Nick Ward

Nick Ward

Can someone please remind me why we ever dropped this guy? has to be our most attacking central midfielder and is a busy player. Against the Victory, be it is old team, he was always getting in the thick of things. He can also score goals! He's like a 2009 Tim Brown. Nick Ward has impressed me, how can Ricki honestly selected Brown and Lia ahead of him? it bemuses me.

Brown is invisible. Can't mark a guy if you can't see him,makes him a dangerous player

THIS

Also; can we buy a right back please? We need more options in defense. Even if we had a guy like Andrew Boyens (who is a numpty at international level) who could at least challenge for a spot. Sigmund has been poor, North hasn't impressed, but there's no one to replace them.

But Nick Ward is a quality player. After a strong World Cup, I'm starting to lose faith in Ricki. Some of these selections are diabolical.

I'd just like him to decide on a settled team/formation and try playing it for a run of games, all of this chopping and changing doesn't help establish consistency or understanding between the players. 

Can't agree more there. He attacking power in the final third is a great asset to the teams performance and believe that the team is running at a loss without him on the park.

I wonder whether Brown's goal will give him an even bigger edge in Ricki's mind, despite the fact that apart from that he was sh*t.

totally agree. ward nds to start. one of the only ppl in our team who can create ANYTHING

Ward not even in the squad for Perth trip! Now that we have in Eliott a midfielder who is comfortable on the ball and can play a passing game would have thought Ward would have been a perfect foil for him. Instead we persevere with Brown and Lia, makes bugger all sense, hopefully RH knows what he is doing and he sees something of merit in a Brown/Lia combo.

I reckon Ward must've done something at training or something - he wasn't brought on as a sub until the game was well and truly gone. When Big Mac goes on ahead of you, you know something is wrong.

I concur. I smell a rat.

I saw him out last night and had a bit of a yarn to him and he didn't mention anything and in fact agreed that we need some away wins

I'm shocked he's not even on the plane to Perth, really stood out and made an impact as soon as he was on.

Well, Im a Ward fan base on what Ive seen. He be in my Phoenix team, but then again so would I be in the team after the sh*t I watched the  other night.

Ultimate midfield 3 would have to be Muscat, Elliot, and Ward yes? The sooner we get Lochy back we can go back to the 433 and get those 3 going correctly!!

That's my ideal midfield, still a long way to go before we get that though.

I demand to know why Ward hasnt been selected.

I'm sorry, I don't like Ward.

I agree with most others here...a Ward, Elliot, Muscat combo for our midfield 3 is the best combination yet Ricki can't see it.  Hmmmm what else can't he see.....that Tim Brown is way out of form since his shoulder injury......that having at least one right back in the squad will help over a season.....having cover for right and left back should be considered instead of 6 central midfielders......that swapping gks every week doesn't help anyone....that changing the defence every week doesn't help either.......yes sack Ricki...he got lucky with the World Cup and how much of that was Nelsen?

This is the interesting thing. When the piece came out that said it was all Nelsen, Herbert was just in the background, I was like 'no way', and defended Ricki. But the more and more these diabolical selections occur, the more I'm starting to believe it.

Deep. Logical. Well thought through.

Yeah Tim is totes hotter.

When Ward made his Nix debut I thought....finally the Nix have found a creative busy attacking midfielder with the added bonus being someone who has loads of A-league experiance.

I'm guessing Ward did something off field to earn his place on the bench recently

Others agree:

TopLeft072010-11-06 17:28:57

One game wonder who loses the ball more than he does anything with it either by trying one to many turns aka Ifill or making a loose pass......if he plays he needs to play more forward than he has and have cover behind that works.

Boro that is exactly what we are all saying...he is our best attacking midfielder and we want Elliot and Muscat to do most of the dirty work so he can create for us.  

I do actually have reasons behind it. And believe me I hate not liking one of my team.

It's probably more due to Ward being more worried about his hair than training. Just a guess.

He should be worried about his hair, it's shocking! Tbh I think Ward is lazy. He does sfa for the majority of the games he's played.

KiwChick give your perspective, is it just his off the ball attitude? Because he's a bit like Ifill in that regard.

I think there are a lot of home truths in those comments. The most obvious is how come we have some many useless midfielders and no-one who can play full back even that badly?

I also think, as much as every says that Sigmund gives his best each week, he is too slow for the back 4. Gritty, determined but the reality is Durante + McKain - Sigmund on bench = playoffs and results. Durante + Sigmund - McKain = leaky. McKain was good for us but Siggy turns worse that a stuck tap. Name me a striker in this league that couldn't peg him in a foot race.

Don't fault his effort but I just don't think he fits in that back two. North and Durante for me.

Also if you play Muscat as a holding midfielder (it seems he plays very well there or on the right) you are now also short 2 outside backs sans Lochhead which has been the most glaring weakness. Fundamentally, Greenacre, Ifill, Brown and Bertos is still there from last year, the only real thing missing is the outside backs. I think once we get that sorted and shore that up, it will fix a few problems and not leave our CBs having to cover.

Vader you see it just like myself....I can't believe that for all the seasons Ricki's been in charge we don't have a proper right back? It is beyond belief...it is a great opportunity to pick a young nz player and blood him....surely no worse than the stop gap measures we use every week...at least the fans would understand that.  On the left hand side Lochead does his job well and now we again find no cover.  As for the CBs...McKain was vastly under rated and I agree that although I love Siggy to bits for his attitude and committment you need pace in this league.