Wellington Phoenix Men

2015/16 Preseason - v Auckland City | 2pm Sat 26th September | Home & Garden Show @ Westpac Stadium

914 replies · 116,293 views
over 10 years ago

patrick478 wrote:

kwlap wrote:
Probably already asked somewhere but are these preseason games on the telly?
Nope. Anything that isn't a high profile game being played at Westpac has zero chance of Sky stumping up the money to show it, unfortunately.

With the greatest of respect, anybody who expects/thinks that SKY should fork out money to cover meaningless pre-season games needs their head read, in my opinion.

Apparently I'm apathetic, but I couldn't care less.

"Being a Partick Thistle fan sets you apart. It means youre a free thinker. It also means your team has no money." Tim Luckhurst, The Independent, 4th December 2003

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over 10 years ago
Difference is NZ rugby pays Sky to cover those college games I believe. If they didn't get that money they wouldn't cover those either.
I'm an optimistic pessimist. 
I'm positive things will go wrong.
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over 10 years ago

Jag wrote:

patrick478 wrote:

kwlap wrote:
Probably already asked somewhere but are these preseason games on the telly?
Nope. Anything that isn't a high profile game being played at Westpac has zero chance of Sky stumping up the money to show it, unfortunately.

With the greatest of respect, anybody who expects/thinks that SKY should fork out money to cover meaningless pre-season games needs their head read, in my opinion.

Oh I totally agree, don't get me wrong.

Yellow Fever - Misery loves company

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over 10 years ago

Weren't they investigating the possibility of streaming and user paying?  I'd def be keen

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over 10 years ago
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over 10 years ago

Sack Ricki!

"Phoenix till they lose"

Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion. 

Genuine opinion: FTFFA

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over 10 years ago
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over 10 years ago

Burns and ARod injured according to team sheet. Blake Powell starting

a.haak

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over 10 years ago
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over 10 years ago
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over 10 years ago

"Phoenix till they lose"

Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion. 

Genuine opinion: FTFFA

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over 10 years ago

According to twitter, sounds like Roy is having a good game against us!

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over 10 years ago · edited over 10 years ago · History

In to time added on, 2-1... looking like closing out thte win.

Well done lads.

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over 10 years ago

Am happy for Roy that he scored the opening goal wearing white and not yellow & black. Would have pumped up the locals while giving him some form for us down the road.

Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites

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over 10 years ago

Doyle : Pre Season Specialist?

a.haak

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over 10 years ago

Interesting to see that McGarry captained the Prems.

Merrick must see potential there.

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over 10 years ago
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over 10 years ago

Merrick's had a penchant for this formation in the past?

A fan is a fan.

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over 10 years ago

yellowsite wrote:

Merrick's had a penchant for this formation in the past?

Yep, at the Victory he would often swap between a back 3 and 4.
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over 10 years ago

Gutted we lost Boxall if we're going to be seeing a back 3.

I'm a little concerned about the pace of our CBs for this though. One less player in the back line makes it harder to intercept passes or shut out runners coming through, so there's more chance of attackers getting in behind our line. We could always play with a very deep line but then that puts a lot more emphasis on the midfield to cover ground and/or our attackers to track back. But too much tracking back means that then there's no outlet if you win the ball back and want break quickly, and we don't have (and presumably won't have) a striker capable of holding the ball up while he waits for support. Its hard to create chances going forward if you playa possession game with a deep back line, because you need defenders to help the midfield out on attack, even just as an outlet to reset if there's no other options. Which leaves us with trying to transition quickly with our attackers running into space behind the opponents. Obviously that's how a lot of our goals were scored last year but as we saw at the end of the season if opponents defend deep and narrow it doesn't work. If anything, it would be taking an approach which stemmed to have been successfully neutered by our opponents at the end of last season and emphasising it even more than we already did.

I also worry about the balance of our midfield in a 3-4-3. Do we have 2 CMs capable of playing an effective box-to-box role? Roly and A Rod maybe, but then we aren't starting Riera and he's shown time and again how valuable he is to this side. You could put Roly into the back 3 and Riera into CM, but I don't think at his age he's mobile enough to be one of only 2 central midfielders.plus then we lose Roly's ability to turn and open up space on attack which we relied heavily on last season.

I'm not saying that Ernie hasn't thought of this stuff or found solutions to it, but on the face of it it seems like it doesn't really suit our squad, in my opinion at least. If we do try it I would be fascinated to see how Ernie approaches it.

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.

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over 10 years ago

Straight from the Ricki Herbert manual, Phoenix went 3-4-3 tonight. Expect that this season.

— Simon Hampton (@SimonHampton9) June 27, 2015


Gutted we lost Boxall if we're going to be seeing a back 3.

I'm a little concerned about the pace of our CBs for this though. One less player in the back line makes it harder to intercept passes or shut out runners coming through, so there's more chance of attackers getting in behind our line. We could always play with a very deep line but then that puts a lot more emphasis on the midfield to cover ground and/or our attackers to track back. But too much tracking back means that then there's no outlet if you win the ball back and want break quickly, and we don't have (and presumably won't have) a striker capable of holding the ball up while he waits for support. Its hard to create chances going forward if you playa possession game with a deep back line, because you need defenders to help the midfield out on attack, even just as an outlet to reset if there's no other options. Which leaves us with trying to transition quickly with our attackers running into space behind the opponents. Obviously that's how a lot of our goals were scored last year but as we saw at the end of the season if opponents defend deep and narrow it doesn't work. If anything, it would be taking an approach which stemmed to have been successfully neutered by our opponents at the end of last season and emphasising it even more than we already did.

I also worry about the balance of our midfield in a 3-4-3. Do we have 2 CMs capable of playing an effective box-to-box role? Roly and A Rod maybe, but then we aren't starting Riera and he's s hown time and again how valuable he is to this side. You could put Roly into the back 3 and Riera into CM, but I don't think at his age he's mobile enough to be one of only 2 central midfielders.plus then we lose Roly's ability to turn and open u p space on attack which we relied heavily on last season.

I'm not saying that Ernie hasn't thought of this stuff or found solutions to it, but on the face of it it seems like it doesn't really suit our squad, in my opinion at least. If we do try it I would be fascinated to see how Ernie approaches it.

i assume that front 3 would be similar to the front 3 last season where Ernie had either roly or weemac there, so the 343 is more 352, in the same way 433 was more 41212/4222
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over 10 years ago

You're probably right, if it is more of a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 then I don't have concerns with our CMs. 

I still think Siggy and Dura aren't mobile enough to cover the extra ground they would need to in a 3-man backline though.

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.

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over 10 years ago

You're probably right, if it is more of a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 then I don't have concerns with our CMs. 

I still think Siggy and Dura aren't mobile enough to cover the extra ground they would need to in a 3-man backline though.

Formations can be so fluid now days, a 41212 can morph easily into a 3412 with the DM dropping into defence. We have been quite flexible in shape in attack and midfield, maybe Ernie wants more flexibility in our defensive shape depending on the situation so is getting the team to play these formations and then maybe later in pre-season work on transitioning between systems during the game. Adelaide are a team that shift their defensive shape during games depending on the situation.

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over 10 years ago

That's true, and I agree that formation notation often doesn't reflect the actual shape or roles of players on the pitch. However for me the key difference is how advanced your fullbacks/wingbacks are. We already play with fullbacks that bomb forward often and Riera would shift into the back line to help out so it wouldn't be a huge change. But if our wide defensive players aren't coming as deep when we lose the ball in a 3-4-3 then our outside CBs will have to cover more space.

This is all hypothetical for now of course, it's based off one tweet from one preseason game after all.

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.

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over 10 years ago

This is all hypothetical for now of course, it's based off one tweet from one preseason game after all.

Good enough for me.

.

"Phoenix till they lose"

Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion. 

Genuine opinion: FTFFA

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over 10 years ago

what digits do a call to renew my season pass? cant remember my webs login

Founder

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over 10 years ago

Feverish wrote:

what digits do a call to renew my season pass? cant remember my webs login

Wellington Phoenix Hotline: 04 384 2457.

Just say that you know the YF Founder Smithy. That'll get you sorted quickly.

"Phoenix till they lose"

Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion. 

Genuine opinion: FTFFA

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over 10 years ago

Junior82 wrote:

Feverish wrote:

what digits do a call to renew my season pass? cant remember my webs login

Wellington Phoenix Hotline: 04 384 2457.

Just say that you know the YF Founder Smithy. That'll get you sorted quickly.

Dura probably calls Smith direct

Founder

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over 10 years ago

Every chick I score really drunk I say my names dale wallbarton  (spelling?)


Auckland will rise once more

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over 10 years ago
CGW | Wellington Phoenix head to Fiji

Published on Jun 29, 2015

Chris joins the Wellington Phoenix as they head on a tour of Fiji. It turns out he does;t know how to spell Kava.

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over 10 years ago

Manny did not look happy about losing his seat!

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over 10 years ago · edited over 10 years ago · History

Wellington Phoenix ‏@WgtnPhoenixFC 11m11 minutes agoFiji

21' GOAL! Wonderful passing on Singh, one touch by Bell & finished by Cahill-Fleury in bottom left of the goal #nixinfiji 1-0 nix

WeeNux

Wellington Phoenix ‏@WgtnPhoenixFC 2m2 minutes agoFiji

32' GOAL! @WGTNPhoenixSS Max Mata scores of a Singh cross to take the Nix Premiers 2-0 up. #nixinfiji

43' Fiji's Tuivuna puts a shot just wide before play swings & a shot is stopped at the other end 2-1 nix

a.haak

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over 10 years ago

What's the Mata?

I remember a Ben Mata being in the U-17 squad pre-Hay and Zorro and Max Mata is playing in this game.  Both seem to be with Onehunga Sport so WYNRS/AuckNix.  Are they the same person or two brothers?

Also, ethnicity?  Polynesian?  Latin?

How's my driving? - Whine here

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over 10 years ago

Brothers - Max is younger than Ben . Samoan I think 

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