12,000 sat through the pouring rain to see, in their eyes, referee Peter O'Leary wave 'play on' to two penalties. Before Melbourne scored the winner.
These people knew that all Cristiano, leading goalscorer in the A-League's Asian topping team, did to win a penalty last week was dive. Perhaps the two must authentic players in the A-League go down in the box - Murdocca and Zullo and its 'play on'.
The FFA has a credibility problem. The answer is get into the box as often as you can and go down.
Cheats have a green light.
1 comment:
hi john,
here`s my two cents.
somehow, this wasn`t the typical suncorp match. the last game i saw there against the jets wasn`t one either. all that possession and bombing forward that the roar does did not ruin their defensive shape. whilst melbourne at times looked dangerous countering, craig had the backline organised and it felt solid.
the melbourne goal came from two uncontested headers. the roar`s tall timber was nowhere near danny alsopp and noone was near archie. the goal in the jets game? a goal mouth scramble after a corner. adelaide`s recent winner? a badly marked corner (yes cristiano was offside, but the defending that followed was rubbish) that`s three points dropped.
mass is impressing me playing wider on the right. he wants a goal. and he is trying to make it happen. a couple of his turns were great to watch.
a handful of van dyk`s touches were fantastic. he`d be this year`s johnny warren medalist if he could take last night`s first 5 minutes, and play like that across the full 90. hell, if he could do that for 40 I`d be happy.
danny tiatto is a liability. going in for a two foot lunge, then jumping up wild eyed and screaming at the ref? getting hauled away by your team mates? kevin muscat is also a thug, but at least he isn`t a mad one. roar was lucky not to be down to 10 men (not the tackle, but for the dissent). dodd doesn`t have tiatto`s footballing brain, nor his range of passing, nor his movement off the ball, but he isn`t mad. and he isn`t injured. he should start.
charlie miller is tired. he is injured. and he doesn`t trust his teammates. all those long range potshots he`s taking when other options are available. but then, should he trust these teammates? robbie slater was saying that he thought he should be on the field for about 60 minutes. frank is mad playing him for 90. he is gonna run down the most skilled player he has. its mad. he could probably use a week off at some point too.
mike zullo is ready, willing and able to play 90. he is maturing, and would give a definite lift in pace, width on the left, and he has actually scored a goal this season. he should start. out of all the bench players, he is the most ready to step up.
with enough seasoning this year, could smits turn around and do a matt simon the next? he stays around the goal mouth. great tendency for a centre forward. and he won a couple of 50 - 50s with kevin muscat. needs a bit more sharpness. and a lot more confidence. and the roar would have its centreforward.
i didn`t feel disappointed with the loss. my gut wasn`t enraged. the roar`s attack all felt a bit toothless and aimless in the end. i couldn`t argue to a melbourne fan (if there was one over here in shingu) that my team should have won.
umm, the penalty shouts? i thought mass`s fall could have been one (but the challenge seemed fair enough for me), and zullo fell over by himself.
god, i ALMOST forgot the blackest mark on the roar`s performance. packer`s attempt to get celeski carded. going down in a heap clutching his face after celeski`s trailing arm went near him but DID NOT touch him? i`d love to see guys banned for this. if a handball can get some extra time out, this kind of simulation can cop it too. got me wondering, was cornthwaite lying when he went to the ref and said that ney fabiano spat at him? the video was inconclusive for me. they can ban danny too for his two foot lunge, or for dissent, or anything really. saves him coming off with a red card and leaving the team a man down. he is a red card waiting to happen. which is a pity, cos there is a good footballer in there too.
dunno how many weetbix lawrie mckinna is feeding them down at CC, but frank should send a spy down there to find out how they are getting so much self belief. i`ve got a bad feeling that it comes from the top down. frank is feeling the pressure, and it shows on his team.
bring on ballymore. 10 - 15 k at bally will feel much more like a home. suncorp with 12 k feels empty. good noise from the crowd though. i figure go to bally, and then go back to suncorp when you are turning people away week after week. when i see j-league crowds, this is what i want for the a-league and the roar. not the numbers, but the passion of the fans. especially the lower half of the table teams. crazy bastards get smacked 3 - 0 by an urawa or some other big club, and they are singing and stomping the whole way through, then they give their players a clap off. we DO NOT want the kind of fan who jumped on the basketball bandwagon, but then jumped off after a couple of good seasons. build the love a-league, build the love ...
clayton
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