Auckland City FC - Thanks a Trillion

Educated in Wonderland, apparently! see:

www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/jason-hicks/.../spieler_135828.html

Of those four I think only Siggy would have any chance of getting game time at ACFC.

Our defence line is looking makeshift - only Ivan is dependable, Chris Bale is a midfielder pulled back and young Simon Arms is still a work in progress. We'll take Siggy back if you like.

Who is your left back? You say you're missing Hogg, yet he is behind the pecking order at the nix and AWs to lochead. So surely he'd get game time. 

Looking forward to the game v waitakere on the 2nd. 

The Japanese kid that is still floating around and really is rather poor.

Think the game against Waitakere will largely decide who qualifies for O League next year. Should be a humdinger!

It seems Andy Milne is mostly at LB and he's making a reasonable fist of it. The problem is central defence which is now Simon Arms and Chris Bale, with Ivan out right. It's a bit to makeshift particularly for a style which relies more on defence than attack. I fear we're going to struggle to contain De Friis, Krisna and Pearce who are obviously going to press us high up the field looking for a badly hit back or square pass to pounce on, just like Team Wellington successfully did in the play-offs last season.

You actually played a 3-5-2 against Otago didn't you, with Milne as a Left Wing Back and Pedro, I think on the other flank?  Milne looked good going forward and deserved his goal - on occasion he was even the highest Auckland player on the pitch like a Centre Forward alongside Tade - so he had plenty of freedom in an attacking role he is more familiar with.  Arms had problems on the left in the first half with Otago's right back and right half, and then when he was switched to the right at half-time he had problems with the pacey bearded guy at left half and picked up a yellow - certainly he looks OK on the ball, but under a bit of pressure not so flash hot. Pearce and Krishna could really punish you if you try that particular back three again, unless your Wing Backs adopt a much more conservative approach.

Seemed to have fallen out of favour a bit

How is he going to get his hair braided on Goa when he has a number one haircut?

Nobody will be running down the wing anymore.... New chant required

Quoting ChopperNZ (from Regional Football , Central league thread) 

" ... looks like Wairarapa are going for some Soanish flair this year - three Spanish players on pending or completed transfer."

Now who could they be?

I wonder if Wairarapa's 3 new Spanish boys will be trekking thru the Gorge to Memorial Pk to watch City's 5 old Spanish boys?

"Chilean stars Jorge de la Torre and Jonatan Almendra will be playing for Wairarapa Utd. in 2013. Both players represented Chile under-20's last year." Wairarapa Times Age.

Sign 'em up!

Went to the game on the weekend, thinking we would watch some great football by Auckland. See some great goals, only to be disappointed by their other antics.There were glimpses of it, but this became over shadowed by the "Hollywoods" they bought to the game after 1/2 time when they were still tied 1 all.

 It got to the point that even the crowd were laughing at them. The penalty was ridiculous, Esposito fell, over his own feet and then milked it for all its worth.I think, if the refs looks at the footage, he will cringe at his mistake. Auckland players were crying foul every time an opposition player got close, rolling all over the ground even though they weren't touched, then getting back and continuing with nothing wrong with them after a decision. 

Eventually even the ref caught on to them, but by then it was to late the game had turned into a joke. Maybe a few cards should be given for these "Heroes" who think "Hollywoods" are part of the game.

Auckland are better and should just stick to playing football, this just makes the game a joke!

I agree, they've got to stop the silly antics and play football. The refs need to toughen up.

Don't you know that the ACFC coach is Spanish. He teaches tumbling. In in his blood.

Careful, prejudice is an easy trap. However there is an element of truth.

I see cricket fans at Eden Park were evicted for - gulp, cheering too loudly. Love it, you don't go to a kiwi sports event and make any noise mate! When a bunch of singing ACFC fans travelled all the way to a Canterbury United home game they were told to shut up by irate Cantabrians. You can hear a pin drop at Fred Taylor Park most of the time.

Got a link to an article on the Eden Park thing wayward?

He's a Scotsman. Moaning is in his blood. So is sitting in obscurity.

Uh huh. If you say so.

Just kidding. BTW how are Partick doing? I used to follow Third Lanark - but only coz that's where Mother came from and I got to read the Hamilton Advertiser ( 6 copies at once rolled up in string & 2 months late off the ship) when I was growing up in Ngaio. C'mon the Accies!

Check out third lanarks ground - http://www.footballgroundguide.com/old-grounds-and-stands/cathkin_park_third_lanark.htm

As Third Lanark went tits up in the 60's, that's hardly a surprise. You should check out what Wimbledon's Plough Lane looks like these days.

Thistle are currently sitting 2nd in Div. 1. 5 points off the pace with two games in hand. We beat Hamilton Accies 1-0 last week  :-)

I'll let you fellas have your topic back now!

Tits up in 1967. Oh well, at least the Beatles were hitting their prime. Cathkin looks remarkably similar to today's Newmarket Pk. I won't bother checking out Plough Lane... but hey (getting back on topic), you got any pull with Thistle? Get 'em out here 4 some holiday sunshine. ACFC v Patrick Thistle at Kiwitea St. Just a thought...

Might be nice! I know they used to come to Aus years back. One day maybe.

No, certainly wasn't me. If ACFC were playing in my back garden, I'd probably shut the curtains, so I'm not liable to drive all the way from Pukekohe to watch them. Although, strangely enough, despite that I have done so a couple of times

Cookie, head of liason at ACFC, is a Jock (Dundee not Partick, sadly). Work on him. Bombard him with pleas, porridge, incentives...

Nothing particularly against ACFC, as such, I've just got no interest in them whatsoever. Have driven up to Kiwitea Street a couple of times, when the game held some attraction for me. I get my share of grass roots football on Tuesday and Thursday nights at training, and on Saturday afternoons.

Nope, unless there's league reconstruction, which is being talked about. Only top team goes up to SPL

I wouldn't avoid them, necessarily, just fairly ambivalent towards them. If I lived closer then I'd probably go and watch, but I'm probably closer to Waikato to be honest. I'm usually doing other football related stuff on Sundays anyway.

Don't you love it - the smothering sound of apathy. Even ACFC being O League champions doesn't rate a flicker of interest. Me thinks you're the loser. Personally 90 minutes of noisy action at Kiwitea Street is worth every moment once a fortnight.