Coaching Angst - ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yeah it didn't go great, but the situation is surely different now? Different managers are going to be available now than then! 

And if I was out of work, I'm sure I'd rather be earning $100k (guess work) than $0?

Sorry, but the "there's nobody else" argument for keeping a failing coach is thin at best and just untrue at worst.

The idea that Ricki is unsackable because he's the only viable candidate is part of the cause of this mess I think. He just seems to not care anymore and he's pretty much been guaranteed 2 more years. At some stage, unless a team is constantly successful (a la Man Utd under SAF) then a change in management is needed just to remotivate everyone involved. After all this time there's no improvement in the team performances so time to try something new. A young and relatively unproven coach might at least have a bit more desire to succeed. Ricki seems to just be turning up and collecting his paycheck at the moment. That might seem like a harsh assessment but I for one am sick of hearing excuses for the state we are in. SOMEONE has to be responsible!!! And in professional sport, it is the coach who is usually the one held responsible.

I am sure they respect him as a player and a man, but is he a good coach? Different question.

I didn't watch last night's game (thank the Almighty), but I'm interested in evidence for the assertion that "Ricki doesn't care anymore". 

Burden of proof lies with the accuser.

 his after match comments each week certainly indicate a lack of concern

Or a lack of panic. What do you want him to say? Attack the players in the media,so they get pissed at him? Say we're doomed? 

The burden of proof lies with the believer. In this case its the people who think RH should stay when evidence points to the contrary. Just like God believers, the burden of proof is on them for it's existance, which is not going so well when circle logic and imagination don't actually count as evidence

You would say that if someone said pixies weren't real it would be up to them to prove it.

How about that the performance was completely unacceptable, there will be changes, apologise to the fans etc?

If he's not panicking, he should be.

Well, I would agree that I would have preferred that Ricki do a Harry Kewell and start talking about Dis Custard.

Danny Hay on Deaker TalkSport

Herbert would be "long gone" anywhere else and

"Should be focusing on the All Whites"

I wouldn't mind an apology after that performance actually. But other than that, I don't know what else ricki could say that would convince you that he cares. 

He could publically state that first and foremost his concern is what is in the best interest of the Phoenix and that he accepts his share of responsibility for the current situation the club finds itself in. That he wants the opportunity to turn it around but to allow the owners to act in the best interest of the club unincumbered by contractual constraints he will be tendering his resignation on his return to Wellington.

Has to go.

At the end of the day he's accountable for our performances and he's selects the personal.

The team just seems clueless - and he doesn't have the answers, nor is he seemingly willing to make big calls to change things around.

The form of some players over the last month and a bit has been atrocious, yet they still get picked??

meh.

This interview below says it all really - Deaker and Danny Hay.

  
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/player/ondemand/1747804994-danny-hay-on-phoenix-performance

Also -  Chote told Radio Sport this morning that Herbert's got to standup to the owners and say his squad can't play the way they want them to (short term) and go back to the defensive structure and breakaway style the Phoenix are renowned for.

So if RH has soldout to the owners (to secure his personal future for another 2 years) - and the players hear about the total football/style change thing from the media first (not RH) - then Herbert tells the media about current players being discarded - then Herbert's lost the ONE thing he is good at - being loyal to his players. This now can only be terminal for RH, and his exit needs to happen now.

 You got the right Chote?

Normally David does radio and Mark is the board member.

Hey thanks- you're right. Have edited it. 

Still shocked by that result last night

My biggest concern right now is that with the way that the Phoenix are going, it needs a heap of intense attention from Ricki.

At the same time we have very important All Whites games coming up.

And that each will distract Ricki from the other, and we will end up with 2 crappy results.... Pessimistic Sunday blues :-(

we definitely need an injection of fresh ideas, fresh faces

Well after having watched that game yesterday I can safely say I never saw the Knights play that bad nor do I remember the Kingz performing that poorly in the space of 30 minutes.

  has to Go. No ifs, no buts.  He's been here 5 years and we are still just making up the numbers.

The shot of the Nix bench looking gobsmacked at Ricki during the game said it all.  Only one sub?  We had lost by half time so he should have made wholesale changes to the team in the second half.

As to Greenie, he likewise has to go.  Great servant of the club as a player and may well become a great coach/manager but because he was playing with most of them only last season, he is seen as a mate.  This knee caps him in trying to have tough words with senior players like Lockhead, Bertos, Seamonster etc.

Plymouth Argyle did the same thing in turning their senior players into the club manager and assistant coach and this has taken us almost out of the English football league (they've been replaced now thankfully).

On a different note Waikato did even worse 9-1.  Bloody hell.  Two games 16 against, 2 for.   :-(

what the f is up with the kitten in the shirt?  It seems to be springing up in random posts

We may have got bored last night...

It'll be a phrase that triggers it like ''

Surprised it hasn't been popping up more often.

Professional teams don't concede 7 unless they stop trying or they have completely lost the plot.

That performance was the players running up the white flag.  Whether he is or isn't a good coach is immaterial now, they're not playing for him and any last vestiges of professional pride have disappeared.  Absolutely no-one seems to have any idea what's going on, you have Gareth saying that this playing style was decided in the off season and this is all part of some new direction, you have players briefing that they were sat down and told to change playing style after an unannounced mid-season interview by Gareth, and in the midst of it you have Herbert who has presided over this awful mess.  He continually parrots the same line about the need to stick with him but seems incapable of doing anything other than shuffle the same 12 or so players around.

This reminds me of the All Whites at the nations cup.  The tactics and players aren't right and clearly aren't working but he's just carrying on as if he's watching a different game to the rest of us and hoping it comes right.  It's almost as if he can't see how bad it is - or he absolutely has no clue what to do - I genuine don't know what's worse.

 Will ricki eventually be knighted?

Dude you make assumptions like they are going out of fashion sometimes. Let me point out the following

August 2011 Manchester United 8 - 2 Arsenal

Arsenal league table finish 2011 - 3rd

Granted as part of a wider game issue there is a problem at the Phoenix but some days, teams get thrashed. No one even got close to picking that scoreline so to say they have stopped trying or completely lost the plot.....