Wellington Phoenix Men

Australia Cup vs Heidelberg United | Tue 19th Aug | 9:30pm | YouTube

430 replies · 16,171 views
7 months ago
I thought our defense was shocking. The marking and positioning were sub standard. We made them look like Barcelona. Loosing our defensive coach from last season is going to hurt us. Cant score goals, cant defend. Its going to he a long season. 
7 months ago
The club don't have the guts to fire Chiefy.
They never fire coaches; the Nix management are never ruthless.
Kalezic might have been the only exception to that.
If Chiefy's still there at the start of the season, am probably going to bring a Chiefy Out banner and show it as soon as we start losing.
He seems like a nice guy, but it's time for a change.
7 months ago · edited 7 months ago · History
You were lucky, the rest of us caught gastro by watching that shark.
YoungHeartHM
Honestly, I never thought I'd say this. But thank God for gastroenteritis.

Slept right through whatever the hell that was.
7 months ago
imanixsupporter
I hope I get a bit less stick from a few people on here who are always mad at me for being negative. The likes of ballane who is always seething at me. It is all completely justified and I stand vindicated
Because your ALWAYS so god dam negative about everything. Like some of what you post but most is just  unnecessary negativity which makes me question why you even bother claiming to be a  supporter.
For the record NO im not happy with whats happening but i refuse to down load on the team and those at the club. Who despite what you and others claim do have ambition and work bloody hard.
COYN

GET YOUR SHIRTS OFF FOR THE BOYS

7 months ago
Recruitment has been poor. The two Japanese players and Retre have been amongst our worst performers.
7 months ago · edited 7 months ago · History
I have cooled down a bit after watching that shambles last night but am still seething at the Nix management to allow this decay to occur.

In terms of the coach, I do have a question for the forum.

Now, let’s look at the easiest part of the job - making someone captain of the team.

This is your statement and in many regards is viewed as your right hand man on the pitch.

You would also have to say it is probably the easiest decision you have to make.

In preseason we had.

1: The CEO when asked why we had such a shark season said - the imports. Bashed the migrants.

2: The director of football when asked about deficiencies with the imports, brought out they can’t speak English well line. migrant bashing number 2.

Now with Rufer away Chief makes Nagasawa his captain and his leader.

Now, AFC did the same with Sakai and while his English skills probably were limited, it made prefect sense as he leads with his actions. He also appears vocal on the field.

I have never seen that type of follow the leader style with the captain Nagasawa.

So what gives with his captaincy choice?

Are the rest of the options just shark? Or is it shark decision making on a very easy decision?

Auckland will rise once more

7 months ago
Marto
anaveragestem
Marto
This is our third competitive match. No excuse for preseason jitters now.

Chelfy and Dome OUT.

Edit:
And replace Chiefy with Heidelberg's coach.
Ive seen 2 comments now asking for this. I agree this is quite awful but do you guys genuinely believe this will happen? Has anyone ever been fired over an Aus cup loss? 

No Aleague team really cares about it until they get to the semis
there's always a first time for everything.

When last the last time you seriously thought to yourself the Nix have this in the bag?

For me that's late 2023. Chelfy was lucky in that season, having prodigies in Paulsen and Surman (thanks djtim3000 for reminding me), Kosta playing well and more then our fair share of good luck.

We were pants all last season and have picked up where we left off.
 
I'd rather they go now and let others at least have some time to change things before the season starts. If not, the Nix will have attendances that would l embarrass the NZ Knights.
Have always thought our great season was over rated by everyone. Yes we won a lot of games but many by a single goal  with often an uninspiring performance. But because we were winning we all just road the wave and know when the squad is much weaker and results are shark some are being frankly unnecessarily nasty.
Yep the situation is unacceptable but there really isnt any need for some of the false and down right nasty stuff thats being posted. Players and staff all have families and it just not friggen neeeded.  

GET YOUR SHIRTS OFF FOR THE BOYS

7 months ago · edited 7 months ago · History
Bradman99
Something to consider

The level of the A league in general has dropped as declining revenue from TV has been replaced with a model that tries to promote young talent to sell into Europe.  The result is we get to see lots of promising young players but the reality is the NPL is full of older better players.  NPL budgets are not inconsequential.

So in the Australia Cup we are seeing promising kids v experienced footballers.  Will those kids in time become better players...no doubt in some cases but by then they won't be plying their trade in the A league.

It's not fluke that the top 2 team in the Victoria NPL are still in the Australia cup.  In the round of 32 we saw Apia beat Melbourne city.

The A league has changed and is becoming a kids development league and Nix are at the forefront of this move.  This is just an economic reality of what they need to do to survive.   Nix need to find a home ground that actually produces some income rather than fund the stadiums opex.

If this trend continues the question is will this still be called the A league ?  We are on the way to a B grade.



Agree with your comment about the quality of some NPL sides - not making excuses for how bad we were, but let’s not overlook the fact that Heidelberg were good. Sure, they were lucky with some of their antics to have a forgiving ref, but they didn’t win just because we let them - they lived up to all those words like “structured”, “organised” and “disciplined” we’d heard in the lead-up, and Dau’s goal in particular was class.

Yes we should’ve done better, much much better, but we should give the Bergers the credit they deserve and not fall into the sort of hubris we saw from the Euro press at the CWC before ACFC reminded Boca not to underestimate amateur players.
7 months ago · edited 7 months ago · History
We got schooled by part timers... We scored 1 goal in two games against part timers, they have scored 7 against professional opposition. We are absolutely toothless up front. If Eze turns out a dud we are in serious trouble. A lot of our guys seem to not be hungry to score. They seem more preoccupied with who to pass the ball to next to please Chiefy and his tactics.
Mentally preparing myself for derby defeats 4, 5, and 6
7 months ago
There was a 'good' 20min spell in the first half which showed an idea of what we want to do. Unfortunately again we showed nothing in the final third. I think it is a mixture of quality of players( or lack of) and structure/game plan. On the game plan, Chief was successful in the first season with the sit deep, recycle the ball back to create space and then counter. Now that he want to press higher, that cancels out the counter option but he still wants players to recycle the ball. That needs to change. If we press high, it doesn't make any sense to then recycle the ball back and kill the speed of the game. It gives up any advantage gained by the press. I think we've seen so far this pre-season that Chief doesnt know how to mold his two tactical ideas together. 

As for the players, I'd say 1/2 of the players who started tonight, dont start a game this season. The young ones are keen and raw which is awesome, but the overall quality just isn't there. As for the players who will replace them, are they that much better? Not sure but the earlier signs aren't great.  Combine that with the fact that the imports who started tonight and will start in the season arent good enough either. That leaves us with a very poor and raw squad, and one which will be holding on tight to the spoon.   

The club, and Chief in particular, needed a strong pre-season to show the fans something of why we should be interested in this season. Bar Loke (who has been a standout) and LBS (doing LBS things), I haven't seen any reason for optimism. Things were starting to sour between fans and the club at the end of last season. Two things will fix that. Winning shark or moving chief on. At the moment, the latter seems more likely to bring about the former. 
I have an amazing ability to find my way out of mazes. I'm pathological. 
7 months ago
Get Greenie in now ffs.


7 months ago
InsulinMachine
We got schooled by part timers... We scored 1 goal in two games against part timers, they have scored 7 against professional opposition. We are absolutely toothless up front. If Eze turns out a dud we are in serious trouble. A lot of our guys seem to not be hungry to score. They seem more preoccupied with who to pass the ball to next to please Chiefy and his tactics.
Mentally preparing myself for derby defeats 4, 5, and 6

saying Heidleberg are part timers is a little unfair to them, sure they all have jobs and playing footy isnt the #1 priority, but they'll still be training 2-3 times a week just like the NZ top league players.
We were beaten by a team who did exactly what the did to WSW, the played as a unit, pressed together and muscled us off the ball, be angry at our lads and Italiano for not having a plan but dont degrade the Heidleberg players by saying their part-time ballers

Queenslander 3x a year.

7 months ago
djtim3000
Marto
anaveragestem
Marto
This is our third competitive match. No excuse for preseason jitters now.

Chelfy and Dome OUT.

Edit:
And replace Chiefy with Heidelberg's coach.
Ive seen 2 comments now asking for this. I agree this is quite awful but do you guys genuinely believe this will happen? Has anyone ever been fired over an Aus cup loss? 

No Aleague team really cares about it until they get to the semis
there's always a first time for everything.

When last the last time you seriously thought to yourself the Nix have this in the bag?

For me that's late 2023. Chelfy was lucky in that season, having a prodigy in Paulsen, Kosta playing well and more then our fare share of good luck.

We were pants all last season and have picked up where we left off.
 
I'd rather they go now and let others at least have some time to change things before the season starts. If not, the Nix will have attendances that would would embarrass the NZ Knights.
At this point the best course of action would be just to bring in Greenie as head coach. The coach doesn't need to be world class (no slight on Chris at all), but just needs to a) be different and b) have the respect of the players - which given his legend status Greenie has in spades. 

Agree with this. Chiefys recruitment and game tactics have got us in this mess. And I can't see it magically changing. 
7 months ago
AucklandPhoenix
I have cooled down a bit after watching that shambles last night but am still seething at the Nix management to allow this decay to occur.

In terms of the coach, I do have a question for the forum.

Now, let’s look at the easiest part of the job - making someone captain of the team.

This is your statement and in many regards is viewed as your right hand man on the pitch.

You would also have to say it is probably the easiest decision you have to make.

In preseason we had.

1: The CEO when asked why we had such a shark season said - the imports. Bashed the migrants.

2: The director of football when asked about deficiencies with the imports, brought out they can’t speak English well line. migrant bashing number 2.

Now with Rufer away Chief makes Nagasawa his captain and his leader.

Now, AFC did the same with Sakai and while his English skills probably were limited, it made prefect sense as he leads with his actions. He also appears vocal on the field.

I have never seen that type of follow the leader style with the captain Nagasawa.

So what gives with his captaincy choice?

Are the rest of the options just shark? Or is it shark decision making on a very easy decision?


Nagasawa's the vice captain because he's over the age of 25 and doesn't say no to the coach.

360footballnews.com

7 months ago
I don’t want to hear from cheify that we need more time. That was the excuse we were fed (among many others) all last season and we don’t see any progress.

That was an utter embarrassment last night. 
7 months ago
nufc_nz
Get Greenie in now ffs.

It wouldn't be fair on Greenie. No pre-season, and the team not functioning. He'd be set up to fail.

Any coach coming in would need to do so with a high degreee of understanding from the club and fans.

360footballnews.com

7 months ago
theprof
InsulinMachine
We got schooled by part timers... We scored 1 goal in two games against part timers, they have scored 7 against professional opposition. We are absolutely toothless up front. If Eze turns out a dud we are in serious trouble. A lot of our guys seem to not be hungry to score. They seem more preoccupied with who to pass the ball to next to please Chiefy and his tactics.
Mentally preparing myself for derby defeats 4, 5, and 6

saying Heidleberg are part timers is a little unfair to them, sure they all have jobs and playing footy isnt the #1 priority, but they'll still be training 2-3 times a week just like the NZ top league players.
We were beaten by a team who did exactly what the did to WSW, the played as a unit, pressed together and muscled us off the ball, be angry at our lads and Italiano for not having a plan but dont degrade the Heidleberg players by saying their part-time ballers

training 2-3 times a week is literally the definition of a part time footballer. there's a huge difference between part time and pro. 

360footballnews.com

7 months ago
reg22
theprof
InsulinMachine
We got schooled by part timers... We scored 1 goal in two games against part timers, they have scored 7 against professional opposition. We are absolutely toothless up front. If Eze turns out a dud we are in serious trouble. A lot of our guys seem to not be hungry to score. They seem more preoccupied with who to pass the ball to next to please Chiefy and his tactics.
Mentally preparing myself for derby defeats 4, 5, and 6

saying Heidleberg are part timers is a little unfair to them, sure they all have jobs and playing footy isnt the #1 priority, but they'll still be training 2-3 times a week just like the NZ top league players.
We were beaten by a team who did exactly what the did to WSW, the played as a unit, pressed together and muscled us off the ball, be angry at our lads and Italiano for not having a plan but dont degrade the Heidleberg players by saying their part-time ballers

training 2-3 times a week is literally the definition of a part time footballer. there's a huge difference between part time and pro. 
Yeah, while Phoenix players are having physio sessions and a spa, Heidelberg are either frozen in office chairs or doing manual labour... it's the literal definition of part time.
7 months ago
I dont get the tactics Chief employed, it seems to me that we weren't taking this game seriously.
 
Heidleberg beat WSW last week, and are at the top of their league.

Why didnt we start with our best team to show our strength, to look to dominate and to establish a lead, and then to defend it with the youngsters if needed. 

Why wasnt Rufer starting, and then getting pulled later when he was spent. Same with the other better players. 

7 months ago
I didnt watch. You guys have not encouraged me at all either.
Ive already bought my season ticket as in every year, and have never missed a home game yet, but this could be a great test of loyalty if things dont change.
7 months ago · edited 7 months ago · History
I'm looking forward to the 26/27 season when we can put a broom through most of this squad. Get in a new new coach and start from scratch.
In the mean time I hope the women's team can have a good season and set the blue print on how its done. 
7 months ago
theprof
InsulinMachine
We got schooled by part timers... We scored 1 goal in two games against part timers, they have scored 7 against professional opposition. We are absolutely toothless up front. If Eze turns out a dud we are in serious trouble. A lot of our guys seem to not be hungry to score. They seem more preoccupied with who to pass the ball to next to please Chiefy and his tactics.
Mentally preparing myself for derby defeats 4, 5, and 6

saying Heidleberg are part timers is a little unfair to them, sure they all have jobs and playing footy isnt the #1 priority, but they'll still be training 2-3 times a week just like the NZ top league players.
We were beaten by a team who did exactly what the did to WSW, the played as a unit, pressed together and muscled us off the ball, be angry at our lads and Italiano for not having a plan but dont degrade the Heidleberg players by saying their part-time ballers

You say don't call them part timers and then describe how they are part timers. Not sure I see what angle you're going for here.

They literally are part timers.
7 months ago
Monto
theprof
InsulinMachine
We got schooled by part timers... We scored 1 goal in two games against part timers, they have scored 7 against professional opposition. We are absolutely toothless up front. If Eze turns out a dud we are in serious trouble. A lot of our guys seem to not be hungry to score. They seem more preoccupied with who to pass the ball to next to please Chiefy and his tactics.
Mentally preparing myself for derby defeats 4, 5, and 6

saying Heidleberg are part timers is a little unfair to them, sure they all have jobs and playing footy isnt the #1 priority, but they'll still be training 2-3 times a week just like the NZ top league players.
We were beaten by a team who did exactly what the did to WSW, the played as a unit, pressed together and muscled us off the ball, be angry at our lads and Italiano for not having a plan but dont degrade the Heidleberg players by saying their part-time ballers

You say don't call them part timers and then describe how they are part timers. Not sure I see what angle you're going for here.

They literally are part timers.

LOL, I didn't want to say it.

In no way was I rubbishing Heidelberg, I was very impressed with them. They showed us how to play football. Sadly...
7 months ago
AucklandPhoenix
I have cooled down a bit after watching that shambles last night but am still seething at the Nix management to allow this decay to occur.

In terms of the coach, I do have a question for the forum.

Now, let’s look at the easiest part of the job - making someone captain of the team.

This is your statement and in many regards is viewed as your right hand man on the pitch.

You would also have to say it is probably the easiest decision you have to make.

In preseason we had.

1: The CEO when asked why we had such a shark season said - the imports. Bashed the migrants.

2: The director of football when asked about deficiencies with the imports, brought out they can’t speak English well line. migrant bashing number 2.

Now with Rufer away Chief makes Nagasawa his captain and his leader.

Now, AFC did the same with Sakai and while his English skills probably were limited, it made prefect sense as he leads with his actions. He also appears vocal on the field.

I have never seen that type of follow the leader style with the captain Nagasawa.

So what gives with his captaincy choice?

Are the rest of the options just shark? Or is it shark decision making on a very easy decision?
this is boomer newstalk zb call in level of bad takes. 

Btw, Kazu speaks English pretty well, Ishige less so, and fronts a lot of media.
7 months ago
Heidelberg scored some quality goals. But Payne isn't in form, our midfield wasn't shutting off the top of the box, Hughes was unlucky I think. Disappointed with the aimless balls forward in the last period of the first half.  Supyk didn't get on the end of any of them.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet

7 months ago
I'd be dropping the likes of Roa Conchie, GSR, Supyk and LKH to the reserves and make them earn there places back performing locally in Greenies team.  And bring in a bunch of national league players to training to trial and put pressure on squad places.
The message needs to go out. This just isn't good enough. You have to earn your place in the team.
Still 6-8 weeks before season starts. Wouldn't hurt for some to be getting real games in the national league.
7 months ago
I mean Heidelberg are part timers…but let’s not kid ourselves about semi-pro teams right? Remember how it worked for some in NZ? 

They’re at the top of the next tier down, in a title dogfight at the end of their season, playing twice a week and definitely at the peak of their powers after beating WSW last week. 

There’s part timers and then there’s a bunch of guys a hop, skip and a jump from being pros. Part timers doesn’t mean a social team. It’s likely their marquee players have ‘coaching’ roles and a bunch of others have flexibility with their employer or are employed in a club related business. 


7 months ago
martinb
I mean Heidelberg are part timers…but let’s not kid ourselves about semi-pro teams right? Remember how it worked for some in NZ? 

They’re at the top of the next tier down, in a title dogfight at the end of their season, playing twice a week and definitely at the peak of their powers after beating WSW last week. 

There’s part timers and then there’s a bunch of guys a hop, skip and a jump from being pros. Part timers doesn’t mean a social team. It’s likely their marquee players have ‘coaching’ roles and a bunch of others have flexibility with their employer or are employed in a club related business. 

So what you're saying is... still not full time footballers. 

Really don't get why everone is trying to soften the blow by claiming they are not true part timers.
7 months ago
We had some pretty awful individual performances last night. I'd say Armiento's cameo was among the poorest showings I've seen in a while.
Ultimately though so much of it has to fall on chiefy. Trying to employ a half arsed high press when the players don't understand where or when to press and clearly aren't conditioned to do so against a side deep into their season.

Someone questioned how many of our XI would make a heidelberg starting side and it's unfortunately quite apparent that there wouldn't be a heap on this form. You take the experienced guys like Rufer and even Retre out and you quickly realise how many are pretty much passengers at the moment
7 months ago
We lost to a better team.  So did WSW.  
However, in terms of "performance indicators", I am far more worried about how we won against Nunawading than how we lost against Heidelberg.
Also in terms of "performance indicators", I thought the way Auckland FC won against South Melbourne last week was the true indication of the quality gap we are currently seeing between the two NZ ALM teams.  

Actually, getting outplayed quite a bit these days

7 months ago · edited 7 months ago · History
If we're going to play bold football, we can expect to lose the odd game heavily. 4 nil defeats to a team of full timers who are pretending that they are part timers and who have already played 417 games this season is part of the development cycle. Add the fact that our coach needs more time to bed in his Bielsa football, which will take some time because we are young. Oh and the referees and pitches both need to stop being biased against us.


360footballnews.com

7 months ago
A cool and fascinating thing about what we are currently experiencing, and seemingly will continue to experience, is the opportunities for the numerous young guys in our team. The abundance of opportunities that they are being handed is fairly unique.

At this point, most of them are still learning the game. I get the feeling that a huge emphasis is on learning how to play a role, as opposed to the emphasis being on being expected to excel at a role. If we're going to be successful, the players need to take responsibility for outcomes and not rely on the system to do this for them.

No doubt, the learning environment isn't ideal. But we should have a few decent players come out of this eventually.

360footballnews.com

7 months ago
MetalLegNZ
I gave up watching after the third goal... but to be fair I probably gave up after our last game.

For everyone saying we can't afford mutuals, how much money will we lose in gate takings this year based on this crap... how much of the fan base will disengage?

Different year, same results and same bull shark Chief post game comments!


This is the bit that concerns me... because this is a key revenue stream of the club. Attendances already dropped to pretty poor levels last year and they can expect that to sink towards the floor if our style of play and lack of quality continues to make games painful watches.

If you're gonna be dull to watch, you have to at least get decent results. If you're gonna get poor results, you have to at least put out an entertaining product that people want to see. I don't think Italiano is capable of either this season, and that's ominous.
7 months ago
reg22
A cool and fascinating thing about what we are currently experiencing, and seemingly will continue to experience, is the opportunities for the numerous young guys in our team. The abundance of opportunities that they are being handed is fairly unique.

At this point, most of them are still learning the game. I get the feeling that a huge emphasis is on learning how to play a role, as opposed to the emphasis being on being expected to excel at a role. If we're going to be successful, the players need to take responsibility for outcomes and not rely on the system to do this for them.

No doubt, the learning environment isn't ideal. But we should have a few decent players come out of this eventually.

Mmhmm, that's nice.

Personally I prefer winning games of football over kids getting a comfy learning environment.
7 months ago
Boy being a Nix fan is def not good for your mental health at the moment.  I didn't watch the game as I valued a good night sleep over an away game in Melbourne.  Gutted to see we lost and by 4 goals no less. 

If not Greenacre, what about the Brazilian assistant.  Though he must be wondering why he came over here.

May as well move games out to the Ricoh centre because crowds will be depressing unless Welnix make some changes. 




7 months ago
The beauty of a relatively short season is the "need more time to gel" comment can be recycled into eternity
7 months ago
Smeltz4PM
The beauty of a relatively short season is the "need more time to gel" comment can be recycled into eternity
Most of the squad is signed now and there is still 2 months to go until the A-League season starts (thank fudge for that). No excuses for not gelling by then.
7 months ago
LT01
MetalLegNZ
I gave up watching after the third goal... but to be fair I probably gave up after our last game.

For everyone saying we can't afford mutuals, how much money will we lose in gate takings this year based on this crap... how much of the fan base will disengage?

Different year, same results and same bull shark Chief post game comments!


This is the bit that concerns me... because this is a key revenue stream of the club. Attendances already dropped to pretty poor levels last year and they can expect that to sink towards the floor if our style of play and lack of quality continues to make games painful watches.

If you're gonna be dull to watch, you have to at least get decent results. If you're gonna get poor results, you have to at least put out an entertaining product that people want to see. I don't think Italiano is capable of either this season, and that's ominous.
Not sure they get much from ticket sales under the current deal.  Need a big crowd before the club sees any money as the stadium has a high threshold.

7 months ago
Bradman99
LT01
MetalLegNZ
I gave up watching after the third goal... but to be fair I probably gave up after our last game.

For everyone saying we can't afford mutuals, how much money will we lose in gate takings this year based on this crap... how much of the fan base will disengage?

Different year, same results and same bull shark Chief post game comments!


This is the bit that concerns me... because this is a key revenue stream of the club. Attendances already dropped to pretty poor levels last year and they can expect that to sink towards the floor if our style of play and lack of quality continues to make games painful watches.

If you're gonna be dull to watch, you have to at least get decent results. If you're gonna get poor results, you have to at least put out an entertaining product that people want to see. I don't think Italiano is capable of either this season, and that's ominous.
Not sure they get much from ticket sales under the current deal.  Need a big crowd before the club sees any money as the stadium has a high threshold.

Well the club seems to be relying on the derbies to get crowds big enough to fund the majority of the season - but they talk about them as if they are guaranteed crowds - I imagine they'll find out that if this season starts the way the last one finished, then derby crowds in Wellington will be way down as casuals aren't likely to bother turning up for what they perceive as a guaranteed loss