R1 vs Adelaide United | Sun 8 Oct | 5:00pm | RoF

He actually looked ok going forward at times but needed Parackis to bail him out too much. What he was doing for their goal I have no idea. 

Fact is they had more possession than us, more shots and missed a couple of sitters.

Keegan Smith can't start next week. He's just not up to it. Yes, he made a great save (after he fudged up) but he can't even kick the ball FFS.

Also no subs made until the 80th minute after it was clear the tactics weren't working for most of the game was a strange call.

I have to say that Vidosic was easily our best player. Not only the goal but class touches and passes. A step above the rest, for me.

Really they were worse than Smith?? 

What game were you watching, mate? lmao

no, they were not worse than smith

In three years he may be a keeper but that was embarrassing and not good for him either

Sure he was shaky at times but he's an 18yo on debut. Not like he threw any in. Almost certainly he wasn't taking goal kicks because of an injury.

 The commentators seemed to think differently. 

Why have we got an untested 18 year old as the heart of our defense? 

an 18 year old keeper is never gonna cut mustard. Ridenton was poor. No one stood out for me. Seemed like a pre-season run around - a lot of that crowd ain't coming back..

Am I the only one who thought Rufer looked ok, made some nice turns into space, won a few free kicks and worked hard on D.  I think next week he will drop into DM for Ridenton who surely played himself onto the bench and McG will play the number 10 role.

Abbas might come into DM as well if Doyle goes straight into LB.

Another one who was poor was Rufer. He's there because of his name lets be honest...

As for Keegan Smith, yes he is 18 on debut. Of course he was shaky. Of course he wasn't going to cut the mustard. THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE. WE KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. That's why some of us didn't want him to play.

We need to win. For that, we need to play our absolute best team every game. He ain't up to it yet.

Rufer was ok, better than Ridenton. Ridentions delivery was good though but We Mac will be a good replacement for him.

I'm more than happy with how Smith played. A couple of nerves are to be expected for an 18 year old on debut. He made some very good saves behind a shaky and unfamiliar defense but also had some great moments. He didn't cost us anything and he tidied up after his mistakes. Gets a pass mark from me, let's see after next week.

the coaching staff are not stupid; they see these players everyday. Smith was a bit over-excited but did ok. 

The refereeing was abysmal as usual.

Rufer showed flashes but the game cried out for some quality. McGlinchey and Finkler could work well with Paracki.

Galloway did well.

Rufer almost did a few things, but couldn't hold up the ball on others, gave away cheap turn overs and didn't make much impact in creating chances. 

Ridenton made a lot of good tackles I thought and covered well, but didn't quite get the passing game going. It seemed like him and Paracki (how'd ya say that again??) were outnumbered in midfield at times? I thought his set piece delivery was very good and if Rossi was Siggie, Reid, Tim Brown etc etc we could have won. It's almost the most dangerous I remember us being from set pieces.

Also I think they might do equally as well with their roles reversed. Ridenton has scored a few for us and made some handy passes in the final 3rd at times. I think he's more composed with better vision than Rufer and a greater passing range on what I've seen so far.

The injury rules need to change, in football and other sport. Cramp is not an injury!!! 

If you go down with cramp, play on! Why should the game stop because a player is unfit? 

Sure, the ref may not know what has caused a player to go down at first, but Regan went down three times before he was subbed and each time the game was stopped. 

Needs sorting.

to say Rufer is there because of his name is ridiculous. 

It is sorted. The ref doesn't have to stop the play unless it's a head injury. This was just a show of a shark Australian ref.

The one I remember ref stopping play for when we were in an ok position was for an ankle injury, not cramp. Still shouldn't have stopped play. 

Waiting for the "Coaching Angst: #SackKaledzic" thread

Sorry Shane!

Erm, his kicks didn't clear half way even at the start of the game.

Crowther and Warner were poor, but still better than Smith because because they weren't 18 year old kids. I don't blame Smith - I blame the manager for throwing him in the deep end - but jesus, he punched basically everything directly to Adelaide players. That is really basic stuff. 

There is no point pretending that Smith had a good game. 

Paracki my MoM..has been good pre season as well.  Vidosic may grow on me....new striker..nah.

Yep, Paracki very good. Vidosic will be better playing with Doyle or Galloway out there, I reckon. He had absolutely no help from Abbas.

Kaluderovic did well to get his shot off. Apart from that, largely anonymous. Hard to judge with Rufer and Ridenton not providing a whole lot of service, though.

Sigh..wonder how Roly and Paracki would've dovetailed. Ah well.

great to be back to Nix season.  Very entertaining first 10 mins.

Too bad Smith let that one in but at least we tested him and didn't lose.  Would have been worse if it was a game were 5 great strikes saw the back of the net.

That game was hard to watch even after a few beers! Hoping we get Gui or McGlinchey in there asap.

Smith had a hard-to-watch game but the first goal was Abbas's fault.

Oh my, Smith! Punching direct to opposite players, not able to kick the ball over half way? And his distribution, supposedly his strengths, was nothing special. And I can’t remember the last time a defender doing goal kicks, maybe a injury, the whole performance did not convinced me.

Happy with the draw. Paracki MOM.

His distribution was pretty good I thought. But, I think we're a bit screwed in goal.

Although remember Young at Roar was absolutely comical when he started but by the end of that season he was pretty good.

Be interesting to see if we do give Smith a few games or not.

Ridenton had a bit of a mare, but i wondered in hindsight if Rufer didn't help him.  Seemed clear Adelaide targeted Ridenton, so he needed off load opportunities and I am not sure Rufer was available often enough.  That's clearly oversimplifying but I think it was a factor.

It was pretty clear in the ACFC game that the link between Paracki through the central midfield was going to be a challenge.  And that was with Finkler there.  Both FBs tend to stay pretty wide, so it all hinges on the connection between Paracki, Finkler and Mcg.  Or in this game Paracki, Ridenton and Rufer.  It's going to take a bit of work and Ridenton had a lot asked of him.

His distribution was quite good I thought. 

He was nervous punching, but that is pretty common for an 18 year old keeper. 

However he did seem confident challenging for the ball in the air when he could catch it. 

Hard to judge his shot stopping ability, he did make one very good save. 

I thought Smith was pretty good.  He came for a lot of balls Moss would have held his line for.  So he shut down a lot of potential Adelaide opportunities.  Maybe he could have got to the cross for their goal, but people cristicising his punches I'd suggest are forgetting Moss being very inconsistent with that also. 

Opposition strikers are going to have to be braver looking to head the ball with this kid than with Moss.  'Cause he is going to body slam a number of them getting into the air.  Wasn't perfect, but while he had shakey moments there were plenty of decisions he made that probably turned out better than had it been Moss leaving Durante to tangle with a striker in the past. 

And his distribution was good apart from whatever the issue was with his long goal kicks.  It was refreshing to see a Nix side consistently freeing the ball early from the keepers feet or hands to a player.  Instead of Moss' preferred long kick into the centre pitch mixer.

I can see what the coaches liked in him.  We just need to see him tidy up his game some more. He may cost us the odd goal, but I'd have expected that with Italiano's rushes forward in any case.  Think he deserves to hold his spot.

Just how I saw it.

Its just one game but

I quite enjoyed this. I felt that we looked and played like a football team. There was movement off the ball as a unit when we were out of possession, we were disciplined in not giving away silly free kicks and we played some good football when we had the ball. If we are underdone, I am ok with that cause it says there is more improvement there and that's good.

I thought Smith was very nervous and I could understand if he does not play next week. I'm not saying he was poor, just nervous. Raw and needs polish but he would not repeat a few things again I suspect. If he does those again, better teams will punish him. Didn't really have to make a save other than the knee and probably put himself under more pressure than he was through his own actions. His distribution was pretty good if not short on goalkicks. Certainly looks for options to get the ball out of his hands early. He is confident on the mic/interview and strikes me as a confidence type keeper.
Mullen and Galloway were good and I felt fine with them and a glimpse of a 'post Durante' Phoenix. It certainly gives food for thought as to what happens next week. If you are Fox or Lowry, you are probably gone at the end of this season if these 2 stick around.
Rossi I felt was a little casual and also wondered if he suffered through his lack of English. A couple of times I felt there was sense of 'oh don't do that. Someone tell him he has a man on' but no one did or perhaps they did and he did not understand. If anything, I felt he was a downgrade from last years model.
Abbas was mixed and needed to own the 1st goal. I think is probably a better fit that Doyle in that same LB role which is harsh on Doyle because they are 2 different styles of footballers. A lot of issues with communication between him and Smith.
Paracki is a hell of a footballer. Quick, balanced, awareness. He will be our player of the season I think and he gives us so much from that position. He is a DM that does that role well AND distributes and creates a little. He is good.
Ridenton was mixed. Some good things, some ordinary things. I still think he is too slow for this level and nothing I saw says he is going to be a starter anytime soon let alone keep McGlinchy out but if he starts again next week in the name of continuity, I would be ok with that. His set piece play was very good.
Rufer, for all the forumites saying he was average preseason and it was him and Ridenton head to head, was decent - more so that Ridenton. I felt he was more of a conduit than I had seen previously of him however there is Finkler whom you would back to give you more on the ball and perhaps was a/the reason why Vidosic and Kaludjerovic were perhaps not as utilised as they should have been
A lot of the attack went through Krishna, a wide man, in part because he went looking for it. Vidosic looks to be a classy player too but the attack did not go through him as the opposite wide man as much as it did Roy. Roy has seriously added some bulk and is no longer the slight footballer - very square in the shoulders.
Kaludjerovic - did he play? Limited chances much like Vidosic. Perhaps Finkler is the one that releases them more so than Rufer?

I think we looked a lot harder to break down out of possession which is encouraging and I did not get the sense of fear when the ball went in behnd the back 4 into empty space in the flanks. If anything, this showed last year how we really should not have tried to force the 2 wide fullbacks forward as much and the back line looked a lot more settled. I liked the pressure we applied out of possession and I think Rufer did a great job in doing a lot of that work. There was a lot less long ball, a lot more looking for options on the deck, a lot less fouls and silly errors from Phoenix past. You can see a team here that has been coached well to be disciplined and thats a good thing.

What happens next week? There are some decisions to make. I think all things considered, if there are no changes to the team, I would be ok with that but would also expect to see more from the Phoenix and polish. If anything, you assess Finkler, Doyle, McGlinchy, Durante and Italiano but thats probably it. Smith, I could understand if he was replaced but then do you give him another game knowing that his debut was always going to be nervous? Rufer and Ridenton I could understand as well being replaced but would be intrigued on how the team shapes up with McGlinchy whom is more attack minded vs Ridenton whom operates more in the back half of the field. Finkler might do better in involving Vidosic and Kaludjerovic but again, if R & R start, I would be ok with that call. Mullen for Durante? Harsh on Mullen or if you pushed Mullen wider and benched Galloway, harsh on him too. That to me is a real decision to make and if Durante was not picked, I would be ok with that. Doyle for Abbas - different styles of footballers. Depends on what you are looking for from your LB. Doyle a little more foul prone.

Its just one game but that gave me a better idea of where we are at and I think its promising and we are on the right path.

(How good was Piney? Makes Fred sound good. How quiet was the Fever Zone. Average)

Ridenton poor, Abbas diabolical,  the number 9 looked worse than Watson until Watson came on and proved me wrong. Smith, well he will improve with time, whether he's our best option at the moment I have no idea. Paracki easily our best.

I couldn't make this game, and had to suffer the appalling commentary, although I had to mute most of it. Pitney doesn't know when to shut up and is full of unneeded stats and chat. It would be better if Dr Kong wasn't there. Does no one assess or train these commentators, they are supposed to add to the event, not be the event. Shut the hell up and tell us something relevant we don't know, like who is on the ball. God they were dreadful.

How long until the off season?

We badly need Dura and Doyle back in the defence.. abbas is not a defender. Sorry K Smith the coach made a mistake.
Paracki did well and roy and rufer made a few things happen.
Ah well a draw was all we deserved, probably lucky to get it.
Bring on next week.

Yay for the season back again!

Long story short, we fielded a team that wasn't our top team and we got a decent result. I think some of those players should be pushing for places and as some one observed it seemed like the thread through the middle is going to be a crucial area for this season. 

I'm hoping Matty and Alex are able to put their hands up to make bigger contributions this season. I'd consider playing Ridenton further forward too. 

I think I'd be happy with one out of Abbas, Ridenton, Rufer and Smith starting. Maybe two in a suspension/injury pinch. 

Felt Krishna is wasted out on the wing a bit.