Adelaide United vs Melbourne City FC: A-League men's semi-final first leg

i think a lot of people were up in arms about blackwood starting and clough coming on as a sub, but it makes sense when you factor in that you can exploit city when they get into their defensive shape. having a player who can drop between the lines causes them issues (and it has this season against adelaide) - blackwood and clough can both play that role, but as you know they attract the boos from the home crowd for their performances or lack of lol kudos to carl for changing up tactics, people have been very critical of him as a coach - but hes done a fine job given the lack of resources he has to work with. hes proven that he can change tactics on the fly, get the subs right as well as the starting XI at the other end of the spectrum, im still not sure kisnorbo is a decent coach. it will be interesting at the recovery session this morning, a lot of very sore and tired players. all to play for still in the second leg

nabbout cops more abuse from adelaide fans then victory ones that chant really used to effect him when he was younger, but i think hes actually grown to secretly love it and use it as inspiration. hes always happy to give it back to the fans when he scores and lifts up his shirt to show his stomach or cups his hands to his ears. im a big fan of players giving it back to the fans as well lol

2 legs really adds some nuance, I hope it stays. I was shocked to see Blackwood start over the VISA player, Clough and of course Yengi. Interesting to see how CV tinkers for the away leg, he should be out to grab a goal.

Certainly picked up some of the stuff aimed at Nabbout. :laughing: Adelaide certainly looked pretty knackered in the last 15-20, but I give them a chance in Melbourne. A small one.

The is no away goal rule in this 2022 season.

city will be disappointed to have not won last night and break the hoodoo at the same time. jamie maclaren was surprisingly off and showed yet again why he isnt socceroos calibre - 3 or 4 good looks at goal and didnt bulge the net, not clinical enough. i know people were up in arms about the 'penalty', but i had a great view of it in real time and didnt think it was one - i've seen them given in similar circumstances though Im not sure what was picked up on mics for the tv viewing audience, but it was a very hostile crowd - nabbout and reis copped a lot of abuse as did players who started there careers in adelaide, jamo and leckie. (leckie and lopez had a 'handbags moment in the tunnel after the match, which could've broken out into an all in scuffle) City dont get talked about enough as being a 'dirty' team either, all the CFG teams play the same way - with deliberate tactical fouls to break up play, very frustrating to watch adelaide looked very 'leggy', 3 games in a week is tough. - recovery today will be crucial all the pressure is on city now, they still havent beaten anyone in the top 4 this season (9/10 games?) and lost last time adelaide came to melbourne

I recall season 2, they had two legged finals for the first 3 or 4 seasons, and the Victory played Adelaide in a semi final. First leg was in Adelaide as well, and I'm pretty sure that turned out nil-all. In the return leg (in Melb), Adelaide pinched an early goal, I can picture him, bur I've forgotten his name, was it Dodd or something similar? Anyway, Adelaide are now in the box seat because the away goal rule applied back then. They kept the 1-0 advantage for a while, can't remember exactly, either just before HT or just after it, Danny Allsopp drives one from outside the box on his left peg, and that evens it up. Then barely seconds from FT, Victory score the winner, which gave them a home grand final. Once again, I can't remember the blokes name, but he was English, and he had barely played any minutes all season, comes off the bench and nods home a winner. His first name might have been Jamie?

Lionheart - yes the score tells us it is still anyone's game but in listening to the commentators opinions after words it was amazing how they were trying to talk up what in fact turned out to be an old-fashioned, bad tempered, game of "cup tie football". It was however interesting to hear Craig Goodwin's overall opinion of the game when he said "it was a game with some good football building until the final ball was turned over to the opposition. How right you are Craig,I got tired waiting for the "final ball" splitting a defence but that's another thing the score tells us, that pass was never made. Cheers jb

Wont be surprised if City dick Adelaide hard in the return.

still anyone's game

Might have to pass on the Sunday roast and head to AAMI :silly:

Hahahaha, pretty much lolz :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Agree. Surely City boys will feel confident going into the second game at home. Fingers crossed.

City did that pretty comfortably in the end - Adelaide's going to need to improve quite a bit in Melbourne. Interesting game. Evening all.

It will be interesting to see what crowd City pull in. There'll obviously be quite a few Reds supporters there.

0-0. The Reds might be content with that. City will rue lost chances. Now to do it again in front a hostile Melbourne crowd.

good night, goodnight

Jamo v anyone on the other team!

Disappointment for Adelaide at home normally you would think they needed a positive result to have a chance in the 2nd leg City the happier of the 2 and could go into their 3rd Grand final in a row on Sunday

That's it. Job done City.