Phoenix v Jets - Sunday 22

time for you guys 2 change the record. was only few weeks back everyone said costa wasnt up 2 it

The difference being that Costa's always showed he had ability to play at this level every time he was given an oppotrunity. Mulligan has not.

Same with Ferrante.

ah like steven old u mean. How many games did he get

ferrante is so average the only thing he can do is pass and run

Heard that the A-league bosses will make a decision with in a month about granting our beloved nics a 10yr license. Fingers crossed

Oh man, I will be shattered if we don't stay in. I'm confident we will stay though.

dont want to think about it.....

 

ooooo thats one right in the baby maker......... but fair Shogan2009-11-20 21:33:58

You don't think that match fitness played a part in that?  There is no way that Mulli is match fit, also Barron, whom I don't rate at all does at least have a bit of mongrel about him.

Difference being Mulligan hasn't been given any opportunities in the a-league bar a few at right-back when he didn't appear to be fully match-fit.

I'd been saying for ages that Ricki's been pissing Costa around too long then he got some gametime recently and has been doing great.  If Mulligan actually got to play in a defensive midfield role then I think he could play well like he did in Christchurch (an absolute blinder).

Plus, if it turns out I'm wrong about Mulligan and he plays crap then getting one right out of two isn't too bad.

Haha um,see this is similar to the Tim Brown criticism. What more do you want?

FFA appears to be on WPFC's side, but in the overall Oceania's future and all that jazz, the AFC Annual Awards are on in KL next Tuesday, $100 says that all this will be discussed.

Was always going to get political post-playoff match as to how it all goes. By "all" I mean the Phoenix, NZ's confederational future (i.e. what to do with Oceania FC) and so on.

The time is NOW to sort out all this stuff. Pity it will be sorted out at the 'political' level and not at ground level.

But really - it has always been at a political level hasn't it?   Well at least ever since Bin Hammam made his prejudice public.

At a business level it would be a no-brainer and possibly even another NZ-based team could be considered (assuming another Terry exists).

What length do all the Oz-based teams have 10 years or a range?

The 7 founding clubs (all Oz teams minus NZ Knights) are up for renewal. Not sure if they'll all get 10 year extensions, I would suspect some might be on a tighter lease to prove their financial stability.

But after the crowd at the All Whites game, it proved to the FFA there is a definite football crowd in NZ, and they would be bananas to cut off that market for the spite of some random AFC official who provides no benefit to the A-League product.

And with NZ qualifying for the World Cup, I am sure FIFA would have some reservations about breaking up the growth of football in Oceania.
Sepp Blatter has already commented that it's a decision to be made between NZ Football and FFA, not AFC's decision.

thats way 2 logical for the haters LG. I agree about the chch game too.

ferrante can pass? to the opposition maybe

Er that is because we didn't really have any other options (Old and Ferrante). They were often just there by default.

f**king silly arguments honestly.

Good news for us btw, Bridges is out.
valeo2009-11-21 13:38:41

by the way WATCH THE GAME AT FOUR KINGS. SUNDAY 7PM (i think)

pleased to hear Bridges is out, he didn't do much against us here, and on half time chose not to shoot with the goal seemingly fairly exposed

Has been their best player by far since he has come in. We were just lucky he chose the game against us to have his only off game or it probably would've been a different result.

just 2 things

Mulligan got the opportunity to ply in the position he's spent most of his professional career in, and failed abysmally. Why is there this expectation that all we have to do is play him in midfield, and all of a sudden he'll become the awesomest player ever? Like I've said in the past, if he had this outstanding talent to play in the middle, whay has he not been able to carve out a professional career out of it, but rather has had to wnader around as a journeyman right back/utility player?

Form in pre-season games, especially games against lesser opposition, can be very misleading. I've seen Ferrante look the best player on the park in some of those games, and that has not translated into anything positive for us in the A-league.

180 games in the english leagues is not bad for a kiwi journeyman

they dont hate him theyr just jealous

to be honest i would rid myself of mulligan now and bring aaron scott in, great team man and can play so many positions at a good level and Ricki obviously trusts him.. and its not that i dont like mulligan i just think he needs to play now..fat controllor2009-11-21 19:03:37

"Why is there this expectation that all we have to do is play him in midfield, and all of a sudden he'll become the awesomest player ever?"

Nobody expects that.  We just think that based on the chance he was given in Christchurch and a few other friendlies he could do the job.  He was by far and way the best on the park at QEII and that's not saying the other players were bad.  Many of the Phoenix players weren't doing bad at all (though a few were) but he was still head and shoulders (not physically) above them.  That game showed me that he could do the business when required.

Those three games he played at right-back were bad, there's no doubting it.  He wasn't fully fit (I think that was Mulligan, open to being corrected) and was outpaced.  In the centre of midfield not being the fastest isn't as big an issue though.

I'm certainly not advocating he start every game, get the captains armband, 70% pay-rise and the role of penalty taker (got to be a better spot-kick taker than Greenacre) but I think while Lia is out I'd rather see him have a go than have us play Diego or change the formation.  They wouldn't do exactly the same job but I think given a go Mulligan could slot it reasonably comfortably.  Although he's small he strikes me (from what I've seen) as the type of player who doesn't mind getting stuck in.  The free-kick ability above all that is what seals it for me.
loyalgunner2009-11-21 19:10:06

you'll have to throw in Daniel as well then.......

Mulligan has a tag of 'set piece specialist'  imo we don't need that right now.

Bertos
Daniel
even Ifill can do that job

both these players (mulli, Deigo) have not proven themselves at this club. i say tell them to pack their bags. hey, sh*t happens and life's a bitch etc........

start Caceres because he actually brings something to the squad.

at this critical point in the season we need to stop fannying about and say "oh, lets bring in Mulligan again because when he played last season (and was sh*t house) he might not have been in his preferred position."

TOUGH ! you play where you are told to play and you do it well. If you can't do that you don't deserve to be on the team.

whoever starts tomorrow better step it up. (we have not won away this season)

all i want is a win.

Yep. Anyone has to be better than Kennedy.

True, but he has been poor most of the other games I've seen him play. Remember him diving over the ball for Greenacres first Phoenix goal.

Branko Culina said that "they're not a better team than us"

Hopefully the MIGHTY NIX make him eat his words...again

McGlinchey and Smeltz have both been fairly quiet this weekend hope thats not a Bahrain hangover

I am almost half-expecting it...I just hope not. Newcastle are a side we can take points off.

Just looking at the team sheet, we do lack defensive cover and the starting 11 is also very attack-minded. Happens when Diego replaces Lia.

Just hope Newcastle give Ifill a lot of space again :D