[Archived] Australia V Norway

[John]

They had a laugh about it after though!

2-1 to Australia now- Emerton still playing well, Neil quite good.

MGP- still looks lost and weak...

[Radagast]

Nice to see Morten on the scoresheet. Can't do his confidence any harm.

He's not though, he played the through ball to the bloke who shot which the keeper saved so Iversen could tap it in.

Blast! I just got in from work and saw some fella with a Busted haircut wearing the no. 11 shirt tap it in and assumed it had to be our Morten.

[tcj_jones]

A few minutes ago Emerton and Neill combined brilliantly down the right to set up what really should have been a goal.

I'm not watching particularly closely but Emerton seems to be having a stormer.

[John]

They are combining well down the right. The whole team seems to be playing with a lot of confidence.

MGP just scored from a free-kick, think it was meant to be a cross, not sure though.

Edited November 16, 2004 by John

[CornwallRover]

Pedersen scores direct from a free-kick cross.

[Tris]

Emerton has just been subbed, for taking another crap corner.

[tcj_jones]

It seems strange that he even takes the set pieces for Australia as well as Rovers. Over the last few weeks his set pieces have really improved for Rovers, but his free kick and one of his subsequent corners a minute ago were poor.

[herbergeehh]

Emerton's been brilliant, in 2nd half anyway, didn't see the 1st half..

MGP does look lightweight as you say, let him do some intensive weight training and he'll be ready to go in a month or two.

[John]

Just to sum up Rovers related performances on this match.

Emerton looks in fine form and willing to try anything at the moment. Neill did well nothing special though.

On MGP, scored a goal but as said earlier pushed off the ball all too easily. Possibly a reason why he is not featuring for us at the moment. However some nice touches but was a difficult game for him. I like the runs he makes at the back post, seen him do that in previous matches and it can be a useful position to take up.

Also, wish we got Cahill- he looks excellent and was the best player on the pitch.

Edited November 16, 2004 by John

[herbergeehh]

Definitely, John, Gamst's attacking runs off the ball is great. I'm still sure he's got all the quality needed, it's just the physical bit at he moment, IMIHO.

[roversWASmylife]

Thought the Rovers players on the pitch played well tonight.

Emerton stood out of the three who started the game, seems to be playing with a lot more confidence this season for both club and country than this time last year, perhaps he's settled in now.

Neill made a decent run and assist for Australia's goal, but at times has to work on his distribution of the ball.

MGP - Looked ok on times, but needs to be a lot stronger if he wants to make it in the English League.

Norway hold SocceRoos

[Brownie]

Thought Emerton was excellent tonight and may well be attracting potential buyers come January.

Neill looked quality all night and was dangerous going forward.

MGP did enough for me to suggest he's worth having and may yet make an impression at Rovers. (Hodgson rates him as well !)

[emerton]

Very frustrating to draw this one as we were techinically alot better and outplayed norway for the first 80 mins.

the rovers players

Emerton was excellent and neil was good also

Morten's first half was shocking:

when he tried a long ball it went nowhere, and when he tried to take on players he eventually got shut down. but had a good second half, probably warrants to be in the squad this week. id like to see him try to get more balls into the box

the rest

cahill was fantastic, bresciano came in sore and under an injury cloud, shame he didn't get to display his full potential but grella played well

the norweigan defence was good. the guy with the beard and riise were the two who i thought were in there best players. carew and iverson hardly posed a threat

[Maverick]

Home from the pub.

I agree with what most people have said so far. Emerton was great tonight. Neil was okey. Didn't have to much trouble with MGP. MGP looked ightweight and at times he posiition himself totalty wrong. When he got the ball he almost always did a backpass to Riise instead of trying to pass Neil. Nice pass to Hoseth on the first goal and his goal in the second half I believed was meant as a pass. The best thing about this game for MGP is that he got 90 min of football.

[herbergeehh]

the norweigan defence was good. the guy with the beard and riise were the two who i thought were in there best players.

Yup, that's Erik "Panzer" Hagen from my Norwegian team Vålerenga.

Been attracting interest from England according to his agents, has been brilliant this season. Also known for pushing Dickov to the limit and then a bit further against the Scots.

[krislu]

Australia was lucky to get away with a draw! The first goal was clearly offside, but somehow the assistant referee thought it was Ruud who got the ball...

Second goal, Viduka cant turn like that? I have never seen a fat poteto turning so quickly! Also it was a clear penalty, it was ludicrous that the ref just let it pass so that they could score!

Two good goals didnt prove enough aginst the cheating Australians, but we will get you next time..

[Radagast]

Vålerenga.

Out of curiosity, how do you pronounce the 'a with a circle above it' in Norway? I've been told by a Swede it's pronounced 'o' is it the same on your side of the border?

[emerton]

Australia was lucky to get away with a draw! The first goal was clearly offside, but somehow the assistant referee thought it was Ruud who got the ball...

Second goal, Viduka cant turn like that? I have never seen a fat poteto turning so quickly! Also it was a clear penalty, it was ludicrous that the ref just let it pass so that they could score!

Two good goals didnt prove enough aginst the cheating Australians, but we will get you next time..

norway were outplayed by the australians, norway sat back, defended well and heaved the ball upfield, where the aussies passed it around well

with regards to cahill.there has to be daylight between the attacker and defender, which coudn;t be judged with the camera agnles we were shown, which left him on side

despite all his criticism, viduka is very good on the ball and quite agile

cheating? and there wont be a next times for a while me thinks.

i wonder how mortens groin is doing

[pg]

Fairly ordinary first half for me. Australia had lots of possession but no cutting edge up front.

Norway scored from a swift move, which seemed to spur Australia into action.

The second half was a classic Australian performance. Plenty of skill and pace... some great swift passing moves and some well (and not so well) taken chances. And then failing to kill the game off, and giving away a soft goal to let the opposition back into it.

Kewell had probably the worst game I have seen in an Australian shirt. I've thought for a while that he seems to have lost the desire after his move to Liverpool. As if all he's ever wanted to do is play for his childhood club. And now that he's done that, he's got nothing else to prove.

Emerton played like the Emerton of old.. and I mean very old (ie '99 vintage). As the commentator called it, he played as an old-fashioned inside-right tonight and looked the part. I was very happy with Neil's performance. Defensively he had a solid game... as well as a one or two good passes which helped create things.

The Aussie midfield completely dominated the game IMO. MGP saw a bit of the ball but only made a real impact on the game once Emerton and Cahill were subbed off.

I thought Josip Skoko (from our old friends Gencerbigli) had a good game, and put in some great crosses.

krislu - Australia had Norway on toast for the majority of the second half. This is indisputable... every English web report I've seen this morning echos this sentiment.

But I'll forgive you for being biased

[krislu]

viduka is very good

on the ball

and quite agile

[ToMaHaWk]

Vålerenga.

Out of curiosity, how do you pronounce the 'a with a circle above it' in Norway? I've been told by a Swede it's pronounced 'o' is it the same on your side of the border?

We pronounce it kinda like the sound in the middle of "goal", on excactly -the "O"

[Radagast]

So it's pronounced "Voalarenga"? How curious.

[krislu]

So it's pronounced "Voalarenga"? How curious.

More like "Voalerenga", dont think you will come any closer than that. I will gladly record me saying Vålerenga 10 times, and send it to your e-mail address...

[neekoy]

How good are these aussies lads going to be when they get some games together under their belts, we really missed Moore though, I am just glad we weren't up against a Ronaldo or Henry, they would have torn the defence to shreds.

Australia really needs a class defender, I think Colosimo should have been given a run maybe as sweeper, and **** Tiatto off! There is a reason he plays for bloody Leicester

[pg]

Completely agree.

We now have a midfield and attack that will cause most international teams headaches.

But as long as we have to rely on Vidmar, Muscat and Tiatto in our defence... we aren't going to get anywhere