Nix Vs Adelaide - Match Thread

I was out so only caught little bits of the game + the goals and I've gotta say that's dreadful.  Undid the last 3 weeks of good work.  Lets hope the lads really take it out on Perth when we play them next week (what day?) and we can beat them by a reasonable amount.

Worst part of it is there aren't many positives that can be taken out of a defeat of such a magnitude.  Must say, though, Ferrante's shot against the bar was good.  I'm happy we have him for another season.

Can I just ask, why was Lochhead subbed, and who came on for him?

I guess you didn't see the Jets play Melbourne then?

We've got to defend set pieces better.
We've got to put Siggy back on our right flank.
Lessons being learnt

One change only for next week - Dodd for Muscat. Only change keeper if Paston injured. Only change manager if Roy Keane has been talking to the club - very unlikely as he only sends texts. 

Off topic. but we have posted over 100,000 times in the Wellington phoenix related section

That hurt.

Credit to Adelaide, they used our gameplan of previous weeks against us - pressured the ball carrier, dominated midfield and solid in defense.  In counter we stood back when they had the ball, and it let them do a lot of running off the ball and packing our goal area.

Lochhead was taken off for Hearfield - an attacking move that may have paid off if we actually pressed on attack.  It seemed that we ended up in an attacking formation but a low pressure defensive strategy - Adelaide exploited that to the max, with numerous attacking runs back behind our defensive line.

Shows what happens when we sit back in a match, even before their first goal we lacked intensity and aside from a couple of great shots we never really looked like winning that one.  Still, a timely reminder with Perth next week, we've got a whole lot of goal difference to make up now.

Andrew Durante is the league's most overpaid/overrated player. You've been dupped on that one I'm afraid.

Tough though. Looked like it was game on at 2-1.

Gutted, thought we had a good chance before the game.

To think I left my work Xmas party with an open bar early to watch the game on a night where I was celebrating my uni results, to see our team get destroyed. Gutted. But you have to be prepared to take those blows when your a dedicated fan!

I really hope the lads pull back against perth and improve our goal differential as that could be the difference between making the top 4 and a sorry 5th

doesnt feel any better this morning, that performnce really hurts.

sh*t happens, we won three in a row then got drilled by a team who has been playing a lot more competitive football via the Acl, we all knew it would be a hard game.

all the post- mortems are just going to ruin the rest of a beautiful weekend

rats! foiled again

I had the good sense to switch off at 3-1.  Had seen enough by that stage.  We've been there so many time before there was only one way that game was going.  From season's best performance to season's worst in one week.  Top four contenders my arse. 

Hey, at least we've got the Galaxy game to look forward to tonight...

that was a really sad effort, especially after the gutsy performances in the last two weeks. Reds made us look like  newbs

How's Paston's back? Surely he'll need physio

I'm glad i didn't watch it, but even getting txt updates hurt. I have massive respect for any one who watched the whole game!!!
Sounds like we got beaten comprehensively and the goal difference is gonna suck some business end of the season but its only one game.
Hopefully Ricki's gonna smash sum skulls on the flight home and get the team ready for Perth!!

Oh dear. It wasn't very good was it! Few interesting theories being bandied around after last night and it looks like Muscat is being lined up as a few people's scapegoat.

I hope Messrs Milicich, Hay and Emblen had a plentiful supply of toilet paper handy while they were watching that.

I agree Scottishboy - Valeo knows f**k all about football.


Sometimes you get games like this. It just happens. Its pointless trying to ask why, trying to find a person/s to blame it on. The best thing to do is completely forget about it and move on. Don't dwell on it because of mental scaring. Collectively as a team we were flat and no-one save maybe Paston, can walk away and say 'I gave something tonight' They all under performed and yeah - file it away as a football lesson and not to read your own press too much.

Adelaide are class - a top AFC team, top of the table and unbeaten at home. They were given chances and they put them away, hence why they are unbeaten at home and a top AFC club.

Time to move on and just leave it there.
Agent 472008-12-06 11:29:11

You could also say the exact same with Moss whos positioning was pretty poor for both but using your theory he should of saved the second as it was the exact same as the first.

Probably not the right place but..........

Didn't Melbourne beat Adelaide at Hindmarsh at the start of the season or was that in Melbourne, either way I know what you mean although losing 6-1 is slightly different then having a one-off bad game especially considering we had one 3 in a row.

Yeah but the point I'm making is that this wasn't a bad game from which you try to find answers - It was a complete aberation... You wont get answers.

Sure losing 3-1 you could blame this or that but 6-1???? Thats not 1 or 2 things gone wrong, thats just a complete write off.


I'll add an adendum to that - When Waitakere got thrashed, Sillybic was going on and on about it. What do the players get from it? They got thrashed 7-0, they know that. Its not like fix this or that and you are sweet again. You take it as a footballing lesson, leave it there and move on. Waitakere haven't done that and look how they played against Canterbury....

They are trying to find answers as to how to stop another 7-0 thrashing. Just leave it, the lesson will be taught in itself.
Agent 472008-12-06 11:43:46

+1

K good point but the reason we loss so badly was because of the Cassio + Jamieson combination but you can't really learn much from it but this game showed that on defence our set pieces need to improve VERY dramatically. So basically im saying from the first half I believe we can take something out of it but from the second half was well, shocking.

IBTL 

Eh I was just pissed off after watching a terrible game. I'd take any comments from me during or straight after the game with a grain of salt. Not that i'm going to watch the replay :/



If you can't criticise a team when you get flattened 6-1 then you can never criticise them. Ricki's tactics were completely wrong and I think that was obvious. He changed it up a little in the 2nd half and we got back into it but Cassio's goal killed us. After that, when he went to a back 3 (another mistake), we got completely flattened. It doesn't make sense to go all out at 3-1 down when Adelaide have given up a 3-0 lead to the Mariners in the past. That is why we got flattened 6-1 and not 3-1 and you said above that we would find answers in a 3-1 game but not a 6-1..Right.

Our defending at set pieces was atrocious and I think it was pretty bad against Melbourne too - they just only capitalised once. That wasn't a one off thing. Adelaide won pretty much every header in the box.

Still think Muscat and Lochy were crap though they never really got too much support from the midfield to help with the likes of Cassio/Jamieson and I agree that it's hard to know whether to go in for the tackle or follow the runner when it's 1 v 2. Still think Muscat could've done better for Cassio's 2nd as Cassio always uses his left foot to shoot and did exactly the same thing moments before. Though I only saw it once so I admit I could be completely wrong.

I think I criticise them too much but tbh you are the other end of the scale. If coaches acted like you nothing would get done. If Ricki doesn't get something from this loss there is something wrong.

All this is going to do is give ammunition to Bin Hammam and his cronies and f**king forgive me if I give a sh*t about that because I kind of want us to stay in the league.
valeo2008-12-06 12:31:43

Did we go to a back three? It was difficult to tell on the half-sized screen on my computer, but the commentators seem to think that Siggy moved to the left and McKain dropped back into the middle of defence.

However, that would explain why Cassio suddenly had all that room on the right.wolfman2008-12-06 12:49:30

+1

+1

I don't know where the hell Rickis brain was when he subbed Lochhead off before Muscat, Muscat got dicked over and over the whole game, I don't particularly rate him that well 1v1, Dodd should of gone back into the centre and siggy on the right who can mark a man tightly.

muscats performance was shocking actually, I'd attribute his lack of marking a player tightly to at least three of their goals.

The commentators did say that but I'm pretty sure we went to a back 3 - though there wasn't really much structure in the last 20 minutes or so. Muscat was caught way out of position about 3 or 4 times (though to be fair to him I just think he didn't know what the hell was going on) 
valeo2008-12-06 12:53:26