BoyFromTheWest

I don't agree that we didn't work to a plan last game nor was it effective. The problem only came at the very last hurdle. Yeboah, for example, tried to walk a certain goal across the line and Marinovic pushed it away. You can't get any closer to scoring in the set up than that a few other opportunities. Marinovic made a few other very good saves and saved their butts big time. Jurman header, Muller shot. Duke (?) shot fingered onto the cross bar... Against Newy, Duke had 2 sitters and there were a couple of other chances. These were real chances, created by the team. Against Phoenix we were very dominant, fixed the midfield... We just couldn't put the final ball in the net - a major problem I concede but it is a finishing problem not a creation problem. In terms of the game (until the failed structural change to 3 at the back), we played very well. Of course Phoenix had chances and had times of pressure. No team is ever so dominant that the opposition never has the ball or challenges. If (and it was unfortunately an 'if' to far) we had finished 2-3 of the very good chances we had in the first 20-25 minutes, it would have been a very different story. My point is that we played very well, created very good chances but they were not put away - that is the main problem and it remains a WSW issue from many years. We have not had the personnel to take that last shot, to take charge on the box and out away opportunities. Sometimes we have had one player (eg Riera and Santalab, and Fathead perhaps) but not enough others to chip in - this has been the case for a few years. Our coaches have largely been defensive players (except Milicic - not sure what Haliti's role is now?) and we ahven't had good offensive coaching I suspect???

I very much valued FCB and Manfred - they have passion and play hard but so do many others. I liked hearing the positivity that was so very different from most others - I enjoyed the journey. There are many passionate people on here and when things go one way or another there is a lot of angst and venting. We all lash out and have strong reactions when someone disagrees with our views. I reckon we could name many responses as 'rude' or dismissive... At the moment I feel overwhelmed by the negativity and desire to sack everyone from Lederer to the ball boys - but especially Babbel and JT. Poor form has to result in someone losing their job because they are letting us down... Come back boys and share your views and passion and lets get on with things together - makes the forum far more interesting.

Possibly right but I also wonder... I think from other things Babbel understands that he is ultimately responsible - he has said that the pressure is on himself. I suspect that that is taken as assumed. One difference between Babbel and other coaches (ie Popa) is that he says a lot. He speaks about what happens, what he thinks and answers questions. Popa never took responsibility for anything but also never said anything. In fact few coaches give anything away and you hardly know what they are thinking. I actually take his comments re: 'we didn't play to the structure and I don't know why,' as his own seeking answers to his own questions. His language is different but he seems to me to be asking himself what has to happen and effectively admitting he doesn't always know what to do or how to respond when things don't happen as expected on the field. At the same time his matter of fact answers to questions, answer questions asked.

Can't say I was watching that same game as you then - thought we were pretty good but failed at the last - to put the ball in the net. The midfield controlled all the first half and much of the second unlike previous weeks. We created many chances. Yeboah had a couple of opportunities that any striker would drool over (and put away!). Phoenix hardly got going in the first half because we didn't let them. Thought that was great improvement. Our major failure, in the last couple of weeks particularly, is finishing - we haven't improved there. The rest was looking good. The longer we went without scoring the more we seemed to put pressure on ourselves and the front line looked tentative (except for Muller). The change to a back three was a gamble that I thought might have been good - to actually bring Georgevski into the attack more but it didn't and Phoenix handled it better. I agree that bringing on another striking option earlier would have been much more preferable and the use of subs seems confusing. In all, if a couple of the early chances had been taken we wouldn't be having this discussion - a victory changes everyone's perspective.

Totally disagree that the players aren't gelling or performing. We completely dominated most of that game - certainly the first half. Phoenix were not in the game for the first half hour. Their keeper and some nervous finishing saved them. We put some good stuff together and a goal in the first 20 would have seen a very different result in my opinion. Yeboah looked nervous taking too many steps with the ball instead of shooting. They came back into things in the 2nd half but we were still the better team for most of the game and gelled well but didn't score. They didn't deserve a win but we put so much pressure on ourselves and tighten up at key moments.

Summed up well, Mack. We should have gone in 3-4 goals up before half time. Yeboah played well but is not able to finish and that is a problem. I'm still not convinced about Kamau - does some good things but is sometimes easily beaten to the ball. He stands off or waits for the ball to come to him. Perhaps he might be better up front. Muller much better. Not sure the back 3 worked but at least we tried something. Would have liked to see Mo and/or Meir on earlier. I think Schwegler is absolutely fed up with the calls - seems he was going to walk off after the penalty. Rubbing salt into the wounds he received a yellow card - how stupid can a ref be????!!! A wasted game in the end.

One of the most frustrating things in the first half for me (watching live at the game close to the fence, so don't always get the broader perspective you sometimes get on TV or further back) was Georgevski and Kamau. Georgevski wants to bomb forward but seemed limited playing with a winger and Kamau is the most frustrating and difficult player for me to watch. He does some good things and when he runs onto the ball, looks better. I assume Babbel put a bomb under him at half time as he was better in the second half. He stood still waiting for Georgevski (or McGowan) to pass and Koutrumbis beat him to every ball. We kept going down the same side all the time and lost the ball every time. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same dumb thing over and over hoping it will work next time! That was us down the right side. ON the left, Wilmering defends well but isn't an attacking threat and cannot cross the ball. Georgevski looked frustrated on the right and he and Kamau were playing in the same lanes most of the time (something that Pep G claims is a fatal error) and Duke had little real service on the right - is he a winger? Really? We were trying to go wide all the time (and slowly!!) because we don't seem to be able to go down the middle. There is a huge gap between the front line and Schwegler (not sure where the others are??). I find Kamau the most frustrating of the lot - when he is good he surprises me and does some great stuff but can be blown off the ball wit hthe slightest breath, let alone a half decent shoulder. Just my frsutrated thoughts.

THe premise of the article is incorrect. Babbel didn't come out on the offensive against VAR. He did make a point of saying he had agreed not to comment on referees, which is a comment on referees but moved on until the idiot journalist pushed him twice on the penalty and obviously wanted some reaction (probably not the one he got). Babbels 'tirade' was at a journalist and wasn't used as an excuse. Like every coach before him and anyone else with an ounce of understanding, he said the penalty call changed the game - it did. That is fact, whether it was right or wrong - it changed the game - always does. Rudan was equally disbelieving about the two calls - didn't hear his presser but get his questions around what actually is a hand ball? Every caoch would like to know what VAR is there for. The first part of the article isn't bad but the premise of the whole thing is ridiculous and actually does what he complains about - uses something else as a distraction for what the issues is.

Walked past the pleasantly 'open space' (enclosed in a fence with inactivity behind it) on way to SCG and U2 (crap venue for a great band!). It is basically nothing. I suppose something is happening behind the low fence emblazoned with NSW Govt propaganda.

Why is that? He played ~60 minutes last week, which was planned, and scored 3 goals.

We've never had a coach that jumps around waving their arms. popa stood with his black note book and then sat for a while... In fact across the A League there are different types of coaches - some who jump around all game and others who watch and read the game, looking for strategies or day-dreaming or whatever they do. Don't really care personally because pre-game and half time are more important. I actually wonder what the players can actually hear most of the time - they don't seem to be able to hear each other call out, 'man on' and get cleaned up. When sometimes coaching junior's team I used to wave and shout and carry on and looking back I'm not sure it did much except confuse the boys. If pros don't know what to do when they get on the park and can't read the game, then I wonder if they should be on the park at all.

Sadly we are technically less than competent at the moment. We aren't able to hold the ball, beat the opposition to the ball or tackle. Our passing is so-so, often nowhere near our own players. McDonald and Diamanti are running rings around us. It isn't that we don't have the players or the passion. We seem to be lacking intensity on the ball and when we have it we don't know what to do with it. We are either predictable or go nowhere and give up the ball. There are far too many times when the ball bounces into midfield and we have no-one there or are a distant second to the ball. Their clearances go to one of them - and so do ours. We really seem to be going backwards in terms of basic stuff and tactics. Bye the way this isn't all doom and gloom, Woe is us... Simply an observation of a team that looks like it doesn't know what to do with the ball and has been fortunate with having a really good keeper and some good defenders.

I get the Derby hangover stuff - interesting read on the science. Hear Babbel, Meier etc and how tough it was but good to hold on, not concede a goal and get a tough draw. Happy with that and that we are undefeated after 4 rounds - excellent start. Like the guts displayed by the boys, even when having an off-day. What I do struggle with is some of the very basic mistakes that these pros are making. A few times through the game I thought to myself that they were making mistakes that you don't expect 14 year olds to make. Passes that go nowhere. First touched that bounce 1-2 metres away. Rash and late attempts at tackles where the opposition simply runs around you. The worst, for me, is that our players mostly stand still off the ball. They don't always move to receive the ball or run off the ball into space. This has been a constant frustration over several years. I lost count of the number of times that Brisbane (and Sydney last week) ran through and took a simple intercept because our player stood still waiting for the ball to arrive. I get that we may have been lethargic and feeling the let-down of a huge win but surely that would mean we focus on the simple things, the basics that ought to be automatic - we didn't. I thought Tass was one of the better players on Saturday. Even Schwegler looked slower before he went off. We can't just blame the heat because Brisbane outran us and moved the ball quite well and fast throughout the game. Our build up was tedious and often went nowhere. There was no creativity just lots of sideways passes and a long hoof or an intercept from a soft or aimless pass. I get the let down and it makes sense. It explains the lethargy and I get that. However, I don't understand why we still get lots of basics wrong. Under this pressure and the lethargy, the basics that should be deeply instilled and should be what we fall back on - we didn't. We had poor basic skills and poor structure in the middle of the park. We have ridden our luck through toughing the hard days out and that is good - the mentality is there. We need to add some good technique and better midfield structure and solidity. Next week will certainly be a test with the squad they having playing well. Hopefully we can have a few players leave the medical ward and get back on the ground.

A really good win. I agree that the stats are largely with SFC (except the only one that matters - we got more goals!) and they played very well. They were the more attacking side and had the large part of the possession. BUT, our defence was superior to theirs and Jurman, McGowan, Lopar were brilliantly solid. With Schwegler in front of them, DG and Wilmering wide, we really defended hard and tough. We tackled hard and Schwegler, in particular provided some thumping tackles. I wonder if our solid, sometimes desperate defence put extra pressure on the SFC attack? I wonder if we need to give much credit for their poor finishing to some incredible pressure from our defenders??!! We assume that they were shooting 1-1 in a vacuum and there was no pressure but our boys were piling on pressure and standing pretty firm. SFC made some great plays to break through but perhaps the pressure was still there! The only player who really looked like he was confident of scoring was Duke. He ran fast, strong and deliberately, pointing forward to Georgevski to put it where he wanted it and hammered that ball so hard that the Wiggle reacted after if bounced off the net and nearly hit coming back. Duke was full of confidence attacking that ball and there was no pressure from their defence. That seems to be the difference!

We were sitting down below Taurus, about 6 rows from the fence. Therefore 3/4 of the way down the field and much closer to the Cove. RBB were really loud most of the night. We heard the Cove a little louder when they were in voice but I thought the sound carried down lower really well. Where we were there was a lot of sound all night - a great atmosphere. The worst bit of the night was trying to get the crappy corporates to join in WDYSF - what a disaster they are. That is the worst part of the stadium - looking across at that wall of nothingness.