Disappointing, frustrating, disheartening. Pick your adjective, take all three even.
This is what Newcastle Jets fans are feeling at this point of the A-League Men season. Some of the words used online are far harsher. Some have merit, others just smack of the usual unhelpful venting.
Hopes were raised after securing three points in a mid-week home fixture against the Western Sydney Wanderers. One solitary point from the next four fixtures has left fans with that ‘here we go again’ feeling.
The Wellington Phoenix home fixture (Gosford was an outlying New Zealand satellite for a couple of hours) was the most frustrating of evenings.
Myself and a couple of friends made the journey into familiar enemy territory. The usual banter began before we even made it to the ground.
We stopped off for dinner and a couple of pre-match beers. I was asked if I was wearing my Jets shirt for a bet. Typical Coastie, old joke and not at the ground to support his local side.
The CCM versus Victory game was the early game of this mid-week double header. Then $32 for a seat in the away bay, no extension on the $20 ticket offer?! Welcome back to the Coast!
The game itself proved to be even more frustrating. Newcastle dominated play, had two thirds of the possession and created numerous opportunities. At 2-1 down at half time, all three of us agreed on one thing: there would be more goals in the second half.
When Olivier Boumal rifled home to equal the score in the 63rd minute it did seem to be only a matter of when, not if, the Novocastrians would secure the three match points. Wellington’s David Ball’s 88th-minute header put paid to any ideas of a glorious win.
(Photo by Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty Images)
Defensive frailties were again to the fore, including Jets captain Matt Jurman for the early penalty and failing to decisively attack the ball for the third and ultimately winning goal.
The finger was pointed at Jordan Elsey being out of position for the second.
The shot count from this game borders on the ridiculous. The Phoenix had ten shots, five were on target, and I believe the statistician was being generous too. The Jets had 31 shots, and nine were on target.
To rub salt into the travelling fans’ wounds, some Coasties did a fair amount of gloating in the final minutes of the game. The F3 rivalry is alive and well even when it’s not Jets versus Coast.
The Adelaide versus Newcastle contest proved to be another heartbreaker. Former Jet Craig Goodwin again proved to be a big thorn in our footballing side, setting up George Blackwood for a third-minute opener and Mohamed Toure for the late winner.
Angus Thurgate continued his rich vein of goal scoring for Newcastle with his fifth of the season.
For all the frustration, though, the football has been attacking, slick, brave and entertaining (especially for the neutral football fan). In Thurgate, Daniel Penha and Beka Mikeltadze, Newcastle have some of the best performers in the A-League Men.
This Friday night’s fixture may well return some good fortune to the Newcastle Jets’ faithful fans. The vagaries of the A-League Men fixture list, thanks to COVID, means a contest against the Wellington Phoenix.
The Kiwis will have potentially seven players missing from their squad. Five have been selected for the New Zealand All Whites’ Qatar World Cup qualifiers. David Ball is out suspended and Alex Rufer is currently under an injury cloud.
That said, the Phoenix have proven to be very resilient throughout the last two-plus years. Their depth will be severely tested. The likes of defender Tim Payne, in-form goalkeeper Oli Sail and striker David Ball will be very hard to replace.
With a $10 active support ticket promotion for this game, a reasonable crowd should be on hand to cheer on the Jets. Hopefully less frustration, plenty of goals and dare I predict it, a win.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
he wasnt mentioned at all during our conversation but i know he was suffering the after effects of having covid, in terms of his endurance/stamina - it took him a while to shake off the after effects of it unfortunately. pappas's style is incredibly taxing on the body, people assume just because a player is 18/19 years old they are a fitness machine - alot of the time they're not, it takes a long time to build up muscle mass in the lower part of your body. would not surpise me if its, exactly the same issue with archie goodwin
Simon Kelly
Roar Pro
Win lose or draw this one Pappas will still be Newcastle’s coach. He’s doing a good job on a limited budget. No point in changing the coach again. New owners( hopefully for next season) and the skies the limit.
Ryan
Guest
Did he mention why Lucas Mauragis isnt getting a run at all when our current fullbacks are all out of form???
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
his contract is up with al-wehda at season end and then comes the tough task of figuring out what to do next. im not confident adelaide can afford to sign him currently, theres still alot of things up in the air in terms of the clubs sale and alot of player movement (in terms of outgoing) has already been set in stone if he does leave if wont be to another a league team (victory offered a contract in the ball park of 1.4 million that would've effectively seen him finish his career in australia, but goody turned it down as he didnt want to play for an arch rival and his family and partner are all from adelaide) theres definitely one big contract left in him, would not be surprised if he follows the current trend of ex adelaide players heading to asia for $$$$ i dont think theres any left footed australian players that play on the left touchline (bozanic doesnt count as hes in midfield) in the country that consistently are at his level in terms of delivery, passing, creativity & leadership he'd be very close to the best left footed player in the comp (diamanti might have a word to say about that claim though) as for the sydney job, the next manager will need to rebuild that club (especially their much maligned youth developement) talay and pappas tick every single box, i dont think you'd find a sydney fan that would disprove of either appointment
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
even with Ben Halloran and Stef Mauk, Goodwin was the player who got AU through many games. I'm not the one to judge these matters, but I'd think Pappas would be better growing at Jets for a few years, before he joins Sydney.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Newcastles problem is they lack desperation or will to win . They seemed to be developing something before Christmas but even then after they reached a real high point they then slacked off against Macarthur. Boumal seems to have checked out, missed countless chances recently, pre Christmas he could have been a player of the year contender. Yuel I dont know if he has lost too much weight and same applies to Jordan Odoherty. Thurgate is the one guy giving everything, the rest vary between somewhat commited to a bit out of it. Penha is improving his fitness, he was probably The two center backs , both are slow , Elsey is a liability and Jurman is always hobbling. Where are the young guys from last year they need a fast fullback who is fit, Murnane and Hoffman they could move central .
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
a finals appearance is not out of the realms of possibilities given the current circumstances, but the jets need to start getting a wiggle on jets have 3 games in hand on some teams and an absurdly easy run home (only 2 games outside of NSW) fixturing has been bias towards all nsw teams yet again, but id much rather it favour a smaller side like newcastle then one of the other big NSW teams. i wouldnt be concerned about missing chances, the team is constantly creating them - if they werent creating them, then thats an issue - they will eventually smack a team 3 or 4 nil jets are in the top 2 (with adelaide) for most shots per match and in the top 3 for possession (with adelaide) its the other end of the pitch where the issue is. the elsey/jurman pairing is not working, for every 1 great game they have - theres 2 or 3 mistake ridden ones that come. Not sure either of them have the recovery speed to work in pappas's formation. then theres the goalie issue which still hasnt been solved. the winning coach of the jets/central match, may well be sydney bound next year.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Nix are so depleted i doubt we will even get close to the final 3rd in this game. It suxs that the Jets can only beat teams that are down on players but what do you expect with such a woeful coach in Pappas. A win here will keep the coach within a job - If the Nix win surely its curtains for Pappas.
Simon Kelly
Roar Pro
The fans on social media rubbishing Pappas really are ridiculous. I think considering what must be a limited budget we’re doing ok. He’ll complete the project too. Imagine what he could do with a few more dollars. Hopefully the ownership saga will be resolved before next season. My glass is still half full on making the finals too( yes I may well be delusional?!). Sydney are very ordinary. Newcastle must beat Wellington this week and get on a good roll from there on in.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
you could take the best player out of any side and they'd struggle (2/3 of the clubs best players have already left this season) but when you have an abundance of talent aged 16/17 years old then the blow is softened - clubs need to not be scared to throw the kids in goody will go very close to winning player of the season if he keeps his form up his namesake at newcastle could learn a thing or 2 from him, in terms of applying himself in training and general fitness - he has the ability to start for newcastle, but the body and mind arent matching up pappas is happy from our conversation on the weekend, given the jets circumstances. but like i said; if sydney dangles that carrot i would not be surprised to see him bite it. sydney offers a wealth of resources that newcastle doesnt have and although they have been chasing talay for a while now, pappas has his admirers. I am of the understanding that wellington have offered talay an extension, but he is yet to sign it, (read into that, what you will) which is interesting given the constant rumblings of sacking corica at season end pappas might be a better option, especially if he is given free run to overhaul the countrys worst performing youth setup (when you factor in finances and infrastructure) sydney
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
take Goodwin out of Adelaide and they're a different side Really hope Pappas remains with the Jets for next season
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
newcastle fans absolutely must be patient with pappas, i saw imbeciles on social media calling for him to be sacked - absolute lunacy. any newcastle fan who thought the team would make the finals this first season while pappas completely overhauls the playing style and team on a shoe string budget (which takes time) is delusional. the team is exactly where i expected them to be - pre season i said they would play expansive football and will shock teams on there day, but will ultimately miss the finals I know pappas personally (through our connection with goody) and we have regularily kept in contact over the past decade. He caught up with both goody and myself hours before kick off and we had a long overdue catch up. if the jets can keep pappas next season (sydney are circling talay, but i would not be surprised if they went all in for pappas) they will cause havoc and play finals pappas has shown he still has a keen eye for spotting talent, even though he isnt playing as many local hunter prospects as i would like (we had a great conversation about how and why this isnt happening) theres plenty of good young kids that could step up to play a league (van darssen, the younger langlois brother, martinelli, collins) its a worry for the league as whole in terms of entertainment that newcastle (no disrespect) play better football than 5 of the 7 teams above them in the league (city and adelaide the exceptions)