Nix v Sydney SS1 at 3pm Wed 4/1/12

We have lost our midfield a bit...

whew! thought that was over the line. Well done warner- got down quickly

Crowd 8411, great effort Wellington

Sanchez not a 90mins player...less momentum now.  Ifill obviously not match fit...Brown..ghost player.

well done Manny

love it- rampaging Manny!

im guessing 4mins added time

We need to quickly re-sign Muscat!

Gawd..5mins extra time

+5 WAT

where's the card?

the ref isn't allowed to 'cut some slack' as the commentator put it. But he's now done it twice.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! GOAL

Ifillllll!!! you bloody beauty

Yeeeessss!!!! Ifilll!!!!

YES IFILL SCORES!!!!!!!! WONDERFUL

Good job!

most exciting Nix game?

Great result. Manny was a legend. Sanchez and Daniel both played bloody well i thought. Fantastic goal again from Siggy. Pav looked lively for his cameo. Ifill pretty quiet until the last 2 minutes, and then- my god, what a goal! I thought Leo was a lot better today too.

brown is still not good enough to be starting imo, smith had more impact when he came on' well done boys!

Bertos end up with 2 assists!

Muscat is my Man of the Match

fairly bloody good that. Nice to have the luxury of Ifill, Pavlovich and Smith off the bench!

Smith>>>> Brown, even on defence

Siggy deserves a knighthood - what a game. Marauding runs, interceptions, great 1on1 tackles - was terrific today.

Smith has the best header in the team, created that last goal from it and saved our ass on one occasion - surprising. Has a great leap.

Warner lets himself down when he has to get low to stop a shot. He's just too slow.

Manny is an absolute warrior - gives his all every game and never pulls out of any challenge.

Good win to get. Bit worried that we are conceding so easily (against average teams) the last few weeks after being so stingy beforehand though.




valeo2012-01-04 17:12:03

I think we're a better team when we attack and don't try to 'grind out a result' (read: every game away from home)

I agree Cosimo but if we keep defending like that we wont get anywhere this season - I don't think it's an issue with the back 4 but an issue with the make-up of our midfield (specifically Lia and Brown not doing well enough closing players down)

We're a much better team when the opposition allows Manny and Lochy to bomb forward. If those 2 aren't showing any attacking impetus we usually struggle. Today they both played like extra wingers.valeo2012-01-04 17:15:19

We seem to have a team capable of it. Best kind of defence is attack (IE 5-2!) and we looked bloody good away against Melbourne in that second half, and if we'd changed the team at half time it might have been a close one I reckon!!

Though really have to give Ricki some applause for sticking with Sanchez through injury - he's really been the goods and has brought the best out of Daniel too.

Think Lochie has still got to come up a noctch or two on attack to not waste as much ball with poor delivery and to realise the runs or options that Daniel or Sanchez opens up. Thought Lochie was ok, but could be better.martinb2012-01-04 17:18:30

Agree with Sanchez - still don't think he's at full fitness either (he was struggling to walk at around the 80 minute mark and looks like he is carrying something). He's something we've never really had before (except for Fred for a couple of games).

Think Pavlova deserves a mention too - he looks like a different player to me now. He actually looks like a footballer, not just a battering ram.

valeo2012-01-04 17:18:45

Yep think Pav has been good, working well with Ifill and Daniel, making runs, playing some good passes, and hopefully creating some more goals.

He's quick and that puts more pressure on defences straight away. Great to have him Ifill Sanchez and Leo on at the same time at the end. All with pace and the ability to beat players.

When is Leo going to get that goal??? Could have taken a touch there either way on the rebound...

My two cents:

What was Vinnie thinking? Soft penalty to give away, absolutely stupid.

It was interesting that the ref had blown for a penalty for us before Greenie had got his shot away that Reddy saved. I would hate to think that if the Greenie shot had gone in that the ref would have had to disallow it because he had already blown for the penalty.

Sanchez has been looking great on attack, and scored a few goals. He is exactly what we have been looking for in the midfield. Smith also looked very good when he came on, sign him up!

Manny was immense, I wish we could play him further forward every game, he can actually beat players in the final third, unlike Leo.

Siggy had a great game, great goal as well. Shocking defending from Sydney there though, they had their smallest player marking our biggest aerial threat.

Brings me to the elephant in the room, Mr Warner. Made a great save when he conceded the corner that lead to the peno, great reflexes. He then went and blew it with the second goal. The show was straight towards where he was standing and he moved away, and then didn't get a strong palm to it.

All in all it was a great result, we didn't play our best but still picked up the 3 points comfortably in the end.

Tony Warner: Fantastic Saves 2 (leaping to stop Bridge's strike in the first half then getting down on the line in the last 10) - 1 Soft Goals. Fantastic Saves wins by 1. Also remember his impressive punch-away from a corner near the end.

Poor Cazarine. We've got the best woodwork in the league.

I like Pav more the more I see of him.

We have now scored 9 goals in our last two home matches. It's a shame that Ricki is so conservative and the Nix don't know how to attack, she said sarcastically.
Doloras2012-01-04 18:00:33

I'm going to say overall happy with Tony W. Stupid mistake, but yep- good punch at the end, caught a lot and looked much sharper than previously.

Still not happy about his Adelaide game though!

This. Immense game for us, even if he did hit the crossbar...

Really enjoyed the game, quite pulsating
Sanchez, he's great,  lots of skill
Manny, make sure he is signed
Ifill, what a great strike, knows how to finish
Siggie was great, defense average today in some ways but intercepted well when they had to
Those woodwork shots cancelled out the ones we have had recently
We can score goals !!!
Would like someone else up front instead of Greenacre, but not pushing it
We should go attacking away from home, FFS Ricki

Just want to say Sanchez definitely carrying a niggle in the last 15 or so, hope he is OK for Sunday.

Ifill just looked short of game time, but also looked like he was being cautious to not get injured again.

Manny & Siggy were awesome. Smith defended very well when he got on, seemed to have been instructed to help park the bus.

Daniel had another solid game, though a few things didn't work for him.

I see highlights are on at 9:30 tonight does anyone know of a replay?

Oh yeah? Explain exactly how we played differently (tactically speaking, rather than individual performances) today than we did against Adelaide. Assume that Smith was left out against ADU for disciplinary reasons as has been rumoured. If it's a psych factor among the team that they just don't do the business away, there's little RH can do about it.

mjp22012-01-04 18:39:31