Dismal effort by Carlton.
Souths lined up more or less as expected but Carlton gave Grbac his full debut. Roly was very down taking his seat in the grandstand - I just hope it doesn't keep him out of the Confed Cup. Ouliaris also got a full debut which meant Thompson played on the left.
Carlton played 3 6footers in defence (Marth, Anthopoulos and Cervinksi), watched as Lozanovski swung a corner over and looked surprised as Orlic banged it in. Utterly, utterly pathetic. 3 sixfooters and the first corner is a goal!!!
We just can't compete in midfield. Lapansky is doing all the work but our midfield sucks. Last year we had Grella, Lapansky, Marusic, Vlahos, Bresciano and Atkinson all fighting for midfield spots. The expected game-winning partnership of Lapansky and Marth became a hideous joke.
Tricarico was injured early on and Stojevski came on - he was probably our 2nd best player behind Lapansky. Very good touch player. Grbac is suprisingly slow but a good crosser - one effort had Petkovic beaten but Tricarico headed upwards.
Our favourite ref Bent Hugo awarded a free against Marth for a shoulder to shoulder contest with Trimmers. Lozanovski played a short cross across the box and surprise surprise Orlic gets on the end of it. He likes that end - scored to beat Adelaide a few years back in a finals game.
Just 2 minutes later Lapansky goes down after a shoulder to shoulder contest just outside their box. Hello Mr. Referee may we have some consistency? "No, ***** well play on!"
I will want to see Souths play a better team than Carlton before putting my money on them, such as Perth in a few weeks. Nevertheless they were excellent and could have doubled their scoreline.
It just seemed whenever they got a half-chance, they took it with venom. Coveny? hooked a short cross to the corner of the box and Panopoulos was there to slam it home with a sliding volley. Top, top finish and so utterly demonstrating the difference between the teams.
Moreira. The source of considerable angst and teeth-gnashing among us. Played well in the first half but seemed to lose it in the second. He's just not the answer, this year at least. I have absolutely no confidence in him beating his man.
It is utterly boring watching Souths' defence. Petkovic never ever makes a mistake in the air, the back 3 probably train in a coalmine and their defensive mids never let it up.
Again, hard to believe how far Carlton have fallen.