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

Rossi as a new number 10 must be a thing

3 mix in the area to two defenders and not one of them on the end of it

I hope to see Parkhouse for Abbas.

worse than Ernie for no attacking subs.

8154 pax

Fantastic save from Smith!

Smith needs to be taught to look behind him. 

Not at all impressed with Abbas.

If Smith had picked it up after it hit Abbas in the back, would that have counted as a 'backpass'.

Dario was one of our best players today. Seems odd to have taken him off 

Parkhouse a good option, but for Vidosic?? Could be fitness

More like an Abbpass

not fully match fit I suspect

Surely enough time for one more sub for us.

Decent squaddie. Can run more than Lia and covers FB. Needs to be fitter I think

Who is taking the armband?

Smith certainly hasn't been the worst, but not got a long boot

Paracki, all class

Between him and Dario for MOTM today

Dear god what a mess this game is. Reds should have scored

Paracki!

Pretty poor game all round.

The call to play Keegan Smith was a ballsy one, but probably the wrong. His nerves went through our whole backline.

Paracki still good - rest....eh. Lots of work to do.

Could have gone either way - Im ok with a point today.  Solid effort

Nervy start to a season. I expect the team will gel better after three games or so. 

Shame we have Sydney FC next week.

Poor passing and unable to keep the ball but it is the first match of the season.

"Lots of energy, not so much good football".  Good summary from Absolonsen

Should be happy with the point as Adelaide should  have scored a couple more.

Other than the goal I thought Dario was largely AWOL.

Ridenton was pants today, passing was poor and to slow to act. Rufer did ok. Galloway / Paracki and Mullen my picks. Krishna did well, but had little to attack with.

I don't think Smith will start next week - too nervy.

Smith seems like he has a good head on his shoulders.  Open about where he thought his faults were and what needed improving.  I hope we keep him on for a few games at least.  Now he's been given a chance, he definitely needs a run of games to see what he has.

Smith made one save.  Abbas could have looked for support and also not given the ball away so ridiculously. A point is a fair result, but Adelaide didn't show much today either. I don't know about the call for showing 'energy', but yeh, didn't see much football.

We look to at least be the equal of a full strength Adelaide side who have had many more pre-season opportunites. Can't really complain, a bit more time to gell and 3 or 4 starters coming back into the side... and then we have Sydney next. Great.

Happy with the point. Lots to work on, but it's a start. 

Italiano must be wondering what he has to do to get a game! Finally gets Moss out of the way and gets usurped by a teenager.

Raf slightly better than Keegan, but also a bit nervy there!

Better than our last few starts to the season, and having Doyle and Dura back in particular should help the defense look more solid. WeeMac is better than either Rufer or Ridenton too. Overall I'm happy with the point. That was a terrible game really but I think there's enough there to say that we can hope still

Really? Thought that we both had one huge chance saved by the keeper. Did I miss Adelaide hitting the post a few times or something? 

Anyway, looking at it now, I think starting Keegan Smith is probably one of the weirdest decisions in Phoenix history.

- Started him for his distribution, but unable to kick over half way.

- Punched most balls, only caught those straight at him and got lucky with a couple where had a few goes.

- Lack of communication. A couple of times defenders obviously left it for him but he was nowhere to be seen.

Easily the worst keeper we've ever had starting a game for us, and a real weakness heading into the rest of the season. It's harsh to blame him as it's really on the amnager, but I thought he was extremely lucky today that Adelaide were just as poor as us.

Disagree.  We've always had decent keepers until now. Even a Tony Warner type of player would be an upgrade on what we currently have.

still if the message is squad discipline and harmony over ego and the message gets through I'm happy. While he didn't stamp authority, he did a few good things and didn't do a Reddy dash out of the area. Last year squad division was a thing, this year if Darije is the boss, let's hope the players get the message.

The draw was a good result and Smith held his focus till the end.

First Half 

Phoenix created chances at both ends, came steaming out in the first five and got the goal but then the defence seemed to lose the one or two men in the box and they equalised. We seemed heavily reliant on Roy down the wing for anything creative and while Paracki in midfield is a terrier, he was orbited by Ridenton and Rufer who seemed - once again for the Nix - spaced out and not really impressing on the game. Rufer having a big leather when he could have played in Kaludjerovic was a sign of his youth, I hope, don't think WeeMac would have missed the opportunity to play a striker in.

Second Half

Pinball, head-tennis and the occasional half chance but when Adelaide wanted to get upfield, they could. We are a lot more organised than the last couple of years, which helps. Not sure Abbas is an upgrade on an injured Fenton tbh, but equally worried if Dura comes into that backline it'll slow down - we did look quicker at the back than before.

Credit to Keegan, in at the deep end and did alright for a kid. That stop with his knee was top stuff, and he even got out of the dropped ball later in the half. Our lack of depth showed, once we made subs we were hanging on in there for the most part.

A Wee Mac/Paracki midfield might offer something a bit more stable, with Finkler playing ahead of them, Vidosic and Krishna on the wings and Kaludjerovic up front.

Throughout the match he didn't know how to deal with balls coming in. His punching was poor, I just think it's very odd top put such a young keeper in with a new defense and a new manager. Remember Adelaide were poor tonight. A team that is firing would have made mincemeat of him.

I'm sure he's talented, he showed that in places, but if he ready to lead our defense?