R18 vs Newcastle Jets | Thurs 7th Feb | 9:50pm | SS4

it was Williams and Mandi for the goal.

WE DID NOT THROW AWAY THE POINT IN STOPAGE TIME! 

It's not difficult. Everyone should able to kick one. Williams is on fire, Taylor would be happy to try, Singh has good technic, Mandi is a great footballer. Krishna is literally the worst choice, because we know his penalties are bad, and they are costing us points.

Didn't manage to watch the whole game but what I saw of the first half was highly entertaining.  I thought the ref was pretty good, which I think was one of the first times i've said that about an aussie ref. Tried to make sure the game flowed but clamped down on petulance. Glad we managed to get something from the game, a point away from home is nothing to be ashamed of.  Especially since they seem to be finding a bit of form.

Hopefully Rudan see's that Krishna needs to step down from the penalty duties.  It's just not working.  I'd say give it to Mandi when he's still on the pitch, then either Willo or Sherry.  I wanna see what they can do!  It can't be any worse

Alternatively, maybe Roy would play even better if he didn't have the 'pressure' of being our penalty taker too?

Presumably he bangs them in all the time at practice, so it is simply a Greg Norman-esque 'voices in his head' thing when he's at the top of his run. 

It really was a poorly struck penalty (again) last night, so someone has to make a call on it. There are pretty small margins actually between us and top of league, and this was a good example of it - I reckon Keogh/Toivinen etc all bury the opportunity given the same moment(s). 

I find it interesting and brilliant the rise in fortunes and skill of Oli Sail this season compared to what he offered last year.  

Is it:

Being around Filip and training with him daily has rubbed off on Oli in lifting his skill and confidence level?

The general rise in confidence in the team in general under Mark

Or, is the work of Paul Gothard as GK coach this season going unnoticed by us the fans in the performance of both Filip and Oli?  We only see Paul in warm ups and occasionally getting a tad passionate on the bench during the game.

Or, a combination of all of the above?

spot on. Nail hit on the head there. So very obvious.

Rufer yellow count now is?

6

Sorry, thats right.  He had his suspension in the CCM game when Butters played DM

Couldn't have even named the goalkeeping coach if I'm honest but he's obviously doing a great job I would assume.

You just knew that when Roy picked up the ball to place it on the penalty spot, it wasn't gonna go in somehow.

Adding to the extra voice in his head facing Glen Moss who'd be training day in day out with for many years, he's surely running up to that pen with a lump in his throat.

Off night for Roy, I thought. But we expect a lot from him due to his consistent form this season.

As a long term supporter of our club and NZ football in general I usually take the glass half full approach to our collective fortunes.  However, what I witnessed last night in Newcastle and overall during the season is starting to become an embarassment and a blight on our good name.  David Williams, Roy Krishna, Singh, Mandi et al looked as though they were playing in roller skates.  Whoever is responsible for teaching our players to blatantly cheat with underhanded simulation tactics needs to be told - that is NOT the Wellington way and certainly NOT the NZ way.  If it is Mark Rudan that is instructing our players to do this then it is somewhat bewildering given his previous playing career as a hard nosed defender.  For f*ks sake, lets' be the club that play the game in the right spirit and compete fairly for points. Success will be all the more sweeter if it comes without the CHEATING.

Lucky we weren't doing any of that then

Roy invariably looks uncomfortable  in this pre take process..surely they practise at training and surely someone else needs  go..just like England had to sort out its woes!  At training does the keeper work to a plan based on where Roy usually goes and tries to defend that way?  What is the plan each kick..is that prepared for..does keeper analysis come into that plan?

Rudans job to say someone else..you are taking next one if u want to.  I agree with Sheridan, Mandi, Williams or even Taylor having go.

Bit embarrassing for Ernie that his team resorted to persistent fouling to stop the Nix domination at the start.

Ya what mate?  WTF are you on?

Dont get to defensive guys while it may not be as bad as posted. Lets not kid ourselves both Rufer and Mandi have a tendency to go down as if they have been shot.Just when you think they might need to be replaced after the application of the magic water they are good to go.

Seems the players cant win seem to recall complaints about our players not going down earlier in the season now they go down to easily.

on another note, me oh my boy the short corners and creative free kicks need to stop. Now. 

because he is a cheat

G'day Bob.

Welcome to the forums.

There's a quote button underneath the comment you want to reply to. Click that, then type out your reply and hit save.

Thanks Bob.

Now what are you on about mate?

Certainly a game of two halves. In the fist 30 mins it looked like we were going to roll them easily. The second half was a different story.

They looked a much better side ( or perhaps we were not as good) but generally this season we have not been able to play the full 90 mins as we should. A draw was probably a fair result. Have seen a few comments that the ref was OK. I thought he was poor-- for both sides. 

always had a soft spot for the short corner believing that one day it could work, but come on Rudan we're not Barcelona. Golec's 6'4, Sheridan's 6'5, Taylor's 6'2, hoof it in 

To be honest, our front line (excluding Sheridan, obviously) is tiny. Williams, Singh, and Krishna; the tallest one there is still under 5 ft 10.

When they go up against opposition CDMs and CBs in the air/in a physical tackle, they are going to (more often than not) end up dispossessed and/or on the ground depending on how 'robust' the tackle is. Roy is constantly fouled, Singh is constantly fouled, and it seems the league is waking up to Williams' rebirth because he cops a few heavy tackles each game now too.

Just part of playing a physical sport with a small front line

Fenton was good. Last week no one passed him the ball. This week he got an assist and won an pen.

Wouldn't it be good if the Reply button automatically tagged a post with [Re:#341]

If this is in reply to the short corner vs lump it in debate [post#343], then it doesn't matter because they (excluding Sheridan, obviously) aren't the ones in the box for corners 

I vote for Kurto to take the next pen.

simple answer. Sheridan should start. He would have taken every chance our guys missed including the penalty. Notice how neither Krishna or Williams will pass to him when he is making a run. Are they worried he could take their spot. Use him or lose him. I have heard WSW are very interested 

Or that hes not quite on the same wave length as them. Nevertheless, I would like to see Williams and Shepard play together. Not because of Roys form or anything. But I think their games work better together than a Shep/Roy combo....Cant see it happening though. 

WSW interested already? shark that hasnt taken long. 

tbf they will be interested in anyone who isnt in their squad

Could also be- 

Krishna is a good greedy striker. Sherry is new and hasn't gone through the team building and so on. The system has been built around Roy, Burns, Williams and Singh. Doesnt suit Sheridan exactly. No one doubts his quality and with Rudan it seems that if you knuckle down and work for the team you get rewarded. If the manager is asking you to do a job and you have a problem you talk to him.

Krishna waited for ages to get a decent shot. 

Up to the gaffer to manage, as squad unity has been his thing 

But to be fair, no one knows Sheridan's quality as he has never been able to show it. Good or bad.

Oliver Sail was outstanding. Outshone Moss. Form NZ keeper right now with Marinovic, Gleeson, Keegan Smith and Tamati Williams all in the wilderness.

Whoah, slow down. He's had two quality games.

Marinovic ain't in the wilderness, it's just a tricky time of year to find a new club as a keeper. He's still the no 1.

Michael Woud probaly no 2. Sounds like he's already rated highly in Netherlands.

Tzanev, Crocombe also in the picture.

Gleeson who knows.

Williams don't even think he's playing football anymore.

Oli had a very strong game vs Sydney too. He's looking great. Why not?

He spilled a lot of balls in the Sydney game, and though he was incredible in his athleticism and reflexes vs Jets his positioning and vision punting up the field could have been improved last night. He's very good and a promising option for NZ and the Nix, but let's not get ahead of ourselves after two games - there's a reason Rudan opted for an import keeper over him