Earlier this season I wrote a piece stating the reasons why the Jets were good enough to make finals football. Whilst I usually to try to stay positive, this time I'm going to write a deliberately negative article, criticising everyone and everything that is, or could be wrong with the Jets setup and why it means that even if we do make the playoffs, we won't go far.
Please don't take it personally, if any players or their family reads this, I'm just trying to play devil's advocate to the usual 'silver lining' approach. Don't think that I'm saying the Jets or the players are rubbish, far from it. Here goes...
Firstly, there are too many players out injured. Unfortunately, many of them are from the first XI too. Now, no matter how many times you say "the other players have to step up", or "they can do a job for us" (what the hell does that mean anyway?). The truth is, they probably can't step up and yes they might do a job but it won't be of the quality of a first XI player, otherwise they would be in the first XI. Duh!
The fitness and conditioning isn't up to scratch. There are just too many injuries piling up to dismiss the injuries as just 'bad luck'. This needs a review.
The style of play being used at the moment is just way too predictable and easy to defend against. Pop it over the top and hope Labi or someone else can beat the defender to the ball and score. It isn't working. It's really not. If this was a great tactical manouevre, the Jets wouldn't have the lowest goals scored in the comp to date. It's time to do something differently!
The Jets have dominated (and occasionally won) games when they have played possession football. Lets see more of that. Maybe Branko doesn't think his second choice players are good enough to do that. I think they are.
The strikers aren't scoring enough. They're actually helping other teams' cleansheet records. Why? They either aren't yet up to the level of the A-League (less goals than Fury), or the system they're put into doesn't suit them.
The coach's selections are a problem. Apart from Bridges, who departed early, the strike force has been pretty much the same the whole season. Labi Haliti, Marko Jesic, Ali (if he's fit) and Petrovski (oh, and Jeffers, but you can't really count a guest).
Petrovski has a great scoring record, despite almost never starting. Why is he not used more? If the answer is Haliti and Jesic, what's the question? Why doesn Culina persist with this formation and these players despite an obvious lack of results?
Bridges and Culina. Branko has lost the dressing room. According to a bloke who I talked to at a bus stop who knows a guy who works at a mechanic for one of the players, Bridges and Culina have formed an evil alliance and are picking favourites in the team. Ljubo's surprise departure was a direct result of these two and their wedge tactics.
Ben Kennedy. Early in the season, he was performing fantastically. In the drubbing last weekend, it seemed to me that three of the goals (all Djite's I think), were pretty obvious keeping errors. In one goal, after an attempted punch, he was standing metres out from his line, watching Djite boot the ball in. If it wasn't our team, I would have been on the floor laughing for the comedy capers look of it.
The defence is now severely weakened. I know there are some D'Appuzo bashers out there, but he actually is a good back for the Jets. Lose him and then play Tarek on the left and Fiorentini on the right and things get muddled. They're good players, just out of position. And Tarek is playing with pain again..
Ljubo's gone as well, replaced with Taylor Regan. That's a huge loss for the team.
Topor-Stanley hasn't looked quite as certain without Ljubo there beside him. Regan has shown some good form and will be a key player in future, but lacks in experience in the side and has also given away a goal or two through positioning errors, one of which was against Gold Coast.
It would be a real shame if they Jet's don't get into the finals, because even one home final game would be huge at the EAS. But it's unfortunate that the year will probably end with a fizzle rather than a bang.
Having said all that, I hope we cause an upset in Wellington and totally blitz them.
