Wilko and Calver imo were poor last night, lack of communication. Several times Redders called for the ball but Wilko or Calver still decided to get in.
Redders had a great game again, I thought. Brilliant save in the first half from that header, had good distribution imo, and great pen save.
ALF is just quality, up there with Bobo already in our greatest ever.
Thought Calver did well apart from the penalty. However, there continues to be communication probs across the defence. Also we really missed Grant. Retre is much better higher up the park. Would like to see Tratt start at RB. Some great play from us but really we need to get stronger and more forceful after taking a lead. We seem to either get really complacent and slow down on the ball and release our pressure (1st half) or we slink into a shell and then invite them to attack us (last 15 minutes).
A few on here saying it wasn’t a handball and VAR got it right. I had a very good view of Brisbane’s goal from the back of the cove and to me the ball clearly touched his arm. It looked like the ball came off the inner part of his upper arm, basically hit his bicep and went in.
Also as someone said above me, Kogarah is a lot better at night. I found the game against MV at Kogarah pretty awful, mainly because there is no protection from the sun in the ground and I found it pretty draining. Seems like the atmosphere was a lot better last night as well because people weren’t as drained from standing out in the boiling hot sun all afternoon.
I agree…the rule is all about intent and although McKay had only a really short amount of time to react, he did move his body/arm towards the ball at the last second and it hit him in the bicep.
I think it would have been the correct call if the ref gave it as handball, but at the same time wasn’t a clear and obvious error so objectively probably the right call for VAR to not overturn it.
I thought it was one of those ones that 90% of the time goes against the attacking team. i.e. if McKay was defending in his own box it would be a super harsh penno to give against him, but that exact same scenario of short distance / unexpected ball is usually awarded as a FK against a striker in the opposition box.
There’s definitely inconsistent interpretation, but that’s human nature and how refs will apply the rule 90% of the time so as not to attract controversy. Anyways, whatevs, we got the 3 points.
Having seen the replay I’ve no probs with the penalty call. In ground it looked like Taggart went down like a sack of shit anticipating / milking contact, but Calver definitely caught him. It is surprising the VAR intervened and asked the ref to review, not often you see a ref stand by his initial decision on referral but fair play to him, he got it right.
Just watched the replay of the match. I actually thought it was a pretty lethargic and uninspiring performance against one of the weaker sides in the comp. But luckily we got the 3 points.
I thought the ref and VAR ultimately got both key decisions correct. The Roar goal looked like handball from the side view, but behind the goal view looked like it hit his chest. It was only when the zoomed in angle was presented that it showed the chest. Calver actually kicked the underside of Taggarts boot. But again, it took a zoomed in angle to show the contact. I thought he just fell during live coverage.
ALF took his goals superbly. He is deceptively good in the air. Its unfortunate that Zullos crossing has been poor this season, because I think he would have provided more headed assists for ALF. It now makes sense as to why Zullo has been lumping endless balls into the box this season despite Bobo no longer being there.
Redmayne made two big saves after a couple of dodgy performances. Although the penalty attempt was very poor.
I thought Calver looked a little off tonight. Not just the penalty, but his general play had me worried at times. Happy to take it as one bad performance, as opposed to worrying about his general ability.
Surprised we are joint top, but will obviously take it!
Definitely was not handball. Was watching on tv on the night and they looked at it super closely. Zoomed right in, It was not handball. Came off his chest 100%
I’ve put the match report up on the front of the site here if you are like me and have nothing better to do on NYE than relive the weekend’s game:
https://www.sfcu.com.au/2018/12/31/sydney-fc-2-1-brisbane-roar-match-report-and-statistics/
The angle on the TV was pretty poor and inconclusive though. Can’t really say it came off his chest “100%” considering you can’t even really see him front on.