CCM v ADL – Bluetongue Stadium
Central Coast Mariners are back at their home fortress this weekend and Graham Arnold will be looking for a reaction from the players after a generally lack lustre performance in their away draw with Melbourne Heart. The Mariners were probably lucky to get away from AAMI Park with a share of the points last week not so much because of the great performance of the Heart but because of the poor quality of their own. While Nick Montgomery and Marcos Flores seemed up for the game, most of the team seemed to be waiting for someone else to “do something” and put in a performance which could easily have seen them leave with just a point from their two games so far.
The first of Heart’s two goals was scored by an offside player but regardless could have been prevented if not for a howler from Goalkeeper Justin Pasfield. The second exposed the lethargic looking effort our players showed during large periods of the game and we would have conceded a third before reply but for a superb save from Pasfield, thus redeeming himself for the earlier blunder.
Some of the post-match comments pointed to controversy surrounding the two penalties awarded to the Mariners but I don’t agree with that. Some suggested that Patrick Kisnorbo’s effort on Matt Simon was a simple hand on the shoulder which, if normally given, would see multiple penalties in every game. For me, they must have been looking somewhere else when Kisnorbo grabbed Matty in the headlock and prevented him jumping for the header off a corner, a clear penalty. For the second, while in the A-League handballs like this one have not always historically been given, everywhere else in the football world this is a penalty. Simple as that! I would describe this one as a “Howard Webb” penalty. Meaning Howard Webb (referee of the last World Cup final) would certainly have given it.
This week’s opponent, Adelaide United, have shown their intention to play attacking football this season and having scored five goals in their two games played this is so far proving successful. I am yet to be convinced of their defensive qualities so it will be interesting to see how they go this weekend. Last week against the Melbourne Victory, albeit with a little help from some average work from the officials, the Reds jumped out to a two nil lead and appeared to have the game in their grasp. In the end a combination of the quality response from the Victory and some average defending from Adelaide led to a most exciting two all draw.
For the Mariners, with Michael McGlinchey returning to the side after his international duties, Marcos Flores continuing to shine and Mitchell Duke providing his pace and finishing, I think we can also show plenty of quality in attack. In defence, we have struggled at times in our first two matches, especially in the area of leadership, but I remain confident we have the playing staff to overcome this and who can lay down the platform we need to make sure the Reds have no easy task on Saturday.
If we start like we did last weekend we will be in for a tough evening. If we can show the right reaction in terms of our intensity early in this match we can in return make it a tough evening for Adelaide. The longer we can prevent Adelaide from scoring the more likely I believe it will be that we will walk away with our first three points of the season. I think the Mariners will show the character everyone associates with our club, our team and our coach and bounce back to take this weekend’s points with a combination of improved defensive intensity, a great game plan and high quality attack.
My prediction Mariners by 1
Google+