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

is fenton ok? sounds like he re-did his shoulder

They never said he was even subbed off

so who won?

NZ A won 2-1

anyone from either side tear it up?

Fenton seemed to get a few mentions on twitter before he did his shoulder.

Seems like quite a few subs from the nix.

Doomed

#BlakePowell

Fenton really injured again? Jesus. Throwing the back 3 plan in the bin, then?

One thing I noticed today, Reira was getting much further up the pitch with Vinnie was slotted in as the DM. He was probably getting nose bleeds being up near the other penalty box.

Powell and Krishna couldn't finish a sandwich today, 3-4 great chances they wasted. I'll give Sail credit for a couple good saves to stop them but a couple of them were horrible attempts on goal.

We chanted "When Albert scores, we're all on the pitch" at the start of the match and it came scarily close to happening.

match report?

NZF report posted on the homepage.

and after following that link I will have to wish Glenfield Rovers to take the ASB Women's Cup.

Fenton and his glass shoulders...

Heard a report this morning 5 months!

Hope not. Was expecting big things from Louis this year, and he's obviously very important in Ernies plans.

I tweeted Piney asking him about it:

@ryanmccarvill @LouisFenton10 scans to be had, worst case scenario 5 months. Hopefully not.

— Jason Pine (@pineyzb) August 23, 2015

We're in dire shape if he's out for that long. Lets hope it's just a couple of weeks. There should've been a PSA before the game to stay the fark away from Louis' shoulders.

Match Report please...

The nix one says very little.

There's this thing called Google... it's a searc.... ahhh screw it.

http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/article/match-rep...

We are recording #PhoenixCity tomorrow morning.

It'll probably cover:

• the Cap Prem final between WU and the Wharfies, 
• Nix vs. NZA (maybe with #FeverBus highlights)
• "And you can tell everybody this is Sarpong..." 
• a preview of FFACup in Melbourne.
• #KiwisOverseas

That does throw a spanner in his formation cause Fenton was his engine man that was going to gallop up and down that right flank all day. They don't have anyone else that will do that so would not be surprised to see them revert to a back 4 with Doyle and Muscat on the sides.

Which would bring into question why we are changing formation to something that is quite reliant on one injury prone player.

In saying that, the A-League is tough in that every injury to a starting player hits very, very hard. Tough to plan for that.

Only if you accept that we ARE changing our formation.

I asked Ernie at the fans forum directly: We've been playing 3 - 5 - 2 a lot in the pre-season so far - is that because it's our preferred formation now, or is it just to practice it so we have another string in our bow.

Firstly Ernie said we'd never played 3 - 5 - 2, that we'd only ever been playing 3 - 4 - 3...

...and then he said it was to add a string to our bow.

How many arrows do we have?

Ernie is always going to play his cards close to his chest though. Seems odd that its a plan B when we've been playing like that every single game.

I guess Melbourne on Wednesday will be a good barometer of things. Will be interesting if Sarpong plays considering he apparently arrives today. I'm sure he will be jet lagged as crap.

I suppose, if we are going to get a long term injury, now is better than mid season

Perhaps Ernie is confident that after all of last season, the squad knows how to play 4 - 3 - 3 and 4 - 4 - 2 (diamond, or no diamond), so if 3 - 4 - 3 (or 3 - 5 -2) ends up not being plan A, he probably feels we can switch to plan A at any point, so why not maximise the amount of time the new formation gets to bring it up to speed?

Edit: wrong thread.

Think they are recording Podcast tonight so announcement early tomorrow.

Would be a bit strange practicing a Plan B for the entirety of pre-season if you don't think you're going to use it most games, no? Surely pre-season is to get the team comfortable and ready to go, not rever back to a different formation when the real thing starts?

Guess we'll wait and see. Be interesting to see how we line up against City.

Yes but there is 7 weeks to go still... surely that's enough time to polish up Plan A (assuming what we have seen so far ends up not being plan A).

I wonder what precautions Fenton takes in things like strapping his shoulders etc? You'd think that with him damaging them so often and so close together, it puts his pro career in doubt. Unless he can play with them strapped up and protected, he is too much of a risk at pro level I'd think.