Where are we going

[Bruuuuuuuuce]

^^ Freaking lol.

[sevengoals]

Welcome to the forum tripz.

[EdDog]

Haha welcome ^

The most enjoyment I get is actually preseason were I fantasise about us doing well this year and wining something.

Then the season proper starts and I'm brought screaming back to reality...

[Irish]

Watching that only further strengths my belief in Gombau. A month ago we created 0 chances - yesterday we created 22. That's a massive improvement.

Players need to start putting the ball in the back of the net and stop making awful defensive mistakes. They, individually, are making Pep look a fool.

Btw. Lay off the pills Tripz. Footballnews.com.au/forum is the place you want to be with intelligent posts like that.

[MelbourneRed]

I agree, 22 shots (although only 5 on target) is not to be scoffed at, as soon as someone puts their hand up to start putting them away we'll be looking better. Of bigger concern is the other point, the defensive lapses. I am not sure we have any defenders in this squad who are not prone to them and until we get that sorted out opposition forwards will have a good time against us. I see a lot of people screaming for Golec to get a run, however if Josep is not playing him because he is struggling with playing it out then I can only see the situation getting worse than using the players who apparently are getting it right at training.

I am also very concerned for Gombau's future at the club; having spent most of my life in Adelaide following local sides I know all too well how fickle the 'casual supporter' (for want of a better term) can be (PAFC anyone?), so I fear if the results don't come soon our crowds will drop, the local media will call for blood and the board (in their infinite wisdom) will drop him before his style starts to work- however I would like to believe I can have more faith in them than that. Unfortunately I think this year our results will not improve greatly and I am hopeful that Josep has already identified squad changes he needs to make, perhaps as early as January, to get us firing in the next season and onwards. But that brings us on to what the club is willing to spend, and that's obviously an issue for another rant...

[mcjules]

Watching that only further strengths my belief in Gombau. A month ago we created 0 chances - yesterday we created 22. That's a massive improvement.

Players need to start putting the ball in the back of the net and stop making awful defensive mistakes. They, individually, are making Pep look a fool.

Btw. Lay off the pills Tripz. Footballnews.com.au/forum is the place you want to be with intelligent posts like that.

Was hoping you'd pop in Irish.

If you watch the press conference, Josep is quite clear on what is going wrong. I remember Roar going through a similar phase where they were dominating matches but not scoring goals. We'll get there.

[EdDog]

When we have the ball, we look brilliant. We are just easily the worst in the league when we don't. And our defending is like watching a slapstick comedy.

[ChillyPhilly]

My issue isn't with Gombau at all. Here's my still-in-frustration 2c.

Words can't describe how disappointed I am with last night's performance. Quite simply, because of who our opponent was - the Tards - it was always going to demand more than a 'performance'. It is the biggest and most important fixture in the AU calendar. It's the day that hundreds of travelling fans book months in advance, and it's the nights where eight people cram into one hotel room using scarves as pillows and flags as blankets. That is the meaning of last night, and one that was seemingly lost on many from the club itself.

I think this is a significant turning point in club history. Using the line 'We are still learning' is a tiring excuse to cover a major failure. When ultimate results like last night are put under the spotlight, the cracks are shown to all. We will not make finals and look increasingly unlikely to ever keep a clean sheet. This is a results-driven league, and it's time for us to put our money where our mouth is. The team needs to put the pedal to the medal, learn the true core meaning of last night, and give us what we're all crying out for.

Oh, and one more thing: GOLEC IN.

[shinAUFC]

Im happy our fans ( at least those of us on WATR's ) can see that this is not so much an issue caused by Gombau's methods.

Any manager who can gift his team the majority of the ball and a vast array of scoring opportunities is surely doing his job.

The players are really putting Josep to the sword which is unfortunate, but its also showing Gombau's level of professionalism. He is not sitting in the press conference's making excuses, he will not single out the players and will not cry foul of the refs.

IMO Gombau is a level above even Postecoglou in this regard.

Lets imagine half of our pathetic defensive lapses never happened and half of those wasteful goal opportunities were taken advantage of..... all of a sudden people are saying how refreshing our style is and how much if a step forward it is for the league.

Ok, you could say this about any team in any league but these lapses are not issues with the manager they are players being mentally weak.

So for me its very clear the players are to blame for our current situation.

My only potential gripe with Gombau will come if he persists with an out of form Isais when we have Lustica and Barker-Daish offering quality.

Id love to see it be inforced that the squad after each match ( win or lose ) walk to the north end and applaud fans for making noise. This is not to embarrass them, but to make some of them realise many of us put as much time into supporting this club as they do playing and unlike them we pay for the privilege.

Like i said not the belittle them but i feel since AUFC's inception there have always been a few players that are a little blaze about who they represent.

[mcjules]

The only thing I think saving Isaias is that he knows the system and the mistakes he makes aren't as deadly as some of the other players.

Take for example the first goal, Gombau said in the press conference it was because Elrich played a square ball and a winger should never play a ball like that in the system in that situation. He went on to say at this stage of development, players shouldn't be making those decision making mistakes.

This is probably also why he's not being overly critical of the centre backs. You turn the ball over in those sorts of positions you're going to get punished and it's better to fix the root cause of the problem rather than covering for it by putting in a "quick CB".

[Jessesdad]

As someone said elsewhere, it's just another year of excitement and high hopes turning into the reality of disappointment - at this stage. There's no point making any serious calls on Josep or the players until season's end and all AU fans are by now hardened to the vagaries of football.

But slavish adoration of a coach or a method will not do anything to cover the gaping disconnect between theory and practice that is currently our match-day reality.

Maybe he'll ditch players and bring in others who can play the system but we need to remember he has already done this to some extent and we have a high proportion of players who 'should' be reasonable at it. We also will have limited funds or capacity to bring in - or even find - players better than those we have. It's not a bad squad by A-League standards.

In the meantime, Josep has to work out a system that the players we have can play effectively.

There is no team in the world that will put up with an idea above results in the longer term. We've all invested a lot financially and emotionally in Josep and his system and no doubt we'll stay true until the end of the year if we start to see real progress. But - at the moment these are dark days for the team. We seem to be clueless about what we're doing in the front and back thirds.

I like that Josep is strong in his ideas and is brilliant at not placing blame but don't for a second think he's not feeling the pressure. A 3-0 loss to our arch rivals when they had 10 men and were coached by our most disliked footballer ever is a very bad moment. Fortunately this week gives us a game against the weakest team in the league and chance to buy some breathing space for coach, players and fans. Should we lose to Heart then even more questions will be asked.

I completely disagree with you, Shin, about this having nothing to do with Josep's methods. It's got a massive amount to do with them because they're asking so much of the players and the players are not yet 'getting' it. But the team is always the manager's responsibility and if they lose it is his loss. We're not in pre-season, every point counts.

If we finish the season in sixth or seventh but look like we've turned the corner and pick up decent results in the last third of the season then most of us will feel hopeful. But we will lose a lot of the more 'casual' fans who come when we win. Their interest is just as important as ours is and their dollars will buy the players we hope to get in. Crap results mean crap gate numbers means high pressure on the management.

As for Isaias, well....if he's really a defensive mid who understands the system then we may be in more trouble than we think.

[shinAUFC]

I would so say that so far his methods are working reasonably well, its unusuall for our midfield not to be incharge of the game and yes the high line is always going to be a risk.

But when players are looking into the stands with back to play and their man scores or player continually shank a perfectly good chance at goal then this has nothing to do with team management or systems.

Im not cheerleading for gombau , its far to early to judge him yet. But im also not big on heaping blame on him when some players cannot even get a shot on target.

[Jessesdad]

Fair enough, but "blame" is different to 'responsibility'. It's a manager's responsibility to make sure that players are clear about their tasks and capable of doing them There is no point continually asking a player to do what they cannot understand or achieve.

Our players, like all players, will make mistakes. I don't think they are lazier or more error prone than any other squad. I do think they are more bewildered and unsure than most. I am happy if that's part of a constructive process but I'm not yet sure that it is.

Systems are not only designed to create good play but they must also be able to compensate for individual errors as much as possible. Our shooting is no less appalling than previous years, for some reason we just aren't that good at making goals. But our defense is just terrible at present and the system we're playing means that an error too often leads to a goal-scoring opportunity because we are just so wide open at the back. We can target mistakes made by individuals and sometimes they are culpable but the entire defensive system is far too fragile at this stage and is losing us games we should at least be drawing.

That's Josep's job to fix. No-one else can. The responsibility lies with the man who sets the team out and who knows the capability of the players..

[ChillyPhilly]

A lack of finishing or poor finishing is a very, very, very difficult thing to coach. I'm sure Irish can confirm this.

EDIT: I'd like to put this question to everyone.

At what point in any given match does this system become 'successful'?

Is it successful when we score a goal? Is it successful when we beautifully pass it all the way from the back to the front, yet narrowly miss a goal? Is it successful when we dominate possession and complete 200 more passes?

I feel that the answers to these questions will determine what kind of progress is being made, and whether that progress is seemingly forwards, or backwards.

[Jessesdad]

My take:
1. A system becomes successful when the players understand it and can play it and when it reaps results.
2. When the fans accept it and embrace it. This is important. As a West Ham fan it's clear that people will put up with Alardyce's boring football if we win but even then we don't like it. West Ham fans have expectations of attractive football. Would we rather win at all costs rather than lose pretty? Yes, but both matter.
3. When it's noticed because the team is winning. Quite honestly no-one would care how Barcelona played if they didn't regularly win. Any system that doesn't achieve success in professional sport is pretty pointless! (pun intended)