hopefully nisbet is adding some lethal finishing to his game

ccm have played so many games this year. Mooy had a 40 game season for wsw (they went through the acl and club world cu, he played 30 in total in all comps) before he moved to city and exploded. I wonder if the longer season is what made nisbet and mooy go to that higher level?

Sydney are just that much better at attacking raids than us.

Cacares and Lolley are controlled, dangerous and aware every time they come forward. It always feels like they are going to get a shot on goal when they come forward. The rest of the team are able to offer decent support - with Mak composed in his finishing half the time at least.

On the flipside, we could handle the close attention and pressure when we played through Sydney's 10 capable men - but we were rarely incisive or quick enough to take advantage of all the opportunities we were creating. So many fast breaks of ours end up getting passed round th ebackline before we move forward again.

Going the goal down put some urgency into our play - about the only time I really saw it - and colour me so surprised - but the fast play with vision and composure saw us equalise almost immediately. And then we went back to our slow, easily countered buildups...

Keeping 5 players behind the highest Sydney player at times, and passing slowly back and forth was too much a feature of our play - proven when we turned something on and carved through our opposition very effectively. We lack the professional structure of Sydney's attack - which is really quite impressive. 'Luckily' our defence is relatively sound except when it isn't and the greater attacking skill was blocked enough to only leak the one goal.

The red card deserved to be red every day. The insistence from Birdwood-Reich that he got the ball would be quite funny - if it wasn't so reminiscent of Adrian Zahra and 'I got the ball' from yesteryear. Sickening watching Mileusnic's ankle bend under that contact. For all that it counts for nothing - I was going to make a comment before the game about Birdwood-Reich no doubt going to do a hatchet job on one of our players. If you don't say it at the time you can't claim it after - I accept that - but to me he has a tendency to go in hard and reckless as often as not.

Based on Sydney's dominance last game, and the absence of Burke-Gilroy through injury on Lolley's side of the field, a draw shows we are not the basket case we have been at times, and also proves that we are capable of much more. The struggle to break down the bus, and lack of killer instinct and urgency, shows a lack of confidence - maybe in ourselves or maybe in our defence - that only time and quality play will cure us of.

A pretty good performance for us today. Our position in the table is actually pretty much exactly where our level of confidence and play is at the moment (table doesn't lie). We could click next game or we could take the rest of the season to rebuild what we lost between Round 1 and now. I'm going with clicking next game.

Sydney could go either way. They have the quality, cohesion and structure to do better. They just aren't.

The more games the more better the players get, it’s been Arnie’s point all along that why we need a longer season no wonder he said I don’t bother with the aleague comment during the Asian cup because he sees that our players are capable but we have administrators that don’t do any favours. 

Agreed on all points and hopefully apl deliver and get 16 teams and a 31 game season. Could be a game changer

The short season comes from the fact that stadiums are so expensive. We needed to have a stadiuk strategy much sooner but have wasted years. If i was in charge of football australia i would give huge incentives to build stadiums. Have p and r but teams that build good enough stadiums to have immunity from relegation for a few years

If we had stadiums, there would be incentives to play a longer season, we would be in charge of our own security, and 8k attendance is enough to support a 10million dollar player budget rather than making a loss on a 2.5 mil budget

Having more teams might do the trick, I also like to see FA or APL whoever in charge of cup games introduce a new cup competition aka like the League Cup in England where it’s just for a-league and maybe teams from the NSD which can play more games in the season they could be easily be midweek games to avoid fixture congestion.

Also start the season earlier, the pre season is still too long ideally start in early August again like the old days.

The administrators from the FA to APL need to work together for the benefit of the game if the game wants to fulfill its potential because the potential is there with our players and therefore ultimately help our Roos and clubs bottom line too.

where was waddingham today btw?

Burke-Gilroy, Waddingham, and Caletti were all out due to injuries today.

The more games the more better the players get, it’s been Arnie’s point all along that why we need a longer season no wonder he said I don’t bother with the aleague comment during the Asian cup because he sees that our players are capable but we have administrators that don’t do any favours. 

gee i feel for wanderers

they play pretty football, but look mentally very fragile. Two wsw players tried to foul penha after he tore them apart and milanovic starts yelling at penha on the ground

With all the Asian intra-continental games providing a long season closer to an ideal 40 games, I think it is ideal for Nisbet.

30 games down - 10 to go. Plus hopefully 3 finals and a then a cup run of up to 6 games. Potentially a 49 game season. So far has played every game and came off at 62 min in one AFC Cup game. 

Ta.

I've been watching Roar a fair bit in the last few weeks, RIMB.

They seem to be playing  a lot  better than when I read your posts. Fans are probably harder to please!

Have been very impressed with Waddingham, Jelacic ( how didn't he make the Olympics?), Caletti, Hore, the red headed LB ( Brown?), and of course Rojas.

Yes, Corey Brown is the ranga. He was playing well and getting better when the wheels fell off with us. He is only just returning from both the wilderness and from subsequent injury. Some did not like him due to him playing high and not getting back enough, and he has always struggled to commit to a player running at him - choosing to back away all the way into the 18 yard box and expose the goal rather than attempting any intervention. I have always liked him at left back and found us stronger when he played.

I seemed to remember Brown quit football for a while.  It was a surprise. I might be wrong though?

If he often plays high and wide, it is the job of other players to cover ( like a DM) if a LB attempts to play out wide and overlap in attacking interplay.

BR's total play was zip against 10men tbh.
Despite the chances created and Redmayne's good keeping how you can't expose and make use far more against 10 I expected way better.
SFC didn't even look that knackered out.
How you can't take advantage no matter your teams short comings playing against 10 just 25mins in is pretty ordinary.
Impressed no matter who playing with 10 with feck all possesion yet look more dangerous.

Yes, Corey Brown is the ranga. He was playing well and getting better when the wheels fell off with us. He is only just returning from both the wilderness and from subsequent injury. Some did not like him due to him playing high and not getting back enough, and he has always struggled to commit to a player running at him - choosing to back away all the way into the 18 yard box and expose the goal rather than attempting any intervention. I have always liked him at left back and found us stronger when he played.

I watch us play with the expectation that we will play our best football all game every game. I expect mistakes from time to time but I do not like to see us seemingly devoid of methods to attack - especially when I see more polished outfits stringing passes together that completely negate the opposition and I know we can do that too.

Everything I have seen has been a progression towards where we need to be - unfortunately sometimes progression in terms of playing crap and learning what playing crap looks and feels like.

When I see us work together bringing the ball out under pressure with composure, then linking up with our attacking players effectively and putting some form of pressure on goal, then I consider that the proven benchmark for us. When we fail to do that and pass the ball poorly you will see my comments less enthusiastic.

We have not had our front half able to trust our back half to keep the goal safe for sometime now. Antonee Burke-Gilroy - another player worth watching in my opinion - has made our left side much stronger since he got regular time and he has been developing quite quickly into the team and his role. With him and Brown we have the position covered with a backup after a lot of players were tested through the position.

It is hard to be confident that we have turned any corners given our fits and starts over the last few seasons - demonstrated by this seasons early form compared to what came after.

A work in progress and getting better over time - our good bits are excellent and I see them - but we have too many bad moments and poor periods of play still.

Ever hopeful. Always with them. We are the best team when we get it right ;).

You can't be happy with our right side defence this season? Aldred and Hingert need to be moved on - they've both been at fault for far too many goals this season, which could cost us a top 6 finish. 

Isuzu UTE A-League R20 Preview: One game left for Reds to avoid equal-club low & home ground curse
https://aleagues.com.au/news/isuzu-ute-aleague-men-round-20-preview-team-news-broadcast-details-how-to-watch/

Really hard week to tip feels like most teams are in bad form.

Yes, Corey Brown is the ranga. He was playing well and getting better when the wheels fell off with us. He is only just returning from both the wilderness and from subsequent injury. Some did not like him due to him playing high and not getting back enough, and he has always struggled to commit to a player running at him - choosing to back away all the way into the 18 yard box and expose the goal rather than attempting any intervention. I have always liked him at left back and found us stronger when he played.

BR's total play was zip against 10men tbh.
Despite the chances created and Redmayne's good keeping how you can't expose and make use far more against 10 I expected way better.
SFC didn't even look that knackered out.
How you can't take advantage no matter your teams short comings playing against 10 just 25mins in is pretty ordinary.
Impressed no matter who playing with 10 with feck all possesion yet look more dangerous.

Corey left us for Victory, then came back to us.

There were allegations against Brown and his contract was terminated by the club after he 'dropped out of favour' with club management. He fought the termination in court and won but was still was not allowed to train or play with the team.

The club apologised publicly for the allegations and brought him back to training and play under Ross Aloisi.

I have no idea what actually went wrong to put him out of favour and only the rumours and 'unable to be proven in court' allegations.

Just glad he is back and playing into form again but he lost a lot of time in terms of a playing career to this.