VAR Rescues Sydney FC

[StringerBellend]

25 minutes ago, ZachMercer said:

Lack of consistency killed our season. Players running hot then cold then hot then cold again, meant you never knew what side was turning up on any given occasion. Changes to coach, coaching structure, player management, game strategy, lockdowns, etc. compounded this - not to mention our complacency with teams we thought we'd walk over to only come away with a point or loss. Every game irrespective of opposition needs to be played like a championship final. Look at city for example - they want to put every team every week to the sword.

All teams have had issues, and many teams have had players that haven't really delivered on their potential this season, but I think we top the list of this stat. If you look at the team roster you be forgiven for thinking we are an incredibly potent side. When you look at players not firing like Dimi, Antonis, Ogawa, Hemed, Ibini, etc. you're looking at some serious deficiencies. Add to this inconsistency of core bread and butter players and your season is over before it's begun.

Yep although onky Dimi, Antonis and hemed is are a suprise

Ibini hasnt fired since he was the central coast, he was crap last year why anyone thought he'd suddenly learn how to trap a ball, gain awareness in the offseason is beyond me.

His odd couple of decent seasons came years ago, he's lost the pace and so really you are left with a clumsy player who doesn't know where to be  

Ogawa's stats are basically what he's doing now, a goal every 10 or so games 

 

[GunnerWanderer]

Unpopular opinion time. 
 

went to the game last night and I had a great time it was the first time in ages I can remember a derby being so open and both teams going for it - as a football spectacle it was great really enjoyed it 

so much goal mouth action it was 3-2 but there was a couple of last ditch clearances, disallowed goal and Acq smashes the post late. Great to see. 
 

I’ve given up on the season let’s be honest we all had months ago so seeing some football is great. 

Also when you got to Carlton station at the train comes in 2 mins then change at Wollongong creek and it comes in 2 mins and then got to ctown and your wife is waiting to pick up up with a pizza for you how good is it haha 

 

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, StringerBellend said:

Yep although onky Dimi, Antonis and hemed is are a suprise

Ibini hasnt fired since he was the central coast, he was crap last year why anyone thought he'd suddenly learn how to trap a ball, gain awareness in the offseason is beyond me.

His odd couple of decent seasons came years ago, he's lost the pace and so really you are left with a clumsy player who doesn't know where to be  

Ogawa's stats are basically what he's doing now, a goal every 10 or so games 

 

Ogawa..part of me thinks he may just do better in a more settled side..

And part of me thinks get a taxi booked for the final whistle, final game with a direct ride to the airport for him.

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, GunnerWanderer said:

Unpopular opinion time. 
 

went to the game last night and I had a great time it was the first time in ages I can remember a derby being so open and both teams going for it - as a football spectacle it was great really enjoyed it 

so much goal mouth action it was 3-2 but there was a couple of last ditch clearances, disallowed goal and Acq smashes the post late. Great to see. 
 

I’ve given up on the season let’s be honest we all had months ago so seeing some football is great. 

Also when you got to Carlton station at the train comes in 2 mins then change at Wollongong creek and it comes in 2 mins and then got to ctown and your wife is waiting to pick up up with a pizza for you how good is it haha 

 

Not unpopular at all, matches my thoughts today.

[mack]

11 hours ago, matty said:

Am I the only one that gets pissed off when the coach doesn't speak plainly about a terrible decision? It shows a lack of passion to me. I get it, they want to be professional, not cop a fine etc. But to come out and say "we didn't get the rub of the green" in relation to the handball not being given is pathetic. 

Babbel did that after his second A-League game and we spent the next 2 years getting every call go against us on the pitch and in the VAR booth.

You can draw a direct line from Babbel being sent off in his first derby and pissing off the ref mafia to the Georgievski handball incident against Adelaide 14 months later and 6 months later than that, Muller getting flattened by Louis Fenton, avoiding a straight red card and a 2nd yellow as he'd already avoided a yellow card a minute into the game when he went studs up into the shin of Cox.

It's clear that you speak out about the refs (without being Corica or Kisnorbo) and your team gets punished for it. Better off not saying anything. Not like the ex-SFC CEO that now runs the APL is gonna change anything for us.

[StringerBellend]

2 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Ogawa..part of me thinks he may just do better in a more settled side..

And part of me thinks get a taxi booked for the final whistle, final game with a direct ride to the airport for him.

Nope he's shite apart from one good season in 2013 he's done stuff all since then he scores at about 1 goal every 10 games, that's not good enough 

[LetsPele]

Disappointing result. Some positive signs. But lots to be concerned about too.

I'm okay with the non penalty decision. In fact I think it was the correct call. Defender was 5 or so yards from the ball when it was struck. His arm was in a natural position. It was close to the body. He didn't make a movement towards the ball. I would have been dirty if that had been given against us if it was the other way around. Of course, the inconsistency with regards to how the VAR treats these incidents is another issue.

I'm not okay with the 3rd goal we conceded. If Rudan is any good, he should be having a serious talk with Antonis (and the team more broadly, as it's a common theme in our play).

If you get the chance to watch the build up to the 3rd goal again, you'll see we press Sydneyfc hard in their half and force a turn over. Brilliant. The ball comes free and Antonis finds himself in space, 2-3 yards in front of 3 Sydneyfc players with NO ONE one in front of him. He's about 30 yards from goal. Instead of pushing forward to the line and Sydney's penalty box, so he could size up his crossing options (we had 2 players at the top of the box and one wide on the left) or bring the ball forward into the box, he takes a few strides forward, steps on the ball to pull it back (for what purpose I can't fathom, and with his back to the Sydney defenders rushing to close him down so he can't actually see where they are). Attempts a turn and pulls the ball back again. And, (what do you know!) gets swamped by Sydney's defenders. Turns over the ball. Sydney look for the quick release, and score.

It's hard to understand how a professional footballer can make such horribly niaive, stupid, and incompetent decisions. Faced with a a huge opportunity, he completely neutered a promising attack by taking the worst of all options.

I still can't figure out WTF he was trying to do. Which unseen player was he trying to link up with? Why turn the ball back when you're in that good an attacking position? 

All too often when attacking opportunities present, our players take the fatally conservative option, or pass responsibility on to someone else. There's little ownership and an apparent void of confidence when it comes to our attacking play. This is a key reason why we're so impotent in attack, so easily contained, and pose very little threat going forward.

It's also why a large share of our goals this season have come from penalties and from other teams stuff ups.

[mack]

We've dropped to 11th place now with the Roar beating the Jets 2-0 we're level on points & goal difference, but they have two more goals scored than us.

[sonar]

28 minutes ago, mack said:

We've dropped to 11th place now with the Roar beating the Jets 2-0 we're level on points & goal difference, but they have two more goals scored than us.

Tbh our position on the ladder is a fair representation of how we have played. The damage was done when Robinson was retained. Not too far now to hit rock bottom and win the Wooden Eating Untensil Championship. and our fist piece of Woodware. Go boys. We can do this !

Edited April 3, 2022 by sonar

[WHACKO]

38 minutes ago, mack said:

We've dropped to 11th place now with the Roar beating the Jets 2-0 we're level on points & goal difference, but they have two more goals scored than us.

Where were we on the ladder when Rudan took over?

Some people thought we could make finals with him taking over.

Edited April 3, 2022 by WHACKO

[sonar]

3 minutes ago, WHACKO said:

Where were we on the ladder when Rudan took over?

Some people thought we could make finals with him taking over.

The funny thing is mathematically we still can ( I think lol )

I doubt we will though.

[mack]

8 minutes ago, WHACKO said:

Where were we on the ladder when Rudan took over?

Rudan took over for our 8th game of the season. After our 7th we were in 10th on 5 points. 1 win (15%), 2 draws (30%), 4 losses (60%).

12 games later Rudan has 4 wins (35%), 3 draws (25%), 5 losses (40%).

[mack]

Macarthur have just got a penalty from an identical handball to ours last night. 

[matty]

1 minute ago, mack said:

Macarthur have just got a penalty from an identical handball to ours last night. 

This is why I would complain. Instead ours is forgotten now, primed to happen again.

[GunnerWanderer]

Davila what a player! 

[Zelinsky]

19 hours ago, ZachMercer said:

players not firing like Dimi, Antonis, Ogawa, Hemed, Ibini, etc. you're looking at some serious deficiencies

The sister of of expectation is disappointment.

I was expecting the powerful AL version of Dimi and Antonis, but what a difference a year or two overseas can make. Ibini hasn't been the same player since his leg injury at Brugge seven years ago, I was expecting that a full pre season would reconnect him with his former self, but that didn't happen. I was expecting Ogawa to be more like Ono, but we got another Jumpei. I was expecting Hemed to bang in the goals, but it's not happening. I was expecting Meijas to be a domineering GK who helps us not losing games like Ante. That didn't happen either. I was expecting Rodwell to shine, but he can't do that from sickbay. I was expecting Troisi to control midfield, but he is too old and injury prone for that. I didn't expect Ziggy, CCM's best player not long ago, to just about disappear. Neither did I expect Williams to display deficiencies when it comes to defending standards.

That's almost an entire team of senior players not getting into gear or misfiring. No wonder that we are all disappointed.

CR has been a shocking recruiter. He was talking about players wanting to wear the WSW, but those who actually felt that way (Duke, Cox, Mueller) he pissed off well and proper. It is a crime against humanity what he did to those three.

It can only get better from here.

 

 

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, Zelinsky said:

 

It can only get better from here.

 

 

A brave statement indeed when you follow this club.

[Sithslayer1991]

As many of you have said Rudan made a terrible call dropping Urgakovic. The issue comes out that Baccus and Antonis are both similar players and what happens when they play together Baccus plays more defensive so his possession mistakes are highlighted and Antonis has nowhere to play to with Baccus so deep. There were times Baccus dropped so far that he was next to Cancar and Mrcela. Of course when Stevo comes on Baccus puts that absolute peach of a ball to Russell to make it 3-2. Its clear that Stevo is THE DM with the current crop as Baccus and Antonis will not do the same job and like being a bit further forward.

Another issue was up front I don't think the boys closed down enough to stop the long balls. So Hemed, Petratos their side was targeted, they saw that as a weakness and just bombed balls long to Bhaugiar suits his play because all he has is speed. Troisi tries to close down some of those spaces but its not really his job when Hemed and Petratos need to do more to stop those balls.

The last issue was Troisi. In general was decent game but in the final third he let us down. He should have scored at least one of those chances especially that one he had right after the Smurfs went 2-1 up. It was such a massive chance and he blazes above the post, and we concede not even 2 minutes after that. He scores there and Rudan makes his changes the momentum turns back to us.

Rudan's changes came a bit too late should of happened at the 60th minute we really needed to win this game to keep the season alive especially after Mariners coughed up 2 points earlier, too little too late. The penalty was a robbery but the season was lost before then and Rudan got done with his choices. We played catch up and now we have to look at next season we cannot catch Macarthur, Nix, Smurfs, Adelaide or Mariners.

[Zelinsky]

1 hour ago, Sithslayer1991 said:

As many of you have said Rudan made a terrible call dropping Urgakovic.

The rationale behind this was explained by GvE in the presser. They felt that Ugarkovic needed a bit of a break, and they wanted more control in midfield, and thought that Antonis could deliver the goods. It didn't work out that way. However, had Aquilina scored the equalizer, or had we been awarded a penalty and saved a draw we would have a different conversation now.

[MartinTyler]

I get where GvE was coming from as I've also felt that Ugarkovic and Baccus play similar roles and we needed to mix it up a bit. When on form, Troisi and Antonis are our most creative players and we did show some more creativity on Saturday. However with both of those players it does come with a high element of risk and Antonis losing the ball for the 3rd goal was criminal in my opinion. Some on here have criticised Troisi for his performance but I always felt that something would happen for us when he had possession.

[BoyFromTheWest]

Baccus was used (think GVE said it?) to make the back 3 when necessary.  He's done it at other times in the season - drops into the backline and forms a 3 at the back, playing out from there.

Haven't seen the game so not sure it worked - did previously but can't remember the game.

[Sithslayer1991]

3 hours ago, Zelinsky said:

The rationale behind this was explained by GvE in the presser. They felt that Ugarkovic needed a bit of a break, and they wanted more control in midfield, and thought that Antonis could deliver the goods. It didn't work out that way. However, had Aquilina scored the equalizer, or had we been awarded a penalty and saved a draw we would have a different conversation now.

I think that highlights the need for Rodwell to be fit. Had he been fit you could rotate Urgarkovic without losing much and having that leadership to get us in control of the game and have either Antonis or Baccus next to him to start our plays. I knew Baccus isn't the best for the defensive part but damn Antonis really isn't that player either, the more I have watched the more I have found that Antonis and Baccus are almost the same player, so they don't do too well together in the mid.

For me not having a proper DM forced everyone to play deeper than they needed allowing Easts the time to lob balls in behind our back 4, instead of being in their face like we were in the home derby. 

[Robvad10]

we didnt deserve to win because we defended like a busted nut, wasnt cancars finest performance imo. How the ref, assistants and VAR missed a stonewall penalty is beyond me. We have basically lost potentially 4 points due to blatant handballs that no officials seemed to see except everyone watching the game. Again dimi and ogawa are offering nothing which has been analyzed by everyone here. Ibini is slower then a fully loaded containership leaving port. in saying that i still think a draw would of been achievable as sfc werent good. 

[Legionista]

Was Rodwell ever going to be fit?

[Smoggy]

4 hours ago, Legionista said:

Was Rodwell ever going to be fit?

We are saving him for a big finish to the season apparently…..lol