There are a number of elephants but three are obvious.
Elephant 1. The ref was not up to it. Here are two incidents:
- on 59 minutes Matt McKay and Elrich end up in a tangle on the Newcastle penalty box. Elrich gets up and grabs McKay by the throat. Ref doesn't see this. Then they push each other. Ref sees this and rushes over. Meanwhile play on. Ref has his back to play talking to Elrich and McKay. Still play on. Meanwhile, Newcastle are on goal at the Roar's penalty box and no-one is refing the game. Newcastle miss. What if they had scored? Then both players get a yellow card. What is McKay's for?
- on 71 minutes Minniecon runs from the middle circle into the Newcastle box. Just before reaching it Jade North rake's out his back foot. Minniecon was away, Should have been a goal. Ref waves play on. Truth is the ref, again, didn't see the play. Plus didn't want to make the mistake he made against Perth giving a penalty for a tackle outside the box. After the game North admits the foul was deliberate.
Elephant 2: Sergio Van Dijk is not up to the A-League. The poor Perth defence flattered him.
Elephant 3: Charlie Miller is carrying the Roar. He came off with a groin injury late in the game. Even after he sustained his injury he was making all the running.
8 comments:
Can't blame the referees all the time can we. I think your third point is the most valid. Probably also a midfield of Murdocca and McKay is also hurting you. Do a lot of running but not much else.
A fair point Neil
I was gutted last night. Not so much because we lost but because of the mood of the crowd in that loss. People seemed to be leaving before Newcastle scored and I'd say they had had enough.
I feel I was following the mood of the crowd while writting last night. Craig Moore made a good point in saying he was glad he didn't pay to see that game. Well, 12,000 did and this is 3,000 less than breakeven for the Roar.And the trend is down.
I watched a replay of the game when I got home as I wanted to ensure that I hadn't been caught up in crowd calls against the ref. If I had, Fox were too, this came through laud and clear during the game call and in their post match. I am pretty sure that ratings go up for Fox when the Roar are strong (along with Melbourne) so I can see they do a bit of talking their book.
The stakes are too high for clubs to have refs that are not up to the standard. The FFA should have had a good look at Zetta now and he should be dropped.
It is interesting you raise Murdocca and McKay. I was looking for what is different to last year. And it isn't those two.
I think Roar fans are confused as to why Robbie Kruse isn't playing and why some Dutch guy who seems to be pushed off the ball 70-80% of the time is. I understand Van Dijk is pulling one of the top 5 pay checks in the A-League. Yet the crowd was calling for Van Dijk to come off and was shocked when Reinaldo did instead - and Tiatto (Reinaldo has always been paid around the minimum for the A-League).
To put this in context, Van Dijk probably gets more than Miller and Joel Griffiths combined. Who would you prefer?
I have a lot of respect for the way Joel spoke last night. He knows what he did to the Roar. Newcastle has the same problems as the Roar, very small capital base, small membership base, very large stadium overhead, head-to-head competition with a successful rugby league team...
Frank Farina is not the problem. But he now has to get results away to Melbourne and Sydney or the Roar could be 2nd last by the time the Roar play at home next, which is 2 days after the Socceroos - it will be interesting to see how that game is promoted.
dunno about frank farina is "not the problem".
kruse not playing. van dyk staying on while reinaldo goes off. the m and m show (i am agreeing with neil on this one). the lack of a plan b.
dunno if there is a better coach available. scratch that. nah, there isn`t one available. but frank is the man in the hot seat, the man making matchday decisions and he needs to lift his game, as well as the players.
clayton
ps. if i sound cranky, its cos i foolishly made myself sit through that game.
'ps. if i sound cranky, its cos i foolishly made myself sit through that game.'
Unfortunately, too many were saying this.
They pulled a rabbit out of the hat last year. can they this?
The Reinaldo v Van Dijk thing is interesting.
Don't forget Smits is there too (in fact a stack of youngsters).
The Roar's pre-season tournament against top Asian competition was cancelled when a sponsor pulled out - so Van Dijk was trailed against local Brisbane teams where he scored at least twice. Maybe they will regret that process.
Well I cant even write my wrap yet, I'm still so disapointed :(
John is right, the worst bit is that people were leaving from about the 80th minute and 12,000 for a friday night game is pretty disapointing even with the broncos playing saterday (although how people part with their cash to support that bunch of thugs I will enver know).
To be fair Had SVD's header gone in we would be calling him a hero. He just does not look determind enough at the moment - needs to take a does of Heynaldo pills.
Thanks Ed, you're right this is the first time I have ever noticed people leave so early. A few people have told me they don't believe the 12k number, I won a bet with the guy next to me, he thought 7.
By half way through the 2nd half V-D looked like he had given up, completely dejected. To be blunt I'd like to see him try to return the rough stuff. The refs treat him like he is either a diver or a weakling.
I guess we need to give SVD a chance - it took Reinaldo a long time to find his A-League legs, hopefully Sergio will adjust - I still believe he will come good.
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