Marquee
3.7K
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5.4K
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over 11 years

Rufer changed the game for us... played some great balls!

Legend
6.8K
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14K
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over 16 years

MetalLegNZ wrote:

Rufer changed the game for us... played some great balls!

Yeh think we missed de Vere's long passing. Nobody from the back was playing long and Elliot didn't make many runs forward.  Maybe a case for Payne.

Starting XI
2.9K
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2.5K
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over 5 years

Better but just not clinical enough in front of goal.

On a positive that surely secures playoffs for us.

Marquee
3.7K
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5.4K
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over 11 years

martinb wrote:

MetalLegNZ wrote:

Rufer changed the game for us... played some great balls!

Yeh think we missed de Vere's long passing. Nobody from the back was playing long and Elliot didn't make many runs forward.  Maybe a case for Payne.

I never thought I'd read somewhere we missed DeVere's passing! I always thougt he went long because he was no good at retaining possession, have I misjudged him : )

Starting XI
2.9K
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2.5K
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over 5 years

Bit of a worry seeing Hooper limping at the end. Hope that's a two week fix and he is ok for finals.

They let him play on for the last 10 while limping !!

Marquee
4K
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6.6K
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over 13 years

Ranix wrote:

Bit of a worry seeing Hooper limping at the end. Hope that's a two week fix and he is ok for finals.

They let him play on for the last 10 while limping !!

We would be down to ten men if he went off.  I do not think he wanted to come off, regardless. A real trooper.

Marquee
1.1K
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7.6K
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over 12 years

Read the story: Phoenix through to A-League finals series after draw with Roar 


https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/122345713/wellington-phoenix-through-to-aleague-finals-series-after-draw-with-brisbane-roar?cid=app-iPhone

Bruce Lewis

MCIS.nz
Starting XI
550
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2.4K
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over 14 years

Mainland FC wrote:

Ranix wrote:

Bit of a worry seeing Hooper limping at the end. Hope that's a two week fix and he is ok for finals.

They let him play on for the last 10 while limping !!

We would be down to ten men if he went off.  I do not think he wanted to come off, regardless. A real trooper.

WRONG! 5 subs are allowed.
Marquee
3.7K
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5.8K
·
almost 17 years

Royz wrote:

Mainland FC wrote:

Ranix wrote:

Bit of a worry seeing Hooper limping at the end. Hope that's a two week fix and he is ok for finals.

They let him play on for the last 10 while limping !!

We would be down to ten men if he went off.  I do not think he wanted to come off, regardless. A real trooper.

WRONG! 5 subs are allowed.

No right 5 subs are allowed if done at the right time and when Hopper was hurt we wernt in the sub slot
Starting XI
2K
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4.7K
·
almost 17 years

theprof wrote:

ypung has to be theor man of the match kept out two great shots from us, could have been 3-2 another night.

draw at this stage really isnt the best, we have really gone cold over the break.

Young easily man of the match with Libby popping up in second place.

Our last good game was when we lost to SFC and maybe when we threw the kids out.  Just seems to be the Nix (and kiwi?) way to fade right as we reach the finishing line. Sigh.

Starting XI
2K
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4.7K
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almost 17 years

MetalLegNZ wrote:

Rufer changed the game for us... played some great balls!

Rufer had a great game today and played some great crosses.  Might have just pushed himself ahead of Devlin who's not come back from the break the same player who went in.

Starting XI
2.9K
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2.5K
·
over 5 years

Satiric should spend the whole week practicing shooting into the bottom left corner of the goal.

First Team Squad
1.2K
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1.6K
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over 14 years

Second half was good to watch. Also seemed to start with more intensity than other games post break. Just need to put it all into a 90 minute performance ideally in the finals. Squad has decent depth, should be easy enough to replace the players out of form, such as Rufer for Cammy.Had no issues with Elliott staying back as Cacace could push forward all game and was so effective. Makes the team a bit lopsided and one dimensional, but with his form and talent; knowing what Cacace is going to do is one thing, stopping him is a completely different story.

Phoenix Academy
330
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160
·
about 4 years

Cacace is an absolute beast. He has a great football career ahead of him.


Much better second half. Rufer changed the game. First half it was all side to side and down the flanks. He passed forward and put in some great diagonals. This forced the Roar back and their press became less effective. Our creative guys started to find space again. The win was there but unfortunately Hooper and Satirio butchered at least three great chances. 

Big call but I would bench Davila and Steinman. Davila is a shadow of the prelockdown player and does not appear to be playing himself into form. Steinman and Rufer play a similar game but at the moment Steinman is too erratic. Rufer offers better vision and passing options. You need Devlin there. He is a terrier and we need his tackling and ball winning skills in midfield. Ball had a very quiet game. If we can get most of our big guns firing we can make the final but form and selections will be key. 

Marquee
2.7K
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7.2K
·
almost 17 years

Just to clarify the subs discussion. Yes 5 subs are allowed but these can only be made over three substitution slots. As we had made three subs (and subbed off a single player each time - like we used to do before the rule changed) we were effectively out of subs once Hooper pulled his hammy

First Team Squad
1.3K
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1.1K
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over 5 years

as others have said, we played far better in the second. Didn’t really enjoy large spells of the first. Can’t believe hooper appeared to be taken by surprise that Libby’s cross made it through? He should know better than that. Still, great effort and a draw was the very least we deserved . Really do seem to be struggling for goals though, and that’s my biggest concern. I had suspicions when we were only scoring pens, but seems to be an inherent issue. Need to finish as strongly as we can and for that, we need goals! 

Still, the team didn’t wilt and kept going right until the end. Kudos to TaWH and Elliot, good solid performances.

Phoenix Academy
98
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450
·
about 11 years

Its a shame for Hudson Wihongi he's only getting a chance to show us what he do at this end of the season.  He was excellent last night - a much better player than devere on that performance.

Rufer came on when roar stopped defending very high up the pitch in numbers and allowed him to play to his strengths.  Rufer will always be the worst off the ball midfielder in the squad. 

Thought Elliot is putting a very good case for starting.  he got very little help from Davilla (when D  was on the right)....

Phoenix Academy
75
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160
·
almost 17 years

I would have liked to have seen Piscopo play on the right in front of Elliot, with Davilla central, and McCallum on the left in front of Libby.  Might have given us outlets down both sides of the field, instead of only the left.  I think we are better as a team when Davilla is central.  Would have had to lose one of Hooper or Ball to accommodate that though, so understand why we didn't see it.

Piscopo's head appeared to drop when their goal went in, bit disappointing.  Or was it just tiredness?  If so, why??

The players seem to be at about 85% of where they were before lockdown, in terms of connecting well.  It'll be interesting to see if they can lift that a bit over the next few weeks, and all do it over the course of the same 90 minutes.

Great to be third on the table with one regular season game to play!

Legend
8K
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14K
·
over 16 years

Royz wrote:

Mainland FC wrote:

Ranix wrote:

Bit of a worry seeing Hooper limping at the end. Hope that's a two week fix and he is ok for finals.

They let him play on for the last 10 while limping !!

We would be down to ten men if he went off.  I do not think he wanted to come off, regardless. A real trooper.

WRONG! 5 subs are allowed.

FFA rules only allow 5 subs to be made at 3 points through the game, so if you've not made 5 subs by the 70th minute then you are only allowed to make 3, so at the point Hoops was injured we'd made 3 subs and couldnt make any more. 

We have 8 days before the next match anyway, so I'm sure we'll be well rested for the Jets.

Trialist
46
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94
·
over 4 years

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

Marquee
3.1K
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6.7K
·
over 16 years

talayvision wrote:

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

not quite this, but the way are trying to end this season is very similar to how we threw it away last year. 

Legend
8K
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14K
·
over 16 years

skighly different things distracting us from last year but similar effects.

Trialist
70
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120
·
about 6 years

If we are going to go far into the finals, we really need Davilla to hit his pre-lockdown form. Would also be keen to see Rufer get the nod over Devlin for the next couple games. Has a calmer head and has been delivering some cracking passes.

Starting XI
2.3K
·
3.1K
·
over 11 years

kwlap wrote:

talayvision wrote:

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

not quite this, but the way are trying to end this season is very similar to how we threw it away last year. 

I think we came great out of the lockdown for the first game against Sydney and then we choked.

Legend
6.8K
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14K
·
over 16 years

number8 wrote:

kwlap wrote:

talayvision wrote:

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

not quite this, but the way are trying to end this season is very similar to how we threw it away last year. 

I think we came great out of the lockdown for the first game against Sydney and then we choked.

If there's VAR different result, different road. 

Woof Woof
2.7K
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19K
·
over 16 years

martinb wrote:

number8 wrote:

kwlap wrote:

talayvision wrote:

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

not quite this, but the way are trying to end this season is very similar to how we threw it away last year. 

I think we came great out of the lockdown for the first game against Sydney and then we choked.

If there's VAR different result, different road. 

You say that like VAR hasn't been an absolute shambles.

But like I said in a different thread, that loss really stings because Sydney have been absolutely appalling since the Covid break, so our performance against them may not have been the sign we all thought it was. At the time it seemed like it could be a Grand Final preview, since then the two teams have combined for one win between them.

First Team Squad
2K
·
1.3K
·
over 5 years

el grapadura wrote:

martinb wrote:

number8 wrote:

kwlap wrote:

talayvision wrote:

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

not quite this, but the way are trying to end this season is very similar to how we threw it away last year. 

I think we came great out of the lockdown for the first game against Sydney and then we choked.

If there's VAR different result, different road. 

You say that like VAR hasn't been an absolute shambles.

But like I said in a different thread, that loss really stings because Sydney have been absolutely appalling since the Covid break, so our performance against them may not have been the sign we all thought it was. At the time it seemed like it could be a Grand Final preview, since then the two teams have combined for one win between them.

Always rather have VAR than not have it tbh

Marquee
4K
·
6.6K
·
over 13 years

Whyme14 wrote:

If we are going to go far into the finals, we really need Davilla to hit his pre-lockdown form. Would also be keen to see Rufer get the nod over Devlin for the next couple games. Has a calmer head and has been delivering some cracking passes.

Different players. But agree that they all have their ups and downs.

Devlin just barely managed not to get sent off against Adelaide, with several close-shave fouls. But Matti Steinmann also had a testing return to play, being stretched a bit by the opposition in a couple of games.  Between the three of them they all had at least one so-so performance since the restart.

Phoenix Academy
630
·
470
·
about 9 years

Mainland FC wrote:

Different players. But agree that they all have their ups and downs.

Devlin just barely managed not to get sent off against Adelaide, with several close-shave fouls. But Matti Steinmann also had a testing return to play, being stretched a bit by the opposition in a couple of games.  Between the three of them they all had at least one so-so performance since the restart.

Why? Did he shout something obscene from the stands?

Legend
8K
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14K
·
over 16 years

el grapadura wrote:

martinb wrote:

number8 wrote:

kwlap wrote:

talayvision wrote:

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

not quite this, but the way are trying to end this season is very similar to how we threw it away last year. 

I think we came great out of the lockdown for the first game against Sydney and then we choked.

If there's VAR different result, different road. 

You say that like VAR hasn't been an absolute shambles.

But like I said in a different thread, that loss really stings because Sydney have been absolutely appalling since the Covid break, so our performance against them may not have been the sign we all thought it was. At the time it seemed like it could be a Grand Final preview, since then the two teams have combined for one win between them.

absolutely its been a shambles, but had VAR been in place one could expect the Sydney result to be different. That result goes in our favour and I reckon our confidence is hihger and we play bgetter

Marquee
4K
·
6.6K
·
over 13 years

Mainland FC wrote:

Different players. But agree that they all have their ups and downs.

Devlin just barely managed not to get sent off against Adelaide, with several close-shave fouls. But Matti Steinmann also had a testing return to play, being stretched a bit by the opposition in a couple of games.  Between the three of them they all had at least one so-so performance since the restart.

Why? Did he shout something obscene from the stands?

My bad, I meant WSW.

Starting XI
2.3K
·
3.1K
·
over 11 years

I blame the Aussie food for Davila’s current form. They should start feed him with authentic Mexican food. This will spice up and re-ignite his football by 100%

Legend
6.8K
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14K
·
over 16 years

el grapadura wrote:

martinb wrote:

number8 wrote:

kwlap wrote:

talayvision wrote:

I think we just saved the classic phoenix choke for the restart so that it was gone come finals time

not quite this, but the way are trying to end this season is very similar to how we threw it away last year. 

I think we came great out of the lockdown for the first game against Sydney and then we choked.

If there's VAR different result, different road. 

You say that like VAR hasn't been an absolute shambles.

But like I said in a different thread, that loss really stings because Sydney have been absolutely appalling since the Covid break, so our performance against them may not have been the sign we all thought it was. At the time it seemed like it could be a Grand Final preview, since then the two teams have combined for one win between them.

Yeh- I think VAR has been relatively consistent about handball for instance, and challenges, compared to what we are seeing with just referees and more importantly I think we have benefited from it in our results. Since the restart the playing field has been different and I think that has hurt us, on balance. Particularly that game.

Marquee
4.5K
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6.6K
·
over 11 years

But you could argue that we've been favoured too, especially some yellow cards for the likes of Rufer, Devlin and Fenton that VAR could easily have upgraded to red on the night.

Personally I've enjoyed the viewing experience a lot more without VAR. In the main we've had a bunch of free flowing, entertaining games, not stifled by constant interruptions for agonisingly drawn out judgements with a disturbingly high failure rate. Players and coaches aren't constantly mobbing the ref with arms raised for every tiny bit of ball on arm contact. As always some dud decisions are made by the officials but the game goes on so quickly the vast majority of them are soon forgotten. 

Also, although there are some poor A League refs there are at least three who are pretty decent, which I think is a higher ratio than the league has ever had.

Legend
6.8K
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14K
·
over 16 years

Outpost wrote:

But you could argue that we've been favoured too, especially some yellow cards for the likes of Rufer, Devlin and Fenton that VAR could easily have upgraded to red on the night.

Personally I've enjoyed the viewing experience a lot more without VAR. In the main we've had a bunch of free flowing, entertaining games, not stifled by constant interruptions for agonisingly drawn out judgements with a disturbingly high failure rate. Players and coaches aren't constantly mobbing the ref with arms raised for every tiny bit of ball on arm contact. As always some dud decisions are made by the officials but the game goes on so quickly the vast majority of them are soon forgotten. 

Also, although there are some poor A League refs there are at least three who are pretty decent, which I think is a higher ratio than the league has ever had.

Yeh, we've had a couple of possible ones that woulda gone against us. I still remember the incorrect offsides against Krishna which cooled our momentum when Ernie coached us, the arm goal in the final against Sydney... I don't think VAR is riddled with constant interruptions. 

The arm ball thing- the ref goes he's checking it piss off now to the players, it's checked and the best decision possible is made. And it is more likely to be consistent with other games and decisions.

Each to his own- but Hooper would have more goals and it's possible Davila too. Starting with a win would have been a shot in the arm.

Anyhou- at least two more games left and a shorter off season.

Marquee
3.7K
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5.8K
·
almost 17 years

Wouldnt count on the off season being that short could be December before the restart.The way things are going the Nix could well have to base themselves in Aussie again.

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