I didn't !! 

So how many points is that in eight games....more importantly!

:hehe::hehe::hehe::hehe:

So, just wondering, if the season gets called off now, does mean that Roar qualify for Asia next year, by virtue of 4th place finish where Wellington are inelligible?

It's not being called off.  FFA just announced that season will be compressed into 3 weeks and all games behind closed doors.

It would make incredible karma of that rained out game against the Nix.

Games as fixtured will continue, except for the Victory and Pheonix games over the next 2 weeks. So our game against Victory is postponed. Our game against Sydney on 28th March will be played.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see us play Jets this weekend and Sydney midweek next week. It’s not clear where they will play the games though but O’Rourke said Nix would be based in NSWs so do we assume all games will be there (central coast stadium would be perfect surely?) 

Haven't we lost a position due to poor statistics over the last few years? So its only champions with direct entry and premiers into the playoffs.  Shows our disdain for the competition has come to bite us. 

In the past 14 games, CCM has conceded 2 or more goals in every game except for two games....the two games against Brisbane. Brisbane have scored the 2nd least goals in the league. I would say based on goals scored, the attacking tactics are ineffective.

We were seated in the attacking corner Last Friday with Corey Brown running at us. In the whole of the half he played one forward pass which resulted in Inman being fouled in the corner.  For the life of me I don't understand the thinking behind the repetitive recycling of the ball rather than attempting to get to the byline and make a cutback to O'shea or McDonald. 

I think the last 2 games have been great in way of structure. The adjustments worked a treat. It was quite different to previous games and I hope to see more like it. In contrast and for example, the game before we barely had a shot at goal with the first in the 72nd minute. But we weren't supposedly parking the bus. lol.

I will go there then. Thanks for the heads-up Waz.

They’re looking for the overload. 

Understood, but when they don't press the envelope, the defenders can just sit back and wait for the recycle to the other side. Rinse and repeat. Again, Corey made, from my recollection, one forward pass in 45 minutes in the first half on Friday. That generated a free kick in a reasonable area because CCM had to re-adjust and were late to the ball.

The other point I'd make is that Corey often has the wrong body shape, mentioned ad nauseam by @Decentric (fortunately, I'm a slow learner), which necessitates him passing backwards. I haven't saved the game soI'll have to look for a replay or online, but I will have another look at the game in light of your comments.

What they look to do is cut inside once the numbers are there, it’s a pass they’ve been doing all season but not to great effect. Now they’re committing numbers to one side and instead of going around the defence to the dead ball line looking for the cross/cut back they’re looking to play through the defence on the inside. 

And on Corey - I don’t think much of him at all. So no argument from me in what he contributes 

Many thanks for your work.  I noticed there's an hours highlights of the CCM game tomorrow afternoon so I will look at that. Hopefully enough of the game to get the idea. 

.

In the last 15 games it’s been three times Mariners have only conceded one goal, the one before the two Roar ones being SFC 1, CCM 0. It’s clear that Mariners can be tough to beat occasionally and can capitulate occasionally. I wouldn’t read too much into individual games tbh. 

Watched the replay vs Mariners this morning. I am more than satisfied with the progress over the last 2 games.

Just looking where it broke down for us when it did - player sloppiness, lack of quick decision making and shortage of individual skill all strongly contributed The style of game played cleverly minimizes the impact of these shortfalls but is nevertheless good to watch. Crossing fingers for next season as.we're so close and yet so far.

I’m with you. Hard to know what to expect from this season but Fowler’s getting a pass from me with high optimism for next season now 

Is that down to coaching or players? I think its clear to see there is a game plan going forward which the players aren't executing, therefore the current crop of attackers Inman, O'Shea, Scotty Mac (even though his done his job), Holloway, require replacing for this team to become a championship contender.

Disagree somewhat there...a decent 9 and a really decent 6.....and this team goes somewhere to being a contender. I'm happy with Inman and OShea. 
The task is it's the A-League, which many seem to forget, so we not gonna get the best players therefore we have to search through many leagues and find a likely player who is actually available and keen for a job downunder. 
Somebody said last week there's other players around better than Gillesphey and Aldred, so I said ok....like who.....tell me......no answer.
Certainly there's players like Le Fondre, Ninko, Castro around but first you gotta find them!

And obviously Scott Mac

Scotty mac has done well in the system, and it functions much better with him in there rather than ROD but he is old and cant maintain the required output for 90+ minutes. Mirza/DWH pick up Scottys slack a bit with enthusiasm and running but lack scotty's technical ability. what we need is a hybrid of the two with the energy to run and harass defences for 90+ minutes but with scotty's technical ability (preferably we would have 2 of them up front, but a really good 9 with scotty subbed by Mirza/dwh playing beside him would go a long way to improving us). 

Inman and oShae also play the system well and their only downside is that they havent scored a lot. but if you have a better duo upfront it would free up inman and oshae to score more as defences would be pegged back a bit more. 

O'neil has improved as the season has progressed but his spot is another one that would improve us remarkably. A player like Brattan who can hold the DM spot on his own would really improve us. 

those are the two spots that i would be looking to improve at all costs next season. then an out and out starting CB, Neville has done well but Bowles has started to many games this season. an out and out  starter would relegate Neville to the bench but we have really needed an extra CB this season. 

I haven’t seen any question marks over Scott’s ability to deliver over 90 minutes. But agree we need to find a younger version but it’s not DWH or mirza 

I know teams below us have games in hand, but how good is it to have runs on the board for a change!

It is not us chasing other teams - they are chasing us. They may catch us but it is fantastic to be making our own 'luck' in that regard and getting the points.

This is a team we can be proud of.

Carn the Roar!

DWH looked way better tonight. Far more comfortable