Hyundai A-League :: Round 22

[Timmah]

Hyundai A-League Week 22
7 - 12 Jan 2011 All times AEDT

FRI 7TH
Brisbane Roar v Perth Glory @ Suncorp Stadium, 8:30pm

SAT 8TH
Sydney FC v Gold Coast United @ Sydney Football Stadium, 7:00pm
North Queensland Fury v Newcastle Jets @ Dairy Farmers Stadium, 9:15pm

SUN 9TH
Melbourne Victory v Adelaide United @ AAMI Park, 3:00pm
Central Coast Mariners v Wellington Phoenix @ Bluetongue Stadium, 5:00pm

TUE 11TH*
Newcastle Jets v North Queensland Fury @ EnergyAustralia Stadium, 7:30pm
*rescheduled from Week 11 (pitch surface issues)

WED 12TH
Central Coast Mariners v Brisbane Roar @ Bluetongue Stadium, 7:30pm

 

[weasel]

I hear it's raining again today in Brisbane. FFS, hope it's not as bad as the Gold Coast game. The weather might be the one thing that can stop us from finishing first at this point.

 

[DragonPunk]

Woo, finally beat GC! I love Jurman and Makela.

 

[roboshark]

Yeah well jurman near had a brokem leg thanks to the Cove

Good win by my jets as well....although the game was as dull as all hell

Fury were keen to break our legs it seemed tonight as well

 

[DragonPunk]

Jurman's fine glad he is, done well thus far in his two games.

 

[AuckMel]

Adelaide smash Melbourne 4-1 and the Mariners beat a tiring Wellington 1-0.

 

[Timmah]

Both teams looked buggered late in the game, but especially Wellington. Herbert using all three subs within an hour was bizarre. Maybe the players just aren't used to the heat?

 

[AuckMel]

Wellington is notoriously cold and windy. Fatigue would have been a factor too after a wed night game.

 

[roboshark]

Both nj and ccm have midweek games this week and then play on sunday

I repeat again....the scheduling sux

 

[DragonPunk]

and Holger wants more games in the season..

 

[fish eel]

the scheduling isnt that bad.

Playing more games is a good thing.

Dunno how european clubs balance domestic league and cup competitions, and competiting in european competitions.

 

[DragonPunk]

double..

 

[weasel]

Playing more games is a good thing.

Definitely. How are A-League players ever gonna develop to the same level as players abroad playing 21 games a year, when everyone else is playing 40 or 50?

 

[roboshark]

I'm not saying that playing more games is bad. I'm saying some of the scheduling of these games is wrong. Eg jets no ganes in 3 weeks then 3 games in a week

Crazy

 

[Jobdog]

Don't forget teams overseas also have bigger squads ...

 

[Timmah]

Well, that was farked. We may not have deserved the Susak penalty but they did get away with two penalty area handballs in the first half that were both quite blatant.

We were the better team by a small margin IMO but a draw vs Brisbane is a pretty decent result.

 

[weasel]

Both would have been harsh penalties. The first the ball was headed straight into Matt Smith's arm. Contact needs to be deliberate, and he had no chance of avoiding that contact, and made no attempt to place his arm in the way. Barbarouses did touch the ball but it was incidental, he wasn't aware of the ball, it simply bounced up into his path, pretty hard to call that deliberate either.

Susak got the ball first, but it was a very risky gamble to make that kind of challenge in the box. He probably deserved to get away with it, but the ref saw otherwise. Unfortunate, because his first yellow was pretty soft too.

Central Coast continue to be generous to us. That's 10 goals against them this season. A win would have been better but a draw is enough to ensure we should finish on top from here. With the postponement of the Wellington game we'll play two games in the space of a few days at home after a well-needed break where hopefully the bad weather and flooding subsides and the players can refocus. Win these games and we're on 59 points and all but champions (CC can still reach 61 points if they win all their remaining games, but I can see them dropping points against the Jets this weekend- and surely there'll be more to come).

I wonder how much the torrential rain that's lead to the flooding has affected our training in recent weeks. Only 6 points from our last four matches. Very lacklustre against Perth, and of course the downpour during the Gold Coast match did them some favours. Of course McKay's absence is also being felt.