Auckland Pride - Make Auckland Great Again

Never ceases to amaze me the people who are continually critical and negative of the way the Phoenix have done things or do things. Yep mistakes have been made but hey we are still here 
They have had to survive what seemed at times threat after threat to our existence.  From Terry going broke, to sitting on the license claims, covid etc etc yet unlike previous attempts we have survived.  They have also managed to develop what has become a pretty good Academy continuing the development of some very talented youngsters. Some might not like to admit it but its partly because of our resilience and survival that Auckland are even able to be in the competition.  
Im glad the Phoenix do things their own way, yep its bloody frustrating at times but i will still go to every game i can while im healthy and continue being optimistic about our chances i think thats what football fans do. When success does come and it  will, it will taste so much better.

Good luck to Auckland they have certainly started well but not everything  they have done has been great despite what some would have you think.

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O for awesome.

LG

number8

Auckland is doing everything right. They are exiting winning team, maybe it’s there fitness, what ever. Very likely that they win the league. They are better than us on every level. Auckland pulled it of in there first season. Meanwhile we hope for a signing that brings us into playoffs and our games are 75% bore fest.

I remember our first season, the defence was like watching the Keystone Cops in action. Gifting goals galore. Fortunately Danbiel & Smeltz were doing or trying to do the business at the other end. Ross Aloise getting sent off in his last game is the stuff Legends were made of. And he is, our inaugral Captain.

Auckland had basically 12 months lead in before their first game.
October 2023, the preferred bidder as owner of the new Auckland licence was confirmed to be Bill Foley
On 14 March 2024, the club officially announced  Terry McFlynn as its director of football, and Steve Corica as its inaugural head coach

On 19 October 2024, they played their first game against the Roar.

The Phoenix had about half that time to start a club from scratch and assemble a squad.
new Wellington club was confirmed on 19 March 2007.
First game against the Victory, 26 August 2007


Auckland have got a lot right, especially with their squad. But they will never again have such a long pre season to work out a playing style and select players to fit.

Yipe their visas have been all good, and the Nix could never afford a Sakai. Verstraete another standout so far. But I don't think May is really much better than Ishige, or Gallegos a huge upgrade on Nagasawa. AFC's visa players look better because they have a heap of experienced players all around them.

The main area where their squad is stronger than the Nix is their of calibre mid-late 20s Kiwis & Aussies. The teenagers at the Nix are still working out where Nagasawa is going to pass. Plus yes they had a patchy pre season, with alot of Kiwis away with various teams. The all experienced Gallegos, Verstraete, Howieson, Brimmer, May have been together for months now, and bedded in Corica's game plan. They have it down pat, whilst the Nix are still fiddling with their's, and have a host of Academy grads getting their first taste of pro football.

coochiee

If Auckland got to host the ALM Grand Final (which surely they would hold at Eden Park), would be a huge moment for the code.

And only a few months after the AWs have hopefully locked an appearance at next year's World Cup, at likely the same venue.

Throw in the Woodsman's brilliant EPL season, an upcoming 2nd ALW team, and possibly 2 new professional clubs in NZ with extra pro pathways (OFC league) - and you have football in NZ finally fulfilling it's potential.

Edit - https://aleagues.com.au/news/nando-pijnaker-dan-hall-injury-update-auckland-fc-steve-corica/

Corica will be hoping Pijnaker’s injury prognosis isn’t serious, having confirmed (Dan) Hall isn’t expected to return to play until March.

“Probably about five weeks (away),” Corica said.

“Probably for the Newcastle game (on March 9), I’m hoping. So whatever that is, four or five weeks.”

Mass Canadian participation in the MLS turned their game around, hopefully its now NZ's turn. 

Canadian football is the model we should follow. 

Their MLS sides play in the Canadian Cup. I'd love to see the Nix and Knights in the Chatham Cup, that would really increase interest in NZ's longest running sports competition.

Marto

coochiee

If Auckland got to host the ALM Grand Final (which surely they would hold at Eden Park), would be a huge moment for the code.

And only a few months after the AWs have hopefully locked an appearance at next year's World Cup, at likely the same venue.

Throw in the Woodsman's brilliant EPL season, an upcoming 2nd ALW team, and possibly 2 new professional clubs in NZ with extra pro pathways (OFC league) - and you have football in NZ finally fulfilling it's potential.

Edit - https://aleagues.com.au/news/nando-pijnaker-dan-hall-injury-update-auckland-fc-steve-corica/

Corica will be hoping Pijnaker’s injury prognosis isn’t serious, having confirmed (Dan) Hall isn’t expected to return to play until March.

“Probably about five weeks (away),” Corica said.

“Probably for the Newcastle game (on March 9), I’m hoping. So whatever that is, four or five weeks.”

Mass Canadian participation in the MLS turned their game around, hopefully its now NZ's turn. 

Canadian football is the model we should follow. 

Their MLS sides play in the Canadian Cup. I'd love to see the Nix and Knights in the Chatham Cup, that would really increase interest in NZ's longest running sports competition.

no thanks - would destroy local clubs chances of winning - It's bad enough that the sham of a "Club" Auckland City and also Central are in the cup.

Agree for the same reasons 

It's irritating BTW that the "Black Knights" branding is gradually being turned up, like a frog's spa bath

Yep, the TV commentary both ausi and kiwi, are gradually upping the reference as well.

AucklandPhoenix

Yep, the TV commentary both ausi and kiwi, are gradually upping the reference as well.

Yeah I feel like there's been a directive given to the media that they need to use it - I've noticed an uptick in its use in written articles as well the last few weeks

ballane

Never ceases to amaze me the people who are continually critical and negative of the way the Phoenix have done things or do things. Yep mistakes have been made but hey we are still here 
They have had to survive what seemed at times threat after threat to our existence.  From Terry going broke, to sitting on the license claims, covid etc etc yet unlike previous attempts we have survived.  They have also managed to develop what has become a pretty good Academy continuing the development of some very talented youngsters. Some might not like to admit it but its partly because of our resilience and survival that Auckland are even able to be in the competition.  
Im glad the Phoenix do things their own way, yep its bloody frustrating at times but i will still go to every game i can while im healthy and continue being optimistic about our chances i think thats what football fans do. When success does come and it  will, it will taste so much better.

Good luck to Auckland they have certainly started well but not everything  they have done has been great despite what some would have you think.

I'm a loyal Phoenix fan, but I just feel that Auckland has shown us up on a few fronts already - with very little time to setup. 

It's of huge benefit having two A-League teams. We have already improved the playing pool of fringe All whites. We just don't want to become the poor little brother from windy Wellington....  

I think our big point of difference currently is our academy and professional training facilities. We need to find more ways to innovate and corner the market everywhere south of the bombay hills :) 

It's a really tough comparison given the massive difference in the leagues situation when the Nix came about and AFC's arrival. The Nix came in on the back of two failed Auckland attempts, the feeling towards having an NZ team in the league was not one of acceptance and certainly not that welcome from large portions of the Aussie footballing world - and it was like that for at least 10 years, including the Nix out years. When Welnix came along after Terry's financial issues they had limited time to get things together. Since their time in charge they've solidified the Nix as part of the league, stablished the ownership as part of the leagues leader group, built the club on a financially stable platform and kept us reasonably competitive on the field. Along with developing a women's team and a very well respected academy. 
Foley has 10x the money Welnix have, plus he has a sports company background and had a year to establish the idea of a football team in AFC. Plus he's not had to deal with any of the negativity from the Aussies, by all accounts they've welcomed him with open arms.

All this is great for NZ footy, but comparing the two clubs starts to suggest AFC have done it better is grossly unfair and ignores the path that the Nix have laid for future NZ clubs.

100% you cant take anything away from the Nix. But that does not mean the Nix can't learn and develop as well. AFC have been inovative in many ways. Ok they have a big budget but when you read about their EPL conditioning and see the way they finish games you wonder why cant the Nix do the same? Physical conditioning is not about $$. Being agressive and combative for the full 90 is not about $$ 

And they already have the best training facilities 

austin111

100% you cant take anything away from the Nix. But that does not mean the Nix can't learn and develop as well. AFC have been inovative in many ways. Ok they have a big budget but when you read about their EPL conditioning and see the way they finish games you wonder why cant the Nix do the same? Physical conditioning is not about $$. Being agressive and combative for the full 90 is not about $$ 

Yeah fair call, but also AFC had a mostly uninteruppted pre season. Bit easier to get the squad fully fit, when they are turning up as a group nearly every day, and you basically have total control over their training regimes.

Nix had a very interrupted pre season in comparison. OFC Nations Cup, Olympics and U19/20 OFC WC qualifying (Samoa?). Players coming & going, continuously. Finding time for players to have a few weeks rest ie. some sort of off season. 

Even the AWs playing 2 games in the States in September (where yes AFC had a few guys as well).

Disagree - many of those players were dripped fed into the system. Cast your mind back to when the players were announced as signings 

After a bit of getting to know each other they would have had a tougher time than the Nix. 

First AFC signings were in May, league kicked off in October. From memory most of the Kiwis, Aussies and Sakai arrived by about July. The other visa players came later.

But I'm specifically talking about fitness, or conditioning. 


The Olympics was the biggest interruption to pre season.
AFC had Paulsen, Gillion & Randall in France. Toomey got called up when Bidois pulled out?? (so 3-4)

Nix had LKH, Sheridan, Sutton, Conchie, OVH & Hughes in France (so 6)


U19 OFC WC qualifying Samoa, 2-3 weeks in July another interruption . 
If you look at match day ALM squads this season.
Nix had 7 players away. Supyk, Walker, Candy, Alby K-H, Loke, Makowem and GSR

AFC had 3 players away. Coulibaly, McKenlay and Codey Phoenix

The 3 AFC youngsters have barely featured for AFC, but Supyk, Walker, Candy, and Alby K-H all been prominent for the Nix.

Excuses... excuses... The Nix have had 17 years to get things right, AFC had 7 months...

Jessie Merino

Excuses... excuses... The Nix have had 17 years to get things right, AFC had 7 months...

Yeah thats right the Phoenix have had the perfect set up for 17 years and havnt had any problems to deal with in that time. 
Yep plenty of excuses just the same as all  the excuses for the last 2 failures in Auckland, then again some carry on as if this is the first time Auckland has had a team. 
Dont see the issues with excuses being given last time i looked this was a forum for Phoenix fans to discus football.
Cant wait to see the excuses when things turn to shark because as we all know that can happen to any team at any time in football. Ride it while its good.
Yep 7 months and lots of help from the League to make it a smooth start 

Just saying. I've got no axes to grind. But maybe Welnix have either 1) got complacent, or 2) reached their limit.
Btw I'm a Wellingtonian born and bred.

ballane

Jessie Merino

Excuses... excuses... The Nix have had 17 years to get things right, AFC had 7 months...

Yeah thats right the Phoenix have had the perfect set up for 17 years and havnt had any problems to deal with in that time. 
Yep plenty of excuses just the same as all  the excuses for the last 2 failures in Auckland, then again some carry on as if this is the first time Auckland has had a team. 
Dont see the issues with excuses being given last time i looked this was a forum for Phoenix fans to discus football.
Cant wait to see the excuses when things turn to shark because as we all know that can happen to any team at any time in football. Ride it while its good.
Yep 7 months and lots of help from the League to make it a smooth start 

 

You are a very bitter individual.

Jessie Merino

Excuses... excuses... The Nix have had 17 years to get things right, AFC had 7 months...

Someone raised the point that as per an article AFC have their fitness levels up near EPL standards apparently. And yes is something for the Nix to aim for, but trickier when you have a sharkload of your squad away at different times in pre season.
 
One negative of having most/all of your Kiwi players in various NZ teams through the winter.

My 2 cents in this Auckland vs Wellington thing.. and I am somewhat neutral, as I moved to NZ from Latin America at a later age & chose to support the Phoenix as I did my year visa in Wellington. To me, it all comes from the mindset of the people of the club as the difference. Wellington Phoenix, and the people involved to me seem content with participating and if it’s a good season once every few years it labelled as “Great for the game and for the city”. While I am sure they want to win trophies, they never vocalise it, as to me it’s a very Kiwi mindset, “we don’t want to annoy anyone and show how good we are” tall poppy syndrome. A few notable examples come to mind. After the semi final lose to Melbourne, David Dome said in the YF podcast “We are disappointed, mainly to the bars and pubs in the city who might miss out on a big night if we won” Excuse me? Who cares about them, you need to say we’re disappointed for our fan base, we missed out on our first ever trophy… After the derby, Dome posted on Twitter “We lost on field battle, but won the off field” Again, who cares??? You lost your second derby in a month.. This is not an attack om Dome who does a good job, but if the CEO comes out with these things, it goes down the whole chain. This is sometimes reflected in the on field performance.. We never win in AAMI Park, lets park the bus and hope not to lose mindset.. 

 Meanwhile Auckland, have an American who is a winner in his business, and Australian coach who has won it all in the local scene as a player & a coach, who isn’t afraid to play dirty if need to be, but is vocal about winning. As you get older you learn to understand, that life has moved on from many things but winners & losers is not one of them, and the nice people sometimes don’t win. Does Foley has questionable political views? Maybe. Does Corica yell abuse at referees when things don’t go his way and has no issues giving it to oppo fans when his team scores? Yes, but it’s why he’s found success.. I think their fan base will not be quiet if things don’t go well, but time will tell. 

I have been lucky enough to have lived in many countries & for a while I was a football commentator in my native Argentina. I lived in Uruguay, which is smaller than NZ and they often talk about the “Garra Charrua”. gritty, fighting character which is never stronger than in do-or-die situations.  The word comes from the Charrua Indians, reputedly ferocious warriors who were wiped out in the 19th century. 
At its best, "garra" has helped Uruguay to glory, never more so than in the 1950 World Cup, when they beat Brazil at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro to take the trophy in a never-to-be forgotten upset, At its worst, it can bring out an ugly, brutal side… Sometimes I wish the Nix had that the Germain, Brattans, Berisha, Uskoks of this world, nothing wrong with being a little bit of a cod, be a bit more unlikeable, but within the bounds of the game, maybe that’s what the clubs needs to be successful, because they are all very nice & its a wonderful time to be had, but when it comes to the big moment, we have no answers.

I’m just going to say a short word in Foley’s defense. 

We know he’s passionate about his sport. We know he’s done a fantastic job at Bournemouth as part of his football family, and in hockey in Vegas. 
We know he comes from a military background and cares a lot about the ‘Black Knights’ who are I believe a group of Polish knights who made a decisive charge to halt the progress of the Ottoman army in Europe. Though I’m not 100% on that.

We know he owns some restaurants, bars and at least was friendly enough with Rob to talk to him about the A league. 

We know he’s donated to Trump. However, this may be the cost of doing business in the US. You look at all the billionaires on stage with Trump. They don’t really espouse politics, they want advantages and contracts or continued favourable conditions for their businesses. 

Foley is not running for political office and hasn’t put forward a list of his political views. Unsurprisingly for rich Americans he seems conservative and Christian, and interested in sports. Unusually he’s interested in the world outside the US too, beyond on a ledger. He’s interested in our football. This has been great for NZ football so far. 

We don’t know exactly what his political philosophy is, and even if he was dyed in the wool for Trump it is hard to know exactly what that means as a philosophy, because Trump gets support from a wide group. 

As for the Nix success no one will convince me Rufer is not a winner or that he’s too nice. We haven’t realised perhaps just how close to winning we were last season. 4 metres against CC when we backed off. 

We had all the snarl with Uffie. Unfortunately with our best shot COVID happened. 

Auckland are doing well because they have a good team and playing ahead of that good team they have a very good team. And they’ve got that new team focus from everyone. 

I know we’ve been on Chief’s case a little this season, but he seems to have a simpler philosophy than Uffie in that it’s defence first, which wins titles, and then winning by one or two. If we back him, I think we have a great shot at winning in the next two seasons. 

Yes to all of that - but also to mention: it is the quality of the squad that wins the season (if not the GF). It is the quality of the squad....

"I know we’ve been on Chief’s case a little this season, but he seems to have a simpler philosophy than Uffie in that it’s defence first, which wins titles, and then winning by one or two. If we back him, I think we have a great shot at winning in the next two seasons."

What do you mean by "if we back him"? Unless you are meaning that Welnix back him and give him extra money to spend on next year's squad, this is delusional. We are likely to lose Wootton at season's end and Kosta is going to slow down sooner rather than later. Our kids, with the possible exception of Hughes & AKH don't look likely to kick on like Old, Surman & Paulsen did. What specifically about this year's team gives you hope? 

imanixsupporter

"I know we’ve been on Chief’s case a little this season, but he seems to have a simpler philosophy than Uffie in that it’s defence first, which wins titles, and then winning by one or two. If we back him, I think we have a great shot at winning in the next two seasons."

What do you mean by "if we back him"? Unless you are meaning that Welnix back him and give him extra money to spend on next year's squad, this is delusional. We are likely to lose Wootton at season's end and Kosta is going to slow down sooner rather than later. Our kids, with the possible exception of Hughes & AKH don't look likely to kick on like Old, Surman & Paulsen did. What specifically about this year's team gives you hope? 

You really are starting to become a master of misery fella.

Crazy to basically write off most of kids in their first year of ALM football, after half a season.

Old - debuted for the Nix, May 2021. Didn't have a break out season until 23/24, and even then he still only started 17 of the 29 games he played
Surman - debuted for Nix, Jan 2022. Again 23/24 was his breakout season. Spent nearly all of 22/23 on the outer with a paltry 148 mins of ALM football, after 1,073 mins in 21/22. 
Paulsen - first broke in the Nix as no 2 keeper in season 21/22. Got a 4 games that season when Sail injured, but then rode the pine for every ALM game in 22/23 behind Sail. Again 23/24 the breakout season

The clear trend the youngsters need 2-3 seasons around the ALM, before their potential is released.

Odds on most of the youngsters blooded this season will be better players campaign 2025/26. Nagasawa and Ishige if they both stay should also hopefully be improved, having gotten familar with the physicality. That seems the pattern with imports at the Nix, more a presence in season two & beyond. Wootton may go to Japan, but what Chiefy dismissed as just a baseless rumour has got totally quiet.

Nothing is guaranteed but reasons to be optimistic about next season. 
Yes that visa 10 signing as promised would be handy right now.

Edit - and we haven't even seen young GSR play much yet. Everyone from Chiefy to the two big Oskars/Oscars (Zawada & Faulds) is giving this kid big wraps. At some stage we will get to see how good he is, but need to be patient, as he's still a bit of a waif for now. Apparently Faulds when training (thanks YH) with the Nix, last year was also mightly impressed by Brooke-Smith. These 16-17 yr old kids in 2-3 years could be real stars at the Nix.

Even with a disrupted pre-season, players should be as fit as they are 15 games into the season. If they are not injured and still not fit, when would they ever be?

When it comes to fitness and conditioning, it’s not just about comparing AFC to WPX.  It's AFC vs other A-league teams.  AFC is fitter, more aggressive, and plays a high-press style that should, in theory, be more physically demanding. Yet, they manage to maintain this for 100 minutes every game.

So, I agree that AFC must be doing something systematically right/better compared to the Nix, something Nix should learn and improve, especially given the quality of Nix’s training facilities.

I'm no fitness trainer but from what I understand the really intense, extreme fitness conditioning is done in pre season. It's partly why pre season results shouldn't be taken that seriously, the players may have had a tough session the day before, and have heavy legs the next day.

Obviously in season, you don't do that. It's more post match recovery, heavier training mid week (which maybe tactical specific for the next game), then lighter sessions as game day approaches. 

In season more about maintaining the fitness level, built up in pre season, around game specific training??  So little chance to manifestly improve fitness levels much when in season?? Otherwise come game day the legs would be too heavy??

But yeah for sure the Nix fitness/medical staff should be looking at what AFC have done this season.

martinb

I’m just going to say a short word in Foley’s defense. 

We know he’s passionate about his sport. We know he’s done a fantastic job at Bournemouth as part of his football family, and in hockey in Vegas. 
We know he comes from a military background and cares a lot about the ‘Black Knights’ who are I believe a group of Polish knights who made a decisive charge to halt the progress of the Ottoman army in Europe. Though I’m not 100% on that.

We know he owns some restaurants, bars and at least was friendly enough with Rob to talk to him about the A league. 

We know he’s donated to Trump. However, this may be the cost of doing business in the US. You look at all the billionaires on stage with Trump. They don’t really espouse politics, they want advantages and contracts or continued favourable conditions for their businesses. 

Foley is not running for political office and hasn’t put forward a list of his political views. Unsurprisingly for rich Americans he seems conservative and Christian, and interested in sports. Unusually he’s interested in the world outside the US too, beyond on a ledger. He’s interested in our football. This has been great for NZ football so far. 

We don’t know exactly what his political philosophy is, and even if he was dyed in the wool for Trump it is hard to know exactly what that means as a philosophy, because Trump gets support from a wide group. 

As for the Nix success no one will convince me Rufer is not a winner or that he’s too nice. We haven’t realised perhaps just how close to winning we were last season. 4 metres against CC when we backed off. 

We had all the snarl with Uffie. Unfortunately with our best shot COVID happened. 

Auckland are doing well because they have a good team and playing ahead of that good team they have a very good team. And they’ve got that new team focus from everyone. 

I know we’ve been on Chief’s case a little this season, but he seems to have a simpler philosophy than Uffie in that it’s defence first, which wins titles, and then winning by one or two. If we back him, I think we have a great shot at winning in the next two seasons. 

I believe he likes the name 'Black Knights' as it's the nickname for the sports teams of the Military Academy he attended

Safire

Even with a disrupted pre-season, players should be as fit as they are 15 games into the season. If they are not injured and still not fit, when would they ever be?

When it comes to fitness and conditioning, it’s not just about comparing AFC to WPX.  It's AFC vs other A-league teams.  AFC is fitter, more aggressive, and plays a high-press style that should, in theory, be more physically demanding. Yet, they manage to maintain this for 100 minutes every game.

So, I agree that AFC must be doing something systematically right/better compared to the Nix, something Nix should learn and improve, especially given the quality of Nix’s training facilities.

Yep. But. 

They’ve had players out. Hall. Brimmer. Pijnaker. Sakai.
Other guys who are good come in.

They can afford to spell their guys 45 or 60 minutes and rotate because they’ve got squad depth. Massive difference between throwing youth on for ten minutes when you’re two goals up and starting them. Moreno is  their top scorer and often only plays a half of football. Maybe he’s only played a couple of full games if that. Much less chance of an injury.

That’s money and depth as a result. Don’t need to go looking for injury replacements. They’re already in the squad.

That is the nature of any league though. Last season we had a well rounded squad, plenty of quality in multiple positions, plus some youth that were pushing for starting spots. WE then sold/released a number of that squad and are now dealing with injuries to our starting XI and relying on the academy lads to fill those gaps. It's just the stage in the cycle we are at. AFC are at the start of their cycle, they have the full squad of 23, have recruited well and have the depth they need for success in season 1. Give them a season or three and they will be having the same cyclic issues that all Aleague clubs experience. 
Remember, next season the lose Paulsen, so will be looking for a new keeper to push Woud for the #1 spot, Woud will be well short of game minutes by then as Paulsen does not look like giving up his starting spot anytime soon. They may also lose some of their younger kiwi guys, or some of the Aussie players looking to move back to Aus after a finding their form this year. Like us this season they could well be looking for 5/6 new players, sure their budget will be bigger than ours but still lmited by salary caps.

100% agree with your post Nixieboy222. 
For me the Nix have become the nice guys of the Aleague. Clubs should hate coming to Wellington. There are plenty of examples of clubs that have a low budget and thin squad but have success because they collectively have a battling, in your face mentality. Its not about playing dirty but about controlled aggression, competing hard for everyball, contesting and winning the contacts. I see lots of timidness at this club. Right from senior management right through to many of the players. As much as i respect Dome i think its time for a fresh face and new ideas at the top. 

austin111

100% agree with your post Nixieboy222. 
For me the Nix have become the nice guys of the Aleague. Clubs should hate coming to Wellington. There are plenty of examples of clubs that have a low budget and thin squad but have success because they collectively have a battling, in your face mentality. Its not about playing dirty but about controlled aggression, competing hard for everyball, contesting and winning the contacts. I see lots of timidness at this club. Right from senior management right through to many of the players. As much as i respect Dome i think its time for a fresh face and new ideas at the top. 

That has a lot to do with us as fans as well - we should be making it absolutely horrid for travelling teams but I feel we've sofened a bit.

So last year was? 

If we wanna be The Port, the RBB or Adelaide crowd great. 

Controlled aggression is great until they just start ignoring your coach or laughing at him. And carding your players. 

What should we do? Take out more billboards at airports or just sign a couple more players? 

The appearance of aggression at A FC is an amazing press. We had that last season. As you say fit players and as I was saying depth. 

We could be doing much much worse than our current management. 

Does the game matter to us? How fired up are we for each game? Can the players feel that? How much does each game matter to the players as individuals and as a team? 

Those last ditch tackles, blocks, runs down the field to be the 3rd body in the box at 92 minutes… 

It’s a bit easier for AFC in their first season. 

For me, when the whole team calls for a penalty, say, you get the whole stadium full throated roar. Then the player who offended us gets raspberries. None of this well yes the ref is probably right, he did get goal side, but I’m undecided…

Adelaide were complaining about normal time added on the other day. Imagine if Coopers had been denied both those pens. 

Anyway I feel I’ve maybe changed direction midstream there, but not really. Dome fires shots we say it’s dumb. Dome doesn’t fire shots we say he’s not aggressive enough. 🤷‍♂️

It’s up to us, the players and coaches to inject the motivation and desire into each game. If we can’t do that Domey or McFlynn isn’t going to make much difference, except I’d be starting a McFlynn out campaign. 

And if you’ve got new players you’ve got to fit them into your team.

If you’ve watched much of the Blue Samurai play or particularly Nadeshiko play they don’t panic late in a game. They usually just keep recycling the ball and trust their systems. Like we did last year. If we can’t do that, it’s more likely the problem is our system than it is the players.

Anyone in the know have any updates on Nando’s injury? 

If out for a few weeks, any leads on a replacement?

theprof

austin111

100% agree with your post Nixieboy222. 
For me the Nix have become the nice guys of the Aleague. Clubs should hate coming to Wellington. There are plenty of examples of clubs that have a low budget and thin squad but have success because they collectively have a battling, in your face mentality. Its not about playing dirty but about controlled aggression, competing hard for everyball, contesting and winning the contacts. I see lots of timidness at this club. Right from senior management right through to many of the players. As much as i respect Dome i think its time for a fresh face and new ideas at the top. 

That has a lot to do with us as fans as well - we should be making it absolutely horrid for travelling teams but I feel we've sofened a bit.

Actually, I've always thought the welcome for travelling fans was one of the high points of YF culture.

On the way out of Mt Smart on Saturday, I thanked the two people I passed wearing Macarthur colours.

AucklandPhoenix

Anyone in the know have any updates on Nando’s injury? 

If out for a few weeks, any leads on a replacement?

Very minor thankfully, by all reports. Should be fine for Western

Doloras

theprof

austin111

100% agree with your post Nixieboy222. 
For me the Nix have become the nice guys of the Aleague. Clubs should hate coming to Wellington. There are plenty of examples of clubs that have a low budget and thin squad but have success because they collectively have a battling, in your face mentality. Its not about playing dirty but about controlled aggression, competing hard for everyball, contesting and winning the contacts. I see lots of timidness at this club. Right from senior management right through to many of the players. As much as i respect Dome i think its time for a fresh face and new ideas at the top. 

That has a lot to do with us as fans as well - we should be making it absolutely horrid for travelling teams but I feel we've sofened a bit.

Actually, I've always thought the welcome for travelling fans was one of the high points of YF culture.

On the way out of Mt Smart on Saturday, I thanked the two people I passed wearing Macarthur colours.

It's not a mutually-exclusive choice between being a bunch of yobs and a basket of kittens. We can be a credit to the club with our behaviour (e.g. at the Auckland derby where we let a couple of AFC fans cut in to the front of the ticket-scanning queue because one of them was desperate to get to the toilets), and still turn the stadium into a Phortress when the game is on.

I remarked to a workmate after the RoF derby that I had to give the Port credit for showing up and (from where I was sitting, roughly centre-line) making more noise than the Fever at times. His response has stuck with me: "Well they'll do that if the home crowd let them."