Cover and new players announced

Acording to Wikipedia I play for Man United.

But this time it is true.

He sounds promising to me, especially with all that experience under his belt. I wonder what his level of fitness is and how quickly he'll be brought into the team. It's not like you can bring a centre back on for a run to get him up to speed. He really needs to play the full game.

Poor old Old, career on hold and maybe sold.

Who on gods earth would actually pay money for him?

He had his best game in a Phoenix shirt on Sunday lads, lets not write him off yet.  I supect that when the pressure of expectation forced on him by NZ Football's fascination with his All Black father wears off he'll be a useful player.

He may have to return to the NZFC to prove it at some point if he doesn't get chances at the Phoenix.

Hn will have a go at me..

Scottishbhoy2007-11-13 22:31:08

Reeves ?

WTF has become of the NZ education system when you can't even read...

LOL Quick reply..

best laugh of the night , cheers HN

well, no-one guessed the identity of Rees did they, Ricky is always fuill of surprises. Now still waiting for my hopefuly surprise, Tambo coming  back too!

According to the Tards on the Melbourne forum he's a big strong player but he lacks some pace and fitness. Highly rated in the VPL but not sure how he'll go in the A-League.
valeo2007-11-14 00:53:39

just had a look and the VPL final was played on 7 Oct, could be worse - but if he's gone 5 weeks without competitive football fitness could be a problem

let's hope he's had that 6'4' frame out loping round the streets, doing power pole to power pole shuttles

Pace is not -so- much of an issue if he's playing CB, what our defense needs is some organisation and if he can bring that solidity to the team them the shortcomings may be easily forgivable.  Plus he's only here for a week, lets give him a fever welcome until he proves himself either way.

Rees is here for the rest of the season, which is good because if he can organize our back four the true benefits of that skill will increase as he gets to know the lads he is playing alongside,

the keeper's here for a week

agree with the huge YF welcome Nickel

you could say pace is not an issue but in my opinion it is one of the key attributes a good side should have, and we have pretty much nobody with pace. The only player in our first XI who seems to have some pace is Tony Lochhead, everyone else is frustratingly slow :[ I was really hoping Ricki would bring in a proper right back, because it is down the flanks where teams are often exposing us.

Likewise for next season it would be nice if you could have some pace going forward. Daniel is certainly skillful, but because he is so slow and Elrich still isn't back to full fitness we never seem to be able to run at teams and put them under genuine pressure.

Watching Zullo and Cruise exploit us down the flanks last week makes you really think: "Hang on, this is the way to play the game," especially at the A-League level where applying sustained pressure by retaining possession (as we ussually try to do when we go forward) is really difficult because the players don't have the technical attributes to do it properly. If we had fast wingers/fullbacks and could supply them quickly we would have the ideal focal point for our attacks (Smeltz) and would be so much more dangerous.

I'd love to see Ricki sign Bertos next season, having him and a fit Elrich would be fantastic. I don't know who is out there that could play right back, but finding a proper one (hopefully with pace) should be our NO1 priority.
KTBW2007-11-14 10:07:13

yeah pace is really important. Even if you're good at organising, you still need to be able to turn and chase etc yourself.

he's got the stride length - just needs to develop the fast-twitch muscles by by getting chased by cops or running after Mr. Whippy

Nice to see a sensible structured argument KTBW.                                                                            I agree, pace is vital, especially in our backline...and Rees doesnt have this. Have also heard from a reliable source that this keeper we have for the wekeend is rubbish - here's hoping we dont need him.

That's strange as a reliable source told me he's been one of the best keepers in the VPL for a few years now, and the only thing stopping him from going further is he's a little on the short side. 

i know nothing about rees so will leave any comments till after the game,i agree we should give him a huge welcome,let him play and show us what he has to offer, i hope we have a good crowd on saturday to welcome him and show the whole team how much we support them.

Two conflicting sources then HN...

I was speaking to someone heavily involved in a VPL club and his words were:

...lacks a little height but has been one of the best VPL keepers for the last five years now.

I was speaking with a coach of a VPL team who named 3 keepers straight up who he said were better than the lad we got. Who are currently not contracted to anyone.

In his defence, the club my contact was at is Richmond 

  And one of the keepers that my guy said was better than Webster was his own kepper!

Speaking of Richmond, is Henry Fa'arodo playing in the NZFC this year?

He was meant to be at Auckland, but I have not seen it confirmed.

Hang on, he's on the NZFC website as being at Auckland.

Another Tuaa recruit?  Goodluck to him...

I didn't know Clemenson played for us?

Not sure about the spelling, maybe he means this bloke.  Great guitarist but I'm not sure about his defensive capabilities

Put it this way

Karl Dodd > Kristian Rees
Kristian Rees > Steven O'Dor

...with 10 men.

anyone else think he looks like the rock? 

and so DLB, you retain your image as a long-suffering, world-weary football fan, with a cynical sense of humour

but what exactly are your trying to convey with that comment? In the context of that game, I cannot find a single defensible interpretation of the statement you have made.
tigers2007-11-14 17:47:55