The last 3 crowds for the A-League have been 2k at City v WSW. 3k at WU v MV wtf??? and 4k at Newc v Adel. These are horrific. How did Victory get 3,058 for a game at AAMI even if it was an away match? 

The fish were away! Need to change the bait.

Back to the football...

Last night's game was a pretty ordinary watch and it was clear that both teams have been struggling. Having said that, Adelaide were the better team on the night and really should have won by more. Luka Jovanovic's goal was so well taken and on current form is seriously challenging for an Olyroos spot.

popovic

Thursday night is a factor. Cost of living is a factor. WU is a factor. 10 draws is a factor. 

Yep. He's killing their club.
Literally zero excitement factor. 

silly yellow by Hingert. Both he and Aldred are fouling too much due to their slowness. Time for them to move on.

18,002 in Auckland, excellent effort.

Scenes if the new Zealand derby overtakes the Australian a league team derbies 

Excellent crowd at Nix v FC game.As a Mariners supporter a draw would have been a good result but credit to the Nix for their second half comeback.

Easy for NZ to overtake ours when they only have 2 AL teams in their whole country

And about a fifth of the population !

Auckland has population of 1.6 million. Think they can manage 

We got outplayed both individually and as a team.

Macarthur (grubby diving bastards) have better individual skills and today they played better team football too.

Watching them attack, when they chose to, they had 7 players streaming forward when in possession and passed the ball into space to the next running player. When we had the ball we had a ball carrier looking around, everyone standing flat footed in their 'attack positions' and one player who expected the ball up the wing running. We just could not put any consistent pressure on Macarthur's big, strong, skilled defenders the way we were playing.

That said - I remember 4 clear botched attempts at goals that should have all gone in. Two at the feet of our one dedicated striker (Waddingham) who had a shocker in front of goals and skied them both, one was a header directly between me and the goals with no-one in the line of the shot and we headed it wide, and the one miss hit gentle nudge along the ground that rolled towards the open goal and the keeper managed to get to it.

Got to say, scoring first in the opening 20 minutes was a bonus and suggested we might be in some form - but then the rest of the game happened.

O'Shea went invisible for periods in the game, which is always a sign we are not combining properly. Rojas, Mileusnic, Hore and Berenguer looked like they were struggling to make an impact over the whole of the game. I think Jelacic had one of the worst games I can remember - getting caught in possession time after time (thanks Cindy), lacking vision to see Macarthur closing him down, and seemingly trying to bumble the ball through challenges and failing - leaving Macarthur free behind him with the ball more often than not.

I think we miss Caletti in the midfield just being busy and a presence, and keeping the ball moving back and forth while also freeing up O'Shea to push forward when he wants to. Aldred and Hingert were out of the game for pace any time the ball came down our right hand side - and while I think Hingert did a fantastic job of battling skilful speed using experience and body strength, it is not any way to try and build a competitive series. To have two slower players trying to cover each other in that open space is a struggle for us and a guarantee that any team with speedy wingers has a chance to create down the wing unimpeded at some point.

Brown did pretty well today - ignoring his crosses that went beyond the back post to nobody - and created some opportunities for us. Trewin was his usual effective self but for some reason he made a few forward runs today that did not really add to our attacking strength and probably weakened our defence by having him out of the line. Burke-Gilroy came on for a short game on the right and demonstrated his speed when he tried to get back and help O'Shea stop Desilva in open space behind our defensive line on the fly. O'Shea did a great job of putting pressure on him so the shot was cactus, but Burke-Gilroy was eating up the ground trying to get there too.

Freke had another good game - with one excellent tip over early on particularly. At the ground I thought he should have come for the ball that gave them the second goal when it looped up high. Having never been a keeper I base that on nothing other than a feeling that he should have been on his toes and come out for it given how high it went.

Looking forward, we have a good understudy for Aldred in Nikolovski, but we still need a speedy right fullback, defensive mid, and striker to really be complete.

Macarthur's structure, individual skill and resilient defenders were just too good for us today. Good thing is, we have no easy games ahead so if we were to make the six we would have bloody well earned it.

Edit: Ballymore is a 'little ground' experience, with more comfortable seats than Suncorp but an inconvenience to get to. They put on free shuttle buses, but for me I had to drive to one train station to park the car, catch a train to another train station, walk the short walk to Perry Park, then shuttle bus to Ballymore. Just a bit more annoying than drive, park and walk to Suncorp. I think they said just over 3k in attendance - and no surprise in that really. Beef Burger cost over $16 for a meat patty, cheese, sliver of onion and mustard. Small cup of chips for $7. Did not enhance the experience for me. The little 'big screen' was pointless for replays with termites running round doing indeterminate stuff for the most part.

That wasn’t what you said though, you said the whole country.

Seriously who gives a fuck

You obviously do,by making comments about it. Get back to your Aussie rules game.

Instead of splitting hairs on an internet forum get a fucking life you sad piece of shit

Says you, you don't do irony much, do you ?:P:P:P

Mark rudan says that he doesnt believe a coach can lose a dressing room

To be fair to him, its something ive heard fans say but has there ever been a confirmed concrete case of that?

Closest i can think of was arnie saying in 07 the players tripped him as a joke in training 

Let's face it, RIMB — Any team relying on a player of Caletti's limitations to make a difference is in trouble. I would say the same, frankly, about a team still selecting Hingert as a starting player. O"Shea is at the very end of his career, Berenguer and Rojas and Hingert too. . Milusenic is 30 and a pure pace player so nearing the end. Caletti simply not up to standard. So many bolt on aging players. The squad needs a major rebuild. HUJ

Caletti's value to us is more that he gives a passing option through the middle to help move opposition players around than that he is a great player. He has the work engine and the work ethic needed to be there all game offering himself. We do not need him to be a great creative player to make a difference - that is what O'Shea does and Berenguer should be doing through midfield.

Berenguer has not really made a difference for us. I can't tell if that is age or that our playing style just doesn't suit what he brings. He has not really lifted us above what we had with other players in that role.

I disagree with you on O'Shea and think he has a lot to offer yet. Unfortunately, until we find a proper defensive mid we have to use him there and we lose the greater part of what he does - running freely where he sees the advantage and using his vision, skill and body to find options. He can still do that, but playing him deep in a defensive position limits his effectiveness.

Rojas may be at the end of his career but he has been showing great returns for us in the previous games. I am happy with him in the side and I have seen better play from him with us than I remember with him in Victory. He has been creating opportunities for himself and others, and he has been the instigator of a lot of positive plays.

Hingert was always a bit slower from memory but made up for it with his experience and willingness to run up and back all day. Having Neville inside has given us cover for his lack of pace and the injury to Scott has exposed us with Hingert and Aldred not up to speed literally. From our leftside being our greatest problem our rightside is now the weaker. When Fowler built our defensive group, I think he chose Aldred as a rock and Gillespie as our pace which turned out to be a good combination. We did not manage to replace Gillespie with a like-to-like player forcing Aldred to be both which he can't be.

Mileusnic is more odd. He still has pace and an engine, but we are not seeing as much of it lately.

Watching how Ruben has us playing I seem to see a lot more rotation of players on field. It means that Hore is our striker one minute then seemingly playing DM or fullback the next. Mileusnic's strength is out wide with pace, but we bring him through the middle just as often which is quite pointless with what he can do. Same for the other players - who have particular strengths and we only use them sporadically in games as Ruben has opted for a more fluid structure - presumably to mix it up and make it harder for defenders to know what they are facing. To me it makes the passer stop and think more and the receiver plays reactively and slower because they do not know what the passer is thinking. Personally I think that constant rotation of players disrupts our play and stops us from being able to build proper understanding and cohesion. The rotation might make defenders have to think but it does the same for our attack.

We are far from being a basketcase but still have a lot of growing into our game to do under Ruben. Plenty of positive play and potential in our side still with the game yesterday as a good example. I was not happy with how we played when we went the goal down but still recognise that we had the clear chances to win the game comfortably. A composed and able striker has been our cry out for many seasons. Does not mean we cannot be competitive or winners - just that we have to work that much harder to get there.

What about the other no hopers in the comp. The poor football that they play has nothing to do with it? Many people on here think they can fool the others by saying this was great or that game was exciting because they know hardly anyone watches, but numbers are where the proof is. Even Harper admitted how shit the Brisbane defence was and that happens week in week out. Not just Roar but virtually every team.

O'shea is 35. That is, quite literally, at the end of his career as a footballer. Not only sure how to you can dispute that. 

I do not dispute the facts - just your intent by including him in your post.

I watch what he does. I agree that he is old enough to retire when he has had enough, but that does not mean he has no value on the pitch. He ran down a fresh Desilva yesterday and made him miss his shot. He still rarely loses the ball although he is getting teamed up on more often so it does happen. His vision and timing are still great.

I may have read more into your statement about his age than you intended by including him - but he is not a bolted on aging player so to me he does not belong in your overall statement about our squad.

If your intention was merely to say he is an older player then I agree with you. Any subsequent inference that it makes him not worth being on the pitch I dispute.

Yes, that was my intention and I recognise that I didn't express that clearly. 

Taggart scored again for Glory. 

Haven't seen any previous games with Vidmar on the bench for WU. 

Always enjoy your detailed reports. Lucky for you being able to attend live AL football every fortnight in close  proximity! 

Younger players like Jelacic can be prone to inconsistency.

Watching the  game on TV it is interesting to note you thought Mac had better movement when in possession from your live vantage point? Do you think Mac Pressed and Squeezed more effectively than Roar to stifle Roar's passing lanes, hence disturbing Roar build ups more effectively?

Or were  Roar just more static in off the ball movement as they built up?

It was a good goal.

Again thanks a bunch for posting this and researching it.