Love's Labour Wins In Adelaide

It's hard not to get the impression that we simply didn't take this competition seriously enough, which is really disappointing imo. No Saba, no effort to even stream the game, it seems as if we treated it as just another trial (either that or the disappointment is being really well disguised). For us to be not serious enough about the first proper cup competition we have been involved in doesn't sit well with me.

In terms of the 'Guangzhou is more important' argument, maybe so, but who can really believe we are any chance of competing with them, let alone beating them, on current form? Most of our key players clearly aren't match fit or ready. Three goals in four games against state league opposition? They must be shitting themselves.

Well done to the fans who made the trip to Adelaide to represent us in our first ever cup tie.

positive we can take - 30 other teams wont win the FFA cup this season as well

positive we can take - 30 other teams wont win the FFA cup this season as well

How many other will be knocked out by teams in divisions lower than them? A couple I'm sure, but still. I'm hoping South Coast do the job on CCM next week.

positive we can take - 30 other teams wont win the FFA cup this season as well

Oh!  Another positive - at least we made it to the Knock Out round of the FFA Cup...!   

We played with 4 CBs. No way we should be doing that against state league sides.

We played with 4 CBs. No way we should be doing that against state league sides.

Cole was injured, Da Puzzo and Polenz was not replaced in the off-season.

Take it easy everyone.

First of all both the FFA cups and the AFC are way out of sync with our competition. Way underprepared and for good reason, our season start is over a month away. I wouldn't expect us to be firing on all cylinders now anyway. Both of these comps are great for the league but very difficult to take competitively. 

Plus we played that game very understrength, trying to conserve something for next week. 

Having said that we are still in the hunt for players through a very hectic rebuilding phase of our club.

It was obvious this game was treated as just another pre season warm up game.

We just happened to lose.

And although no ones happy about it, the players that we given a chance to shine shat themselves.

Which means they really need to turn it up a notch and now they understand that they are NOT first starters if they couldn't even beat an NPL team.

We'll be right in time for our season start.

 

We played with 4 CBs. No way we should be doing that against state league sides.

 

Cole was injured, Da Puzzo and Polenz was not replaced in the off-season.

 

May still be early and signings still to occur, but Popa so far has shown that Mullen and Golec are our first team LB/RB.

Is that a subliminal shot at Popa?

Is that a subliminal shot at Popa?

im not that worried. im sure we'll beat them easily in the second leg

Is that a subliminal shot at Popa?

Very interesting.

Take it easy everyone.

First of all both the FFA cups and the AFC are way out of sync with our competition. Way underprepared and for good reason, our season start is over a month away. I wouldn't expect us to be firing on all cylinders now anyway. Both of these comps are great for the league but very difficult to take competitively. 

 

Plus we played that game very understrength, trying to conserve something for next week. 

Having said that we are still in the hunt for players through a very hectic rebuilding phase of our club.

It was obvious this game was treated as just another pre season warm up game.

We just happened to lose.

And although no ones happy about it, the players that we given a chance to shine shat themselves.

 

Which means they really need to turn it up a notch and now they understand that they are NOT first starters if they couldn't even beat an NPL team.

 

We'll be right in time for our season start.

I'm not saying we'll be right for the season start.

But I tend to agree with your sentiment.

Saba will be eligible for next week’s tie with Evergrande, though Covic said that there should not be an expectation that he will make an immediate difference.

“You sign quality players for a reason, and our squad is very young this year,†he said.

“There’s opportunities for players to make the step up, but they have to take those opportunities.

“We don’t have our strongest squad on the park at the moment, but that will also be the case at various points during the season when injuries and suspensions happen - you can’t feel sorry for yourself.

“The players in the squad now have been in it long enough to know how we play, and they have to take the chances they’re given.â€

Ante is not having a shot at Popa, he's letting the young bucks know that they farked up last night.

If anything he's reving up the lads for a higher intensity effort next week.

Saba will be eligible for next week’s tie with Evergrande, though Covic said that there should not be an expectation that he will make an immediate difference.

“You sign quality players for a reason, and our squad is very young this year,†he said.

“There’s opportunities for players to make the step up, but they have to take those opportunities.

“We don’t have our strongest squad on the park at the moment, but that will also be the case at various points during the season when injuries and suspensions happen - you can’t feel sorry for yourself.

“The players in the squad now have been in it long enough to know how we play, and they have to take the chances they’re given.â€

 

Ante is not having a shot at Popa, he's letting the young bucks know that they farked up last night.

 

If anything he's reving up the lads for a higher intensity effort next week.

Those youngs should be playing like they have nothing to lose, appiah needs to ehow he can improve his skill set not just keep churning out glimpses.

not totally surprised we lost tbh, yeah we should have won but our pre-season form has been pretty ordinary with three 1-0 wins where we have been really struggling to score and it continued in this game, imo for Popa this game was more like a warm up in order to try to peak for the 2 ACL games, i would be interested to know if there was full training on monday, and the players even flew to adelaide on the day of the game...

there are a lot of new players and we have had half the squad with one injury or another so far, and Popa's not going to risk anyone at this stage of the season for an FFA Cup game.

anyway judging from the line-up and the radio description the formation was:

covic

mullen-la rocca-topor-golec

perkatis-trifiro-poljak

appiah-juric-sotiro

subs: haliti, bridge, fofanah, alessi, bouzanis

from the radio and stats they read out at the end of the game, we pretty much dominated possession and chances (11 shots to 3, 10 corners to 0), it's not like we were outplayed, but as always we struggled to convert, Popa does have to fix our scoring tho.

                AC-WSW
shots            3-11
shots on target  3- 2
offsides         3- 0(?)
corners          0-10
fouls           11-13
yellows          2- 3
saves            2- 2

What I took from the game.

We came to Adelaide to win and we didnt. We had enough quality in the side to get the job done. I refuse to use the excuse "we are still in pre-season" or "we treated it as a warm up" or "we are under strength for Guangzhou" etc etc.

The fact is that Adelaide city took their chances and we didnt. Its been a problem of ours since we started, we just dont score many goals per game and we have never killed off any sides. In matches where we are expected to win you would like to think we could be set up a little more aggressively. I know its not Popa's style but do we need to be set up 4-3-2-1 against Adelaide.

Fatshlob has been banging on for ages that there are good players in the NPL. There just aren't enough A-league spots to accomodate everyone. You would see quite a number of ex A-league players playing in the NPL and lots of these players are on the fringes of making A-league sides or would have been involved in trials etc. There will always be little gems who have been missed by A-league clubs, because lets face it, scouting players is not something that A-league clubs are very good at. The standard while lower than A-league, there is not the massive gulf in standard that people expected.

Disappointed we lost the game, its a game we should be winning. Next year I hope we do better.

not totally surprised we lost tbh, yeah we should have won but our pre-season form has been pretty ordinary with three 1-0 wins where we have been really struggling to score and it continued in this game, imo for Popa this game was more like a warm up in order to try to peak for the 2 ACL games, i would be interested to know if there was full training on monday, and the players even flew to adelaide on the day of the game...

 

there are a lot of new players and we have had half the squad with one injury or another so far, and Popa's not going to risk anyone at this stage of the season for an FFA Cup game.

 

anyway judging from the line-up and the radio description the formation was:

covic

mullen-la rocca-topor-golec

perkatis-trifiro-poljak

appiah-juric-sotiro

 

subs: haliti, bridge, fofanah, alessi, bouzanis

 

from the radio and stats they read out at the end of the game, we pretty much dominated possession and chances (11 shots to 3, 10 corners to 0), it's not like we were outplayed, but as always we struggled to convert, Popa does have to fix our scoring tho.

 

AC-WSW
shots            3-11
shots on target  3- 2
offsides         3- 0(?)
corners          0-10
fouls           11-13
yellows          2- 3
saves            2- 2

I don't understand why our squad travelled on the same day around midday to the match? could of possibly arrived a few days prior to prepare for the match at least?

Kubi ran with pace but technically was just pumping hit and hopeful crosses into the box which were dealt with, and on a few occasions couldn't control the ball, great speed but his skills need to stay in touch with his speed.

 Biggest complaint was the line up of at least 1000 people outside waiting to purchase tickets as there was one person only selling the tickets at first after being told by the Adelaide club just turn up at the gate there will be hardly any waiting time. A lot of us missed out the first 10/15 minutes due to this stuff up by Adelaide City thinking not a lot would show up.

Also second pet hate is away fans that travel to an away match yet decide not to sit with the rest of the away fans?

Hopefully we step up our attacking options for next week, no one at the moment is willing to run at players and that is exactly what led to adelaide's goal, he saw a gap put on the after burners and burst through our tired defence, leading him to a one on one with Covic.

Is that a subliminal shot at Popa?

nah, he is doing his job as a senior player by telling everyone they messed up. Glad somebody in the team has the balls to do this.

The squad trained on monday afternoon and left early tuesday morning. It was the quickest interstate trip they have done

 

Is that a subliminal shot at Popa?

nah, he is doing his job as a senior player by telling everyone they messed up. Glad somebody in the team has the balls to do this.

 

But to say "we are one dimensional", whether its on purpose or not, is to take a stab at the coach.

Im guessing its a frustration that is carrying over from last season (with Popa changing the way we played) and he (along with myself) was hoping our play would be more fluent by now.

Also to add Ante's frustration, he had just played his first and last FFA cup match.

The squad trained on monday afternoon and left early tuesday morning. It was the quickest interstate trip they have done

early? midday flight.

early was my flight at 6.30am and i only went as a fan. 

Anyway there could be a million excuses but lets hope next season we have a better run. Overall our defence seems more sturdy but this Prem League teams so far the real test is when we jump up 2 levels of competition and face the Powerhouse team of Evergrande.

Monday afternoons training session didn't seem very specific to the game. It was a fairly general run of the mill midweek type session. The only thing they did that was somewhat related to the game was a video session but that was just looking at mistakes and positioning from last week. To be honest I don't think they really knew how to prepare for Adelaide and it hurt them.

I think something that has carried over from last season is that we fall victim to **** team syndrome too easily. We thrive on big occasions and high intensity games so when it's a sub par game I find as a squad the urgency drops somewhat and we struggle to find that spark and extra kick

Wait, I must have missed this information earlier, but how is it that you know so much about every training session again?

Wait, I must have missed this information earlier, but how is it that you know so much about every training session again?

great insights...go hughsey! i bet there's a lot more he wishes he could say but can't ha ha

 

 

I started working with the first team today as part of uni. It was the most interesting morning of my life. All I can say is I now know very well why we have been so successful

Care to elaborate?

 

It may not be a brilliant training facility but it all starts from the bottom up. The kit man Slav is very thorough, everything is washed, organised and folded I had a kit waiting there for me when I arrived and the players come in and collect everything they need quickly and efficiently. The shipping containers full of the equipment are clean and organised, just the way it's all set up and layed out shows how efficiently the place is run. The gym and video room have motivational quotes up everywhere about hard work and the strength and conditioning coach Adam gets them all primed and ready for the session. No one is late and everything is done as a team. Trevor and Crooky know exactly what needs to be done and then when popa arrives it's like the second coming. He has this real presence about him, everyone fears him but in a respectful way and if he says jump you ask how high. He runs a very tight ship, he's not afraid to scream at anyone but he's also the first to tell the players if they're doing well. I hear all the time about how good an environment it is but until you witness it first hand you don't realise just how disciplined this club is, everything runs like clockwork. It's very noticeable and it's no wonder we are so successful

 

Prac hours for uni

Watching that goal doesn't get any easier.

Made him look like Messi.