This was a game of two halves, and the first was a horror-show for United fans. The starting line-up saw Rees, Alagich and Valkanis at the back, Aloisi, Spagnuolo, Veart and Kemp in midfield, Burns back a bit as a forward midfielder with Brazilians Romario and Fernando up front. Puzzlingly, Socceroo Travis Dodd was on the bench with Bobby Petta and Greg Owens, with some ring-in ‘keeper there for Robbie Bajic after the latter’s brain explosion (and subsequent red card) last week against Melbourne Victory.
The first half was ordinary, with an Adelaide game plan that Marcus Wilson writing on the A-League site kindly describes as “patient” but, in reality, it simply lacked imagination. Aloisi was the worst culprit, earning the ire of the crowd for taking the ball and passing backwards to a defender, no creativity at all. Spagnuolo was best in a bad first half, the only player with both composure and touch on the ball. We deserved to go in 1-0 down to a Leilei Gao goal – the little Chinaman was in everything, crossing poorly, scoring a break-away goal and arguably handballing in the United penalty area.
At half time I reflected that Kosmina ought to leave no paint on the walls in the change-room, such should be the blast he gave such an insipid first half. Not since a poor first half in January against Queensland Roar have I seen the Reds booed off by their own fans.
Adelaide looked more interested in running, chasing and pushing forward in the second half and the momentum built as two big cheers came in the second half for two crucial moves by coach Kosmina – Romario was benched for Dodd, then Aloisi for Owens. Both changes were welcomed by the fans (especially the merged northern Red Army and southern Gate, experimenting with a potential merger at the north (picture below)).
The first half was ordinary, with an Adelaide game plan that Marcus Wilson writing on the A-League site kindly describes as “patient” but, in reality, it simply lacked imagination. Aloisi was the worst culprit, earning the ire of the crowd for taking the ball and passing backwards to a defender, no creativity at all. Spagnuolo was best in a bad first half, the only player with both composure and touch on the ball. We deserved to go in 1-0 down to a Leilei Gao goal – the little Chinaman was in everything, crossing poorly, scoring a break-away goal and arguably handballing in the United penalty area.
At half time I reflected that Kosmina ought to leave no paint on the walls in the change-room, such should be the blast he gave such an insipid first half. Not since a poor first half in January against Queensland Roar have I seen the Reds booed off by their own fans.
Adelaide looked more interested in running, chasing and pushing forward in the second half and the momentum built as two big cheers came in the second half for two crucial moves by coach Kosmina – Romario was benched for Dodd, then Aloisi for Owens. Both changes were welcomed by the fans (especially the merged northern Red Army and southern Gate, experimenting with a potential merger at the north (picture below)).
The on-field changes, reducing about 25 years in playing ages, added greater pace for the team. Romario had been poorly used by United but he didn’t run much either, and it seemed in the first half (and even after Bauxinho went off) we were looking for Romario even from 5 yards, to finish the goal. Our finishing was woeful all night.
Having said all of that, with more urgency we got an equaliser through Owens, the ball coming off NZ ‘keeper Paston’s behind for a deserved goal. We didn’t deserve to win if the first half counted for anything, but so far as opportunities went, we deserved a second goal with Paston making some top-shelf saves late in the game, Spagnuolo unluckily hitting the inside of the right post and Burns failing to get a second downward header after Fernando’s header towards goal, Burns lifting it over the crossbar.
I left the game puzzled. Why did we persistently cross the ball high to Spagnuolo, the shortest player other than Romario? Why did Dodd not start after being so unlucky to be taken off early in the Melbourne Victory game to allow Beltrame to replace disgraced Bajic? Why the change in urgency in the second half?
Before a pleasing crowd of 11,750 atHindmarsh Stadium, we saw an improved Knights outfit without one supporter in the outer. Neil Emblen was clearly their best, the bald man dominating in the air as we wasted time with high balls. Jonas Salley was also useful and both Gao and Marcina looked dangerous going forwards at times.
For Adelaide United, Spagnuolo was the stand-out – when you consider how poor the delivery was to him, he did well with what he got. So good was Spagnuolo it’s hard to nominate a 2 and 1, and as a former ‘keeper I’m giving 2 votes to Beltrame for some great saves and generally good discipline. I’d like to give one vote to Kosmina for taking off two ineffective players in Romario and Aloisi, both popular substitutions, but instead I’ll award one for Burns who toiled away in midfield, where he clearly does not belong.
We missed Ang Costanzo at the back or defensive midfield, plus Qu’s creativity up front. Romario did not sit long on the bench and was nowhere to be seen there 5 minutes after his benching. One wonders if this spells the certain end of the Romario experiment after his swansong appearance home this Friday against Newcastle Jets. Certainly he would not have appreciated the boisterous reception his substitution received, and the cheers were not for Dodd. One older gentleman behind me said “Kosmina needs the balls to take Romario off” before the substitution, and he did. That will be the talking point after this game, I think.
So on to Newcastle this Friday and we need to step up a notch to beat them in a match we have to win to stay in the chase for second spot, with Sydney FC two points ahead of us and we are on equal points now with Newcastle and Central Coast. Must win, that match, and hopefully we have Costanzo back and Aloisi on the bench. This year should have been Ross’ testimonial, and I concur with the chants before his benching “We got the wrong Aloisi” to the tune of the Toyota One-Ton-Rodeo advertisement. We sure did. The Life FM commentator said he hoped the cheers for Aloisi's substitution were for Owens and not Aloisi, because "Aloisi does a lot of things around the park that the fans don't notice". We sure don't, and I think its insulting to the fans to suggest we don't know football. Aloisi, to more and more fans I sit next to, is not contributing.
Having said all of that, with more urgency we got an equaliser through Owens, the ball coming off NZ ‘keeper Paston’s behind for a deserved goal. We didn’t deserve to win if the first half counted for anything, but so far as opportunities went, we deserved a second goal with Paston making some top-shelf saves late in the game, Spagnuolo unluckily hitting the inside of the right post and Burns failing to get a second downward header after Fernando’s header towards goal, Burns lifting it over the crossbar.
I left the game puzzled. Why did we persistently cross the ball high to Spagnuolo, the shortest player other than Romario? Why did Dodd not start after being so unlucky to be taken off early in the Melbourne Victory game to allow Beltrame to replace disgraced Bajic? Why the change in urgency in the second half?
Before a pleasing crowd of 11,750 atHindmarsh Stadium, we saw an improved Knights outfit without one supporter in the outer. Neil Emblen was clearly their best, the bald man dominating in the air as we wasted time with high balls. Jonas Salley was also useful and both Gao and Marcina looked dangerous going forwards at times.
For Adelaide United, Spagnuolo was the stand-out – when you consider how poor the delivery was to him, he did well with what he got. So good was Spagnuolo it’s hard to nominate a 2 and 1, and as a former ‘keeper I’m giving 2 votes to Beltrame for some great saves and generally good discipline. I’d like to give one vote to Kosmina for taking off two ineffective players in Romario and Aloisi, both popular substitutions, but instead I’ll award one for Burns who toiled away in midfield, where he clearly does not belong.
We missed Ang Costanzo at the back or defensive midfield, plus Qu’s creativity up front. Romario did not sit long on the bench and was nowhere to be seen there 5 minutes after his benching. One wonders if this spells the certain end of the Romario experiment after his swansong appearance home this Friday against Newcastle Jets. Certainly he would not have appreciated the boisterous reception his substitution received, and the cheers were not for Dodd. One older gentleman behind me said “Kosmina needs the balls to take Romario off” before the substitution, and he did. That will be the talking point after this game, I think.
So on to Newcastle this Friday and we need to step up a notch to beat them in a match we have to win to stay in the chase for second spot, with Sydney FC two points ahead of us and we are on equal points now with Newcastle and Central Coast. Must win, that match, and hopefully we have Costanzo back and Aloisi on the bench. This year should have been Ross’ testimonial, and I concur with the chants before his benching “We got the wrong Aloisi” to the tune of the Toyota One-Ton-Rodeo advertisement. We sure did. The Life FM commentator said he hoped the cheers for Aloisi's substitution were for Owens and not Aloisi, because "Aloisi does a lot of things around the park that the fans don't notice". We sure don't, and I think its insulting to the fans to suggest we don't know football. Aloisi, to more and more fans I sit next to, is not contributing.
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