Imagine how much better it would look in red,black,and white seating not that it will ever happen.

Mooy puts us up 1-0 over the Phoenix with a goal after about 30 mins.

Got my membership card in the mail today :d

I also got my Victory away tickets. Booked my flights the other night and accommodation today.

I'm all set for Adelaide as well.

\:d/

Got my AU away at WSW ticket, there's a few of us coming over,

I haven't been to Parra since United beat the Power 3-0 back in the old NSL, we came over by coach, what an epic way trip that was!

$45,500 for a 20 seat Corporate Suite for the year. I'll have 2 thanks. ;)

Here's a discussion point:

The current state of the surface at Parramatta Stadium is nothing short of a disgrace. The side of the field near the Western end is literally chopped up and covered with holes and patches of dirt. It is bumpy. It is uneven. The grass looked extremely long for football but I assume that this will be mowed to the appropriate level by next Saturday.

Between kickoff next week it is almost 2 months since the last rugby game was played at the stadium. You would think, at the minimum, as an equal tenant (who coincidently will host the majority of games at the venue), that a reasonable, i.e. smooth and even, playing surface could be produced for the club.

I was one of the fans that was vehemently opposed to playing games at ANZ Stadium for all the obvious and previously alluded to reasons. However, I didn't take into consideration Parramatta Stadium 'not giving a shit' about the pitch or delivering a certain minimum standard that should be met in terms of professionalism in grounds keeping.

The best time for turf maintenance to occur in a Sydney type climate is early spring. It is quite a normal practice to cut the grass lower than normal and then top dress any areas needing minor repair or replace turfs where major repair is needed. The surface is then fertilised and regularly watered and not mown for about 4 weeks. Maybe this is what has occurred but I wouldn't be too concerned as this is prime growing season now.

The grass looked too long, not too short. Good football, the type we're aspiring to play at Wanderers, cannot be played on the current shit surface at Parramatta Stadium.

Ah yes, the good old pitches. Welcome to the A-League - where ground staff at certain venues do not give a toss when football season rolls around.

Bluetongue and Hunter are often disgraceful. Hopefully Parra isn't added to that list.

Grass does grow long at this time of the year if you don't cut it and you deliberately don't cut a surface under repair because you want to stimulate root growth. Once the repair has taken it only takes a couple of cuts to have the surface up to par if the patches you refer to are repairs.

Edited by gyfox: 27/9/2012 04:04:55 PM

Groundsmen would have had their holidays booked before FFA got it's act together.

anyhow, still too cold at night for cooch to take off, hence the SFS maintenance not happening til Round 4 time.

Nah. You can do maintenance on Legend Couch in Sydney now in fact you could have started a couple of weeks ago when it first started to green. The only reason to delay it is if you want to get on the surface in minimal time after the work then it needs to be warmer.

Never worked with Legend, Actually probably more to do with the short notice rental.

I doubt they've ever had to consider not having 5 months to get it ready for the Rugby League for next year. Might be interesting if the staff have never done it before.

When I worked on the Moore Park ground staff there was no Summer sport on at the SFS and only 1 bloke was in charge of it from Oct-March and had all his holidays then.

Its a pain that the best short turn around repair window is early on in the A-League season. Thats one of the misfortunes of running a summer competition and it has affected CCM a few times.

Anyway long grass at this stage leading into the season isn't a problem but if the bare areas that Aussietarfan refers to aren't early repairs then the Wanderers could be in for a bumpy start until the ground temperature rises.

Cricket ground had to be done as soon as the Swans finished, but that was just Common-couch back then. They kept the cricket off the ground for as far into November as they could.

(p.s I actually thought it was quite an interesting topic ;) )

Edited by toffeeAU: 27/9/2012 07:58:33 PM

Beat Bankstown 3-0 tonight.

I don't know what to make of the performance against Bankstown City tonight.

Firstly, Wanderers rested all their foreigners except Polenz and Poljak, and a few other players. They were not at full strength. The first half XI was totally different to the second half XI which I am assuming was mostly trialists/youth team players.

Bankstown City used 4 of their starting squad, the rest made up of trialists and U20 players, Bankstown's Super League season finishing almost 1 month ago.

Because of this fact, I expected Wanderers to totally tear this makeshift Bankstown team a new one. They didn't.

Jensen is a very wide pitch, for me, that first half team didn't seem to have any penetration out wide. It was the first time I've seen Mooy play, who by all accounts will be the midfield lynch pin. Whilst he put in a few good balls and was creative with his free kicks, I wasn't 'blown away'. He just didnt have that much presence in the midfield - if you know what I mean.

Up front I was incredibly concerned. Both Bridge and Haliti are nothing more than adequate NSWPL players. I understand that Wanderers had to put a team together at short notice and scraps like Bridge and Haliti were basically all that was available and Australian, but they are both incredibly ordinary. What more can be said? Kresinger didn't play, and I am praying to god that he is a Croatian goal machine - fingers crossed considering how successful he's been in the HNL Prva Liga.

Hopefully Ono makes a big impact going forward with plenty of assists and goals. Kwabena seemed to have a lot of pace and energy, but he is very raw and inexperienced and made a few rash challenges when in defence. I would rather persist with Kwabena though over Bridge/Haliti because atleast he has potential to improve.

What pleased me was the defence. Covic very solid, NTS and Meggsy very organised and effective.

Comparing WSW to the Bankstown v Mariners game 5 weeks ago, the Mariners looked a lot more fluid on the ball and far more 'professional'.

As a foundation member, I think we will be very solid defensively but may be impotent going forward. I hope I'm wrong. I don't mind a defensive outlook, for me if we hang into games long enough and perhaps steal 3 points late on on the counter attack, I will be satisfied. It may be a long season though.

As a final aside, Haliti seemed to have a bit of an ego. Doesnt acknowledge fans or kids wanting to talk or get an autograph afterwards. For a shit player at a team that needs to build a fanbase, he can leave his dickhead attitude at the front gate.

Edited by aussietarfan: 27/9/2012 11:12:09 PM

first half was pretty much our strongest XI. played really well.
second half totally new XI. again played pretty well from what i saw.

No surprise that we look strong defensively and not so great upfront so far considering who the manager is. Most of Poppa's focus would've been on being strong defensively to start with. I think the attacking side of it will come good with time.

That's what I kept telling my mates as well. Wanderers will get better as the season goes along, I just hope we're not too far behind when we finally click.

Realistically, I think our maximum might be 4th or 5th at best, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Poppa and Tezza were all class afterwards in the clubhouse. Seemed like really good people.

Its always easier to start working with the defence. Attack comes with more time and familiarity.

Popa could have told the team to just launch long ball after long ball into the channels for the quicker strikers (pretty much every single attacker was quicker than the Bankstown defenders). But he's working on a 4-2-3-1 style with some emphasis on control and passing. With Dino in they will use him as a target man to hold the ball up.

I don't think the club have been bad at all. Even the loss to Sydney United they weren't bad, they were just somewhat unlucky to lose.

They've done well to sort out a competitive squad with so little time.

Hersi will not be starting.

And re: to last night. You could tell half the team were only running in 2nd gear and cbf'd :lol: (much like the RBB).
I think everyone is over preseason and just wants the season proper to start. Last night was merely to keep the fitness levels up.
FFS the starting XI did like 20 laps of the pitch at half time :lol:

This.

I would imagine it to be this way fro round one.

I'd say there's a good chance Bridge will be wide left instead of Hersi, and I would be shocked if Polenz plays wide right.

Swap Ono with Mooy (who was playing very deep last night, like Pirlo does)
Take off Hersi and put on Haliti/Bridge

Hersi has played 30 minutes in preseason and his touch was shit.