Phoenix vs Rrrrrrrivals, Sat 11.45pm SS1

 So apparently in the fraction of a second Paston had to react he is supposed to have advanced 2 metres and thrown himself full stretch to the right?

Okay. Good point. Thought 3 were up for grab for most if the game so a bit disappointing still but great result away from home. 

With the Paston stuff: he couldn't have saved it as it was a great finish across him from smeltz. But it does get pretty annoying seeing Paston just stand there. I get the feeling that even if the shot was 1m away from him that he still wouldn't have moved. You see it quite regularly with him these days. It's probably a bit mean to point out that goal as one to bring all the hate, but it's been going on for a while and with Moss on the bench wasting his prime it does get frustrating. 

 Except you make a huge assumption that the key impacts Paston had would have been done by Moss.  Mossy may have been in the wrong spot and not got a leg to that early save or we could have been down by two. 

The 4-3-3 seemed to just be a way of making the 4-5-1 sound more attacking. Brockie seemed to be a bit lonely for long periods of the game.

 AJ13 feel free to pop down to Wellington College tomorrow between 10 and 1 to run the goalkeeping sessions I do for Capital Football.

 You just want a sleep-in.

A part of me is thinking that it might have been good for us to lose, just to see the angst rise to the surface.

I'm sorry (but at least I don't bet against us).

One thing about the game: it was highly enjoyable, in fact the most enjoyable of our games this year, with the possible exception of the first half against the Roar. Quality goals, lots of chances, some nice passing from both teams, all played in a tough, competitive spirit.

The team can feel very satisfied with their trip and have found some good form ahead of two important home games.

Despite everything, great point. Still look average, still early. Hopefully we work it out. 

Stuff reports:

Brockie, a focal point of the Phoenix attack, controlled a through ball nicely, outpaced Lucas Pantelis and then coolly slotted the ball past advancing goalkeeper Danny Vukovic to record his fifth goal in four games.

Hmmmmm

It was a good result on the road, Perth is a tough place to go to. Positives for me were that we managed to come back after going a goal down and we looked the most likely to win it at the end. Just wish Smeltzy would stop scoring against us, he had 1 decent chance and he took it.

The Phoenix really turned up for this game- well played lads! A couple of points-

Brockie and Fenton- top drawer.

Smith, another great game. Why do all of our opponents try to kick him to death?

Paston- good lamp-post impression. Does he practice kicking every clearance to the opposition? (count them, I do every match).

Smeltzy, we love you man...but.......

Burns- still the Most Punchable Player in the A-League.

Yellow Fever has officially become a cult

If Paston doesn't dive enough, maybe we should think about getting Jeronimo as our goalkeeper.

YF has become a cult because even though I think Moss is a better keeper and would rather have him starting I think the criticism that Paston doesn't throw himself at balls he can't get to is ridiculously unfair, and some people agree (while others disagree)?

Right.

waited till we conceded to make the sub..disappointing. Especially when we were fairly low energy. Didn't realise Totori was injured, bit of a bummer kept waiting for him to come on and run around beating players and missing the goal in the heat.

If Paston had missed the chance Fenton did we'd all be bagging him, Brockie had a couple of bad misses too, but nice finish in the end. Couldn't belive the commentators were talking about a high foot on him, thought it might have been Harnwell, glad he isn't that much of a muppet.

Yeh I'm with Colvy, I think that 3 points were definitely up for grabs and we were half hearted about going for them. We've got this team of attackers, but we didn't use them fully. Ifill not having the impact of old this season yet. Waiting for him, Totori and Fenton to start adding to the goal tally. Smith doesn't have Brown's goal scoring presence in the air. Waffles had only 6 minutes or something, though Boyd wasn't bad when he came on- played a couple of good passes and made that shot though he didn't catch it. I don't see why we couldn't have had Waffles earlier though.

433 turned to 451. Hope we go to a bit more attacking formation and keep the promise of that first game. When does Sanchez get back? Or when do we sign Beckham?

If we keep a front three who would be the best on the evidence of that display?

Ifill, Brockie, Waffles?

Totori, Brockie, Fenton?

Or should we go back to a 442? Still don't feel outside the first game we've seen the team click. Do think Smith is being given more to do than he's capable of. What did Lia do yesterday? Was Timmy mark II.

Stein looked sharp when he came on. Perhaps should've been on a bit early to make a real impact. Hopefully will be reinstated to the starting line up next week.

Fenton Top Draw??

Was quite average yesterday, turned into trouble too often and didn't take a golden opportunity at the start. Time he dropped to the bench.

One of Paston's better recent games.

Siggy, makes great last ditch tackles, but still gets caught out of position a lot (really annoyed with their goal, what was he doing??)

Bertos, playing like he's been a RB his whole career.

Leo is doing well at RB, but wonder how much of that is because Ifill dropping so far back on defence?

I think part of the reason why Ifill hasn't been as much of a force this season is because he is using a lot of energy up tracking back. Hopefully as the season goes on and Leo keeps improving, we can strike the right balance for Ifill's workload at both ends of the park.

My wrist hurts from banging it on the table in excitement when Brockie scored.