Phoenix v Jets - Sunday 22

Sweet, sounds alright.

Tim Brown now has an unofficial but official nick name. No longer is he to be referred to as Tim Brown. He will now be referred to as           "The Tim-enator".

Must be said in Austrian Accent.

Yeah. After his performances of late where IMHO he has played a good role in our midfield.

3rd chance for diego, only player ever to be subbed by ricki before halftime. Wonder if he'll break into a jog this time

Strange how mulligan trains with the AW's and still cant get a game for either country or nics club. I'd love to get paid to train.

you'd be an unusual sort of footballer if that were true

Mulli and Diego looked sharp today at practice.

Bit like Elliot and Killen.

To be honest I would hate to just train and not play. Would almost seem pointless.

Good money though.

Like someone said before, if he was a real option in midfield he would have come before Andy Barron v Bahrain. That is enough to tell me that he isn't worth playing. The only thing he has over any of the other players is his free kick ability.

Have seen this happen so many times, though. A player doesn't play for ages and then all of a sudden he becomes some sort of mythical footballing god.
valeo2009-11-19 21:43:45

If Diego screws this up, I really hope to never see him again. Caeceres would've been preferable for me despite his drifting to the wing.

Will be interesting how they line up as a starting 11.

Exactly. People forget how horrible he is.
valeo2009-11-20 00:14:34

but ferrante is class?

Shows how horrible Diego is,when people are passionately preferring Mully to him. Is a very odd decision,and id be pissed if i were mulligan. But hey,maybe Diego has sorted himself out and settled into the squad better than earlier now. Will find out on sunday i guess

this will be Deigo's last chance, surely...I can't see mulligan getting a start in the backs especially now that mckain is fit...he'll surely drop in if any of our back four are injured or suspended.

I'd have preferred Caceras to start instead of diego, but if ricki wants to give him a chance and he's been training well then that's sweets by me.

I think we Kiwis like to see someone give 100% no matter what and Mulli would do that, just other factors let him down. Full effort endears us to some players (see Sigmund, Dodd, Durante, Greeneacre)
To see Diego, Elrich, Kwasnik, G** etc come along and put in some half-arsed efforts without any mongrel and try and rely on their over-rated talents pisses most of us off.
Agree that if Diego goes half-arsed on us on Sunday, I'll be happy to send him off with above mentioned names that have gone on to do extremely little.

careasa and diego cant defend mulligan would be the best to start hopelfy

George had a lot less opportunity before realising that he is too awesome for the Nix.

So Diego gonna play the planes? Fine with me if he can actually play. If he's not expected to defend, then I would be playing Caceres so hoping he can step up. Mulligan was my choice actually, but good luck to Diego!

I wonder if Ricki is trying to play a more attacking minded midfielder to see if it will work if Fred came??

Yeah, I can't really fathom where all this love for Mulligan is coming from. The guy was clearly out of his depth at the A-league level, and the fact that he continually gets picked over at both the Phoenix and the All Whites surely has to say something to you all?

Glad my call for Diego came right.  Mully can KMA

Mulligan has had three games for the phoenix i believe playing at right back a year ago.

Everywhere he has been he has been rubbish (apparently)

i don't think you'll find anyone calling for ferrante to start - what's your point?

I've never seen him play a poor game at CM

The only times I've seen Mulligan play is at RB and he was sh*t. Have never seem in midfield. And wouldn't be fussed if he got a go there or if he never played another game in a Phoenix shirt.

I thought we'd established that Mulli isn't in the squad this week...............???

the papers said he might give Diago another chance

;)

ricki must really hate mulligan !

This  doesnt mean he hates him, after all he picks him in his World Cup squad.

It means that he prefers Diego to him for this game, that's all.

Certainly some imponderables around with Ricki and his use, or lack of, with Mulligan

Back on topic, I wonder if having your captain not signing again for next year will affect Newcastle, I certainly hope so