What do people think of these quotes from Ernie. I think we certainly play like we spend 90% of time on attack! I'm kind of torn, I'm just not sure we can outgun the best teams…we'll win today though, easy
"Anyone that says to me about keeping a clean sheet . . . I'm not interested. They've got the wrong coach if they want a clean sheet, that's not our priority," Merrick said yesterday.
"Our priority is playing attacking football where you can score goals. With eight goals in two games and two of the top goalscorers in the league, we're on the right track. It's about consistency now."
Auckland has proven a happy hunting ground for the Phoenix while the Mariners, who languish eighth on the table, haven't won since the opening round.
It's been a rare tag in the past, but this is a fixture the Phoenix enter as favourites - and Merrick says they'll handle it one way and one way only.
Attack.
"They're [Mariners] backs are to the wall and they're pretty keen to get a result. They're a good team, and they're always top of the table. Every year, they're written off. Every year, they finish up near the top of the table. We don't expect this to be an easy game," he said.
"They defend their own half very well and break forward quickly. We're going to counter their counter, that's the plan. It's exciting. I think a scoreline of 4-3 I would prefer than 1-0.
"It's always good to have a clean sheet, don't get me wrong, but the goalkeeper's employed to do a job. Our defence are pretty solid, the midfield are protecting them but Roly Bonevacia, Michael McGlinchey, Alex Rodriguez . . . they're just joining in the attack non-stop.
"The last thing I want is our strikers like Nathan Burns or Roy Krishna to be chasing wingers and fullbacks down into our third. If we get the ball, we know they're free, we know they're lightning fast so we can fast break or play possession-type football and go forward.
"We've been looking at some defensive errors and continually trying to improve. There's areas we can improve, particularly in midfield, service to the strikers, fullbacks tucking in and defending behind centrebacks, we've been working on that.
"But 90 per cent of our training is about going forward - attacking play. We've scored eight in the last two games, so we've got the first one and gone for another and gone for another. That's how we'll play whilst I'm here."