Phoenix Man of the Match

Not sure who should be MOTM, as wasnt at the ground, saw it only on the tele and that doesnt give the full picture.

BUT I notice that the 3 front runners on the poll are all Brazilian, so my pick would be to go to the man who picked them, namely the boss, Mr Herbert

Yeah, I was wondering who that muppet was.   

Gotta agree with the daniels comment- for the first half he was diving after every challenge- someone should have a word, maybe that is the norm in S America, the card he got seemed to be the wakeup call he needed. Felipe for me, the guy brought the game to life when he came on. He even looked sh*t hot in the half time kick about!!

As a Victory fan, the only time i was worried was when Daniel was on the ball.

Sure, he stuffed a penalty and dived whenever he was touched, but he was a class above anyone else in your team.

Cleberson, Easily.

yeah he stuffed up a lot but that's mainly cos he was trying harder than anyone else al first half - he was everywhere and took people on, no one else did; at least he's got confidence. He'll have some bad games, cos he's not cautious, but we need players like him definitely

tigers2007-08-28 13:25:48

yeah George the enigma

Thought I would register and post my thoughts on the game here.

I was most impressed with the guts and desire of all the players. They all really wanted to win and perform well and I think they have an awesome attitude. I think the best players were actually the Melbourne strikers, they looked really slick for this early in the season.

It was the first time have seen most of the players so I am not going to be too critical. I think a lot of players have taken a bit of crap here unfairly

Ferrante had poor body position when shooting and he gave away the ball a bit but his off ball work was very good he was constantly getting into good positions and giving options while some of the other players were a bit guilty here. I think he should definately be given some more games to come right.

Every time Cleberson went into a tackle in the second half I was petrified he was going to get sent off, I still can't believe he played that way while on a yellow but there is no doubting his commitment.

I was really impressed with Dodds. I don't recall seeing him before but he seems to read the game very well and is quite athletic. I think he will have a good combination with Cleberson.

Smeltz looked pretty good, he gave options well and rarely gave away the ball. If only he had got the last one down...

Coveny was the only player I was disapointed with, his movement was poor and so he rarely got the ball. I would replace him next week with...

Felipe. Deserves a start next week even if he is more effective as an impact player. I think him and Daniel will thrive off each other and even though Felipe does not really come accross as a striker I think that's where we need more urgency and creativity.

But overall Daniel for the Phoenix man of the match. He looked the best on the ball and most threatening so even though he did botch the penalty I would give it to him.

Anyway what a great start. I can't wait for the next game.

MATM has to be Us the Yellow Fever Crew Woohoo!!!

Heh, maybe you're right.

Luckily we have class all over the park though.

Or at least we did until Ljubo was injured and Kemp got put on...

I thought Melbourne looked more settled and generally better for most of the match. We got back into it by sheer desire more than anything else. It's still very early for the Phoenix though and once we get some better patterns I think we will improve a lot.

Yes they were settled alright maybe a bit to settled ,when Archie went of they thought they could just shut the shop and sit on the 2-0 lead ,anyone who has watched football over the years knows that the best teams never say die and play to the death irrespective of the score line ,i was pleasantly surprised at the passion and commitment shown in the 2nd half, if they can show that kind of determination in every game then the sky's the limit !
I also reckon Clebo was lucky not to be red carded but he had to show that kind of fire if we were going to get anything from the game loved then way he communicated with players around him and fired them up towards the end of the game,we have nothing to fear in this league!

Tell you the truth, i think Clebs did a great job in marking Archie out of the game.

I'll close it there - looks like