When beautiful isn't working - try hard nosed

Well. I think I'm not alone when I say that I breathed a sigh of relief when at full time the Jets had managed to hold on to an initial 2-0 lead to win 2-1. It has been a long time coming, and whilst the performance left a lot to be desired, the result was certainly what the players, the club and most importantly the fans needed! Plus it is always nice to get a derby victory!

I'm going to say that it was the worst performance by the team I've watched this year (remembering that I was OS for the Brisbane home defeat). A brilliant opening 20 minutes died off into a 7 or 8 man back line that any Italian side would've been proud of. Our attacking flair died but the defense to it's credit did not once leave BK exposed. The two 'saves' he was forced to make late on were 30 or 40 yard speculators which the defense could do little about. Whilst he did deal with them well, there were still some moments where he hesitated to come of his line (or stay on his line) which does nothing to erase my seed of doubt that he his fit to play at this level.

Up front I think Branko would be mad to change the Bridges/Haliti combination unless some how we managed to sign Drogba on a guest stint. They worked brilliantly together on Friday night and were justly rewarded with a goal each! Despite an abundance of strikers now fit I would definitely be leaving them on the bench for what has to be our solid first choice combo.

Kudos as well to Ange Costanzo (or gorgeous George as we like to know him). He has struggled for game time, even struggled for a spot on the bench but has not complained and played the team line all year. He was rewarded for his patience on Friday night and I would like to think that he will retain his spot regardless of Lljubo's fitness. I think it also highlights the fact that Branko has 3 class centre backs in, George, Lljubo and T-S, and he should not thrust someone like Kanta into the back line 'a la' the week before. These guys have a wealth of knowledge and experience, read the game like it's a short children's book and barring an injury to two of them at any one time 2 out of the 3 should be on the field. If Lljubo does make a return from injury I think there is merit in pushing him into the holding midfield role and keeping the back line as is. We need to tighten up enough to maintain a clean sheet however, from my memory the last one was against the Gold Coast and that isn't good enough to win games or challenge for a finals spot!

Unfortunately for the faithful, wins to Nth Qld and a Wellington thrashing of Gold Coast (comedy gold for those who watched) does not alter the Jets position on the table. They need to back it up this weekend against the Roar who, if their game against Sydney is any indication, will be hard to break down and dangerous on the counter. Also be ware the team with a new coach! Shut down Van Djik, Mitch Nicols and Tommy Oar and you'll isolate Reinaldo (assuming his injury was only a knock). Easier said than done!

The players confidence should be back up, I know mine is as a supporter and I'm looking forward to back to back wins for the first time this season. I would like to see more than 20 minutes of beautiful football that we are capable of being played. But if it means another 3 points in Brisbane, I probably won't even mention it next week!

Yours in Football,

B!

Not Again... Beautiful game, heart breaking result...

Ok so I know it's been a few weeks again but I do have a life after all (including a work relocation to Newcastle through the week now!) To the Football...

Why? For the third week in a row the boys have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Now I know your screaming that they had a draw with Adelaide yesterday but when you play as well as they did in the first half and only walk away with a point, it feels like a loss. At least from where I'm sitting it was. So what's going wrong? I just don't know. They have a solid back line with hard nose centre halves and quickish left and right backs. A dynamite midfield anchored by D'appuzzo (who had his best game in a gold shirt yesterday) who is most probably the weakest link. 3 out of, Fabio, Abbas, Patafta and Song is just amazing. Fabio distributes and the others buzz around him like very skillful little puppies it truly is beautiful to watch. But up front.

Ok so it's not ground breaking to say that it's up front where we are not getting the results from our players. I think we have the personnel to score goals but like all strikers they just need to find some form. My new concern after watching Bridges is that we have signed not a goal scorer but yet another provider. Considering it was his first game in over 6 weeks he was outstanding. But not as a 6 yard box striker which is what we need but dropping back and picking up the ball and creating (like the assist for Song).

Ok so i kind of rambled without much of a point. I guess that's because i don't really no what to say. They are playing brilliant football but just not finishing, and because of that just not getting results. All i can hope is that one, or even better, all, the strikers hit some form and capitalise on what really is the best football in the a-league.

Keep it R, L! Yours in Football.
Peace

Bad form not just me....

Ok so my lack of posting is extremely bad form, the ACL been and gone, and the first 6 weeks of email with no posts. In my defence i didn't start on the a-league because i knew i would miss 5 weeks due to my European adventure. So I'm going to start this one with a few comments on the a-league so far and my short but exciting European football adventure. (in my defense further, if you read this, make a comment, i feel like I'm talking to myself most weeks!)

So to Europe first. Couldn't get tickets to the Serie A so that was extremely disappointing. But did make a trip to a Ligue 1 game in France Nice Vs Montpellier. THE FOOTBALL - was great, well at least from Montpellier it was. The pace was impressive, and i think the largest difference was the technical side of the players involved. And no i don't want to go on a date with Les Murray, Craig Foster, the army of Dutch coaches the FFA has locked up in their basement or the countless other people who preach the A-leagues lack of technical prowess. The issue is they are right and i challenge anyone to watch the game i watched and tell me otherwise. All the players, from the strikers to the goal keeper were just brilliant on the ball. There was rarely a poor first touch, and when players received the ball they knew what they were going to do with it before they had it. The movement off the ball was equally impressive. THE FANS - were terrible. Well i should clarify the Montpellier fans were terrible! Whilst already up 2-0 they proceeded to throuw large fire crackers on to the field which smoked, and then exploded with a huge band (enough to make a young boy sitting near us cry!) and 5 or 6 sparkler type things spread all over the field. After the 3rd one the ref called his officials off the field, 1 AR was running a line in front of said fans. after a 15 minute intermission he must of agreed to continue with the game on the basis that the police got the Montpellier fans out of there. The riot police came in, pushed them out whilst the game proceeded. The irony of it all was that they were already winning 2-0 and they continued to dominate Nice and ended up 3-0 to the good! So basically my heart was broken to have European football hooligans confirmed first hand! I also would like to go on the record to say that if that's what we have to put up with to have a 'European' style top flight football league. i don't want one, give me 8000 fans including families and kids anytime!

So a quick note on the Jets. I still managed to follow their progress online and via SMS (thanks Lee and Mikey!). Mixed start to the season topped by that victory over the Gold Coast (i nearly cried when i heard this!) but I'm not going to review the games. My two tips which i believe, if the Jets can overcome, could lead to another finals appearance are thus:

1) Squad depth - put simply they don't have enough. The current departure of the Young Socceroos, growing injury list highlights the fact that realistically Branco (or is it Branko?) only really has a starting 11, or maybe 13 or 14. They will miss the o's Fabio, Sasho and Lljubo (i just thought of that then!) as senior players whenever they don't make the 90 minutes. And the fact that the Young Socceroos world cup can cause so much disruption to our starting 11 (rooney, Kanta and even Hoffman (shudder)) is a problem not with the players but with the lack of players to replace them. I can only hope some of the current swathe of triallists make the cut!

2) The Fans - or lack there of! I know the cliche but Newcastle teams, the knights, KB united, the Breakers, the Goblins have always relied on big crowds to lift them when the chips are down. Current showings are poor and i hope the Newcastle faithful pull their fingers out and get to the ground on game days!

More soon, i promise! I love you all!
Peace

(another shout out to the Goblins who lost their GF in a penalty shoot out. I felt your pain that day even half way across the world! I love you all and there is always next year!)

Turning Chinese - I really think so??

Well. Its been a while but i just didn't really feel up to commenting on the grand final. Mathew Breeze is an idiot, has made terrible decisions all year and even though both his decisions were overruled, we will be subject to more of his shit next season.

ACL Opener. After an absolutely torrid opening 30 minutes in which Toper-Stanley conceded a goal, that's right, Toper-Stanley, not the Jets, the boys really did turn it around. They weren't great by any stretch of the imagination but they learnt from their mistakes and tightened up through midfield and started passing the ball around almost like our championship winning team that seems so long ago! Sasho was unlucky not to equalise, you can't help but think if he had of been playing against us he would've slotted both those chances. As his tendency was to do so often in the past!

I'm going to name drop and give a little shout out to Ryan Griffiths. I have some vague long forgotten connection with him (who could forget that great surf rock band The Grift Experience, i heard the bass player was amazing!). His goal was very well taken, he should of had another 10 minutes later which went a bee's penis wide of the back stick. Quite frankly he was a league above Joel. It was great to see him run around again, just a shame he had to inflict a defeat on my team!

Positives for the Jets. Ljubo (spelling?) was solid in central defence. De Groot and Vinegarette dressing were great and you can really see that technically they are well above the a-league standard. Passing in the last 10 minutes of the first half was spot on. There was enough out there to make us think that there is a good team somewhere in that squad.

Back to T-S i'd just like to point out it wasn't merely his poor decision making all night, his obvious lack of mental strength to put up with the heckling from the crowd, but his utter lack of heart once he had turn the ball over was horrible. He dawdled around the park like it was Sunday afternoon kicks with mates. It was a disgrace to the shirt.

So on to Tuesday. I'm going to make every attempt to make it up the road. GVE, bench or drop TS and put george costanza into central defence with Ljubo (something that nearly gives me an erection). I'd also like to see Jono get on the bench so i can admire his locks! There is definitely enough talent there to make a game of it and have a shot at progressing past the group stage. Good luck boys, despite the result you've definitely restored my faith in the shirt!

See you at Marathon on Tuesday!

A quickie for the week - blog that is

Just a quick one this time around. Firstly finally Jets management have delivered some signings. I'm going to hold on to my judgement to after i see them play but i think there is enough quality there for some real potential. Congrats also to Mitch Johnson, he's a friend and he deserves his chance, good luck and i hope your 6 months turns into many more.

I believe there will be enough quality to mount an ACL challenge or at least avoid embarrassment, De Groot is my pick for the stand out.

Despite the Jets season being over, the season is far from it! I managed to catch replays of the coast game and the second half of the Melbourne game. Qld and Melbourne were both deserved winners. As per my blog a few weeks back, Coast just aren't good enough, but i would also advise Frank Farina to check out when they clawed back a similar deficit against us last year! I'm going to agree with David Lowe in the Newy Herald today and say that a Melbourne Qld final is on the cards. I don't think Coast are good enough, did i mention that? I don't think Adelaide have the attacking prowess to get back the 2 goals from Melbourne, and i think they will struggle in attack against a free attacking qld side the week after. but good luck to all parties, except the mariners, i just can't bring myself to say it.

Bring on the GF, bring on the ACL!
Yours in Football,
B!

Season Closed - ACL Open

Well. Let me just say it would be all too easy for me to write yet another article highlighting the Jets failure on Sunday, Failure this season, or failure in with the looming transfer window closing. So I won't, instead I'm going to try and take the highlights.

Tarek Elrich - What a season this young man has had. Whether it has been at left back or the left side of midfield he has excelled. It could be noted that his defensive game has suffered slightly because of the increased attacking focus. However despite this people must remember that this is what is required from him in GVE's formation both at the back as a wing back or as an attacking mid fielder. His selection in the up coming Asian Cup Qualifier is just reward for a top season, lets just hope he isn't the next player to be poached by Asia or another A-league club.

Marko Jesic - What can I say, this kid is going to be class. His technique is the best i can see out of all the young strikers (ha ha, see Matt Simon for the biggest gap in technique), he works hard and despite being seemingly injury prone he is definitely one for the future.

Ben Kantarovski - I don't think I really need to say anything. Look at any one of his performances, and then think he's only 16, enough said! Good on you Son!

Jobe Wheelhouse - I'm sure no one who frequents Newcastlefootball.net read this, but his treatment on that forum is unacceptable. Yes he has under performed in the past, but he has been outstanding in either the back 4 or in the holding midfield role. He is solid, he is a local boy and he has a heart, something the Jets have been lacking this year. Lets hope his good form continues, and the his treatment by the 'fans' improves.

The Squadron - Apart from the above mentioned treatment of Wheelhouse the Squadron have been consistent and outstanding in their support this year. There has been plenty of controversy, but like they say, any publicity is good publicity (Ian you should appreciate this). My case in point is that on Sunday, away from home, in a dead rubber, they still managed to make themselves heard throughout the SFS and it was brilliant. Even down 4 nil they gave the boys a send off and shouldn't be under estimated!

The Physical Stadium - I'm not sure when development is supposed to be finished, but even the two corners that have been completed are top quality, with the other two being done currently. This will give the Jets a home ground they can be proud of. (I could say how poorly they continue to be treated by ground management but I said only positive!)

The Transfer Fees - If your going to lose players, you should be compensated. The Jets have at least managed this much this year and with some smart investment decisions should be able to reap the benefits!

The Future - Given the terrible year, and being a loyal fan, it is hard to think it can get much worse. I'm looking forward to at least some signings, big names or not, being announced before the end of January. With the amount of young talent coming through, a few experienced names should be all we need to get back in the game!

As an aside, with more to follow later in the week maybe, I think we're looking at a Melbourne Adelaide grand final. The Central Coast aren't good enough, Melbourne are, and the Roar can't grind out results, and Adelaide can.

So to close, for now, I'd like to say, heads up Jets fans keep supporting your team even through the tough times. Hopefully some news later in the week.

Yours in Football
B!

What a week - A win, A spat and a Sale... maybe

Firstly, welcome back to you all (all 3 of you). I've been a bit absent of late, with work, moving and lets be honest not much positive news to write about anyway. I must say it was a great feeling being able to talk about a Jets win on Monday morning. Whilst all of the people i work with don't follow the A league, they are aware of my passion and can't resist having a dig after another Jets loss. My project manager must of felt my buoyant attitude as he commented on the victory to me first thing despite more pressing matters at work.

A bit of comment on that game first up. I think it has been highly underrated by the media as a performance. Yes ok the result was a non event given the spoon is coming this way anyway but the performance was solid across the park, and the scoreline flattered Perth. The Jets five man mid field dominated and the back four were solid without being totally unbreakable (I can't help but think Rukivysta's pace would've changed things if he was in the country). The lone striker in Mooy (spelling?) did an ok job of holding the ball up and the movement (both in attack and defence) from Patafta, Song and Thompson was spot on. Credit to Kovacic (again with the spelling?) for his first goal for the club, given our defensive stocks going out the door there could be a big future for this man. Anyone else you would question for milking the penalty (contact was outside the box initially) but Matt Thompson just seems like the most honest player you'll come across and it seemed just reward for his efforts (he looks good in the captains armband as well which shouldn't be lost on anyone). Great work Jets, if you spank Sydney on Sunday whilst i can watch i will almost forgive the season, or at least resign it to the history books.

On to upsetting matters. I have been a staunch supporter of Con since day one, i defend him in every argument on the basis that if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have a club at all. This week i'm not so sure. As a businessman he should know better than to let his emotions take control like they did. Abusing the most public of the Jets fan base was never a good idea regardless of the situation. I can understand the 'protests' of the squadron and really upside down signs and a wooden spoon don't hurt anyone (i'm more appalled the occasions that the players themselves are boo'ed off the park). So Con, you have a lot of bridge building to do.

And a word of advice, don't try and build that bridge with the $1m you might get for selling Joel! I personally don't think it will go through, but will be devastated if it does. It doesn't make good business sense, its not going to put you back in the black on the books and it is only going to further negatively effect crowd numbers and hence tickets and gate revenue. I don't know what else i can say...

Hopefully the end of the (well our) A league season next week will allow all involved to concentrate on some late signings for the ACL and a re focus on what is important to the club. They need to do something to address crowd numbers before the ACL games, its going to be embarrassing enough fielding an understrength side and some potential punishment from opposition, but if you do that in front of 6000 people at home then you have permanently and i feel irreversibly damaged the Jets brand in Asia, not to mention the damage to all the hard work Adelaide have done this year!

I love you Jets, that won't change, but lets just say i'll think twice about ever defending Con again, and if he sells Joel, i won't... ever.

Fallen Champions and shit house pitches

Ok, so i'm not going to harp on the Jets much this week. But i will raise a few points. We were unlucky not to go into the break 2, 3 or 4 up except for some fine goal keeping by Glenn Moss, i think the Victory have bought well there. Elrich and Griffiths were exceptional, hard working, dropping deep to defend and creating chances up front. Like so much of our season we switched off when it counted in the second half. Instead of responding to a lucky goal from Bertos with renewed intent and vigour, we switched off, conceeded again, and then gave away a silly penalty by an inexperienced young Jet. Better luck next year Jets, your just not good enough at the moment, and until GVE asks me to come up for a training session, i just can't put my finger on what has gone so horribly wrong. Just an aside what the hell are Pheonix going to do without Smeltz, its a rhetorical question... or is it...

So elsewhere. The friday night game Melbourne, Roar, and what a game! Apart from a joke of a pitch it was a most enjoyable game. Fluent attacking football from both sides. End to end pace from the two midfield units, as a neutral it was definately the game of the round without a doubt! Good goals and i think Melbourne deserved to win in the end! Tiatto and Farina are both idiots for behaviour on the field and post much comments respectively!

Sydney Adelaide. What a disappointment. I was hoping to see a refreshed Adelaide outfit tear apart another fallen champion in Sydney FC. It wasn't too be, played on another poor pitch, too hard, too quick etc. Adelaide did what they have done well all season and ACL campaign which is sit back, absorb pressure and score when needed. Sydney weren't neccesarily bad, for once. They just don't have the attacking threat that they need to capitialise on their possession game, you know the one that Kossie keeps raving about as the best in the league ha ha! Good work Adelaide, your experience is so far beyond anyone else in the league!

In breaking news tonight apparently Elrich may be going to Turkey as well. Dear Con, don't sell, this is an example where no amount of money at the moment will compensate for his loss. Sit him down, tell him another year in the a league won't hurt his young career. For God's sake sign some players for the ACL. I can handle the embarresment of our current a league form, but will not accept as a fan an internationally recognised embarrasment!

Yours in football, despite the current heart break.
B!