WATCHING the first half of Sunday’s match between Adelaide United and Newcastle Jets, I was struck with a sense of desolation; a feeling of desperate sadness.

The team I love was witless and wandering, passing back - and then further back - building to a crescendo of pointlessness. The goal from the Jets (beautifully taken by Song) was almost a blessing. It meant we had to do something.

Into my mind leapt one of the great book titles of all time, the classic African novel, 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe. He had taken that title from William Butler Yeats's poem, 'The Second Coming'. Following is the first stanza. It beautifully sums up our early game.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

The falcon cannot hear the falconer  - the players are not playing the way they've been asked to. Communication seemed to have broken down. Neither players or coach are completely responsible. Both are.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold - Passing across the backline with nowhere to go. Hughes completely missing and Sarkies standing on the toes of the defenders, not moving when moving was needed. No connection to the attacking midfield. The centre could not hold. The goal came when Travis Dodd ran back to make a tackle that should have been made by one of the defensive midfielders. Then he got stripped of the ball. Then we were all out of shape. Then they scored.

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, The ceremony of innocence is drowned - They scored. We continued to misplace passes, to pass back because no options existed, to scream at each other in the absence of the energy to support and encourage. Early hopes dashed.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst, Are full of passionate intensity - Jamo off his game, Trav in and out as always, Rudan at sixes and sevens; even Cassio looked lost. And then there was Hughes, who always tries his heart out, making a mockery of his early promise while playing a game no-one else was part of.

By half time, another brilliant Adelaide crowd was almost silent. A gorgeous Spring day kept alive with mutterings of angry or resigned bewilderment. 12000 at home against the Jets and the team we supported to two major finals last year was falling apart.

Owusu, for all his bluster and hype, had missed two good headed chances. The forward four were not firing. Still, there were signs of hope. We'd looked shaky but we were only one goal down. Sarkies had started to realise that Hughes was AWOL and had begun to take on the defensive midfield for his own. We knew we had good players on the pitch, if only they would start to play.

Then the second half. At first it looked like business as usual. We started to see that Adelaide had come out to play at last. But still we looked hamstrung. On 55 minutes Viddie acted. Off came Hughes. It's sad to hear a home crowd cheer one of their players off the field but after weeks of ineffectual play it wasn't before time.

On came Leckie. The crowd went mildly wild (this is Adelaide remember). With Leckie came an energy and a belief that was missing. With Leckie came a rearranged formation and another attacking player. Within three minutes we had a penalty from a beautifully worked move hacked to a stop by Ljubo. The crowd did go wild. Travis doesn't miss penalties.

Travis missed. To be fair, Kennedy saved well - but Travis missed.

We all looked under our seats for the voodoo dolls, gremlins, evil charms that had been placed there by the Jets fans. Then we realised there were no Jets fans. Things were serious. It was our fault. Viddie rolled the dice again. Hard working Lucas Pantelis came off for Cristiano - and again the crowd bayed their approval. Six minutes later Cassio, who was now part of a frighteningly unfamiliar, attacking team scored one of the goals of the season. We were rolling in waves, crashing into and through the Jets defence. But still they stood.

Leckie had two chances to make himself a legend. Both times he allowed himself just too long and the resolute Jets defence got a foot in. Cristiano almost finished the second attempt but again the Jets were (just) there. They were there at the other end too, almost stealing the game through Tarik Elrich.

When the whistle blew the stalemate served them better than us. It was a game we could have, should have won. It was also a game that taught us something.

1. Leckie is the goods. He may not be finished but he's good enough to lift a team. Nutmegging and rounding an experienced defender in his own eighteen yard box takes some skill and confidence.  He has it. Let's use it.

2. Systems do make a difference. One less defensive player and one more attacking player changed the game. But systems are not everything. There's self-belief, loyalty, confidence and desire. Adelaide had these. We lost them. We have to refind them quickly.

3. Welcome back Cristiano. Last year he was our goalscoring hero. This year he's not good enough to play. I don't think so. Yesterday he looked fresh, dangerous and keen to contribute. If we're not scoring goals why not give our leading goalscorer from last year the chance to score some.

4. Kristian Sarkies can do a job. He may not survive Paul Reid's return but (at least for me) he showed some class and a good bit of 'dog' yesterday. Well done.

5. Adelaide has the best crowds in the league. Small city, big numbers. We keep coming back becausre we love the Reds. We may not all agree about what should be done to get the team playing better but we all know that if they play the way they did in the second half yesterday we'll not only be loyal - but happy.

Things fall apart. It's the story of life and the cycle of history. it's also the opportunity to rebuild something in the place of what was. Labour Day Monday the Reds fell apart and Viddie rebuilt something that looked like it might just work. In the coming weeks he'll have more pieces to play with. I'm hoping he's in a creative mood.