My 5 cents:

The Good:

Owusu – changed the whole rhythm of the game when he came on. His shoulder hit on Thwaite was inspiring for both the team and the fans. Considering he is still not 100% fit he will be a real threat up front when fully fit. A breath of fresh air up front where we have become boring, stale and weak.

Shin – clever little player. Good on the ball and completed some intricate passing. Lots of potential here. Even Owusu rated him in today’s paper.

Marrone – while the rest of the team was content to play like under 11’s, Marrone was trying his little heart out to play attractive, attacking and clever football. For a young kid he is fighting above his weight and should be proud of his performance. If everyone else was trying as hard as him to get a result we would have won the game.

Culina – simply brilliant. On another level to just about everyone else. Pin point passing. Can kick the ball like a rocket and loses defenders with ease. A class act. Glad we have him in our national side. Thanks for coming back.

Smeltz – the guy has reflexes like a ninja master. If you watch the first goal in slow mo – he is onto the rebound that came of Galaka’s hand faster than the eye can blink. The defender that was on him (Cornflakes?) had barely turned around when the ball had hit the back of the net. A star. Europe beckons.


The bad:

Dodd – bad start to the season for our captain. Too early to ask him to step down but he definitely needs to step up and play ball. What ever happened to those signature fast attacking runs down the wing taking defenders on?? Getting old? Getting lazy? Upset he hasn’t been called up for the national team? He is a great player but sadly he is comfortable playing at about 80% of his ability.

Pantelis – he has gradually become a waste of space on the team sheet. Can’t finish. Can’t lose a defender. Can’t shoot on target. Gets consistently beaten in 50/50’s. He seems to be getting game time simply based on the fact he is vice captain and not on his results.

Cristiano – got smashed all night long. Did some good work off the ball but got destroyed every time he went near it…until Owusu came on and then we got to see a little bit of confidence from the Brazilian.

The ugly:

Hughes – WTF. Back to the bench for you son. Reid come back and soon!

Cassio’s walk out. Internal politics is never healthy especially a couple of hours before kick off. Apparently he wasn’t happy with the role Viddie was giving him for the game. Seems pretty unprofessional if true. Might be on his way out. This whole episode seems to have rattled Jamo – who looked he was on another plant until Owusu came on.

One goal (penalty) from 3 games.

Like the new avatar RU!

Hughes will improve, he can get into good positions and we would all be singing his praises if he had buried the 5 chances he has worked himself into.

Fixed :d

Agreed General, if Hughes had landed a punch or two we'd be thinking differently. But he hasn't - and he sprayed passes around terribly on Friday. But it's early days.

Unit, I posted similar comments in the game thread and since. But isn't it good that Viddie rolled the dice and had a go at something different - twice! I have real hope for the rest of the season. It'll be in my blog........shameless self-promotion.

Geez, with the cassio thing and Gaz's blog it's been an eventful morning. Religion, football, loyalty, media..... better go and write something calming. :-k

Listen to it from the horses mouth!

Awesome - honesty in football! Anyone who has ever played knows what happens to the emotions when things aren't going your way as a team or as a player. Good to hear him come out and clear it up. Wasn't happy last week...things are better now.

(Enormous sigh of relief)

Any ideas on starting line up??

Since Reid is injured and Hughes is underdone - how about a 442??

Galaka

Marrone - Cornflakes - Rudan - Jamo

Alemao - Dodd - Shin/Barbs - Cassio

Owusu - Cristiano

Now thats a winning team.

Pantelis should not start unless Shin, Barbs, Cassio and even Joey Costa are injured. .

Edited by Big Unit: 25/8/2009 03:48:45 p.m.

Would have to be Barbs, cause the other 4 are all a little too attacking to be played together.

Would love to see:

Eugene
Marrone Mullen (if fit) Rudan Jamo
Hughes
Dodd - Alemao - Cassio
Christiano Owusu

hmm, was thinking some more about the 3-5-2:

Hugene
Marrone - Mullen - Jamo/Cassio
Hughes
Dodd - Alemao - Shin 2/Barbs - Cassio/Jamo
Cristiano
Owusu

Now that is a line up likely to score goals!

I like this side, definitely want jamo at back and cassio in the midfield.

i like shin in midfield to, however with three at the back barbs may be a better option to help out back there.

Maybe play shin, drop hughes and add cornflakes.

Eugene
Marrone - Mullen - cornflakes - Jamo
Dodd - Alemao - Shin - Cassio
Cristiano
Owusu

on a side note, why does everyone write shin 2 ???

Cornflakes = Shin 1. And how can you guys leave him out?!!

Eugene
Marrone - Mullen - Cornflakes - Jamo
Hughes
Dodd - Alemao - Cassio
Cristiano/Anelka
Owusu/Drogba

Have you not heard about the new signings?

Shin 1 = Cornflakes
Shin 2 = Shin

Sorry forgot about Anelka and Drogba, easy to do when you consider the rest of the quality we have on the park!

Oh and I "forgot" about Shin 1 because I was looking at a back 3 and decided that a bit of pace was needed (the Bismark may have power but lacks a little in finese!)

Robbie is super-quick. Four strides from one end of the pitch to the other.

Seriously though, I think we'd be a disaster at the back without him. Eventually I'd like to see him and Mullen there permanently but Daniel may be a little off the pace yet. And I think Marrone may be the one who will eventually take over from Reid. Smart, composed, tough. Fyfe and Rudan are a bit to recycled for me. And they really are slow.

Still wondering where Alamao fits best. I think it's worth trying him as the creative midfielder. Has a bit of Rech about him. And he can't defend.

sorry I dont get it???

Its probably obvious.

We love lineups here in Adelaide don't we? :lol:

On a completely different note, I'm pretty much wasting 100 or so bucks extra I spent on a gold season ticket, because I've been sitting over in the General Admission seating on the Manton St side with my mates. :(

Wait until it rains and then you can laugh at them from covered comfort of the other side.

Cornflakes is Shin because of his awesome shin power of deflection, how many times have we seen him hit the ball with his shin rather than his foot?

And Shin is Shin because... well he is Shin :lol:

We love line ups because you don't actually have to do them, sort of like building a new stadium, or upgrading the transport system, or allowing sustainable redevelopment etc etc etc

Interesting to see that not one of us put Fyfe in the line up. :-k

Agreed, Cornflakes has earnt his position and would be one of the first on Viddies team sheet each week.

Good call re Mullen in central defence next to Cornflakes. Although he isnt 100% at this stage we do still need to get him back into the action over Rudan and Fyfe. While they are high quality back up defenders we need to ensure our young talent is given every opportunity at this early stage of their careers. When we lose Mullen to the young gun world cup then Fyfe/Rudan can step in.

Alemao is a bit of an enigma isnt he. He definitely seems more comfortable as an attacking midfielder than a right back. Viddie tried him in that Rech position in a game last year and he failed to shine. He is a talented footballer but he just needs to have that one big game that cements his position in the line up. Maybe Viddie needs to tell him to just go for it - free him up to hammer some goals in.

...and having two Chelsea players in the line up would be a dream come true.:d

Edited by Big Unit: 26/8/2009 01:31:52 p.m.

:lol: although my cousin and I refer to Cornflakes as JustRight or FruitLoop depending on the type of game he has

Seriously as far as Shin is conserned he is super quick but looks half the size as most Australian Jockeys' so Im thinking Viddie will want to have him come of the bench untill he gets use to the physicallity of the a-leauge as appose to asia where you get yellow if you sneeze on the opposition!

Good to see Casio staying on - typical trash tabloid Journalism Migliaccio is famous for!

Edited by UnitedGal: 26/8/2009 04:52:10 PM

Two days until we see Robbie Fowler at Hindmarsh! :D Excited? Just a little... :)

^ Bring helmet imo.

"Cassio out in Adelaide United's latest injury shock"

ADELAIDE United has been rocked by an injury crisis, with Cassio ruled out for the home clash against North Queensland Fury tomorrow night.

Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar said Cassio would be out for four weeks due to a calf injury incurred after training on Tuesday.

Reds skipper Travis Dodd will also miss the clash at Hindmarsh Stadium because of a calf injury, while Paul Reid (abductor) is still under an injury cloud.

Fabian Barbiero (osteitis pubis, quad and calf) is another Red out of action.

Barbiero returned to the fray last Friday night when he played for 22 minutes in United's 2-0 loss to Gold Coast, after an extended layoff.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25989508-12428,00.html

Something is not right at Adelaide United!
Yesterday Casio said he is certain to return against the Fury...
Viddie I am starting to question your decisions and game plan

Fuck... with Dodd out, that means Pantelis is a sure-starter... :lol:

And yeah, what's up with all the calf injuries?

Training in a cow paddock? :)

You get a =d> for that... :p

todays adevertiser has an interesting line up for the reds.

3 5 1 1

Galaka
Mullen - Cornflakes - Fyfe
Marrone - Alemao - Hughes - Reid - Jamieson
Pantelis
Owusu

No Cristiano?

Is Reid really ready to come back already?

Can we afford to play only 3 at the back?

Very very strange and a bit scary if thats what Viddie uses.

Maybe Pants will stand up and play a good game instead of the under 11's effort he has been serving up lately?

Will also be interesting to see how we perform without Dodd on the pitch.

This is turning into one of the weirdest games Au has yet to play. Here's hoping it sparks us all up and doesn't play into Fury's hands. At least Viddie seems to breaking the shackles he set on the formation.