Wanderers survive last test to beat Seoul 3-2 and revive ACL hopes

"You don’t think Australian clubs are disadvantaged by the salary cap?" Yes they are in Asia, however whether people like it or not, with such a young competition, the salary cap is vital in ensuring smaller teams do not spend beyond their means, and bigger teams do not buy all the best players and dominate for years, thus diminishing any support the smaller teams may get. Baby steps. "You don’t think FFA has been negligent in failing to expand the competition, thus not offering more opportunities for young Aussies?" Expansion is required, however adding two more teams will in fact diminish the quality of the league for a couple of years as the player pool is not their to supplement so many professional teams with high quality players. I go to a lot of NSWPL games, and there are probably 3 players (who arent 30+) who I can see being successful in the current A-league, with probably 10 players who may be able to crack it. "You don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about by China/Japan investing big money into youth development and acquiring big name foreign players?" Of course, but you say that like Australia can do the same - which we cant - or that we have a way to combat it, which we dont. The money isn't there. What do you want the FFA to do to combat it? Seems like people are quick to look at negatives without providing a solution. "You don’t think the quality of the foreigners we are able to bring in hurts us in comparison to the rest of Asia?" See above. You think any Australian team could offer to pay the Oscar's and Hulk's of the world what they are making a week in a week? They'd go bust after two weeks wages. We still get to enjoy talented players who we would never have dreamed of enjoying. The Berisha's, the Castelens, the Nico's, the Fornaroli's. All exceptional players who are a joy to watch at a fraction of the price, plus they dont see the league as a only a place they can receive a quick buck. "You don’t think the silly travel schedules, followed by the split round played a part in the different results from one matchday to the next?" Yes, but it seems like the FFA have seen the issue and are addressing it, isnt that what we want? "You don’t think the National Curriculum is producing players who can only play one system?" Isn't that the whole point of the National Curriculum? To have the youth develop so that we can play a certain system? The German's do the same thing. Took them 14 years for it to bare fruit and help them win the World Cup. You will see in 5-10 years time a plethora of amazing, talented young Aussies come to the fore. "You don’t think the lack of promotion/relegation means young Aussies don’t learn about how to deal with high pressure environments?" You think that's all they need to deal with 'pressure' environments? Promotion and relegation? k.

The salary cap AND player retention are 2 big issues. For Adelaide and the Wanderers, their squads of last year have been decimated for various reasons Adelaide lost Kamau, Goodwin, Sanchez, Djite, Mauk from their starting XI without adequate replacements. The Wanderers lost Alberto, Topor-Stanley, Jamieson, Andreu, Vidosic, Castelen, and Bridge from the starting XI. Their was no reward for these players and bigger contracts came their way and good on them. But without a significant uplift in salary cap money, it is near impossible to keep certain players under the cap. We need larger squads but these need to be u23 Australian players and we need a 5-7 man bench as per the ACL with 2 spaces reserved for u23 players or a quota to the number of u23 players in the match day squads.

The results certainly had something to do with a 9 day break . Congrats f f a scheduling

Split rounds when needed , because there should be reward for being in the Acl not punished by f f a .

If only we could qualify through Oceania again for youth team tournaments . Would u be happy then . Asia is tougher , that's what we wanted . Not the easy path

Fold the k league Long live the A league

Well said N... I have sent an article to teh Roar saying we need change but ... the change should not come from ill informed fools.

lol

Just on the wanderers can't leave until tonight thing - turns out part of the participation agreement is the away team needs to hang around the day after the match for media reasons - bizarre

You don't think Australian clubs are disadvantaged by the salary cap? You don't think FFA has been negligent in failing to expand the competition, thus not offering more opportunities for young Aussies? You don't think there's anything to be concerned about by China/Japan investing big money into youth development and acquiring big name foreign players? You don't think the quality of the foreigners we are able to bring in hurts us in comparison to the rest of Asia? You don't think the silly travel schedules, followed by the split round played a part in the different results from one matchday to the next? You don't think the National Curriculum is producing players who can only play one system? You don't think the lack of promotion/relegation means young Aussies don't learn about how to deal with high pressure environments? These are all big picture issues, but all are relevant and worth discussing in relation to Champions League results, because the regional tournament is a good barometer of progress. The people who really love the sound of their own voices are some "experts" on here.

:)

"but sometimes it is a matter of accepting exactly where we are in relation to the talent pool in Asia these days." Exactly. But alot of the media personal forget to realise that. I mean, Shanghai SIPG could pay the whole Wanderers squad with the two weeks worth of wages they pay Oscar alone. There's the gulf right there.

Mind you, I'm a bit surprised to not be reading anything about the general standard of play in the ACL. The standard of competititon is growing by the season and I reckon the stature is increasing too. With the expenditure taking place in China, Japan to a lesser extent, they are raising the bar way beyond where the competititon was a decade ago and probably well above where it was when Wanderers found themselves with winners medals in 2014. It was a pleasant surprise to see Brisbane win their qualifier in China even if it was their pre season and yes it was disappointing to witness the heavy defeats but sometimes it is a matter of accepting exactly where we are in relation to the talent pool in Asia these days.

Sorry Fad, am trapped under fallen sky and have limited internet access.

Spot on Nemesis. There is a difference between analysing a loss, and using a single result to analyse everything about football in Australia from grass roots to professional football. The weeks worth of articles that were written when all three Australian teams performed poorly in the ACL was so off the mark that I couldnt believe that the people writing the tripe took themselves seriously. The fact that people actually used three games in one week to make a judgement on Australian football as a whole was laughable. All the 'experts' who commented in that manner were only doing so because they loved the sound of their voice, love a knee jerk overreaction for clicks, and love to say how everything is wrong and nothing is right.

See Freddie, this response of yours is a perfect example of drawing conclusions that have nothing to do with the facts presented. What I alluded to in my post was simply: It is ridiculous to suggest the FFA, or any of the issues I listed, had anything to do with a bad ACL performance, or a good ACL performance. I've got no problem with analysts dissecting a loss & showing up deficiencies in the technical, tactical, physical or mental attributes of ALeague teams. Alas, most analysts don't have the aptitude to do this. Or, such analysis doesn't get as many clicks as the knee-jerk, "Sky Falling Down" analysis.

And the expert is you is it Nemesis? Ok. Every country in the world (not just Australia) would get negative press if two of their teams got flogged by those margins in the Champions League. You don't have to agree with it, but the media has to report what it sees, and analysts have to try and offer solutions. That's their job. If they'd tried to paint those results a couple of weeks back in a positive light, they'd have been smashed by fans for "sugar-coating" the truth. Let's be honest, they can't win.

Strange really Waz - all the ills of the sport all supposedly sit on the shoulders of governing bodies. It goes on at local level as well. Even the current bad weather here in NSW is the fault of our local association and they should be doing more to ensure fields are able to open and games to proceed and in those years where the season overflows into September, especially on Father's day the abuse and detractors reach new heights of absurdity and i always point out that most fathers and sons will be quite happy playing on father's day. ACL is difficult to negotiate and imagine the noise there would be if Mourinho had to play on a Monday in Australia and back up on a Thursday night in China, Japan or Korea rather than just a quick trip to Russia. With time differences and flight schedules, WSW cannot leave Seoul until tonight which means they arrive back in Sydney Friday morning and will need to rest and recuperate ready for Sunday's fixture. It is even harder when going to China as there is more internal travel on top of a long flight. I'm not a big fan of split rounds but much rather see help provided with scheduling and include the TV - realizing they pay the bills. It is a tough ask unless you are cashed up and can provide private jets etc and lets not forget the changing face of China where teams are able to attract stronger players and the big names that we dream or drool about in the A League. I would have gone to Seoul for last night's game but couldn't face the idea of a 10 hour flight as I did a lot of traveling over Christmas and New Year and am not ready to squeeze into cattle class just yet and budget won't extend to business class. It is a lovely stadium although when we went a few seasons ago there were 22 of us in an end that held around 15000...very surreal!

I've heard the K-League is folding as a consequence of last nights result

very remote