Player ravings v Salty Dogs
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
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Were we lucky or what?! Some good efforts but to see the ball bouncing around in our penalty area repeatedly was rather stressful!
Moss 7.5 Made some very good blocks, didn't command his penalty area quite enough for me
Manny 7 Solid tackles
Dura 6.5 Good decision making, but not commanding his central area
Doddy 6.5 Ditto, don't let the ball bounce!!
Lochy 7 Strong, some useful runs forward
Ferrante 6 Sound, worked hard
McKain 6.5 Started really well, mopping everything up, then caught on the ball a few times
Brown 6 Got forward well, closed down in centre mid for a lot of the game
Hearfield 5 Too often got taken down blind alleys, no-one to pass to.
Leo 8 Looked likely, chased back well too when needed (most of the time!)
Smeltzy 7 Again Mr Consistent up front.
Daniel 7 Not on long enough again, did his job. Only he and Smeltzy know how to hold a ball up.
Plodder Not on long enough to rate
What do you think? This was a hard game to score, cos we won, yet we weren't at our best. Still, a good problem to have!
Oi Oi Edgecumbe2008-12-19 22:44:33Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
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pretty fair, manny deserves a little more i think, he saved us a couple of times
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would have nudged Timmo's score up to 7.5 - but perhaps i'm influenced by his delight when we won and a couple of his tackles that looked like they counted
good to see lochy looking a bit more livel in attack this week
tigers2008-12-19 22:45:25
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would have nudged Timmo's score up to 7.5 - but perhaps i'm influenced by his delight when we won and a couple of his tackles that looked like they counted
good to see lochy looking a bit more livel in attack this week
Yes, better livel than drivel.
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I don't know what the final stats were for possession, territory, balls into the pemalty box or shots on goal but we were outplayed.... I reckon the difference was the Fever cheering the lads on!!!
Moss.. agree with OOE, 7.5
Muscat...tackled well but lacks a good crisp 20m pass, 7
Dura..... solid without being fantastic... sometimes relies on a 50/50 offside trap a bit much, 6
Dodd.. good in the air but some of those free kicks were terrible! Also, plays people on side too much (thus not a good combination with Dura)...6
Lochead... did his job, but not the cool customer he should be at this level, sometimes looks to clear rather than construct when keeping the ball is paramount..7
Ferra... I was watching on TV but he lloked AWOL... when he does command the ball and distrubute it he is one of the best in the league.... he is able to knock a pin point ball... just wish he knew how to play efficiently as looks out of position half the time..6
Browny... solid... a little indecisive.. 7
McKain...good defensively but didn't offer much to back four as an option when playing out from the back.. we need him to in order to make space for front 3... 7
Heffer.... headless chook... pace to burn but needs to lift his head and remeber that the ball is faster than the man... 5 (suggest he is dropped for Daniel)
Leo...committed, offered options going forward.. good set pieces... 8
Smeltzy.... did his job... must have the best conversion rate in pro football at the moment...7
Daniel... would like to see him start next week... has a superb 20m pass that can unlock a defense.. 7
Plodder... as above...
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Agree Tigers and Left, Brown and Manny to 7.5, pretty spot on though OOE 
. wellyphoenixfan2008-12-19 22:54:45
. wellyphoenixfan2008-12-19 22:54:45
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I don't know what the final stats were for possession, territory, balls into the pemalty box or shots on goal but we were outplayed....
We were keeping stats during the radio commentary - in terms of balls in the penalty area, our stats guy counted 19 for the Phoenix and an incredible 43 for CCM.....
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I don't know what the final stats were for possession, territory, balls into the pemalty box or shots on goal but we were outplayed....
We were keeping stats during the radio commentary - in terms of balls in the penalty area, our stats guy counted 19 for the Phoenix and an incredible 43 for CCM.....
aaaargghhhh, please don't remind us of the trauma 
, that stat and the inconsistent ref seemed like trouble waiting to happen for the last 85 minutes of the match
, that stat and the inconsistent ref seemed like trouble waiting to happen for the last 85 minutes of the match
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Truly the most nerve-wracking game of the season so far.
It's very unusual for a team to adopt the tactics we did and get away with it. At the time it looked like suicide but the boys have come out of it smelling of roses. A credit to sheer determination and a loud, loud set of fans.
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Truly the most nerve-wracking game of the season so far.
It's very unusual for a team to adopt the tactics we did and get away with it. At the time it looked like suicide but the boys have come out of it smelling of roses. A credit to sheer determination and a loud, loud set of fans.
felt like the threat to life was more likely to come via heart-attack
and in the last ten minutes ... via obesity
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I don't know what the final stats were for possession, territory, balls into the pemalty box or shots on goal but we were outplayed....
We were keeping stats during the radio commentary - in terms of balls in the penalty area, our stats guy counted 19 for the Phoenix and an incredible 43 for CCM.....
We got one goal and they got NONE
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As usual Oi Oi pretty much agree other than Moss - I'd lift his rating a couple of notches - some of his saves were real gutsy, body on the line stuff.
Is there anything scarier when you're 1 - 0 up, than watching Dodd, last man, with the ball, with a striker up his date, trying to play the ball out ?
Hoof it Karl Hoof it !!
Whitby boy2008-12-19 23:21:23He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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We were keeping stats during the radio commentary - in terms of balls in the penalty area, our stats guy counted 19 for the Phoenix and an incredible 43 for CCM.....
We got one goal and they got NONE
The only stats that count at the end of the day
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Moss 7.5 Best he has played since coming back. After watching Theo flap around for Melbourne I think he might be able to claim top spot for Victory even if Theo doesn't leave.
Manny 7 Very poor first half where he was caught out on multiple occassions but full credit to him as in the 2nd half he made quite a few last gasp tackles under huge pressure
Dura 8 In a game where the other team dominated but didn't have *that* many clear chances I think the CB's have to be praised. Too many long balls but the whole team was guilty of it.
Doddy 8 Same as above. Could be criticised for hoofing the free kicks but the inaccuracy of them could easily be blamed on the wind. Should have kept it on the deck as much as possible but we were under a lot of pressure.
Lochy 7.5 Didn't do much wrong on first viewing. Tries to take on his man at every opportunity these days which is good to see. (it didn't come off most of the time tonight though but you win some you lose some)
Ferrante 7.5 Best game for us in quite a while. Played better than both McKain and Brown. Got up and down the wings and played some beautiful crossfield balls at the start of the first half. Worked hard as wlel.
McKain 6 Thought he was pretty poor to be honest. Lost his man on many occassions and also got caught with the ball several times in our own half. Didn't distribute that well on the whole either.
Brown 6 Was poor as well. Gave away needless fouls. IMO our inability to transfer from defence to attack for the entire game has to be put mostly on the shoulders of our cm pairing having an off night.
Hearfield 5 Worst player for us. Every time it went to him you had the feeling he would screw it up and he usually did. Should not be on the left.
Leo 7.5 Played well again. Really like how he takes on players and the cross to Smeltzy in that Welly wind was class. Faded in the 2nd half.
Smeltzy 7.5 Didn't do anything wrong. Had quite a tough night because he was gathering long balls on half way with his back to goal for most of the game. Could've had 2 goals with barely any support from his teamates,
Daniel 7 I was suprised by Daniel. He won headers strongly (which I do not remember him ever doing except a couple of goals which were slightly lucky) and his defensive work was a step up from what I remember seeing from him as well. Didn't have much chance in an attacking sense but held the ball up very well. Should come in for Hearfield next week.
Plodder 6.5 Did a job
All in all I thought it was very disappointing that we seemingly decided to hold on to a 1-0 lead for 88 minutes. No idea how we got away with it but i will take it.
I think i'll probably have to watch the replay because I seemingly saw a different game to everyone else tbh.
valeo2008-12-20 02:07:06a.haak
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I don't know what the final stats were for possession, territory, balls into the pemalty box or shots on goal but we were outplayed....
We were keeping stats during the radio commentary - in terms of balls in the penalty area, our stats guy counted 19 for the Phoenix and an incredible 43 for CCM.....
I think they named it...
The Smeltz effect.
Shots 1 Goals 1
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I don't know what the final stats were for possession, territory, balls into the pemalty box or shots on goal but we were outplayed....
We were keeping stats during the radio commentary - in terms of balls in the penalty area, our stats guy counted 19 for the Phoenix and an incredible 43 for CCM.....
I think they named it...
The Smeltz effect.
Shots 1 Goals 1
And his other shot (assist from Bertos again) in the second half, just wide.
Shane should get an assist for his own goal though. He turned his marker inside out then laid on the beauty for Boom Boom. Leo did well, running on to it and crossing it in for Smeltzy to finish. Gold!!
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without stating the obvious - Hearfield should have been subbed for Daniel after about 30 min
Founder
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Agreed. I don't know what it is about going by the clock (Daniel on at 65 no matter what) when it's obvious a player needs to come off and another needs to go on.
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Hearfield is playing on the left but clearly doesn't have a left foot. On one of his useless runs he was going up the left couldn't cross because he has no left foot and then cut inside only to lose the ball.
Solution= Start Daniel.
Solution= Start Daniel.
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Moss - 7 - Great saves and kept us in the game, but with Paston collecting those balls we often don't need those reflexes, just in case anyone's wondering why the lower rating.
Muscat - 7.5 - Very, very solid, he's got great consistancy
Dura - 7 - Also consistant, looked very tidy against the rather rough and frantic game Dodd seems to employ.
Dodd - 6 - As above I thought he looked very frantic and uncomposed at times, but some important tackles.
Lochhead - 6.5 - Great attacking game, and solid enough.
McKain - 6 - After a few weeks of finding himself being able to knock the ball round a few players in the middle he didn't seem to perform against the much stronger defensive midfield of Jedinak and co.
Brown - 6 - As Valeo said our midfield didn't really perform, Timmo didn't seem to do an awful lot and didn't push forward as much as usual. Ferrante - 6.5 - Seemed to struggle to get his passing game going in the wind, would rather see Daniel in there. An invisible showing from Mickey.
Hearfield - 7 - I think some of his criticism is a bit harsh, he hab bundles more energy than anyone else and showed to determination. A little rough around the edges and lacks some composure but I thought he looked good myself.
Bertos - 8 - Our best player by some distance, dribbled well, linked up with Smeltzy nicely and made some great runs off the ball. Beautiful assist.
Smeltz - 7 - Good finish, would have been frutrated with the midfields innability to push forward and helphim out, looked much better when he had Daniel there linking the mid and attack.
Daniel - 7 - Looked determined and on key. Some good defensive work, but what shone was his passing and creativity, that beautiful chip to Lochhead stood out.
Overall the main thing we lacked was the midfield and defence getting in their faces and putting on some pressure, we sat back and let them fly at us.
I'll take those three points though thank you very much, how important were they??
You know we belong together...
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Sorry Oska but Hearfield was the poorest player on the field by some margin. He was not a hell of a lot better last week either.
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Agreed, he constantly lost the ball, under hit a couple of passes and ran with the ball into channels where the defenders simply waited and picked him off.
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Agree on Hearfield...you don't really want to bag a young player with promise but the last two games he has been fairly average. I think Ricki plays him coz he is reasonably quick and buzzes about a bit. But to be honest he lacks vision...often runs the ball into blind alleys when a well judged pass would have been better, his positional play is also a bit limited...he hardly ever gets on the end of a Bertos/Smeltz crosses. His tight ball control also needs some work as he loses posession too often for an attacking player.
It is a shame that Kwasnik hasn't worked out as he has had some A-League success as a left side attacking player. I thought Daniel looked quite busy and also creative when he came on. Whats the status of this mysterious injury we have heard about?. Would be good if he could start .
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Agree on Hearfield...you don't really want to bag a young player with promise but the last two games he has been fairly average. I think Ricki plays him coz he is reasonably quick and buzzes about a bit. But to be honest he lacks vision...often runs the ball into blind alleys when a well judged pass would have been better, his positional play is also a bit limited...he hardly ever gets on the end of a Bertos/Smeltz crosses. His tight ball control also needs some work as he loses posession too often for an attacking player.
It is a shame that Kwasnik hasn't worked out as he has had some A-League success as a left side attacking player. I thought Daniel looked quite busy and also creative when he came on. Whats the status of this mysterious injury we have heard about?. Would be good if he could start .
I feel you are wrong..against CCM he had the job of looking after jedinak which i feel he did well in 1st half (didnt see 2nd as i had work)..ive noticed when he goes forward in attack he hasnt had players to give the ball to..so he has to hold it up..and i feel he gets in good positions but does get the ball..bertos seems to be a bit of a hog and the wen u said getting on the end of their crosses..the crossing is ordinary of late from phoenix..
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Obivously you weren't really watching the first half either, looked to me like TImmy B had been given the job of sitting on Jedinak. Was a firey encounter to say the least!
I like Hearfield, think he is quality with some real potential but I agree, thought he was very poor on Friday.
I like Hearfield, think he is quality with some real potential but I agree, thought he was very poor on Friday.
www.kiwifromthecouch.blogspot.com
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