A girl's guide to the A-league

Naïvety in football

2010-01-20T11:46:00.003+11:00

Having an excessive amount of free time, but being limited to a computer does have its perks – it gives me a chance to catch up on months of blogging and forum posts that I would not normally read as there is always something non-computer-based to do.

Going through the links on my blog I “stumbled” across From the Left Wing again, and found a post that captured a few of my thoughts about football and the role of cheating in the sport. Titled Henry’s Handball & the Moral Ambiguity of Football, it’s fairly obvious what the post covers.

Football is a game that stirs emotions. Managed by humans, mistakes are bound to happen - fouls that are missed, clean tackles that become punishable offences, diving, calling a ball out when it remained within the field of play, giving a goal kick when it was clearly a corner, etc. Oh, and handballs.

Any of these offences can have drastic consequences - but I think handballs are rarely used to the same effect as Maradona and, recently, Henry have done. Perhaps that’s why Henry copped so much flak but FIFA did nothing. I would say it’s almost become accepted that players dive and are (mistakenly) awarded penalties. I could imagine that if FIFA made a decision on Henry, they would set a precedent for all kinds protests against rule-breaking actions that result in a goal/could have resulted in a goal.

And wouldn’t they be busy bees if they had done anything with Henry. As Jennifer Doyle writes:
Handballs, offside calls, the identification of goals and the discounting of goals, calls for aggressive tackles and diving - all are made by referees without the help of video replay, and are vulnerable to human error and players know it - and the most competitive exploit this. It becomes part of your game.
It becomes part of your game. It becomes part of the opposition’s game. If it’s part of the opposition’s game, it should be part of yours. Circular argument, but you have to wake up and realise it happens.

I think Australians are too naïve when it comes too this. We generally play by the rules, but someone else will spoil the party. And when the game is over – we’re left with nothing.

Even if you refuse to include it in your game you must accept that it occurs. You must make sure that you do not give the opposition the opportunity to cheat in a way that is catastrophic to your team. I won’t name or describe the best example for us, as I think that it is obvious.

“Cheating" is an art in this sport.
Personally, I’ve never handballed in an un-obvious way (I have had brain snaps in the middle of the park where I’ve obviously stuck my hand out, made contact and sworn at myself/burst into a giggle fit at my idiocy) and diving isn’t in my repertoire.

But I recognise that football can be subjective. I won’t pretend otherwise.

I exploit this. I won’t pretend otherwise.

I indirectly address referees.

I abuse opposition officials if I notice them unjustly interfering with the game (as a coach, I don’t taint my players – I will simply give my team instructions or cheer them on but especially loudly when the linesperson happens to be in front of me. Or specifically, their ear is in front of me. Their faces are gold when you see their paranoia develop - Surely it’s just in my head that she gives louder instructions while I am there.)

I waste time. I like to think time wasting is a special talent of mine, particularly as a goalkeeper.

I claim the opposition’s ball.

I play until the referee stops me. Dribbled the ball out? Carry on until the referee tells you otherwise. Similarly, don’t stop because you think the opposition has dribbled the ball out. We’ve all been caught out before.

Lots of white lies. You probably think that they’re not as bad as handballs and diving in the box…

Let’s return to I play until the referee stops me. I have gotten away with football murder. I was so good, I convinced all but one team-mate (who was on the goal line with me), our coach (at the time, my eagle-eyed dad) and the opposition attackers. What if I got caught? Well, I would have played dumb and accepted the referee’s decision.

For the record, I have only ever had one yellow card. For indoor. Apparently slide tackles are illegal.

The Lure of Wordpress

2010-01-20T10:14:00.003+11:00

You may have noticed that I keep changing the template of the blog. I just can't find one to match my personality! I like how clean this one is (currently on Minima Stretch with a white background), but I can't get the right colour combinations when I go to a dark background.

I did start a Wordpress blog once... but I am a creature of habit, or of laziness and so I like how I log in with my Gmail and ta-da, easy access to Blogger.

Perhaps I should just get into the html coding and start mucking about with it!

Death to Time! Die! Die! Die!

2010-01-19T08:36:00.005+11:00

My work situation now means I have a lot of free time to browse the web. Unfortunately, I find that there are limits to the internet - if I weren't behind a computer I would happily pick up my book (I am currently on The Book Thief) and read instead. However, I am at work - and though I may not have any work to actually do (and everyone knows it), I ought to semi-pretend (which consists of openly browsing the web and not excessively distracting others).

The Age is one website that I visit on a daily basis. This usually means skimming through the main page just to have an idea of what's going on in the world. These days, I open a plethora of tabs and read as many articles as I want until I get sick of reading them. I am forced to use Internet Explorer and sometimes the browser crashes. Can't complain as it adds to the "fun" of making the day go by.

However, the browser is yet to crash today and so far have read a number of articles. Well I have skimmed through a number and probable read a handful. Today's offerings include reviews of Yum Cha in Melbourne and of the Sydney to Buenos Aires "service" offered by Aerolineas Argentinas.

My high school friends like to socialise over Yum Cha, so I promptly sent that to them. We have got Yum Cha booked in a couple of weeks, and though we're not at one of the places with highly rated (5-asterisk) food, our place is at least named but not shamed. Perhaps we could try an alternative venue when I visit in the future.

One of my friends has already responded. The best part is that she is the one who makes our Yum Cha bookings, and I am pleased with her response:
Interesting article, maybe we should expand our horizons next time to the other places...

The other review was a good laugh. With a family from Argentina, I having done numerous Sydney-Buenos Aires and return trips. Each has got progressively worse - partly because I am becoming more aware of things as I get older, but mainly because the service has gotten progressively worse.

16 hours, 35 minutes is a long time. I think the reviewer, Larissa Ham had a good trip. Her flight was only delayed for 1 hour 24 minutes. And she had 2 films on the Auckland - Buenos Aires leg (the flight is Sydney - Auckland - Buenos Aires).

Last time I flew with Aerolineas was the return from Buenos Aires. About 19 hours. Add a 6 hour delay and NO films. Good times.

I think my parents are planning a visit again at the end of the year. Here's hoping that they are happy to pay more and fly Qantas/LAN Chile - something that Dad and I discussed post/during our last flight back to Sydney.

Taking a bite from my hat

2010-01-18T08:47:00.002+11:00

But not eating it - it was only one (1) touch.

But I did quite like Archie's outside of the foot touch to Tommy P (he's the only Tommy, but I like calling him Tommy P - perhaps inherited from Wayne?) who then crossed it for Kruse.

So while Archie did annoy me somewhat, I'll ease up on him. For now.

It would be very unlike me if I didn't complain about the match - I wouldn't say that Melbourne played well but that Perth assisted with it's lack of display. In the first half, Hernandez managed to get a break on the Perth defense. Hernandez. How?!??!??! It also happened in the second half when he (finally) scored, though I do think he was offside at the time, so that wasn't as much as a miraculous feat.

The other thing that irritated me was the number of opportunities that Carlos wasted. However, he scores once and the crowd appears to forgive him. #@$%@*!!!!!!!

To further add to my woes, I think I am really losing whatever interest I had in the A-League. Seriously, I'm struggling.

*No swear word in particular, just feeling frustrated by a crowd that likes goals rather than football.

Approaching the beginning of the end

2010-01-10T19:10:00.008+11:00

I went back to work today - I won't complain as I had the luxury of driving to and from work, and stayed inside in climate controlled comfort from 8 to 5.

Last night I was forced to use Google to search for "How to resign." While all the rules were along the lines of don't tell anyone beforehand, resign on a Friday afternoon, to do it in person, etc. I had already done the opposite by telling my day-to-day managers (Mr M and Mr T) what I planned to do when the office reopened in 2010, knowing that I had to resign on the Tuesday of that first week in order to give the required one month of notice and make it out in time for the move and not jeopardise the scholarship, and I planned to do it by internal mail as I was based off-site and away from my team leader (Ms S) and group manager (Mr B) - no idea who I had to address it to.

So I wrote my resignation letter, printed it out (not sure if it was ethical to use the client printer to do this, but it had to be done), signed it and put it into an envelope. Then it went into an ugly internal mail envelope for Ms K to deliver to th office for Ms S to receive it tomorrow. For the record, Ms S has known that this was in the pipeline for about the last 4 to 5 months.

After all that preparation - I find that for the next 6 work days, I am in the home office. Along with everyone else who's on the project I'm currently on... we're waiting for approvals and decisions to be made so work's been slow. Ms K and I had a chuckle as I had complained that I wanted to do the letter drop in person - and now I could! Awesome moment #1.

During this whole return-to-the-office meeting (being run by Mr B, the group manager), I find that Mr B is aware of my situation, which I expected would happen. In line with what Mr M and Mr T had said to me last year upon telling them that I was leaving, it appears Mr B would like to hold on to me somewhat. Awesome moment #2. So I'm to have a meeting with him and Mr P tomorrow. Mr P is our industry director (there's a lot of levels in this management structure... no wonder I was confused who I had to resign to, particularly since my manager when I started is no longer a "manager") and one of my favourite people at work, but the concept of a meeting with him, Mr B and me is scary. Exciting, but scary.

Eeeeek!

Sorry about the blog template changes - I can't settle on one that I like...

All I want for Christmas is my one front tooth...

2010-01-06T22:42:00.008+11:00

When I was little (over 16 years ago) I fell over in the schoolyard and hit the pavement face-first (not a goalkeeping incident, sorry to disappoint). The result was a substantial chip of my right front tooth. Got a filling then and I've just grown up with this slightly out of kilter tooth that I could feel the edge of the filling on.

Anyway, 16+ years on and the filling wore enough for a chip to become apparent. So I got my current dentist (not the one from 16+ years ago) to redo the filling. If I consider the tooth in isolation, I think he's done a better job - I don't feel a ridge between my actual enamel and the filling, and it looks in proportion to the root of the tooth.

BUT, I'm feeling a little like this guy:

You see, the reason why I knocked out a substantial amount of that tooth while my left front tooth got away completely unscathed was that my right one is a little more prominent. And out of kilter. Woe.

OK, so nothing like Cassi from the most recent Aus Top Model:

But uuugh! So self conscious about it. And double uuugh as perhaps I don't have teeth as effed-up, but she's like so much skinnier than me and stuff... (Wow, aren't I a moo-cow to use another female's bad teeth to make me feel better about mine. You know what's going to happen though? Her agency is bound to make her fix her teeth and so she'll have the last laugh. A last laugh with beautifully straight teeth. At least I know that her skinny legs will break easily if she happens to be on the football pitch. Even if she's on my team. And then I'll be laughing - with my mouth closed.)

The weird thing is that visually it's a less noticeable problem now than what it was with the chip, but mentally aaaarrrgh!

I didn't have braces when I was younger, but with one of my high-school friends considering preventative botox, surely I am entitled to consider braces... it just seems a bit silly for one tooth! Well, probably two - upon closer inspection I think that the tooth to the right of the chipped one is also out of kilter in the same direction but less pronounced.

Being very awful to myself and looking at photos of teeth...

P.S. How amusing is Petstarr's name for the Cassi image? (Click on Cassi's image to be directed to the file located online.)

P.P.S. You HAVE to watch AusNTM in order to completely LOVE Petstarr's AusNTM work. Though I am yet to decide if you're better off watching and THEN reading, or reading and then watching...

P.P.P.S. Once, when my dentist found out that I played football... and that I was a goalkeeper... AND that I had already been kicked in the head a few times... he insisted that I wear a mouth-guard. By then I had already stopped playing, but as I'm thinking about playing this coming season perhaps I won't so if my teeth DO get knocked out, the sports insurance could pay for it. Though I would be in incredible pain...

P.P.P.P.S. I only had the filling re-done yesterday, so I am entitled to be a sook for today. And tomorrow. Perhaps the whole week.

Bahahahahahahahaha!

2010-01-04T01:58:00.005+11:00

Manchester Utd 0 - Leeds 1

!!!!!!!!

How the hell am I meant to go to sleep now?!?!?

Out with the old, in with the new

2009-12-31T18:49:00.003+11:00

Further to my Charlie Miller musings last week, we now have Moore to add (hee hee, although the pun was not intentional). Perhaps even Reddy had to go for the same reason!

Cecilia sucks at rockclimbing.

2009-12-31T10:32:00.007+11:00

a.k.a. Cecilia rockclimbing FAIL.

In the meantime, you can read Faux Fuchsia's blog post on decluttering. Nothing at all to do with football, but she keeps The Decluttering Thread going on the Vogue forums, so she's a saint of sorts.

Especially since I'm trying to cut down so that I don't take excess stuff to Sydney and that I don't leave too much behind in Melbourne.

Fan Letters

2009-12-27T21:56:00.008+11:00

It's been a while since I've posted some fan letters - I checked my older ones, I did have to laugh at myself when re-reading the one to Newcastle about how to waste time. But today, something a little more serious. Not that time wasting isn't serious, but...

Dear Mr Pasfield
Your yelling is quite annoying - it's high-pitched, panicky and there's an awful lot of it.

No wonder your defenders don't listen to you! Their eardrums must've burst by now.

If not, perhaps they've taken a preventative measure. So the lesson here is too much yelling and they don't want to listen to you. A bit like Ben Kennedy has experienced. Have a chat to him about it - but please don't yell during this conversation.

Although your yell does provide an endless source of amusement when one tries to mimic it.

Regards

- Cecilia
Your biggest yell mimic (and yes, I'm annoying too).

Dear Mr Langerak
If you were a little older I would have undoubtedly already written to you by now - you're such a cheeky little cutie. :) Add your baby face and you really seem illegal.

However, cheekiness and cuteness aside, please learn how to use your body properly. I'm not convinced that that ball you were "shielding" from Brockie was actually out. I suspect that you were in punching distance of the assistant referee and we all know that you really are all limbs. You're kinda like a daddy long legs, but with only four legs. Although two are arms.

So, at training this week, try and have a chat to Carlos. I say try, because I have no idea if he actually speaks English yet. Try playing Charades if the talking thing fails. Though with your long limbs, he may mistake you for a John Cleese/Frank Woodly type and laugh himself silly.

Why Carlos? He is very good at using his (ample) body for shielding and protecting the ball. Get him to show you how he uses his body to shield the ball. It mainly involves sticking your arse out and creating space.

If Carlos offers to take the training further, please be careful. He does have an ample body, and we know he loves chicken, La Ionica chicken. So if you end up at his place for dinner, stick to the breast.

You don't need a big arse to stick it out and create space. I wouldn't want that cute little face of yours ruined by excess fats.

Regards

- Cecilia
Your biggest "Awwwwwwwww he's so cute!" gusher.

Dear Mr Vargas
I hate deflections. Please stop trying to do too much so that you don't make proper conduct and the ball follows some random trajectory that even Charlie Eppes couldn't figure out - and he's good at making sense of nothing. I've seen him on TV, so it must be true.

You're also quite slow and a poor marker. No wonder Daal got the better of you. Not to mention previous North Queensland attacks seem to have gotten through due to your inability to mark and/or read the game. Sure sure, the goal happened because of a wayward Leijer pass (intentional, so Charlie might have been able to calculate it), but Daal needed to be better marked.

Also, please don't collect silly yellow cards. The only reason one should collect one is when you've made a serious tackle. Not because you feel like arguing. He's the ref. He has cards. He'll always win. Unless it's Delovski - he seems a bit soft on the cards.

Regards

- Cecilia
A paid-up Melbourne Victory member for quite a few years now.

Christmas/New Year holidays

2009-12-27T18:58:00.002+11:00

My work office has been closed from December 24 and will reopen on January 11. That's a lot of free time - and while I have much to work on (planning the move) it's too early to start working on it, as nothing really happens until February. It's not even the New Year yet!

The A-League hasn't been all that enticing this season, I'm still wondering how Brisbane was so successful in leaving the league's highest scorer unmarked! It's not as if they can blame Farina now!

Though I did love how Charlie's team won. Hee hee - take that Postekos! :) I wonder if Charlie's comradeship with the younger players was why Postekos needed him gone - after all, Postekos has been a youth coach lately and perhaps he wasn't keen on someone older undermining his authority...

Hmm... Victory are playing tonight - I suppose that's a good way of ensuring that my second layer of nail polish. Perhaps I'll add a photo of it later this evening as Google Image is of no assistance!

My beloved No. 18.

2009-12-20T21:07:00.010+11:00

I refer to the one with "Made in France" on the back, not that crazy shimmery No. 18 that's has "Made in USA" and is called "Vamp". Shimmery and a less classy name = a double dose of nastiness.

Rouge Noir is my favourite nail polish colour. It's the one I resort to when I can't decide what colour I feel like wearing for the next few days.

Unfortunately for me, my current bottle has been around for a while now; it's becoming more viscous each time I use it and more difficult to apply. I should just go in and buy a new bottle, perhaps from the new Chanel boutique in Chadstone. It would give me an excuse to sample the fragrances that aren't kept at David Jones, Myer and other Chanel stockists.

However, it is Christmas - and there's no way I'm stepping into a major shopping centre now.

Adding to the annoyance is that I have a particular order that I paint my nails in, so my right thumbnail always looks quite atrocious with this colour. All my other nails are nice and smooth (and shiny!), this one's not. I refuse to fix it as there's always the risk that soaking some cotton wool with nail polish remover could cause a minor spill onto nails of the fingers holding the cotton wool. It would be a catastrophe.

Perhaps I need to work on my coordination.

2009-12-19T08:32:00.005+11:00

Grow our ... business to include strong modelling capabilities from inland to coastal environs.

That came through in an internal email yesterday afternoon at work as one of the global growth areas for the company I'm at. It's semi-amusing as it would be something that I could do at the completion of the PhD.

While I don't want to get ahead of myself, nor do I want to continue in consulting (at this stage), it does provide some substance to a couple of offers and questions asked of me yesterday.

I told my two day-to-day managers what my intentions were for the future but that I wouldn't be handing in my resignation until the New Year. I'm currently working on a project that is best described as an unstable work environment, so letting them what was going on with me gives them time over the Christmas/New Year office closure period to manage my departure and gives me a clear conscience.

One manager asked if I wanted to work part-time in the Sydney office. I didn't anticipate this, but at the same time wouldn't do it as I wanted to focus on the PhD. So I declined and provided that reason.

The other manager asked if I wanted to defer my employment. Another option that I did not anticipate. I didn't answer directly, telling him that I should have applied for working at the environmental sister company rather than the infrastructure one that I was ultimately employed by. We are all one company now, so I could move to what is now another team.

But I think a clean break is best for me. I'll just keep in touch with the necessary people.

Internal injuries?

2009-12-19T07:50:00.000+11:00

I continue to wonder if Glen Moss not playing was due to friction between himself and Kevin Muscat. Muscat, as captain and assistant coach, appears to have enormous influence on the team - the Victory defence sometimes gets into serious problems because it seems like they MUST pass the ball to him!

Not being able to communicate well with your defence, means that they can't work for you and you can't work for them. So I can't say that Moss is solely responsible for that 4-0 loss to Central Coast, but I don't think he should be made the scapegoat either.

And I'm outta here!

2009-12-13T12:03:00.005+11:00

The long wait is over - I now have my PhD place and scholarship confirmed for next year! :)

Of course, things had to change a little at work so that my resignation is no longer as straight forward...

Timeline of this week:

Wed - receive an SMS telling me about the PhD scholarship.
Thu - work approves a conference I had planned to go to in March (I have a paper to present).
Fri lunch - receive written notification of a pay-rise from work.
Fri arvo - receive the email with the formal offer of the PhD scholarship. Confirmed that I need to start by mid-Feb.

While I still have a week or so of work until the office closes for Christmas and New Year, I don't want to give them more than the four weeks of notice defined in my contract. But I need to book the conference this year. Messy. LOL.

On the other side of things, I don't want to hand in the resignation on the first day back at the office. So according to my timelines, I'll finish work on a Friday and have to move up to Sydney and begin the PhD by the following Friday.

I'm looking forward to the weekend immediately after... zzz...

And as for the pay rise? It seems that work like me, they really like me*. ;)

*If I used the correct words I think it would have had a different, un-Cecilia tone. :)

Archie Thomspon

2009-12-05T04:56:00.001+11:00

Enough said.

So who still hates Archie Thompson?

2009-11-29T10:44:00.004+11:00

This was shouted out by a man who sits one row behind me on my left after Thompson had scored his second goal.

He's quite aware of the group I sit amongst that is unhappy with Thompson as a player and as the marquee - someone will semi-regularly yell out, "Archie! You're shit!"

Reading the paper and watching highlights of yesterday's match, it's somewhat (ok, very) frustrating that Thompson is portrayed as a player who is deserving of being considered for the Socceroos squad. The Australian public seem to think that a player who scores a couple of goals in a match is a good player. They fail to realise that Thompson is lazy and needs the whole team to play for him in order for him to be effective.

Gone is Danny Allsopp who worked all over the field – patching up the gaps that occurred in the midfield in defence, gaps which have become more apparent this season. Without Allsopp there is no longer a hard-working, self-sacrificing player in the Victory attack who was the perfect alternative to the generally idle and selfish player that Thompson is.

The number of times that Thompson has been offside this year has been ridiculous. I suspect that if there was a statistic that totalled the distance that each player was offside, Thompson would have it in the bag with the most metres. That he’s rarely slightly offside is an indication him not working for the team – he’s out of play and he’s of no use to the team. Sometimes the ball will head out in his off-side direction. Instead of letting the ball go for a throw-in deeep in the opposition defence, Thompson chooses to become involved in the play – giving the opposition a free-kick further up the field than if he had chosen to let it go.

Do you really want such a “player” in your national team?

So he scored a couple of goals last night. Whoop-de-doo. Those goals were a credit to Ward and Kruse – the quality of those passes to Thompson was outstanding. As Fox Sports news were only replaying Thompson’s goals I had a chance to appreciate those passes. They were perfect.

But the media doesn’t seem to recognise the quality of the pass. It happens often that the goal-scorer is the celebrated one. Unfortunately in this case, Thompson is the one being celebrated – a player who does not deserve to be in the national team, but with the media coverage causes the public to believe that he belongs in the national team! A preposterous idea!

The worst thing is that football is still a misunderstood sport here in Australia. So much of the focus is on scoring goals. It's a mindset that will take a long time to change, having had so many decades of AFL as the primary sport - a sport that is high scoring and where 'booting' the ball up the field is OK. Football is a different kind of sport. The Australian public will need to recognise that it's not AFL on a square pitch, and that there is much more to being a footballer than scoring goals that are served up on a silver plate.

Women's stuff

2009-11-26T21:17:00.005+11:00

No, not a post about menstruation. Though I did want to type that word just for the sake of being slightly cheeky. :) This post is just a random musing of sorts.

I recently obtained my Learner's permit for riding a motorbike! It's all quite exciting, though Melbourne has turned on its rainmaker so I haven't been test-riding bikes. But I have been accumulating gear.

Have you any idea how difficult it is to get a ladies' summer jacket with a waterproof removable liner in a colour that is NOT black? There were only two jackets that met my needs. Add my long arms, and I am left with one jacket.

Really - I'm sure there are a number of female motorcyclists out there. Surely, there's a lot more options than what I've found so far?

And yes, it had to be a ladies cut - it's the only way that all the padding and armour would sit in the right places.

Reminds me of my (men's) goalkeeping pants. I suppose most of the padding is in the right place - a lot of it bunches up around my waist - not a surprise given I have hips and men do not. Well, they do, but they're not wider than the rest of them!

P.S. I had a bio electrical impedance analysis today. My calculated age was only 2 months older than I actually am. For someone who is generally sedentary, albeit a once a week/fortnight cycle, and doesn't follow any particular diet - I'm pretty happy. Especially since the exercise and diet conscious girl who sits on my left at work had a calculated age 3 years older than her actual age. :) Ooooh, am I evil or what?

I've been thinking about my juicer lately, and today's BIA got me thinking about recipes, so I may start that again. Sad, isn't it? ;)

Reasons for my lack of blog presence

2009-11-01T18:40:00.004+11:00

I remember being an Honours student in a microbiology lab when I started writing here. I don't think this blog was a procrastination method of mine, I used to have a procrastination list and I don't recall this blog featuring on it.

But I had a hectic time at uni last year - final year, and I decided to really work my arse off. The effort was worth it in the end, I ended up with awesome marks and I also ended up wondering why I hadn't put this kind of effort in earlier. Part of it might have to do with the environmental engineering course having more civil eng subjects in the earlier years, so I just didn't care for it. Even in an integrated subject we had last year, I still feel asleep during a lecture on pipelines.

Of course, it's only natural that I am currently working on civil infrastructure projects. Designing pipelines.

How do such tragedies happen?

Well, it's quite simple really.

I wanted to do a PhD but didn't have the H1 average required to know that you can start a PhD. Yes, I know H2As can normally get you in, but I like certainty.
Like all (I suppose) final year eng students, I applied for graduate positions.
Like most final year eng students, I was successful in gaining a graduate position. I was notified in Semester 1. During exams. With only a week to take up or decline the offer. I was stressed. I wanted certainty. I took it.

So there you go. Is there a moral to this story? I think there is - work harder in your early years of uni so that you have a better idea of your capabilities. That way, come final year you won't be so shocked with the high H1 average in Semester 1. And when all your marks are high H1s in semester 2, you won't be going, "Damn," because you only just found out you have stupidly high marks and can start the PhD.

At least the past 11 months in engineering design/consulting have proven that I don't enjoy it. So when I start the PhD (I won't officially know until mid-December) I won't be wondering what consulting is like.

Last year I was genuinely busy, this year I've hated my job - and it's hard to write when you're unhappy with things.

Bu now have a future to look forward to (although it will be a long 6 weeks until I have confirmation of Future To Look Forward To), so I might be happy enough to start blogging again.

Of course it would also help if I stopped falling asleep during A-League matches because they're boring. And we all know what happenned as a result of me falling asleep in civil eng lectures...

You seem kinda familiar - have we met before?

2009-11-01T18:24:00.005+11:00

Oh, you're my blog! I knew that we had met before.

September, October. Two whole months and I haven't done anything here.

Let's face it - the A-League has turned into complete crap this year. I think it was always crap, but this year definitely blows.

And so I have neglected my blog. What's there to write about? I can't pretend that it's a great game - it's not, and it irritates me that the Fox Sports commentators aren't more honest with what they see. But I suppose they can't say it's a shit game - after all they want people to be watching it.

I still attend MV matches, but I can't wait for the second Melbourne team to come along so I can cancel my MV membership without feeling like I'm abandoning the sport.

Book Review: A Year of Sport Travel

2009-08-30T10:41:00.002+10:00

It's been almost two months since I last posted - I can only offer excuses for being so time poor, despite no longer studying! It may not seem like much but football coaching, trying to train for the Around the Bay ride, feeling miserable because I hate work, hunting for and choosing between PhD projects and locations, purchasing and getting used to my new [manual] car have all taken their toll on me and my time! So much so that I've even downgraded my expectations for the Around the Bay from 210 km to 100 km. And as my head starts to clear re: work or study, and making decisions where I'll be next year (not in Melbourne by the looks of things) I can turn my attentions to the things that have fallen by the wayside.

One of them has been A Year of Sport Travel - a book that was sent to me by the lovely people at Lonely Planet because of this blog! So it's only fitting that I review it here.

It's the kind of book that I imagine the "typical" sport-loving Australian loving. We are a sport-obsessed nation, and given the increasing rates of obesity I suspect that we are really a sport-spectating-loving nation (unless we refer to the A-League, which seems to be having crowd number problems.) Organised in weekly intervals, A Year of Sport Travel offers four sports a week that one can choose from to watch (and even to participate if you are so inclined).

Naturally all the expected events are there - the World Cup, Olympics, World Athletics Championships (OK so it's not on everyone's radar but I care and it's my blog so there), Premier League and FA Cup. Also are other people's "expected events" - the Ashes (although given recent results, it may not be a suitable 'sport' to refer to), Dakar Rally, Tri-Nations Rugby, Tour de France, Winter Olympics, err... AFL's Grand Final, Wimbeldon, Boston Marathon, etc.

But the best part of the book is that it mixes the typical with the non-typical; this is why I really loved the book. And by organising the events by calendar, you are as likely to come up with something obscure when checking out the obvious events. Take the FA Cup - an event that happens in May each year and that I would expect any readers of this blog are familiar with. Turn the page over, and this week in May is shared with Indy 500 (meh), World Table Tennis Championships (meh - although it is a fun sport to play after a few drinks and hand-eye coordination has long gone) and CHEESE ROLLING! On the last Monday in May, a 7 pound circle of Double Gloustershire is rolled down a hill and people chase after it! With a seriously steep grade and multiple heats... well, check out the YouTube video for the fun that this event brings!

And if you thought cheese rolling looked dangerous, there's a hybrid event that could up it given Lennox Lewis describes both disciplines as "pretty violent"...

I tend to agree with the final comments of chess-boxing not yet the best of both worlds, or really the best of either - so when picking between the two I'd go the cheese rolling. I could stay in Europe for the following two months:

early June - the Giostra Della Quintana in Italy with knights, lances and horses
late June - Wimbeldon (if feeling civilised) or the Calcio Storico (if not feeling civilised and feeling like staying in Italy)
early July - the Wife-Carrying Championships in Finland (where the wife doesn't necessarily have to be married to the carrier according to the rules)
throughout July - the Tour de France throughout July (I had to have something normal)
mid-August - the European Minigolf Championships
late-August - I could come back to Wales for World Bog Snorkelling!

Definitely my kind of trip - something serious with enough zaniness to keep me hyper for a while!

The only downside to the book? Far too much cricket! The Ashes, the Cricket World Cup, and Indian Premier League! Although it's probably aimed at Australians... and they do have three football events - four if I include the Olympics!

Found myself a goalkeeper!

2009-06-23T07:46:00.004+10:00

At the start of the season, I had a goalkeeper for the girls that I coach. Unfortunately the first team goalkeeper was injured so I lost mine. She has now played too many matches with the firsts, so I ended up without a goalkeeper. So I've been throwing randoms in there - some cope, some don't.

On the weekend I decided to use an U12 (Izzy) who plays on the pitch for her team and in goals for the U13s. She's not a tiny U12, so I figured she'd cope with the U16s.

Did she ever! All the other parents were impressed with her - I had the advantage of having spent time with her on Thursday nights where I help out with the U12 & U13 girls. It's one thing to see Izzy in her age group (where she mucks about a bit) and then to see her step up for the U16s in terms of her own performance but also the maturity to talk to the defence and claim the ball.

Looking at the U12, U13 and U16 fixtures... there's a chance I might be able to get her for most of the remaining games. I've put it all together in Excel, and calculated the travel time using Google Maps. Known as The Izzy Scheme, I've identified 7 of our 10 remaining matches where she has the time to make it to our matches (she could play 3 matches on one day on 3 of those days), and 2 where she'd have to decide between the 13s and 16s. Provided her parents are happy to drive about a bit, we may be able to cope without leaking goals for the rest of the season. It's just unfortunate that it took an injury and illness spree in the 16s to give me the opportunity/excuse to ask her to join us!

Back to Sunday - I had somewhat silly opposition. Their coach's excuse was that it was their first season. Heck, it's my excuse too - but I'd never use it! Anyway, we were a player short the whole time so I risked playing 3 defenders (vs. 3 strikers) the whole game as I noticed that when my defence pushed up to half-way, the strikers came up with them (expected). But when the wing-backs would push up past half-way, the strikers came up with them again! BONUS! Hee hee. :) I love stupid opposition. Or rather, stupid coaches who love to have excuses for poor performances. Unfortunately we couldn't score (and we definitely had our opportunities) so it ended up 0-0.

Hopefully with 11 players and perhaps some subs, we can get a result next week. :) I'll ask Izzy if she enjoyed herself on Sunday, and if so I'll ask her parents if they're happy with The Izzy Scheme. Now, here's hoping the 16As coach and player movement "manager" don't realise what I've found...

Random moments in junior football

2009-05-31T15:24:00.001+10:00

I played one girls in left midfield this morning for the first half. In relation to where I was standing, she was on my side and attacking to my left. I moved her into the more familiar right midfield in the second half. So she was still on my side but should have been attacking to my right.

Should have been...

Round 5

2009-05-24T20:44:00.002+10:00

Nearly 6 months into my grad job, and still struggling to find that work/life balance that is often spoken about - as a result I've fallen quite sick, and not had time to update the blog. I have made (most) training sessions - notable exceptions being at the height of my lethargy and one crazy week at work.

Nice and short today - I am leaving a comment that one of the most difficult things about coaching juniors is that you have to stay positive. We were leading 1-0 today, and ended up 1-1. It's only the second time we haven't lost, but frustrating nonetheless. The worst being when some of your players just don't have "it" but you need to maintain their enthusiasm and belief - even if you know that they're a liability for the team when on the park.

The junior season is kicking off!

2009-04-09T20:35:00.003+10:00

So I have now accepted the role of being coach of the 2nd U16 girls team - which is a little off my plan of being an assistant coach, but should still be fun. That it's a second team means that the girls will still have training if work demands force me out of a training session here and there.

Got the fixture today, so it's time for me to start planning the rest of my life (whatever little there is anyway!) around the girls. I'm looking forward to the frustration, madness and general fun - I think it's safe to say that I missed coaching last year.

In my league is the club where I coached two years ago (while the junior part of the club was separate from the senior club that shared the grounds) and where I have played in the past (while the senior club was separate). Kinda looking forward to the 21st of June now - quite a few of my ex-teammates play at 1pm, and then my team will play their U16s at 3.15pm.

Finally, we have a football shirt.

2009-03-11T20:28:00.002+11:00

Thank you Central Coast Mariners.

Labour Day Holiday Boredom!

2009-03-09T11:59:00.005+11:00

But not bored enough to get back to work. I've almost finished writing my conference paper - I only have to tweak a few figures and then the nervous wait for acceptance will begin. The strange thing is that since I've decided that I will start my PhD sooner rather than later due to how much work has been driving me nuts, I've started to enjoy work again. Go figure that one out. Perhaps the happiness is due to the relief that I'm not "stuck" there. Of course, I'll be earning less when I go back to uni so my buy-an-apartment-and-move-out plan has completely failed.

One of the reasons that really "helped" me decide that I didn't want to stay at work was their piss-poor excuse for why I was not allowed to teach at uni this semester. Initially I just accepted it - really, what can a newbie really do? But when I found out another graduate can teach (he told me) at the same uni as I had plans to, but I can't - well, it really upset me.

So until I go back to uni I will have to be content with coaching. :) I have decided that since I had offered to be flexible with my hours when I said I wanted to teach microbiology, that I will be completely inflexible now with training nights. i.e. I will leave at 5pm, or perhaps earlier. Of course I'd get in at some ridiculously early time to squeeze in my hours and any physical activity I choose to partake in (my knee rarely hurts these days - except when running downhill). Add that I don't particularly see myself at the company by the time the year ends, and it's even more of a reason to be a bit more ballsy with my hours/demands.

These long days will cause me to be irritable, but hopefully I'll enjoy the coaching enough to balance the irritability. Of course coaching has its frustrating moments, so it will be interesting to see how I cope! The club had a bit of a trial-session a few weekends ago with the U14 to U16 girls. It's amazing that such a gulf exists between the age-groups. I'm sure the U14s would have been all over the U16s if we played them against each other.

The weird part was that once you moved a decent U14 to the U16 group, suddenly they became a different player. And not in a good way. Might have something to do with confidence, but all their skills just disappeared. It may also have something to do with trust - that the U14 with the U16s at any given time didn't know the other girls and hence stopped looking up, so their passes went awry. Doesn't explain the loss of touch - might have been nervousness/lack of confidence after all.

With the club looking at squad-based training rather than team-based, it will be interesting to see how it works out for the players and for the club. The club's made it clear why they decided to do it, but they also acknowledge that it's foreign territory for them. They are also willing to return to team-based training if they can see it's not working. I'm intrigued to see how it all works out.

The A-League season is now over, and I don't think I made an swooning posts, so Fabian Barbiero deserves a mention. He seems to have a lovely attitude combined with those cute looks and decent footballing ability. If only Vukovic would have that attitude, perhaps I could publicly swoon over him again (I've decided that Vuko can be an a-hole; there's confidence and then there's arrogance. Don't ask me why I feel that way, he just annoys me somewhat. Despite how hot he is.)

Long time between drinks

2009-02-08T23:20:00.003+11:00

Sorry, I know. But spending all day at work bored behind a computer followed by coming home to sit behind a computer to do other work (which I enjoy but don't get paid for) means I don't really want to continue sitting behind it!

Anyway, I may have found a home for my coaching exploits this year - and they seem keen to let me have a go at goalkeeping coaching, so I'm looking forward to that. :) I'll try and keep the updates on that front coming, as we all know how well Melbourne Victory did on the weekend (even though I missed half of the match due to going out for dinner...)

Not about football

2008-12-13T21:19:00.002+11:00

Just a general post about things other than football right now. I have said it before, but there are so many A-League blogs out there that actually offer a proper analysis of the game and regular posts that I don't think I really need to stick to the topic here anymore! :)

So my final results came out yesterday - I have officially finished uni. My marks are also sufficiently high that I shouldn't have any issues applying for PhD scholarships when the time comes to do so if I wish to follow that path. It's hilarious how at the start of the year I didn't have the marks to confidently get a scholarship through the Australian Government - but then you meet a few lecturers who actually care about their research and are trying to find local PhD students (there are so many international post-grads in the school, it's funny to me, but perhaps embarrassing to the uni!)

Anyway, I ended up enjoying uni this year but opted to go into the workforce instead. So I've been in my new job for two weeks now... trying to get a feel of what my commitments are there. It's really difficult to tell as I am bored out of my mind but everyone tells me, "Enjoy it while it lasts." Until Friday I was actually quite miserable due to the boredom (Monday and Tuesday were particularly low points) so I don't understand why people tell me to enjoy it.

The good thing about working as opposed to further study is that I now have my weekends back. So I'm looking forward to winter, when I can actually get to a lot more VPL (Victorian Premier League) matches than I have been able to in the past. It also means that I have time to coach again. So I have started the hunt for coaching positions.

I don't particularly want to go back to where I was in 2007, as the junior club I was at was trying to affiliate themselves with a senior club I cannot stand. Unfortunately for me, they were the most convenient club! I have an interview with a junior club next week - which I am a bit nervous about as I have not coached for over a year now and my coaching books are not in my possession. People I have spoken to about this have laughed at me so I am in a bit of a state of mind that is, "Well fuck you too." So I am planning to stick to the VPL and avoiding VS - especially a particular team due to the whole laughter thing.

So now I have to organise a half-hour coaching session for the interview... and the only book I didn't lend was my goalkeeping training guide. LOL. I don't think forcing 12-15 year old girls to do goalkeeping training will win me any points!

Dear Melbourne Hearts, or whatever you're going to be called

2008-11-26T09:23:00.002+11:00

Try and ensure that you have an iridescent playing strip. One colour needs to be whatever fits with your logo (i.e. what the FFA assigns to you) and other needs to be sky blue.

When one of your players swears at the ref, make sure your player has positioned his shirt so that it looks sky-blue to the referee and television crew. While your player will still be sent off, he will only cop a one-week ban (as per Sydney's McFlynn who was wearing white and sky-blue) as opposed to a two-week ban (as per Melbourne's Archie Thompson who did not have any sky-blue on him at the time of the incident).

Warmest regards

Cecilia

Melbourne's rectangular stadium

2008-11-17T17:25:00.002+11:00

I meant to go shopping today, but after problems at the bank and having to return home early because of paperwork I decided to go on a cycle instead. The weather was pleasant so I decided to go into the city... and ended up taking a few pics of the upcoming stadium.

Click here for the photos.

P.S. I post as cestaz.

That was it.

2008-11-13T13:38:00.005+11:00

Last night was a show of how far the A-League needs to come. It was also a show of how our Fox Sports commentators need to be more critical. With two commentators calling every game on Fox Sports, there is obviously the capacity for one person to be the play-by-play announcer and the other to offer some critical analysis of the came in progress.

Last night Andy Harper and Mike Cockerill did their usual jobs of describing the play - well, kinda. There were times last night that they would describe some of the play - or make general comments on how much better Gamba Osaka were than Adelaide. But they offer nothing to those who watch the game and want to really learn something. The sad part was that everything was easily blamed on Adelaide's smaller budget and how young the A-League is compared to the J-League. It was almost as if it wasn't Adelaide or its players' faults that they were being played off the park last week and last night.

Finally, a shining beacon of truth came along at half time. Ross Aloisi typically has me rolling my eyes - how can I take such a thug seriously in a suit and with a microphone in his hand? Well, it turns out that the thug in a suit was the only one who could either see the lack of spirit in the Adelaide boys or had the balls to actually voice his opinion. Craig Foster is another face of TV who is known for his criticism - but he tends to criticise everything possible. A lack of proper acknowledgment has worked against him and I know that many fans of football tend to switch off once he opens his mouth.

Last week Robbie Cornthwaite was a disappointment, whenever he was beaten or needed to back-track, he'd just jog along behind the play. No desperation. No hunger. Did he really want to be there? Last night, the same thing happened. But it took the half-time break for someone to point it out. Aloisi also criticised the rest of the defence. Unfortunately being an ex-player does not mean that you are able to be a good critic or offer that extra piece of information to fans about the tactics that are working, or conversely not working. Andy Harper anyone?

If a team was "built from the back," as Harper would say of Adelaide (or something like that), you would expect a team that had a rock-solid defence that would play the ball out. Instead Adelaide have a brainless defence - any time there was trouble, they would play hoof-ball forward. That was how the poor Birighitti ended up being put under pressure due to Valkanis, and how Gamba scored their first goal due to Ognenovski.

Unfortunately, it's a style of play that is deeply embedded in our football psyche - perhaps an artefact of so many youngsters being saturated with AFL. So until our youngsters stop playing Route 1, perhaps more hoof-ball is what we should not be suprised at seeing. We need to ensure our coaches at all levels readily criticise the style - after all making contact, whacking the ball with some strength, getting it in the right direction AND getting it to a team-mate is a lot to muster in one move. It is a risky move. That is not to say that players should not play that way if they can - but in all seriousness, first touch is something that is lacking in many of our A-League players. If such a basic skill is missing, how could we possibly expect success in more difficult skills?

Last night was not about Adelaide "choking" as some have said. It was a reflection of Australian club football. To lose 5-0 on aggregate would not only be a disappointment to Adelaide fans, but it should be a disappointment to all Australian football fans - regardless of which team you follow in the A-League, if any.

====================================================

In other news, best wishes to Craig Moore and may he have a speedy recovery.

Are 'keepers crazy?

2008-11-05T22:51:00.003+11:00

I think not. We just get thrown into some deep shit at times.

You've been watching your team play Mickey Mouse passes for the past 90 minutes. You've only seen fleeting moments of hunger, but there's no denying that of the two teams - the other has been more desperate.

You're already three goals down, and you've lost the one player with the best ability to read the game. But he too, has only been a shadow of his former self. He's been getting you out of trouble sometimes, but he's just as casual as the rest of the team.

Then it happens. A break. From about half-way. Keeper's instinct is to go up and close the player down. Reduce the amount of goal available for the shot. But the run for the player with the ball is too far.

And you run out of box.

Shit.

Is this it?

2008-11-05T21:47:00.007+11:00

Where's the hunger Adelaide? "Loved" that sight of Robbie Cornthwaite jogging down the right flank in such dire desperation to stop Recoba/Endo.

Handy that they're more or less wearing the same shirt.

In other devastating news - Leeds are finally on the telly... but of course I have to be in Brisbane at the time. As a Melbourne Victory forumite put Brisbane as being five years behind Melbourne, I think I'm more or less screwed in watching the boys. I think we're going to try the casino, but if anyone has any bright ideas on how to get my eyes on a TV screen showing a football match that kicks off at 5.45am I'm all ears. Or eyes if you choose to comment.

A special double post for the weekend

2008-11-01T21:08:00.004+11:00

Stuart Musialik: CLICK HERE. (You'll need sound.)

Oh there's nothing quite like being back on top of the league after Sydney had a 3-0 lead.

Unfortunately I'll be missing the Central Coast boys when they're down in Melbourne next as I'll be at my final year dinner. Shame as I do like watching them play - I suppose I'll have to make sure we end up somewhere with Fox Sport... oh hold on... I am helping organise the night...

On a more serious note, McKinna, please sort out the defence. The first two Sydney goals came from mirrored mistakes. Yes, the marking was goal-side, but the defender in both instances was not inside the attacker, so it wasn't that heard to go around. Doesn't help that Vuko was off his line... and could some team PLEASE realise that the lay-the-ball-off-for-someone-to-run-on-and-slam-it-in is becoming a Sydney trademark? Sure, it wasn't Santalab this week, but that McFlynn did it means... CLOSE THE BALL DOWN!

And Matt Simon - gush, gush, gush. He'll never make it on the swoon list, but gush, gush, gush.

Just keep coming back again... and again.

2008-10-31T22:01:00.009+11:00

And I'm not just referring to Melbourne... though there is no better feeling than being screwed over by a referee and diving twice, falling behind twice, and then leaving with all the points.

I've (almost*) finished uni now, so Girl's Guide is back.

And I was looking forward to Archie telling Breeze that he was a c#$t... after all, as a spectator what could the FFA really do?

*One more thing to go, but in a few weeks, so I'm quite finished.

Random commentary

2008-10-27T05:01:00.005+11:00

I actually missed my first home match of the A-League ever on the weekend - that's right, of all the matches to miss it was against Sydney! Anyway, I am due to get my life back on Thursday once I hand in an assignment that I haven't even started (I have a good excuse, y'know). Of course I did waste two whole days last week celebrating the end of a subject... that it was the same subject that was being celebrated is irrelevant.

Anyway, so the W-League kicked off on the weekend... aside from the poor quality of the game (one of the reasons why I cannot easily watch the women's game) I major gripe is the shorts. Seriously, I would hardly consider them football shorts! Very much reminds me of one of my first posts!

Note that while I get my life back on Thursday I may not start writing immediately. Could take me a while to get my sarcastic writing style back... meanwhile here's another piece of FFA gold.

A return to the VPL

2008-06-29T18:56:00.005+10:00

I had my final exam of the semester (and of my course!!!) on Wednesday, so I had this weekend pencilled in a while ago as one when I would go to a VPL match. Richmond played on Friday night, but I was feeling a bit under the weather so I missed it. Partly because I was heading out to Heidelberg vs. Melbourne today anyway.

I'm now back home, still wearing my overcoat, scarf and hoodie (not in that order) despite the heater being on at home! Gotta love football in the winter - I always wonder how many A-League "fans" would come to the football if we played in winter instead of summer. And today wasn't even raining!

I watched the second half of the reserves (under-21s) and then the seniors. I have to say, that I much prefer to watch the youngsters. I think it's because I don't expect as much from them as the seniors, and there's a lot of talent on display. There's also a lack of thinking on display... but the kids are young and they'll learn. Hence why I forgive them for silly mistakes but not the seniors.

The seniors match wasn't great, but it wasn't woeful either. Somewhere in between. Melbourne was all over Heidelberg, and even though Heidelberg had chances they lacked a striker who could do something with those chances. Considering the financial woes Heidelberg have been in, perhaps they just can't afford one?

Not much else to say, but I have another few weeks of fun up my sleeve before my final semester. I'm thinking about training with my local club for a bit and get a few more VPL matches up my sleeve. Apparently Melbourne Victory have some friendlies - I've been so into uni and exams (and Holland's run in Euro) that I have no idea what Melbourne are up to these days.

Though I was aware about the Home End Membership fiasco. I know I said I was going to downgrade to GA this season, but I've ended up renewing my Gold membership.

Half-time: Iraq 1, Australia 0

2008-06-08T02:50:00.003+10:00

While Schwarzer was off his line it's not just his fault that we're currently down 1-0. As a team game, the blame must be shared - why was Mohamed allowed to shoot with so much time?

Unfortunately Slater and Hill are so focused on Schwarzer being off his line that the TV audience who have no idea about football will go on to not realise the importance of applying pressure - i.e. reducing the amount of space and time an opponent has such that they cannot perform.

Mohamed's shot was perfect, but a little bit of pressure could have been enough for it to sail over the cross-bar or for it to be hit short and safely into Schwarzer's arms.

P.S. Could someone please give that crowd member wearing an MV top a yellow shirt? Kthnxbai.

General musings

2008-06-04T22:14:00.003+10:00

I submitted my final assignment of the semester so I have a few spare moments where I can reflect on recent goings-on in the football world.

I miss coaching. I really do. I was teaching microbiology this semester at uni, which was enjoyable and made me realise that I like the teaching/coaching opportunities that I've had so far. I swear that I will be back next season!
Australia's defence. Ouch. Painful. Lucky. We are the lucky country with a very lucky national team.

That being said, what on earth is Beauchamp doing in the middle of our defence line? I'm sure he's asleep. He's also struck me as being very awkward - he's not fluid in his motions and when combined with his 'slow' head makes for very painful viewing. I cannot wait for Neill to come back, and not for the purpose of swooning. This World Cup stuff is very serious, and I simply cannot relax to the point of trying to find eye-candy on the field. Until Neill gets back, could we PLEASE have Vargas? Please Pim, put Roddy on for Beauchamp.

Though Harry does make it easy when he gets up to his old tricks. *Sigh* I used to have the biggest crush on him in high school. Was completely mute when I had a chance to meet him, we played a one-on-one and he nutmegged me. Oh the shame! I was also taller than him and that was weird in itself. Meeting your football idol and he's shorter than you. But that was a long time ago and I know I've grown.

I don't remember if I had a chance to rave about Carney when the Socceroos played in Melbourne. I was probably swooning over the cool and calm of Moore... but he's transformed from one of the better soccer players in the A-League into a footballer. It's really nice to see that Australia can still produce some talent.
There are no Melbourne Victory matches in the pre-season cup that are in Victoria. >.<
Home end membership. My plans to downgrade from Gold to GA so I can randomly bump into people and hang out with a new mob each week were foiled. So now I'm back to the Prawn Sandwich Area.

I am/was considering Platinum, but I wonder why the middle bay of seats in the Platinum area is not reserved for members. What a joke! I'd lobby, but I suspect that if the masses can't get their way in the GA area, no-one's going to care what some delusional female in her mid-twenties has to say. Actually, perhaps if I say that I am going to sit perhaps they will give me 5 seconds of consideration...
I miss playing. My knee doesn't hurt this winter, so I'm trying to get fit again. It's difficult. Mentally more than physically.

A momentary renewal of reason

2008-05-26T20:29:00.005+10:00

So I took a break from the madness that is my life at the moment (I completely acknowledge that I've been working too much, such that I have time to study but not much free time) to return to my true love - football. I went into the city to watch the Doncaster vs. Leeds League 1 play-off with... gasp... other people!

To be honest, I'd forgotten how much I cared about Leeds. Despite having only picked them many years ago because of Harry Kewell, I haven't jumped onto any other team. No matter how swoony or awesome a player may be (my heart broke when van der Sar joined his current club), I've stuck by Leeds. I'll admit that I didn't keep up with their matches in the lower leagues... and then I found out about Leeds United Victoria. And slowly got back into it.

Anyway, I'm still sulking after last night. Arrived at work this morning blood-shot, hoarse, and in a foul mood. It was 7.30am, so you may figure out that I had very little sleep (it takes me about an hour to get to work). But despite that deflated feeling that currently occupies me, I think I had a good night. Despite me being nervy most of the time. Anyway... I just miss football.

But I only have a few months of uni left, and then I can be free to do everything again.

And I will quit the Saturday job (the optometrist) by the next semester, leaving my weekends free to ~~watch football~~ study.

P.S. Looking forward to the new A-League season kicking off! Particularly the National Youth League... hee hee. Must keep my mouth shut, but I am very proud of someone! :)

Excuses, excuses...

2008-02-23T23:46:00.002+11:00

Well, for those that don't know, I'm in my seventh and final year of uni. FINALLY! Last year I did really well marks-wise, not that I intended to try and ace my course, but I more-or-less did. I got a P (for pass) in one subject - transport engineering, yuck! I liked how my academic transcript looked with all those high marks and I've decided that I'm going to work my arse off this year. Also, I reckon B. Eng/B. Sci with double Honours would look good on a resume. Hahaha.

I will also working a substantial amount of hours in a job that I actually like (even though I do get stressed at times) and is related to my uni course.

So I set some priorities...
1. Uni
2. Work
3. Me time
4. Coaching

I decided that I couldn't commit to coaching. So this season I'm not. As a result, I don't think I'll have much to write about during the off-season. There are VPL matches (I follow Richmond) and other matches too... but who knows how much time I'll have.

So consider this post as my temporary farewell.

May Melbourne progress in the Asian Champions League!

2008-02-07T08:51:00.000+11:00

Well, there's not point repeating what's already been said. My opinion is over on Eamonn's blog, so go check it out there.

I had an excellent night at Telstra Dome, with hilarity of the security guard at the bag check and the St John's first aid people helping me out all before the match even kicked off setting an excellent tone for the night.

Throughout the day I was not all that excited. I was a bit worried - would the boys be able to come together and play as a team? How will Verbeek make them play? After all, the most recent kickabout the Socceroos had was behind closed doors, and the media reports weren't all that helpful. There was a lot of uncertainty, not necessarily doubt, but just a general fear of the unknown.

We needed to win last night - not just because we were the home team, but because it was our first match in the qualification run. At 1-0 I was still a little quiet. It was too early in the game, perhaps Qatar hadn't gotten into the swing of thing yet. At 2-0 I wasn't as nervous, but a lot of use know that 2-0 isn't that much of a lead. By the time it was 3-0 I had settled down, though it should have easily been 5-0 by that point. 3-0 was fine by me, we could settle down and steady the boat. After all, if Qatar got one back and obtained the momentum to get another (as happened in that upsetting 2-0 situation that not many of us are likely to forget) at least we still had a buffer.

In the end, it didn't matter. Those times when we were exposed in the second half, Qatar just couldn't finish it off. Can't wait until China.

Club Hunting

2008-01-31T21:38:00.000+11:00

So I spent my Thursday night with 11 U/14 girls and 4 similarly aged boys. This was at a different club to where I was last year. I had so much fun, that it really confirmed my coaching intentions.

The girls at training this evening at this club (let's call it Club 1) are younger than the ones I coached last year, but have been playing for longer. It's weird. I started playing at 14 and these girls have been playing for at least a few years and are going to turn 14!

The best thing to see about these girls was their skill level. They're not Ronaldos and Maradonas, but they are still at that sponge stage - where they can learn turns and touches easily. As their minds aren't yet set with tactics, they will then use these skills at any stage of the game. It's great to see this 'free' football.

Such a change from the girls I had last year - older at U/16, and a number were beginners who decided to join a football club for the sake of doing a sport. "Heck, my friends go there, so why not?," rather than the "I want to play football" attitude.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't join a football club just to be social - even I acknowledge that I found football easier to deal with than hammer throwing (my other love, it's a strange mix and now I compete neither of them...) because I had all my teammates to support me. You weren't out there on your own and even the occasional, "Head-up!" when you're feeling a bit blue from an error makes a massive impact on the spirit. Part of the fun about football is that social element, it's just a matter of finding somewhere that has the right competition/social mix.

I suppose the way to define is that you can see the difference between girls who play football because their friends do and girls who play football and become friends with their teammates.

Anyway, I enjoyed my night with Club 1 but I also have another few clubs to look at. Club 1 has me in mind for the U/16 girls who I am yet to meet, but doesn't matter how great the girls are I need to be happy with the club itself. I can't see myself at the club I was at last year because of their association with a senior club I once played at (well, twice or thrice) and I know fairly well.

Club 2 is probably not going to happen due to location (Club 1 is on my way home from work and/or uni, Club 2 is beyond home and Club 3 is on my way home from work and close to uni).

We'll see what happens. After all, for some reason I am yet to respond to an enquiry from last year's club about my coaching future...

No wonder Muscat's in the Oz squad...

2008-01-27T18:51:00.000+11:00

...who else can take penalties?

Meanwhile, that assistant referee needs to be wearing a cap. The sun must've obstructed his view...

And I think Breeze left his yellow cards at home - it's sheer thuggery out there today. I know it's a derby and it's the major semi, but it's no reason for the players to be as rough as they currently are.

Half-time at Hindmarsh

2008-01-20T19:55:00.000+11:00

Sorry Hamish and John, but I'm finding myself going for the Reds here. I did want Qld to take the premiership and have a chance of hosting the HAL final... but then Ognenovski fouled Galekovic. And the ref... did nothing.

Later, Tiatto fouls Djite, and the ref... did nothing.

Later again, Tiatto slaps (it wasn't that hard) Dodd, and the ref... sends him off.

To some, this may seem 'fair', but it's really not. It's inconsistent and the whole thing could have been avoided if the ref had the balls to give Oggy a yellow in the first foul at 4 minutes. Delovski had a chance to set himself in control of the match - instead he chickened out and gave the players the indication that they could have free-reign.

And so along came Tiatto's first foul - which it could be argued was none of Djite's business, but that's another matter. Delovski again did nothing, we all know it should have been a yellow. So when Tiatto slaps Dodd - while we all know that would have effectively been his second yellow... the ref gives him a straight red.

Perhaps what I'm arguing makes no sense - in short, the ref is being inconsistent and has no control of the match. Dodd should have been given a yellow for trying to get to Tiatto post-red card, and given one to Djite too for the same reason. Only to put those players back in their place and send a message to the rest that no more utter rubbish was going to be taken.

But it really should have been dealt with in that first unnecessary foul by Oggy.

If it ain't broke... Uncle Ernie will fix it!

2008-01-20T17:52:00.000+11:00

Of course, in his own Uncle Ernie way.

Last week we all saw what Melbourne Victory could be - what it was last year and what it was going to be leading into the Asian Champions League. With only one of the Allsopp/Thompson partnership playing last week, the team looked and felt different. Fresh, eager to play and they looked free.

This week Uncle Ernie has decided that he wants Allsopp back. We were fine without him, so let's put him in! So someone had to go... Muscat had to stay in the starting eleven - not even Uncle Ernie is immune to Kev's wrath. But there's no room in the midfield... so let's put our old slow leader in the back four! Yes, that makes a lot of sense! Defenders need to be quick to chase down players who break through - Muscat, with his current speed of a snail, is an excellent candidate!

So who to drop? Well, he couldn't drop poor little Matty Kemp - not now. After all, Kemp kept playing throughout all his poor matches - not even being subbed! Ryall's been doing well, although he strikes me as lazy - more on that at a later time. So Seb can stay, he's young too, and Ernie likes to give youth (and the aged - see Muscat) a change. And you'd be mad to remove Vargas from the starting eleven (although it wouldn't surprise me if Uncle Ernie stoops to this at some point, because, let's all face it - a coach who doesn't feel the joy of goals and brilliant saves MUST be mad!)

So Vasilevski was dropped. Out of the starting eleven... and out of the squad altogether!

Let's move onto the midfield - unfortunately, Broxham is there on his own. Ward's been losing balls throughout the whole half and Hernandez isn't really doing much in winning the ball. Caceres has always been lacking in defensive abilities.

I know Broxham's good, but he's not that good to be able to hold out the entire Sydney midfield!

And so Sydney won the ball in their defence, got through our absent midfield, and Sydney's speedy old man Corica completely out-runs Melbourne's slow old man Muscat. Muscat is a liability in the defense line, and it's a shame that Uncle Ernie persists with playing him there.

By all means, if you want to remain injury-free Ernie, keep Muscat on the park - but not in the defense. In fact, why play Allsopp at all and avoid the whole fiasco? We played brilliantly last week... why change?

How to get more girls to go to the football.

2008-01-15T13:06:00.000+11:00

A while ago I was discussing pet dogs with Au (a girl at work). With Facebook blocked at work, I couldn't find any photos of my pup on Photobucket. Yesterday morning I remembered that I did have a photo... so I emailed the link to her.

=========================
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:20 AM
To: Au
Subject:

I did have a photo of my puppy on photobucket!

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m312/cestaz/73558713.jpg
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:32 AM
To: Au
Subject: FW:

Actually, try this one:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m312/cestaz/P1000430.jpg

------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:51 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:

Hahaha… what’s his name?

------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:53 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:

Gnaw so cute!!

But the other email/pic combination made me LOL! hahaha

------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 10:56 AM
To: Au
Subject: RE:

HER name is P####. Google it to find out where the name was inspired from – it’s a bit of a laugh… well, to me anyway.

That being said, P#### suits her and I couldn’t imagine her to have any other name.

P.S. Yeah, trust me to f@%k it up with a footballer, and a goalkeeper no less! He’s quite hot though . LOL.
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:06 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:

“open area on the outskirts of a town “??? I’m not sure this reference is right, cos I had presumed it would be football related!

And yes he is quite hot!
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:08 AM
To: Au
Subject: RE:

It’s pretty much the open prairie area in central Argentina. LOL

I’m imagining someone going, “Here’s my cat. I called it Werribee.” LOL

Yes, VERY hot. Olyroos goalkeeper too – I’m looking forward to the Beijing Olympics. ;) He’s a lot of fun to watch from a goalkeeping point of view. That’s how my semi-obsession with the young boy started anyway…
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:17 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:

“Here’s my cat. I called it Werribee.” …. When you put it like that!! Or, here’s my cat, I called it poo farm – since that’s what Werribee is referred to as.

I’d even watch it for that!! Just how young is this boy?? (coming from the person who has been to four 21st birthdays in the past 2 weeks…)
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 11:21 AM
To: Au
Subject: RE:

Hmm… I’m surprised I don’t know this off the top of my head… about 10 years ago I would’ve been able to tell you his star sign and what-not.

He’s 22, and a month older than my brother… and older than those people who have recently turned 21.

Hurrah! He’s not illegal!

And he’s an Aries. LOL
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:23 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:

Well that fact that he is legal is the main thing… really though, 22 isn’t that young. How old are you anyway?

Hmm so is Aries compatible with your star sign? haha
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:30 PM
To: Au
Subject: RE:

23 – but I’ll be 24 before he turns 23. :’( LOL

Oooh… “hot air” when I tried a compatibility test online.

your time together will fan the flames of the Arian fire and elevate your relationship to one of passion

…oooh…

This combination can sometimes be very wacky

wOOt!

You might be able to prod Aries’ interest in self-improvement and become a teacher to them

Oooh… wonder what I can teach him, ey? ;)

The best group of Aries for you is the group born between 31 March and 10 April.

Damn, he’s a 22nd Mar.

I am clearly procrastinating.
------------------------------------
From: Au
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:33 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE:

Yes, but you are doing it really well!

Pfft, that’s not much age difference at all… sound very compatible too!

Actually, I found out an interesting fact about my family the other day. Of all the relos that are married, the women are older in pretty much all of the relationships… I’m destined to be with a younger man! haha
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 14 January 2008 1:40 PM
To: Au
Subject: RE:

Oh, and you really have to see this kid in the flesh. Drool-worthy.

I was watching him warm up (I like to observe how each of them warm up you see) and I started talking about his physical finer points and now have a friend completely hooked on his stature.
=========================

Later discussions revealed that Au has a friend who wanted to take her to a Victory game. Now she wants to make sure it's against the Mariners. Hopefully Vukovic won't be on national duty or suspended when the time comes...

For the record, I did know Vuko was of legal age, but it's one of my favourite things to say when the time comes.

And Wayne, I directed her to your blog for reasons that should be clear.

Losing my virginity

2008-01-13T00:32:00.000+11:00

I've been struggling to write this season. Perhaps it's the poor form of the A-League in general. Maybe all the blame goes to Melbourne, particularly the home performances where I end up having to endure a train ride home in a a foul mood.

Last night I had a change in my game watching actions... I forfeited my reserved seat to my brother's friend and purchased a GA pass - at $12 with my uni student card being displayed, I was trying to figure out how much I would save dropping to GA next year in a season ticket...

I ended up spending most of the match at "North End" on level 1. Initially I was scoping level 3 - where I found that there were TWO touchlines! Telstra Dome is not very steep, so you tend to be far from the action with no elevation to see things. When in my usual Gold spot, I can't see the near touchline and I estimate the far one.

Eventually I found the vaguely familiar (but mostly unfamiliar) face that I was looking for (hi Watt!) and joined the Northern Terrace on level 1 for the remainder of the match. I haven't left a Melbourne Victory match in a happier, content and at-ease state since last season. I'm not sure if it was the result, but I think that even if we had've lost I would have felt the wholeness that I left Telstra Dome with.

I may have spent most of the past three seasons on the wings, but I think my heart does belong in the terrace. After spending time at South End, I think I've finally found my home. It really was a good way to (in hindsight) end the season for me.

I'm still trying to figure out why I enjoyed the Northern Terrace amongst mostly strangers so much more than my few times in the South End amongst people who I know a bit.

I think it's because it doesn't really matter if you knew anyone - as long as you were in the NT and singing for the team you felt like part of the group. Whereas I don't know if I would feel that in the South End unless I already knew someone.

At one point the terrace prepared itself to jump. Everyone in the row links arms and off we go jumping about. Whoever it was that was standing next to me included me in the action - and it's this general comradeship that created a buzz about the place that I hadn't experienced since walking about the stadium at half time during the Grand Final.

We all felt something special was happening then - but we didn't yet know what. Something special was also happening again last night with (mostly) everyone back on level 1, singing in unison and generally spreading the love.

On the field, Melbourne was finally getting it's act together - perhaps the supporters and the team really do share a connection and all we need is positive energy. We just have to make sure we carry it through the Asian Champions League campaign. Until then, well, now I can say that I am no longer an NT virgin.

I still have to lose my away trip virginity. ;)

Vale Victory

2008-01-12T20:57:00.000+11:00

All abored!!!

2007-12-27T17:50:00.000+11:00

I have moments at work when I crash. Just can't concentrate. Tends to happen for 1.5 hours immediately after lunch. So I tend to email people until I get back on track. This is yet another hijack.

=========================
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:22 PM
To: A
Subject: Bored.

*yawn*
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:23 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

Fo sure.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:31 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

I think I’m going to dig into my sugar stash.
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:31 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

Where’s mine ?
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:32 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

Dunno.
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:33 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

You’re hiding your stash from me ?
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:33 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

It’s in plain view.
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:37 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

Beware of the raiding party of one.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:38 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

Why the warning? I could just put them away…
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:39 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

It’s the pirate way, we warn before attacking.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:40 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

Arrrgh.
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:41 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

I should recruit you for my pirate ship, that is the perfect battle cry.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:41 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

I am unrecruitable!
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:42 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

Then you will be taken by force, muskets and cutlasses help convince many a naysayer.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:44 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

Haha – I’d like to see you try.
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:47 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Bored.

Hot, you like a man with strong sword and a formidable musket ?
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2007 2:51 PM
To: A
Subject: RE: Bored.

Depends… is it a Muscat?

=========================
(Posted on 14/01/08, but I'll choose to date it according to when it happened.)

Swooning recap.

2007-12-23T17:37:00.000+11:00

Well, with Melbourne Victory's season effectively over, why not move onto swooning? I don't think I've written a post dedicated to swooning for a long time now, and perhaps a recap is overdue.

Last season's personal swoon Spase Dilevski left the A-League in search of playing in a better league. So far he's only participated in three matches over in Romania, playing with FC Universitatea Craiova. Perhaps things haven't turned out the way he expected. He also has bad hair. This was not something I expected.

And a need for sunglasses. Still quite swoony, though I'd love to see how his through-balls and passes with both feet are faring given his lack of game time.

Meanwhile, Danny Vukovic and Greg Owens (who were both deemed winners of the Best Looking Bloke Award due to my inability to decide on ONE method of analysing the vote data) now play in the same team. Unless I come up with yet another way of doing this only one of them will make the final poll. Or none if John Hutchinson or Alex Wilkinson come through the team stages instead. Oh, how I envy those who live in Gosford and can watch the Mariners on a regular basis!

With the departure of Marcus Wedau, Tom Willis and Dilevski Queensland is no longer as the swooniest team in the A-League. Clearly that mantle has been passed onto Central Coast.

As for new swoon-worthy players from this season, well, I suppose I'll deal with that later.

The catch up round of 22, err... 15.

2007-12-21T19:33:00.000+11:00

Milo's mustache was unfortunate because the seperated halves never matched. They were like Milo's disunited eyes, which never looked at the same thing at the same time. Milo could see more things than most people, but he could see none of them too distinctly.

It's pouring in Melbourne, which is good for the catchments, but our stormwater system finds it difficult to cope with the storm at times. So it's a Friday evening and I'm curled up at home listening to Icehouse (actually, they were still Flowers at this point) and reading a book. I came across the above description for a character, and I instantly burst out laughing as at home we always thought that Vidmar was such a good defender because he could keep an eye on the ball and the other eye on the defender. I never thought he'd have a counterpart in modern literature! Except that I think Vidmar can see those things distinctly.

Quite fitting that I would have Vidmar in my thoughts, the irony is that I'm reading this book because it's pouring outside, and Central Coast vs. Sydney was originally postponed due to floods, and is the only match on this weekend. Conspiracy or something more sinister? I suspect that I am simply making leaps in my thoughts which don't quite connect. But that's hardly ever not normal for me anyway.

I didn't catch Sydney's match last week, and was in shock when my mum texted me the result. Shock followed by a very loud, "Oh no!" Simply because I don't want Perth to get any points! But when I got home and found out Celeski scored 3 and that Milligan stuffed up twice I was quite happy. Celeski should be on the swoon list... more on that some other time.

It was disappointing to see Milligan make such errors, and with Verbeek watching I am sure Mark was very disappointed in himself. I find myself in a strange position with Milligan, I don't really think much of him in a sky blue shirt but want him to be an excellent footballer when he puts on the national team kit. So seeing such amateur mistakes was disappointing, even if he was wearing sky blue at the time.

I'm expecting Central Coast to get this one. They've got some key players back and of course they're the swooniest team in the A-League, so why not go for them? Sydney are probably licking their wounds, and I don't think they'll be as mentally tough without their true captain in Mark Rudan who played his last game in a sky blue shirt (for the moment anyway) last week.

I'm hoping that the grand final is Queensland vs. Central Coast, simply because I have a fear that if Central Coast get the hosting honours the match will be shipped away to Sydney. Which would be no good, but then you need the larger stadium... I wonder what would happen...

Hmmm... with the storms currently in Melbourne looking to go towards Sydney, what's the chance of Bluetongue getting waterlogged again?

A summary of the past few weeks...

2007-12-17T10:39:00.000+11:00

I've been neglecting this blog, a combination of the Melbourne blues and sitting in front of a PC all day means I don't really feel up for more sitting when I get home.

Anyway, here's an email conversation that I had this morning for your reading pleasure. Bear with it, and you may find it mildly amusing. As a bit of background, 'A' knows that I've been angry and neglecting my blog.

=========================
From: M
Sent: Friday, 14 December 2007 4:31 PM
To: Cecilia
Subject: Stickers

Cecilia,

I’ve located the signage selection guide with company logo.

blah blah blah

Cheers,

M
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 9:16 AM
To: Team
Subject: FW: Stickers

Good morning all,

There has been a lack of sticker with customer logo selection guide ...

Blah blah blah

Enjoy.

Cecilia.
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 9:41 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Stickers

Score.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 9:53 AM
To: A
Subject: RE: Stickers

What’s with your one word answers to my general emails to all?
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 9:56 AM\
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Stickers

Just feeling the love.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:10 AM
To: A
Subject: RE: Stickers

Alright then…
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:12 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Stickers

:P
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:15 AM
To: A
Subject: RE: Stickers

Now you’re avoiding words altogether!

S-)
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:15 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Stickers

Words are overated.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:16 AM
To: A
Subject: RE: Stickers

Oh the irony of that response being worded. So deep.
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:17 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Stickers

Like I said, feel the love.
------------------------------------
From: Cecilia
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:21 AM
To: A
Subject: RE: Stickers

There’s a Melbourne Victory player with the surname Love. He is highly overrated in my opinion. But ‘catchy’ phrases like “Feel the Love” or “Show us some Love” are particularly annoying. Given MV’s woeful performance on the weekend, any references that may remind me of MV are likely to send me into a deeper state of depression. Not cool. Please refrain from any MV-related commentary too.

On a positive note, there are no more MV matches at home for the rest of the year. Unfortunately there’s still one next year
------------------------------------
From: A
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 10:23 AM
To: Cecilia
Subject: RE: Stickers

LOL.

You should post this on your blog
=========================

And so I did.

Some notes from the past couple of games:

Disappointed with Muscat last week, awful defending and lack of enthusiasm results in him losing Agostino, not once but twice! This results in goals for Adelaide. AWFUL.
The fact that we drew 2-2 without being abel to score from open plane depresses me.
From last night, our boys really don't want to be there... or at least, that's how it looks.
That was a nice free kick from Griffiths. Beats the wall, so theoretically the keeper can't get it. Excellent. Even though it was difficult to watch.

Introducing the new Melbourne team...

2007-11-24T12:29:00.000+11:00

... Telstra Dome FC. Or SC. I'm sure they'd much prefer to be called a sokkah club than football club.

In case you live under a rock or refuse to watch free to air commercial news, the last Victory home game was marred by the antics of some Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory fans. I'm not really aware of all the details, so that's as far as I'll go.

As a result, Telstra Dome have implemented new plans to segregate the supporters of different clubs. Melbourne Victory appear to be happy to adjust to the demands of the 'landlord', and are more than happy to adjust to the Telstra Dome demands.

"Melbourne Victory has supported plans introduced by Telstra Dome to provide a new seating plan for visiting supporters for future matches to ensure that any potential confrontation between fans can be avoided."

So, who's running the club? The Melbourne Victory board or Telstra Dome? Who would have thought that the issues currently faced by renters in the housing area would have an parallel of sorts in the A-League...

A complete lack of vision.

2007-11-17T18:14:00.000+11:00

I have consistently enjoyed watching Queensland Roar play, so much that I really have adopted them as my second team - after Melbourne of course! Not that I have much of a choice.

As a football fan who lives in Victoria, my only "option" is to go for the Victory. But the (approximately) fortnightly foray to Telstra Dome has become a chore. We are a bore to watch. So it's a disappointment to read that Merrick thinks otherwise.

"I think it's amazing to produce fantastic crowds without getting any wins, so obviously we are doing something right and they enjoy the type of football we are playing."

Merrick - you have got to be kidding me. I can't think of anyone that enjoys watching the Victory play. In fact, I can only think of a few people who actually attend MV matches for the football. South End is too pissed to notice* that there's even a match going on at times. North End are chanting, not-chanting, sitting, standing or whatever they are up to, and I honestly think that only a few of the Gold members really follow the sport outside of what's served to them via the television.

If Merrick and the Victory board think that their figures are due to the football offered by the club, then they seriously need to reconsider what they want to be - a business or a sports club.

Theoretically, it should be both. But if the club is happy with the current gate and happy with the takings from each home match, then it makes sense for them not to sack Merrick, paying whatever's due and hiring a new coach.

A second Melbourne club would offer football fans a choice. It would give supporters, who are currently not in a happy relationship with both Telstra Dome and its tenant Melbourne Victory, a choice. No wonder Miles is adamant that it is not sustainable for Melbourne to have two clubs. Victory wouldn't be sustainable! Its business model seems to depend on it being the only club!

Imagine if there was a second club with a boards who had the balls to clear out the team - coaches AND players. Imagine if they actually took the supporters seriously. And wouldn't Victory hate it if this second team - perhaps the people's team - performed on the park. I would love it - I'd go to the football and actually watch some football. Not what Melbourne Victory are putting out each day.

If Merrick (and I assume the board too) really believes that we like what we see, and that this is why we have such numbers at each home match, well I'd say that he is incredibly ignorant, short sighted and completely out of touch.

*Edit (18/11/07, 6.15pm): It has come to my attention that some members of South End get pissed so they do not become frustrated with what's happening on the field. I suppose ignorance truly is bliss!

Melbourne vs. Sydney

2007-11-11T22:48:00.000+11:00

Sorry to those who have been waiting for an update - and with my assignments submitted and exams done for the year I should be writing a little more regularly!

Last night we had "the big one" - Melbourne vs. Sydney. Although I had tipped Melbourne to win (because I always do) I was not confident going into the match. We were undermanned and Sydney were on a bit of a roll. On the day I had deluded myself into thinking we were going to smash Sydney, but once I arrived at the ground and was watching the players warm up my mood changed to worry again.

I think that either team could have won last night's match Melbourne should have won if we consider how they more or less dominated the game, and Sydney had a brilliant 10-15 minute period in the second half when they were bombarding the goal!

Despite the dominance, Melbourne really did finish with nothing to show for it. Thompson had a number of chances and most annoyingly he would cut the ball in to shoot with his left, but he doesn't really have much of a left foot! It's particularly frustrating to watch when the whole team seems to play for Thompson too.

With the injury to Corica, Sydney suddenly looked less threatening. Milligan was pushed a little further up the field (where I think he plays best, making use of his decent passing) and so Allsopp was on him for the rest of the match. It put both of them out of the game, which was perhaps a good thing since Danny hasn't been 100% this season.

Muscat was helping out the defence for the day, so Melbourne had to rely on Brebner and Broxham to work for the ball. I think that if Allsopp had not have kept Milligan quiet, Sydney may have had more opportunities. In the end, Thompson was left to work on his own - something that I really don't think he can do! It's a waste of effort on the team's behalf to get the ball up to him because he's not great at holding on to it or getting the goal! Merrick never plans on taking him off either, look at the bench! Last night we had the mandatory goalkeeper (Langerak), on defender (Berger) and two midfielders (Caceres and Patafta).

It was great to see Muscat in defence. Much like I love to watch Moore play, Muscat is so cool under pressure. I don't think I ever saw Muscat aimlessly boot the ball out of defence. There were a few classy points too, where he'd take on a player. New boy Pace has been great for Melbourne, and last night was awesome with Bridges not being able to do a thing!

Juninho made a huge difference to Sydney when he came on, it was scary to see from the Melbourne perspective. And while Caceres finally got more than 10 minutes, if only he'd use his right occasionally! He's done it before!

Still sore from Friday.

2007-10-28T21:35:00.000+11:00

Having given myself a couple of days to cools off, turns out that I'm still quite annoyed about Melbourne's performance on Friday night. Last time we lost I was quite cheery about it as Adelaide had put in a wonderful performance playing some quality football that was exciting to watch. They had beaten us, but on Friday day we lost.

Conceding the early goal wasn't too disheartening - after all, Newcastle was the team that we had managed to claw from 2-0 down to get a draw. Away. But much like last season, Melbourne are a different team at Telstra Dome.

In the preseason match against Newcastle in Geelong, Danny Allsopp was completely nullified by Adam Griffiths. On Friday night the same thing happened right from kick-off. So when attacking, Allsopp was marked by A. Griffiths, and you would have expected the roles to reverse if A. Griffiths was to go up for a corner. Instead it was a free kick, and Allsopp did not drop back. A free header and the goal was scored. Whether to blame Merrick or Danny, I don't know. I'm inclined to think that it was the former, but I suppose we'll never know the truth. The postitive thing was that after the goal Danny would drop down with A. Griffiths.

Adam D'Puzzo was having a great game, making the midfield his own domain. Well time tackleds and excellent distribution meant that Melbourne found working through the middle difficult. We had no width and continued to try to play through the middle. Even Keenan (who is as wide as we get with Caceres still on the bench for far too long) frustrates - he'll make a run down the wing only to stop the ball when he is confronted by a player and knock it into the middle. To think that this is the same player who took the opposition on in that first match of the season against Wellington, tearing an entire wing apart and leading to Allsopp scoring.

Although playing through the middle was not working, much like the rest of the season, we persisted. We need to learn how to adapt to different match situations by changing our style of play. Unless Merrick is able to change how he wants the team to play he'll have to go. And so far, it doesn't like like he has that ability.

Merrick was lucky to have found Fred last season. Fit, quick (physically and mentally), creative and a very hard worker; Fred gave Melbourne's 2006/07 team an air of unpredictability that made us exciting to watch and difficult to play against. Fred provided an excellent link between the midfield and the attackers. It's a link that is no longer there and on Friday left Allsopp ended up completely isolated up front. Thompson has been playing a little deeper to try and feed Danny - after all, Danny has the strength to hold his own, something that Archie doesn't have. But Archie lacks the pace Fred had and also lacks the willingness to chase every stupid ball down. So I think Fred's abilities masked Merrick's short-comings.

The events that left me distraught and angry involved referee Matthew Breeze. A few minutes prior to the incident, Pantelidis made an excellent diagonal run from his left back spot that had the effect of putting Newcastle in an uneasy situation. Nothing became of it, but that run gave us a glimmer of hope (last week he had us in hysterics with a run down the right wing and we all witnessed the slowest stepover ever, "a baby giraffe on ice skates" is how it was described by someone). So when Panta was in possession of the ball again there was an anticipation that soumething could happen.

Joel Griffiths chased Panta down and was shirting for a good 5-10 paces until Panta had enough and gave Griffiths an elbow (I can imagine many other players would have loved to have given Griffiths this elbow). Panta received the red card he deserved for his actions, and Melbourne was awarded the free kick we deserved due to Griffiths' fouling. Breeze did everything right after the elbow except give Griffiths a yellow. But Breeze should not have let the situation occur. The fould should have been called during those first few paces of persistent shirting, and not have been allowed to continue and escalate to the point where Panta pulled out the elbow. Dreadful piece of referreeing. Unfortunately, the A-League looks to be in a situation where we have no other refs...

To make things worse, when Griffiths did get a yellow a few minutes later, in my head he then should have been off. So it's not an easy pill to swallow when he ends up scoring. That goal was the result of a dreadful piece of Melbourne defending. Griffiths had broken through the defence line through his right moments earlier, no-one could catch him and he had a shot, which was saved by Theoklitos. My memory's a bit hazy at this point (and I haven't seen any footage of the match), but a poor throw from Theo or woeful ball control from Vargas (?) resulted in Griffiths with the ball again, off onto the right and in exactly the same play as before he scores. We obviously couldn't immediately learn from our mistake. It doesn't help that we don't have any pace in the defence either, and we are clearly missing the pace that Leijer had.

I could go on for a while with Caceres only being given a run late, Ryall not starting, Hernandez significantly improving but with holes in his game that are not being covered by teammates, but most of all I have to say that Kemp is absolute rubbish.

Our first proper returning Socceroo

2007-10-21T14:30:00.000+10:00

Just watched Elrich score a gorgeous goal for the Phoenix and dad was a bit confused. Turned out he wasn't aware that Ahmad Elrich had returned, nor was he aware that John Aloisi had been signed for the Mariners.

I'm personally a bit tired of heaps of ex-Socceroos returning to our shores for the domestic league and all being labelled "returning Socceroos" as if it's a measure of their class and ability. There's a contrast between the Socceroos of the past and the current crop. Even though we're still a physical team, I would say the the current crop are far better players of the ball than the past ones. When they come to the A-League to play out their careers, they continue to play in their appropriate style.

Tiatto, Laybutt, Muscat are all from the earlier style, and generally don't bring anything 'nice' to the league. While I have included Muscat in that batch, I do treat him as an exception. He still had a career over in Europe but he came home to play in the A-League as a continutation of his career. Many of the others who have since returned look like they're just here to keep getting paid for what they do.

So, let's move onto the new batch. Moore, Vidmar and A. Elrich could be included here, but we have to consider that the latter two had some fitness issues and Moore had his club problems. Not in exactly the same position as Muscat. So I would classify John Aloisi as our first returning Socceroo. He's still a player, and while he is coming home for retirement, at least he still has something to offer to the local game.

Perhaps it's just for the sake of media hype, but we ought to be far more careful of what we define things. I'm sick of "professional fouls" (there's no such thing in the rulebook, but then there's no such thing as 'backpass' in the rulebook either), although my dislike of the PF has probably got more to do with my passionate dislike of Cockerill and Harper. 'Backpass' at least defines something that does physically occur in matches, whereas the PF is completly subjective. So, when a nasty tackle occurs, it's either a foul or it's not a foul. Nothing about the PF.

And it's something similar with the "returning Socceroo" tag. How many of them are actually active as Socceroos? Covic, perhaps. And Vidmar would have been too if he didn't have his heart condition. But I think that's really about it. Covic on the bench for the World Cup, Vidmar missed out, but Moore and Aloisi were actually there. Moore's been great for Queensland so far (minor hiccup with that red card), and I expect that Aloisi would be a greater revelation for the Mariners.

Hurrah!

2007-10-14T13:24:00.001+10:00

A suspension that won't bite me back on the ass!

Terrace Punk Band

2007-10-12T22:57:00.001+10:00

http://www.myspace.com/terracepunkband

Check it out, olé!

Our midfield problem

2007-10-12T22:33:00.000+10:00

I'm not a Ljubo fan. So with Brebner suspended* and Muscat injured (Broxham too, but he would've been ineligible due to Olyroo commitments) we had a new midfield. Of Ljubo. If anyone saw one thing that Ljubo did for the team, please let me know. All I saw was someone doing bugger all and giving the team instructions the whole time. As if I'd listen to someone who wasn't putting in the hard yards themselves! And how can such a tall guy be beaten in the air?!?! Oh that's right, as part of the step-onto-the-pitch-only-package, the guy can't jump. Couldn't jump during preseason or against Wellington, can't jump now. It's not the knee, it's him. He's useless. So what did Ernie do? Use the three subs but kept Ljubo on the pitch.

I owe Beltrame a hug, not just because I do find him swoon-worthy (I 'fessed up last week during Eamonn's podcast) but because he almost took Ljubo out. I seriously think that we would've been better with ten men and no Ljubo than ten men plus Ljubo. Not only was Ljubo completely useless on the pitch, it looked like the other Melbourne players were avoiding passing the ball to him unless there was absolutely no other option! Perhaps passing and playing with Ljubo gets you on the wrong side of Muscat...

Anyway, let's not waste anymore time on Ljubo.

How GREAT were Adelaide! Sorry, I know I should be licking my wounds, but the main difference between the two teams was desire. Everytime there was a fifty-fifty ball or yet another Mickey-Mouse-pass from Melbourne, Adelaide would be there challenging for the ball. They looked so much quicker, getting there before us most of the time. Mentally and physically faster than us. I think not having Burns, Djite, Agostino and Valkanis means that a few players who don't often get a chance to play really wanted to prove their worth.

Pantelis had a great match, perhaps the best on the park. And to cap it off with that goal - it was quite a pretty strike. Dodd also had a great match, he seems to have really stepped up since taking on the captain's armband. Vidmar is now in the enviable position of having to seriously decide who to start with, and I'm hoping he gives Pantelis another start, he really did have a good match.

Yeah, I'm happy with our loss to Adelaide, but only because I can sit down to watch Adelaide and find myself watching some football. Vidmar may have started his head-coaching career in a bit of a shaky manner, but there's a real football team in the A-League season now. Perhaps two once I see the Roar play this weekend.

*Serves me right, I know.

Apologies...

2007-10-09T22:11:00.000+10:00

I've been a bit sick with hayfever and a cold, such that my memory was a bit of a blur immediately after the match!

The next day at the Victorian Premier League final I was chatting to a Melbourne fan who made the trip up to Sydney and he asked if I was annoyed that we kept playing through the middle and didn't make use of the extra man on the wings. While this infuriates me now, it should give an indication of how rubbishy I was feeling on the weekend.

For the record, I thought that the red was a bit harsh on Corica. Perhaps a yellow for being reckless. The way I saw it, Corica was turning about with a high foot, still trying to figure out where the ball was. Pantelidis came along and ended up on the end of Corica's boot.

Anyway, perhaps I wasn't that crook, I managed to ID Panta when all I could see was the back of him rolling about on the ground...

Podcasting

2007-10-05T07:35:00.000+10:00

Over at Football in the Capital, Eamonn's started to do some podcasts. So if you want to listen to my ranting and swooning rather than read it you can now do so! Here's the most recent one, with previous installments available here and here. Should you decide to listen to all the podcasts, follow this link!

Adelaide vs. Central Coast

2007-09-30T18:56:00.000+10:00

This was the best A-League match that I've watched in a long time. Adelaide were playing beautifully, such that I ditched Central Coast and started wanting Adelaide to win. I'm clearly not very good at committing.

However, Breeze f@%ked it up. Where to start? I'm sure there were more, but from what angered me the most and in no particular order:

The lack of advantage when Burns was chopped down outside of the box, where Djite scored and would have put Adelaide up 2-1.
The first yellow card against Vidmar. Especially given that he earnt himself a second yellow later and ended up being sent off. Shouldn't have been sent off given the nature of the 'first' yellow.
I'm sure Breeze was trying to make up for the lack-of-advantage-disallowed-goal and started awarding fouls against the Mariners every opportunity he could so that Adelaide could have a chance to score a goal.
Boogard's yellow. Boogard's tackle was great - clean and from the front. Just a case of Breeze trying to rectify the situation.
Not awarding Gumprecht a yellow. Similar position to Boogard, except that a clean tackle earns you a yellow and holding the opposition with an arm grapple doesn't get you into the referee's book.

I was delighted to have Beltrame back in goals and Costanzo in the middle of the defence - it's truly where he (and Adelaide) can best use his extraordinary ability to read the game. Djite was also on fire, scoring three goals (I'm counting the disallowed one as it was thoroughly deserved). It's a shame that Breeze got it all so wrong, as this was a great match with some lovely work from Adelaide, particularly that of Burns. Who needs imports?

Another letter to Newcastle United Jets FC.

2007-09-29T23:29:00.000+10:00

Dear Newcastle,

Me again.

Sort out your distribution from the back!

It's the most frustrating thing to watch you do. You win the ball in defence and then blindly kick it to your midfield. Except that there was no midfield as Mr Perpetual (Joel Griffiths) hurt himself in the warm-up! So every single ball was intercepted by Sydney.

No, that's giving Sydney far too much credit. They didn't intercept it, you wrapped it up in pretty paper with a big bow and gave the ball to them - sealed with a kiss. So Sydney have the ball and then apply more pressure on your defence. Awful! Think about where the ball is going!

Also, you were chopping Juninho down far too much. Bloody play the ball instead of being hackers. That is all.

Best of luck next weekend.*

-Cecilia
Your biggest Melbourne-supporting, Central Coast-following, ex-Queensland-following Newcastle fan.

*The way Central Coast are going, you'll need it.

P.S. It's just come to my attention that the last letter I wrote was also after a match against Sydney. Coincidence, or something far scarier?

Finally... the drought breaks!

2007-09-29T22:53:00.000+10:00

Six rounds into the A-League and we finally got our first win of the season! And at home too. Bloody brilliant! I moved to the South End for the second half. Quite enjoyable but I won't be there permanently. Quite enjoy my seat, although the celebration could never compare.

Anyway, a few notes about the game - if there was one. The A-League seems to be in this scrappy style rut, it's not pretty football at all (especially when you compare it to the fluency of the games in the Women's World Cup!). In Melbourne's case, it got the job done. Although are better goal chances occurred when we finally decided that perhaps the long ball wasn't going to work (credit to Craig Moore for getting to every single one - well, that's what it felt like).

I didn't see any problem with the penalty in terms of diving, but then at that point I was still ruing the crossbar! (Emotionally, I was all over the place then - woah we've made space down the right... excitement levels building... we're going to score... VERY excited... we've hit the crossbar... oh no... MASSIVE letdown... Love gets chopped... no reaction, I was still on that slippery slope of football depression... Williams points to the spot... complete disbelief, we have a chance to score and at home!!! Oh, I hope Kev's knee's alright!... Naturally Muscat takes it, calmly puts it onto the left, and we all go nuts.

I then turned very anxious - so much so that someone asked why I looked so worried. I just can't celebrate a match until the final whistle's blown. Or until I can tell that the other team has no chance (eg. last year's Grand Final at about 3-0. That match really did get ridiculous!). Perhaps standing behind the goal with the whole field in front of me brought back my old habits of concentration and focus.

I think I had good reason to be anxious. Moore's header that was saved by Vargas was still fresh in my mind. Only a few minutes after we went ahead fresh-legged Zullo hit the upright. I was probably biting my nails.

Another Melbourne attack down the right (Queensland are obviously missing Packer... he does play on the left, right?) and the anxiety subsides as we all go nuts again.

I have a bit of referee whinging to do, but I'm in a good mood, so why spoil it? Williams is the ref that displeases me the most, so naturally he was significantly annoying until the match was at 2-0 and I calmed down.

Wrap up of the junior season

2007-09-26T20:40:00.000+10:00

The first season of my coaching career came to a close a few weeks ago. The girls' final match clashed with Richmond's relegation battle in the Victorian Premier League. While I was concerned with Richmond's plight (they ended up beating Sunshine 8-0, ensuring their presence in the VPL next year), I was suprised that I never once thought about Richmond while the girls were playing.

Our final match was a good reflection of the whole season. A competitive match of the whole season. A competitive match, we weren't the pushovers that the final scoreline of 3-0 suggested. Just the usual lapses in concentration and an inability to take hold of our opportunities. I know the girls can play as a team, although individually they lacked many of the skills that individuals in opposition teams have.

As the girls could only commit to one training session a week, I don't think I had the time to work with each of them on ball control, passing, dribbling and shooting. Technically there was a lot of work to do, so I took the approach of teaching them how to play the pall to the best of their abilities. From that perspective, I thought that they had a few great moments through the season, particularly towards the end, and they noticed it themselves too.

And if they can notice it themselves, it tells me that they started to understand football a little bit better. As for next year, I don't think I'll be keeping the same team. The U15 coach's daughter will move to the U16 team next year, so I expect that he will take on that team. The girls who will be too old from the U16 next year will probably move onto the U18 team. The team also has a father of one of the players coaching. So I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

From a personal perspective, I think I'm a lot more patient now. I'm very competitive and this clashed somewhat with the girls' lack of competitiveness. Two or three were competitive, but it wasn't sufficient to carry the whole team. So I had to be the one to bend. We'll see how I go next season.

Continuing the consistency

2007-09-21T22:19:00.000+10:00

...albeit in an inconsistent manner.

We dropped the points against Wellington after being up 2-0, and now things seem to have come full circle as we clawed back from a 2-0 scoreline to steal a point from Newcastle.

Our first half was awful. Players watching the ball, atrocious marking, and no pressure on Newcastle players. No wonder we were down at half-time.

I suppose I should be happy that the boys managed to come back. Perhaps we haven't quite lost our competitive edge. If anything, I should go to bed knowing that the boys believed that they could come back. And I should go to bed remotely happy... but I'm disappointed with the first half.

Not that the second half was an improved performance by Melbourne, we somehow got two goals out of nothing. Love had a woeful first half, getting involved, having the ball, but only a handful of passes being released in received successfully by a team-mate. He was much improved in the second half - with the ball that went to Thompson being a lovely one, and I hope that it was intentional. It certainly looked it.

Pantelidis was brilliant again. I think his performance today shows why he needs to be (and deserves to be) in the starting eleven. Competitive and measured - his well timed tackles and careful distribution (even under pressure) were a relief to see when the rest of the team looked a complete shambles.

Keenan had a great half too, I'm not sure what Merrick's up to... perhaps he was being cautious and only letting Keenan play 45 minutes for fear of a lack of fitness? Or is it really because Keenan wasn't playing the way Merrick wanted him to? If it was the latter, it's a little frustrating to see from my perspective as Keenan looked to be the only one really causing Newcastle problems. Even if he wasn't following the coach's instructions, I'd keep him on as he was giving the opposition some serious headaches.

Finally, it was great to see Caceres back on the left where he belongs. And to finish up with a goal too! That is all - quite happy with that, so I'll go to bed now. :)

And Hamish - thanks for the call, completely forgot about tipping, but I wasn't too far off! I 'knew' the boys would score two, I just didn't want yet another draw! ;)

A bit on our Central and South Americans

2007-09-17T14:43:00.000+10:00

Hernandez has lost weight, and now that he's not quite as physically slow as he was in preseason (in terms of getting from A to B), he's getting more involved in the game. But it shows that he's still not match fit. His quick one-twos occasionally work, but don't quite penetrate defence lines. What really annoyed me last night was his inability to put a good shot or cross in. By the time he controlled the ball, pushed it to where he wanted it, accommodated his body to align himself for a shot, wound his leg back... a Central Coast player had taken the ball of him!

Most of my disappointment comes from that I expected more from him. Such an experienced player from Puerto Rico surely isn't as dependent on having to turn his whole body just to use the inside of the foot to shoot or cross like many of our home bread A-League players. I'd expect him to be comfortable in using any part of his foot to do something with the ball, and I'd have expected him to be able to put some power onto a ball from the knee not only from the hip.

Perhaps I'm the only one (judging by what I could read from the Melbourne Victory forum before it went down), but I was completely dismayed by Love. I would have kept Hernandez on the pitch if I knew how badly Love was going to play! I only counted three intentional passes that were completed, one unintentional pass (a throw in from Archie, I think Love tried to control it, ended up going into the air and Archie managed to do something with it) and one shot, nicely saved by Vukovic, as his contribution s to the match during his 30 minutes of play. Not once did I see him win a ball - he would give the opposition player in possession of the ball about 2 to 3m of space (and time!) to do whatever he wised with the ball. In the end Brebner was often coming from behind Love to put the pressure on! Ridiculous! Love made Archie's occasional-defending-from-the-front look brilliant. I'm hoping Love wakes up and lifts his game... he'll end up like Claudinho otherwise.

Well, at least we're consistent...

2007-09-17T14:15:00.000+10:00

So we managed to get a point from Central Coast… I really think it should have been all 3, especially as we were starting to get the upper hand towards the end. Four draws from four matches... at least we're the most consistent team in the A-League.

Not to say that we were struggling at the start. But I think Vukovic only had to deal with one tricky ball for the entire first half – towards the end when Archie should’ve gone for a header, but just stood there instead. Vukovic tried to punch the ball away, albeit badly, so it rebounded off the top of Thompson’s head and uugggh…

Even Danny (Allsopp) was disappointing, with the ghosts of season 1 apparently lurking about. The thing about season 1 was that we had our opportunities, but we couldn’t convert them into goals. Danny would miss a few each match – perhaps why the Victory fans were on his back so much. Unfairly though, as he contributed so much to the rest of the field, often saving us in defence… Anyway, last night Danny was a fraction late a few times. Often unmarked too, so he would’ve scored for a couple of them… but hearing up how much pain he was in, I’d have to say that he deserves a lot of praise for still putting in a solid effort.

So Danny ended up being subbed off for Ryall. Considering how solid Ryall was last week, I really wonder why Merrick didn’t start him last night, in right-back instead of Broxham who was not only struggling with the Mariners attack, but Heffernan’s ventures down the wing.

I don’t think Broxham was having a bad day, he’s just not defensive material, and I suspect his lack of height doesn’t help. But when he was freed from defensive duties and allowed to roam the midfield, he started to give the Central Coast outfit some problems and the whole team lifted. With a low centre of gravity and a stock build, Broxham is built to play in the middle of the park – it would take a very hard tackle to make him lose his balance. The only reason I can think of for Merrick starting Broxham is his attitude and work ethic vs. the desperation that comes from the Mariners.

Broxham is a hard worker, eager to win the ball and persists until he wins it. It’s something that can be done in the midfield as there’s space, bu noin the defence where there’s no time to have second chance. Once the ball is in his possession, he makes good use of it too. The final 15 minutes of the match finally connected our defense to the attackers, as the long balls were still going, but there was a shorter ball option as Broxham was about making sure the connections were there.

I’m quite concerned about how little game time Caceres is getting. With Keenan out, it would’ve made sense to play Caceres on the left wing. Instead he’s played on the foreign right wing*, where he has limited opportunities to play on his preferred left foot. Further, while his defensive abilities have improved, putting him on the right wing against the stamped that was Brown and Heffernan forcing Caceres to under-perform. I don’t think he was doing that badly, so I was as surprised as Caceres was angry to have been taken off so early in the match.

Pantelidis inclusion in the game on the right flank cut out all the nonsense that was going on that side of the park, and I don’t know why he didn’t start in the match. If Merrick wasn’t sure on playing Ryall, but happy to play Panta 30 minutes into the match, then why not start Panta in the right-back position instead of Broxham?

*I know I put him on the right in my midield, but I wanted Keenan in there too.

About yesterday's opposition

2007-09-17T13:18:00.000+10:00

Before kick-off I was standing at South End watching Vukovic warm up. A few weeks ago I was concerned about his goal kicks and distribution when it came to long balls. During his time away with the Olyroos, things didn’t seem to have improved, so I was getting quite concerned. But he was looking good during his warm up, with both kicks from the group and from his hands consistently getting to Redmayne. During the match there was one shocker, about midway through the second half, but a nice improvement on how he had been going lately.

While at South End, I think I convinced another (female) Melbourne fan of Vukovic’s swoon-worthiness… I’m trying to get opposition votes for him early should I decide to do the Best Looking Bloke Award again for the A-League! I do think that the Mariners have the best team, but that’s just my completely biased opinion, heavily weighted by one player.

Back to the football, McKinna’s done a great job for a team of players that may not have the individual technical brilliance that some individuals in other teams may have, but they’ve got a lot of heart. I don’t think there’s one player out there for the Mariners that McKinna would have to sub off because he wasn’t trying or didn’t feel like playing. The main reason why I think the Mariners have gotten off to such a great start, is that the team is largely unchanged from season 2, or even season 1! They’re quite a stable club, unlike current bottom team Sydney…

P.S. Looks like Central Coast have taken up the position that Queensland Roar had for me last year...

Let's not lose the Ghana goal!

2007-09-14T00:00:00.000+10:00

Matildas win 4-1... yay first win... just not as excited about that as I expected I would be...

Why am I not excited? It's not that I'm not patriotic, but when it comes to football I can get distracted by the skills on the field. At the start of the year I came across a book, Only the Goalkeeper to Beat and early into it, I found a few lines that describe how and why I get distracted".

Many of my own prejudices will become perfectly clear as we go along. But here, just to get started, are a few that might as well be out in the open once and for all. In the first place, I don't believe that goals are particularly important in football. I know that games are won and lost by them, but I don't (unless I happen to be playing) care about them that much. As a spectator I tend to enjoy rather small things. To see somebody trap the ball neatly, swerve away from a defender, and give a thoughtful and efficient pass to move the game on is often more of a pleasure than to watch some routine goal work again against a foolish defence.
-Francis Hodgson (1998, p.10)

So while Eamonn and Neil have covered the glory that is our first World Cup win, I hope that the one goal that we conceded does not get lost in the hype.

I got distracted by the silky skills from the Ghana girls. Beautiful stuff to watch! Unfortunately they're just not very desperate for the ball, they lacked heart. Oh well...

I did love their goal. And not because it was a goal, but the way that it was set up and then executed. Two touches - it's all you really need. First touch to not only control the ball and put it where she (Amankwa) needed it to hit it well, but crucially got past the defender by playing it BEHIND the defender! And then the second touch was a beautiful strike. Barbieri had no chance.

And that penetrative ball through the defence and to Amankwa was gorgeous! I love through balls! (Spase Dilevski crush should be explained by that.) They had a number of beautiful balls that would slice through the Australian defence, but just no desperation to make it a completed pass... oh well. Really pretty football!

The Melbourne midfield

2007-09-13T23:53:00.001+10:00

A completely selfish post...

Over on the Melbourne Victory Forum, Watt made a comment about how our midfield is too slow in moving the ball about, and made some un-comparisons to the Argentine play from Tuesday night.

Anyway, after a bit of discussion I thought about how I would play Melbourne - and I'm desperate for Merrick to play Caceres more, and to give Patafta and Hernandez a chance to play together. I think Patafta could cover the ground that Hernandez can't and Hernandez provide direction to the heart of the team. I also want Pantelidis in the starting eleven, so I had to drop Brebner. :( Quite upsetting, but I simply didn't have room for him!

**********************************************************************
I'd go for this:

---------------------Theoklitos------------------------

Ryall-------------------Vargas--------------------Kemp

----------Pantelidis--------------Muscat---------------

Caceres---------------Hernandez---------------Keenan

---------------Patafta---------------------------------
----------------------------Allsopp--------------------

I thought Ryall had a solid game against Adelaide. So why not free up Keenan by putting Kemp on the left (he had a good game vs. Adelaide even though he hasn't impressed me in other matches). Caceres is starting to use his right a lot more these days, so I think he can do a good job on the right.

There's only room for 2 of the 3 hardmen. Sorry Brebs, I couldn't leave out the captain and I think Panta's awesome defensively and with ball distribution too.

I'm putting Hernandez in the middle to control the midfield, and I'd want him to be the heart of the team. He doesn't need to run about all over the place, but try to always be free to receive the ball from the defence, Panta/Musky or the wings, and then be able to distribute it to the wings, Patafta or Allsopp.

I'm not inclined to put Patafta on the wings, as I'd think we'd half-waste him there. I'd like to give him the space to run about in, but not in the engine room with Hernandez all the time - some freedom to move up, but letting Danny be the target man. Kaz a wee thing, and so try to play him like an annoying little mosquito.
**********************************************************************
No Milicevic and no Thomspon either. Thoughts? Criticisms? Am I completely delusional?

The tough ask

2007-09-06T22:00:00.000+10:00

With Vukovic away on Olyroos duty, Matthew Trott had some awfully large shoes to fill. I'll admit that for the first hour of the match I wasn't particularly impressed with Trott; after all, I do hold Vukovic on a bit of a pedestal.

But then Trott made a wonderful save. Things were looking up for him in my books. A beautiful stretch out to the left to stop the header from Reinaldo and he parried even further to the left - away from the Queensland Roar strikeforce. I thought the lack of Wilkinson and Heffernan would have had a more destabilising effect on the defence. But with Vidmar fit and Brown in the line-up (whose amazing form at the end of the season had been forgotten about by me until I saw his name in the line-up) Central Coast were solid. The best part about Trott's save of Reinaldo's header, was that if he had not made it he had a defender backing him up. It was really nice to see after last week's sleepiness from Adelaide.

Later in the match, perhaps about 10 minutes to go there was another gorgeous save - low and to the left again went Trott. Well timed, and very secure. There were other saves during the match, but it's the saves that involve timing and really good form that I love to see.

I was converted, still think the world of Vukovic, but Trott's a great understudy. Now all I need is for Vukovic to do a dummy of the sort Trott did in injury time. He forced the Queenslander to commit to the ball by looking like he's going to kick the ball far, only to not do anything at all. Looked even better in the slow motion replay. It really showed his mind was ticking, good to see the boy has a fully functional brain. Whether he meant it to waste time or not is another matter (taking a goal kick eats up a bit more time, and I'm always on the hunt for new methods), but it showed great presence of mind. So good to see in such a young player.

Still feeling the let-down

2007-09-02T19:43:00.000+10:00

Over at Football in the Capital, Eamonn made a bit of a better recap of the game from last night than I did. I suppose I was disappointed, I still am. Anyway, had a bit of a rant over there, and I think my comment is a bit of a supplement to my initial post.

Much like I couldn't watch Perth vs. Newcastle last week, if I wasn't a Melbourne fan and at Telstra Dome I would've walked away from the TV set.

I don't think our boring play and apparent reliance on long balls is due to the surface of TD. I simply think we didn't have any ideas. Patafta, who has been a spark of energy in the preseason cup and against Wellington had no, or little effect. He seemed to get out-muscled, and I think his early yellow card put the dampener on him.

I'm quite annoyed with Archie for not passing the ball off to Allsopp at about the 85 minute mark when we had superior numbers to Perth - 2 to 1 (not including the keeper). Archie should've passed it off to the left, where Allsopp was, as the Perth defender was approaching (can't remember who - I was very Melbournised at this point of the night). But no, Archie chose to hold onto the ball, and upon being tackled by nameless Perth defender, lost possession of the ball.

Keenan's injury didn't help either - he's a little consistent, but if he's on the field at least there's a chance of him producing something special. Caceres not in the squad was also a disappointment - he's a far more competitive player this season by what I've seen and I can only hope there was a good excuse for him not to have even been on the bench this week. I'm hoping he's making the trip to Adelaide.

More on why I hate assumptions in football

2007-09-02T19:08:00.000+10:00

The first rule of life should be not assume anything. It's very applicable in football, and I've vented about it before. Last time, my rant was angled towards strikers (using Ronaldo as an example) and had a bit to do with the second ball. i.e. the ball the occurs when the keeper spills it, parries it, or if the ball hits the post.

This time I will rage against defenders. So many times in my playing days I was let down by my defenders, who would assume that I would safely deal with the ball. It was really only in my final full season that I played that I came across a defender who would always back me up (loved that sweeper to bits), and more often that not you'll see defenders slow down when the ball gets closer to the keeper. What I mean is, there's a shot, and once it's taken the defenders back off, preparing to receive the ball from the keeper once s/he has it. But what if the keeper doesn't end up with it?

When I got to my seat at Telstra Dome last night, Dad warned me about Sydney's first goal. No hello or how was work, just a "When you see Sydney's penalty you will fume." I suspected the worst - and when I saw the penalty, my fears were realised. No one should ever assume that a penalty will end with the kick itself. What if the shot hits the post or the 'keeper attacks it? The defence (and the attacking team) should be ready to run into the box as soon as the ball is hit. Not after you see that the ball is still in play.

Where were the Adelaide defence!? Alagich was the only one who reacted, and even then, you could have measured his reaction with a calender.

The let-down

2007-09-01T23:08:00.000+10:00

Empty. Ho hum. My initial reaction to the match is, oddly enough, the feeling I had against Perth at home last year. Unfortunately we didn't have a late strike from Brebner to at least get us the three points.

Things started to go awry when Keenan picked up a knock earlier in the match, hobbled about for a bit and was substituted for Kemp. Now Keenan's not consistently spectacular, but his runs down the left flank in preseason (against the VPL teams and in the preseason cup) showed that he has something special to contribute to the team. An occasional spark that can can work wonders - such as his wonderful set up of Allsopp's goal last week. Only 10 minutes into the match and our creative spark was gone. I do rate him as our most creative player at the moment.

Kemp, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Dull to watch and has a tendency to thump the ball up the field to no-one in particular. Seems to do it consistently too, which adds to the anguish of watching him play. I'm fairly finicky. I appreciate that Kemp is quite stable as a defender, but it's his playing of the ball that depresses me. If he really loved the ball, I think he could do more with it. Instead, he seems more eager to clear it from defence and just getting rid of the ball.

I was delighted to not only have Pantelides back in the squad, but to have him in the starting line-up. It looked like Panta had the job of looking after Rukavytsya, occasionally passing the responsibility to Broxham when he felt the need to push forward. Aside from the foul on Sekulovski, Panta had a great game. Solid tackles and well thought passes - essential for building play from the defence. I'm hoping that he makes good use of the opportunities that may be thrown his way while Ljubo is injured.

Unfortunately Panta couldn't complete the match after tackling the elephant that is Topor-Stanley. An African elephant. Looks like Panta copped a knock to his knee, and while he was still competitive (he really does seem to have a never-say-die attitude), he ended up coming off. So early in the season, not worth sustaining a serious injury after playing on from a bit of a knock.

All up it was a disappointing match. Not once did we threaten the Perth goal, Tommich was never tested. We really never had a scoring opportunity. Perhaps I should be happy with the single point and a clean sheet. But I'm not - all that excitement of the A-League being back in town and we couldn't even get close to cheering and celebrating as a combined Melbourne fan base. Anyway, perhaps we'll get the better of current leaders Central Coast in a fortnight.

Out with the old?

2007-08-31T14:28:00.000+10:00

Socceroos squad to face Argentina, MCG, September 11:Mark Bresciano (Palermo), Vincenzo Grella (Torino), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough), Nick Carle (Genclerbirligi), Josip Skoko (Wigan), Michael Beauchamp (Nuremburg), Luke Wilkshire (Twente), Josh Kennedy (Nuremburg), Brett Holman (NEC Nijmegen), Carl Valeri (Grosseto), David Carney (Sheffield United), Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven), Michael Thwaite (Wisla Krakow), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Clint Bolton (Sydney FC), Alex Brosque (Sydney FC), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leicester City), Simon Colosimo (Perth Glory), Lucas Neill (West Ham), Dean Heffernan (Central Coast).

Honestly, not too many complaints about the squad. It’s good to see that Arnold (and whoever else has a hand to play in player selection) has decided to do a bit of a clean-out. Of course, it could be the non-availability of

some of the big names that have been omitted from the list that caused the selection of this young squad.

There are still question marks over some of the older players who aren't here… Out of those guys, there are two that have said they want to carry on to 2010 and the World Cup, but physically will it be possible?

-Graham Arnold (source)

There is still significant experience in the squad, with a nice spine to the team in Schwarzer, Neill, Grella, Bresciano and Culina. Hopefully they can be a solid structure for the rest of the team to form around to.

I am a little disappointed that Danny Allsopp missed out, and that Archie has made the squad. I simply think that Danny is a superior player, with an amazing work ethic. There’s so much that Danny can do, which Archie can’t (memories of Danny helping out in the defense at times through Season 1 pop into mind), and aside from the quick footwork of Archie (and I mean the speed that he has for moving the ball about when at his feet) there’s nothing that Archie does that Danny can’t do.

Happy to have Pantelidis back in the squad for tomorrow’s match. Not only is he an awesome hole-plug for pretty much any spot on the squad (I’m sure he’d make an excellent goalkeeper!), but he’s quite a talented player. He’s hole-plugging abilities often overshadow his never-say-die attitude, quality passes and brilliant tackles. For the past two seasons he has shut out many attacks with a solid well timed tackle. Splendid stuff! :)

Quick note: it just got into my head that Colosimo's in the squad. Colosimo! Uugh! I'd rather have Thompson. Enough said.

Completely off-topic, but...

2007-08-30T22:12:00.000+10:00

... I simply had to write about it!

16 years ago, Mike Powell broke the long jump world record. In doing so, he defeated Carl Lewis - who himself had performed an admirable feat in producing 6 high quality jumps (8.68m, ???, 8.83m, 8.91m, 8.87m [with a head wind!], 8.84) - consistent but none of them could beat Powell's 2nd-last jump of the competition.

The reason why I wanted to write, is that Powell was discussing how his mind set 16 years ago was to only have to produce one jump that Carl simply could not beat. Lewis was something like the Mr Consistency of long jump - his series in the 1991 World Championships shows it.

And it reminded me of my old hammer throwing coach (who I still randomly think of these days, even though I stopped competing a few years ago). You had to throw say, 40m regularly in order to get that one 45m throw (and from there keep building your PBs) - or perhaps that's just how I interpreted his coaching.

As I said, completely off topic. Just feeling a bit wistful at the moment with the World Championships on (happens every WCs and Olympic Games), I really do miss athletics at times - I started when I was about 8 and kept going for another 12 or 13 years. If you're curious, I only picked up playing football when 15. So really, athletics is a bit like my first love. Don't think about it too much, but I do miss it.

I suppose one thing you could take away from Powell and Gus (my old coach) is that you need to be consistently great in order to have that brilliant moment. Anyway football fans, take what you want from that post - perhaps that brilliant moment is a goal or a penalty save. :)

Tiatto doesn't quite get away with it...

2007-08-28T18:11:00.000+10:00

...but we'll find out for sure on Thursday evening.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/ALeague-cites-Tiatto-McFlynn/2007/08/28/1188067093870.html

While McFlynn also gets a disciplinary call up, Heffernan has managed to get away with the body-check Milligan.

Regardless of if Tiatto is suspended or not, how did the assistant referee miss it?! Especially since it was more than a moment of madness - a number of steps on Djite is more than a moment and surely not difficult to not see.

Oh so exciting!

2007-08-26T23:03:00.001+10:00

Have I written about how happy I am for the A-League to be back yet?!?

So, the first match... Sydney vs. Central Coast
A rare Bolton error allows Gumprecht to intercept the ball, pass it off to Petrovski who does a fairly decent job of ensuring the ball gets to the far post and in for a goal. Anyone who's read my blogs realises that I'm far more interested in defences and particularly goalkeeping. With Vukovic in goals for the Mariners I really wasn't going to pay too much attention to the Sydney defence (which looked shakier than I expected!)

I'm a bit worried about Vukovic's goalkicks. Towards the end of the first half the ones from the right side of the goalbox kept veering off to the right and out of play. Then in the second half they weren't getting any distance! And then there was that moment when he came right of the box and my heart was in my mouth. I think everyone knows the moment when he came to the edge of the box for the initial save and then came right out for the second save - which he completely missed.

But he was otherwise awesome, especially when Juninho made that run in the first half down to the goalline and Vukovic kept covering - nice and low, stayed on his feet and didn't commit himself until he lost his balalnce. Juninho cut the ball back, can't remember who shot (Zadkovic?) and Vukovic was back on his line where he needed to be. I think he was a little annoyed that he lost his balance against Juninho, but I commend his effort in not committing and staying on this feet - top piece of work there.

Boogard and Wilkinson both had solid games, was very happy with them. However, my Dad pointed out that McKinna was a bit amateur regarding Jedinak marking Juninho for the whole of the match. Perhaps something for a post later down the track!

Let's move onto the refereeing. First, Talay should've been carded sooner - he was fouling all over the shop. Second, Heffernan's body check against Milligan needs to be dealt with. It's worse in the replay as you can see Heffernan keeping an eye on Milligan, waiting for the run towards him!

And while we're on referees... Queensland vs. Adelaide. What a dirty match! The thing that annoyed me most about this match was Tiatto stomping on Djite. IN FRONT OF THE ASSISTANT! And well, he's blind and perhaps deaf, he wants be a ref, but had to settle for waving a flag about. It was happening during last season too - assistants so caught up in determining if a player is offside or if the ball is out that they miss the things that occur right under their noses. It's really quite disgusting to see players get away with things such as that right in front of officials. Disgusting from the point of view of how inept our referees are!

Keeping things short - onto Wellington vs. Melbourne. I have not been very nice to Mr Theoklitos in the past (see labels Goalkeepers and Melbourne Rant), but I was willing to turn over a new leaf. This obviously will not happen - I completely blame the second Wellington goal on him (and what a turn around were Wellington in the last 15 minutes!).

I'll try to start positively - Muscat's penalty taking skills are well known, so I'll talk about the second goal. Awesome run by Keenan down the left flank. Has two Wellington players coming at him, slots the ball between them to play a one-two with a team-mate (I'll have to rewatch the match to remember). So that's two opposition players dealt with. Upon receiving the ball, we ducks and weaves past 2 and a bit players, falling down at that 3rd player and passing the ball off to Super Dan who ensure that it's a goal by slotting it past Moss. A total of 6 Wellington players dealt with between Keenan, the 'wall' player and Allsopp. Lovely sight that was. Beautiful finish too, but a wonderful run down the left flank. Unfortunately, aside from that gorgeous run I thought Keenan wasn't all that extraordinary...

Broxham was one of my top players from the match. Stocky and short, his low centre of gravity is going to make him a difficult player to stop when running at you. :)

I'm not too fussed about the first Wellington goal, a bit unlucky from the Melbourne player who headed the ball back to where Daniel was, and once that happened there was nothing that could really be done.

But the second goal... First Theoklitos comes out to the edge of the box for some reason. Broxham had his eye on the high ball, puts it under control and seemed to have the intention of playing it back to the keeper. By the time, Theoklitos was right next to Broxham, so there was no keeper to pass to! It means that Broxham had to do something quickly and played it out to the sideline. The resulting throw-in goes down the sideline and is knocked back into the goalbox. When the play is far away - say, outside the box, then the keeper has the time to be off his line. But as the play moves closer, the keeper ought to be on his line. I think there was more than enough time for Theoklitos to get back into his proper position. But he's so used to NOT being on his line... AARRRGGGHHH!!!! He ended up being about 2m off his line when the ball reached its target of Smeltz. Headed over the massive gap between the goal and the keeper - thank you very much!

Other things occurred too (Allsopp's handball comes to mind), but I have a pet hate of keepers not sitting on their line. The ironic part is that I used to do this all the time... shhh!

A-League Season Three Preview

2007-08-24T10:31:00.002+10:00

It's been a long off-season, but the third season of the A-League is finally kicking off this evening! I'm very excited, and I'm sure I'm not the only fired-up football fan.

During the off-season, I started my coaching career, and I have three matches to go, but don't be suprised if you never hear about that until the A-League's off-season is upon us again!

Some of you may be aware that I tend to sit at halfway during my Melbourne Victory matches so that I can get a really good view of the match. As I have half-baked plans to go on some away trips this year I've decided that I had better get into the MV fan culture and get to know some of my fellow supporters. My ventures started with the pre-season friendlies against Victorian Premier League teams Oakleigh and South Melbourne. They continued with the pre-season tournament, joining the 'South End' for a bit of the Geelong match against Newcastle and back at our true home ground at Olympic Park for the Wellington and Sydney matches.

While I had a lot of fun singing with that lot I will be returning to my prawn sandwich area at half-way when the season starts proper. In short, if you've never spent an entire 90 minute period singing, go do it at some point. You may lose your voice, but it's fun and you can go home with a smile on your face no matter how poorly your team play.

So, now for the preview. I've noted quite a lot of previews popping up all over the place, so this will be what I am looking forward to this season, perhaps with a bit of swooning banter thrown in.

Sydney - I have to admit that I just stare at their defensive line-up these days. Bolton's an awesome goalkeeper - not just as a shot stopper, but he really seems to create a settled defense. Add Popovic and Rudan, and that's a solid central defensive unit. Milligan should continue to improve and I was also a bit impressed with Fyfe during the Asia Cup, hopefully he can keep doing whatever he's doing. Swoon-worthy players: outdated swoon, but John Filan's on the bench tonight!

Central Coast - Looking forward to Vukovic's development as a player and his combination with Wilko. Should be interesting to see how Heffernan's return affects things. I am still concerned with McKinna's insistance on using Mrja... too injury prone in my opinion, and hence a 'wasted' player. Hopefully, I can be proved wrong! Swoon-worthy players: Last year's best-looking player and runner-up are now on the same team! So Central Coast should be a delight to watch from a non-football point of view. Greg Owens, Danny Vukovic and a late favourite last year for me in Wilko...

Queensland - No Spase! What am I going to do without those occasional wonderful through-balls? Well, at least I won't get annoyed at his occasional losses in temper and stupidity... Happy to see that Grossman has been signed up, and hopefully the Matty and Mass show will get back on the road. With a large fan base, I'm hoping that Queensland make a top 4 finish. Swoon-worthy players: Although the Roar have lost Spase, Wedau and Willis, Reddy's still about. And I know a certain someone loves McKay, and that Murdocca has a bit of a female following.

Adelaide - COSTANZO!!!! My favourite player to watch last season - so much poise and an amazing ability to read the game. Although I'd hate to think that a team relies on one player, I find that if Costanzo has a bad day, so does Adelaide. Looking forward to the Burns and Djite partnership flourishing and I'm hoping that Sarkies adds a bit of heart to his game - frustrated me too often last season. Swoon-worthy players: None really do it for me...

Wellington - Mark Paston olé! One of my favourite players last season, often raised to hero-like status at home due to his goalkeeping often keeing the now dead Knights in the game. After not playing much of last season I'm hoping Ferrante gets some game time and due acknowledgement. One of my favourite players from season one, there was simply no room for him at Melbourne. Swoon-worthy players: Steven Old! [grrr... no photo yet] Might be on the bench a bit, but if given a run will be in the defense. I suspect Herbert might give him more of a run than Van Egmond did.

Melbourne - Patafta. This kid has been a wonder every time that he's stepped onto the park. A little creative dynamo that may be what we need to fill the hole vacated by Fred. Caceres has also been impressive in pre-season - he seems to have added a bit of grit to his game. He just needs to use his right peg a bit more, and he can use it, he did so in Geelong during the first half! I was so delighted that I went home with a smile on my face, even though me lost through some AWFUL defending (mumble, mumble, Ljubo, mumble, mumble). Looking forward to Muscat and Brebs putting Ljubo in his place. I don't like Ljubo - can you tell? Keenan also impressed my early against the VPL teams, but only occasionally shined during the pre-season competition. Swoon-worthy players: Danny Allsopp, Adrian Caceres, Kaz Patafta, Mitchell Langerak, Grant Brebner, Kevin Muscat (hahaha!)

Perth - Velaphi. He was awesome last year for Queensland while they had their goalkeeping crisis (*glaring at Reddy*). Should also be interesting to see how Nick Rizzo goes - injury stalled his career over in England and was consequently left in the wilderness - should be a happy return to football action for him. Hayden Foxe seems to be injured... again... see minor Nick Mrdja rant in Central Coast section. Swoon-worthy players: Hmmm... another tough area... oooh!!! Petkovic?

Newcastle - A beautiful team to watch under Van Egmond. Kennedy's injured at the moment, but hopefully he'll get some game time throughout the season - might be difficult with Covic about. But that kid just needs some confidence. I'm also hoping Joel Griffiths can control his temper. Swoon-worthy players: I'll get back to you later in the season.

My thoughts for round 1? You'll have to visit Football Down Under and Beyond!

Note: I have a class to run off to - will link Qld profiles later, perhaps this afternoon.

Round 14: trying to get it together.

2007-08-08T22:48:00.000+10:00

Another loss - this time 4-0 against Team 3. Before the match started I organised for my goalkeeper to get a run on the field in the 2nd half. It's about time I gave her some playing time. So I spoke to one of the players before the match and told her I was going to put her in goals for the second half. The deal was that she'd play the full 40 min of the first half.

I also told her not to tell the rest of the team. I explained that I was going to ask the team for a volunteer. Essentially, if I had a volunteer then that player would be 'safe.' Otherwise, it would be her. No-one volunteered. Great team spirit (sarcasm.)

Thing is, at half-time we were only 1-0 down. Pretty much thanks to the goalkeeper and the left back - who was going to go into goals in the second half. Easily the two best players on the park for us. But I had made arrangements for the second half... and I stuck to them. The replacement keeper did a good job for someone completely unsure of what they were doing. The normal goalkeeper ran out of puff, so I ended subbing her off. Which was good, as I want her to be aware that if she doesn't play in goals she's unlikely to get a full game.

We have so much wrong in the team, and I don't have enough time to fix it. The players can't tell when is the time to simply clear the ball and when they have time to do something with the ball. If they do want to clear the ball, they want to smash it out of the park. Rather than just make a connection with the ball and letting the ball's momentum do the rest. They ball-watch. A lot. They're extremely one-footed. I only have one player who can kick long balls. I only have one player who can pass the ball - she's also picked up some crazy (in a VERY good way) turns from somewhere since the start of the season. I really ought to follow that up...

All I want is more time... but the girls can only generally commit to the one training session per night. I need quality time with each of them, not 1.5 hours for all of them. I'm hoping for a wet summer and an early pre-season so I can cover basic skills next season.

Oh, and the girl who hurt herself last week is due to miss three weeks. She did her medial ligament in her right knee (exactly the same as what I did), so I'm inclined to give her all the time she needs + more to recover. I'm hoping the fact that she's 16 and that I was 22 when I hurt my knee makes a significant difference.

Last Thursday I conducted an extra training session. Only five girls turned up... Anyway, at one point I set up a 2 (defenders) vs. 3 exercise to try and get the girls used to the concept of first defender and second defender. First defender to pressure the player with the ball, second defender to sit and see what's going on and enter the game once the first defender is out through error or being beaten.

One girl in particular was very half-hearted about pressuring the ball. Instead of giving the player with the ball perhaps half a metre of space, she'd give two. So the player with the ball had all the time in the world. After some frustrating watching of what was going on, I demonstrated what I wanted from the first defender when outnumbered i.e. pressuring the player with the ball but not committing. The next time she did the exercise was a marked improvement and so when I played her as the first line of defence (I tend to play with five defenders in two rows at the moment - the first of two and then a row of three) she had an improved game. So I'm really happy about that - especially since I pushed my knee a bit during the demonstration and ended up very sore on Friday evening when the temperature dropped. At least the pain was worth it.

My first match back

2007-08-02T17:33:00.001+10:00

My first match back at coaching on Sunday was an absolute disaster. Morale and energy were low, lots of ball watching, and there was no cohesion in the team. It was awful.to watch and I didn't really know what to do to turn things around.

Perhaps it was because the first match against this team was a close loss (3-4) and the second match was a win (2-1). Perhaps the girls thought Sunday was going to be an easy win? We also had a late afternoon kick-off (3.15pm) and I know some of the girls had a VERY late night. Reminds me of my drunk team days...

We ended up losing 2-1, a goal thanks to a penalty we didn't even deserve. I have a couple of girls with an accurate kick that has a bit of power on it. One of the girls hurt herself 2 minutes into the match - won't really know the damage until Friday. The other one took the penalty.

I was very disappointed to see the team in this state. So I had a bit of a talk to them after the match, but only properly discussed the low energy on Tuesday at training. The late night party group did say that perhaps they had abused the late kick-off time, so that was good. Better than them denying what I already knew.

During training I focused on trying to get the team passing to each other again. It essentially took the full 1.5 hours. Perhaps they always played like this and it was only not watching them and seeing the U-20 World Cup instead that highlighted it. But I doubt it. I made them play in two teams against each other. I let them know that if one team makes five passes in a row, the other team does five sit-ups, push-ups, burpees or whatever.

For a good few minutes the record was 2 passes. Eventually 3 were achieved and we only once got to five. This wasn't because the non-possesion team had a superior defensive skills - they team with the ball were never once looking for the pass. Blindly kicking the ball forward was their method of choice. My current pet hate.

We have a second training session each week now. A bit more passing work tonight to try and keep the small bit of cohesion they had at Tuesday's training and some basic defensive work. Knowing the caretaker coach he probably didn't do any of that...

U/20 World Cup Ramble #3

2007-07-27T23:24:00.001+10:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Scottish team made a defensive error when they conceded their first goal against Japan.

Monday 2nd July, 2007

In hindsight it's awfully clear that the Scots didn't make the right decisions. Both of them. Both wanted to smash the ball away. So three things: a connection with the ball and putting some distance on it while playing it away from the goal. It was all under pressure (from Miroshima) too, so there was no room for error. So, we don't really need hindsight or even the goal to be conceded to see that clearing difficult balls is a risky way to play.

A slight bobble can also be difficult to react to when you've already wound up your kicking leg - just ask Paul Robinson!

So what could the Scottish players have done? Instead of trying to do too much, do just enough and play it safe. 'Safe' is away from the opposition, and if the opposition attcks the goal directly through the middle of the park, then 'safe' is the flanks - the sidelines. In order to end the Japanese attack, all the Scots had to do was connect with the ball and direct it to the sidelines with a slightly angled foot.

No need for a kicking action; there should be more than enough momentum on the ball so that the defender can simply place his foot to change the direction of the ball. This would have easily been the safer option, especially in the case of the goalkeeper as he only needed to keep the ball away from Miroshima - who was directly ahead of him.

Against Geelong on the weekend, relatively new Victory signing Matthew Kemp irritated me as hw would always do the same thing - blindly thump the ball forward. While it never backfired on him, it's not good play (after all, you're simply trying to get rid of the ball), and there's no thought involved. No consideration as to how to wisely use the ball or get it to a team-mate. It's not attractive to watch, nor is it a good example for junior players.

Go down to your local ground and you'll see this kind of play throughout the match. From the desperate situations when there is no time for the kids to think to when the ball has just been won. You may even find yourself lucky enough to see it from kick-off! What's the point of it? Let me not even mention how many times you may see a kid miss the bal entirely, putting the entire team in danger!

I've ended up rambling, but the long kick is too often abused in football, and it needs to be cut out. Or at least reduced, play a possession game and develop the play towards a goal. Pass the ball around, and learn to look after it. If the play is there, the goals will come.

U/20 World Cup Ramble #2

2007-07-22T23:42:00.000+10:00

The second U/20 World Cup match that I watched was Japan vs. Scotland. The significance of watch the Japanese kids play is that we (as in Australia) were knocked out of the Asia Cup by the senior mens team.

Monday 2nd July, 2007

I've been enjoying watching the kids far more than the senior South Americans/Central Americans/North Americans. Funny how they are just kids - but they are awesome to watch.

Last night only Japan vs. Scotland was shown. Let me tell you, the Japanese kids were phenomenal to watch. As a result, I worry about the future of our Socceroos.

These Japanses kids love to do things with the ball. Step-overs, all kinds of turns, stepping on the ball... they have great ball skills. And they're not just show-ponies, they can play the ball very well. Japan would is the future of Asian football.

I can imagine Fossie this Sunday on SBS, talking about the ball skills and technical ability of the Japanese. Dad says it's the Brazilian influence - and he must be right. A lot of Brazilians have finished off their professional football careers in the domestic league of Japan. And you can see the influence it's had on the Japanese youth - who are now coming through. Australia had better be afraid. :)

One kid who particularly stood out for me was Miroshima. I'm pretty bad in how I only keep an eye on one player - I suppose it's a fault that I need to eradicate ASAP. A bit like Acosta, it was Miroshima's attitude that attracted me to him.

He had a chance relatively early in the match to volley the ball into goal. He had to do a few things as the ball came from his left and the goal was in front:

connect with the ball,
change the direction of the ball into goal,
avoid the goalkeeper,
and maintain some sense of balance while in the air trying to meet the ball.

After all that he missed. But instead of putting his hands up to his head and getting lost in the miss, he smiled (or rather, grinned) about it and carried o. Not to say that he enjoyed the miss, but it was the attitude of, "Oh well, it could've been really something," and getting on with the job at hand.

He ended up scoring Japan's opening goal. A long ball bounced near the Scottish defence, where the centre back completely missed the ball as he tried to clear it. So the ball went on to bother the Scottish 'keeper. Miroshima chased the ball down from the initial bounce. While the 'keeper got to the ball first, Miroshimas presence in the vicinity meant that the 'keeper had no time to muck about with the ball. So he assumed his British ways and smashed the ball forward. Which is exactly where Miroshima was. The ball went directly into the Japanese, bounced off him and went past the 'keeper. Miroshima controlled it and tapped it in.

[I get distracted on this event - I'm going to make it a seperate post to this.]

The match finished with Japan beating the Scots 3-1. The other two Japanese goals were rockets, especially the third - it was too hot for the Scottish 'keeper, who actually got to the ball - but the strength on the shot was too good. The Scottish goal came from a lovely throughball, which was received and shot at goal with. The Japansese 'keeper saved that, but a Scot was there for the second ball. There were also some Japanese defenders nearby, with one on the line who could've stopped it.

I figure he didn't as he might've run into the goalpost in the process. Perhaps he considered the 3-0 lead and thought a possible injury wasn't worth it. Especially this early in the tournament (first match). Although, as Dad correctly pointed out (or argued with me), should the Scots get another goal, we'd suddenly have a very different match on our hands, and that the Japanese shouldn't relax or be comforted in that buffer.

In the end it didn't happen, but I suppose that doesn't make my dad any less right.

And here we have a package of highlights from Youtube. That first Japanese goal still infuriates me. But I'm too tired to write up the post exclusively about that right now. And I'm annoyed at Melbourne Victory too.

How to read penalties.

2007-07-21T23:18:00.000+10:00

Of course, if the player is experienced, it's not so easy.

The following figure is taken from Alex Walsh's The Soccer Goalkeeping Handbook (1998):

Hopefully it won't be an issue using it, but it's very useful in posing the following question: if the first taker of the penalties MUST score in order to reduce the confidence of the opposition goalkeeper, increase the pressure of the opposing team and generally set a good example for the rest of his team - why did Kewell kick to the obvious side (position C in the above figure)?

I suppose you could ask the same of Neill - but he was knackered... and not the first taker.

Letter to Graham Arnold

2007-07-21T21:19:00.000+10:00

It's half-time. It's the first time I've watch Australia in the Asia Cup. I'm very upset and frustrated. So I've decided to write a letter.

Dear Graham,

Could you please stop giving instructions throughout the whole match. It's quite annoying to listen to as an outsider, I can only imagine how the players feel. You're not letting them play their own game, so they seem to be playing a 'stale' kind of match.

I am also unhappy with the players' fitness. I recall Guus had them whippet-thing. Now I see tummies showing under the green and gold.

Best of luck in the second half,

Cecilia
(a concerned fan)

U/20 World Cup Ramble #1

2007-07-19T20:19:00.000+10:00

While I was away I had both the Copa America and the U/20 World Cup to watch. Sometimes they clashed, in which case I would watch the 'kids' as their quality of play and the lessons learnt by watching them were superior to the Copa America.

As Postecoglou had failed us, I went for Argentina - naturally. Their first match was against the Czech Republic. A while ago now, but I kinda blogged in my notebook:

Sunday 1st July, 2007

Anyway, last night the kids lost. Not on the scoreboard, but they didn't get their objective - which was to win the match. It finished 0-0 and at 80 minutes, when the Czech coach/manager/whatever took off his cute-as-pie striker* (Fenin) and put on another defender it was obvious that the Czechs were playing for a draw.

The Argentinians threw everything they could at the Czechs, but I think they beat themselves in not being able to score. There was a chance very early in the match when there were three (or at the very least two) Argis on the left side of the penalty box, but none of them could ever get the ball to sit where they wanted it to. That early in the match I am happy for them to use the condition of the synthetic pitch as an excuse.

A few minutes later there was a similar opportunity. I can't remember it all that well, but I know that at that moment I couldn't put the blame on the poor condition of the pitch. It was a poor shot, or straight to the Czech keeper. Perhaps there were two parts and the follow up was awful.

As the match wore on, we just couldn't score! Mind you, the Czechs had loaded the defense. You'd see two little Argis trying to do something with the ball, with at least six Czechs about them. And the Czechs weren't exactly small. But at that age, size is just height - it doesn't really slow you down. Big in build, but I suppose their muscles aren't all that heavy yet.

Though I'm convinced the Czech 'keeper is massive. [Random stuff here as I was trying to figure out why his goalkick motion bothered me - turns out his supporting leg is too far behind the ball, meaning he has to reach to kick the ball. Brute strength gives him a massive distance, but really, he can't kick.] He seemed agile enough, but the amount of times the Argis would give the ball to him made his job somewhat easy. I fear that he's only going to get bigger, so I hope that he limits his weight work and focuses on agility.

Back to the kids - one kid who I thought had lots of spunk was a second half sub for Argi. Hard to miss visually with his head of curls and crazy bandaged up face. #20 I think - Acosta?

He came onto the pitch full of instructions from the coach/technical director and then he'd be all over the park - but in a good way. Favourite moment was when one of our players was fouled and a couple of our kids went to argue to the ref. For f@%&'s sake! We're losing! (Kinda.) Let's get on with the match!!!

And along comes Acosta - not to argue with the ref though. No, he grabs one of his team-mate's hands and pulls him away from the ref. Then he comes back and pulls the other one away. Clever boy. :) Cute too, like seeing two little schoolkids in their matching uniforms and holding hands because their teacher told them too. Well, we had that in primary school so that someone always knew where you were. And I suppose it's easier to count pairs than heaps of individuals.

So I like Acosta from that moment on - spunk AND brains. I hope he's well looked after and developed properly as a player. He's got a good head by the looks of it. And as important as time-wasting can be (and I am such a fan of it too), it's also important knowing when NOT to waste time.

[Random rubbish about the only comment I yelled out at the Richmond match I attended the Friday before I left about letting the other team waste time while you're losing. Back to Acosta...]

There was a little bit of a save he made too, which I'd kinda forgotten about, since I only remembered the keeper's error instead. A Czech had broken through and the 'keeper (Romero) came out - off his line, right out of the box. No man's land. He went for the ball, but instead of smothering the ball with his body, he came out and tried to tackle with his feet - like any field player would. Trouble is, it didn;t exactly come naturally to him and the Czech got past.

By this time two Argis had come down, Acosta one of them - he must've run the length of the pitch! It had been a counter of sorts and I suppose Acosta could run that length so quickly as he had fresh legs. The Czech shot, trying to get the ball in front of the two Argi 'defenders', but Acosta was too fast. Love that kid already. :)

I found this Youtube of match highlights. You won't see the first Argi attempt, or Acosta leading his team-mates away, but you can see the second attempt and that awesome run. Watch for the bandaged head at the edge of the box at about 7:30 after the Argi corner.

Anyway, we're now playing the Czech Republic in the final. I'm scared. If it stays as a 0-0 draw... have you seen the Czech boys penalty kicks? The kind of kick where even if the goalkeeper catches it, he goes in the goals too!

A little bit about the attackers...

2007-06-23T14:26:00.000+10:00

Wayne recently asked about the attack of my team, as so far I had really only focussed on defence in this blog. When I took the reins of this group of U/16 girls, we only had 7 players. Two defenders, a goalkeeper, one striker and three midfielders. I thought that the girls who had played striker previously was too good a player to have her talents wasted up the park. She seems to be a good reader of the game, and when we eventually grew to 10 players I had an opportunity to move that striker (#A) to deeper in the field.

I couldn't move her immediately behind the new striker (#B) as I had a great attacking midfielder already (#C) who had natural game of playing with her back to goal and laying the ball off. I wanted to keep #B up front as she was far more aggressive and while she could read the game, I thought #A's passes would be more useful in the midfield.

I've ended up playing #A on either wing, usually in the midfield, but she's happy to play anywhere on the field as long as she gets a chance to play. The kind of player I absolutely love to have, and I'm sure most coaches would agree.

I also have a number of players who are completely new to the game. Defence is a difficult spot to put them in, so I tended to play them in the midfield, with #B sitting up front on her own. But now I'm up to 16 players, with too many new ones for the spare couple of spots in the midfield. I 'dumped' one new girl up front - simply to get her out of the way but give her game time. Aside from some confusion with the offside rule she flourished there. Not having to mark someone, and the relative lack of pressure made it easier for her to play. Occasionally she gets in #B's way - but they sort each other out, so I can keep my eye on other new players.

I still need to call most of the players over to sideline when I need to explain something to them, but I want to minimise such instances as it can put the rest of the team in funny situations. They would essentially be playing with 10 players. So I keep a spine to the team - so that there's an experienced player in each section of the field. I have a defender who I play at right back (though she'll find herself on the left when I get back), #A and another midfielder to organise the engine-room of the team, and #B looks after the front. #C knows a lot about the game, so she teaches rules and explains incidents as they happen to players on the far side of the pitch. She's also a bit of a creative force, so I let her do her thing and not give her any other responsibilities.

The best goal of the season (and it occurred last week) began with #C. She won the ball in the middle of the park and ventured at an angle towards the left edge of the penalty box. She then had the presence of mind to look up, stop the ball, push it back a little and slot it through the defence with her right foot. #A, who I initially played in defence but then pushed up into midfield after 15 minutes, connected to it and scored - far post. :) I absolutely loved how #C attacked at an angle, looked up and assessed the situation and put through an awesome pass.

Anyway, I'm off overseas for the next four weeks, so my blog's taking a break. A caretaker coach is coming in to cover, and I need to write him an email about the team set-up. See you later!

Our first win

2007-06-17T12:50:00.000+10:00

We've finally got some points to show how we've improved! 2-1 win today, finished an hour ago, and I'm about to head off to watch some VPL action. But had to make a note of this and tell everyone! Well, the handful or readers that I have.

Kicking off the 3rd season

2007-06-16T23:55:00.001+10:00

We have been having some heavy fog about Melbourne lately, it came in on Thursday morning and has been hanging about since. The picture on the right was taken on Wednesday night - before the fog. I personally think that this was the event that started the fog.

Melbourne Victory have organised friendlies against three Victorian Premier League teams. Richmond was the first match, the week after it was against Oakleigh (Wednesday night) and this Wednesday it will be South Melbourne.

I wasn't able to attend Richmond, but I went to the Oakleigh match. Although the game finished 2-3 for a Melbourne Victory win, the result doesn't particularly matter. Victory are looking very cohesive already, and with more matches we can begin to play some fluid football.

It was good to see 4000 people turn up on a very cold evening (my fingernails turned purple!), but I'm hoping to see many more next week at Bob Jane. Perhaps the closest to a Derby as we'll get for a little while yet? I'll endeavour to take more photos.

It's been a while...

2007-06-12T22:55:00.000+10:00

...since I updated the swoon list.

Over at Football in the Capital, Carl Valeri has been making a few appearances. I like him a lot as a player. Very calm and cool on the ball, which is always great to watch, and awesome to see in such a young player! He seems to have a stabilising effect on the national team, and a great passing ability. Shame that there doesn't seem to be room for both him and Grella to grace the field at the same time...

Anyway, go visit the appropriate posts, and check out the cute video!

Changing the defence line

2007-06-12T22:50:00.000+10:00

As promised, I trialled a new sweeper last Sunday. It was fairly obvious that I had a lot more faith in her ability than she did, especially once she realized that I was serious. Although I had told her on the Tuesday at training what I was going to do, it didn’t sink in until I wrote her name on my team line-up picture in the middle of defence.

While we lost 4-0, I wasn’t all that fussed with #11’s performance. I think she needs to be more assertive. She also needs to gain awareness of where our players are (particularly the flanks of the defence) while knowing where the ball is. Too often the flanks would be left behind when #11 pushed up the field. Her positioning also needed some work…

I have been playing with a five man* defense – generally positioned as follows:

A and B are more or less attacking defenders, they are the last line in the midfield and the first line of defence. If there’s an attacking midfielder in the opposing team, either A or B will be shadowing for most of the match, leaving a four man defence. It depends on what the other team does. With the back line (C, D & E) more or less the same each week. A left-back, a right-back, and the centre-back who takes on the sweeper role when required. I try to get the centre-back to sit one or two steps behind the two flanking defenders:

The extra couple of steps are so that the ‘sweeper’ can come into the game and have a bit of a head start on any breakaway player that has come from the middle of the park, or for any random long ball where the opposition player who chases that ball comes from the middle of the park.

I limit the space to only a couple of steps so that the central defender can quickly get into line with the other two defenders should the opposition forwards be applying pressure onto the defence line and a long ball looks like it may be played for one of the forwards to run onto. A sort-of offside trap.

So, when there’s no pressure from the opposition:

And when there is:

So, back to my new centre-back… she’s been playing for three or four years now. This may be the first season she’s played in defence, where I put her in to cover right-back when I lost a player through injury (precautionary) during a friendly. She lived there for a few weeks, and now in ‘sweeper’. I have more or less thrown her into the deep end.

My original centre-back (#6) was available again on Sunday. While #6 has the experience of the position, and doesn’t hesitate with her calls, #11 feels completely out of her depth. However, I will persevere with #11 because she connects better with the ball. She simply has superior timing with the ball, and timing is a difficult ability to gain when you don’t have it. Whereas reading and learning the game can be taught.

I initially planned to play #6 as one of the flanking defenders, and to lead and look after the defence from there. But I changed my mind the night before. I am now playing with a four-man defence: the two flanks with both #6 and #11 in the middle. #6 has instructions to look after the defence, and lead it – ensuring players stay in line when required and that #11 doesn’t sit too far back when the time is appropriate. #11 is to always stay free.

By playing alongside #6, #11 can begin to learn how to manage the defence. It’s difficult at training, the “attackers” are simply not competitive enough to gain anything from them. So it’s pretty much on-the-job-training, and I can’t yell out from the sidelines all the time. Hopefully I can revert to my three person defence with 2 attacking defenders before the end of the season. :)

*I also use “man on” and “man up”, build a bridge and get over it.

Shopping for brooms

2007-05-31T22:26:00.001+10:00

In my first “proper” team (my second season of playing football, but I’d hardly count the Victorian Churches League as being even remotely competitive) I played in central defence along with another girl, Jess, who I knew from little aths. We would have been 15, and the eldest players in the team who was competing in the U/17s league.

I think Mark was the coach’s name – I’ve got an awful memory when it comes to names, but I would recognise him in an instant. Mark would always play Jess and I at the back, except on the odd occasion when I ventured even deeper and under the crossbar. Being the eldest players, we were easily the most mature, and consequently responsible – we worked well together at the back. Years of getting to know each other at little aths probably helped and we had no problem in directing each other when playing. We weren’t exactly best buddies, but we recognised that there was a job to be done on the park.

While Mark never asked us to play in front of each other, in the end this was how Jess and I played. Mark would organise the rest of the team, perhaps giving each player instructions – but he essentially left Jess and I to our own devices.

Prior to kick-off Jess and I would sort out who would play in front of the other, with the other effectively playing as a sweeper. Although true sweepers are rarely seen in the modern professional game (much to do with offside tactics), it works well where the defence is generally inexperienced. With Jess, whoever was playing deeper would generally organise the defence, keeping tabs on the less experienced players who played left and right back, and ensuring that if one of us was about to make an important tackle that the other was there as a back-up.

In the case of the U/16s that I am now coaching, I am faced with a similar problem – I really only have a handful of experienced players in a team that has a high proportion of first-timers. For the first two matches I’ve been using the girl (#6) who apparently played in central defence/sweeper last season in the same position. She can more or less read the game, and has the maturity to accept responsibility for her errors – before I point out that certain events occurred due to an error of hers (unlike my goalkeeper who will only accept that she made an error when I explain the entire chain of events that occurred from her, say, calling the ball when she was too far away). Back to #6 – she’s alright as a player, but seems to have some issues connecting to the ball. She’s not available this Sunday, so I have a chance to experiment.

I’ve been using one of last year’s wingers (#11) as my right back. I randomly put her in there in the friendly against the U/15s from our club as we were short on players and girl who was playing right back at the moment hurt herself. #11 was on the wing, so I pushed her down and spread the midfield out. She impressed me a bit in defence, and she’s more or less lived there since.

She’s told me she enjoys defending – it’s novel for her having always played in the midfield- and although she tends to get a little lost in the play when she’s on the ball I’ve decided to play her as sweeper. She doesn’t seem to be able to judge how far she can go with the ball until it’s too far from where she should be, and doesn’t organise any cover for herself, I had a bit of a chat to her about her tendency to carry the ball too far on Sunday after I took her off the park, and on Tuesday I told her she would be playing sweeper. Hopefully with a bit of discipline she’ll hold the defence well. I’m not sure about her ability to read the game, or if she can control the defence like #6 kind-of-can, but I won’t know until I give her a try.

Edit 01/06/07: I suppose this post is a more elaborate answer to Watt's earlier comment/question.

Our second match

2007-05-28T21:17:00.000+10:00

It's been a while between matches, and you can blame the FFV for giving us two byes in a row for the first three rounds of the season.

After our disappointing performance in Round 1, I was hoping that the girls would lift their game for Round 4. One girl (#14) had been telling me that they’re not a bad team, they just play slightly worse than the opposition regardless of how good the opposition was.

She may be right. Round 1 team was awful. We were worse. Round 4 team had more skilled players, I wouldn’t really call them a team though. Their coach was constantly yelling at them, giving them instructions. In the end, can his girls play football? They may have the individual skills that my girls lack, but my girls are more of a team, and I know that with some discipline we can be a difficult side to beat.

I take more pride in knowing we caused the other team problems than scoring more goals than them. I was really happy with the girls on Sunday - much better performance than our last outing, players were more careful with the ball, looked for the pass occasionally, tried to support their team-mates and consequently played to each other a lot more.

Apparently for the past three years, the girls have always played in the same positions. While a couple are suited to their roles (#14’s natural game is to play as an attacking midfielder, and tends to play the ball with her back to goal, and #6 has the responsibility to play sweeper), I’ve messed about with the rest. #14 tells me I’m the first to do this, and that they like having the opportunity to play elsewhere.

Ideally, I’d like them to play anywhere I put them, but for the moment I aim to create some stability in the team – so many are playing in similar positions to training.

One of the most striking things about my team is the difference in playing ability and difference in attitude. About half of the team has played for a number of seasons, and have general skills such as passing and controlling the ball – albeit inconsistently. Some have only played a short while and it shows.

Attitude is something you can’t teach – players either have the right attitude or they don’t. There are 4 new girls in the team – I believe 3 are complete beginners. 2 of these I want to keep for ever and ever – simply because when we have a drink break in training, they’re the first ones back in our training area. And instead of standing and chatting, they’ll start to kick the ball about. It shows they want to play. If I ask the team to do something, most will complain about how they’re not left-footed, or that they can’t do headers. But these two will give it a go, and when they can’t, they absorb the correction like a sponge. Perhaps they’re easier to teach because I don’t have to break bad habits.

The other thing that shows is their attitude. On Sunday, one player in particular stood out for me - not because she completed the most passes, won every ball, scored a goal or saved our defence. She may be slow (in pace) and mis-kick the ball a bit, but I know that any ball (or player and ball) that comes near her will not be given up easily. While she may eventually be beaten, and while she lacks the pace to chase down the player who beat her, she was my star player for the simple reason that she put the most effort on the park.

I’m looking forward to this Sunday. Round 4 showed massive improvement, and we had a great training session this evening - in my humble non-biased opinion as coach ;). Hopefully they’ll apply what we covered in training in the match – that’s my priority anyway. Make sure what I try to teach stays in their heads. It’s funny, how the more I cover, the more that still needs to be explained! Never-ending, really… :)

Shake and Stir

2007-05-26T20:57:00.000+10:00

It’s been a while since I sat down and wrote a post with some substance. Most of my assessment has been completed, so I can spend a little more time thinking about football.

Later in the year I’ll be heading overseas to visit family. This means that my team will not have their coach for 4 matches (and 3 training sessions). Consequently, a cover needed to be found for that period. While I was meeting the U/15 and U/18 coaches of the girls at the same club, I mentioned that I would be away, and depending on fixtures I asked if there was the possibility of looking after the girls at some points There was also a particular parent who put her hand up to help me out, being my first time and all, should I require it. I informed her that I may be needing a cover for when I’m away.

Now, I’ll be frank and admit that I’ve effectively been sitting on my arse with regards to this issue. But I had more pressing matters to deal with (assessment tasks), which I think is a decent recent for not actively finding a replacement up to this point.

Before I delve into the actual situation that’s seriously begun to bother me now that I’ve thought about it, perhaps I need to explain a little about my playing background, and the set-up of the Junior club (JunC) that I am currently affiliated with.

One my earliest posts gives a good account of a particular senior club (SenC) I played at on and off for 3 years. During my off years, my brother was still at the club, so I’ve known the club and its people for some time. Needless to say, it’s a SenC that I’m not particularly happy with. I started there in the junior team they used to have, and my experience with that team wasn’t pleasant.

The JunC that I’ve started coaching at currently uses the same facilities as the SenC. My team trains on one of the nights that the SenC has training. So when the president (Pres) of the SenC spotted me, he came over to have a chat. Fair enough, I thought, he’s just saying hello. Then he came over the next week, suggesting that my U/16s join the SenC to make up the numbers in their lowest team (i.e. team that played in the lowest Division that the club had a team registered in). Naturally I declined. Especially since there’s an U/18 team he can poach from – difference is that Pres doesn’t know who their coach is. Again the next week he came by again. I’ve moved my training sessions all about the place to wherever I can find a spot – making it harder for Pres to figure out where I am.

At training, my team manager (TM) asked if I had sorted out a replacement yet. I admitted that I hadn’t, but that I’d mentioned it to the coaches above and a particular parent. TM said that the other coaches couldn’t (fair enough I said, especially since the fixtures had now changed and we no longer had byes during the period I was away). TM then said that Pres of SenC had put his hand up to help out. I was a bit stunned to be honest, and then said I didn’t want him associated with my team. TM said there was no-one else. I said that I had a parent who I mentioned my situation to, but hadn’t had a chance to seriously talk to them about it. Somehow, somewhere, TM & I finished out conversation with the conclusion that our options were limited. At the end of training, I confirmed everything with the parent I had in mind, and sent TM an email when I got home.

TM,

I had a word to Parent this evening after training, and she's more than happy to take the girls while I'm away.

-Cecilia

TM’s response:

Cecilia,

I spoke with Pres before training finished and said we were happy to accept his offer to take training and game day.

...

Regards,

TM

Let’s say that I wasn’t very happy at this point, but was far more concerned with particular piece of assessment.

Assessment’s now more or less over (well, there’s exams...), so I’ve had a little time to think about this. I’m really annoyed that this was essentially organised behind my back.

First - Why on earth did the Pres put his hand up? I can only think that the JunC approached the Pres, or mentioned that I was going away. Regardless, the JunC coaching situation should not have been something that the SenC gets itself involved in, particularly considering how often Pres had approached me and my team to join the SenC!

Secondly – why was I not given the time (or option) to really discuss the cover with the parent I had in mind? I have heard (from the U/15 coach) that Parent has been a handful and annoyance to the club in the past, but I am yet to have an issue with her. She seems to be the kind of person who would shoot me while I was watching her. I do mean that in a positive way – she has absolutely no problem telling me what she thinks to my face.

In contrast to TM, who was meant to organise friendlies for me, but didn’t. Perhaps because she knew her daughter wouldn’t be involved with one, and that the other fell on Mother’s Day? The least she could do is tell me why. Then I would’ve made it my responsibility from day 1. Instead of day 20 – which made it harder to get the friendly organised. Yes, I failed in the end, but only because the other team pulled out two days (three, perhaps) before kick-off. Now instead of telling me that she was going to accept Pres’ “offer” after our chat, she’s left me thinking that I can talk to Parent about it. I now know that she didn’t.

Tomorrow we have our second match of the season at home. I intend to find out:
1. Why Pres had a chance to get involved with my team,
2. Why TM did not give me chance to talk to Parent, and
3. Why TM made the executive decision on the coaching future of the team.

Interestingly enough, Pres has not yet approached me about conducting some kind of introductory session (something I had planned with Parent, also because of the massive difference in ability that I have between players in the team). My reaction to such a request from the Pres is not likely to be viewed favourably by SenC, but they should expect that from me anyway. I am not sure how the JunC will take it.

I am new to the JunC, so I am not sure what their history holds. I am not sure if TM did not give me chance to talk to Parent because they’ve had an issue in the past, or if Parent and JunC committee have had an issue in the past. As TM is a member of the committee, perhaps she acted in the interests of the committee. Either way, I need to know, and I intend to find out ASAP. Ideally I want to find out by talking to people in person. I’ll resort to the phone if I can’t track them down tomorrow before/after our match. And I refuse to use email to initially attack the issue – I’ll be happy to correspond electronically once it’s been raised, but until then I’ll be old-fashioned and, in my opinion, proper – no hiding behind a computer screen.

So, who's Mark Viduka?

2007-05-15T21:45:00.000+10:00

Sorry, still completely nuts at uni. Tonight's training session, however, had a couple of magic moments I simply can't resist blogging about!

I accidentally put my shorts on backwards this evening. A player noticed and thought it was hilarious. Honestly, I couldn't give a s#!t. Anyway, I started to mention Paolo Di Canio - I was going to go on to talk about how he did that once by accident, realised before the match started, decided to keep them that way, had an awesome match, scored a couple, etc....
"Who?"
"Paolo Di Canio...," I repeated. More blank faces. Hmm... perhaps they were too young? I gave them the benefit of the doubt and dropped it.

Later in the session, we were playing a mini-game. I was half-playing with the coloureds as they were one short. I collected a loose ball at one stage, didn't have any options, shielded the ball, needed some space as I stuck my arse out. I could hear whack between me and the player (Steph), followed by laughter from that Steph's mum. Anyway, passed off the ball successfully.

Claire calls out that what I did wasn't allowed. I yelled back that it was - and that was how Viduka makes his living.
"Who?"
"Errrr... Mark Viduka," I respond.
"Who?"
"Oh gee, he's only the current captain of our national team, the Socceroos," I responded is a sarcastic tone.
Blank faces. Again.
Sam quips up, "Oh him. He annoys me." Well, at least one of them MAY have heard of Viduka, or rather, MAY have heard of the Socceroos...

I think we have a football culture problem...

Our first match

2007-05-07T20:47:00.000+10:00

We had our first match on Sunday, in short we lost 2-1, played poorly, but then the other team played poorly too - so I thought we could have done better. Short post, terribly busy at uni at the moment as the semester draws to a close and exams approach.