And don't forget that the Lady Reds start up this Monday at 1:45. Plenty of time to get sunburnt and then wait an hour and a half before the big(ger) game. Anyone know why it has to be such a long gap? It's not like they roll the pitch. It's not like they touch the pitch. If the opener was designed to finish half an hour before the main game kicks off I reckon a lot of fans would turn up to see at least the second half. I really enjoyed seeing the youth team recently but the interminable wait before the next game is a bit much. Mind you, I did get to see Leckie and note him as a player to watch.:cool: Little did I know how soon he'd leap to the attention of everyone else.

Still, always good to see the girls out to play. I once watched a women's match between North Korea and Australia at Hindmarsh. It was fantastic. Even ended with a near riot on the pitch. Quality football too.

Yeah I remember that North Korea game, pity it wasn't raining. A fight in mud ( women or men ) is always good value!
Why such a long break ??????

Back to being sunburnt, I often wonder how you poor guys over that side manage when we have a 4.30 k.o. and it's 38 degrees in the shade. Pity Adelaide, or the Government have no money to roof the whole stadium.
I still can't figure out why they moved the pitch 18 metres to the south yet didn't roof the whole place for the Olympics - I guess they realised the flak they'd get for spending $8 million on a world-game stadium and not on an oval for their mickey-mouse sport

thanks :lol: ive been too busy to even be on the net let alone look anywhere


Our Squad of the game is...

Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 3.ALEMAO, 4.Iain FYFE, 6.CASSIO, 7.Lucas PANTELIS, 8.Kristian SARKIES, 9.CRISTIANO, 10.Adam HUGHES, 11.Lloyd OWUSU, 13.Travis DODD (c), 14.Scott JAMIESON, 15.Francesco MONTEROSSO, 16.Inseob SHIN, 18.Fabian BARBIERO, 19.Mathew LECKIE, 20.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 21.Mark RUDAN


In: ALEMAO (returns from injury), Francesco MONTEROSSO (promoted), Fabian BARBIERO (promoted) Please please please! give frankie some game time :D

You just want to perve on his... footballing skills ;)

:lol:

Seriously though we needs Barbs back in the game sooner rather than later. Man it is going to be great when our midfield stocks are all back in the selection game (bar poor Costa).

if you must know he's my cousin's cousin so i know him resonablly well so no :p

Well, time to head down to Hindmarsh for the ladies match. Should be good. :D

Cousin's cousin? So what, even if you don't want to touch you can still cop a perve ;) Or is Birighitti more your type? :lol:

Had my little man with me at the game, he lasted the whole match and actually watched just over half of it I reckon. Next season he gets a gurnsey and will be coming regularly. At the end of the match he said that football is awesome! He normally has an issue with things being loud but he coped well with it, and only told me off for yelling to much once! All in all a great result.

As for the team, why oh why must they continue to not win at home? Our great crowds deserve better. And as UG has said elsewhere the players need to take responibility for the results. The reason Owusu looks isolated is because our attacking players leave him that way. Leckie pulled our team structure forward with him, he is a fantastic sub - he come on the pitch and lifts the team. I am not sure how he would go with a start though. Shin should start instead of Hughes in my not so humble opinion, did you note the roar of approval when he came off?

I must admit, I was one of those who shouted and applauded when Hughes came off. Waste of space as he was...

Every one around me did, actually it is not often that you hear such universal approval for subs. The only time I heard some boos was when Cristiano came on, but I put that down to a few muppets in the crowd.

I thought Cristiano was great yesterday. Would've had more of an impact, but Newcastle managed to squeeze him out of our forward area pretty easily.

With Leckie, Owusu and Cristiano up front, things started looking pretty dangerous. Leckie's workrate was remarkable as well - he tracked back and defended really well, and at times I looked down from my seat and thought, "Who is this defender??" only to realise it was the young forward fella!

He made some key tackles, and he took his knocks and kept going. Did you see the totally unecessary body check on him? Got up and kept going!

On that note the ref had a real up and down game. Missed some obvious calls, could easily have been another 5 yellow cards in the game and another penalty.

He made some key tackles, and he took his knocks and kept going. Did you see the totally unecessary body check on him? Got up and kept going!

On that note the ref had a real up and down game. Missed some obvious calls, could easily have been another 5 yellow cards in the game and another penalty.[/quote]

I and everyone around me thought that Leckie had scored with his first touch. There were groans of dissapointment when we realised it was the side netting.

Yeah thought there was a hell of a lot ignored inside the Jets box. On the penalty, I thought " Dodd's taken every one this year, and he never hits 'em at top speed ( I'm from the Richie Alagich school - pick a spot and blast it @ 200 kph ) sooner or later keepers will pick the right way and make an easy save ", unfortunatyely it was yesterday.
About time for Owusu or Cassio methinks

Just tried to book my Friday Night shout tickets for next Friday. Seems they have reached their full allocation. So looks like it will be another great crowd next Friday night.

Pretty pissed off thought cause now I cant get back on their to book them for a different game. It does say not to log on until you know which game you want to book, but I did fucking know which game I wanted to book tickets for.

Someone is going to be looking at the business end of a hissy fit! Once I work out who I am supposed to direct it at!! :x

I booked mine for the next GCU clash (the November one) in the first week. I though that by then AUFC would have its act together and be playing well... One can hope at least!

As for the FNS problem get onto VenuTix and let them know what has happened. If no love there call the club and have a whinge.

Glory man under fire



Some good news at last! No Pants tonight :) Sad for the man to have an injury, happy that it means someone else plays!

Thanks for that mate.

Whats your tip for the lineup tonight?

Reckon we are going to see more of the same...

Actually thinking about this, Barbs coming in means that we should see either Hughes or Sarkies on the bench as Barbs does not play the same role that Pants does. Could this mean we do actually see Cristiano start?!?

Would love to see Leckie get a start and see Travis playing more in the middle, but reckon we'll see a direct swap Pants for Barbs (unfortunately).

I suppose it is an improvement. Against the jets we had 3 useless central midfielders (I think thats what they were supposed to be) in Suckies, Pants and Hughes. Now we will probably only have Hughes and Sarkies to constantly turn the ball over etc.

Can't see Leckie starting, too young and inexperienced. Wouldn't mind Sarkies and Barbs as the midfield with Shin in front of them? or even better start Cristiano!

Cristiano to start!!! LOL... as much as we all wish it, like it will ever happen!

Perhaps with Barbiero back in we'll have more run in the midfield. I would love to see Shin play more though. Drop Hughes to the Youth League squad! :p

I wonder if Viddie realises that our strikers couldn't hit a barn door. How Owusu missed that header from 5 yards when he only had an open net in front of him is a complete mystery.
I know strikers are taught to head down, but he was on his knees and by heading to the ground all he did was enable Velappi to make a save that looked great, when a direct into the net header from there would have given the keeper no chance.

Whenever I read the injury list on the United website the same recovery time is stated week after week. Reid has had 2 weeks after his name for a hell of lot more than 2 weeks. Barbiero was sidelined for a lot more than 2 weeks as well, and now we've got Travis down again.
I still think that Hughes should play in the youth league - he may even score!

Seriously, nothing in that game went well for us. The thing I couldn't believe is Viddie subbed Owusu for Leckie? Why not take off Hughes for Leckie? You do not take off a striker and put on a midfielder, especially an inexperienced one!

It's all a mystery to me.

AUFC is leaving me lost and confused. Admitedly Tando pulled off some brilliant saves to keep PG in the game. But we are going to seriously struggle if we continue to play the way we are. Viddie needs to roll the dice (at least in his opinion) and change the formation and some of the parts of it.

Spirited Lady Reds downed by Mariners
Adelaide United FC’s Women’s Team has more than matched it with the Central Coast Mariners Women but it was not enough as the Lady Reds went down 2-nil at Bluetongue Stadium in Round 2 of the Westfield W-League 2009 Season.

The Lady Reds had their chances, particularly in the first half, but the woodwork and towering Mariners keeper Jilian Loyden prevented United's Women from registering their first goal and of the season and at least a point from the contest.

Both of the Mariners’ goals came in the last 20 minutes, substitute Trudy Camilleri opening the scoring in the 73rd minute before Ashleigh Connor ensured the result for the home side in the 87th minute.

The Lady Reds were not without their opportunities, Angela Fimmano and Georgia Chapman both coming close in the first half, while Reds goalkeeper Sian McLaren also produced a number of fine saves to keep her team in the game.

Reflecting on the game, Adelaide Coach Mike Barnett said his team deserved to take at least a point out of the game.

“I think the score somewhat flattered the opposition to be honest. If it wasn’t for their goalkeeper we could have had two goals on the board by half time so that was positive that the girls continued on their good form from last week,” Barnett said.

“The girls know they’ve still got a way to go but it was another step forward in our improvement and as I said, I don’t think the result was a true reflection of the evenness of the game because we had our fair share of chances.”

“We created a lot more opportunities to score this week and the general play was very good and considering the Central Coast have got a number of Matildas in their squad, our girls can definitely be proud of their performance.”

The Lady Reds’ next match is against Melbourne Victory Women on Saturday 17 October 2009 at Hindmarsh Stadium (Kick-Off 2.30pm ACDT).

Central Coast Mariners Women 2 (Trudy CAMILLERI 74’, Ashleigh CONNOR 88’)
Adelaide United 0
Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
Referee: Kate Jacewicz

Adelaide United line-up: 1. Sian MCLAREN (gk) (c), 2. Ebony WEIDENBACH, 3. Renee HARRISON, 7. Racheal QUIGLEY, 9. Angela FIMMANO, 10. Marijana RAJCIC (12. Katerina BEXIS 83’), 11. Georgia CHAPMAN, 14. Donna COCKAYNE, 15. Tenneille BOALER (13. Lauren CHILVERS 64’), 17. Karina ROWETH, 18. Rochelle KUHAR.

Substitutes Not Used: 6. Thomai KEZIOS, 20. Kristy HARVEY (gk)
Yellow Cards: Donna COCKAYNE 7’
Red Cards: Nil

Central Coast Mariners line-up: 1. Jilian LOYDEN (gk), 2. Caitlin COOPER (c), 4. Rachael DOYLE, 7. Teresa POLIAS, 8. Kelly GOLEBIOWSKI, 9. Renee ROLLASON (13. Trudy CAMILLERI 66’), 10. Kendall FLETCHER, 11. Michelle HEYMAN (14. Ashleigh CONNOR 75’), 12. Samantha SPACKMAN, 16. Jenna KINGSLEY ( 5. Jessica SEAMAN 88’), 19. Lydia VANDENBERGH

Substitutes Not Used: 20. Rachel COOPER (gk)
Yellow Cards: Caitlin COOPER 78’
Red Cards: Nil

The gap between where we currently are as a team and where we need to be at this stage of the season sadly continues to widen.

Vidmar has us all mystified as to why he has become so stubborn and arrogant.

It seems a lifetime ago when Viddie was interviewed on the World Game while Kosmina was still in charge. So humble, clever and focussed in his interview. Now he just seems to have a big wall up around him like he thinks everyone is out to get him. As a result he coaches in fear. His goal before each game seems to be based on not losing the game rather than going out to win the thing.

He is so afraid of sending out a team that will play to win the 3 points convincingly. Instead he returns to his now predictable formations (that worked last year) and player selections which reek of 'we will play not to lose'.

The good players like Jamo have become disenchanted by this safe (read boring) approach and as a result have pulled back to play at 80%. Why bother playing at 100% if the coach is happy with a draw or snagging a win in the last 10 mins. Based on Owusu's performance over the last two weeks and Dodd's numerous misses this season it’s almost as if the boys are afraid to score a goal.

Look at the players faces when they get the ball in front of goal. Minus Leckie - they all shit themselves with the pressure. The fear is plain to see in their faces. They are afraid of messing up. Afraid of doing something wrong. Now look at good players in Spain and England. In front of goal they look dangerous and threatening. We look like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

We need to get rid of this paralysing fear in our play and start to attack with focus and confidence before it strangles the life out of our beloved team.

I am very worried about Friday night’s game. I was going to use my 'Friday night shout' tickets for this game but don’t really want to be embarrassed in front of the neutrals I was going to bring along. For a die hard Reds fan thats a hard thing to admit.


Edited by Big Unit: 12/10/2009 05:46:15 PM

Hmm, maybe you should do the same thing I did and use them for the game against GCU on Nov 20th?

I was just checking out the team stats and saw something strange, it appears that Dodd is only on 3 yellow cards - yet I was sure he had picked up 4. So I checked PG and saw that Todd is marked down as having gotten 1 yellow and 1 red card. And in fact even though we have already had players miss a game for accumulating 5 yellow cards not a single player in the lists is noted down as having received 5 yellow cards? I think that the FFA has gotten very slack with their site updates!

Anyway, looking forward to the game on Friday. Can't help myself: feeling anxious and a bit twitchy, this must be how an addict feels when they are close to getting their fix!

When did Hungry Jacks jump on as a marquee sponsor for AUFC?

Don't know. Will they sponsor my blog. I've done a lot for them over the years! :d

I'm sure there is a good joke to be made about Hungry Jacks & Cristiano..... maybe some parallels drawn with MV's KFC & Carlos...... not witty nor smart enough to join the dots unfortunately