Irankunda’s last few games have shown much more maturity in his play. He seems to be thinking a lot more and trying to be part of the team. Obviously, he got a hat trick recently, but he has had a lot of goal contributions recently (including today), due to him being more level-headed and less selfish in his play. 

Arzani is a great player but he can get fucked with his constant falling over.

Glad the clown got booked yesterday. 

To make it worse he doesn't need to do that bullshit because he's a great player. 

I have a theory about diving, Irankunda and Adelaide.

I think that Veart requires it of his players. It has happened too often and too long for it not to be done with both his sanction and his direction.

Unfortunately, my theory means I should not hate the diving Reds players - who have to do what the boss says if they want to play - I should be hating the manager who makes them do it. Nah - can't do it. I'll just continue disliking both.

I was imagining Irankunda playing in Germany and the first time he tried a poor dive I would expect his manager to tell him not to and that would be the end of it. Of course, our best and brightest Broich and someone Kruse would suggest that while diving is not accepted, making sure the ref notices any minor foul contact is fully endorsed. Irankunda may be heading somewhere that encourages his dropping on contact.

I saw him cop some pretty hefty hits today, alongside some very light touches that sent him sprawling equally hard. It is a tough balance in my head to bemoan the hard hits being unpunished and the soft drops being employed. So to maintain consistency I'll just dislike both equally.

That is enough nonsense rambling for now.

I'll tell you watching Newcastle vs Sydney then perth vs Adelaide either game doesn't mention the other. So there's no narrative nobody really knows who's playing well or anything. They are dying for a proper midweek show to try drum up some talking points before games.

I actually prefer commentators not to give anything away about other games - I have never really enjoyed watching a game of football when I knew the result and with replays available some time later on Paramount+ it takes some effort to avoid results sometimes.

I thought they showed the goals from Jets v SFC at halftime in the Glory v Adelaide game.

But I accept your point anyway that there is an obvious opportunity missing for a midweek show to cover the week before and the week ahead. A segment where the head of refs explained the unusual or controversial decisions made on the weekend would have massive interest - along the lines that we had a few selected moments explained by the head of referees a few seasons back.

Tbf he's been having these games on an off all season. Sometimes he is very selfless like tonight and some games he is too selfish. Just good to see highly involved with a Fotmob 9.0 rating

Thinking more about it and I can't say that Adelaide have been worse than any other team this year with having some players who drop too lightly.

I take it back about Veart requiring it of players as a systemic tactic this season - changing it to Veart fully supporting players highlighting contact.

What did people think of the Western United ground?

Did look funny with the rural back ground and road, but looked much better than expected with the full scaffold stands across the camera.

Just watched the Jets/SFC mini match. Surprised there are no comments on here about the red card. 
For anyone who didn't see it, 3 minutes in on the highlights here: https://aleagues.com.au/videos/id/newcastle-jets-v-sydney-fc-extended-highlights-isuzu-ute-a-league-2023-24-round-23/6350458028112/
Curious what everyone's thoughts are. Clear contact, but clearly unintentional, Mak just trying to tell Cancar to piss off. Cancar clearly had his speedos on. Really hate seeing players hit the deck like that. 

There's the difference between a seasoned professional and a young guy learning his trade. Good to see he's on an upward trajectory.

There's no comments because Sydney FC copped the red card.

Pretty good weekend from a Victory POV. We win and all the teams below us lose. 3rd place wrapped up you would suggest. I wanted CCM to beat Wellington. I'd rather CCM win the league. Don't fancy an away GF in Wellington if we're good enough to make it. Beat Wellington this week and its game on for second spot.  

Definitely becoming an interesting end to the season.
The maths of MV actually winning the league isn't that farfetched. Max points we can achieve is 50. Max points CCM/Nix can achieve is 55.
Technically we can win the league with 2 wins, assuming CCM and Nix have straight losses.
On paper CCM have an easy run, WU (away), AU (home) and Jets (away). However all three of those teams demonstrated they can score plenty of goals over the weekend. On top of that, CCM have two AFC cup semi-final games, one of which is in Kyrgyzstan. 5 games in 14 days, plus international travel. I'd be very surprised if CCM didn't drop points over the next few weeks.
Nix have MV (home), Jets (away) and Macarthur (home). Even if they lose to us, they should be able to win the other two which would secure 2nd (maybe first).
MV have Nix (away), Roar (home) and WSW (home). Nix will be tough. Roll of the dice how tough the other two will be. Both can be very good, albeit unpredictable. Both are fighting for finals spots so neither will be easy-beats.
My prediction is that one team will be robbed of either 1st or 2nd due to the stupid APL table rules in which wins count more than GD.
I also reckon a team will be robbed of 6th spot in the same way.

Not in this case as the young guy 'learning his trade' is better than the 'seasoned professionals'. 

Cancar should be ashamed of himself. What an embarrassment.  Ref should have given him a yellow for inciting it. Can see why the Sydney bloke was sent though.

Can you sort some of those Greek surnames out Mono?

How's the bloke from Newcastle? How does he fill out forms?

Get some sort of an agreed upon abbreviation standard happening maybe. I mean mine is 10 letters but he's got a 50% premium on me.

What a load of piffle!

CCM do not have an easy run. Just look at the form over the last 6 games. They have just played the third best performing team and now play the second best performing side before facing the 5th best performing side and an away derby. Throw in that the guy that contains Irakunda the best in the league (Farrell) is with the Olyroos and Irakunda isn't (potentially to semi-final time) and it is a tough ask.

Team ---Last 6

CCM	15
WUN	11
WEL	10
MVC	10
ADL	9
SFC	8
BNE	8
MAC	7
MCI	7
WSW	6
GLY	3
NUJ	3

MVC probably need the win on Friday to have a decent shout at top 2. A draw would put them on 41 points  - with a possible 47 points to aim for.  WEL would be on 47 and CCM on 46 (both have more wins than MVC) with two games for WEL and 3 games for WEL left to pick up more points.

A MVC win of Friday against WEL changes the whole dynamic. MVC would be aiming for 50 points and 13 wins. WEL would need 4 points out of 6 against the Jets and MAC to match on points which means they would go ahead of MVC on wins (not a given). CCM already on 14 wins would need 4 points from WUN, ADL and the Jets (also not a given).    

I'd like to see the stand where the camera is filming?

Great game at Western United's first match in their new stadium! 

Taggart scored another  2  goals,  as did Bruno. 

Stam scored another goal too. Terrific win  for Jets to beat SFC 3-1. Hadn't seen Piscopo for some time. What has happened to his promising career?

Another entertaining game in Perth too.

Plenty of goals scored.

Rubbish, this happened right in front of us and it was clearly intentional. They were arguing and he knew exactly where Cancar was, he was stupid to raise his hands. The replays clearly show there was contact of elbow to face. 

I do love the all of a sudden ethical focus of the Sydney fans after this incident. I am curious to know what they think of (a) the Jordie Buijs incident with Roy O'Donovan (b) the 25 other simulations / fake injury / cheating incidents in the game in a attempt to win penalties / free kicks or have opponents issued with cards and (c) Talay entering the field at half time to abuse the officials as they walked off, all the while there was an advert on the big screens about how abuse of spectators, players and officials will not be tolerated.

I consider the issues football has with abuse of match officials to be far more problematic than Cancar's actions. I think it is time for Sydney to step in, raise the bar in the game, set a precedent and sit Talay out a few weeks....

Boooooooo 

You can always call him by his anglo slave name "Paul" if you want. Or is it the true blue, southern Peloponnese "son of Stamatelos" you can't pronounce? 

Sta-ma-te-lo-pou-los..... Its phonetic mate, not hard to say... Alot easier than Weier, Mauragis, Berthomeir, Buhagiar or the inevitable Vidic.

Why do blockheads always wanna abbreviate stuff? lol

As 'Muz' calls on 'Mono' and RIMB reads on in amusement...

Funny you posted Theoklitos there. (Or did you mean that.) He changed his name by deed poll to Theo.

I don't doubt he did it very much on purpose :)

he he he .... well what can I say :)

HAHAHAAHAH well in mate.... 

Davilla suspended for 2 matches for 2 matches for violent conduct.  Correct decision

I find it so hard to balance this with VAR obviously seeing the incident and ignoring it at the time.

It was that clear and blatant there is no chance it was missed by VAR - as everyone who watched the replays saw at the time.

It once again highlights the ineptitude and farce of VAR.

Personally, this should have happened at the Roar game with the outcome that the Macarthur incident wouldn't have happened - and begs the question why the earlier incident wasn't considered a post match review incident. Ridiculous inconsistency.