Newcastle match opinions.

[lawrielawrie]

I thought i'd start a new thread for the opinions for those at the game below are mine.

The positives - obviously the result, good entertainment with extra time, sending offs, lots of tough tackles, penalties, missed penalties and an appearance from Vidmariner himself.

Gumps is showing signs that he can recapture last season’s form. Once he came off the right side and took up a central position he looked excellent. I was disappointed he went for goal in the dieing minutes of the game instead of playing the ball to the new boy Simon. He would have just had to tap it in but a minor blemish on another wise fine display.

As for Simon, he was like a breath of fresh air. Great effort, he can be proud of his performance even if it turns out to be his only one.

Danny V had another pleasing performance and he curtailed his over enthusiastic jaunts off his line to only times when it was necessary.

But the biggest positive for me is that there is a lot of room for improvement. Like last season we looked suspect through the middle. Not having the benefit of Beauchamp’s last ditched tackles maybe costly. With Vidmar slotting into the left back position I feel we might be exposed in this area. As much as I’m not conceived (yet) Vidmar is our saviour I feel playing him in the centre might be the best choice for our Marque player.

Beckham is the best set piece taker in world football. Henry the best at running with the ball and finishing that run with a goal. Ronaldiho the most skillful footballer on the planet. But the Mariners can boost a world’s best as well. Spencer, the world’s greatest at passing the ball backwards. I counted only 2 forward passes of note all night. One which was fantastic and lead to a goal scoring opportunity. He needs to get on the front foot more and control the game. With a fit McMaster and Gumps could or should his place be in danger?

They say to truly appreciate Jazz you must listen to the notes they don’t play not just the ones they do. Maybe for Spencer it’s the same should I be looking at the passes or the tackles he doesn’t make. I accept it could also be my ability to access a football player is inadequate but for me Spencer needs to show us more.

Our set pieces were not to their usual standard and need to be improved to last years high standard.

Semi finals are usually hard fought games with silky football taking second place to grinding out results. But I felt we won because Newcastle were so poor not, on this occasion, that we play well.

Things will need to dramatically improve when Adelaide come a calling. At this point I am left hoping that when the injured stars return things will get better all by themselves.

[greenpoleffc]

I thought that was one of the worst performances I have seen from them.

Positives.

A heart breaking loss for the scum in a game they should have won.

Vidmar, Matt Simon,Wilko

The final whistle

Negatives.

Disjointed and lethargic to say the least. O'Grady is not the answer at CB

[marinermum]

It was a kick around the park and that's how it was played.

Just think! If we can win and play like shit, what can we do when we are playing awesome football !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree greenpoleffc, but it's also great to be back at football followng yellow!

[fisherman]

I thought it was pretty intense for a pre-season hit-out.

We have lots of room for improvement.

Referee was terrible for both sides, if the first penalty was a red, wasn't the second.

[LeedsMariner#4]

I think the real positive was , as marinermum said, we played poorly (compared to our normal high standards) and still won the game
Going to have to play better to beat the reds

[Andy]

davejackson10 said:

I think the real positive was , as marinermum said, we played poorly (compared to our normal high standards) and still won the game
Going to have to play better to beat the reds

Yeah we need to improve if we're gonna beat the reds. A plus is they'll be without Qu and Rech.

[Jesus]

I enjoyed the match. Though the football wasnt of the highest standard, i thought the entertainment value was still pretty good. I thought we marinators also lifted are game a number of notches from the last match. And look forward to us reaching our a-league form in bay 16

[Candy]

Wasnt the best preformance, you can tell its the start of the season, but great result!! carnt waiit till next week. We will defiantly need to lift our game for adeliade. It was the best game (entertainment wise) i think i hav eva seen, and great to see Vidmar make his debut.

[Farthing]

I think it was a very scrappy match, newcastle played good for the first half then went down hill after that.

I think Matty Simon played very good after he came on, he started off slow cause he was probally heaps nervous but when he got into it he played pretty good.

I think Vuko will be very dangerous on some of the set peices this year, i think he will score a few of those driven free kicks like he scored for the sprit. Plus he put in a good free kick for the match winner where stringers got onto, i finally saw what happened when i watched the world game this evening.

You could tell ViddyCent isnt match fit but he will defiently pick that up and start playing some good football, i can see Viddy starting next week after Stringers picked up his 3rd yellow.

I hope we can play better next week, adeliade will be a very tough game and lets hope we can continue that great form from last season. at the moment we have only lost 1 game in 18 matches, lets make it 1 loss in 19 matches next weekend

[crooksey]

daman said:

I think it was a very scrappy match

that pretty much sums it up for me we had a clumsy first half in which the scum played some decent football and were rewarded with a goal and they pretty much threw it away with that first 10 mins in 2nd half and we started to come into our own.

if the first penalty was a red how was the second no card at all?

we played average against 10 men and became impatient and were just trying to force the goal to come but werent been clinical enough with our buildups. nick carle nearly stole the game from us at times and for us to get out of that with a win i was pretty happy

[omni]

good sides win, great sides win when they play badly, that's what happened last night, big positive there.

The refereeing was a huge negative, more of the same for 2006-2007 I'm afraid!

[johnnywarren]

yes it was a scrappy game and we weren't clinical when against ten men. But even with eleven the hole that coveny had to run through and the marking wasn't there. thought nick carle worked his arse off all night for a shit team and okon was a no show. lots of money for two ex-aussies who aren't worth that much at all.
carle should have been in the aussie squad

[marinated_beef]

omni said:

good sides win, great sides win when they play badly, that's what happened last night, big positive there.

Post of the year omni

[yellowcake]

yellowcake said:

Definitely feels a bit lucky after being 0-1, failing to convert a penalty and a few close things at the end. As Lawrie said in his interview, perhaps the worse we've played in the PSC - but then that's the mark of a great team - to play below their best and come away with a win! And SP, IMO it really wasn't your finest hour (well 2) but glad you got on the scoresheet wih the spot kick.

Marinators in very fine voice from our Bay 40 vantage point. Could hear the tiny squadron quite well for their numbers too.

Well done Viddy and Matty Simon with their various reasons for being nervous about the night. Lovely impression of Fabio Grosso by Gumps (but well ignored by Ben Williams!) and great "shot" Clarky (EEK!)

[greenpoleffc]

Having had another tihnk about the game, that was probably the best the scum can play, it was their cup final and they were desperate to win.

That was probably as bad as we can play.

hopefully, a terrible season for the A Leagues worst run club is on the cards.

[rhystar]

newcastle can play a lot better.

carle + griffiths is only one training session + 50 minutes game time old. see it develop throughout the season. our defence was solid, our passing was crisp and we played some beautiful football.

to suggest that only carle made the trip down there is a bit silly. ben kennedy, only 19, will be phenomenal for the jets, north, durante played well in defence, bridge, coveny were awesome and shredding, and griffiths provided the pace and skill we so desperately lacked up front last season. with the colombian due to arrive shortly, things are definitely looking good.

now all that needs to happen is the ffa send a rocket up the jets admin and get them on par with other admins.

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

rhystar said:

newcastle can play a lot better.

carle + griffiths is only one training session + 50 minutes game time old. see it develop throughout the season. our defence was solid, our passing was crisp and we played some beautiful football.

to suggest that only carle made the trip down there is a bit silly. ben kennedy, only 19, will be phenomenal for the jets, north, durante played well in defence, bridge, coveny were awesome and shredding, and griffiths provided the pace and skill we so desperately lacked up front last season. with the colombian due to arrive shortly, things are definitely looking good.

now all that needs to happen is the ffa send a rocket up the jets admin and get them on par with other admins.

i think you're right on carle and griffiths - i think that will develop over the season into a good pairing. carle in particular was impressive, but maybe tried to do too much himself (a bit like a novocastrian from another code who usually wears 7).

bridge and coveny were given too much space (but as perm said to me during the game, newcastle had one play in their forward line - a diagonal hoof for someone to chase) and shouldn't have had as easy a time as they did.

and ben kennedy looks very good. are you over your reddy fetish yet rhystar? kennedy looks like he might have a bit of talent and composure rather than just attitude and ridiculous eyebrows.

on-field, the jets were better than i thought they might be. off the field... i know you folks up there get really shirty with celery telling you about the breakers' collapse and how con and c. were bastards, but you're seeing it for yourselves. i'm starting to worry more than hate in a way, because i don't want to see any club (even our hated northern rivals) go down that track. if you're not careful we might start getting a new zealand knights style sympathy fanbase around the a-league hoping that you pull it together...

[marinermick]

also this colombian they have signed is supposed to be a gun

[rhystar]

dibo.. i am a keeper and so was reddy, and he was a bloody awesome one, but i think his ego will get the better of him in the end. kennedy is already showing glimpses of how good he can be.

yer, i didnt like too much the overhead into the corners, but apart from that, the one touch passes, 1-2s were definitely good.

by all accounts, mr colombian is meant to be an a-grade finisher and crowd pleaser.

[Ursus]

Room for improvement:
I thought Clarky was a bit lost at right back and should move back to the centre.
It will be a few weeks before Vidmar is match fit. Don't expect anything much before then.
I am afraid Stringers is too slow off the mark and in anticipation, I hope he can pick it up (tackles well).
We looked lost in the centre of the park, no service to the front until SP began to drop back and Gumps moved inwards.
Positives:
SP is a great positional striker, I only wish he would hammer a couple of volleys in off his boot.
Good to see Kwassy draw 2 penalties, I would have prefered to see what he could do if not fouled.
Danny and Wilko as good as ever.
Vuko's free kick into the wall would have hurt someone. He will score some goals for us this season.
Tommy, Hutchi and McMaster will return, Viddie will find fitness and one day we will see Nick on the park again.
It will be a good season.