Qld vs. Melbourne

I'm feeling quite tired at the moment - physically and mentally. But I'll try to make my commentary on this game tonight. Before I curl up in bed and end up forgetting...

Where to start...? New coach, but no result for Queensland. I didn't think Farina would be able to change things in time for this evening's macth. I think they need to figure out how to defend. I don't know how Packer's own goal happenned, I don't think it should have, but it did. Mind you, I'm not a Packer fan, and my dad's been on an anti-Packer crusade since last season. Along with the drought occurring at the other end of the pitch, Queensland have gone from being an entertaining team to watch because of their play to not being, well, fluid. I wasn't able to watch all the matches at the start of the season due to other committments, but is this unravelling due to Murdocca's absence? It's almost as if they have no mid-field. McKay has his runs up and down the left side... and Dilevski was being a little bothersome on the right, but there's no heart. Unlike Melbourne.

I'll admit I never truly appreciated Brebner until a few weeks back. Or rather, I've acknowledged that he steadied the midfield, along with Muscat in his new position, but didn't really appreciate how important he is. Last year we would've had Ferrante and Pantelidis forming the heart of the team. And the difference Brebs/Muscat make is that they are imposing. I'd assume that they'd both be imposing players to have to face. Sure, Pantelidis is a hard tackler, and I loved him last year because of it. Ferrante was a good distributor. But Brebs seems to be combination of these two. As a result, Panta doesn't seem to have featured as much this season, but Merrick has found a place for him on the wing/defence. Brebs also seems to be more of a leader, giving instructions and talking while off the ball - but this isn't easy to pick up on the TV. Hence I prefer to attend matches.

I can't remember where I read it, but some people thought Muscat moving into midfield at his age was a silly move. I thought it was a good move. He doesn't have the pace he once had, and putting him as a last man would've been detrimental to Melbourne. So, he now plays that position, but in the midfield. His distribution today wasn't exactly his best, but as someone who believes in defending from the front, I like having him, along with Brebs in the middle.

I was very disappointed with Melbourne's display last week, and so I was probably far more critical than I should have been. Today, having watched the match via a TV, I'm a little calmer.
However, I was quite disappointed in Vidosic - I expected more from him. He had a luckluster performance and almost made me feel sorry for Postecoglou. Almost. That's another story, but essentially goes something along the lines of, "we need a change." Piorkowski produced only one suprise, where he traversed the box and cleaned up what Storey messed up at one point in the second half. Other times Piors would receive the ball from a team mate who was facing him and would either pass it back or try to play the ball when he should have booted it up the line because Qld was closing down. Storey had a better match than I expected. Not only did he provide the ball that was mis-timed by two (two!) Qld defenders and consequently lobbed over Reddy by Thompson, he also had a few other moments where he either tried to use his left foot, or did something well.

Thompson annoyed me, as per normal. I like players to have two feet - perhaps that's why I like Dilevski. Piorkowski is heavily right-footed, but occasionally uses the left just to annoy you , eg. "Ahhhhh!!! Why didn't you use the left earlier you smeghead!" Thompson had a couple of chances this evening to put another ball into the back of the net - but he couldn't because he doesn't have a left foot! Quite frustrating. And he seems to be lacking in fitness. And if Robbie Slater refers to the pace of Thompson and Allsopp, I will fly over to wherever Robbie is and scream at him. Thompson has no pace. His feet are very quick when the ball's at his feet, but in terms of chasing down a ball - no.