R1 vs Brisbane Roar 5pm Sun 13th Oct ROF

Great game to be at, fairly good crowd. I wondered what it would be like with such miserable weather during the week and the fact that there isnt another game for a while, would Wellingtonians  snub it. Possibly some did.

The wind was there but didnt seem to be a factor, it was mild for a while with the sun out. No excuses there Brisbane

For those that went, it was an entertaining game up till mid/late in the second half.

I was impressed with the way we played, there were more short accurate passes in this game, and moving off the ball, than I have ever seen at the Nix.Good style Ernie. It makes a difference having Carlos up there to receive and hold the ball.

The very new boys played reasonably well. I havent (and wont) bother reading back about Adams.Yes he got skinned a few times but didnt look that much out of it, will be all the better for the run, welcome to the A League. Riera was well out of position for him and the A League pace seemed to get to him initially, but he did ok, bounced back.

Hicks surprised me, he looks like a regular and has good passing ability. When he got the ball I didnt shudder like I do with Lia having it. Caira was the best of the 3, he seemed very comfortable there and I think will prove his worth, and Ernies faith in him.

Boxall was sound most of the time, I wonder if he will push Siggy out later, he is good cover anyway. Siggy had a mixed game, does some things very well, anticipated and moved quicker at times than I thought he could from watching in the tele. Pretty sure he put the ball through to Boxall to head down to Stein. I dont see him as a leader though, he was seeming angry at his new players, doesnt have the poise/communications a good leader needs in tight situations. He had a hand in conceding their first goal as I saw it. He was supposed to be on Berisha the whole time, but didnt mark him for the obvious cutback pass. You could see that goal coming in slow motion.

For their second goal, we ran out of fitness and experience about halfway through that half and reverted to getting rid of it at times, as you can so easily do when tired, so everyone seemed to lose their patterns. Seemed like we were playing for a draw by then and got mentally thumped by Brisbane, they held it together better. 

Up front we have some options, but dont know about the edge. Stein put in an honest attempt, Kenny looks to have some skills, Ifill was at half clip, I think he was nursing his injuries, they just didnt combine that well. 

We were combative and competitive in the midfield for a long time. I thought Manny did well there actually, he won a lot of ball. I dont mind him there. Lia, his usual. Carlos did seem to fade.

Brisbane underwhelmed me, except for Berisha, he has great holding ability, is a real handful and has an instinct for a goal. It took me a while to remember Broich was there, I expected more. Is Hingert a possible Kiwi still ? (was he ever), he looks a useful player.

Tough to lose like that but overall a pass mark for the first game...just!

Game of two halves really.....don't know what was said at half time but Brisbane were a different team second half. We just stopped pressing high and their gun midfielders got more space and got on top.

For a first hit out I liked C-ham. Smart footballer. Once he gets used to the A-League he will be very handy. Gets himself about very nicely. Stein was excellent IMO. Played a near perfect front man role. Held the ball up really well, hardly ever turned it over, bought others into play, got a nice goal and had several other shots on target. The attacking end of our play is going to be OK this season.

The problem area is further back. People criticised Hernandez for disappearing second half. Well our DM's went AWOL after half time IMO. Ernie said prematch that the midfield would be the key to the match. Well our midfield lost the second half battle.They stopped running, they stopped feeding Carlos. As we all predicted its guys like Lia's inconsistency that hurt us. Doing some good stuff for 20 or 30 minutes is not good enough. Reira playing from RB produced 3 or 4 excellent passes forward. Maybe he is worth a try at DM soon.

What is it about the Nix and RB? Adams is a big gangly CB and looked like it at RB(not his fault) Then Reira comes on at RB. In the history of the Nix how many players who are not natural RB's have been forced into that position?

We may do better this year than many of us dared hope. The key will be to get regular quality ball to the feet of Carlos as we have a really good looking front 4. That plus get Dura back and Fenton back and try and make the defense rock solid. Losing like that is gut wrenching but there are signs that our Ernie is going to fashion quite a smart team.

I thought Caira wasnt up to it, his distribution was atrocious.

I think if we look at this from a Brisbane perspective, Broich was not in his zone and the only one that really played to what was expected was Berisha. They would have come across expecting to hammer us (and we expected to lose as well if you look at the majority of the fans prematch calls). I think we probably picked a day where Brisbane were not on their game as well. Whether thats their own doing or the way we pressured them, I am not sure but I take heart from this. I think we would have taken the points against the 6 teams that played before us. Considering the other 6 teams (I didn't catch much of Adelaide v Perth) we are probably the only one that fired or played better than expected which is a good sign cause lets face it, Fri and Sats games were not a great watch. Ours was probably not either but from a Phoenix fans perspective, I think we did better than expected. The other fans will not be saying that (save maybe Sydneys)

Just saw the replay Cunnigham should have buried that if he is the striker we have been lead  to believe he is.

a) Ban Stick?

b) Love of the Phoenix?

c) insert something here (fnarr fnarr)

From the bits I managed to see ('cause I left the task of finding a Christchurch pub with Sky Sport 4 till the last minute) it was an encouraging "work in progress" by the makeshift Nix. I would not read much into Ifill's performance today. He will lift his game with a better team around him and may do better anyway by not having to play full 90 minutes if there are other options.

Think we've got a lot more to see from Kenny yet. He started to get going at the end of the first half, but really I had a feeling he was operating at 50% at best, given his injury and just a feeling about his ability. I think we'll see a lot more from him.

None of the youngsters really looked out of place-Adams isn't a right back, though and as for the Roar having an off day- we pressed and hassled them in possession and they couldn't play their game. 

pity about the result, but I think fans will have taken a lot of heart from the game.

I hadn't realized he was coming back from injury and that explains a lot.

Gutted with the result.However if what we started off with continues i will be more than happy.Not so sure about all the Spoonly love he seems to rush out when shouldnt.Carlos was immense,cant wait for our guys to get used to playing with him.The best part going forward  is that wasnt the best team we can field.

As an aside is it written in our coaches contract that they must play Lia.

For my opinion - there's been plenty of variety. I was sitting over in Aisle 12 so got it from a different perspective.

Hernandez was by a country mile our best player. Looking slim and fit. He faded a bit in the second half but he was always looking dangerous when in possession and was always looking up to see where the opportunity was to attack. He and Stein are going to be a very dangerous pairing for us. Cool.

Stein did pretty well and looks a lot better without having to chase the "long ball" all day long.

Hicks was disappointing and gave the ball away too much. Can't see where some made him out to be so good. Still only the first game. might be a week only contract but he is on Ernies radar now for future knowledge.

Adams did a lot better than some think. Considering whom he had to mark he did fairly well. Sure he got caught a couple of times but like Hicks, he is young and will have learned.

Lia is continually showing he's one tackle from a red card. I really want to like Vinnie as he has a good engine and will run all day long but some of those tackles......

Cunningham. Flattered to deceive. Beat his marker once, fucked up an excellent opportunity to make it 2-0 and to be honest, reminded me of George Paladini.

Siggy, perhaps the Captaincy weighed on him, as well as having to deal with a new style of play. Not his best game.

Spoonley - a decent game, made a couple of good saves and did brilliantly at the start to smother what should have been a goal to the Roar. I feel more confidence in him than I do Moss.

Overall, an ok start. New team, new style and everyone trying to adapt to it against a very strong Roar side (Whom were made to look quite ordinary for large parts in that first half). Pre-season is one thing but the reality of a must win game brings its real pressures. Considering that must be one of the youngest, if not the youngest, Nix side ever, they did well. I thought the first half was excellent and I thought the second half was as bad as watching the Heart V Victory game and almost of a School Boy level.

Like everyone else, thats my opinion and I'll go with it. I remeber that we had 6 allegedly main players not here.

Ok and can they run a competition for the fans over on the aisle 5 - 20 aside of the field for once? Fans in Aisle 12 were also entering the text competition but as per normal, someone over in the East stand won the prize.

Now for Napier, so looking forward to it.

I found the experience refreshing with Ernie's approach. The way they pushed up in the first half was encouraging. 1-nil was never going to be enough at halftime, as there was no doubt Brisbane's excellent pre-season would have them finish stronger. Won't be judging players too much until about game 5 when we're at full strength, and Ernie's first choice starting lineup gets a run or two.

I'll give lia some room with the fouling - it is his role to be the hard man as the DM, however he cannot stay in the team if he continues to pass the ball to the opposition.

Spoonley did have an above average game, the saves in open play I would expect but his speed off the line in getting down to the mad Albanian's feet was the perfect thing to do for that type of player. Not many keepers do that but its not something you should do all of the time. Haven't seen enough of him to know if that is one of his trademarks or not but he does seem comfortable enough doing it. Is it something with all goalkeepers these days but their work with the ball on the ground at their feet is abysmal. It is so much a part of the game these days that they should be practising it all of the time. They go into a wild panic and slice the ball away, poor kick etc.

Manny was also disrupting their midfield but he wasn't as obvious as Vinnie.

Anyone want to have a guess at the busiest time of day on YF (all those red crosses)?

22:00?

Close.

21:30?

21:00

 I win

7:08 PM??