A-League Round 1

[Misanthrope]

Any word on the crowd from New Zealand? It didn't look terribly big, but they were quite vocal in the worst game of the round. Jets looked pretty lacklustre aside from Carle and the occasional piece of Griffiths' magic. They need to work out their combinations ASAP. Coveny wasn't ever in the right place.

 

[griffo346]

the new zeland crowd was 7304 pretty poor crowd
maybe nz wont support football so i agree with someone else give it to a state who will like canberra or tassie

 

[bender]

the new zeland crowd was 7304 pretty poor crowd
maybe nz wont support football so i agree with someone else give it to a state who will like canberra or tassie

How is 7304 a poor crowd?

It is far better (maybe double or even triple) what the stand alone Canberra soccer club ever averaged in the NRL. It would be about as high, probably higher than Tassie have ever got for any club soccer match. It is well above last seasons average, It would be about the same (or at least within 2 or 3 thousand) of several other A league averages from last year. Probably including Grand finalists Central Coast and semifinalist Newcastle. It is not all that much less (maybe one or two thousand) than the Auckland Warriors RL club get when their side is poorly out of form (like NZ) and they are playing one of the not so glamour teams.

If NZ keep the 7304 crowd average this year, they will be a resounding success. They need onfield success for this to happen, but for ovewr 7000 people to give them this second chance shows that a succesfful team over there will take off. They are far better for the A league than any other team (not currently in the A league). I hope they continue to expand on this good start, even though i personally dont think it will happen with the playing personnel they have.

 

[Dr Crane]

The Knights 7000 crowd is fantastic.

Remember last year was a disgrace, and the Knights had competition yesterday as a sports event, and at $25 a seat! If they can pick up a few wins they might average 7-8k for the year.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

What a f**king sh1t game SYD vs CCM was.

For starters, Fyfe is still in the side. Now don't give me any rubbish about a goal - so f**king what. He is a sh1t defender, is clumsy on the ball and can't cross to save his life. Absolute sh1t.

Secondly, Yorke is not a defensive midfielder, certainly not one that plays one metre in front of our central defence. What is the use of this? His supposed distrubution here was only backwards to Bolton, or the defenders. And how many f**king times did he give away the ball.

Either move him to Corica's position or f**k him off. He isn't a DM and never will be.

Much improvement needed. Next week:

----------------Bolton-----------------
Milligan---Rudan---Hyphen---Ceccoli
-----------Talay---McFlynn------------
---Carney-----Yorke-----Brosque----
---------------Petrovski----------------

 

[THE*STORM*IDENTITY]

Victory match was brilliant and the Oly Park atmosphere was awesome. Even though flares are frowned upon, it did add to the jovial atmosphere.

MELBOURNE - Onwards to Victory!

 

[Raider Ultra]

Topor Stanley?

 

[Iafeta]

The Knights look to have picked up a lot of pace this year. Buari, the other young African bloke, and Jonti Richter looked to be good with the afterburners on.

Pity about hitting the woodwork... again. They could have used Jeromy Brockie up front instead of Devine, hopefully Dani Rodriguez is fit soon.

 

[NK Arsenal]

The Jets played like sh*t and the Knights deserved to win.
The crowd was good considering last years 3909 average.

 

[Dr Crane]

The Knights were far better than last year. They still got carved up a few times, but got away with it.

 

[Iafeta]

They looked better organised than the Jets for sure.

Just a pity about the attacking end of it, I still think they miss a real attacking spark. The midfield of Gemmil, the two African blokes and Jonti Richter will create some spark with Gemmil organising well and the other blokes using their pace, but they need to get Rodriguez back in place of Devine. Devine is abjectly ordinary.

 

[Dr Crane]

Agreed. He has heart, but he should have buried that chance in the second half, or at least attempted to have a shot.

 

[bender]

Is Simon Yeo playing still, I though he looked reasonable last year with limited chances. Not great or flashy but a solid shot, even though i know most people disagree. Jonty Richter has decent pace and isnt a half bad pace. I havent seen NZ this year, but if they cut out the silly errors and use the long ball to the wings and concentrate on youth, they should be able to perform respectably this year. I hope they do.

 

[Jobdog]

The Jets didn't look too flashy, agreed, however, don't forget that they're still working on combinations, and will probably take until about round 6 or 7 before they start hitting their straps. The roster still isn't full yet, we still require another keeper and Rodriguez is still in Colombia fixing up his Visa. Hopefully he'll be right to play in the next week or so.

 

[Iafeta]

Jobdog, every club is sorting out combinations. If you want to play that card you could argue the Knights are at the biggest disadvantage - how many remain from last year? How many different cultures within the club? Very cosmopolitan.

bender, Simon Yeo went back to England for personal reasons in the middle of last year. He was a good player when in front of goal. He was a far better player than Shaun Devine.

 

[Raider Ultra]

Shaun Devine = complete garbage.

 

[Jobdog]

Jobdog, every club is sorting out combinations. If you want to play that card you could argue the Knights are at the biggest disadvantage - how many remain from last year? How many different cultures within the club? Very cosmopolitan.

bender, Simon Yeo went back to England for personal reasons in the middle of last year. He was a good player when in front of goal. He was a far better player than Shaun Devine.

Agreed, however, the Jets had arguably the most disruptive pre-season out of all the clubs. We still haven't finalised our playing roster just yet. To my knowledge, all the other seven clubs have. Having a roster "almost" full I would imagine would be a bigger disadvantage than a club who knows who's playing, just not in what positions.

 

[douglasallen91]

Knights Have No Complaint

30/08/2006
NewstalkZB
The New Zealand Knights will not be laying any complaint over the Newcastle Jets fielding an in-eligible player in the weekend's A-League game.

All White Steven Old appeared for Newcastle while still registered for NZFC club YoungHeart Manawatu.

While Newcastle maintains it had clearance from a USA college team he had been playing for, New Zealand Soccer say they had only loaned him, so the clearance needed to come from here.

Knights CEO Bob Patterson said as far as they were concerned, Newcastle did the right thing, and they have no axe to grind.

Patterson said the Knights were not getting involved.

On Monday A-League officials announced a $44,000 fine and a suspended penalty competition point for Sydney FC.