Phoenix v Mariners - July 20 Westpac Stad

yea the whole judicary system if you can even call it that is a joke - hopefully some changes get made very soon

Rumour is that they will be open to the media this year and be a lot more transparent. we will see.

Back four were great. Gao, Daniel and Bertos very good as was ferrante.
though Dodd looked well out of position and proved he wasn't a natural passer of the football nor was he in his favoured position.

Here's what I say to those who were disappointed by Dodd today:

1) He actually played pretty well, especially once he settled down.
Ok so he made a couple weak passes and got outpaced maybe once or twice in the first 15 minutes. But did he get us in to trouble? No. If you get outpaced at CB that is an issue, because you are the last man. If it happens to the DM that isn't as big a deal, it won't happen often and there will always be a Durante or McKain in behind to clean up. In most cases Dodd cleaned out his man and got the ball, a couple times he got done, but that will happen to anybody playing at DM, it's the nature of the position.

Also, some of his passing was good, I can recall a wonderful crossfield ball out to Bertos and also a couple long range efforts that found there way to Smeltz nicely. Remember that this was a preseason game, so the players may have been trying things a little more than they would during the normal season. I'm all in favour of Dodd attempting some longer range passes during preseason. If he sees them coming off he will gain confidence and keep doing it. If they don't work he will soon realize and stop doing them.

2) Physical presence.
We dominated CCM in the middle last night, especially in the second half. Dodd, Ferrante, McKain and Durante (that rhymes!) were the key reasons for this, and Dodd's physicality lead the way in this respect. He also happens to be our tallest player (for some crazy reason I used to think he was short, but never mind) and probably the strongest physically. Because of his position on the pitch he is perfectly placed to win opposition goal kicks (he did this all night), generally knocking them down for the likes of Ferrante and Bertos to move upfield with. Dodd also gives us more options when defending corner kicks and also when attacking from set pieces because he is good in the air.

3) Alternatives.
There aren't many. Tim Brown needs to prove his fitness, and he lacks the size and physical presence of Dodd. Johnson is getting really old, and despite his experience I doubt his legs would last 90 minutes as well as Dodd's would. Lia is at right back, and is also too small. I thought Lia did ok last season, but judging by the amount of possession we had going forward I'd say Dodd is the better choice to partner Ferrante


4) Mongrel.
You need a right proper thug to beat up people like Robbie Kruse. You can't let the twinkle toed players gain the upper hand, and Dodd has a proven track record for putting the fear of god into people like Kruse.


5) Loyalty.
Dodd was committed and hard working for us right through last season, even when the rest of the defence was falling to bits around him. Now that McKain and Durante have taken over at CB the only way we can reward Dodd for his hard work last season is to give him a run at DM this year.

6) Formation.
If you are going to play a 4231 (and it should be pretty obvious by now that this is the correct formation for us to employ) you need one of your two midfielders to be an all out enforcer. In other words, if you want Daniel, Gao and Bertos on the pitch behind Smeltz, you also need Dodd.

7) Ricki.
The fact that he has consistently played Dodd at DM alongside Ferrante in the preseason indicates he shares at least some of the above sentiments.




KTBW2008-07-20 21:47:21

if Doddy ever needs a lawyer KTBW, he'd be a fool to look past you

Tim Brown is a really good player as is Johnson. Dodd was great in defence, however far too many of his passes found the opposition. Maybe he is a bit rusty(although he also made some great passes), but generally i think the position would be better filled with a specialist midfielder. Preferably Tim Brown (who has been given limited opportunities at the Phoenix but has proved at Newcastle Jetz and at AW level that he is a class player)

KTBW - Thx.  Actually I read your post on the other thread afterwards and thought - hell, he's said it all first.  At least we were at the same game.  I think you might be right about Lia - looked OK today when we were making the play and going forward.  Under the kosh he could get found out.  I'd say the jury is out on the wide midfielders.  Last year Daniel seemed less effective once we went to 352 and he was no longer mainly a left sided player.  Tonight it worked (Bertos' cross for the winner from the left).  I guess thats what pre-season is for.

Yeah, to be honest I haven't seen enough of Tim Brown to have a proper opinion of him. It's a shame he isn't fit now, because the preseason would be the ideal time to give him a run. I think it's pretty safe to say that Ricki has some sort of concern about Johnson (although he did make him a VC, hmmm) starting, because he seems to have an obvious preference for Dodd in the middle.

Also agree with somebody's comments about Bertos running out of gas, there was a period around the 75th minute (ie after he had set up the goal) that would have been an ideal time to have brought on Kwasnik or Costa for him to give our attack that extra bit of pace/freshness, shame neither of them made the squad, they will be valuable options.

My bench for the season proper (I'd keep the same starting XI as tonight) would be:

Moss
Sigmund (If Dodd gets hurt Sigmund goes to RB, Lia to DM)
Hearfield or perhaps Costa
Kwasnik

oh and yay for some proper football analysis! Sorry for the generally long winded nature of my posts but I'm just feeling so excited about our performance and am not really much good at being succinct.
KTBW2008-07-20 21:55:54

Leo started pre-season a bit behind the others as he had an op at the end of last season

It would be great to get a bit of experience in there with Coveny or Johnson. I thought Covs looked very sharp when he came on, but with our depth he'll probably find it hard getting a run.

But does he look natural in the position?





KTBW you can be my lawyer too one day,

Can Brown play DMF ?

That explains it then.

I think as long as Dodd works on his passing in training a bit then he'll be perfect for the role. He hasn't played in that role for at least a season or so, and taking that into consideration he played well. Dodd and Ferrante really is a perfect combination, bit like Gattuso and Pirlo. That being said always room for Tim Brown or Johnson to keep them on their toes form-wise or to offer something different.

 Corkster I thought Tim Browns natural position was DMC?
WillyB2008-07-20 21:58:29

Officially it is confirmed, by looking at the game reports on the A League site,  that we mustered the biggest number of fans out of the four games this weekend, well done all the Phoenix fans!!

Apparently it was 6 degrees at kick off in Tassie, wondering what the wind chill factor was in the Ring of Fire

Enjoyed listening to the broadcast, the commentators called it as an exciting game with Phoenix definitely having the edge

Fantastic start to the season

We should remember we were the only ones at our home ground though.

Seemed like more people at the ground than the 4800-odd indicated on the scoreboard.  The Nix defence was excellent, what a delight to watch a competent defensive performance.  Really impressed with Gao, Bertos and Smeltz on attack too.  The CCM goalkeeper was their best player - and then I realised it was ref-puncher Vukovic and logging in here it seems there are some shenanigans which have allowed him to play!  He's a fine keeper though.  Only letdown was the absence of El**ch.

I'm hoarse and I love it.........

Great analysis KTBW, Mickey Ferrante is my fave Nix player also and I'm liking the look of the Dodd/Ferrante combination.

yeah great to have that post match buzz and gnarly voice

Without getting carried away after one PSC match......ahhhhh, fark it....I'm gonna get carried away!!!

These are the games that last season we lost when it was still 0-0 after 70 mins or when we did go 1-0 up at 73mins we ended up letting them back in for a 1-1 draw or a 2-1 win......

It's different already....and I like it!!!!

In deed it does

i really like the look of our team with gao, daniel and bertos all together. Notice how they swapped quite often for almost set periods of time? Daniel and Bertos both had turns in the middle, and all three of them could play either wing. I really think we could be the top scorers in the comp with them and smeltz. Their skill level and flexibility in positioning across the pitch makes them almost impossible to shut down as a unit. I am predicting a lot of very classy goals for our boys this season...

Crowd figure was a little off as they didn't count any deloitte tickets. The electronic gates were not recording every entrant so it would be more like 5000

Loved the game, thought Legal Lei Gao was great, team is really gelling well and I look forward to getting a lot of enjoyment from the Phoenix this season.!!!!!

Yasas everybody, after my league of absense from the YF forum I make my much anticipated return...

Todays game was...good.

We looked better than last year, and most importantly, we scored and, didnt concede in the last minute!

Midfield lookd great, even remanisent of a spain formation in their euro triumph.

Hopefully we can have the same sort of success as them this season, and i belive, if we play the way we did today with a few kinks sorted out, were in it.

Thays my 5c. Kept my essay short today. Gotta catch up on my Greys Anatomy re-runs. Bye.

Formation was a bit like Spains when you think about it. Smeltz is much better than that Torres rubbish ofcourse.
WillyB2008-07-20 23:26:54

If interested a match report from the Mariners by a IMO up and coming football junro by the name of Benjamin Coonan fairly young guy lives on the coast. Cutting his teeth as they say and one of a number of new football jurnos in Australia  (at last no more RL or AFL junro commenting on football) .... so maybe Robbie's days are numbered after all. Midfielder2008-07-20 23:52:20

At the Euro game I went to they did the "woooooooooooooooooooo" for attacking corners and free kicks. Was a bit of a surprise, but they did drop the w**ker bit at the end.

Awesome result, reading the articles and your posts, sounds like the CCM were lucky only to lose by 1.

El**ch with an ankle injury, thats crap. He would have faked it to avoid the wrath of the Fever zone.

Great first up..from a newbie's perspective I thought the Phoenix played a lot faster than last year and looked really good.

Looking for feedback on the wristband for entry to FZ that was being used..will it be easier to have a wristband as well as a ticket for season games...that way you only need to show a band when coming back after half time with arms full of beer and food?  any other feedback is appreciated....

I thought there would be more Fever fans yesterday?   should the chant be changed to WHERE are ya?????......btw  Kojak loves his nickname

Was a good first up game, thought we played really well. Esp on the defensive side, great to see a little more hustle in the back four!

Haha, those Red Badge guys down the front were good value. They were wise to respond to the chants directed at them, or they'd be hounded until they did.

My only comment on the wristband is that it took some hair off my arm.

Yeh Pie-man's sudden 'ankle injury' is clearly quite suspect, almost as suspect as Vukovich finding his way onto the field. 

Same old Aussies...

Did anyone notice El**ch's little wave to the Zone as they left the field at full time, if he gets on the field during the regular season he'd better be expecting the full treatment.

What was being chanted?

Well, I've sobered up a bit now so here are my thoughts on the game:

Overall, I thought we were good value for the win. By and large we looked the more dangerous side, and our transition play from defence to attack was excellent. I thought Leo was superb today, and both Daniel and Leilei were very good although they both showed the tendency to want to do more with the ball than necessary at times. Daniel's back heel to Lochy when he was overlapping and that went for a throw in being a classic example.

However, I also thought there are some concerns.
1. Smeltz is way too isolated up front on his own. We penetrated the wings almost at will, especialy in the second-half, but Smeltz was too easily marked out by CCM central defenders. Yes, Daniel got the headed goal, but given our domination of the flanks that's an acceptable, but by no means impressive return.
2. Still don't think that Lia's an answer at right back. Had one impressive cross in the first half, and a lot of little errors which could pose problems when the real stuff gets underway.
3. I didn't think that the defence was as impressive as some others have suggested, or as I'd hoped they'd be. McKain was good, but there were too many moments reminiscent of the last season for my liking. Like Durante being outmuscled by the CCM striker when chasing a seemingly harmless looping ball at the top of the box, which the striker put just wide. Or almost conceding straight after scoring, and also having at least two scrambled, last ditch clearances,both by Durante I think. I mean, we kept a clean sheet and all that, but we could have conceded 2-3 sloppy goals just like last season. Guess we had a bit of luck in that respect, but what I take from this game is that our defence is still a work in progress. I just hope we don't turn into Real Madrid and have a crap defence regardless of who we bring in.
4. Dodd - not too sure what to make of that. He was far from impressive in the first half, and got a bit better in the second, his ball distribution likewise. I see why Ricky thinks it could work, I'm just not sure that it will. Guess there's still two more games at least to see how it pans out.
5. The Yellow Fever/crowd - we were very flat at times, and we need some new chants too I feel. I was also disappointed like Robb with some of the homophobic chants, and hope these get nipped in the bud. The crowd number wasn't great, was hoping for 7-8,000 myself, but big ups to all who turned up, it was a bit nippy...
6. I would also like to remind people that this time last year we'd beaten Sydney 3-0 in the first home pre-season game, and there were people who were saying that Cleberson would be the best defender in the league...so let's not get over-excited just yet...

el grapadura2008-07-21 10:32:27

Calling CCM players (and possibly the ref, can't remember now) faggots, etc.

Poor form.

Good review.

I think a lot of good points (and bad) have been made so far. I don't want to recap stuff that's been said heaps already.

Buch of tweenies behind me thinking it was funny calling Gao - Wing Wong. Felt like slapping them.

Loved the 50yd cross field passes to the wings, very Beckhamesque.

Not quite as panicked in defence as last season, but a bit profligate in front of goal, not effectively finishing the opportunities we were making for ourselves.

Songs to be retired

She fell over - sexist
We're not Auckland anymore - We know that, and get on with supporting who we are an not who we aren't.

I think we need a plan of action, have a new song contest with a poll for the top four new songs to be held the week before the game. Then pre-match on the Queensland game chuck a few flyers round the BB with the new songs on them and have a singsong to get the songs out there in preparation for giving it laldy at the game.