Mark Judan: Family Time

Agree with the injury factor being a big deal.  

I'm also looking to see how we solve two likely problems:

1.  How we deal with the Aussies bullying and shutting down Singh, and supply to the front three, in much the same way they worked over Rolly.  I don't think Rolly or the team was smart with how they dealt with that, and a good team and manager should be expecting that and have plans to deal with it.  I think/hope this side will play more as a team and Singh will use those around him better than Rolly tended to. 

2. And I'm interested in how well we deal with those sides that quickly compress their D, so that there is no room behind for our speedsters to play into.  Not regularly going down a goal early would help with that. 

I feel like Singh will be underrated by most of the league until about half way through the season. He's shown he can compete with bigger players and the strength factor doesn't really affect him too much.

Singh seems good at finding space. Quite often drifts to the wings, gets beyond the fullback, helps create overloads or pulls his opposite out of position. Much more intelligent/proactive off the ball than Roly. Also doesn't overplay, receives the ball on the turn etc. At his age it will be about doing it consistently and not shying away when he gets roughed up from the opposition.

Yep, pretty much agree.  Just looking forward to seeing how that plays out.  And when he does get into those wider places and in behind, how we rotate with him and combine.  

I think also the difference is Roly was probably a bit more flamboyant on the ball (if not a little selfish) and would try to take on players. Singh seems smarter and seems to drift in between the lines and either shoot or pass. Doesn't seem to dribble as much as Roly, which can only be good for keeping the pace going in our attacks. 

I probably should have said "how we solve two things that have been a problem in the past."

I was never a great Roly fan because, for all his individual skill, I don't think he was great at making the team work from that central mid role.

Pretty hopeful this year we'll address those past issues. 

Rudan - Don't change the stadium - fill it. Best surface in the A league.

WSW are playing Roly wide this year so you might be on to something

Interview excerpt

Dont think you will find he is underrated by the other teams,would be very surprised if his short highlights reel wont feature in most teams build up to games against us.Dont agree he has shown he can compete on a regular basis against some of the hard heads in this league. Big difference from doing it week in week out,hope like hell he can handle it but do wonder if he can handle the sort of stuff Roly used to cop when he was here.Really important some of the senior guys keep an eye on our younger guys and dont let them the shark kicked out of them

We will never consistently fill the stadium. Just won't happen. Doesn't matter how good we are.

Have to agree think finals are the only time you can hope to fill it.Think many people have unreal expectations on what sort of crowd we should be getting.You just have to look at rugby and league crowds to see we aim to high at times.If the boys can deliver some good results would hope we can get to the 10000 figure consistantly.

Rudan being interviewed live now (audio):

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thekidsareallwhite/episodes/2018-10-17T20_41_06-07_00

Says whole squad has "clean bill of health"

Really impressed with Rudan interview in pregame. He seems like a great fit for the phoenix. Has alot of charisma about him and is determined to get results.  The performance yesterday suggests its rubbing off on the team. It wasnt perfect but the 100percent work rate was there. As a fan i was motivated listening to him and will certainly be watching every game this year. Although we had some good seasons under herbert and merrick there were times where they didnt fill you with confidence and drive to change things. Im predicting a top 4 finish. Really impressed with new signing Kurto. Maadi worked hard but was maybe a little underwelming considering he played at high level in spain. I cant see Kopchinski getting much time in 1st team was disapointing in FfA cup game and struggled for the reserves yesterday.

This did not aged well.

It's all perfectly true. Kurto has been great. Mandi good, but reservations. Kopa also not got much game time. We have had a couple of drubbings, but have got some points on the board.

Top 4 depends on how we respond. Some of our goal scorers need to hit top form and we need a good striker in the window.

The lack of opportunities to score is our nemesis, then the next is shots on target. Solve these problems and the goals should flow.

That's a bit like saying that all I need to do is look like Ryan Gosling and I'd be able to successfully reach my goal of being really really ridiculously good looking

Gosling - good looking what are you on about?

It's 

1) Grant, (obviously)

2) Widmark

3) Bronson

I thought you were Ryan Gosling.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/10...

Sitting deep and playing 5 at the back seems to be "working" for Rudes

The article also talks about the virtues of playing with minimal possession and how the Phoenix 'overdid the attacking' in the last game

This, again, did not aged well.

As I predicted, a lot of the cheerleading for Ravishing Rudan from R1 seems to have been premature

I'm waiting until next season to make a decision. I still think he's the man for this job. He's putting out the feelers, seeing who is worthy of an A-League spot and who impresses him.

"Rome wasn't built in a day".

Rome didnt have a time limit hanging over it to perform.

Still a lot of work to be done on the team. 

Question is where will the team be in 6 months and then next season. 

If we compare to the better Phoenix teams we are simply weaker with our talent. 

Journey men and pro-footy kiwis: Doyle, Fenton, Rufer, No Howieson, no Payne v Brown, Lochhead, Smeltz, WeeMac, Boxall, Sigmund, Moss, Paston and Bertos

Up and coming Kiwis: Cacace, Singh, Elliot v Rojas, Barbarouses

Aussie Journeymen: Nichols, Williams, Burns, Dura (dual), Burgess, Fox v Disco, Dura, Vuka, Reddy, Lia, Manny, McKain, Burns (then)

Imports: Mandi, Taylor, Kopa, Kurto, Roy v Greenie, Ifill, Riera, Daniel, Krishna (on fire), Roly

So the questions seem- 

can we get the team to overperform? Can we improve the players we have got? And can we sign some significant players to the quality of what we've had in the past?

Players to improve- Williams, Burgess, Nichols, Singh, Mandi, Kopa, Rufer

Players to return to form- Krishna

Mystery- Burns

Players we need- a striker and...

Final question- what system can we play that will make us the most competitive football team?

I think possibly it needs to have Burgess, Williams, Singh and Krishna starting. I think Krishna needs to be able to start wide to be at his best. Sorry to say that I'm not at all convinced by Louis or Libby, though Lowry was not much of an improvement. 

We can perhaps think of this team like the first team of the Ricki era. We constantly improved that team adding players and then we had a period of some success. Last thing the club wants is someone who signs a whole bunch of players, has a bad season and then goes leaving us to start from scratch for a 3rd time. 

Football Insider Forum - Started by a supporter "Yeah Right"

Rudes justifies benching Singh and Cacace:

"Sapreet, and Libby as well, have got there. But as soon as it becomes challenging or people or players start to understand what he's (Singh) about... then he needs to keep working on his game.

"I've got big wraps on him. Sarpreet's a talented footballer (but) people are starting to bully up on him as well.""

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/football/he-needs-keep-working-phoenix-boss-explains-axing-kiwi-wonderkid

Well, neither do we any more. Despite what Aussie trolls say, our future is assured in an independent A-League.

Well this is awkward... pretty sure theprof was on your side lol

I don't think he was..

it was more a response to Whostolemysock's comment that Rome wasn't built in a day (clearly referring to giving Rudan time), I was merely pointing out that currently time is something Rudan and the club doesn't really have

Are you claiming that our place in the independent A-League is dependent on results/metrics?

Scary if true.

I was of the understanding that our place was as good as guaranteed.

Right now, neither of those is actual fact. 

How many seasons of terrible on field performances and dwindling crowds do WelNix accept too? Surely the writing is on the wall if we don't have a pretty drastic turn around in the next season or two. WelNix took over right before the start of the 2011-12 season, that year we came 4th. Since then our finishes have been 10th, 9th, 4th, 9th, 7th, 9th - they're not going to keep paying for those sort of results indefinitely...

I wonder if there's anyone else in NZ right now with deep enough pockets - and the passion - to take over the club and take it to the next level? Maybe using a bit of their own money, and by hooking up with overseas investors (probably out of Asia or the Middle East). With the independent A-League on the horizon, it might be a better bet for a new owner now than a few months ago. 

even if i had a spare billion i wouldn't touch it with a very big stick

It's almost as if none of the changes in coaching and playing staff matter, that maybe it's the ownership and management that's the root of the problem...

I'm still distinctly unimpressed by Rudan though.

That's what people were saying about Melb Heart before CFG came along.