Alex 'The second best' Rufer

coochiee

On Saturday, Alex Rufer reached a milestone only a few have achieved for the Wellington Phoenix 👏

Rufer has made 150 appearances for the club since his debut on the 9th of February 2014.

💛 Over 10,000 minutes played
💛 Starting XI in 114 matches
💛 Homegrown captain
💛… pic.twitter.com/W2vXSKOuMf

— Wellington Phoenix 🔥 (@WgtnPhoenixFC) November 4, 2024

123 more to be our all time appearance holder. Would take just under 5 more seasons (the rest of this season + 4 more) of playing in every game to get there.

He’s only 28 so it’s not completely impossible.

Assuming he doesnt egt picked up by some random european club.
Although ti does appear as though he is very content here.

I think Rufer has been a standout, this season and last.
I cant fault him

Fenix

I think Rufer has been a standout, this season and last.
I cant fault him

might need to change the thread name

nixnation

Fenix

I think Rufer has been a standout, this season and last.
I cant fault him

might need to change the thread name

If he ends up better than Wynton, that would be amazing.

I'd love to know how it sounded out on the pitch when 26,252 minus the Auckland attendees, were shouting "The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on fire" last Saturday.

Fenix

I think Rufer has been a standout, this season and last.
I cant fault him

 
I can.

ClubOranje

Fenix

I think Rufer has been a standout, this season and last.
I cant fault him

 
I can.

Used his kitchen to gut a fish after going fishing and didn’t clean up properly? Don’t leave us hanging here, give us the critique.

What I love about him is that he's the only player we've had in a while who looks like he loves the club as much as we do. He genuinely seems like if he wasn't on the pitch he'd be up in the stands, and that's pretty rare in a league like ours where contracts are generally short and player movement is frequent. 

Maybe it's not the same for everyone, but as a born and bred wellingtonian who loves this club (arguably too much), it's massive to have someone like that as captain.

Him and Siggy.  I feel like when Siggy retired he started to fill that gap as the club attitude and passion personified.

@ClubOranje come on mate, don’t leave us hanging! 

What are you faulting with Rufs? Not scoring enough? Too aggro? Not two footed enough? Slowing the tempo too much? Not slowing and controlling possession enough? Bad haircut? 

Genuinely Herr Fussball sensei give it to us straight, like a cider made from pears. 

What I want to know is how much is his knee going to be a problem this week?

Oh, wow. 
I thought we weren’t allowed to criticise fever favourites.

Rufer is a decent A-League level player, and as a 6 over the last couple of years grown to be one of the better  in the league.
But all this talk of should be playing in a better league in Europe is a bit sugar coated.
No question Rufer gives his all for the club, no question he should be a starter for us. But we have better options for AWs and European clubs have better options too.
Rufer shuts down play well, can play with both feet, but not equally proficient with both.
His decision making is generally OK, but he often looks for backward or sideways passes when we could be breaking forward. This is equally likely to be because of ‘team tactics’ [redacted]
A weakness he has is speed of play., both in terms of pace of pass and how long it takes to make that pass. Both cost us in terms of pressure, possession and opportunity.
His pace of pass is the biggest concern; leaving a pass short can mean the recipient is immediately under pressure, to the point they look to pass back to relieve that pressure, again leading to the ‘negative play’ supporters complain about. The other issue, aside from the pressure the receiver is under, the potential for a slow paced pass to turn into a hospital pass, or one that gets a team mate a card in an effort to get there.
Most A-League players have this fault, so perhaps the speed of the game at this level permits it, but those players that play at a faster pace are the ones that have better futures. And perhaps if A-League players played at a better pace they would become better players.
As for his captaincy, he’s possibly the best choice currently, but as much due to lack of options over being a natural leader. He needs to own his mistakes, but also allow others to own theirs, rather than tearing strips off. Guys know when they got it wrong, and will immediately look to do better, they don’t need him putting them down. Even the young ones.
The time for that is after the game, not during it.

Oh, and anyone thinking he might surpass uncle Wynton’s abilities anytime soon has completely lost the plot.

Chur

Can you recall Pennington’s speed of pass? I thought with him he often knew where he was going to pass a ball before he made a tackle or interception. 

I wonder how much of the speed of play is Chief’s instructions? Ie slow things down, get control, don’t panic…

martinb

Chur

Can you recall Pennington’s speed of pass? I thought with him he often knew where he was going to pass a ball before he made a tackle or interception. 

I wonder how much of the speed of play is Chief’s instructions? Ie slow things down, get control, don’t panic…

All players at this level should know what they are going to do with the ball before they get it.
Sadly they don’t.

What’s the difference between panic and pace? (rhetorical)
Italiano is the puppet master.
He never played at that level, maybe he doesn’t understand playing at pace. 
Or maybe he knows his player’s limitations.

But even slowing a game down, you don’t do that with slow passes. Sooner or later that gets your goalkeeper with three players bearing down on him and not many options.

ClubOranje

Oh, wow. 
I thought we weren’t allowed to criticise fever favourites.

Rufer is a decent A-League level player, and as a 6 over the last couple of years grown to be one of the better  in the league.
But all this talk of should be playing in a better league in Europe is a bit sugar coated.
No question Rufer gives his all for the club, no question he should be a starter for us. But we have better options for AWs and European clubs have better options too.
Rufer shuts down play well, can play with both feet, but not equally proficient with both.
His decision making is generally OK, but he often looks for backward or sideways passes when we could be breaking forward. This is equally likely to be because of ‘team tactics’ [redacted]
A weakness he has is speed of play., both in terms of pace of pass and how long it takes to make that pass. Both cost us in terms of pressure, possession and opportunity.
His pace of pass is the biggest concern; leaving a pass short can mean the recipient is immediately under pressure, to the point they look to pass back to relieve that pressure, again leading to the ‘negative play’ supporters complain about. The other issue, aside from the pressure the receiver is under, the potential for a slow paced pass to turn into a hospital pass, or one that gets a team mate a card in an effort to get there.
Most A-League players have this fault, so perhaps the speed of the game at this level permits it, but those players that play at a faster pace are the ones that have better futures. And perhaps if A-League players played at a better pace they would become better players.
As for his captaincy, he’s possibly the best choice currently, but as much due to lack of options over being a natural leader. He needs to own his mistakes, but also allow others to own theirs, rather than tearing strips off. Guys know when they got it wrong, and will immediately look to do better, they don’t need him putting them down. Even the young ones.
The time for that is after the game, not during it.

Oh, and anyone thinking he might surpass uncle Wynton’s abilities anytime soon has completely lost the plot.

I mean, I don't think anyone would actually say he's even close to Wynton to be honest.

I think he'd thrash wynton, wynton is 61 years old and has a massive heart attack a few years ago

Some of the criticism is quite wide of the mark from my watching.

The weighting of Rufers passes is one of my favourite bits of his game, it's noticeable every time I watch him how good he is at putting the ball where the receiving player wants it. Sure they may still look to go backwards but I haven't noticed a common pattern that we're going backwards because Rufer has made a bad pass.

He can be slow to move the ball but I think part of that is the sheer amount of time he buys himself with his press resistance and outrageous ability to retain the ball in a challenge rather than an inability to play quickly. He does play one touch quite well when required but can improve on knowing which to do when.

I do think it's true he's not going to a big European league and ripping it up but I also think it's obvious he could do what he's doing in a stronger league than the A-League.

Any fans whining about "negative football" because we pass the ball to our goalkeeper aren't worth listening, that statement alone shows they don't know what they're talking about. We know our coach is actively inviting a press for us to play through, playing backwards is a necessary part of that - we couldn't have been triggering the AFC press, for a recent example, unless we were moving the ball to their press triggers which to me looked to be Sheridan and Hughes (in the first half at least). Not to say the ball speed is always perfect but it's also 3 games in with a brand new backline and formation.

I've never seen anyone claim that Alex is the best Rufer. You may be getting it mixed up with the people who think Chris Wood is pushing Wynton close.

Disclaimer: I've been a Rufer truther since before he played a first team game and have long been of the opinion that he's one of the most unnecessarily criticised Nix player, maybe ever.

And please don't take me disagreeing with you as you being "not allowed" to share your opinion, that isn't what this is.

1000% Nelfoos cant believe he still gets shark its been that  way since the start often wonder if he had any other surname would it be different. From the very start it was obvious he had something there. No one knows if he would have made it in a bigger league because sometimes players are able to step up given the chance and better coaching. Purely selfishly im glad he has stuck it out and is showing those who doubt him. The passing back criticism gives me the sharks seems some dont get what are obviously TEAM instructions pretty sure i see the same tactic across many leagues but for some reason for us its wrong.

Speed of pass and hold up play - what a bizarre criticism - that's all tactics from the coaching team! It is purely the nix's desire to have the opposition moving out of their defensive shape to get the ball, when they arrive you move it sideways or forwards or backwards depending on the options available. Rufer does this very well. When pressed he can and has passed very quickly and effectively. 
He is the #1 starter for the nix 100%, as far as the AW's having better options at #6 I'd like to know who you think is currently a better option than him?

Could argue Joe Bell is a better player but I think Rufer offers a lot more defensively and physically which are both pretty important against bigger sides and also balances the midfield better than Bell does.

Nelfoos

Could argue Joe Bell is a better player but I think Rufer offers a lot more defensively and physically which are both pretty important against bigger sides and also balances the midfield better than Bell does.

Its a position I've seen, but on recent form in AW's camp you'd be very hard pressed to say Bell was the better player.
Bell has had his time as capt and the #6 playmaker, he does well at the Vikings but hasn't done anything for the AW'd in the last few camps, whereas Rufer has dominated.

The other thing i bever really get about those constantly critical of the passing back. One of the reasons it happens is because there are NO options in front of the ball carrier because there is no movement or no one has got themselves in a decent position to receive it. Yet for some reason many of you think the ball should go forward.

Bell seems to get plenty of assists at Viking. Can’t get assists without players getting on the end of the delivery in the box. I think Rufer has improved his close control game from what it was. 
Both good players. 

martinb

Bell seems to get plenty of assists at Viking. Can’t get assists without players getting on the end of the delivery in the box. I think Rufer has improved his close control game from what it was. 
Both good players. 

Agree, they are both good at their competition level, Bell has been decent at international level - I hope he can find that again. In recent times Bell's consistency and cohesiveness with the team  at international level has been non-existent.
Bell certainly does well at the Viking level for sure, he may also work well with that group of players - just seems there is a disconnect between him and the AW's players he is supposed to be passing the ball too. Rufer seems to have done a better job at gelling within the squad (of late) and that has been noticeable in their comparative performances.

Nelfoos

Some of the criticism is quite wide of the mark from my watching.

The weighting of Rufers passes is one of my favourite bits of his game, it's noticeable every time I watch him how good he is at putting the ball where the receiving player wants it. Sure they may still look to go backwards but I haven't noticed a common pattern that we're going backwards because Rufer has made a bad pass.

He can be slow to move the ball but I think part of that is the sheer amount of time he buys himself with his press resistance and outrageous ability to retain the ball in a challenge rather than an inability to play quickly. He does play one touch quite well when required but can improve on knowing which to do when.

I do think it's true he's not going to a big European league and ripping it up but I also think it's obvious he could do what he's doing in a stronger league than the A-League.

Any fans whining about "negative football" because we pass the ball to our goalkeeper aren't worth listening, that statement alone shows they don't know what they're talking about. We know our coach is actively inviting a press for us to play through, playing backwards is a necessary part of that - we couldn't have been triggering the AFC press, for a recent example, unless we were moving the ball to their press triggers which to me looked to be Sheridan and Hughes (in the first half at least). Not to say the ball speed is always perfect but it's also 3 games in with a brand new backline and formation.

I've never seen anyone claim that Alex is the best Rufer. You may be getting it mixed up with the people who think Chris Wood is pushing Wynton close.

Disclaimer: I've been a Rufer truther since before he played a first team game and have long been of the opinion that he's one of the most unnecessarily criticised Nix player, maybe ever.

And please don't take me disagreeing with you as you being "not allowed" to share your opinion, that isn't what this is.

Couldn't upvote this enough. I honestly don't think there's a better midfielder in the league at using their body to shrug off a challenge. He's had that ability for years, but now he's starting to sprinkle in some moments of real technical quality directly after, e.g. a deft turn or a little burst of pace to nudge it past a second oncoming pressing player (we saw two absolute peach examples of this in the first game).

Rufer is really, really good at this level.

Quite different players too, as far as 6s go. I'd be interested to see how they work together, but then you're asking Stamenic in front of them to do a lot of the creating and look how that's going at Olympiacos...

The 3 of them together as combination had their moments against the USA. Stamenic burst forward and played a peach of a ball to put Just in on goal. It all look better in midfield than the Mexico game that's for sure.

Bell had a number of assists with Viking in the early part of their season, but it's dropped off the 2nd half. It's no bad thing for the AWs that Stamenic is being asked to play a more forward role at Olympiakos. All part of his growth as a player hopefully, even if it's not going well there at the moment. Presumably his coaches in Greece think he has some potential to do that role.

Thomas is still hardly playing in Holland. Singh is rebuilding his club career. Lewis we have no idea. You can't rule out a midfield trio of Bell, Rufer and an advanced Marko in 2026.

Hoping Alex has his best ever season 

I've been lucky enough to have a few chats with this young man. He is one of the most level headed humble guys to chat with. Perhaps fatherhood has helped settle him. That brashness in his very early Nix years that earned a lot of cards has gone. He's still capable of putting in a stiff challenge but now he is using his head.
He will be a great dad.

LG

I've been lucky enough to have a few chats with this young man. He is one of the most level headed humble guys to chat with. Perhaps fatherhood has helped settle him. That brashness in his very early Nix years that earned a lot of cards has gone. He's still capable of putting in a stiff challenge but now he is using his head.
He will be a great dad.

LMAO Mate thats not a post i would have ever seen you making a few years ago. Awesome you saw the light and joined what was then a small bamd of us defending him from constant attack.
Agree top bloke to have a chat to.

Goal of the week nominee :)

https://aleagues.com.au/news/aleague-men-goal-of-the-week-round-7-vote/

if he was ever going to be top of the table this year was the one to do it!!

Chiefytheman

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Personally I've always rated Alex Rufer above Juan Mata

Yet some Nix fans continue to bag him all the time do wonder what game some of them are watching sometimes

i enjoyed the camera view in the sydney game. you could see how well the team were drilled and the excellent work being done by rufer off the ball.

i remember watching steve sumner play the same role for christchurch in the late 80s at newtown park. he was amazing; completely ran things and controlled the match. went home and watched the replay and he hardly featured. you could only see his impact at the ground.

i think this is the trap that a lot of observers can fall in to; observing the ball only. the reality is that there are 22 players on the pitch and only one ball. the real work and a lot of the clever stuff is done off the ball.

That’s the beauty of an AFL game in the stadium: 36 players in a vast oval. It’s almost like a kaleidoscope of movement and colour. You can see how far they all run.

And I have to admit a scrum on tele is nothing, but live you can feel the raw power as they hit and push.

Should probably try to see some live sumo for the same reason. It’s interesting on the tele, but I’m sure it hits differently live.

#decentstadiums