Treble winners vs $murfs - 8 Dec 6pm

[priorpeter]

He does have quality for sure but also is harder to spot than Casper the Ghost for huge chunks when he has been trusted a starting spot. I understand why he gets a start sometimes coz he looks great at training with his nice first touch but he is too green for me at this stage. Love to see him come on for 20 mins cameos because he is always excellent off the bench.

Agreed he is green right now - would’ve been a good option off the bench though as you say. He’ll build.

 

[Meerkat]

He does have quality for sure but also is harder to spot than Casper the Ghost for huge chunks when he has been trusted a starting spot. I understand why he gets a start sometimes coz he looks great at training with his nice first touch but he is too green for me at this stage. Love to see him come on for 20 mins cameos because he is always excellent off the bench.

I’ve gone hot and cold with Brandtman but have seen enough of him through the academy to know he has some magic. I think he was hot headed at one point, unless I’m confusing him with someone else, but I think with minutes and maturity he will be a weapon. He’s already proven that a few times.

Fingers extremely crossed all is well with his scans.

 

[Spacks]

Root?

nah lightning struck a tree like 20 meters away from me while walking the dog

 

[priorpeter]

I must confess, my negativity train fell off its tracks tonight when I genuinely found myself thinking.. “just wait til Jan when we have some injuries back fit, a signing or two.. we’ll be pushing for top 6!” 😂

Agree with your comments. Anybody would think you know a thing or two 😉

Sometimes you just see enough to keep the faith. Still some issues to sort, but back to back wins in aliga, we move!

 

[midfielder]

Hats off to the whole team, that was a gusty performance.

Paul had his best match for us, and he stopped Lolly a number of times.

The send off changed the game even so compare the squads and they a should have spanked us.

Keeper pulled off three excellent saves and needs IMO a special mention.

Everyone played to their ability today which is a good sign

 

[Wombat]

I didn't go tonight as the family shamed me into a family event with the Grandkids in Lake Macquarie.
That my 2nd missed game of the season!
I ain't missing any more unless its a funeral.


Defo an improvement but we are not mugs so you have to be decent to beat us in AL.

Dylan's most convincing display.
Storm was excellent all night. 1pt
Kaltak. Really good overall.
Paull. Very good for a change. Bit weak on their goal but apart from that outstanding. 1pt.
Mauragis. Probably his most consistent game so far.
Steele. Some good moments. Improving and didn't leave holes.
Alfie. Solid overall. Worked hard.
Sash. Prefer him as a WB/FB but he puts in every time.
Theo. His extra bit of quality made all the difference. Took them on at every oppurtunity and made them uncomfortable. Really important game from Theo. He looked like our leader! 2pts
Doka. Some good moments. That cross for the winner was perfect.
Alou. Brilliant. Aggressive and both goals were top drawer. 3pts


COYY.

 

[pjennings]

Hats off to the whole team, that was a gusty performance.

Paul had his best match for us, and he stopped Lolly a number of times.

The send off changed the game even so compare the squads and they a should have spanked us.

Keeper pulled off three excellent saves and needs IMO a special mention.

Everyone played to their ability today which is a good sign

I didn't look at it that way. I was really upset with the ref in the first half. About the only thing he got right was the red. They dominated possession especially in the first half because they got away with incessant fouls while we got pulled up for normal tackles.

As it was more often than not Doka would have put away his shot for a lead. If the Sydney keeper's red was not there then Koul would have scored.

Second half 9 times out of 10 Kaltak's header finds the back of the net and Eames won't try and pass the ball into the goal in a similar position.

While we have been found out in defence in the ACLE we have played 6 games with only 6 against us in the ALM. In 5 of those games we have conceded a total of 3 goals. Only the poor performance against WEL where we lost 3-0 has let us down.

We are not that easy to score against. Today showed that we can score goals. Not only Kuol's double but the other good chances that were created. When we get our full side we will be very competitive. Maybe not winners - but certainly not also-rans.

 

[true believer]

Who had Koul hat trick on their bingo cards? Great ball in though!

i told him on tuesday night after the game he'd get a hat trick today.
i saw him after the game today and told him he still owes me one .

 

[true believer]

Yeah intentional hand ball with Grant already on a yellow.

Doesn’t matter if 1 second into the game or 1 second from the finish, the referee missed it or chose not to worry due to the time left but really should be reprimanded for ignoring the rules.

Doesn’t affect us! Thank f**k.

But Western United who they play next week should be a bit dirty.

kersley was atrocious . i was calling him a cheat from the 20th minute onwards

 

[true believer]

He does have quality for sure but also is harder to spot than Casper the Ghost for huge chunks when he has been trusted a starting spot. I understand why he gets a start sometimes coz he looks great at training with his nice first touch but he is too green for me at this stage. Love to see him come on for 20 mins cameos because he is always excellent off the bench.

yeah this is it . he's still not making the game .
he'll benefit hugely from more NPL time . he has to own the penalty box like the great 10's do .
work in progress indeed

 

[Coastalraider]

That’s 2 games in recent memory where Sydney have gone down a player(s) and we haven’t really ‘taken advantage’. Like Jacko said post game, it’s not as simple as that.

Talay puts away the press a bit and their defensive structure is still really solid, and our tendency to try and work the ball up the field rather than quick transitions rarely finds the extra man and we still struggle to find a way through.

Couple that with our general lack of a defensive press, and we sit deep in our structure with Sydney’s real talent able to move the ball around in our third, they are still a very real threat - as numerous shots will attest to in the last 30 odd minutes.

I just think the 2 styles of play almost negate the loss of a man and it’s not clear advantage it would seem.

Having said that, it was a really important win, not a good one but an important one. Sometimes learning to win ugly starts fuelling the confidence.

Alternatively, if we dropped any points last night it really could have been lights out as far as this squad goes.

overall trending in the right direction with players to come back and sitting on the edge of the 6 is a very decent position to be in.

 

[shipwreck]

Anyone got a link to the presser?

 

[Big Al]

Alou what a great game but that pass from Doka was sublime.

Liked Doka as the second striker, more a Tulio position so i expect more assists and goals from there. The Ed and Alou combo is hopefully dead.

All Alou needed was to know he was playing all game and didn’t have to worry about being subbed. Best performance in a long time.

We should of had 4. But still found a way not to score when it was harder not to.

Loved that we smashed Leo Sena. He didn’t like it and was fake rolling on the ground alot. It was his own fault on his knee. He left it there and Koul took it fair and square and ref let it go as he should.

Paull that’s the player that made you a prospect. Best game by far. Not perfect but growing finally.

Storm thank you for that very last interception. That looked a potential problem ball.

 

[Big Al]

SFC might have found away to stuff up there team again. They can’t press as effectively with Costa. Man he has some skill and that half volley he hit in the first was incredible timing and power. Lucky it went over.

Kimala is a fantastic striker

Going to ten they sacrificed the old and slow for the kids energy and that was a worry

Luckily Grant is past it now. He was horrible.

Mathews. Oh boy Alou pantsed you and had to be subbed off. A socceroo i did not see.

 

[Archie]

Here’s the thing, we have a completely different team to last season which is filled by even more inexperienced youth especially since we have half our team injured. We haven’t been putting in our best performances, however we have 2 wins, 3 draws, and just the one loss, much better then last year when at of our first 6 games we only picked up 4 points. Also we haven’t been getting results in ACL, but the truth is, in most of those games (excluding last Tuesday), we have taken our opposition all the way to end of the game and have eventually lost it to a poor error by an inexperienced player or a world class moment by someone on a million dollar wage. My point is, we have an extremely young team, but we have shown glimpses this season and especially last night that we still have the fight, and when we fight, we win. This is most definitely our rebuild season, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t gonna be competitive, and if we can have the hunger and desire that was shown last night in all games this season, who is to say we can’t go all the way. The future is bright.

 

[BaysideMariner]

You can rub it in.. totally fair!!!! Trust me, I was regretting my life choices by the second half.

Can’t ignore the fact though, that we only seem to win when I’m not there.. do I risk turning up on Friday… 😬😳

Can we start a gofundme for you to stay at home

 

[Tevor]

SFC might have found away to stuff up there team again. They can’t press as effectively with Costa. Man he has some skill and that half volley he hit in the first was incredible timing and power. Lucky it went over.

Kimala is a fantastic striker

Going to ten they sacrificed the old and slow for the kids energy and that was a worry

Luckily Grant is past it now. He was horrible.

Mathews. Oh boy Alou pantsed you and had to be subbed off. A socceroo i did not see.

Yep I love that Grant is their captain and has another season left, shadow of his former self. I would have taken Sena off and left Anas on when they got the red. Poor decision by Talay.

Costa was gased by 35 mins, quality but not a work horse.

Talay made mention in his presser how disappointing the defence was on our two goals. Defence is their weakness this season and Popovic going in the window adds to their woe.

 

[shipwreck]

Huge confidence booster for the boys. If we can back it up with a result against Adelaide and get Sainsbury training with the squad again, I'll be very happy.

 

[Stuartmcateer]

if we can have the hunger and desire that was shown last night in all games this season,

This is pretty much what we have been asking for. We don't expect them to win every game as long as they look like they mean it.

Show some fight, make some runs, crunch someone in a tackle, play forward.

Also we haven’t been getting results in ACL, but the truth is, in most of those games (excluding last Tuesday), we have taken our opposition all the way to end of the game

Not sure I agree with this. We weren't as close as some of those scores might suggest.

In all games except for Shandong (in the first game), we have trailed by 2 before we scored and in 3 of the games we scored at 90+4/5 to get a point (Shenhua) or make the score close birirum and port). We took Kobe's B team to the end, which is probably a fair barometer of where we sit in terms of the a league and where the a league sits in Asia..

There are some good signs and I still think we make the top 6 - once there anything can happen.

A few key trades in January plus those returning from injury and it's trending up.

 

[BaysideMariner]

In my opinion Steele has been poor to start the year. Yesterday he seemed to be playing higher up the pitch with Alfie playing a deeper role. He looked better for it and I felt he had his best game for us since his recovery from injury. You can never fault the effort he puts in. His execution was better yesterday.