Posts Tagged ‘Fabian Barbiero’

It is a big hole

Friday, December 4th, 2009

 

“It’s a big hole…can we get out of it from here, I think we can.

“There’s some soul searching, there’s some questions that need to be asked.

“Some honest answers need to be forthcoming if we are to get out of it.

So what are the questions Phil Stubbins was referring to at the press conference after another dismal Adelaide United performance?

Well given how many times Adelaide has been in this situation this season, presumably a lot of questions have already been asked.

Either way, Stubbins response was that there’s a lot of them, a  lot of cutting questions, but he couldn’t provide any more light into what the questions are

Stubbins also refused to get too negative about player’s performances believing negativity regarding individual performances will only result in more negativity.

Travis Dodd suggested one question everyone should ask themselves is whether they wanted to be at Adelaide, because if they do its imperative to stick together and not start blaming each other for the shocking series of results.

And while the coaches and players continue to insist that the mood remains positive, it certainly doesn’t look like that on the pitch after a fourth 0-2 home loss this season.

Sure, players are down on confidence and couldn’t/didn’t take the opportunities they had in the first half.

And then they succumbed to a sucker punch with a goal in first half stoppage time, which Stubbins said they never really recovered from.

The crowd isn’t receovering too with just 8500 rolling up and many left as soon as Song put his 79th minute penalty into the net.

So where to now?

Well it’s Brisbane next where another team close to United will have a chance to put some daylight between themselves and Adelaide.

There was a suggestion to try and do something a bit different in the build-up, something out of left-field to try and break the routine, but after so much talking and no real change in results, what left is there to try?

Perhaps a stop at a pharmacy might be in order for a few shots of passion and commitment because judging by how some player’s played tonight, that’s what’s needed.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in a-league, sport | No Comments »

The new line in the sand

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

There have been a lot of things said by Aurelio Vidmar and his team about Adelaide United’s worrying form slump.

In hindsight most of it has sounded fairly empty and shallow simply because the results have continued to deteriorate.

But maybe this week things have changed, because finally, perhaps, the penny has dropped.

Twelve months ago Adelaide United was top of the A-League, and about to play in the Club World Cup.

Now as anyone can see, the Reds are bottom, a massive 13 points behind league leaders and arch rivals Melbourne Victory.

Reds supporters can only hope this is the jolt the club needs to resurrect a campaign that while disappointing and frustrating, certainly isn’t beyond salvaging.

And without doubt the signs are encouraging….well the verbal signs are that is.

Following the shocking performance in Townsville, Mark Rudan became the first player to speak out in really angry terms about United’s historically low position.

An “embarrassed” Aurelio Vidmar apologised for the team’s form and accepted full responsibility for the fall to the bottom of the table, admitting;

“I’ve made some mistakes.

What I’ve done has been in the best interests of the club and the team and sometimes I get things right and sometimes I don’t.

“Fortunately I still have to make decisions and sometimes they one way and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

“That’s how it is at the moment.

And the hugely popular Cassio, shared his pain but pleaded for the fans to keep the faith, and gave a 100% guarantee the team would turn the season around.

“Everyone knows we have not been good enough.

“We have to keep playing, keep training well like we did this week, and if we do that I tell you 100%, the results will come.

“I ask the fans to keep trusting us because we can turn the season around.

“I give you my word, we have good quality players here.

“What’s happened has happened.

“The season starts now for us against Newcastle.

So how are they going to change things around?

Well for one there will be changes in personnel.

 If the Blue bibs at training today are any guide then Hughes, Leckie, Pantelis and Alemao will not be starting against the Jets, but Reid, Barbiero, Jamieson and Cristiano will be.

Vidmar also hinted at positional changes.

So perhaps Cassio will revert to midfield, well he actually admitted it at the press conference, and Cristiano will lead the line.

 Assuming Leckie doesn’t play that will surely be in partnership with Dodd, even if the captain is better suited to midfield.

It’s hard to imagine Vidmar will revert to his preferred one up front formation when the team so desperately needs to score goals.

And then it’s down simply down to attitude, to not lose a single contest in any part of the pitch.

It’s about staying positive and as Vidmar said “not fracturing.”

Here at least Vidmar wants to lead from the front, suggesting he is not worried about his job security, only the job at hand.

And it would seem, quitting is not on his agenda either.

“When you sign on the dotted line it comes with the territory all these sort of things.

“Every coach and player will go through some tough times and some great times and this is just part of it.

“Mentally it’s hard but as a player I never threw in the towel, and I’m not going to give up.

“I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me, and I know the players still got a lot of fight left in them.

“We’re gonna fight, fight and fight until we get out of this.

As Vidmar also said, this is a like cup final for Adelaide, and as expectations have been raised with the success the team has enjoyed over the past five years, it’s now about how everyone “handles the situation.

Most importantly though, playing the Jets is about one thing, three points.

 And while it’s been encouraging to hear a little more anger and desperation this week, it will mean nothing if Adelaide fails to win.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in a-league, sport | No Comments »

Blah, blah, blah

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Blah, blah, blah, on the track.

Blah, blah, blah, during the game.

Better lines of communication, blah, blah, blah.

Much better movement and finishing, blah, blah, blah.

Rock bottom.

Talk is officially cheap at Adelaide United after yet another frustrating and impotent performance by the Reds left them bottom of the league with just 11 games to play.

Well at least the only way from here is up, but hell, how many different things can the club say they are trying in an attempt to end this slump, before we all conclude that they actually don’t have any new ideas in the locker?

A few weeks ago Aurelio Vidmar said he had one more thing he was going to try.

It would be a new approach to try and “change the culture, change mentality, change the whole thinking behind our club.”

Shortly after saying that, Vidmar chuckled it was all a wind-up, and there was actually nothing new, it was just some fun to have with the media.

Well how we all laughed, just as we did at his Saudi Arabia heads-off gibe.

Well who is laughing now, except all the teams and rival fans in the league laughing at Adelaide’s situation?

Bottom of the league after 16 games.

Hilarious.

After playing 16 games last season Adelaide was top with 27 points, 25 goals scored and 18 conceded.

Those eight wins, three draws and five losses would be good enough for second right now with an attack ranked second and a defence ranked third.

Instead, with four wins, five draws and seven losses, 14 goals scored and 20 conceded, United is bottom and has the worst attack, but somewhat bizarrely the equal fourth best defence.

This week we were told that “as a vote of confidence“ the starting 11 would be the same as the previous game for the first time since Round 9.

 

This week we were told that the lines of communication had been opened so that senor players could offer feedback on training sessions and other issues of importance, (except selection) in an attempt to improve on-field leadership and thus performance.

This week we were told that this football “perestroika” had already had an effect on the training track.

Well, after the 2-1 defeat in Townsville, where is the evidence that any of these ideas paid dividends?

Where were the leaders of this new democratic Adelaide United?

Where was the sign that this group of 11 players was motivated by the vote of confidence so publicly given to them by their coach?

Where was the sign that there was even motivation by fear?

United knew that defeat coupled with other results would see them drop to the bottom of the table, but that seemed to provide no extra motivation.

While the admirable Barbiero did charge into the net when Cristiano scored the Reds (deserved on the 2nd half performance) injury time consolation goal, where was the anger, or outward sign of passion when McBreen and Fowler scored?

What comments have you heard or read from an Adelaide player or official that can only be interpreted as an expression of real anger or deep pain at the club’s dismal position?

With Sarkies, Owusu and Cristiano all apparently leaving in January and rumours that Cassio and Aleamo will follow them, maybe no one cares about this season anymore.

One shudders to think what might happen in the ACL if things don’t improve.

Of the team that won in Perth in United’s 16th game of the 2008/9 campaign, eight finished on the field against the Fury; Galekovic, Cornthwaite, Cassio, Sarkies, Dodd, Barbiero, Cristiano and Jamieson.

Ogenenovski, Reid and Mullen were the other three.

So the personnel is largely unchanged, and really only Reid hasn’t been adequately replaced given Rudan and Fyfe are not dissimilar to the Og monster and Mullen.

Taking all this into account it’s hard to work out what, if anything Aurelio Vidmar can say at this week’s press conference(s) that will be any different to what we’ve heard over the past couple of months.

Is there even any point in fact in having a pre-match chat to the media except to say what players might be in or out?

No, there isn’t.

So maybe Adelaide should cancel all media commitments this week because from now on, only actions count.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in a-league, sport | No Comments »

Maybe it was just a game

Sunday, November 1st, 2009


Moments after turning off the recorders and cameras on Friday, Aurelio Vidmar said the new thing he’d been working on to try and find that elusive winning formula was actually nothing.

There wasn’t really a new approach to try and “change the culture, change mentality, change the whole thinking behind our club,” it was just a bit of a media wind up he said.

Maybe it was, because on the evidence of last night’s bore draw in Canberra, there was really nothing new or different about United’s performance.

Yes there was a clean sheet, the first in five matches, but in terms of chances created, there was much less than there has been in other games this season, and two of the four shots on target happened in second half injury time.

Incredibly after 13 rounds of the seasons, Adelaide sits just one point shy of fourth position, but that says more about the inconsistency of the league than the Reds doing anything particularly well.

Once again, their transition from defence was too slow, and despite the need for three points, Vidmar didn’t go to the bench until the 72nd minute.

Why leave it so late?

Also, why was Fabian Barbiero not included from the start?

Sure he was suspended against Melbourne, but given the performance was largely a poor one, then why not try and change things around?

In some ways it was a double punishment for Barbiero and it’s hard to imagine him not being disappointed by this.

Including a player that can so obviously tick a number of boxes in an attacking sense makes sense, but instead the team labored for 71 minutes before he got a chance, and in truth probably had Eugene Galekovic to thank for earning them a point.

As we have seen with Adelaide, they just don’t come from behind, (the last time was more than a year ago) and had Matt Simon and Adam Kwasnik not tried to be too clever in the 74th minute, then that’s exactly what United would have had to do.

United couldn’t even capitalise on Matthew Crowell’s unfortunate second yellow which gave them ten minutes to try and nab the three points.

The frustrating thing is that in patches Adelaide can play good football, but for whatever reason it’s not happening this season.

 

Vidmar has talked about a need for leadership but he has born leaders on the field.

So if he’s in the mood to try and shake things up, why not hand the captain’s armband to one of them and see what happens?

As long as things are explained to the players beforehand, then surely they are big enough to accept it and put the team first.

I’ve seen the manager at my club in England, Leeds, hand the captaincy to a player signed on-loan because of his leadership skills.

Results improved dramatically.

No disrespect to Travis Dodd, you won’t meet a nicer bloke, but maybe he’ll benefit from not having the responsibility of captaincy and instead can focus on developing some consistency and real potency in his own game.

Aurelio Vidmar has always struck me as straight-shooter, but when you consider the situation last week when in the absence of Dodd, Galekovic was handed the armband instead of Pantelis, maybe he just can’t make this particular decision with the captaincy.

Galekovic may well be a good option as captain, but it’s believed the team weren’t told about it beforehand, and if that’s the case then it’s understandable why some may have been disappointed by this and the on-field performance reflected that.

Either way, Brisbane is now the focus on Friday at Hindmarsh, a MUST win game, maybe not in terms of league position but simply for confidence and momentum.

Adelaide has four of its next six matches at home, with a faltering Gold Coast and the inconsistent Jets separated by a trip to Townsville, before the Phoenix fly-in on December 18.

Twelve points from those matches is entirely feasible, but unless Vidmar can get Reid fit and work out his best 11, then it’s hard to imagine things going that smoothly.

Adelaide does have a deep squad but I often wonder what Vidmar thinks his best 11 is?

Could it possibly be:  Galekovic, Mullen, Rudan, Fyfe, Jamieson, Reid, Cassio, Dodd, Barbiero, Cristiano, Owusu?

Bench: Birighitti, Cornthwaite, Leckie, Alemao.

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in a-league, sport | No Comments »

close but no cigar

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

 

Now Adelaide know how The Fury feels.

Two weeks ago Eugene Galekovic’s heroics saved the Reds with a string of saves.

This week, with brilliant parries from Owusu and Sarkies it was Tando Velaphi who ensured that Victor Sikora’s 80th minute goal was enough for Perth to claim the three points.

As the pre-match comments suggested both teams were intent on claiming victory and although the quality in the final third was nothing like we had seen earlier in the night by Sydney, Adelaide performed much better than it did against the Jets.

And, yes a significant reason for United’s improvement was down to the inclusion of Fabian Barbiero.

From the first whistle Barbiero linked well with his defence and broke forward with pace.

Importantly given the system Aurelio Vidmar wants to play, this was a big boost to the lone striker, Lloyd Owusu.

Owusu put in arguably his most effective shift since joining the Reds, stirring up Perth defender Andy Todd in a tempestuous first half and being a defender’s block away from his second Adelaide goal.

Barbiero ended up playing 81 minutes and his energy seemed to boost the confidence of Hughes who looked much more positive than four days ago.

Kristian Sarkies also played with purpose again thus building on his gradual improvement since his recent return from long term injury.

But despite the general improvement from Monday, United returns home empty-handed and now faces five really tough games as it tries to save its season.

Sydney at home is next followed by away games against Melbourne and the Mariners, before the Roar and Gold Coast travel to Hindmarsh.

Three of them may be at home, but two wins from six home games so far does not suggest a healthy points haul is imminent.

And if these five games don’t produce good results, a top four finish might be beyond them.

Luckily perhaps for Adelaide then it’s a top six play-off format this season because based on what we have seen so far that may be as high as they can hope to finish.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in a-league, sport | No Comments »

Every cloud…

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

 

Lucas Pantelis’ swollen knee is hopefully nothing more than that and will only sideline him for a couple of weeks, but his absence could be crucial in helping resuscitate Adelaide United’s season.

Numerous well-credentialed A-League observers have critiqued his season along the lines of ‘could do better ‘, and while Pantelis is currently United’s top scorer this season (three paltry goals), more often than not, that level of impact has not been maintained across the full 90 minutes.

So now someone else gets a chance, and that someone is Fabian Barbiero, who along with Paul Reid is a BIG reason why Adelaide has been underperforming this season.

Fit again after a bout of osteitis pubis and a busted calf, Barbiero is United’s only real box-to-box midfielder, with apologies to Adam Hughes, who is meant to be one and still may be one day when he rediscovers his confidence and figures out his role in the side.

Paul Reid also gets about but doesn’t possess the goal scoring threat Barbiero does, remember Newcastle last season.

So given Aurelio Vidmar is seemingly determined to stick with his one upfront 4-2-3-1/4-5-1 system, then arguably Barbiero is Adelaide United’s most important player.

Put simply he can do something that no one else can consistently do, link the defence and midfield.

Travis Dodd can do it, as he showed against Newcastle when he was switched into the middle with 20 minutes left.

Travis Dodd can do it, but is mostly deployed out wide.

Travis Dodd can do but as his typical of him in a game, he can’t maintain the intensity for 90 minutes.

Maybe that’s a physical impossibility given the often explosive nature of his runs past opposition players.

In fact some observers suggested that was the reason he missed the penalty against the Jets because he was still recovering from the run that led to the foul on Pantelis.

But whatever the reason, judging by the performances throughout his career, it’s obvious that Dodd can’t be the type of player that Barbiero is.

Hopefully, Barbiro will get a start against Perth, but it’s going to take some time for him to recover full match fitness, so to expect too much straight away might be unwise.

At the very least it should help Adelaide to have some more composure in midfield, enabling them to keep the ball a little more and use it a lot more wisely.

In turn this should bring in Lloyd Owusu into the play.

Service and support are what he has been lacking, and it’s visibly draining Owusu’s confidence.

Barbiero is the man who can help on both fronts.

Flanking Barbiero, Cassio and Dodd can also benefit as the three of them can provide the pace and skill with structure that Vidmar says can be successful again, simply because it was last season.

Behind Barbiero, Sarkies and Hughes will try to shield the back four, at least until Reid is fit and one of them is sent to the bench.

Then all Vidmar has to do is decide how he uses Mullen, Alemao, Marrone and the two defenders who look likely to fight for a place alongside Mark Rudan, namely Fyfe and Cornthwaite.

It will be some dilemma should everyone be fit for selection, but I digress.

The biggest question though is whether Adelaide can get a result in Perth after a five day turnaround?

United showed in the ACL the ability to deal with a heavy schedule, but the team was playing with confidence and now essentially it isn’t.

Both teams do have good defences and United has played reasonably well on the road where Vidmar’s preferred formation is infinitely more suited.

Glory coach David Mitchell says his players are dirty on themselves after failing to beat the Fury last week despite playing the second half against 10 men.

Playing Adelaide is therefore a chance for redemption.

Aurelio Vidmar says his side is going to Perth to win and not just to not lose.

Those words seem to suggest an open game and therefore goals.

But Adelaide has not at any time shown it can play a shootout style of football, and if they fall behind, they are even less likely to.

In fact United hasn’t come from behind to win for almost a year.

To be precise it was Round 9 last season, at Hindmarsh, against Perth with Alemao and then Dodd’s penalty sealing the three points after Rukavytsya’s 55th minute opener.

That may or may not be an omen for this week’s clash, but if I were a betting man and notwithstanding some heroics from the returning Barbiero, I’d say the first team to score will not lose, and will most probably win.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in a-league, sport | No Comments »