Asunto: »[Cup] S21 Australia Cup

Good luck for the 1/2s!
4 injuries and a suspended man in a 17 player roster is a limiting factor too tricky to handle at this stage of the competition, I played the counter with what was left, it didnt work out... best team won by a mile.

Yep, shoulda, woulda, coulda. Congrats tho' on a deserved win....got my tactic totally wrong....too spread in midfield & too advanced....too much time spent on other things & not tactics....but happy with 1/4 final.

Should be an interesting game between Tong FC and myself. Have to be a bit biased and think that the final has come 1 week too early again like last season.

Uhhh, I'm sure you don't want to be demoted from A-League... right? ;-)

Doubt I will be demoted. Were you suggesting I needed to use my 1sts this weekend ;).

I don't recommend it :p

I'm going all in for the cup, because it then gives me a chance of bringing in some more income next season in the CC if I qualify for it.

With my luck this season I doubt I'll bag the 3pts on sunday as a result of your priorities...
8th place is really between Krayzee and I imo so I do need to catch up at some points...

Congratulations Tong. Taking down the favourite for the Australian cup, which now sets up a clash that has probably been long awaited, between the former leading team of II.03 and team with similar stature in II.01.

Harsh result. Should have had Tong buried within the first 20min of the game and I couldn't convert. Then a sloppy defensive fumble cost me a goal off the post and the 2nd one was shrugging off Makitan too easily for the cross.

Congrats to Tong for winning and progressing through, I thought I deserved a minimum of a draw though but it wasn't to be. 7 shots a piece but when you factor in my keeper skills as opposed to yours I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't find the back of the net. Found the post about 3-4 times though.

Thanks Achmid. I just finished watching the match - it was painful. The first 10 minutes really summed up the match. The whistle was blowing every couple of seconds. Both our offside traps killed the match engine. Play was going across the pitch, rather than end-to-end. This was one game where defenders needed to have good technique, PM, and passing.

I must say that cometer was very tactical in this match (as expected). Very high defence, and successful offside trap. Dubravko Makitan was too good at marking Przybys most of the time. However, the few times that Przybys did get past, there was an imminent threat. Focusing the attack on one side was almost successful, since Erdogan got past his man a few times. Fortunately for me, there was only one target man in the box, who was comprehensively marked.

Both GK's had great games, and saved some blinders. 7 shots each, almost 50% possession and play in each half indicate just how close this game was.

Well done Tong. It's nice to know I was taken out by a team which has now made the final.
Good luck to both teams for next week.

Got too busy and couldn't set a tactic. Pity, arguably should've had that game won well before halftime.

I must say I found it funny that both losing managers say they should have won, when in fact, it would have taken them to score another 3 goals, which is more than either team actually scored, to win it.

I could understand it if it was a 1 goal difference, coz sometimes there's a flukey shot, or if it was a draw, but needing an extra 3 to win seems a bit much.

Anyway, I know as well as anyone, how the ME can make things pretty messed up, and without watching the games can't say much more.

I was let down by some key players in low form. Makitan,Stathakis,Skorupa and Aktimuroglu (most of my defensive based players). As a direct consequence of this, the goals I conceded came from mistakes rather than well worked plays. Aktimuroglu fumbled and it went backwards to their striker who slammed it into the post and rebounded in, whilst their 2nd came from their winger tackling an incredible tech defender from behind and then streaking away, beating one tackle and firing home a well executed cross which was struck into the back of the net. On another day had Makitan a bit higher form than average, I very much doubt he would have been tackled from behind.

So what's disappointing is that the game was pretty much even but a few costly mistakes as a result of uncontrollable and unmanageable form along with poor converting at the other end (3 posts in the first 10-15min of the match demonstrates it) was enough to influence the result heavily.

At the end of the day I've been on the other side a few times, so it's part of the game. Just another season of what could have been down the drain ;).

Thanks Achmid. I just finished watching the match - it was painful. The first 10 minutes really summed up the match. The whistle was blowing every couple of seconds. Both our offside traps killed the match engine. Play was going across the pitch, rather than end-to-end. This was one game where defenders needed to have good technique, PM, and passing.

All of those skills my defenders have reasonable amounts of, so from that aspect I was happy with how it started. I was even happy at half time when scores were locked at 0-0 because I thought I'd score sometime as I had a free wing and had created a few decent chances in that first half that hadn't been taken.

My aim I suppose was to shutdown your midfield early before it allowed you to use width to keep knocking the ball around the field to stretch my defense. I thought I'd get past your defenders and keeper as I have done in past encounters so I assumed I'd hold you out at the other end if I could stop your high wingers and for a while I thought it was working. Form hurt in the 2nd half once players started tiring and Aktimuroglu and Makitan made a few costly mistakes.

I think your team is ready for the A League now though, that was just about (form excluded) my best possible team on the field. Possibly switch Lesado with O'Donoghue and it would have been my strongest side for that formation.

As I said before good luck for the cup final, I hope you are able to win it and I look forward to future challenges when the time comes for you to promote to the A League. I'll be ready ;).