Hail ___ the Chief - Giancarlo Italiano

Where did the violence angle come from?

The clown post?

Bit of a stretch mate.

Procrastinixing

Their fanbase really woke up and chose violence.  Absolutely uncalled for shows the kind of graceless winners they are.  Hope this fires up our team.

And good on Chief, use it as an armour so it can never be used against you.

"Woke up and chose violence" is a popular turn of phrase, he wasn't using it as literally as your reading of it, Auckland boy

i am not enraged. Disappointed more than anything. Not clever, not funny, punching down, just a really lame post.

number8

People get enraged by calling him F-clown? It's not classy, just ignore it, but it's rage bait.
They will even laugh about him even more after tonight, we're not gonna win this.

Strange language you guys speak down there.

Tip for Wellington boys - Don’t use the word violence if anyone is up in Auckland this weekend 

imanixsupporter

"Woke up and chose violence" is a popular turn of phrase, he wasn't using it as literally as your reading of it, Auckland boy

They are hands down the most painful fans in the league. 
They are just setting themselves up for the Ultimate roasting when the tide turns. They’ve already choked when they should have made the grand final. 
Crowds numbers already falling too. 

more of an online expression than a Wellington one. Anyway the point is simmer down, you don't need to be so defensive about the accusation of violence because there wasn't one. Bit of an oddly threatening tone to this comment 

AucklandPhoenix

Strange language you guys speak down there.

Tip for Wellington boys - Don’t use the word violence if anyone is up in Auckland this weekend 

imanixsupporter

"Woke up and chose violence" is a popular turn of phrase, he wasn't using it as literally as your reading of it, Auckland boy

Jesus dude, chill yourself, never heard it before as a comment.

Thought exactly the same myself when I saw it - using that word in any context is out of order and implies threatening behaviour.

Not needed.

Jesus dude, chill yourself, never heard it before as a comment.

Thought exactly the same myself when I saw it - using that word in any context is out of order and implies threatening behaviour.

Not needed.

AucklandPhoenix

Jesus dude, chill yourself, never heard it before as a comment.

Thought exactly the same myself when I saw it - using that word in any context is out of order.

It is quite a common meme thing. 

It usually just means posting something harsh or mean or attacking someone.

Other definitions:

AucklandPhoenix

Jesus dude, chill yourself, never heard it before as a comment.

Thought exactly the same myself when I saw it - using that word in any context is out of order and implies threatening behaviour.

Not needed.

Wow bro you have to stop clutching pearls over what is clearly a joking turn of phrase. I am shocked you haven't heard the phrase before - even my 70 YO parents have. And no, we do not live in Welly...

Did you clutch your pearls over the Port's post too? That definitely has an aggressive tone to it and is meant to get Welly fans angry. Perfect response by Chief to pay it no mind at all - maybe take a leaf from his book man

Hmmm ....Pot , meet kettle ...

mykey

They are hands down the most painful fans in the league. 
They are just setting themselves up for the Ultimate roasting when the tide turns. They’ve already choked when they should have made the grand final. 
Crowds numbers already falling too. 

 

FU BLU

Hmmm ....Pot , meet kettle ...

mykey

They are hands down the most painful fans in the league. 
They are just setting themselves up for the Ultimate roasting when the tide turns. They’ve already choked when they should have made the grand final. 
Crowds numbers already falling too. 

 

I think the Port are fairly comparable to the Red Black Block (Western Sydney supporter group) to be honest. I think they're good for the league - sometimes cringe but overall good for some banter. 

I think where supporters groups go wrong is when they take themselves too seriously. Then it really just becomes silly. The Port are guilty of that sometimes but mostly they're good value.

I think where the Fever excel is that they've never taken themselves too seriously. It is a much more kiwi vibe than what the Port has at the moment

To change the subject... Chiefy's former assistant with 3 straight wins as Perth boss. He was the assistant when we had all our success under Chiefy, and things haven't been that great for us since he left. Wonder if Giancarlo feels any extra pressure to prove that the success wasn't really because of Griffiths.

Even if not, should still make the next distance derby a bit more interesting.

Are there many expat Brits in the Fever? 
Don't think I've ever seen a Union Jack flag flown in the YF zone.

Seems there are heaps of Poms in The Port, and with that yeah a serious culture of having to 'hate' your opposition. Definitely something imported from the UK, rather than true to Aotearoa.

Yes there are few who have been around since the start.  But the origionals were pretty clear how they wanted the YF to support and thankfully that has mostly been how ir has evolved. Yep there has been the odd hiccup along the way. But thankfully thats all they been and our relationship with most of the other A League supporter groups is testament to that.

coochiee

Are there many expat Brits in the Fever? 
Don't think I've ever seen a Union Jack flag flown in the YF zone.

Seems there are heaps of Poms in The Port, and with that yeah a serious culture of having to 'hate' your opposition. Definitely something imported from the UK, rather than true to Aotearoa.

 
I mean it’s all imported, but the Fever always seemed a bit self aware and enjoying the whole thing.

But yeh, the no foreign flags thing used to be a league wide thing. And the no other clubs stuff was a bit of a thing iirc there was some discussion about a Liverpool towel or flag or something. 

Think there’s plenty of Poms in the Fever, but fewer bores…that’s to say every one I’ve ever talked to seemed much more interesting than me! No idiots sitting with the Aussie fans etc etc.

imanixsupporter

To change the subject... Chiefy's former assistant with 3 straight wins as Perth boss. He was the assistant when we had all our success under Chiefy, and things haven't been that great for us since he left. Wonder if Giancarlo feels any extra pressure to prove that the success wasn't really because of Griffiths.

Even if not, should still make the next distance derby a bit more interesting.

AG was assistant last season, no?

Maybe I was misremembering, but didn't Chiefy and Griffiths fall out a long, long time before the end of the season?

Bullion

imanixsupporter

To change the subject... Chiefy's former assistant with 3 straight wins as Perth boss. He was the assistant when we had all our success under Chiefy, and things haven't been that great for us since he left. Wonder if Giancarlo feels any extra pressure to prove that the success wasn't really because of Griffiths.

Even if not, should still make the next distance derby a bit more interesting.

AG was assistant last season, no?

Anyway Chiefy has to go. 3 game derby series already lost. I know people will point at the pens but we produced so little today and Chiefy is never going to get it right

I don’t want to tell your 70 year old parents to get out more

But there may be more hope for you.

anaveragestem

AucklandPhoenix

Jesus dude, chill yourself, never heard it before as a comment.

Thought exactly the same myself when I saw it - using that word in any context is out of order and implies threatening behaviour.

Not needed.

Wow bro you have to stop clutching pearls over what is clearly a joking turn of phrase. I am shocked you haven't heard the phrase before - even my 70 YO parents have. And no, we do not live in Welly...

Did you clutch your pearls over the Port's post too? That definitely has an aggressive tone to it and is meant to get Welly fans angry. Perfect response by Chief to pay it no mind at all - maybe take a leaf from his book man

Chiefy in the post match points to LKH getting totally done by Elliot leading to the opening goal. He will say it isnt the system that it is the problem it is the players failing to execute/stay focused for 90 minutes. But it has happened now in 5/7 games and for 7 goals total that the opposition has got in behind our high line defense with ease and scored.

How long until he concludes that the players dont have it in them to execute perfectly for 90 minutes, and that any small error has an incredibly high chance of being punished with a goal, and as a result it just isn't going to ever work effectively? How long do we have to suffer this? 

Th  first 45 was dour. We lack creativity badly.

All I want for Christmas is a number 10.

I'm not a tactician and I don't pretend to be. I certainly couldn't manage a football team and I have no clue what the right solution is. But I don't think chief has much of a clue either. Our attempts to score goals are through chaos, we have a very disjointed attack where armiento and eze are just trying to do different things every time. Eze runs expecting the through ball and armiento shoots (almost every time etc). We don't have a player who can pull the strings and tie everything together bar the occasional long ball from Rufer.

We are playing a high defensive line with slow, and mostly, inexperienced defenders who often fail to spring the offside trap and don't seem to be communicating throughout the 90. Getting an opening goal against our back line is laughably easy (because they seem to take 30mins to adjust each week) and our attack is so disjointed the chance of outscoring the opposition is low.

Auckland have had trouble scoring and they got done by a counter attacking Newcastle last week. They can't break down defenses that well. Auckland's forward pack are super effective against our backline and corica adjusted the formation to really exploit that, some might say he made tactical and formation changes to adjust to the way the nix play.

Chief didn't adjust, the moment chief put out the line up he did against a team which had been adjusted to beat that formation the game was lost. It was laughably easy for corica to out play chief. The answer for chief seemed easy enough to me, sit deep play for the draw away in Auckland (a draw is a result, no one would have complained) and maybe through eze, armiento etc we nick a result on the counter because Auckland start with so many attackers. But what do I know, I'm probably wrong.

I'm not sure how much can be laid at Chiefy given the red (player error) and two pens (both player error), and we still went for it being a man down which resulted in some transitional moments for AFC with their man advantage.

The squad isn't good enough, especially with all the injuries.

Bullion

I'm not sure how much can be laid at Chiefy given the red (player error) and two pens (both player error), and we still went for it being a man down which resulted in some transitional moments for AFC with their man advantage.

The squad isn't good enough, especially with all the injuries.

Obviously it's impossible to know.. but we were already down 1-0 because of our high line and it might the case we only got a goal because Auckland got sloppy because they were a man down. I have little doubt Auckland would in most cases have been able to shut up shop and hold onto the 1-0 lead without the red card. It was the sloppy early goal that was the real issue.

imanixsupporter

Chiefy in the post match points to LKH getting totally done by Elliot leading to the opening goal. He will say it isnt the system that it is the problem it is the players failing to execute/stay focused for 90 minutes. But it has happened now in 5/7 games and for 7 goals total that the opposition has got in behind our high line defense with ease and scored.

How long until he concludes that the players dont have it in them to execute perfectly for 90 minutes, and that any small error has an incredibly high chance of being punished with a goal, and as a result it just isn't going to ever work effectively? How long do we have to suffer this? 

Exactly this. He keeps blaming the players for not executing the game plan but fails to realise its not possible to do so 100% of the time. It's risky tactics which can easily be punished. We just don't have the players for it either. 
It's like me expecting my employees to make absolutely no mistake at work, but when they do the place just about burns down. Risk is too high. His philosophy doesn't work and never will.

Nommag

Bullion

I'm not sure how much can be laid at Chiefy given the red (player error) and two pens (both player error), and we still went for it being a man down which resulted in some transitional moments for AFC with their man advantage.

The squad isn't good enough, especially with all the injuries.

Obviously it's impossible to know.. but we were already down 1-0 because of our high line and it might the case we only got a goal because Auckland got sloppy because they were a man down. I have little doubt Auckland would in most cases have been able to shut up shop and hold onto the 1-0 lead without the red card. It was the sloppy early goal that was the real issue.

how was that goal a result of our high line?

The goal and the red are direct results of the high line which requires near-perfect focus and execution for 90 minutes, and means that any mild errors are extremely likely to result in a goal (or a DOGSO red if the player takes that approach, as James did today).

Chiefy has gambled on 1. His players being able to pull this off and 2. For this system to deliver so much attacking upside that it more than compensates for when they don't pull it off.

But 7 games into the season and the gamble is not paying off. Even before the red and pens today, in the entirety of the first half, we let in a soft goal and created NOTHING in the 40 minutes after the goal. 

The second half was just straight up chaos but in the final analysis it is only because Rufer got a gift and Josh had one of the greatest goalkeeping performances ever for the Nix that it was as close as it was, and that was still a 2-1 second half loss. To look at today and just blame player error or ref decisions is missing the forest for the trees. 

Bullion

Nommag

Bullion

I'm not sure how much can be laid at Chiefy given the red (player error) and two pens (both player error), and we still went for it being a man down which resulted in some transitional moments for AFC with their man advantage.

The squad isn't good enough, especially with all the injuries.

Obviously it's impossible to know.. but we were already down 1-0 because of our high line and it might the case we only got a goal because Auckland got sloppy because they were a man down. I have little doubt Auckland would in most cases have been able to shut up shop and hold onto the 1-0 lead without the red card. It was the sloppy early goal that was the real issue.

how was that goal a result of our high line?

The whole backline pushed forward to spring the offside trap as soon as the ball was kicked but Cosgrove was deep enough that he went forward at the same time and suddenly he was miles behind the defensive line and one on with the keeper forcing the foul. If they weren't playing a high line relying on the offside trap, they would have stayed deep when the ball was kicked or possibly had someone man marking Cosgrove (he isn't exactly fast). It was diabolical, it's actually painful to get watch the replay, even Cosgrove is surprised it was that easy.

Nommag

Bullion

Nommag

Bullion

I'm not sure how much can be laid at Chiefy given the red (player error) and two pens (both player error), and we still went for it being a man down which resulted in some transitional moments for AFC with their man advantage.

The squad isn't good enough, especially with all the injuries.

Obviously it's impossible to know.. but we were already down 1-0 because of our high line and it might the case we only got a goal because Auckland got sloppy because they were a man down. I have little doubt Auckland would in most cases have been able to shut up shop and hold onto the 1-0 lead without the red card. It was the sloppy early goal that was the real issue.

how was that goal a result of our high line?

The whole backline pushed forward to spring the offside trap as soon as the ball was kicked but Cosgrove was deep enough that he went forward at the same time and suddenly he was miles behind the defensive line and one on with the keeper forcing the foul. If they weren't playing a high line relying on the offside trap, they would have stayed deep when the ball was kicked or possibly had someone man marking Cosgrove (he isn't exactly fast). It was diabolical, it's actually painful to get watch the replay, even Cosgrove is surprised it was that easy.

I don't agree. You say we were down 1 nil due to our high line, but our high line had nothing to do with the first goal. And the red, James didn't realise Cosgrove was there - so I don't see how in James' mind he would stay deep for a player who he doesn't think is there . 

Our playing style is infinitely better this year than last which makes the lack of willingness to try anything last year so much more frustrating. Italiano I think is excellent as a scout. Clearly some players have some real ability. But I’m not sure he is a fully fledged manager yet. And I don’t think a premier men’s or women’s professional competition is the place to serve an apprenticeship. 

For the first goal, the acres of space Elliot could put Rogerson into after LKH made the mistake and let him get past him with ease was there because there was such a high line. Mistakes like that LKH one aren't so devastating when you aren't playing such a high line. 

0-5 in a derby is a serious blight on his cv, and if he were to go to a new club in a more cut-throat league, this will no doubt be something that can impact him and his credentials. 

At this rate, I just want to see Greenie brought in as interim, see how he goes, and if he impresses like Griffiths is doing at Perth right now, he gets the job. If not, at least the management showed some balls (sacking a coach for the first time), took action, and we aim for someone else.

He has grown a lot as a coach since his past few times briefly taking charge (one with the assistance of Des) and I think he should be given another chance to prove himself.

I know there have been people on here saying it won't change anything, either because of where the Nix reserves are currently sitting or their won't be much he can do with our current squad, but at least he will offer something, anything new.

That second half against Wrexham with Greenie taking hold was a breath of fresh air, we looked like a completely different Phoenix team even though it was the academy/CL lads. Controversial opinion, I honestly enjoyed that half more than anything Chiefy has dished up so far, despite how we don't look as dire as last season and there have been some pretty enjoyable moments such as Armiento's late winner, Eze's derby screamer, the performance against Adelaide. His U20s were also an exciting watch at the WC despite the number of soft goals we conceded.

You are assuming of course that Greenie wants the job. Hes quite comfortable now coaching the reserves and NZU20s. Why throw a steady job away to be coach of the seniors? The Nix is a selling club. We develop players and sell them. We dont progressively build a team to win the AL. Chiefy got us to 2nd and then they got rid of 9?? of the best players.
Everyone knows we wont keep Eze and if LBS plays a blinder second half of the season they will sell him. Who other than a young up and coming coach would want to coach this team?

austin111

You are assuming of course that Greenie wants the job. Hes quite comfortable now coaching the reserves and NZU20s. Why throw a steady job away to be coach of the seniors? The Nix is a selling club. We develop players and sell them. We dont progressively build a team to win the AL. Chiefy got us to 2nd and then they got rid of 9?? of the best players.
Everyone knows we wont keep Eze and if LBS plays a blinder second half of the season they will sell him. Who other than a young up and coming coach would want to coach this team?

Pretty sure Greeny would take the gig.  There are challenges in the role for sure but he's a Phoenix guy through and through and would jump at the chance. 

austin111

You are assuming of course that Greenie wants the job. Hes quite comfortable now coaching the reserves and NZU20s. Why throw a steady job away to be coach of the seniors? The Nix is a selling club. We develop players and sell them. We dont progressively build a team to win the AL. Chiefy got us to 2nd and then they got rid of 9?? of the best players.
Everyone knows we wont keep Eze and if LBS plays a blinder second half of the season they will sell him. Who other than a young up and coming coach would want to coach this team?

Agree we are a selling club but really your overstating it just like others always do. We didnt "get rid of 9?? of the best players" .What we did is we sold some young talent and the others LEFT as their contracts had expired and they moved on.
Does seem at time as if people just expect the Phoenix to offer contracts to players and they will agree to stay. The club shouldnt be paying overs to keep players and sometimes those players get better offers elsewhere. 
You make it sound as if they wouldnt want to keep Eze of course they would,but due to his form he is likely to get way better offers and move on as he should. Same applies to LBS what young player wouldnt want to move overseas if offered the chance, pretty sure thats one of the reasons why they play the game.

Forgetting the chaos of the second half... where were we at in the first?

The answer.

We were poor. No creativity and little threat! That's on him.

Last week was good. Three around that poor!

imanixsupporter

For the first goal, the acres of space Elliot could put Rogerson into after LKH made the mistake and let him get past him with ease was there because there was such a high line. Mistakes like that LKH one aren't so devastating when you aren't playing such a high line. 

we were just attacking, the broadcast didn't show the entire build up to the goal live because they were trying to show a replay of our chance, so there is space to attack. Rogerson receives the ball close to our box after our defence had been back tracking the whole play, and because we had been just attacking our midfield hasn't gotten back to fill the space behind our defence. 

AucklandPhoenix

I don’t want to tell your 70 year old parents to get out more

But there may be more hope for you.

anaveragestem

AucklandPhoenix

Jesus dude, chill yourself, never heard it before as a comment.

Thought exactly the same myself when I saw it - using that word in any context is out of order and implies threatening behaviour.

Not needed.

Wow bro you have to stop clutching pearls over what is clearly a joking turn of phrase. I am shocked you haven't heard the phrase before - even my 70 YO parents have. And no, we do not live in Welly...

Did you clutch your pearls over the Port's post too? That definitely has an aggressive tone to it and is meant to get Welly fans angry. Perfect response by Chief to pay it no mind at all - maybe take a leaf from his book man

You must see the irony in saying that while posting on a 15 year old account that has 4.4k comments on it. That's nearly a post a day for 15 years my guy 🤣. Probably two posts a day considering the season only runs half the year.

To add to that a lot around here seem to think you're an AFC supporter in disguise. You're probably posting on the AFC FB page or whatever they use too