History for Mainland FC

I simply do not read the Stuff reader comments anymore, and I also do not agree with Nix Nix here that "Kalezic is doomed" regardless of whether we finish last or second-last.

As a side note, I believe these Stuff comments are fake. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc. They might be simply malicious, but they do not seem to understand football, as they are unable to make a meaningful comment (even if negative), so why are they even reading or posting under football articles? Makes me think these are "comments" posted through fake accounts by people paid, however little, to do a PR hatchet job for those in power to say later "there is no local support for the Nix, the public is against them", just like Nix Nix now seems to think. 

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, in Alex Rufer and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have this "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Ernie can, in my opinion, succeed with almost any club in Australia, because he is a talented Australian coach and knows how to get the best out the mentality, physicality, skills and money available there. But WPX is not a club like any other A-League club due to many reasons that we can discuss elsewhere. And possibly that is why Ernie was in the end unable to succeed at Nix.  His common point of reference were Australian players, but he simply could not get enough of these of good quality to come here from other Australian clubs.  Kosta and Vidosic did not come here under his reign but much later (unsuccessfully). And Ernie could not easily recruit players from outside his own frame of reference, although he could more or less accommodate those he already had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, including the visa players already there (because they had to fit into a specific culture), but could not get that from the WPX team, for many reasons.   

If the above sounds confusing, let me rephrase it. Ernie was probably confident he could do well here after Herbert resigned, because he did not think we were a very different kettle of fish than say CCM or Newcastle. With time, this proved his undoing, as it took him a while to realise we were different. In contrast, I think Darije was baffled by the quality and culture he has found here at WPX early on, despite his previous contacts with the club. This is why he has tried many different things that made people question if he knew what he was doing. I think he wanted to try out different things with the personnel he already had. Since then, he decided to bring a few decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a clear yardstick of good performance, by his own standards. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna or Burns, so that sets the level.  Some local players like Doyle or Ridenton also seem able to aim for that level of quality. The other Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team, like Parkhouse or Galloway, will have a clear standard to aim for their own game, or adapt, or be progressively rotated out.  Others like Fox or Mullen can clearly offer more with time, or are able to adapt to what the gaffer wants. 

If this is the plan, and if it works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing long-term alongside better players. And this is not a plan you can achieve this season. This would only work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time round.

I simply do not read the Stuff reader comments anymore, and I also do not agree with Nix Nix here that "Kalezic is doomed" regardless of whether we finish last or second-last.

As a side note, I believe these Stuff comments are fake. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc. They might be simply malicious, but they do not seem to understand football, as they are unable to make a meaningful comment (even if negative), so why are they even reading or posting under football articles? Makes me think these are "comments" posted through fake accounts by people paid, however little, to do a PR hatchet job for those in power to say later "there is no local support for the Nix, the public is against them", just like Nix Nix now seems to think. 

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, in Alex Rufer and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have this "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Ernie can, in my opinion, succeed with almost any club in Australia, because he is a talented Australian coach and knows how to get the best out the mentality, physicality, skills and money available there. But WPX is not a club like any other A-League club due to many reasons that we can discuss elsewhere. And possibly that is why Ernie was in the end unable to succeed at Nix.  His common point of reference were Australian players, but he could get enough of these of good quality to come here.  And Ernie could not easily recruit players from outside his own frame of reference, although he could more or less accommodate those he already had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, including the visa players already there (because they had to fit into a specific culture), but could not get that from the WPX team, for many reasons.   

If the above sounds confusing, let me rephrase it. Ernie was confident he could do well here, because he did not think we were a very different kettle of fish than say CCM or Newcastle. With time, this proved his undoing. In contrast, I think Darije was baffled by the quality and culture he has found here at WPX very early on, despite his previous contacts with the club. Since then, he decided to bring a few of decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a clear yardstick of good performance, by his own standards. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna or Burns, so that sets the level.  Some local players like Doyle or Ridenton also seem able to aim for that level of quality. The other Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team, like Parkhouse or Galloway, will have a clear standard to aim for their own game, or adapt, or be progressively rotated out.  Others like Fox or Mullen can clearly offer more with time, or are able to adapt to what the gaffer wants. 

If this is the plan, and if it works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing long-term alongside better players. And this is not a plan you can achieve this season. This would only work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time round.

I simply do not read the Stuff reader comments anymore, and I also do not agree with Nix Nix here that "Kalezic is doomed" regardless of whether we finish last or second-last.

As a side note, I believe these Stuff comments are fake. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc. They might be simply malicious, but they do not seem to understand football, so why are they posting under football articles? Makes me think these are fake accounts of people who are paid, however little, to shoot us down in the media (as if we were not doing it ourselves with our on-field performances already).

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, in Alex Rufer and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have this "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Ernie can, in my opinion, succeed with almost any club in Australia, because he is a talented Australian coach and knows how to get the best out the mentality, physicality, skills and money available there. But WPX is not a club like any other A-League club due to many reasons that we can discuss elsewhere. And possibly that is why Ernie was in the end unable to succeed at Nix.  His common point of reference were Australian players, but he could get enough of these of good quality to come here.  And Ernie could not easily recruit players from outside his own frame of reference, although he could more or less accommodate those he already had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, including the visa players already there (because they had to fit into a specific culture), but could not get that from the WPX team, for many reasons.   

If the above sounds confusing, let me rephrase it. Ernie was confident he could do well here, because he did not think we were a very different kettle of fish than say CCM or Newcastle. In contrast, I think Darije was baffled by the quality and culture he has found here at WPX, despite his previous contacts with the club. He decided to bring a few of decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a clear yardstick of good performance, by his own standards. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna or Burns, so that sets the level.  Some local players like Doyle or Ridenton also seem able to aim for that level of quality. The other Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team, like Parkhouse or Galloway, will have a clear standard to aim for their own game, or adapt, or be progressively rotated out.  Others like Fox or Mullen can clearly offer more with time, or are able to adapt to what the gaffer wants. 

If this is the plan, and if it works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing long-term alongside better players. And this is not a plan you can achieve this season. This would only work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time round.

I simply do not read the Stuff reader comments anymore, and I also do not agree with Nix Nix here that "Kalezic is doomed" regardlessof whether we finish last or second-last.

As a side note, I believe these Stuff comments are fake. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc. They might be simply malicious, but they do not seem to understand football, so why are they posting under football articles? Makes me think these are fake accounts of people who are paid, however little, to shoot us down in the media (as if we were not doing it ourselves with our on-field performances already).

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, in Alex Rufer and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have this "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Ernie can, in my opinion, succeed with almost any club in Australia, because he is a talented Australian coach and knows how to get the best out the mentality, physicality, skills and money available there. But WPX is not a club like any other A-League club due to many reasons that we can discuss elsewhere. And possibly that is why Ernie was in the end unable to succeed at Nix.  His common point of reference were Australian players, but he could get enough of these of good quality to come here.  And Ernie could not easily recruit players from outside his own frame of reference, although he could more or less accommodate those he already had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, including the visa players already there (because they had to fit into a specific culture), but could not get that from the WPX team, for many reasons.   

If the above sounds confusing, let me rephrase it. Ernie was confident he could do well here, because he did not think we were a very different kettle of fish than say CCM or Newcastle. In contrast, I think Darije was baffled by the quality and culture he has found here at WPX, despite his previous contacts with the club. He decided to bring a few of decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a clear yardstick of good performance, by his own standards. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna or Burns, so that sets the level.  Some local players like Doyle or Ridenton also seem able to aim for that level of quality. The other Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team, like Parkhouse or Galloway, will have a clear standard to aim for their own game, or adapt, or be progressively rotated out.  Others like Fox or Mullen can clearly offer more with time, or are able to adapt to what the gaffer wants. 

If this is the plan, and if it works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing long-term alongside better players. And this is not a plan you can achieve this season. This would only work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time round.

I simply do not read the Stuff reader comments anymore, and I also do not agree with Nix Nix here that "Kalezic is doomed" regardlessof whether we finish last or second-last.

As a side note, I believe these Stuff comments are fake. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc. They might be simply malicious, but they do not seem to understand football, so why are they posting under football articles? Makes me think these are fake accounts of people who are paid, however little, to shoot us down in the media (as if we were not doing it ourselves with our on-field performances already).

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, in Alex Rufer and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have this "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Possibly that is why he was in the end unable to succeed with the talent pool he had at Nix, at least on paper.  His point of reference were Australian players, and not many would come to play here unless money was much better than back home or elsewhere. And Ernie could not easily get new players from outside his own frame of reference, although he could more or less accommodate those he already had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, but could not get that from the WPX team.   

If the above sounds confusing, let me rephrase it. I think Darije is simply baffled by what he has found here at WPX despite his previous contacts with the club. He may now be wanting to bring decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a yardstick of good performance by his standards. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna or Burns.  Local players like Doyle or Ridenton seem able to aim for that level of quality. The others (Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team, like Parkhouse or Galloway) will have a clear standard to aim for their own game, or adapt, or be progressively rotated out.  If this works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing alongside better players. This is not a plan until the end of this season. This would work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time.

I simply do not read the Stuff reader comments anymore, and I also do not agree with Nix Nix here that "Kalezic is doomed".

Actually I believe these Stuff comments are fake. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc. They might be simply malicious, but they do not seem to understand football, so why are they posting under football articles? Makes me think these are fake accounts of people who are paid, however little, to shoot us down in the media (as if we were not doing it ourselves with our on-field performances already).

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, in Alex Rufer and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have this "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Possibly that is why he was in the end unable to succeed with the talent pool he had at Nix, at least on paper.  His point of reference were Australian players, and not many would come to play here unless money was much better than back home or elsewhere. And Ernie could not easily get new players from outside his own frame of reference, although he could more or less accommodate those he already had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, but could not get that from the WPX team.   

If the above sounds confusing, let me rephrase it. I think Darije is simply baffled by what he has found here at WPX despite his previous contacts with the club. He may now be wanting to bring decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a yardstick of good performance by his standards. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna or Burns.  Local players like Doyle or Ridenton seem able to aim for that level of quality. The others (Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team, like Parkhouse or Galloway) will have a clear standard to aim for their own game, or adapt, or be progressively rotated out.  If this works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing alongside better players. This is not a plan until the end of this season. This would work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time.

I simply do not read the Stuff reader comments anymore, and I also do not agree with Nix Nix here that "Kalezic is doomed".

Actually I believe Stuff comments are rigged. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc.

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have that "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Possibly that is why he was in the end unable to succeed with the talent pool he had at Nix, at least on paper.  He could not easily get new players from outside that frame of reference, and did not seem able to accommodate those he had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, but could not get that from the WPX team.   In other words, I think Darije is baffled by what he has found here, and may now be bringing decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a yardstick of good performance. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna and Burns.  Players like Doyle or Ridenton seem to be able to aim for that level of quality. The others (Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team) will lift their game, or be progressively rotated out.  If this works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing alongside better players. This is not a plan until the end of this season. This would work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time.

I simply do not read the comments anymore, and I do not agree with Nix Nix that "Kalezic is doomed".

Actually I believe Stuff comments are rigged. Nothing to do with Stuff, and a lot to do with the "pay to troll" accounts just like those set up by the opposite political camps prior to last year's elections.  What I mean is that there seems to be a (small) group of people saying "this player was OK, this player was not doing well" etc etc as you would expect.  However, there is always a surprising number of troll-like comments by the same posters with generic names, which basically say "the club should not exist", "they are a disgrace", "they are like the Warriors", "they should all be sacked", "there is no basis to have a professional football club in NZ", "the sooner they are cut from the league the better", etc.

Kalezic has his work cut out for him, but at least he seems to have a plan. The original plan might have been based on unrealistic expectations of sufficient individual skills and quality available here, though.  This is why I have no issue with his modified plan of looking for imports like AK9 or Ljujic to fill the gaps in our own on-field quality. Darije obviously knows what to expect from continental players with known pedigree (even if these are players from middling Euro leagues  - they are just about the same or slightly better than Phoenix level).  Conversely, he seems to have understood that you can take onboard promising younger Kiwi players and then coach them in a team setting to develop further.  At least this is my conclusion from his interest in Sarpreet Singh, in Monty Patterson, and in Libby Cacace.  This might be the same reason he gives Ridenton plenty of time on the field, despite the occasional errors as expected.  We should not be expecting errors from Rossi, Paracki or from Dura; they are supposed to be the reliable ones.

I may be completely wrong on this next point, and will be happy to hear your contrarian views. However, I reckon it is entirely possible that Ernie Merrick did not have that "alternative" point of reference that Kalezic has (= continental Europe coaching), since Ernie spent most of his career in Victoria, with the only change his sojourn in Sth East Asia after he was sacked by Victory.  Possibly that is why he was in the end unable to succeed with the talent pool he had at Nix, at least on paper.  He could not easily get new players from outside that frame of reference, and did not seem able to accommodate those he had (like Bonevacia).  He is now able to get the best out of reasonable quality Aussie players at Newcastle Jets, but could not get that from the WPX team.   In other words, I think Darije is baffled by what he has found here, and may now be bringing decent quality Balkan players to the Nix simply to provide a yardstick of good performance. Players like Paracki, AK9, Ljulic are at the quality level of Krishna and Burns.  Players like Doyle or Ridenton seem to be able to aim for that level of quality. The others (Kiwi and Aussie players now in the team) will lift their game, or be progressively rotated out.  If this works, then the younger promising Kiwi guys will also be developing alongside better players. This is not a plan until the end of this season. This would work over several seasons, and I for one wish Kalezic patience, resolve and stamina, since we also need a committed decent quality coach to see us through the licence extension stuff next time.