Pendlebury and O'bree

[FuManchu]

I will voluntarily eat my words about O'Bree, some of the stuff he did today was good, real good.

But Pendlebury needs to go back to school and learn what the words ' assertive' and 'positive' means. So many times today he got caught flat footed and did nothing but give off soft disposals, with soft hands and weak foot passes which did nothing, missing targets not under pressure. he also needs to learn to run forward and not to always look back or laterally. HE NEEDS TO LEARN TO PLAY WITH INTENT, not just accumulate possessions and just be a link player. He got caught out more than any other player today

 

[Pie eyed]

Howdy Fu.
I've been patiently waiting for your match report.

How was it?
Wet obviously, but how did you enjoy the game?

 

[magpies42]

I will voluntarily eat my words about O'Bree, some of the stuff he did today was good, real good.

But Pendlebury needs to go back to school and learn what the words ' assertive' and 'positive' means. So many times today he got caught flat footed and did nothing but give off soft disposals, with soft hands and weak foot passes which did nothing, missing targets not under pressure. he also needs to learn to run forward and not to always look back or laterally. HE NEEDS TO LEARN TO PLAY WITH INTENT, not just accumulate possessions and just be a link player. He got caught out more than any other player today

he is a tinman, has no heart. he needs to see the wizard

 

[FuManchu]

Howdy Fu.
I've been patiently waiting for your match report.

How was it?
Wet obviously, but how did you enjoy the game?

Coming from perth and sitting in that weather was culture shock, but as far as the game went, the win was to be expected. Some things I did notice was that Melbourne were able to have passages of play thru the middle with lots of quick handball that we had no answer to. They of course fell down at HF, but it is something to pay attention to.

We were actually better keeping it wide today, possibly because playing wide in the wet allowed you more time to get control of a slippery ball. we still scrambled a lot of goals thru general play, we are good at that. It was noticeable that they got the majority of theirs thru set shots. Anthony was probably disadvantaged from the wet, he is primarily a mark and goal player, doesnt do too much off the ground.

Davis is undoubtably our best player, he has this vibe thing when he attacks the ball, a sense if you will, of how the ball will fall and he can anticipate it better than anyone I have seen for a long time. Didak is slightly different in that he needs the ball in his hands to be creative, its like Davis is one step more advanced than Didak in how he plays. Swann is a great accumulater, some times damaging, some times creative, every so often like pendlebury tries to finesse rather than be forceful in his use of the ball, but he at least is far more offensive in his use of the ball.

It was an OK win today, but again, we have beaten some poor teams well, we need to beat the Saint Kildas, Geelongs and footscrays of this world for us to be seriously considered a contender. I just know that the times we turned it over today we would be hurt by better teams. Thats the concern

 

[mattys123]

I will voluntarily eat my words about O'Bree, some of the stuff he did today was good, real good.

But Pendlebury needs to go back to school and learn what the words ' assertive' and 'positive' means. So many times today he got caught flat footed and did nothing but give off soft disposals, with soft hands and weak foot passes which did nothing, missing targets not under pressure. he also needs to learn to run forward and not to always look back or laterally. HE NEEDS TO LEARN TO PLAY WITH INTENT, not just accumulate possessions and just be a link player. He got caught out more than any other player today

I woulsnt judge Pendlebury on today's performance. He tried his heart out today, but as some posters have said he left his brain at home this morning.

It was a strange match for Pendles, he is still full of class, and did get better as the game went on, but I will excuse him for today, because he has been much better then that most of this year.

As for O'bree, finally, someone agrees that he is bloody important to the way MM coaches and the way this team performs. Most of what O'Bree does is not easily seen, and you have to actually follow him solely for a few minutes to appreciate his work rate and performance for others.

Were you in the rain today Fu, I was, that wasnt fun, but boy does it make the goals and excitement seem more intense when you cant feel your toes or fingers, hehe.

 

[Pie eyed]

Coming from perth and sitting in that weather was culture shock, but as far as the game went, the win was to be expected. Some things I did notice was that Melbourne were able to have passages of play thru the middle with lots of quick handball that we had no answer to. They of course fell down at HF, but it is something to pay attention to.

We were actually better keeping it wide today, possibly because playing wide in the wet allowed you more time to get control of a slippery ball. we still scrambled a lot of goals thru general play, we are good at that. It was noticeable that they got the majority of theirs thru set shots. Anthony was probably disadvantaged from the wet, he is primarily a mark and goal player, doesnt do too much off the ground.

Davis is undoubtably our best player, he has this vibe thing when he attacks the ball, a sense if you will, of how the ball will fall and he can anticipate it better than anyone I have seen for a long time. Didak is slightly different in that he needs the ball in his hands to be creative, its like Davis is one step more advanced than Didak in how he plays. Swann is a great accumulater, some times damaging, some times creative, every so often like pendlebury tries to finesse rather than be forceful in his use of the ball, but he at least is far more offensive in his use of the ball.

It was an OK win today, but again, we have beaten some poor teams well, we need to beat the Saint Kildas, Geelongs and footscrays of this world for us to be seriously considered a contender. I just know that the times we turned it over today we would be hurt by better teams. Thats the concern

At least you got a win.
The three matches I've attended this year were all losses. (Carlton aaargh!)
I'm off up to Sydney on the 20th and hope we can muster a win.
It is a different experience live though. I'm far more edgy when I'm watching TV. Live seems to be far less nerve racking.

 

[FuManchu]

I woulsnt judge Pendlebury on today's performance. He tried his heart out today, but as some posters have said he left his brain at home this morning.

It was a strange match for Pendles, he is still full of class, and did get better as the game went on, but I will excuse him for today, because he has been much better then that most of this year.

As for O'bree, finally, someone agrees that he is bloody important to the way MM coaches and the way this team performs. Most of what O'Bree does is not easily seen, and you have to actually follow him solely for a few minutes to appreciate his work rate and performance for others.

Were you in the rain today Fu, I was, that wasnt fun, but boy does it make the goals and excitement seem more intense when you cant feel your toes or fingers, hehe.

O'Bree was good today in periods, quiet at other times, but some of his stuff out of the middle was very good. around the ground he still can be a liability tho. Todays weather may have suited him also.

As for the rain, i was lucky, 4 seats back from the front seat on the top deck of the southern stand, and never got a drop on me, the wind was pushing the rain onto the very front seat, much to my amusement, as someone stole my seat in that front row, when i got up to get a feed before the game started

 

[mattys123]

At least you got a win.
The three matches I've attended this year were all losses. (Carlton aaargh!)
I'm off up to Sydney on the 20th and hope we can muster a win.
It is a different experience live though. I'm far more edgy when I'm watching TV. Live seems to be far less nerve racking.

I cant watch a Collingwood game on TV, well at least I cant without breaking something.

Luckily I will only miss 1 more game this year live, unfortunately it will be the Sydney game, arrrgghhh.

I think the nerves while watching on TV are because the atmosphere is fake, and you have no real appreciation for the feel of the game and what is going on behind play, off the ball etc.

I'm happy as a pig in mud with any Collingwood win, no matter what the opposition is.

 

[Pie eyed]

I cant watch a Collingwood game on TV, well at least I cant without breaking something.

Luckily I will only miss 1 more game this year live, unfortunately it will be the Sydney game, arrrgghhh.

I think the nerves while watching on TV are because the atmosphere is fake, and you have no real appreciation for the feel of the game and what is going on behind play, off the ball etc.

I'm happy as a pig in mud with any Collingwood win, no matter what the opposition is.

LOL.
Perhaps I will now get the respect I deserve for my intense lack of finger nails and nervous twitch. 36 years of TV games will do that to you.

Seriously though I had not appreciated the vast difference in my blood pressure between live and telecast games until this season.

 

[FuManchu]

LOL.
Perhaps I will now get the respect I deserve for my intense lack of finger nails and nervous twitch. 36 years of TV games will do that to you.

Seriously though I had not appreciated the vast difference in my blood pressure between live and telecast games until this season.

I will go to a game live, but i wont watch it on TV live. Just cant do it.

 

[Pie eyed]

I will go to a game live, but i wont watch it on TV live. Just cant do it.

I'm just settling in to watch the game again now, in comfort and with the result not interfering with the viewing.

 

[FuManchu]

I'm just settling in to watch the game again now, in comfort and with the result not interfering with the viewing.

That is the reason I am so critical of the game we play. I really sit down and analyse it without worrying about the result, win or lose.

 

[Pie eyed]

That is the reason I am so critical of the game we play. I really sit down and analyse it without worrying about the result, win or lose.

1st Quarter over. Our best since Rnd 9 2003 scoring wise.

Yeah. I always watch the games a few times without the emotion of the actual match.
You see much more and can actually watch behind the play, not that the tele gives up too much.

Some games last season I watched 10 times or more over the season looking at specific players, passages of play or incidents.

 

[OniAu]

I will voluntarily eat my words about O'Bree, some of the stuff he did today was good, real good.

But Pendlebury needs to go back to school and learn what the words ' assertive' and 'positive' means. So many times today he got caught flat footed and did nothing but give off soft disposals, with soft hands and weak foot passes which did nothing, missing targets not under pressure. he also needs to learn to run forward and not to always look back or laterally. HE NEEDS TO LEARN TO PLAY WITH INTENT, not just accumulate possessions and just be a link player. He got caught out more than any other player today

i can understand where you are coming from , its nost just your view but a lot of people think he needs to be more than this.

However i wouldnt downgrade him as a player because he doesnt break the lines with speed or breaking tackles. To me he just plays to his strengths and plays a lot smarter than most other players in the afl, how thats a bad thing i dont know.

Doesnt blaze away if he cant see a clear option, doesnt panic in traffic and just dish it off for the sake of it and he trys to bring others into it.

He could back himself a lot more in some situations, however he rarely takes a bad option.

Lot more players id be more worried about at collingwood with improvement than pendlebury.

 

[Jabso]

Pendlebury has an apsect of his game which is a double edged sword. He has so much time that he has time to think about his possesions a lot more than other players. Sometimes he overthinks it, surveys the forward line or the ground up ahead and decides that their is too much flooding in the area they need to get the ball to so too often he will kick to keep possesion rather than taking a risk with a contest (even an outnumbered contest).

However he is so much more than an accumulator. His work inside is so underrated it isn't funny. 1 of his clearances or first possesions off the ruck contest is worth 3 or 4 of the likes of O'Bree and even Swan. The same goes for contested possessions (and he does get a lot of them unlike what some people seem to think), due to his ability to stand up in the tackle, break it and avoid the tackle all together.

We should be excited that he still has this much improvement left and not lose sight of the fact that at the moment he is still one of the top AFL midfielders.

For a long time now there seems to be a culture from footy fans of basically unfairly criticising players that get a shit load of the ball. Getting the ball is still a very very important skill, and while you have the ball, the opposition doesn't have it. Sure some players are more damaging however Pendlebury getting 39 possessions and only having 5 inside 50s or say 3 goal assists is much better than him having 20 possessions and the same score assist/inside 50/long kick or whatever kicks you would define as damaging.

 

[Kirby]

The other thing that people should keep in mind is that pendles appears to be playing with an injury at the moment. I would guess a slight ubductor strain or upper thigh strain. It is effecting his kicking (he did it in the Carlton game) and he is really lacking penetration.

 

[ozpie]

Fu, i respect your ability to be man enough to say you were wrong about cheesy, i think we had a heated discussion a few weeks back about him.
but i still dont think you should be making assumptions based on a handful of games.....earlier this year you said cheesy was one sided (even you must admit this was simply wrong) and didnt win enough of his own ball, now your eating your words?....well i can tell you not much has changed, obree is the same player he was 5 weeks ago. the only differance is the team is now in form.
but its ok you jump on and off the bandwagon as much as you like!!!!

 

[FuManchu]

Fu, i respect your ability to be man enough to say you were wrong about cheesy, i think we had a heated discussion a few weeks back about him.
but i still dont think you should be making assumptions based on a handful of games.....earlier this year you said cheesy was one sided (even you must admit this was simply wrong) and didnt win enough of his own ball, now your eating your words?....well i can tell you not much has changed, obree is the same player he was 5 weeks ago. the only differance is the team is now in form.
but its ok you jump on and off the bandwagon as much as you like!!!!

O'Bree is still one sided, and I have seen enough in the past, not just 5 or more weeks ago, for him to be duly criticised. Why a supposed right footer goes to his left when he doesnt need to, is beyond me, Millane used to do that a fair bit in the latter part of his career as well.

But the other day, I saw a lot of the work O'Bree did out of the middle actually hit targets and targets in the open, so I was quite impressed with that and thought he and Lockyer in the first half the game were our best ball movers.