Most of it was strong play by Adelaide to knock our younger players off the ball, some of it rough play, and bits were just nasty. 

what a shame for Neville to go out that way this season. He is such a good, clean, quality player I felt for him getting sent off.

We got physically beaten by Adelaide - no presence through the middle just about the whole game. Most of it was strong play by Adelaide to knock our younger players off the ball, some of it rough play, and bits were just nasty. We just could not match it, and for some reason we could not play around or past it.

Second half we got better, but never really got on top.

I don't object to our six yellows, but I do object to not a single yellow being issued throughout the whole game for what was pretty cynical professional fouls by Adelaide to upset our play on turnovers. It happened all game and free kicks were awarded but nothing done to actually stop it. That is on the ref.

The loss was on us.

Tonight we held the game most of the time but once again were unable to convert dominance and opportunity into anything on the score sheet. We did a great job of controlling Mariners dangerous players - keeping them very quiet - except for the times when we didn't...

I have not seen Trewin so dead on his feet before. For the last 20 minutes he was running on willpower alone. When the games come thick and fast, for your younger players to be so exhausted shows how hard it is on teams.

Great game by Hingert and Neville - and what a shame for Neville to go out that way this season. He is such a good, clean, quality player I felt for him getting sent off.

We have such a fine base for our team - sitting much the same as we were the last couple of seasons with dreams of a proper proven striker and a good DM, but otherwise having the pieces of a great team.

I like Ivanovic, Mileusnic, and Adams up front. Hore is showing enough to be given opportunities. O'Shea is quality when he is not too tired to run or too deep to attack. Brown we can only hope comes back with most of what he had developed before his injuries - but that is a hard road for him. Hingert and Zabala are a good pairing for experience and backup/emerging player. Trewin, Neville and Aldred make a great CB group, and while we don't have a world class keeper anymore Holmes and Freke are both capable keepers. I am not sold on Holmes as a better shot stopper than Freke, but he seems a bit more solid/reliable when it gets busy. Akbari and Daley belong in the squad. I find Brindell-South is a good bench option as a backup but not a game winner.

Parsons has lost something since his injury and getting dropped. Lofthouse and Dehmie just show glimpses of something but neither belongs in the starting side - and both need to develop significantly before they should be regular bench options.

Connor Chapman is another who looks like he belongs in the side once he is fully fit.

Lescano adds nothing, I have no idea (or have forgotten) what happened to Steinmann but he did not turn out to be what we needed in DM, and Ryo Wada also did not turn out to be what we needed.

When you see what most teams bring off their benches in the second half it highlights the weaker side of our squad. We can make up a pretty good starting side (noting the lack of a proven striker and quality DM mentioned above) but there is very little coming off our bench to turn a game on its head.

There are a lot of positives I have seen in this season; most notably the way we have played against the best opposition when we have worked properly. Almost a whole starting side of really good players at our disposal.

Tonight, I was actually quite happy for Mariners to win the game to help keep SFC out of the six. Shame Kuol's great goal was helped by such poor defending. No-one covered Roux's run and no-one tracked Kuol after he passed off. They were left to do what they can obviously do so well which is madness given how well all the Mariners were contained most of the game.

If Nix can get a win next then that is something anyway.

I am assuming Moon is giving opportunities to emerging players these last few games and will run with his best side more consistently next season. The mix and match nature of our side all season is no small factor in where we are on the table.

I've almost come to admire the insane level of orange tint in your lenses

RYO WADA NEVER got a shot as Striker. Played in a coupe off the pine as a Winger. Moon had no idea how to manage him, who to play and what his best formation was.
Lescano was underwhelming and Steinmann was not influential enough. Ivanovic is just as likely to 'hog it' or 'sky it' more often than not.
Demhie is wholehearted but can't get a shot on goal, constantly. He might be better further back in a different role. 
Why did Wada not get a decent shot, in an indecent team?

aldred, brown and hingerts injuries definitely scuppered the season before it could get going. we had spent the entire preseason playing 5 at the back only to not have players fit enough to play it for 10 or 11 rounds. that really killed the season as we had to develop a 4 at the back system and didnt have the attacking players to play it. 

adams, hore, parsons, lofthouse, ivanovic, dehmie, all show some good qualities but they should be squad and depth players not regular starters. add in lescano, milusenic and wada, that is our entire attacking squad with not one player that is of regular starting quality right now. not one of them would be in the starting 11 of any other team and that is no where near good enough because 3 of them are starting for us each week. It shows 23 shots and 0 goals against ccm and that has been a regular occurrence.

looking to next season, in midfield we need to do everything to keep oshae and obviously steinmann goes with chapman coming in (which will hopefully make it a bit stronger). the amount of chances we create indicates the midfield is probably working ok so the rest of squad doesnt need much changing, possibly daley or akbari go if we can get a good replacement but i would not actively be chasing opportunities or spending big. 

up front, lescano, ivanovic, lofthouse and wada go and we need a 15+goal striker and a good winger/wide attacker. then adams, hore, parsons and melusenic can battle it out for the 3rd spot with the others playing off the bench where they should be. 

at the back i would not be surprised if aldred heads back to england with a new baby his family will need some support so i think there will be pressure on him to move (though i bet they spend most of the off season at home so he may be back).  with brown, hingert, aldred, neville, brindle south we are over weight with old injury prone players with only youth players as back up. we need more players in their prime 27-30 years. brindle south is an easy out but wont free up much cash so probably one or more of hingert, neville brown and aldred will be in the fireing line and we will need quality replacements. 

I think Adams can start. He is not yet enough to be a top notch starter, but he is good enough to be getting a lot of game time to develop more. He is at a point where he is better than a bench player but not yet up to a full return for his opportunity. Maybe that is the definition of a good bench player now I think on it.

I would also be happy with Ivanovic in the starting lineup. He needs others round him to help draw off some pressure because he does get stifled when he is alone up front - but the 15 goal striker would cover that like DWH alongside Maclaren.

Adams, Ivanovic, quality striker, O'Shea, quality DM, Brown, Trewin, Aldred, Neville, Hingert would have been a great lineup this season for me.

Neville has been one of our best players all season. I would not be thinking about him leaving.

i am a hard disagree with ivanovic at the moment. nothing i have seen this season has shown that he is a starting quality striker (though he is 21 so has potential). his touch is heavy, he hasnt been able to consistently beat a player, hes not fast. he has averaged 1.7 shots a game which is terrible for a striker (particularly when we create so many chances) and has averaged less than 1 shot on target a game. he is not a starter by any stretch of the imagination

I am surprised by both the stats and the thought that he is not fast.

With the ball at his feet he has not dominated with goals, but without the ball his closing speed is quite unexpected and very effective. I see him as a bit of a Besart without the great goal scoring ability.

My idea is obviously skewed when I sound it out :). I am basically so impressed by the turnovers he creates and pressure he successfully brings to bear that I have lost sight of his actual goal scoring stats. He does create 'something' in the game up front when he plays and the last thing he is is boring when we compare him to our often static attackers just waiting for something to happen. I do still rate him but acknowledge that I may be biased subconsciously by comparisons with Lescano on both the chasing and lively side.

I do think having him as a solo striker is pointless because he can be shut down by numbers too easily - but I do not recall many games where he had a strong supporting partner up front to split the defenders between them. Maybe a few early in the year. I also am not sure we ever got to see him back fully effective after covid and his injury early on. Not looking at excuses - just trying to remember how he went throughout the season.

the problem with that is that we dont play with 2 strikers so you end up playing him in a wide player which takes away from his strengths. also unlike besart, ivanovic is not strong enough to hassle defenders off the ball or to break a line with strength. yes he may create some problems with his closing speed but he wont then push a defender off, he has to wait for a miss-touch and then the defender can recover by simply being stronger. 

Yeah - I tend to see players rather than positions and formations so if I 'like' what I see I imagine it can work without it being a proper structure. I did picture playing with two up front rather than a single central striker and rotating through the centre somewhat in a 4-2-2-2 sort of formation but I don't know if that can work.

[Edit: Actually a 4-4-2 with the midfield in a diamond and two strikers is more what I had in my head]

Ivanovic does rely on surprise to nick the ball off a defender and that can only work so many times before they are alert to it.

So Ivanovic maybe on the bench in my team now with our new quality striker in.

For me it seems Moon can’t decide on who should play where. This is the coach’s dilemma sometimes, but I feel he still is not settled on it. 

For me it seems Moon can’t decide on who should play where. This is the coach’s dilemma sometimes, but I feel he still is not settled on it. 

I agree with all that, but noting that Daley is a defensive 6 rather than a creative 6. His passing is limited going forward even though his commitment and enthusiasm are there.

I also agree with your final sentence. It may be a big 'if' in the first place if we are going to spend money. Proven striker has such a lovely ring to it. Hope we don't go for Bobo now that he has announced his retirement.

Striker is such a hard spot to fill as the cost of a decent proven striker is out of this world, and money ball foreign strikers are hit and miss (with it being miss more than not for us). 

I think moon will be scouting for a foreign striker but i think it will be 50-50 whether we get another bes or lescano. we really lack experience up front and a foreign striker coming in doesnt really help that as even experienced foreign players take can take a while to settle into the aleague. this wont be helped when playing with the likes of hore, adams, parsons, daley, and akbari (even melusenic) who really wont help a new player settle in. there is another option ( that is still risky given their injury history) that i think has a higher chance of working out. i would target brattan, barbaruses and rojas. 

a midfield of brattan, chapman and oshea is strong defensively and hugely creative, feeding rojas and barbaruses who can take the focus off of a developing striker, score goals themselves but still create chances for others to finish. the vast experience in the aleague means you can carry the likes of Ivanovic, or parsons or dehmie up front. cheaping out on the striker (who would be over charging) for wingers who should be relatively cheaper. you can also then bring on hore and adams where they probably should be off the bench. 

Striker is such a hard spot to fill as the cost of a decent proven striker is out of this world, and money ball foreign strikers are hit and miss (with it being miss more than not for us). 

I think moon will be scouting for a foreign striker but i think it will be 50-50 whether we get another bes or lescano. we really lack experience up front and a foreign striker coming in doesnt really help that as even experienced foreign players take can take a while to settle into the aleague. this wont be helped when playing with the likes of hore, adams, parsons, daley, and akbari (even melusenic) who really wont help a new player settle in. there is another option ( that is still risky given their injury history) that i think has a higher chance of working out. i would target brattan, barbaruses and rojas. 

a midfield of brattan, chapman and oshea is strong defensively and hugely creative, feeding rojas and barbaruses who can take the focus off of a developing striker, score goals themselves but still create chances for others to finish. the vast experience in the aleague means you can carry the likes of Ivanovic, or parsons or dehmie up front. cheaping out on the striker (who would be over charging) for wingers who should be relatively cheaper. you can also then bring on hore and adams where they probably should be off the bench.