Player of the game - Nix vs Fatties

Player of the game - Nix vs Fatties

my pick is...Dodd!Hard News2008-07-20 19:32:16

Dunno. Bertos sounded brilliant but just couldn't finish.

yea tough choice really- all three of the attacking midfielders sounded like they carved up

Daniel for me, Dodd and Bertos were both impressive.

I don't know, I wasn't there. Just listened. Dodd sounded like he had a great game. Perhaps it's the hair?
valeo2008-07-20 18:36:22

Daniel for me.

I wasnt impressed with Dodd.

Gao, Daniel and Bertos all stood out i thought.

What  - No George on the Poll

We have a whole new way of doing these this season.  Might wait until the actual season to get it running though.

bertos was good tonight

though we sorta froze when we got near the goal 

Gao and Bertos.

Bertos was class and was, for me, far and away the best player today. Daniel also had a good game, as did Gao in the second half - he was mia in the first half. Moss was Moss - superb. Whitby boy2008-07-20 19:07:14

Flash new polling software with snappy graphics.

It will keep the season details as well for the YF player of the year

impressed with Leo's pace, skill and movement

 

definately bertos for me, had a few decent shots, created daniels goal and was always there to fill in as a centre forward when smeltz was still getting back up front

Bertos had a superb game. Sign of things to come. McKain and Durante were reasonably strong and played some nice balls out from the back. and "We've got the best keeper in the league"

I thought Dodd was ok but nowhere near a stand out. Indeed, for the first 15 minutes I was very concerned with him, as people 'ghosted' past his inside without a hint of effort. He did settle down though.

As usual Smeltz ran his nads off...but seeing the support from Bertos was brilliant - he's gonna score a few goals this season.

The back 4 looked reasonable given these early days.

Daniel a bit emotional with that goal...perhaps his first as a Kiwi?

thought daniel was all over the park and didn't stop running, gao seemed a bit slow on defense sometimes stood too far off the player he was marking

Dodd had a great game! Defensive midisnt exactly the most glamourous of positions remember.

Ballane pointed out on the way out of the game that its unfortunate that Bertos has #7 and blue boots since that's a little -too- similar to our previous #7... but Bertos played a blinder and if he can calm down in front of goal he could work well up front with Smeltz.

I sort of remember talk like this last year after el**ch first game but i think Bertos is class unlike El**ch

wasnt aloisi #7, maybe it was 6

When Bertos could be bothered he was very good but to me he was very lazy in patches, to much walking when he could have been supporting other players or making runs to create space.

Bertos, Daniel and Leilei all had good games, but they couldn't have done anything without the work Ferrante, McKain and Durante did for them.

Ferrante broke up half the Mariners attacks on his own, then send Leo or Daniel away in space with a near perfect pass.  Our attacking four would just carry the ball up the other end, shoot at the keeper or generally cock it up.

The Phoenix dominated the game, and it was all down to the four players in the middle of the park.

I would describe that as the most complete team performance by the Phoenix to date. Defense was solid (a couple minor scares aside) and composed. We had an offside trap that functioned properly,and almost never got caught out on the break or down the flanks, which is surely a first.

The second thing I noticed was our pace going forward, Gao and Bertos bring so much to us in this respect, and although Leo didn't have much luck tonight at least he was still getting shots away and creating space. Smeltz is also the ideal target man for our attack,with Daniel, Bertos and Gao all buzzing around him and feeding off his knockdowns.

Formations: the 4231 worked a treat,I have been a huge advocate of this formation,going right back to last season,and tonight demonstrated the merits of this system perfectly.

Also, I feel that Ferrante and Dodd provide a nice balance at the base (the 2) of our midfield. Ferrante has a great pass on him, looked very composed going forward and pulled the strings beautifully, providing quality balls for our dangerous attacking mids. As for Dodd, once he settled down I thought he did his job well. We utterly dominated the midfield tonight, the Mariners could rarely get anything going and much of this was down to Dodd (although Ferrante does a surprisingly large amount of dirty work for someone who is supposed to be a creative mid). Later in the game Dodd also showed he could send a nice pass to the wings as well to indicate that he has potential going forward. I'm curious to see what Johnson has to offer in this position, but to be honest, Dodd's height and physical presence could prove invaluable, especially given that on the whole our team is pretty small and not that imposing physically.

My biggest concern was at right back, the team obviously didn't trust Hearfield much as we basically never utilized him going forward once he came on, although it was nice to see the partnership between Lochy and Daniel continues to flourish. Lochy didn't quite get his crosses going but he certainly got himself into dangerous positions and should continue to be a threat this season. Lia didn't entirely convince me in the first half, he looked ok going forward but his small stature and lack of experience could be exposed by a more ruthless side. CCM definitely missed a trick not pounding down our right flank, especially once Hearfield came on.

As for McKain and Durante, FANTASTIC! They both looked excellent, and could prove to be the best CB partnership in the league. It seems like the two of them get along well,they got the defense pushing up properly. I noticed our entire XI had a really good shape as we moved the ball out from the back, far better than CCM who looked like a disorganized mess in this respect. Much of the credit for this must go to McKain and Durante at the back and for Ricki for choosing a formation that suits his players. You could tell how much Daniel, Gao an d Bertos enjoyed swapping around and generally causing havoc, they look f**king dangerous!

As for who was MoTM? I had a really hard time chosing, Bertos was probably the most involved, but I ended up voting for McKain because I really enjoyed watching him shutting their attack out. The best part about this match was that we looked like a proper team, and once that rust comes off we could be genuine contenders. There is no way that was the performance of a side who will finish in the bottom two.


KTBW2008-07-20 21:08:37

Dodd played Crap

Ferrante wasnt great but good

Gao,bertos and mckain played Great

Loved the way Lei lei, Daniel and Leo roved behind Smeltz

Dodd was very impressive apart from the odd poor pass, but he won a lot of ball. But i was disappointed with lochhead and ferrante. Moss was good  ( as always), my 2nd choice would probably be mckain.

Pretty hard to single out an individual; whole team played well.  Basically 2 DMs successfully took pressure of the back four, and allowed Smeltz, Daniel, Bertos and Gao to roam merrily up front.  Daniel and Smeltz for work rate, Dodd for his tackling, Gao for technique, McKain/Durante for making Petrovski & Co look innocuous (odd hiccup), Moss for being his usual self.  And they looked like they were playing as a team.