The Matildas Thread [R]

I think that's a mistake. For one, she still hasn't explained what that extra 'o' is doing in her name.

 

Weird game.

 

Not satisfied at all with how we played.

I'd love to see what McCallum could do playing alongside two other midfielders to hopefully give her more space.

She is our best player and so far, we havent been able to use her strengths efficiently, while she is also looking for the 'hollywood ball' too often.

I know she's only 16, but anyone else disappointed with Caitlin Foord? She looks like someone that hasn't had to learn the tactical subtleties of the game and has relied on her athleticism to get this far.

Garriock has also frustrated me with some really 'non-experienced-player' type of mistakes (getting caught in possession in dangerous areas etc).

 

2-0 down and not looking good. We've been poor defensively which is disappointing. I like our bravado pushing forward (would be better if we could hold the ball more) it's no guts no glory time. We need to realise that tactically and technically we are being outdone this game and we need to show some more positivity.

 

Perry. I'm in love!!! Haha that was epic!!!

 

oh well.

 

Carroll had a shocker defensively. That 3rd goal . Is she usually that poorly composed? I like the look of Foord. Shes zippy and dangerous. De Vanna was also good. I think we have a lot of threatening players but we are tactically naive and just crap defensively. Need to imporve in these areas.

 

I praise Fozzy for his analysis of this team and their performances.

We need to grow up and have a winning mentality, not a losers mentality.

It seems like we're satisfied too easily and aren't striving for perfection, or at least, to be the best...and that mentality starts with the shit Australian football culture. This couldve been changed by the coaching staff, however, they didn't, and that was disappointing.

Although it's not much, the difference in the comments by Ellyse Perry and Tom Sermanni after the match highlights what we need and what we dont need.

I can't find the full quotes, but Perry was accountable for her own actions, her own mistakes and made it clear it was her responsibility to step up, whereas Sermanni was consistently, after every match explaining how he was proud of the effort and we were lucky to get to where we were.

Perry:
"It was nice to get a goal there because they obviously scored those first two goals from plays down my side of there field, so I kind of felt like I owed the team a little bit."


In regards to the actual play, I was amazed that Sermanni didn't alter the team to ensure Sweden were unable to control the game.

Sweden's forwards started in fairly common positions when playing two strikers, however, their movement with the wide-midfielders was what killed us.

During Sweden's build-up phase, their wide-midfielders would drop deep to receive possession, and our full-backs would mark them (seemed like man-marking) to wherever they went. When this happened, the strikers would move wide in a similar fashion to Nilmar/Rossi at Villarreal, taking our central defenders with them. This then created a large gap in the middle of the field where either the other striker, or one of Sweden's midfielders would push forward into the space.

Again and again this happened, with Sweden dragging our players to WHERE THEY WANTED US TO GO!!! Why, Tom? Why?

A simple solution wouldve been to continue to play the 4-4-2 system that they played (although there were major mistakes in that anyway) but played purely zonal.


More negatives:
Heather Garriock. She was arguably the worst player on our team and one of the least effective players out of all of the last 8 teams. Too many touches on the ball, getting caught in possession, working harder when she had the ball and not working hard enough off the ball (leaving De Vanna to do a lot of the work for her), taking over-ambitious shots when she had teammates open, poor final ball...anything else? Seriously, she looked like the least experienced player in our team. The best thing for this team would be to get rid of her immediately.

Someone please tell McCallum that attempting a "hollywood" ball every time you have possession facing forwards IS NOT GOOD FOOTBALL. The best pass, especially for central midfielders, is the 10-15 metre forward pass that eliminates at least one member of the opposition, forcing her to turn around facing her own goal. She could be the best player in the world, but she clearly doesnt understand the game well enough, yet. If she learns, we could dominate any team.


Positives:
Lisa De Vanna. She has the winning mentality that we need from ALL of our players. In the first match, she did try to do a little too much, but after that she was outstanding, with and without the ball. It's a pity some of her teammates didnt show the same application and maturity.

Carroll and Kellond-Knight were also fairly good, excluding the latter's defensive efforts in the Swedish game.

Overall, in my opinion, this was a very disappointing WC. We had the capability to do a lot more, and the final 2 games were a showing for the "bad" Australia.

I really hope we improve.

 

Caitlin Foord wins young player award:

http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/organisation/media/newsid=1475411/index.html

 

From Mr Tom's post-match comments, I wonder if we actually care about keeping a clean sheet...ever.

Can we learn how to defend as a team first, please?