Team Wellington... no longer an association with Ole. Chur

Second time I saw him play today. Played CB. My overall impression is of a competent player, but not much more than that.

Did Charlie Henry get a run on?

Yep, came on as a sub in the second half. Had one very good run that probably should have resulted in a goal but Watson was too late to get on the end of Henry's ball (this would have given 2-1 lead to TeeDubs).. Small, nippy kind of player, interested to see more of him.

Cheers EG.

Might have to pop over to DF and see TW sometime this season

(this would go down well with Chemical Ali et al - watching coalface footy due to a chap from Chelmsford!)

Hello there.

I would welcome a few thoughts and opinions from Wellington fans on what they made of their team after today's match.

(Imagine for a moment you are Jeff Vader and try and summon a few strong, well argued opinions with substantiating detail, about what you really think.)

Such stuff is helpful with betting decisions for us neutrals, but it's hard to get a fix on Wellington from afar because youse Wellington guys say relatively little of substance. 

Thanks in advance. 

I'm flattered Bruce (I think)

I take exception to your use of the word "relatively".

• Score flattered Auckland
• Matt Conger is just awful
• Team Wellington better in the main than I expected
• Tom Doyle my MOTM for the home side.
• Nice not to be working covering it.

Do we get a cut if any information we provide on here helps you win your bets....?

Just awfully inconsistent and easily swayed by whining.

TeeDubs player got booked for kicking a ball away at restart.  ACFC repeatedly did the same including two finishes well after the whistle had gone which were just ignored.

Good start, Hard. But putting aside the ref and the Aucks, how did the overall team performance compare with last year at the same stage?

Is the Wellington team really as youthful as the ASB site match report suggested?

Would Spoonley have made any difference?

First impressions of the new signings?

Any disappointments in the individual performances? Any glaring inadequacies?

We'll turn you into Hard Vader yet.

On the subject of player whining, it would be a fun exercise to formulate a league table based on the skills and output of the various teams.

I've always felt my home team, Waikato, were somewhat remedial in this respect, and with skipper Aaron Scott being Politeness Man, don't see it changing much, even with a few bolshy Aucklanders in the squad.

By contrast I have long admired the ability of both Auckland clubs to raise the bar for whinging  - based I guess on a decent cross-pollination of players from winter northern league who have found it an effective mechanism at lower level. Why I think the Auckland teams deserve special praise is that because overall they have achieved far more success than other teams - yet  this has not been inversely proportional to the volume of on-field moaning.

Wellington's whinge-ability will skyrocket when Adam Cowan gets on the pitch.

You'd have to have Canterbury high up on account of the Russell Kamo factor - possibly an MVP in this sphere - and while this is purely subjective, I always felt Hawke's Bay batted above the odds in terms of whinging.

But that's just me. Welcome any other whinges about whingers. Have a decent moan. Complain your socks off. 

It was a pretty encouraging performance, especially considering how late the squad was assembled. The backline had a very makeshift look to it: Lindsay at RB, Doyle at LB, and Peverley and Musa at CB. Looked pretty shaky in the first 10-15 minutes, and that's were Auckland's first goal came from. ACFC focused on attacking Doyle's flank in the first half, he did a pretty decent job overall. Lindsay did a very good job on Krishna.

Teedubs settled into the game after about 15, and from that point on it was pretty even, with periods of dominance from the TeeDubs. The key to getting back into the game was the combativeness in the middle of the park, ACFC could not settle on the ball, and coughed it up on fairly regularly. Much of this was thanks to Justin Gulley, who was excellent in pressing the ball in the middle of the park and forced a lot of mistakes, including quite a few from the Croatian donkey. Jamie De Abreu scored a solo goal from outside the box, he certainly brings a bit of a spark to the team. A very willing runner, and tries to get involved at every opportunity. He was getting tired in the second half, and had a couple of bad crosses and made some bad decisions, but he seems a promising attacking outlet. Fa'arodo didn't do much, and Watson is still unconvincing for me - he was very ineffective yesterday, and that could well be the problem for TeeDubs for the remainder of the season in the big games. Charlie Henry came on late in the second half, had one very good run that should have been a goal for Watson. Hard to assess a player in that short amount of time, but I'm interested in seeing more of him.

ACFC's second goal killed off the game - I think there were calls for offside, it was on the far side from us so hard to tell what really happened. Having said that McPeake should have done much better than he did, he dived over the top of it and it squeezed in under him. He also should have done much better with the first, where he was easily beaten at the near post. On the other had, he pulled out a couple of great saves too. If Spoonley had been there, would it have been different? You would like to think yes, that second goal was pretty average keeping.

The second goal killed the game - it visibly deflated TeeDub players, and ACFC showed their quality and managed to keep hold of possession much more easily in this period (last 10 minutes), with Tee Dubs never looking likely to get another equaliser. The game blew out with another couple of late goals to make the scoreline very flattering for ACFC. I thought draw would have been a perfectly fair outcome in this game. Having said that, I expect ACFC to steamroll the opposition this season, but on the evidence of yesterday's game, TeeDubs could have a shot at 2nd spot this season.

Surely all  these questions would be well covered by the NZF / ASB Prems media ....[ rofl ]

The second goal, Krishna pushed Peverley (maybe Musa) as he was going for a header. You know where they lean in as they jump and spoil the defenders jump .From my point of view it was a clear foul which the ref didn't call. TW were also calling for offside but it wasn't.

The third goal seemed to be either a classy finish or a shank off the side of his boot from a cross? Looked like our keeper let the ball go in near post too.

I think TW put up a good fight but Auckland were better overall. Scoreline was probably unfair.

Some pretty good play from TW but will need to be more clinical if they want to compete at the top.

Auckland team are also full of giants! The midfielders all looked like basketballers and we have shorties. Don't know if that makes a difference just interesting! Good support from Auckland too. Chanting and singing all game...well done

Ha ha. Had to get that in El Grap. Expected.

As for how they looked compared to the same time last season?

Significantly better to me.  Last season the FSE lads were younger and some clearly not up to ASB Premiership standard so Team Wellington were dreadful until a bit more of the local steel joined the squad and made the line-ups.  That steel was already there yesterday and despite where we were a week ago there is a bit of depth with Hobbs, Bertsch, Cowan, Henry either on the bench or still to come into selection criteria.

Away to Waitak next week will be a challenge.

He is not wrong though. In a franchise where players come in and seem better than at their previous teams, he does not look like a standout. I think if he were at another team where they were chasing it more and dominating less (as ACFC do), he would be just another John Smith with a number on his back.

how did colin murphy go?

Not impressed, thought he was the weakest central midfielder on show.

interesting that

he made the MLS draft, he's skipper, and kept bertsch (who i rate considerably) out of the starting team, so you'd think he was pretty good

good write up btw el grap

Agree...bring back Wiremu

TW doing well until Calcott took Ferado and Chettleburgh off

What crowd nos ?

Actually ( it being TW ) what crowd names....

ha ha

so far we have smithy and his missus. 

Higher than last year then ?

about 150 max.

TW paying $6 to win this weekend, $5.50 for the draw.

Crazy money