Wanderers Scrape Past Blacktown Into Cup Semi-Final

8 hours ago, mack said:

We put two up front & played 4-4-2 when chasing an equaliser.

we have done this a few times over the years.

our tactics always change throughout the game, as players adapt to conditions and to opposition players and their tactics. question for me is - how much change is necessary before we call it plan B, C or D?  how often do we come out at half time and either start the half poorly or well? is that a fluke, or a change in the plans?

i think people like/need to just have a good old whine when things don't go our way. it's not so much we don't have a plan B - it's that when it doesn't work "WE DON'T HAVE A PLAN B" or when it does, it's individual brilliance ffs.

I think one thing that we as fans should be weary of is that we're possibly carrying the perils and emotions from last season in to this season. It's difficult to "reset" in that respect but I think we may need to appropriately. Granted, a lot of comments in here I find are quite valid such as tactics (in fact that debate has been prominent for a few seasons). 

I'm trying to be positive after this result as we could have easily dropped our heads and been knocked out when we went down 2-1. Sure I don't like penalty shootouts as they're unfair but if this is a mental sign of the team being able to get the wins when it matters then I'm quite buoyed by that. For me, I couldn't get past Popovic being inept in adjusting to when Blacktown changed their formation and tactics. 

Watched the game again yesterday arvo on Foxtel and Toonie's GK saved their arse at least 3 times before the first half ended. If those shots had gone in there'd be no talk about the need for a Plan B, C or fooking Z. The lads were moving the ball around with some very zippy passing and they also were more aware of where they were generally when trying to connect their passes in the first half (admittedly this slipped in the second half with Shotirio and Clisby big offenders).

We won, we're in the semi for the first time, and we've better players to come into the starting XI. 

On 24/09/2017 at 10:18 PM, mack said:

We put two up front & played 4-4-2 when chasing an equaliser.

I assume you are trying to disprove what I had written since you quoted it. Other than the quote, the two aren't the same at all. 

Anyway, it's not a huge deal, we're in preseason, but I have concerns that we haven't grown tactically from last season. 

Let's hope not

I have to agree with Matty here but let’s be honest, we are coming into our sixth season and at what point in time has Popa ever radically changed our formation or player roles? I think it is expectation now from our own fanbase and the opposition that is unlikely to change.

You say Popa changed the formation to 4-4-2, but why did he wait so late? It was late into the second half of extra time which gave him little to no time to make an impact. Positionally too, can you say his exact role? He spent so little time on the field, it was hard to tell what he did differently to roly on field.

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Guy, when people say plan b I think people are asking for more than a substitution or changing the role of a player in a position. There has been definitive changes of style & formation between certain years but very rarely radical changes in a match. Very few coaches and managers in Australia are prepared to change tactics or plans if a game plan isn’t working.

Against Blacktown City, after 60 minutes we were being tactically outsmarted with both a substitution and formation change. In the next 30 minutes we were being outdone and we didn’t change what we were doing to counter City. Plan B could have come from changes to our 4-2-3-1 system to counter City (drop one of our fullbacks to help cover the counter), change our players and/or formation to counter the City momentum then put us back on top but that didn’t happen.

On having a whine or a whinge? Let’s be honest, we might never see the perfect performance but I always think we should aspire to grow, evolve and improve. On the back of a performance against City which we barely scraped through to the next round, I don’t it’s unreasonable to question it. Question where we went wrong, what trajectory are we on for the season ahead, what is the plan b etc etc

Plan A is 4 - 2 - 3 - 1

Plan B is 4 - 2 - 3 - 1  

Plan C is 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 

In comparison, Blacktowns tactical flexibility was impressive the other night

11 hours ago, matty said:

In comparison, Blacktowns tactical flexibility was impressive the other night

Absolutely - Crittenden recognised the issue and changed effectively. 

I either think Popovic was arrogant in that he believed the players on the field should finish the job (in fairness - they should have) but he only began to panic when game time for Lachlan Scott and Mark Bridge was minimal in normal time. Having that pacy forward from Blacktown ("jet" - I think was his nickname) introduced at half time stretched our defence out of position on the counter. Aspro didn't have a good game and mistimed himself when it counted.