out of neutral and go through the gears, lad. 

 

He's been disappointing to say the least. His never stamped his authority on any game. Never looked like he would take charge or be a major influence to the outcome. His highlights have been 2 goals from innocuous free kicks, and winning a penalty. As a foreign signing he's been nowhere near up to scratch.

He's been better than Krypic... and Beadling 😆 though... 

We’ve taken 3 points once in the last 7 games yet somehow keep finishing each round in the top 3. Doesn’t say much for the quality of the aleague this season…

1 hour ago, hughsey said:

We’ve taken 3 points once in the last 7 games yet somehow keep finishing each round in the top 3. Doesn’t say much for the quality of the aleague this season…

Pub league.......

Rudan has set us up well defensively but attacking, there’s no structure, its kind of like pass it to Borello or Yeni and hope for the best. Our lack depth and quality in attack has shown that if you don’t have those players, we are not going to score much goals, we are averaging 1.07 goals per game and Maclaren has almost scored as many goals as WSW has.

As for the game, we didn’t play to badly, we were just missing that cutting edge to finish those chances that create hence the lack of attacking options up front, Wilmering played as a CM (in place of Roman), Yeni played as a false 9, the penalty was our saving grace. Krpic has shown how useless he is, that chance we had, instead of cutting back, he crosses the ball and Ramy rightly so had a massive go at home for his stupid play. The sooner we get a striker, the better, we can’t keep playing like this all season when we don’t have fit players.

16 hours ago, mack said:

Borrello is a great supporting cast winger.

Instead of playing that supporting role picking up a few goals and assists every 3 or 4 games while more dangerous players win us matches weekly, he's our equal top scorer with Bozanic the defensive midfielder who didn't start playing until round 7. 

Shows how much lack of depth we have in attack. If Borello and and Yeni both go down and we are still missing Ninko and Yengi, then we have to rely on Krpic and Ramy as our attacking option.

1 hour ago, LetsPele said:

He's been better than Krypic... and Beadling 😆 though... 

Not that hard to do, especially Beadling can't we get him off the books?

Its the active number 9 who can get the ball, make things happen and score both good solid goals and be in the right place to tap in... that we are missing - a Cummings type more than McLaren. He runs, combines, sets up...

Another defender will be vital if Tonyik has gone.  We also need consistent players available.  Yengi is mostly good when on the park but he's off more than on.  Nink when fit adds a lot either starting or off the bench.

Start off with positives. THAT MRCELA TACKLE. Channeled his inner Souttar and celebrated that more than the penalty and the goal  we came back from 1-0 down and dominated.

Negatives we dominated the 1st half and got sucker punched and lost Marcelo. Jets took full advantage of us missing Marcelo picked apart on our left side in the 2nd half. Its now 1 win 4 draws and 2 losses since the break 7 points from a possible 21. Somehow still 3rd however we are 3 points above 7th placed Perth. 

Krpic failur and the injuries to Ninko and Yengi are just massive losses that we haven't been able to cover with our squad. We have Wilmering playing LW but he plays like a LB so unless he has space he just goes back and then when he is LB he gets killed defensively. But who else do you put? Badolato? Lopane? The academy kids haven't really put their hands up like at the Mariners where they lose 1 and have the next guy comming through, the irony being that majority of those kids were ex Wanderers.

Is Rudan bringing in an import striker this window?

Are we getting rid of Krpic?

Only watched the game late last night, as like many, 3pm is a stupid time to put on a game.

Was always going to be difficult game. All games against those lower on the table are going to be gritty games as they want the wins more.

I thought we played reasonably well in the first half, but really died away in the second. I think it's reasonable to say we just don't have the firepower up front that we need, especially if we don't have Ninko on the park to manufacture creative opportunities around the box.

Word on the street (reddit) is we've signed a former Man Utd player. Over 300 games.

Friday announcement. 

Any guesses?

36 minutes ago, WanderingToqui said:

Word on the street (reddit) is we've signed a former Man Utd player. Over 300 games.

Friday announcement. 

Any guesses?

Alex Ferguson