Player ravings v WSW

What a superb performance.

Mossy 7 Excellent as usual, good punches when needed
Louis 6 Was building in confidence after a couple of dodgy moments, shoulder injury might keep him out now for a while
Siggy 8 Strong, calm
Dura 8 Led very well
Manny 7 No nonsense approach puts Hersi off
Riera 9 Really controlling the game
Vinnie 7 Did his job very well, few errors
Kenny 5 Ran around
Hicks 6 Useful work, subbed at half time
Brockie 6 Worked hard, got involved
Stein 9.5 Nice assist for Boyd, then two fantastic finishes
Boxall 6 Did the job, won the ball back for possession for the 2nd goal
Ridenton 6.5 Made a difference, put the lovely flick over for Stein to deliver the assist
Boyd 8 What an impact again, goal and an assist

Ernie 8 No Carlos, No Ifill, No worries! Team playing excellent football, subs made a real difference again. Awesome.

What do you think?

Too high. You are forgetting the first 60 mins.... I would deduct everyone 1 except Boyd, Kenny, Mossy, Boxall and Ernie

Oooooohh a 9.5!!

Not sure I get your point there JV.  The first 60 mins we were dominating possession.  Sure a wee bit toothless with it, but Wanderers weren't going to do any damage without the ball.  

The back four are getting a better ride with Riera in front of them. I suspect he is the cheapest import in the League and as good or better than other imports who are not marquees.

I thought Hicks was better then Brockie. So put Brockie down to about a 4 :D

drop fenton 1 . some horrible crosses into the box early on

I disagree with JVs assessment of the first 60 minutes I thought we were good in the first half and the only period where wsw were on top was the first 15 of the 2nd half. Would actually bump Manny up a half point on the back of his first half performance in particular.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we were bad at all.

At the half, the general consensus was that we had more possession (I think 54-46) but they had the better chances. They weren't chances that were stretching us but we had none and looked a bit toothless. When they scored, everyone said 'well that was coming'. More than a few said 'Ridenton coming on has made us look worse' until he made that pass for the 3rd goal. (its all there in the match thread)

I tend to view that first 60 as being relatively evenish but slightly in their favour when you take into account that we had more possession but they did more with what they had. I even mentioned that we played with a flat back 7. In the last 30, we smashed them no doubt at all.

I do think we took them out of their pattern a lot. They have been firing lately and whatever we did to get them out of their playing pattern worked.

Great victory and fucking stoked about it, but I have not forgotten what I watched as well as what others posted on what they saw as well.

I think that's fair JV.  But we nevertheless beat one of the top two sides away at what has been their fortress.  If you are ever going to give out a few 8's and 9's this was probably the one.  You don't need to totally dominate to deserve high marks for good play, if you have largely shut down a good side and (in the end) scored well against them.  That was what prompted me to comment. You could arguably loose to a Wanderers quality side and still hand out 8's imho.

We have had a lot of good sides struggle to play well against us this season.  Funny that eh.  Well done Riera, in particular, but all the guys around him and behind him, Ernie's tactic of defending high and the work rates that the whole team including the front three are putting in to pressure our opponents. 

I would agree with JV that we disrupted the WSW pattern last night. This is unusual for them to suffer at their own home ground.

At the same time, I would prefer to see the game as one WSW lost rather than a game we won.  Yes, we improved on previous few weeks. Yes, Riera looks more solid than a month ago. Yes, Stein played like a man possessed, even if he remains in my books the clear winner of the "Player Looking Like He's Gonna Fall Over While Turning" Award. And Siggy looked positively more like Marco Materazzi than like a bloke that just a few seasons ago would turn out for our local rugby club here in Sumner to keep fit in winter.

The game was won in the second half because WSW started to fade and even their late subs did not fire, notably the very reliable Brendan Santalab who so often scores on late entry. Poppa saw that I think, and kept putting on subs. I reckon WSW were suffering from a case of post-NYE party hangover, and an "easy game" expectation. Otherwise we might have perhaps scraped in with a lucky/plucky last minute equaliser for a draw, but not such a massive win. 

Maybe The Nix simply had a good night sleep and did not suffer from travel fatigue? Couple of hotel nights looks now like money well spent. Ernie kept the squad in Oz after the Heart game, and this was - in my humble opinion - the real key here.

Our pleasure. Maybe you'll give us Siggy back for next season? And maybe play another 'derby' at Kiwitea end of this one? Albert would be keen I'm sure.

Riera was absolutely superb. Critical piece in our tactical set up that allowed this result to happen.

THIS! Spot on ElGarp

You ever watched Juergen Klinsmann play? His running looked like falling over his feet, but 232 goals in 531 apps don't lie. Stein has quick feet and controls the ball very tight. And is able to learn: I can't recall him being offside once.

True, Klinsmann often looked like his feet would get tangled in his mullet haircut (then). A great player of his generation.

Waffles was wary of the offside trap, you're correct. It could also be because he is not terribly fast, and because he is used to playing with his back to the goal. He had a good game. I do hope we'll see a good game from Brockie this season too - we all need it.

also a nominee for the "swims when hes running" award..

ok, so what then is your version of dominance? having the ball most of the time has to be a big part of dominating a game.

But we didn't dominate!!! If we had 80% of possession and it's just Siggy and Dura passing to each other, is that dominance? No. Doing something with that possession is dominance and while we had possession, for the first 60 we did nothing with it. They had less possession but did something with it. Hence why I proclaim that the first 60 was relatively even but on the balance of possession we had vs what they did with the ball when they had it plus the match thread and commentary that others noted, they only marginally had the better of the first 60. The last 30, we definitely dominated. 

that makes sense, I guess it all comes down to what you consider "doing something with the possession means". Holding onto the ball and passing it around may not contribute to your score but it does stop the other team scoring which I think we diod pretty well in the first 60. Sure they scored 1, but they would have expected to score 2 or more against us.

They had some pretty good chances in the first 60 minutes. Still, its great to get a third win in a row.

I wonder how they would recover if they lost their next one at home? Once they went ahead I thought we were in for a spanking but happily that itdid notturn out that way. They did have chances and to be fair, I thought the first half was about 50-50., thesecond halftill the 64th minute was still the same. Once we equalised it was game set and match to us.

On balance of chances created, WSW absolutely dominated the first hour. We really struggled to create much in the way of opportunities in that first hour