That sucked, gave way too much time for the second goal. Ah well, honestly we were thoroughly the second best tonight. Hopefully we can win the rest of the games with Rufer back and our loss out of the way. We are still tied, and CCM could lose, so good reason to push the boys on. We aren't quite the finished product as CCM are and that was the difference tonight.
No option but to win all 3 games and chiefy will need to amend his tactics because winning may not be enough, we need the goal difference. We are going to have to go all out.
No option but to win all 3 games and chiefy will need to amend his tactics because winning may not be enough, we need the goal difference. We are going to have to go all out.
Goal difference doesn't make a difference. It's wins and CCM has that on us.
Short of them having 3 draws and is getting a win I believe there is no difference.
Bugger. Classic game between 2 big guns. Was tit for tat once we took off a CB. Like others I see Mariners dropping pts as they juggle the AFC Cup stuff
WU away won’t be easy and only a few days before the long haul to, and playing in Kyrgyzstan
CCM deserved winner, we were close to get a draw but CCM deserved it. They played 3 games in a week and to get 2 injury time winners was incredable..
I wonder if the Nix coaching and playing establishment thought that CCM would be stuffed come today. While unusual in Australia/NZ, 3 games in 7 days is quite common elsewhere.
These are guys payed to look after their bodies and focus solely on staying in shape (when not kicking balls). I'd imagine CCM have not trained this week for this reason.
No option but to win all 3 games and chiefy will need to amend his tactics because winning may not be enough, we need the goal difference. We are going to have to go all out.
I said this a month or two back. Goal difference is what will separate these two.
Goal difference won't be part of the equation now. The league changed the rules for this year - where number of wins on the table is counted before goal difference. If both us and CCM win the next 3 games, it doesn't matter on GD as CCM will win the league on 'number of wins' (as they have more than us now) Marto
loyalgunner
No option but to win all 3 games and chiefy will need to amend his tactics because winning may not be enough, we need the goal difference. We are going to have to go all out.
I said this a month or two back. Goal difference is what will separate these two.
No option but to win all 3 games and chiefy will need to amend his tactics because winning may not be enough, we need the goal difference. We are going to have to go all out.
I said this a month or two back. Goal difference is what will separate these two.
If we finish season equal now on points with CCM, with only 3 games left - it will highy likely be total Wins that separate, as is the case right now. Currently it's Mariners (1st) 14 wins & Nix (2nd) 13 wins, with both on 46 pts
Edit - actually my brain says it's now only this unlikely below outcome where GD would be needed to separate the 2 teams - Nix 2L & 1W CCM 3D
That way both teams finish season with 14 Wins, and same pts (49). Pretty sure I have that right as the only possible outcome now where GD will come into it.
I'd give the above outcome (Nix 2L & 1W and CCM 3D) at about a less than 5% chance of happening.
In summary GD ain't important at all. 3 wins would be great though.
That was disappointing. I did not like the defensive tactic and I knew it as coming. We should have tried more attack, press them like Sydney. Now we are not in control anymore, don’t like this.
Watching the replay i was disappointed by Conchie, a rare appearance off the bench and didn't command and close down the top of the box which led to their 2nd goal, that was a massive moment for him, for the team and for our season... Chiefy seemed to be hugely disappointed too. I think with Rufer that we would have closed the game 100%.
I was there too cheering on the Snakes. Good game.!InsulinMachine
I'm off to watch the Ferns live here in Chch, then home to catch WU at their new Tarneit facility, and for the main course the Nix at 7pm. I'll have a football hangover tomorrow
Still pissed. All this upfront talk “it’s a normal game just three points” backfired. Maybe a message with a bit more urgency would have helped the team. I understand that they need to stay professional and play their planned game without extra pressure. Obviously the weight of the ocassion was visible in the first 5 minutes, we played horrendous. I am also questioning why Italiano did not brought Ball? Not to blam any youngsters but those are the games you need a fighter like him. We possibly lost the title, not just three points. Grrrr!
Still pissed. All this upfront talk “it’s a normal game just three points” backfired. Maybe a message with a bit more urgency would have helped the team. I understand that they need to stay professional and play their planned game without extra pressure. Obviously the weight of the ocassion was visible in the first 5 minutes, we played horrendous. I am also questioning why Italiano did not brought Ball? Not to blam any youngsters but those are the games you need a fighter like him. We possibly lost the title, not just three points. Grrrr!
Agree on Ball. That’s exactly the situation we need him, especially once we equalised
No option but to win all 3 games and chiefy will need to amend his tactics because winning may not be enough, we need the goal difference. We are going to have to go all out.
Goal difference doesn't make a difference. It's wins and CCM has that on us.
Short of them having 3 draws and is getting a win I believe there is no difference.
Good point I’d forgotten about that rule change.
I think this probably benefits us in a sense. If we were better as a team playing attacking football then we’d already do that week in week out. The fact we don’t tells us we’re better playing defensive. So if it came down to goal difference we’d have to change our tactics to a weaker model to try and score as many as possible and this would undoubtedly leave us exposed at the back where we’d be at greater risk of draws / losses.
Tl/dr: we just need to keep doing what we’re doing and hope CCM trip.
Shoganai lads. We’re never told what might have been.
I did have a feeling Oskar VH had something for us. Wanted to start him. Screw Leggy for joining us briefly again just to ‘this’ negativity about the Nix.
Second would still be our best season ever. If we win the rest we’re in the lap of the gods. Perhaps they’ll get cocky and slip up. Saved myself a bunch because at a minimum I was gunna shout the bar at our local sports bar! Unless…
Had a few day beers today, sort of an Ohanami party, but definitely helping. .. brews from Japan, Korea and Canada. Can’t get Kiwi stuff here. Well beer. Coffee I’ve got great access to Supreme and Allpress, but not today…
The moment of that equaliser was so glorious. So so glorious. Let’s face it they’re a tough team and at home. So many times we would have scored against lesser teams and they blocked or intercepted. But for a few minutes ( and yeh I said to my wife , no significant VAR or injuries- this’ll be 5 minutes because it’s the most they can bs justify) we were there, we’d done it…
Whatever happened to Hallertau? This Korean lager has hallertau hops…
I can’t blame Chief. We did our thing and it almost worked. I can’t blame Conchie. He made one mistake and he looks like the goods tbh. Vuckovic is a hard keeper to beat…Old and Kosta our best other chances. Perhaps Ball would have been a tonic, perhaps not…
No point in blaming Conchie. CCM were all over us all first half and this points to the difference between Payne and the inexperienced Sheridan who was turned inside out many times by Torres. Would I blame Sheridan? No. He is a competent youngster playing against seasoned experienced pro. CCM were simply better team than us on the day, and looked like champions all day, even when Tim Payne and OVH came on. It was a good game showing that CCM had more gas in the tank and did not tire all game. Their fitness level helped them win the game; and not having Rufer and dare I say Hughes did not help us. This is not a failure on part of Chiefy or the team.
I was just thinking we need to shut this down and not let anything like the Roar game happen. Unbelievable.
We need to be able to close down the game
We tried to close down the game from the first minute. We need to have the balls to play and not just sit in until we are behind. We were in first place on the table FFS
As the commentators said, they would like to see us play more expansively because we look quite good when we do it. It's a shame that it takes us to go a goal behind before we start to play. I wonder if Chief will take a few more risks next season as he gets a bit more experience under his belt.
As the commentators said, they would like to see us play more expansively because we look quite good when we do it. It's a shame that it takes us to go a goal behind before we start to play. I wonder if Chief will take a few more risks next season as he gets a bit more experience under his belt.
Pace, power, quality & know-how the way to go. Not so difficult if everyone's on board.
I was just thinking we need to shut this down and not let anything like the Roar game happen. Unbelievable.
We need to be able to close down the game
We tried to close down the game from the first minute. We need to have the balls to play and not just sit in until we are behind. We were in first place on the table FFS
Well I for one am very glad Chiefy didn't try to foot it with them. We would've lost by a three goal margin at least. That game was a reminder to me that the Nix have been consistently punching above their weight all season, which is entirely due to Chiefy's tailoring a tactical approach to suit the limitations of a striker-less squad.
It was an excruciating loss but it's just unfortunate that if you take a player out of the Nix as good as Rufer, who is undoubtedly the best defensive mid in the league, it can mean the difference between success and failure. Whereas if you take, for example, Nisbet out of the Mariners line up, or Caceres out of Sydney, those teams will both get along fine with the seemingly bottomless pool of attacking talent they have.
