I did indeed, I’m amazed that the internet is not filled with gifs of this.
I did indeed, I’m amazed that the internet is not filled with gifs of this.
I need to watch a full replay this week, but our 3rd was probably the pick of the bunch and some of the best linkup yet between ALF and Kosta.
ALF makes an early forward run that’s ignored by Brattan, but the fact he’s now offside totally disrupts their line and is what allows Kosta to run in behind from deeper. The ball from Grant is inch perfect and ALF absolutely destroys Courtney-Perkins in pure effort and desire (this has been evident the last few weeks and again on our 2nd goal where Neville showed no interest in getting closer to Milos… it’s been pointed out by other posters here but Brisbane’s wide players have been consistently ordinary in a system designed to utilise them. Really glad King got a hit out against that rabble).
Then the vision and/or communication is top notch, not enough love for that reverse ball from Kosta, and the finish from ALF is just ridiculous. For all his faults Jamie Young is still a good shot stopper, it’s not often he’s left rooted to the spot and doesn’t even flinch.
Fair play guys. We got absolutely spanked… I feel Robbie has underestimated the standard of play the top sides are capable of in the A-League and therefore his recruitment and tactics are not up to scratch… Not sure if we’ll get near the top 6 this season…
Has the league moved on that much since he played here? Surely he’d have had some idea of the standard of player that was making a living out here
Was thinking the same. Fowler seems to have gone for lower-level Brit leagues journeymen (including Inman) of a good age rather than much better/classier but maybe older players - the main pattern in the HAL visa players. Alf is somewhere in between - much, much better but not much older than the BR guys. Maybe Fowler’s experience playing in the heat in Townsville and Perth convinced him that what he needed in steamy Brisbane were guys who could run all day and tackle rather than good and smart ball players. At that point he should have tried to get some more good Australian players - and I would say Queenslanders. The new Steffanuto, de Vere etc. Players with passion and energy for the shirt.
Maybe BR has also not provided enough money to get decent marquee talent. I thought we were a 5 goal better team than BR in the FA cup match we lost but were rusty in front of goals and Jamie Young had one of those games. This confirmed it. Can’t see us missing so many chances again now that Kosta knows it is OK to cut the pass back inside rather than try to drill goals from a 25 degree angle.
@Finsta not a dig at you at all mate (you seem like a sensible guy) but…
Fuck I’m glad theyre struggling. Told you so, etc. How many of these guys are on multi year deals? Could be a bitch to unpick that squad and start again - competing with Mac and WU as well.
You should also question his fashion sense.
Embarrassing both on and off the field.
Absolutely. From a purely financial perspective we’ve gone from $2.25m cap to $3.2m, 1 marquee to 2, added 4 U23s outside the cap and loyalty player allowances.
Then clubs have also gotten a bit better at managing the cap (in particular, top-heavy squads have proven to be the dominant strategy rather than spending cap on depth in each position) and much, much better at recruiting foreign players.
And to cap it all off, the level of football as Fowler experienced it would have been less than representative of A-League standard even then, having played for two particularly poor A-League sides. Cumulatively between NQF and Perth he picked up 55 points in 57 games with a -44 GD.
I think we’re the poster boys in this regard. The one year we missed finals under Arnie was the one year we went for a bigger squad (“two players for each position”), though we did get out of our ACL group. Since then we’ve stacked the first XI and the trade off has been we lose some youth who can’t get enough minutes.
Semi related I saw some classic match highlights up on Kayo over the weekend, featuring ADP’s first home game (3-2 loss to Newy) and randomly a bog average 2-2 draw away to Adelaide where Scorey got a goal and I have no idea why it’s deemed a classic. But man we had some absolutely HONKING players in those days… back 4 of Pedj, Jurman, Petkovic and Warren.
The stuff of nightmares.
Pedj, the only professional soccer player dumb enough to play with a body fat level below 10%.
Mine usually include Fabinho, McLenahan and Tiago as well.
Watched all of the Sydney-related “Classic” games. I was hoping that at least one of them would be the walk-out slash Carle-Thompson-swap game which was actually a significant moment in our history, but instead every Sydney/Adelaide “classic” was completely unmemorable and inconsequential. Pretty sure they just picked matches at random.
How awesome would it be to be assigned “classic match curator”. I can’t think of some amazing Sydney FC games that I’d show, but also some other A League matches.
A back 4 worse than that was good enough to beat Melbourne.
For sure, Golec, Busch and Prentice may never be included in any discussion of our worst ever XI. Middleby wouldn’t be near it anyways.
Seems like a lot of players from the lower English leagues come to the A-league and find it difficult/aren’t as good as expected. Apart from Keogh and Le Fondre I can’t think of many players that have come from the lower leagues of the UK and done particularly well here although I might just be forgetting others.
I’ve watched a decent amount of championship games and even though the game is played more quickly in that league, a lot of the players aren’t as technically gifted as some of the better players in the a-league imo. I personally think if our current SFC squad and our squads from the past few years could probably hold their own at championship level.
TMac for one
Throw Roy O’Donovan in that mix as well.
It seems that the strikers from the lower leagues appreciate and benefit from the slower pace and more technical build up play and service. Keogh, Alfie & O’Donovan are also the type of forward that press from the front and work hard for the team, a trait that has made Besart Berisha very successful here.
It would’ve been interesting to see how Frazier Campbell would have gone here if he had signed for WSW.
Along with signing Serbs named Milos, it appears to be a very successful recruiting strategy.
Paul Ifill, anyone? Smeltz also a mention, though his glory days were a while back now.