The Macarthur FC Chronicle
Match8 Mar 2036
The wait goes on for Macarthur FC
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match8 Mar 2036
Macarthur FC are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market10 Mar 2036
Marcus Morrison hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Macarthur FC can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Mar 2036
Daniel Johnson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Macarthur FC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match8 Mar 2036
Macarthur FC come up short against Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Words at Macarthur FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luke Vickery is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Conor Tracey
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Jackson Walsh was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
- The dugout Sebastian Esposito is still being punished for one mistake
- Player ratings An afternoon Sebastian Esposito will want back
- The dugout Rhys Edwards dropped after a run of poor form