Yep, never looked like scoring. Our negative attitude typified by the way we totally ignored a run from Warland in added time - he came up to make the extra man and we just turned it back to the centre backs again… so much for our counter-attacking game
LOL. If we attempted to press with 4-4-2 against this team who were capable of moving the ball quickly and clearly had the numbers on us in midfield, as well as doing their best to overload the flanks where Grant in particular was getting over-run badly with little assistance, it would’ve been a disaster. With your tactics, we would’ve conceded in double figures. Have a think about it.
They really did their homework on us. Basically double marked Ninkovic and attack heavily down Grants side to push him back.
I don’t see it as a horrific performance. Defensively it was very good and had we got the point I would have been content with holding the Jleague champions at home. We’ve never had to grind and grit in the A-League so there was good things got take. Attacking was just very disappointing and we obviously need more going forward in the future
Turgid. Awful stuff.
Man of the match voting:
If we wanted anything from the game we needed to take one of the chances on offer when they were turning over all kinds of ball in the first half. Their subs in the second half changed the game in their direction and we were well out of it after that. I also thought only using two subs for us was weird, and weird that one was Retre and not Caceres for Ivanovic. Retre was having a great game while Caceres was where all forward momentum was going to die.
I’m guessing Retre couldn’t do 90 minutes just coming back from his absence.
And Corica’s tactics worked parking the bus? Losing 1-0 is still not a good result for us.
I thought Grant had a great match in very difficult conditions (no cover ahead of him). KF are a very good team and could bring a national team player off the bench. Our small squad is at a low capacity level when you think of all the injuries plus Brillante away. Sad to lose but can’t fault the team’s effort or organisation.
A loss and a draw doesn’t rule us out but we need to score goals. Not sure how 2 shots is simply not enough. Kawasaki demonstrated how to manufacture goals fast one-twos around the 18 yard box not our slow circulation that allow teams to readjust and for us to fizzle out. If we play deep then have something to counter that, it is too slow in transition.
Yeah absolutely. It’s very similar to how we played during Arnold’s second season in my eyes.
Also looking at positives, I don’t think Wilkinson is getting enough love in here. He made some absolutely crucial interventions and was a big reason things didn’t even have to get to Redmayne for pretty much the whole first half. He was also much more visibly organising the defence this game which is something he’s been pinged for not doing as well this season.
I thought we did very well, of course it would have been nice to score but otherwise a fantastic performance.
Every A-league team that has tasted some success in the ACL (wsw, Adelaide, us in '16) has relied on deep defense and counter attacking. That Kawasaki side, as with most Japanese teams far out ranked us in technical skill and speed, trying to play open attacking football would have been a disaster.
Our problem holding the ball in the second half seemed to have much to do with the O’Neill being overworked defensively (he had a stellar game, I thought). Perhaps this was because it is not yet clear that Retre can manage Brillante’s defensive load. Also, at RM, Caceres offered little defensive cover (apart from fouling) and little outlet in transition to attack. So, O’Neill, in Brillante’s absence, seemed to sit deeper covering for attacks coming down our right. With Grant also pinned back defensively and Caceres effectively unavailable for transition, Zullo was really our only option for direct transition. Given that KF kicked the legs from under Ninko all match, that avenue was also less effective than normal. This left our attackers abandoned, even if Alf and Brosque did a power of chasing and tackling.
We really need to fix that RM hole. Ivanevic looks lively when attacking but offers no defensive strength or grit, at this stage. Maybe if he fills out in the next year or two. However, the KF goalscorer, when shooting, took advantage of Ivanevic’s very poor positioning. I am not confident Caceres or even De Jong (current version) would have done better there, but an Adrian, Holosko or Kisel would have.
What about Grant to RM and Tratt to take RB? That would fix both attack and defence on the right side. Or Reza to RM?
I had to read that a few times before I understood your ideas, pietro. Grant probably played a game or two at right mid when he was younger. The right mid in our formation plays a bit like an AM though, which might be too much for Grant to handle. I don’t think he’s quite good enough on the ball for that. He’s played #10 before, which I’m sure was a game in the ROT era and it was … not good!
Like I said last night, I’m not sure how much better we can get than playing Caceres at RM with our injury woes. Apparently Reza CAN play a wide right role (source: transfermarkt, so take of that what you will) but I can’t say I’ve ever seen it happen or how good he is at it.
Grant playing 10 scored a beauty though.
Redmayne is in the ACL MD2 team of the round:
Well deserved, too. He made some good saves and kept the score respectable for us. Only losing 1-0 keeps us in the hunt if we can win one of our next two games.