Coaches gambling on the not-quite-right
In round 15, Laurie McKinna gambled on Tony Vidmar's calf, only to take him off early in the match and lose a substitute... This weekend, McKinna did it again, and Farina joined in with Matty McKay.
Poor lad - he looked miserable after half-time when the cameras lingered on Matty and Spase Dilevski. If there was a sight that nearly made me sob* during the weekend, it was the contrast between Dilevski up and about signing stuff for the kids and Matty just sitting there. I can't describe it enough, but he looked so unhappy. He's always seemed like the heart of the team, and it must've been difficult for him to watch Queensland more or less collapse and being unable to do anything...
Players who ball watch... or similar
I was livid with the third goal from Newcastle on the weekend - I don't understand how three defenders can just stand there and watch Bridge and Rodriguez do their thing. Sure, it was in the box (I think...), and diving in would and should be the last thing on the mind of any of the defenders, but surely one of them could have committed to closing down the space Bridge had, knowing he had 2 team-mates to back him up! Perhaps they didn't all want to commit at once, as could have happened if they don't talk. If that was the case, I wonder why Reddy didn't do some talking in there. Unfortunately, not being at the matches makes it difficult to figure out what's really going on...
The crowd at Melbourne
Hurrah! So we got 50, 333 people down to the Telstra Dome. Next thing to do, is to make all those people who turn up for the sake of being there appreciate the game. Today's Age had an article which stated the following:
By way of comparison, Melbourne's turnout was eclipsed by only one English Premier League match last weekend — the Manchester derby at Old Trafford — meaning it out-drew the London derby of Chelsea versus Arsenal.
Can I point out that at least the people who go to EPL matches would understand the game? I wouldn't expect to see women (yes, it's the girls who are driving me quite insane at the football) yawning during EPL matches and reading magazines while the team's warming up. I wouldn't expect to see little brats going to EPL matches and running about the place. And I'm sure that more appreciation would be given to players who put in during the match - eg. last season Danny Allsopp copped a lot of flack for not scoring, but very few people would have realised the work-horse that he is, and the number of times he allowed Melbourne to lose respectably by saving us in the defence.
What I'm trying to say, is that you can't really compare the crowds between a country where many people understand the football and a country where's its only growing and may have a novelty factor attached to it at the moment.
New Zealand
Hurrah for the return of Jonas Salley! Having him for most of the match meant that the Kiwis could actually be competitive and I was happy at how tough Salley was on Veart (especially considering how much I dislike Veart). It was good to see Veart under wraps because it meant that he didn't do any awful fouls on others. Made me very happy. Marcina played well again, but like last week annoyed me with his missing skill - finishing. And Paston had another great game! I finished the A-League weekend on quite a high after the misery of Thursday night.
Adelaide
Good to see that Kosmina actually figured that Aloisi wasn't required in the team... That's right, I just made a positive comment on Kossie and Adelaide. Also good to see that Kossie took Romario off when he wasn't having much of an effect on the match. Uh oh, that's two positive comments, I musn't be feeling well.
*Perhaps I should point out that I'm the kind of person who can sobs at sad points in movies - even bad ones. Heck, I even sobbed during the end of 'New Police Story' today when the background of one the characters (Frank if you're wondering) was revealed... I got all misty reading the Paolo Di Canio interview and Fabio Cannovaro articles in the latest Four Four Two. I'm pathetic, I know :)
3 comments:
Thankyou Scary for your empathetic comments about the Roar boys. I really appreciated reading them, and your tears are absolutely appropriate. Meanwhile I'm beginning to understand why you're not fond of Mr Farina.
You can't really compare the crowds between a country where many people understand the football and a country where's its only growing and may have a novelty factor attached to it at the moment.
That thought did cross my mind, and it deserves to be said, but... hell it was a good crowd! Does it at least indicate a great long-term potential?
Nice to see your face Scary!
Scary, the various stadium security need more educating than the fans at the moment, and will do more damage to crowd numbers than the style of play on offer. Hold your heart gal, everything (re)starts as a novelty, and yes, good to see ya mug, I'll have to do the same over at FF (now where's my silly hat gone?) By the way, really appreciate a player's perspective here.
Hamish, as outlined in the post, I'm a bit of a sook, especially with football.
By the way, really appreciate a player's perspective here.
Wayne, I'd hardly call it a player's perspective - I haven't been able to play since March, and I spent most of my time standing at either end of the pitch...
Re: change in photo
I thought the old photo was a little out-dated considering I can't play at the moment.
Just for laughs I'll tell you the history of the photo! Was playing the lunchtime comp at uni, first match and I cop a ball to my nose. Considering the amount of times I've had bloody noses on the pitch, I did what comes naturally - stuffed tissues up it. Very pretty sight I'm sure you can imagine. A friend decided to get a photo as he thought it was a hoot. People from the lab thought I was nuts by continuing to play.
I think their reactions illustrate that I live in an environment that doesn't live football... and that's why I need to rant on a blog like this!
Post a Comment