R1 vs Perth Glory | Sunday 12th Oct | 5pm | RoF

You can't just get rid of them though, they're on contract. There is a salary cap. Etc etc.

I could do it...for a price

That's correct but there needs to be serious questions asked if they are offered further extensions before their contracts are up. Even then, it may be 1 year at the most and coming off the bench and you would only do 1 of them, not both.

By the end of this season, Sigmund will be 34 and Durante will be nearly 33. Sigmund is off contract and Durante has another year. You would like to think that by the end of this year, Sigmund and Boxall have swapped places otherwise we are in a bit of bother.

The other thing is that they are both captain and vice-captain so there is no succession plan. The only ones I can think of is McGlinchey as he did it for CCM or Moss but I would prefer my captain to be in the field so he can speak with the referee if needed. By the same token, Moss strikes me as having a more commanding personality than McGlinchey.

Moss would be good for a few swear words at the ref. As Captain, not sure he is a good option.

Maybe Ernie's plan is to play Kenny instead of Brockie but couldn't because of the suspension. I fucking hope that is the case because, deaspite being a fan of Ernie's, I struggle to see why he persists with Brockie even though we are only one game in.

 

I think your confidence in Boxall over Siggie is mostly optimism more than demonstrated fact. 

But other than that I agree, they are reaching the ends of their careers. 

i think it might be Napier. Kenny definitely deserves a spot. While I don't think his all-round game is that great either, I see him as more likely to score than Brocks right now.

Think people underestimate how much we will miss Stein and Carlos. We have good players but no real game breakers - no Ifill, no Berisha etc. Though I suppose WSW get by without one..

Siggy and Dura have been great and I think both epitomise what the club is about - but you can tell that the more effort they are putting in for us, the worse it's getting. Unfortunately is getting to that time where we seriously need to think about replacements.

Is that you Terry?

It's not just the pass itself. Bad decision to pass back to sigmund when at best he'd have had to hit the pass first time. Lia gets turned around too easily. Then gives up and plays the pass backward. Yes Sigmund slipped and lost the ball but he should never have gotten it in the first place

Puts his hand over his face and coughs the word "Bullshit"... Siggy was on his heels, needed to take one step forward but stretched as though he wasn't expecting the pass.. 

We have leaked like a sieve for two years but the two CB's keep coming up smelling of roses..

It was a bad pass. Obviously that doesn't take away the fact he stuffed the touch. Our defending at crosses has always been awful, yet our CB's have never been switched out. I agree its time for a change.

I agree, it is being optimistic. The alternative is two starting CBs next year of which one is nearing 35 and the other is 33 and with aging, they are heading more towards vinegar rather than a fine wine. We may have seen that already but if we are being honest, 100 goals in 2 seasons mean that if the same old keeps happening (and the signs were there Saturday) they can't be given free licence to see the whole season out as the starting CB partnership regardless of the alternatives or their service to the club.

Re: Brockie - I wouldn't be surprised if the next few games are the last chance for him to shine or Merrick will start moving him on. Happened last season with Leo - Ernie gave him a shot by starting him for his first two games (after AWs), then moved to being used a bit as a sub, then goneski.

Look, it's arguing semantics, but I believe I was stating facts, at least the opinion of our front five being a bit underdone was based on facts.  And looking at it a bit more closely I am even more inclined to say we were underdone before Perth.

Rodriquez had not played for three weeks before the Sydney game.  And he played only 45mins of that. 

The week before that we played without Rodriquez v Jets and played nearly half the game against 10.  That was McG's first game for us, he was not match fit and faded in that game.  The other game in Sydney was all the rest of the squad.

I believe it is a fact that those are the only serious games we have had with the current starting combination in their current roles.  That's 45mins with Riera, Rodriquez, McG and Rolly together against decent opposition.

JD's claim that we'd had a month together unchanged is simply wrong.

Then against Canterbury United, Ernie had made mega subs by half time.  I turned up late and none of the combinations I wanted to see together were on the pitch.

So including the CU game I believe it is a fact that Rodriquez's match play combination with Rolly and Riera was at most 90mins long, before we played Perth.  None of that is opinion.  I am either correct or wrong on the facts.  Correct me if I am wrong. Maybe I am.

The guts of what I was saying was that we will improve, because we had not had as much time together as you'd think, or like.  I'm sticking with that opinion.

On top of that limited time together, Burns, Rolly and McG are all being asked to play in unfamiliar roles, to varying degrees. I think that much is also fact, not opinion. Plus I'd argue Rodriquez's role has changed substantially with both he and Rolly playing with Riera, compared to the role he played earlier in the FU games.  I'm definitely looking forward to seeing these guys develop together through the season.

Well, that was strange. 

I was at the ground and watched the game live, and at the end we were all (my bunch) pretty despondent. I think that this was simply the legacy of the God-awful end to last season, and it was another loss after all. 

I just watched the game again on Sky, and came away feeling completely different- we actually played really well, high energy, commitment, and we could easily have been three up after 20 minutes. They should also have been down to 10 men after Albert recieved his (heart stopping) studs up assault. The only problems we really had were that (a) Perf played much better than anyone here expected, (b) Danny is a great keeper, (c) the Perf lads are roughly twice the size of our team, (d) there were a couple of unlucky mistakes from our boys.

That's it. Watch it again if you don't believe me.

This is the best Phoenix team we have ever had- if Brockie fires we are guaranteed a Finals spot (to be fair to him, too, he actually worked a lot harder in this game). I am still waiting to see Kenny and Roy fit into the squad, with or without Jezza.

Meanwhile I'm doing my best to re-align my Prediction Mojo.....

Hmm..we got obliterated in the first 15 mins - could've been down 2 or 3 goals easily. We looked nervy. After that, we had a 15-20 min period of dominance where we should've scored.

Any other ref and Roly would've likely been sent off too.. Had ~3 fouls after already getting a yellow.

We had a friend at home crook watching it on TV and he said much the same.

Almost a LOL. Let's hope a) no other teams play better than expected b) other keepers aren't so great c) we get to play against dwarves d) NO MORE MISTAKES. All unlikely. 

NB The last game I saw live at ROF was Nix 0 Heart 5. Your conditions probably applied for that game too. Also left pretty despondent.

We shall see........

Great thanks for that,that game had been consigned to the it was a bad dream part of the memory and you have gone and stuffed that up.

GD. My take from the live game was the same as yours from the replay.

Don't think I'll watch it again!

I still have nightmares about that thunderbolt from Engelaar.

And put a pause between the verses of twist n shout; it gives joiners the opportunity to prepare

And dont miss out the twanging guitar of Mr paul mcartney....

End of verse....then

Duh, duh duh duh duh.....duh duh duh duh x4

Then ahhhhh.....ahhhhhh......ahhhhhh......ahhhhhhhhhh

Pause......hold it wait for the leader.....

Shake it up baby now and off you go again....easy

The key to sustaining a chant is pace.....let it develop and people will join in.

And dont complain you dont know the words.....if four scousers can learn it so can you.

Google I

Good post. Can't wait to watch our progress in next month. Perth would've blown more than a few sides away last Sunday - they were straight into combos and up for it prep-wise. We looked a couple of top games shy. I'm all positive about this. I wanted (for years here) a midfield of quality and depth, and have it now. Can't get the quality midfield, the RIGHT top striker, and the RIGHT defender cover all at once. 

This. Its not about excuses for the loss, I think we all expected better. Its about reasons for believing there will be improvement.

It seems that the squad has had a good preseason, the starting 11 less so, so lets give them a few games before passing judgement on the season. I think we are capable of a lot more than we displayed against Perth.

Its Tuesday and still everyone is harping on about Sunday's game. Let it go..lolz focus on Saturdays Game

It's funny because if we win on Saturday, the change in people will be amazing on this forum. Everyone will be happy again ha

I'm prepared to put the disappointing result down to first game of the season and look forward to a successful season. However, if we lose to Perth at home, then alarm bells should be ringing
The basis of a good season is no secret:
- win at home consistently, accept a blip or two and move on to the next game 
- win against a team that has the longest away trip
- win against a team that is at our level, at least in terms of expectation of success by other teams in the league   
- happiness with your team is based on consistency of results, win at home (accept the occasional draw/loss), draw away with the occasional bonus of a win

This. And Rodriguez. 

Which is kinda our problem maybe...

Yep. Ernie made a tactical switcheroo in his first game which had us all praising him. He stuck to his knitting here and did nothing with what wasn't happening. Don't remember Lia shooting?? 

Hoping Rodriguez and Roly aren't Gerrard and Lampard in their ability to synch. Pedigrees, check. Results: waiting. Certainly Gorrin looked the goods against the Prem teams and seemed very quiet today...

We all WANT Boxall to be great (or at least I do) but running out of time to see it.

I think also there an important point about leaders.  While they may be on the downward slope both Siggie and Durante are real leaders, and show real personality on the pitch.  The rest of them not so much - I do think we lacked leaders badly last year and still looks a bit the same for me.  Siggie has his flaws but he has passion and you can't fake that.  It's an underrated quality

Here's a quote from, of all people, Philip Lahm who believes the most important thing in football is not pace, technique, or intelligence. No. The most essential quality in the game is passion. 

“Passion is an emotion that liberates reserves of energy you didn’t know you had,” he writes.

He adds: “With passion, one player – one player alone – can lift the performance of a whole team. It’s not a question of his technical ability . . . but of his character, his devotion to his team and to the game. The passionate player does things other players won’t do. He chases a ball that looks lost, and if he gets it . . . it’s not just a ball-recovery, it’s a signal: see? we can do it! if only we want it enough, if we go for it with absolute commitment.”

Late late free header (albeit not from an 'gimme' position)

Yep was thinking that. 

Looking back here's who I think of as passionate for the 'Nix from the early days: Daniel, Smeltz and Brown...Players who'll get the other players going and the fans...Sure there are others, but those jump out at me. I came back to a live game in Welly after coming down twice in Season 2 and for the Bocca game. There seemed like a bit of a disconnect between the team and the fans and the club and the city this time...First time (maybe cos of how I did the trip) it seemed like the Phoenix was fizzing on game day...this time the city seemed quite quiet and with the players they seem gifted, but none has sown their heart on the sleeve and won over the Zone yet...

Kenny gets fired up and we missed him for sure.

Our preparation is entirely within our control.  If we go into the season underdone, and other teams go into the season well prepared with their combinations working, then I am not willing to say "oh well that's fine, we were a bit underdone".  I look at that as a problem with our build up.  The team have been prepping for 5 months!

Anyway, next game we can hopefully get rid of the nerves and start afresh.  Season starts here!

I don't think we've been tested in a game situation in over a month. That fair? And apparently we had a game against ACFC lined up that we pulled out of.

sure JD

You might note that I did not state "oh well that's fine, we were a bit underdone". 

What I did say was we were more underdone than I thought Ernie had made out and more underdone than I perceived most had probably been thinking.  Including myself.  Just 45mins of our starting front 6 together, 90mins if they played the first half of the CU game that I missed.

I certainly did not intend to suggest that was a good thing, nor "that's fine". 

What I was saying was it gives some hope that we will improve significantly with more time together. 

imho we'll need to.  Looking forward to seeing it happen.

We had a game against WSW lined up that they pulled out of after making the ACL semi final. 

I was told by some people who know some ACFC people that the 'Nix were going to play them in Welly and it got canned by the 'Nix

Hard to line up good opposition when they are playing in the FFA cup and ACL.

If we made it through the FFA cup we would have had a great pre-season.