Phoenix Transfer Speculation 2013/14

I went to the ACFC vs Nix game, and i can say that, in that one game solely, Riera is much better than Lia, in term of both ball retention and distribution...I can't recall the guy losing the ball / missing the pass much...

In saying that...it doesn't mean Riera is good, probably because Lia was just aweful in that game.

And also as others have mentioned here, i'm not sure whether he's worth taking an (our last) import spot.

Would rather have Chris James than this guy (sorry to bring this discussion back again)...

a snowman > Lia

a banana > Lia

Lia > Lia

Ivan = Moses: Riera = Jesus? No wonder ACFC's defence is staunch.

Gareth Morgan > Lia

   > Lia

He does have a good engine but we don't need a scrapper or a grafter as that's pretty much what Lias skill set is although a poor version of it.

In an ideal world, we need a Ryan Nelsen type player. All he has to do is plug a hole, intercept, break up and knock it off left or right to an open man. Nothing flash, nothing mental, just basic but extremely good at doing the basics. Nelsen was never flash but he was always in the right place at the right time and never took more than a sideways touch. I guess kinda like Mark Richardson at cricket. Not flash, keep it simple to what you are good at and be good at it.

This is an interesting question.

How does a guy go from being the form LB in ASBP and developed into one of the more consistent players in the team, to the AWs, to the Phoenix then be in utter oblivion of Waitakere. You have to ask what has gone wrong surely. Ernie wanted pacey backs, Hogg has wheels to burn. Ricki was picking him in the AWs and Phoenix, now can't even get in the NZ A team or the AW team. Was one of the better performed players under Ramon at ACFC, now is a Temple scrap.

Reading too much into it?

I count 8 with Bale, Dickinson, Billen, Berlanga, Reira, Krishna, Iwata, Tade.......

Without looking, 4 would probably be Chris Bale. He would do ok in a Phoenix shirt I think. A bit more starch than Riera and skill set than Lia.

sheesh, when did ACFC become the YF shopping mall...

They did beat us.

If Ernie sees something in this guy Riera then no harm in giving him a trial. From a casual observers position people playing the Riera role don't seem to do much in a flashy way. But they are super vital in the overall running of the team. If, as someone has pointed out this guy hardly ever gives the ball away, distributes OK and covers lots of ground then that's exactly what we need. Look at how Flamini has transformed the Arsenal midfield play doing the same job. Plus he is older/experienced so won't be overwhelmed playing away against say Victory.(and he could cover LB)

OK he maybe an underwhelming selection and less than what we hoped for but if Ernie thinks he can do a better job than Lia then that's fine by me. 

Doom post says Rufer will be missing in October because of U17 commitments. So with Gulley going to RB we now have only three players...Carlos, Lia and Muscat to cover three CM positions. I reckon if Riera does not have a crap trial we will sign him.

Interesting to know how the reaction would be if this guy came dircet to us for a trial rather than via ACFC...

Wow!  If we sign Riera we will have three Spanish speaking players........we will be the Barcelona of the South Pacific!!

For Real? (Get it? i'll get me coat)

why don't we sign someone decent, not riera?

Do you ever get excited? 

I choose to be hopeful about him though, rather than skeptical. 

I'm worried that we'll still have a big hole in our central midfield, and with younger/inexperienced fullbacks we may not get away with it as much as we did ('nt) last year. But if things go well, and depending how other teams shape up, you never know what can happen in this league - every team has their holes. 

An official online streaming service? You might actually get better coverage of the A league in the UK, than we do in NZ. 

I'm a bit surprised that we haven't heard more from the staff at the club about how good he's looked at training and he hasn't appeared much in pre-season.  That got me a bit nervous I suppose.  As we saw on the weekend behind our front line attacking options are pretty limited