Santa Strikes Late To Send Wanderers Top

Just looking at the ladder (which is pretty sweet with us on top!), City, for all their goal scoring, have +11 GD. We have +9. Of course could be better if we took half the chances we create, just as City's could be better if they stopped leaking goals. For everyone's complaints - including mine - that we need to be better in front of goal, we aren't doing that bad.

Is anyone gonna say anything about how Santa nearly skied that shot over the bar?

 

Great to get the three points, but we need to be better.

Yeah it didn't come off the boot too well but it went in so no dramas. 

I think the bounce suprised him. Not sure why coz that cow paddock would have to be the worst pitch we have played on since FIFA Club World Cup. It was terrible and I hope a referee's report also lets the authorities above know exactly how bad it was..

Castelen was not good at all.

meh lol I think he deserves about half of the stick he gets on this place. I bag him out also and rightly so at times. But take the move yesterday where Castelen puts a great little through ball to Mitch on the edge of the Penna area, great ball and great movement, Mitch has an option of Bridge I think to his left, not a difficult ball, he gives it away very cheaply and the whole move breaks down. This happened at least 3 times where Castelen played a nice little ball in but it wasn't him that actually turned it over.

There were times when he did turn it over, and he was as weak as piss on the ball when CCM started their counter attack which went on to be their goal, that wasn't great.

 

Castelen was not good at all.

 

 

meh lol I think he deserves about half of the stick he gets on this place. I bag him out also and rightly so at times. But take the move yesterday where Castelen puts a great little through ball to Mitch on the edge of the Penna area, great ball and great movement, Mitch has an option of Bridge I think to his left, not a difficult ball, he gives it away very cheaply and the whole move breaks down. This happened at least 3 times where Castelen played a nice little ball in but it wasn't him that actually turned it over.

 

There were times when he did turn it over, and he was as weak as piss on the ball when CCM started their counter attack which went on to be their goal, that wasn't great.

All forwards are like that where they waste chances. The difference is that Mitch consistently scores more than Castelen. If Mitch was on one goal for the season we'd be be bagging him, and rightly so.

Guys like Mitch, Bridge and Santa are some of the most frustrating players on the field when I watch sometimes, but all it takes is a goal in a game and we love them to death. As someone said imagine if Santa had skied that shot last night. We'd be giving it to him, but he didn't and now he is the hero.

Yeah pitch wasn't great which is surprising because it's generally good up there. Santa if he missed that would have been on highlights around the world.

We played some great attacking football still the last pass or final execution isn't right. Hopefully we address soon. 

Redmayne should have done better there wasn't much pace on that initial shot and went straight at him. We have 2 big games upcoming with City and Victory i'd be surprised to see Popa change before then. 

Jamieson is turning into my fav player, just loves playing for us and has a machine work-rate - hopefully he can score a goal soon really deserves it. 

Re the pitch. There was a pass bridge played for jamo to run onto late in the game @ 1-1 and it was a short 5 or so yard pass. It bobbled up to knee height half way there, taking all the pace off it and interception then counter. Worst ive ever seen that pitch.

 

 

Castelen was not good at all.

 

meh lol I think he deserves about half of the stick he gets on this place. I bag him out also and rightly so at times. But take the move yesterday where Castelen puts a great little through ball to Mitch on the edge of the Penna area, great ball and great movement, Mitch has an option of Bridge I think to his left, not a difficult ball, he gives it away very cheaply and the whole move breaks down. This happened at least 3 times where Castelen played a nice little ball in but it wasn't him that actually turned it over.

 

There were times when he did turn it over, and he was as weak as piss on the ball when CCM started their counter attack which went on to be their goal, that wasn't great.

All forwards are like that where they waste chances. The difference is that Mitch consistently scores more than Castelen. If Mitch was on one goal for the season we'd be be bagging him, and rightly so.

 

Guys like Mitch, Bridge and Santa are some of the most frustrating players on the field when I watch sometimes, but all it takes is a goal in a game and we love them to death. As someone said imagine if Santa had skied that shot last night. We'd be giving it to him, but he didn't and now he is the hero.

 

Castelen is a right winger, Mitch is an attacking central midfielder, of course Mitch should be getting in the goals and Casta should be chipping in a ******* lot more than he does from his position, But at the same time Casta was doing his job, he was supplying the likes of Mitch and Bridge.

Now a free scoring right winger with pace to burn that can grab you say 8 - 12 goals a season that can also come inside and act as a central attacking midfielder, anyone got the  telephone number for Popa?

 

 

 

Castelen was not good at all.

 

 

meh lol I think he deserves about half of the stick he gets on this place. I bag him out also and rightly so at times. But take the move yesterday where Castelen puts a great little through ball to Mitch on the edge of the Penna area, great ball and great movement, Mitch has an option of Bridge I think to his left, not a difficult ball, he gives it away very cheaply and the whole move breaks down. This happened at least 3 times where Castelen played a nice little ball in but it wasn't him that actually turned it over.

 

There were times when he did turn it over, and he was as weak as piss on the ball when CCM started their counter attack which went on to be their goal, that wasn't great.

All forwards are like that where they waste chances. The difference is that Mitch consistently scores more than Castelen. If Mitch was on one goal for the season we'd be be bagging him, and rightly so.

Guys like Mitch, Bridge and Santa are some of the most frustrating players on the field when I watch sometimes, but all it takes is a goal in a game and we love them to death. As someone said imagine if Santa had skied that shot last night. We'd be giving it to him, but he didn't and now he is the hero.

 

Castelen is a right winger, Mitch is an attacking central midfielder, of course Mitch should be getting in the goals and Casta should be chipping in a ******* lot more than he does from his position, But at the same time Casta was doing his job, he was supplying the likes of Mitch and Bridge.

 

Now a free scoring right winger with pace to burn that can grab you say 8 - 12 goals a season that can also come inside and act as a central attacking midfielder, anyone got the  telephone number for Popa?

Bridge plays on the left side and still scores a lot. Hersi scored at least half a dozen goals during each of the seasons he played. Castelen can't finish. He gets in the right positions like other players who score, but the difference is he doesn't have the composure to score. Yes he creates, but he needs to score a few more goals to take the pressure of others and contribute with more than just dribbling and crossing.

Castelan should have been replaced at halftime. It was clear that he had been fouled way too many times and was not moving freely.

 

 

Castelen was not good at all.

meh lol I think he deserves about half of the stick he gets on this place. I bag him out also and rightly so at times. But take the move yesterday where Castelen puts a great little through ball to Mitch on the edge of the Penna area, great ball and great movement, Mitch has an option of Bridge I think to his left, not a difficult ball, he gives it away very cheaply and the whole move breaks down. This happened at least 3 times where Castelen played a nice little ball in but it wasn't him that actually turned it over.

 

There were times when he did turn it over, and he was as weak as piss on the ball when CCM started their counter attack which went on to be their goal, that wasn't great.

Castelens been talked through the roof on West Sydney Football.

No ones ripping into him. He just didn't play very well. And I agree Mitch was not very good either lol

Castelan should have been replaced at halftime. It was clear that he had been fouled way too many times and was not moving freely.

The first tackle by Austin was right on the edge too. Won ball front leg, absolutely cleaned him up with trailing leg. At no stage did Williams have any control of that match.

The pitch was horrible. Aspro was great but only let down by the pitch where he was fortunate that CCM didn't convert.

Castelan is amazing. Everyone goes on about how he can't finish, but that problem has been a WSW thing from day one. Haha

I thought we got a lot of the calls from Williams last night, first half in particular.

Castelans heading ability is as good as his shooting.....that free header in the first 5-6 minutes that missed by 5 metres , should've been 1-0 right there. He needs to watch Austin? the Southhampton guy that buried his free header vs ManUre overnight!

I love it that Montgomery played a big part in our win by getting sent off. How does that feel knucklehead. The culmination of CCM trying to hack out a result. It will serve us well in preparation for the Victory away game.

Wasn't able to watch the game, but thanks to the high quality of this forum I feel like I have watched it. Always such good analysis by the posters, much better than shitty post match reviews by Fox.

Great to see us back in our rightful spot on the table

Pio sidelined without an injury? Our marquee on 700k? Time to admit he has been a miserable failure. He is a major reason that we have so many problems with our finishing, and the fact he has rendered himself unpickable means we now have to play players more comfortable in other positions in his place.

We can squander chance after chance against CCM and get away with it, but teams like Victory in big games won't be quite as generous. Ahh well, back into first!

Piovaccari is not the solution, but last night proved we as a squad have trouble converting chances, so he is not the problem per se. If Piovaccari goes, let's hope we hire a solution.

Piovaccari is not the solution, but last night proved we as a squad have trouble converting chances, so he is not the problem per se. If Piovaccari goes, let's hope we hire a solution.

He was paid marquee wages to be that solution, so therefore he is the problem, and has been all season.

Great to firstly meet some fellow forumites at the pub, thanks for being so welcoming. I had such a good trip.

Random thoughts

The Garcia bay could have fit into a couple of Toyota tarragos.

Thanks to our brilliant support, if they did song YNWA then I never heard it, which stopped me from going over the edge

Aspro is class, two perfectly timed tackles to stop goals and composed throughout

Can't add much on the Castelan thing other than if he could finish he probably would still be in Europe.

Andreu was class, always does the right thing with the ball

At the time their goal looked like a Redmayne fault although seeing it again he slipped on the pitch which made it look worse

The little chips into the box we love to do are driving me mad.

Top of the table so can't really complain.

Next two games are massive

Castelen is very frustrating. Can be very good, but not often enough. I fear he is becoming an impact player and not sure that's enough.

Redmayne, got closer to losing his spot again this week.

Our spaniards are amazing / I hope we find a way to keep them all.

Aspro outstanding, but some bits need work. Has a good future with us.

Jamo is a machine .... Neville, not so good, but a pass.

Dario, good, but can offer more, and we need more from him.

And Bridgey !!!! What a legend !!! Great club man, always makes a contribution

Santa changed the tempo when he came on, gol, still trying getting into his groove after long time away, some promising signs, and Bacchus in a brief few minutes, won the game for us ... He can play and contribute when required

Honorable mention to Luis Garcia - lifted his team when he came on - what an honour it is to have him in the league

No doubt we are having trouble finishing and killing off teams. Needs to be fixed if we're going to win the championship (although hasn't stopped us from being top of the league after 16 rounds !!!)

Kearyn Baccus has come in late and made things happen in the last two games. Hit a great square ball to set up Santa.

All attacking players lose the ball. It's ok You want them to take chances to try to create something.

Difference between castelen and bridge/Mitch though is that they bust themselves to track back when they give it away while castelen sits on his arse and whines at the ref.

Lloydy. You need to answer biggest qn of the night..

Is your mate converted?

Well that is a big question

 

Piovaccari is not the solution, but last night proved we as a squad have trouble converting chances, so he is not the problem per se. If Piovaccari goes, let's hope we hire a solution.

He was paid marquee wages to be that solution, so therefore he is the problem, and has been all season.

Fair point, but he wasn't forced upon Popa. His highlight vids show what kind of striker he is and we got what we saw, a strong poacher with heavy feet.

Popa's teams have struggled upfront for a while and a rethink in the final third built around a different type of striker is required.

Thoughts and observations or: the day I lost my voice in Gosford

• Mentally and physically exhausting game. I was knackered after the final whistle.
• That blasted hill...
• No police in the active or non-active bays - what a difference to S2.
• Black trousers in!
• Shocking pitch.
• Williams made the Mariners hack party possible. The amount of time especially Castelen got kicked without any consequence was astounding. Lousy ref.
• Should have been 3:0 up by half time, but too open for counter attacks.
• Mariners appear to have consumed speed in the break, while we opted for tranquillizers instead. Putting their hacking efforts aside: kudos to their work and running rate.
• Great interceptions by Aspro in the first half, and cruical save by Redmayne right after the equalizer.
• Andreu and Dimas kept Bridgey, Jamieson and Nichols away from Monty after the red card. Especially Bridgey had a gut full of him and gave it to him.
• After Santa's goal my voice box jumped out of my throat, and I got the biggest beer shower since the Brisbane GF.
• I am glad that Santa recovered from his season or even career ending injury as quickly as he has.
• Luis Garcia: "The crowd was fantastic today". Indeed, the RBB was pumping. Kudos to those who filled in for Boris.
• Top of the table again. Happy days. These are the games we need to win if we want to be a serious title contender.
• MotM: Jamo for me. Absolute gun. Red and Black through and through.
• Baccus now seems to be ahead of Pepper.
• And for the kid who was responsible for the pyro march: one day you'll be taken out and then

I forgot to mention the cops making the guy take the WSW sticker off the road sign on the March. Not sure why I found it so funny

Two cops said to me as we walked out... "that was very entertaining"

First off, that was hard yards watching the second half. In the first 45 I thought the lads played some of the most attractive and assured football ever seen from a Wanderers team. Admittedly the goals didn't come in the flurry such good football should've created, however watching the Sea Bogans you could see all they could rely on was sitting back and the occasional hack.

Second half though it was as if the lads took some lazy dumbarse pills whilst Walmsley fed his lads Peruvian marching powder. Time and time again whatever the decision that was taken by the mids and font third seemed to go awry. As everyone else has said Castelen was as frustrating as a lap dance at a eunuch's reunion. He has so much flair and jazzy feet skills from the waist down he could be Maradona. From the neck up however he sometimes is Marc Warren. It gets incredibly tedious to see him make some brilliant moves and then ignore the passing option or take a kamikaze run into not one, not 2, but 5 fooking defenders. Or squeeze off a shot with the most wasteful results. Yes, he was getting hacked viciously, and it may be argued that by being the centre for the oppo attention he created opportunities elsewhere. However I am getting tired of seeing individual brilliance balnced out with dumb decision (oh, and as said before, lazy defending).

Oh, and before anyone gives Redders a bollocking and whinge about his keeping, last time we were up at Dynamo Woy Woy he pulled off an Ante-esque save to make sure we won that game. He has his probs and consistncy is a big issue. However I can cut him some slack (for now).

Bridge was great and the Spanish trio almost always calm, assured and in control. Mitch was the energiser bunny but I think to some extent his early season form has dropped a tad (and oppo players are better at shutting him down). Vidosic put in a very decent shift (IMHO his best since the season began). Aspro was damned good; he only had one major fook-up, and that was (as pointed out elsewhere) due to his use of boots that must have inbuilt banana skin technology. Jamo and Neville were fair, and Santa added that special something when needed.

As for Williams, he had his usual impact on the game by letting the Sea Bogans go in as hard as a Jap banzai charge in the first 20 minutes, with no discipline action. I haven't watched the replay yet but that late call for a pen from Santa looked very doable. That he sent off Montgomery was down to the fact he never cracked down hard enough in teh first 45...so in a funny way he contributed to our victory.

The win was a good result, however we must do better. Who knows what will be the result of the Pio issue, however we just can't continue to see very good football only put us 1 or 2 goals up. 

Regarding the crowd etc, the RBB/actives were on point and did a fine job. I was way up the back in the second level and found the casual factor there really deadening. 'Glorious' was treated as a mild moment of interest, not the blood boiling passionate cri de coeur it usually is. I only saw a couple of LFC shirts so the Eurosnobs didn't come out in droves thank fook. And walking the hill behind the Settlers post game...fook that for a joke.