Phoenix vs Jets - November 4

No not confident, but at least he is a professional keeper and does have ability. Dont think he is too bad and was mostly the defense's fault for the goals he let in yesterday. Whereas Bannatyne is going to have huge pressure on his shoulders with this one game meaning so much and Paston had to be immense against Bahrain. Pressure's on for sure

I can see Crowther playing the next one or two games for sure so that Paston is right for the 14th. You are right that Bannatyne against Bahrain is a scary thought. 

I wouldn't mind seeing..

Not sure what I think of Crowther.. Am excited to see him play some-what, he is only a young chap, so it will be interesting.

I'm thinking ...

                          Crowther

                       Crowther

I would like to see.....

I like your side everton FC, i think thats close to the side we will see. But maybe Iffil up front with Greenacre and Hearfield in the wide midfield(costa on the bench).

To tell the truth, wellington does not have the best keeper.

Paston is definantly better than crowther, yet he always punches wen he comes off his line. Wellington need to improve his ability to catch under pressure and then hel be the best in the league. Dont get me wrong, he is a solid rock at the back, but we need someone that can remove the presssure quickly.

Crowther is a good keeper that lacks confidence. If only crowther dover more often. During the sydney game, i was on the same line as him and i could easily see that if he dove he could have stoped atleast one of the two goals. The third goal he did well, except he didnt claim the ball at the last minute.

Just heard on 3 news that Paston is expected to be fit for the WCQ but it didn't say anything about the Jets game. It must not be that serious.

glad paston is likely to be ok for 14th!

Don't think we need to make wholesale changes. Maybe just a few like bringing Caceres and Costa in to start. Everyone should be keen to make amends for Sunday.
valeo2009-11-02 19:44:33

So you'd rather have a keeper try catch the ball while under pressure, a potentially drop it into the path of a striker, than have him punch clear.  Every keeper is told to punch when you don't have a chance of catching it cleany.

And, there is absolutely nothing Crowther could have done for any of the goals.

I have to laugh at 99% of these formations that suggest

- playing Mulligan in some form of another. People seem to have short memories and I don't care how well he has done at training. All you are doing is reading the posts above yours and going 'yeah i'll pick him too' because someone else has heard he has done ok at training. He hasn't played for a reason.

- advocating anyone other than Muscat at right back. Last I checked he is the only right back we have (Durante not considered) As Hard News said, Hearfield 'can' do a job. He doesn't need to yet.

- players need a rest. Is it hard playing more than 1 game a week? Didn't realise that when you were paid to be a professional, you needed extra cotton wool.

- that any of the trio of Brown/Bertos/Daniel should be rotated/dropped/rested. Do you have any football nouse? Last week they were championship contenders. Why dump our better performed players based on 1 game. I've seen 1 post that said they'd drop all 3. Are you serious?


Some of these formations are simply laughable. And if anyone throws in Ferrantes or Diegos name they should be banned (along with the Mulligan suggestion) for showing football cluelessness.
Jeff Vader2009-11-02 20:14:05

To be fair, my selection of Mulligan is from what I have heard not seen. I can't get to any trainings as they're in school time but I'm just guessing. Like EvertonFC said, theres a reason Ricki's the coach and I'm in the stands.

Other than Paston replacement not sure we'll see any changes. The only change I'd be making is giving Bertos a spell because I think he has been below par for a number of games now. So I'd have Caceres in for Bertos.

With Bertos and Costa on bench no room for Hearfield, the performance he put in off the bench against Sydney was very poor.whitby fever2009-11-02 20:44:30

Agreed. My opinion is laugh at the others formations. Much like I don't agree with most of the horse sh*t formations, you are just as entitled to dismiss my opinion and bag me for it. I'm backing mine up with some element of logic though which is more than 'lets start Mulligan' has...

Jeff Vader says

The thing that scares me about Crowther is thathe seems too over confident. And I dont understand why people keep bagging Ferrante - i seriously rate him i just think he has had a poor run of form this season.

I didn't forget it Tigers. I just chose to ignore it.

I respect that Ricki is in a difficult position because the trade off of selecting a team for the Phoenix will be the effect of it on the All Whites. Either way if the All Whites don't get a result, the 'you didn't rest the players at the Phoenix while you could' will get rolled out by someone. If the All Whites win and the Phoenix suffer because of Rest and Rotation, then someone will bag him for not picking up points when the team should have and this forum will turn on him....again. He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't and it could mean his job at the end of this season if we don't make the playoffs.

The All Whites have good players whom aren't going to start, whether it be one of the front three of Smeltz, Killen and Fallon or 1 of the 4 midfielders in McGlinchy, Bertos, Elliott and Brown depending on what formation will be played (not to mention the backs Nelsen, Vicilich, Sigmund, Lochhead and Scott)

I advocate playing the Phoenix players regardless of this game because the All Whites do have good players in form whom wont be able to start and play a full part in that game. I don't think the Phoenix currently have that depth of good players in form. There are no reserve backs, McKain is injured, Ferrante has finally been found out by Ricki, Diego has been ordinary and Caceres has been bit part, not to mention Chan and this forum will always love Costa, Hearfield has uses and Mulligan, gah...
Jeff Vader2009-11-02 21:15:08

i think we should keep the same formation - but include barby upfront instead of greeny. he was our best player yesterday, fast and pretty confident given he has had no game time to speak of this season. greeny may be better than of late given his goal aagainst gcu, but what we need is pace

fair points J V (not of hesselink)

daniel got 5 stitches in his swede for that head clash and his shoulder popped back in quickly, just a little sore but up for it on Wednesday.

Made me wince when I saw that shoulder getting put back in! Ouch!

Most likely Tigers, but I am pretty damn sure there are insiders on this forum that will always know more than they let on... Oh to be a football manager.

I'd pick the same team again, sans Paston. If Costa is going to be the real deal, let him do it again off the bench. Then you reward him with a start. At least then he has some consistency to back up that claim. Reward players on consistency of performance, not a flash in the pan.

The result against Sydney is not really a surprise in respect that we probably bought in to the 'contender' hype and some players were due for a bad game (Sigmund having not had one until now). Players can't be up every week but with a collective fail last week, I don't think it will repeat again on Wednesday. It was 8 games since our last shocker, against Sydney again. I wonder if there is something to that, and them being top of the league....
Jeff Vader2009-11-02 22:16:28

Think people are picking Mulligan to start as he was mentioned in an article the other day. At least to be on the bench i suspect. 

 

Never rated Ferrante and never will. Was crap at Melbourne and is even worse here.

poor run of form? are you serious? he's not had any form or ability since season one.

It's the same poor run of form that Mulligan is in.

I would consider 3 years of continual bad form a a poor run of form, wouldn't you!

Bertos has been quiet in the last few games, he hardly played a part in creating anything in the GCU game, and the same against Sydney.

His play suggest he's tired, he's not as mentally switched on as he was at the start of the season. The extra travel and games for the All Whites, with no rest, has taken it's toll.

Whether Ricki or Bertos will agree that he's not played well in the last few games is a different story. But I think he could use a rest for at least the Jets game, give him some time to freshen up.

And I wouldn't pick/rest any of the players in the team based on what the All Whites are doing. I realise it's a consideration for a lot of people, but the Phoenix season doesn't stop being important because there are All Whites games to play.Ard Righ2009-11-03 08:35:16

If I WERE going to rest the AW's, it wouldnt be on Wednesday, it would be on sunday, this would give them the longest possible recuperation time. Aside from this, if these boys cant handle the odd midweek game, then they really arn't as good as we would like to think, look at the guys in Europe, only have one game a wek is a welcome rarity

Yeah but in Europe they get paid 30,000 pound + a week and access to the most sophisticated medical, nutritional and pyscological teams. We have Newtown park and a medical team of 3 (educated guess). Resting makes sense if you have the players to fill in. It can often work in your favour that the fill in players play their socks off to get a shot in the first team.