Phoenix v Brisbane Raw. Sunday 21st of Oct

Only strange thing was the subs... Odd

what the heck happened to Piney's wonderful Radio Sport Extra feed extraordinarie 

If I could have taken a point before the match I would have taken it today. Not a shabby result against Brisbane after their demolition of Melbourne last week. 

Hopefully we can take three points against Adelaide next week!

 Yeah results ok, little disappointed in our play though. First half an hour we were all over them, then it seemed like we changed tactics.

Was the first "bad" game ive seen Siggy have in a while. Fenton looked good, as did Stein. Tottori looks lost

More interesting Stats...

1st time we've gone 3 unbeaten to start a season!

Happy with a draw. Solid start to the season. All counts towards finishing in the Top 4

Siggy bad ?

Hmmm I think not.

The bad players were Smith, tottori, lochhead. Fenton had no influence, Ifill not at his best

But the Roar are quite a good team so move forward to next week...

 I thought Ifill started well but quickly died down

I liked the use of the subs today, ive always found ricki holds onto his bench to long, then when they do come on they dont have enough time to get up to game speed and influence the outcome. 

Boyd and lia took nothing away from the people they replace, and they came on with fresh legs and were full of running. Totori, didnt have the best go at it, but i think hes still a bit raw as a player, and as the season goes on he could become a very handy super sub, and capable of starting if some 1s injured. 

I thought Jeremy Brockie was poor in the beginning (After that pre-season will he even get a goal for us in regular season?) But he did show some quality in patches. Benji Totori still falls over a lot. Tyler Boyd seems okay but isn't the fastest guy around.

Ifill really needs to put some of his chances in the back of the net.

Boxall has done all right in his two games so far.  We lose nohing really if either Siggy or Dura are not there.  Wonder how long it will be before Ricki tries an All Whites style back three.  Hope he does not as i dont think it would suit the Phoenix personally.

O and was Siggy right choice for stand in captain??  Tends to have heart on sleevee a bit for me.  Duras strength is he remains unflappable

 Siggy leads by example. Logical choice for stand-in captain for me. Saying Durante is unflappable is to ignore the times he has gone clean off his handle at various refs, instead of stepping in to calm situations down.

Not that often and most of the refs he has gone off at have deserved it anyway :-)

I though the ref today was suprisingly good, considering it was only his second match in charge. He let the game flow rather than calling a foul all the time.

Back from match happy with 1 point after a battlin game in which we looked lucky at times not to be passed off the park.  Stil lacking a striker IMHO..Brockie jsut doesnt inspire me with confidence he will score or create enough..doesnt click yet with Heysegems..they are playing lone wolf games.  Stein cant header it it seems.

Fenton didnt sparkle, Manny and Siggy were good but game as a didnt flow for us..we were chasing shadows a lot.

Boyd had a good run...Ifill  could have been subbed earlier for more pace.

Agreed  let it flow more than others have and handled fouls well I thought.

 Oh I would add our throw ins are atrocious. Nobody moving, no options, so we have to throw it doen the line

Tactically outclassed. Players stand off far to much. Brisbane a great technical side with their passing game and then pressing game cause continuous turn overs all over the park. They play across the park with great width. It seems we are very one dimensional with our play. Thought Ifill was poor and lazy and should of been subbed off instead of Waffles. 

Still lacking a quality CM other than Manny, although his ball distribution wasn't great. 

Long ball zzzz

 Oh I would add our throw ins are atrocious. Nobody moving, no options, so we have to throw it doen the line

I thought he was quite soft. Some players were pinged for just being strong. Not necessarily a foul if you hold your own.

I thought we got a bit high on the flanks early but we adjusted. Should have slotted another goal with the chances we had in the first 3rd of the game. Muscat was good for me. Ifill, despite all his class, is looking slow and conditioning needs work. Bertos is looking better as a RB. I think this is a point I'd rather have considering we were expecting a towelling, factors prior to the match and Brisbanes class.

Totori didnt get to do what he is good at and showed in game 1..getting ball on halfway out wide and running at defenders..and occasionally tripping over!

 Brockie does too much complaining and niggling and not enough beating players and scoring goals...in the season so far. Hope this is sorted soon!

Boyd seemed quick, but didn't take his options as well as Fenton. Didn't think Louis was as bad as he's been made out to be- just wasn't the super debut. Thought we were wasteful on attack, especially in the first half. Should have been more clinical.

Ifill and Waffles understanding was off at times. Don't think we are going to achieve much by putting the ball in the air to Huysegems, looks much more comfortable with ball at feet in front of goal, and seems to flick on more than get a solid aerial header in.

Waffles seemed sort of pace on the counter, slower than Ifill even.

Also Lochy looked slow up against Halloran.

Didn't notice Boxall do anything wrong, seemed like we didn't lose much with him coming in. Seems like he's good prospect for the club if he's with us for a while (though maybe too good from an AWs perspective- would be best if he picked up a contract overseas where he could start I guess).

yay for Leo! Hope he keeps developing into the right back we've been missing. All of a sudden we have players all over the park who aren't afraid to run at players and create space.

will take the draw. Would definitely have taken it before the game- but after that pressure of the first half I kinda feel that we missed out.

My thoughts are that Totori will improve over the course of the season. He needs read the game a little better which will happen over time

That second half was awful.

One of the worst we've seen at home.

A total bore.

Both teams were pants.

Happy with the draw.  Disappointed with effort after we scored the goal.  Kind of seemed like we'd lost interest.  Wonder if playing to towards the fever zone in 1st half instead of 2nd upset our rhythm?

Siggy said post game that he blamed himself for the goal.

Agree with much of the above.

We could have killed this game in the first 20, but went off the boil.

Raw got better and controlled the ball for long patches, but when we had it it was like a hot potato.

That said, we did look dangerous when we managed to get near the goal, and overall they didnt threaten as much as when they tested out Lochead and Paston in the first half.

I agree the second half was a bore, Ive never heard the crowd seem so quiet.

Ifill not fully fit.

Didnt think Totori was that bad, gave it away once, but no-one from the Nix seemed to be able to hold it for long.

I thought Fenton was okay.

We were pretty average and the result is probably better than the performance

I think this Leo Bertos at RB move is working well so far.

That's 70 minutes of my life I won't get back. I'm not counting a decent first 20 minutes.

Goal well taken by Steiny Heinekins

First half hour we were pretty good, after that, really poor I thought.  As soon as Brisbane equalised, I got the feeling we weren't going to score again. 

We appeared to have no idea whatsoever in the second half and other than Brockie's 1 shot, I can't remember a single chance created?  Ricki's token subs didn't work either...how about a change of formation rather than straight swaps??

I'm afraid to say that Smith, IMO, is just not good enough in midfield.  If he doesn't have about an hour on the ball to pick a pass, he's no good.  Brockie was almost anonymous, as was Fenton, and I thought Ifill was really quite poor as well.

Best players on the day were Muscat as usual, and Paston for a couple of good saves first half.  Husyegems wasn't bad and I thought it was bizarre that he was taken off ahead of Brockie, Fenton, and even Ifill.

Still trying work out how we could start so well and end up being relieved to have got a point.

Seems everyone incl YF - we were pretty quiet 2nd half -  seemed to succumbed to nerves and stopped pressing them effectively 

Oh we'll, as noted still our best ever start

2 away games now, need to target 4 points if we want to keep momentum

 Siggy definitely at fault for the goal.  Came charging out of the line when he didn't need to.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/Phoenix-Roar-share-spoils/50907

Bet365 Man of the MatchPaul Ifill - Was simply electric in the first 45 and when the pressure was on he stood tall for the Phoenix