Mariners undone by late Guangzhou goal

Honestly, Emertons performance may be not up to scratch with the money he is being paid, but how can anyone think that Ryall and McFlynn aare performing better or are better players than Emerton? And don't forget too that Abbas was in the Iraqu team that made us look like a bunch of chumps in the 2007 Asian Cup.

Also regarding AMini, while it is true that Amini is nowhere near the Dortmund first team, he is playing regular games for their reserves who actually play in the German thrid division against the likes of Dyanmo Dresden, Hansa Rostock etc etc which is th equivalent of English league one but with a much bigger emphasis on technique and ball posession. So its not like he has gone to an EPL or championship team and rotted away on the bench or in their reserves. It may be that hemay never make the Borrusia Dortmund first team but if he performs well in their third division side he may get a move to another Bundesliga or Bundesliga 2 side.

Nick Carle? Milligan? Culina? There's more, but I'm not disagreeing with you we've done quite poorly in that respect over the last few years. The good news is however, I think it's safe to expect the players that are currently ~17 will burst through over the next year or two and take the leage by storm, by all accounts the younger players are far superior and better coached and smarter on the ball whilst just as physically and mentally capable. Then in I think half a dozen years we will see the benefits of Small Sided Games players, which will hopeflly adress the dilemna you've mentioned. Exciting times ahead, A-league capturing mainstream audiences and a better quality of young player set to arrive over the next 4 years coinciding with FTA coverage.

Stevo - You are 100% correct,there may be a few tricks we can still teach the "old" foxes, but that was not the main thrust of my comment, I was thinking more of our next generation of players.. With the players at their disposal now & with the inevitable signings that will be made close season, CCM will continue to perform well next year but,having now set themselves against the best in Asia they have to "up the ante" & improve over what they regard as the best team they have met. ADP,Ono & others in what one could term the twilight of their careers, have ,this year shown us where we are" failing" our home grown product & to continually ignore this factor will not help our game in the long term. jb

Agree jb but what might appear to be slight differences, ie the final cross, may be hurdles that some players cannot overcome. Because they are in fact the difference between players with good skill who can execute 7 out of 10 times versus higher quality players who can execute 9 out of 10 times. Some players will never get to 9 out of 10 no matter how much they try.

Mid - I don't think CCM had many "bad" players on the night,on the contrary in the first half they played some fast, one touch football that I too think surprised the opposition. Unfortunately they did not maintain that standard & that is the area that worries me, for good teams will punish you severely.not necessarily by scoring a heap of goals,but simply by getting to grips with their opposition &, by good ball possession allied to good running they will begin to apply pressure & that is where the deficiency in our players start to show for errors in passing start to appear & pressure mounts on the "battlers" who have to win possession back.. Let me try & explain where I am coming from.Twice in the first half some beautiful movement up the left saw Rose break free & then the quality of the crosses???, if crosses they were???. In the second half Bojic did the same,bust a gut getting way upfield, won the ball &, then the crosses??? (one was actually a good clearance.). This is the slight differences that have to be fixed if we are to take on the Asians. By the way ,the 2 men I mention were not alone but I use them as examples only. Actually I thought CCM played very well in the first 70 minutes but I think they can play even better once they cure those little mistakes that occur more & more as the game progresses. By the way I still consider them the best team in the HAL but they have to continue to seek improvement for that is an essential prereqisite for any leading team & failure to recognise that fact can have dire consequences as has been proved this year at Brisbane Roar.Your mate jb

"Doing a Melbourne Heart" perhaps. Although perhaps he has to be sold twice for that to happen.

Vinnie I've seen a few posts from you on Rogic,patience man!I've got no concern at all he'll be a star at Celtic and then the bigger club down the track and i'll happily eat my words if he's not.My only concern about Rogic is where he's playing on the pitch,too bloody deep Lennon.

Well that's underwhelming.

JB I think what I saw was a Mariner team who missed Trent Sainsbury a lot ... his calmness on the ball and short passing game was missed no disrespect to Anderson but at this stage of his career he is not in Trent's class... Having said that only Pedj did not play to his best or maybe he did but the mistakes he makes against a team of this class show out.. What I saw from Guangzhou was a team expecting to win... and in my opinion they where quite surprised at the skill level the Mariners showed ... could flat footed in a way .... To me what showed out the most was the finishing our shots at goal where by an large at the keeper ... Guangzhou's had decent shots and the save Matty Ryan did from the overhead kick and the two one on ones and the save off the post ... another keeper and the score may not have been 2-1 ... I guess meaning we played with close to our best team and about the best we could play ... Guangzhou seemed just off the pace... Just on pace by heavens they where fast the the back four and defensive mids held their structure against much faster players is a huge wrap to team preparation ... they lost both goals on the wings ... Of our players it's hard to single anyone out but weeMac had a cracker of a game .. Duke is very very quick and if he works on his first touch [cement shoes is to hard] he just knows where to go ... off the ball he does a lot his first and second touch need work but if he can improve these he will be a player of the future...

"I guess Korean and Japanese teams are really afraid of Evergande and don’t wish have any early clash with them." Afraid, I don't think so. I haven't seen anyone say they are 'afraid' of them. There's no doubt that they've constructed a very formidable team, however.

Breaking news... Matty Simon s returning to the Mariners on a free transfer one year contract signed... Mitchell Duke just re signed for three years ... Not bad we sold Matty got a transfer fee and now he comes back free of charge ...

Now that the game is over & the passions have died perhaps it is time to really set to analysing the players & in doing so come up with the differential between the two teams on the night.Forget the million dollar tags on players there is nothing that Australian football can do about that at this point in time. CCM are arguably the best team in Australia & could rightly be described as the most consistent over the last 3 seasons. Last night,with one possible exception,GA put what most would describe as his best team on the field to try & prove we are the equal of our Asian neighbours.Did he & his team succeed???? CCM did not disgrace themselves that's for sure & all in all appeared to give a good account of themselves for around 70 minutes of the game. Chances were created,but being honest,were created at both ends of the field. but at a 1-2 loss .the local fans had every right to hold up their heads, No doubt. However,there was much to be learned last night, not the least of what was the huge gap between the individual players in first touch,ball control,accuracy of pass, and overall movement of players & ball in most given situations.CCM's physical strength & attitude made up for this differential on a lot of occasions but if a team consistently gains possession,through hard work, & then immediately turns it over ,it puts tremendous demands on the physical elements of the ball winners. Last night pointed to this flaw more & more as the game progressed with the overall impression being generated that it was only a matter of time before the opponents gained the upper hand.That is what happened & we should learn from the experience. Young Ibini,of whom there has been much mention in this blog, showed what he could be in that magical first 30 minutes but in his last 30 minutes he was seldom to be seen,forcing huge gaps when Bodic went on his attack runs & the Chinese immediately reacted by switching play up their left wing where the winning goal was generated. The youngster has to learn the game lasts much longer than 30 minutes. Having said that there is much good to be taken out of the game. Our teams can compete with Asian giants but the flaws in our teams make up still have to be cured if the next level of success has to be attained. jb

" the two girls and the other guy where cheering for the Mariners… so at half time we asked em why … the girls said they where Japanese and wanted the Australian team to win… the other guy said he was Korean and he wanted the Chinese team to lose.." Couldn't help but laugh at that. Bad luck to CCM, from what little I saw in the first half, you did well. It would have been nice to knock that cashed-up Nevergrande down a peg or two.

Proves that the A- league punches well above its weight . yet again >because if you take into account the difference in theses two 40 million Vs 2 million .. there is no way the mariners should have been able to do that well .... On ya Arnie and the A-league ... I maintain that the flat nature of the A-league is getting the best out of these players..

Wouldn't know, I'm a Fountain man myself ;)

I always found Tabasco to be a reliable sauce. Flushes my plumbing when needed. ;-)

I agree with ya. We do produce them and a lot of them too.It's the majority of coache's mentality that have an inclination towards crazy pace and physical strength over good pace and brains. The only obvious exception is Ange who is trying to change our approach to how we play football in this country. In a team you need a balance of different stylesbut we tend to go 95% one way only and it's proven time after time that it doesn't get us good results. Give us more ball players!!

Midfielder, the part abt the 4 Asians was very funny. I am interested what the 4th guy said? I guess Korean and Japanese teams are really afraid of Evergande and don't wish have any early clash with them. Abt the performance last nite for both side, Fact 1: Mariners did really good job last nite. the whole team is very well organised, players are quick and physical + good strategy of kind of counter attack. It is really useful when you face a stronger team. I think Mariners' coach has done a lot of work. Well done! Fact 2: Evergrande wasn't in good form last nite. Since the beginning of this season, Evergrande has fallen into something like "poor performance 1st half, come back 2nd half". this happens almost every week when they play in Chinese league. Chinese media tried to figure out why: listed some thoughts Possible reason 1, Lippi is a good coach, he can always find out whats wrong with the team during the game and do something changes during 2nd half. Reason 2: Most teams treat Evergrande as a super monster or new upstart, hate them, would do whatsoever to stop them winning. Its just like if a young player had successfully marked n stopped Ronaldo or Messi, that player d become very famous next day. However, due to the quality difference, the weaker team normally can only uphold for d 1st half. Reason 3: Certain player may treat the match against Evergrande as an interview or trial to get a better paid job offer either from Evergrande or its rivals. So they d put 200% effort in it. I guess for all soccer fans, wonderful games is all we want! Can't wait to watch the 2nd leg. Good luck to both sides and wish to have a good referee as well.

Is SBS a reliable sauce these days?