League table

No we wouldn't we would be equal with Adelaide on 24 points and we would be 2nd because of GD. Btw no need to go caps crazy.wellyphoenixfan2008-12-20 13:16:40

Yeah, but we don't really care about some of them overly much; we only care about the teams between us and 4th. We don't mind Adelaide or Newcastle winning at this point. We would even prefer Perth to win for once this weekend.

Because of the first month of lost games in the league season was not played with great enough urgency in the attacking third. It worked for the Preseason games with the players we had started with but when it came to the grind of the league season and we couldn't get Daniel, Bertos and Gao on the field at the same time because of the injuries. So any attractive short passing in the midfield without having three attacking creative midfielders at the same time, did not utlised the amount of possession and so did not resulted in goals in the attacking third. The other teams figured to just sit back, be defensively compact, stub the creative edge (if there was any) and take on the quick attack behind the midfield and defensive after a turnover. This lead to a bad start to the league season with losses.

So a change in having less passes numbers in possession to Smeltz (i.e. a defocus on possession and a refocus on defensive commitment and quicker attacks) had assisted him in creating more space for him to get behind the defenders and through gaps which lead to goals, wins and turnaround season. It became a bit ugly but suited Smeltz and the wide attackers in the team. We forsaken possession time in the central midfield for more readily speed on the wide midfield to draw the attention away from Smeltz and gave him space and he became less marked as the result.

Now out of the skillful, quick creative players we had; Gao gone, Daniel is half injured, Fred has come and go with only Bertos just getting in full swing feeding Smeltz. The short passing game of possession only served as a defensive tactic and a controlling factor now rather than as an attacking tactic. The short passing game as an attacking strategy is on the back seat because of the lack of creative players and having only one real striker up front. The overall general playing skill of the team is not that superior to the other teams (because of not having one or two creative skilled players more on the field and only Daniels and Smeltz are able to hold the ball up in a smaller space). So therefore the space in the other teams defensive seems harder for the players to effectively use the short passing game.

However, it takes only a skillful player of Fred ilk to lift things back to the short passing game. Which we were just started to see before he had to leave on short notice. It kind of shows what a highly influential player Fred is.

So we were forced to grind it out as we lost some skillful creative players being on the field from the first league game and also had to change our tactics which was become predictable for the opposition defence to compact and mark/contained key skilled players easier.

And no, it is not because of not having Felipe but having a patch of bad luck on the number of skilled attacking players available to play that changed our tactics.

Otherwise, I would be quite happy for a 4-2-3-1 if we had the services of all the players as we almost had in the pre season short tournament. However, that is the prevails of playing in league games over a longer time period rather than a tournament games in a short time.AllWhitebelievr2008-12-21 03:41:54

Yeah...What he said...

You read all that?

What?!?!?!?

Im also missing the link between you failing school cert maths and you typing like.

Don't apologise for having a decent attention span Tegal! AWB's contribution was a good posting and worth reading.

agreed SiNZ, AWB may not earn the title "man of few words" anytime soon , but i usually learn stuff i didn't know before from his posts tigers2008-12-21 17:54:23

Perth up 2 - 0 at half time against Sydney - very good for us.

Aloisi! What a shocker, that second opportunity missed was probably the most ridiculous I've ever seen! 

The worst miss since Halstead's last week at home to Otago with the final kick of the game - very similar situation - sorry Peter.

Table   P W D L F A GD Points Adelaide United 14 7 3 4 24 17 7 24 Queensland Roar 15 6 5 4 21 15 6 23 Melbourne Victory 15 7 2 6 26 21 5 23 Central Coast Mariners 16 5 7 4 29 23 6 22 Wellington Phoenix 16 6 4 6 17 24 -7 22 Sydney FC 16 5 5 6 25 24 1 20 Perth Glory 16 5 4 7 25 34 -9 19 Newcastle Jets 16 3 6 7 18 27 -9 15

Looking good lads
Got some results our way!

Has to be must win again next week.

http://sfcu.com.au/ is fooling no one.

Unfortunately, Adelaide's two games in hand are against the two teams immediately below them. which will just increase the congestion in the top 6.

I think we're going to be saying it's a " must win" every game from here till the end of the season.wolfman2008-12-21 21:49:25

From the "if only" department: had we got the three points vs Perth we'd now be top equal on points.  I know games in hand etc etc, but we ain't doing too badly.

i will be reasonably pleased with a draw, as it should kind of keep us in a similar position as we are now and then hopefully we can move up when we play newcastle at home.

Table   P W D L F A GD Points Central Coast Mariners 17 6 7 4 31 24 7 25 Adelaide United 14 7 3 4 24 17 7 24 Queensland Roar 15 6 5 4 21 15 6 23 Melbourne Victory 15 7 2 6 26 21 5 23 Wellington Phoenix 16 6 4 6 17 24 -7 22 Sydney FC 16 5 5 6 25 24 1 20 Perth Glory 16 5 4 7 25 34 -9 19 Newcastle Jets 17 3 6 8 19 29 -10 15

Adelaide have two games to make up, one v q'land and the other v melbourne, thjose will be crucial games which are being played soon I believe???

We simply have to keep winning to maintain contact with the top 4.

Good for us, we play them at home towards the end of the season so they should be pretty tired.

Table   P W D L F A GD Points Adelaide United 15 8 3 4 25 17 8 27 Central Coast Mariners 17 6 7 4 31 24 7 25 Queensland Roar 15 6 5 4 21 15 6 23 Melbourne Victory 15 7 2 6 26 21 5 23 Wellington Phoenix 16 6 4 6 17 24 -7 22 Sydney FC 16 5 5 6 25 24 1 20 Perth Glory 17 5 4 8 25 35 -10 19 Newcastle Jets 17 3 6 8 19 29 -10 15

3rd here we come... how come QLD have a game in hand??

Qland and melb both have games vs Adelaide to play.........which happened due to Adelaides ACL commitments i think.

World Club Champs

Table   P W D L F A GD Points Adelaide United 15 8 3 4 25 17 8 27 Melbourne Victory 16 8 2 6 29 23 6 26 Central Coast Mariners 17 6 7 4 31 24 7 25 Queensland Roar 15 6 5 4 21 15 6 23 Wellington Phoenix 16 6 4 6 17 24 -7 22 Sydney FC 17 5 5 7 27 27 0 20 Perth Glory 17 5 4 8 25 35 -10 19 Newcastle Jets 17 3 6 8 19 29 -10 15

Sydney have lost it

Don't you just love seeing Sydney languishing on the ladder.Win tomorrow and that puts us in 4th spot for the time being, come on Phoenix!!