Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory Match Day Jamboree!©

[lufcmike]

Great game
Vidosic was magic for a first game. Susak was impassable. McCain was faultless.Caravello eas excellent. The team tackled and passed well for most of the game.
(So who was that lot in the Adelaide shirts last week in Perth ?)
Even the ball seemed to bounce right for us for a change.
Should have towelled them by 4 or more goals, we were terrific except the in box. Hopefully our finishing will improve in future weeks.
Though Slory seemed to be hanging back a bit much, maybe trying to cover Cassio as he went forward, so it left us abit thin at the front although he did run at the oppostion many times and beat them.

One word for MV -shite
Old, slow and in Fernadez case -fat (Is he the pie man of the A league?) Kewell was almost our best player as most of his passes went to us, lucky not to be sent off for that tackle on Caravello? a deliberate push (But he reminded the ref, just like WG Grace-they,the crowd came to see me play not you referee)
Thompsons gone, got the shits up early when he was'nt getting service or frees, then not passing off and shooting.
Leigher no Muscat can't bluff the refs and is just a thug.
When does Muscats ban end? 4or 5 games?, is that when Memhet gets the push? Looked like Muscat was doing most of the coaching already.
Ref surprised me, not intimidated and fair - I'm still in shock about that.

[bensy]

loved our tackling tonight.flying in and winning the ball. some good passages of patient build up play but i get pretty nervous when we are only one goal up and try to slow it down a bit. I desperately wanted Cassio or Slory to score those shots they had.

I couldn't say that any one of our guys played poorly tonight. good signs!

[Ray]

What a cracking night at Hindmarsh, when the place is full, the team is playing well and hated rivals are the opposition there is no better place in Australia to watch the game.

Full credit to Rini Coolen and the lads tonight, completely turned around last weeks performance. A lot of that will be down to the man who showed he's a more than adequate replacement for the previous incumbent of the no. 10 shirt, take a bow Dario Vidosic. He lit up our midfield, gave us forward momentum and brought his fellow midfielders into the game. Really should've had a goal but blazed his chance over the bar. Still, him or a past-it Kewell? Vidosic every time. Levchenko and Dilveski were 100% better this week, they dominated the contest in midfield winning the ball and breaking up MV's play time and again. Zenon Caravella also had an excellent game, I just wish he'd cross the ball more often instead of running himself into the corner.

The real standout for me though were the central defensive pairing of Jon McKain and Milan Susak who both had whales of a game. They tidied up everything time and again and dominated the Victory strikers in the box. Cassio and Malik also did well, young Osama had a tough night against Rojas but managed to keep him in check. Van Dijk took his chance well but for mine he is a bit isolated at times in this formation but he holds the ball up like a trojan, was unlucky not to have a brace. Slory showed promise, but needed to be more clinical with his passing and chances. Galekovic, excellent as always. The subs all did their job well when they got on.

The only downside tonight was that we didn't score more when we were dominant in the 2nd half, we really should've iced the game had we taken the chances. Still, Rini Coolen had his team playing like we did in the best moments of last season, let's hope the Perth performance was an abberation and that this is a return to normal service.

Massive props to our support tonight which was fantastic, the crowd around the ground are getting into it more and more on these occasions (if only it was like that every week) and not a peep was heard from the away end all night.

Happy Days!

[supsup]

Shots on goal stat was 7-2 our way in the first half so I don't know what FourFourTwo are talking about by saying we were sluggish. We bossed from the outset.

[Hamaldinho]

Midfield played great, controlled it well. Caravella was a standout and Vidosic, what a debut! Malik didn't look to shabby either, and Susak and McKain well solid.

Bring on Sydney.

[flavze]

happy as fuck, fuck of melbourne.

[Agostinho]

Triffic. Dario and Susak epic. I just can't see how this team tonight played so woefully last week. Anyway, onwards and upwards - 2 more tough games coming up - Sydney then Brisbane.

[EdDog]

Vidosic was immense in the CF spot. Did anyone else think Bruce looked sluggish when he came on from the bench? Lazy or just uninterested almost.. Perhaps it's another case of the league growing stronger since his departure, yet he's stayed at the same level.

[Slingy]

What an improvement! Used the whole pitch tonight. Kept possession better than I ever seen before by AU.
Malik was good value, I definitely preferred him to Watson in that position. Looked like he might be carrying a little bit of an injury though? Looked like he was limping a bit at times and dropped off the pace a bit..

McKain I thought was our best player tonight. Laid some great tackles, was hard at the ball and the man without being dirty. Got stuck into the players and stood up for his teammates without going over the top. Looks a good choice for captain.

Susak had a terrific game too. He's improved so much since he left Adelaide - used to be a reasonable squaddie, but has basically cemented his spot with tonights performance.

Cassio was solid and looked better being able to overlap and get forward, but didn't stand out tonight.

Lev had a good night, positioned himself well and made the tards take the long way 'round. There was never much time to be had on the ball in the middle of the pitch,, but that didn't matter for Lev because he had some excellent one touch passes.

Dilevski, similar to Lev, laid some good tackles but didn't stand out. Wouldn't mind seeing Usucar come in instead perhaps..

Caravella had a terrific game, showed why he was such an important player for "the other united". He reminds me of Spagnuolo in his first season for us, but with more purpose and skill. Will be a fan favourite for sure. Liked seeing him running the wings and overlapping with Malik. Maybe needs to work on his crossing.

Slory did ok.. could knock it down the line and use his pace a little more to get down the wings. He isn’t suited to the wing (I haven’t really noticed him cross the ball much and has a tendency to get dragged into the centre), but looks like he could be handy moving in behind the striker or breaking through the defence once his team mates get more used to his runs off the ball.

Van Dijk, was good but not as impressive as he can be. Was a well taken goal and the crossbar effort deserved better. Held up the ball well and had better touch than last week. Not too many crosses or passes between him and the goal was what limited his chances tonight.

Vidosic was one of the best on the park tonight. We missed him last week for sure. With a little bit more match fitness and time on the park he’ll be awesome. He was creative, had good touch, good pace and brought his team mates into the game. What more can you ask for from a debutant? Maybe a goal.. but I’m not going to complain. Who needs Harry Kewell?

On that front, Harry Kewell.. I’m happy he didn’t get booed too much. He was well controlled by the AU defenders. Can’t believe the nonsense from him and his manager about getting “protection” from the refs, reckon the rest of the players need to be protected from him! Two of the dodgiest tackles tonight were by Kewell. It was never his strong point, but it looks like he’s been taking notes from Muscat at training. Should have got a yellow card for the first one, which would have meant a red for the one in the second half.

The ref did better than I’d expect. Williams always had a tendency to blow the whistle too much, but kept it in his pocket a bit more tonight. Only one free (I think) for a 50-50 aerial contest, what a difference! Any reason why Archie didn’t get a yellow for either of his dives though? Maybe the first one was too blatant.. pretty comical really.

[werner]

Galekovic, excellent as always.

Mrs G will be happy. No need to wash the kit today.

[Max Power]

What a difference.

Vidosic - good signing, showed some class tonight.

Great game and atmosphere, so happy to beat the scum, that is 3 in a row now!

[shinAUFC]

Could not fault anyone last night!

Malik really impressed me, make no mistake about it keeping rojas quiet is no easy task, he also has to skills to contribute to our passing game.

Lev and delevski worked well, actually i though lev had a great touch and was the reason vidosic was able to find so much of the ball.

I dont think djite and van dijk will play together very often, it just doesnt work.

Vidosic....wow...if he continues this form i know its early , but he may well be more influential then flores as our play maker. Dario seems much better at keeping the ball , where as flores often turned the ball over trying the impossible. Though flores was a marketing maching.

Whens the last time somone recieved a standing applause on debut ?

Really have to love the way we move the ball and hold posession, though i think its going to take some of the crowd some time to understand how we now play and why we do it..... Serious face palms everytime i heard people saying "kick it" "stop messing around with it"

A midfield with a fit caravella and vidosic should be quite a sight to see in this league imo.

Does anyone think there isnt room for djite and van dijk in the match day squad? Probably better off having da silva on the bench to possibly play off one of them if needed?

If we continue this style of play, an adelaide v brisbane should be a qualtiy match of posession that never really occurs here

[Damo]

Great game all around. I'm also not sure what the 442 article is on about. Didn't think we looked sluggish at all. Was a tight first half but I think we were on top. Second half we dominated. So glad I made serge my fantasy team captain this week. Great to see some fight and passion from the boys. Happy days.

On another note: what is the deal with watering the pitch before the game? Have seen rini implement this a few times now, Particularly against victory.

[Agostinho]

On another note: what is the deal with watering the pitch before the game? Have seen rini implement this a few times now, Particularly against victory.

Perhaps to assist the wide players? Helps to slow the ball down when you're playing it into the corners. That's a guess by the way as I've no idea which parts of the pitch were watered but I know it's a tactic Stoke uses who's most dangerous players are their wingers (Etherington & Pennant).

[shinAUFC]

Watering the pitch makes it slick, but not slippery , ideal for a passing game,

Its happened every home game since rini has been here, lavicka does the same at sfs