South virtually defeat themselves - South Melbourne 1 Coburg United 2

From Tuesday to Thursday this week there'll be a thorough examination of the 2008 membership package, but for now, back to yesterday's game.


It was a disappointing result. Not because South had played well, but more so because they had played well enough to win. Coburg all up had three or four chances, and took two 2. South would have had closer to ten, and almost managed to stuff up even the one they did get.

South squandered possession so frequently yesterday - chiefly through Yusef and Poutakidis - that Coburg were not too often obliged to fight for the ball. When they did they were often unnecessarily crude in their attempts, and their discipline let them down and should have been punished more harshly than it was.

For South, De Nittis looked ok when he came on, Zoric was good in patches but goes missing to easily. Diaco and Fernando both played about a half each, neither fit, but the latter at least scored. Deano was responsible for the first goal conceded, while Nunes can play with both feet, which is an interesting novelty, but occasionally gets himself into the wrong position. The much maligned Caldwell did some nice things, but in general he and his team mates are not on the same frequency. Armenian is getting closer to a start.

South did have some bad luck - a blatant handball in the area not called - but mostly had themselves to blame for their loss. As a counterpoint, there were signs that when the team gels, they can do ok. The problem there is much the same as last year though, and that is whether they can keep it up for any significant amount of time. The pressure is starting to mount on Johnny A' and football operations dude Jim Marinis. Neither has solved the crucial problem of central midfield. There were too many sequences of players running around like headless chooks, only kinda rectified towards the end. We're the only pointless side after two weeks, and a turnaround in form is needed soon.