R10 v Melb Victory | Fri 28 Dec | 9:50 | AAMI

Welnix need an acclimatisation camp HQ in Central Otago to be ready for Adelaide away.

Wanaka was the hottest in the country in the last few days.

*5:05pm, we're 2.5 hours behind Wellington, which is a little better.

Certainly saw fitness levels and impact of Williams a big factor last week. Nix boys can take a lot of confidence from that last 20min.

Any news on if Kopa and Honda are playing this week? 

Can we overhaul Victory in Melbourne?. Tough ask, but I think if we are not losing with 20min to go we can take the win with fitness levels being a big factor. 

"Melbourne Victory marquee Keisuke Honda is touch-and-go to face the Wellington Phoenix on Friday, with the Japanese import set to undergo further testing in the lead-up to kick-off.

Honda, who Muscat said was "better than he was last week," spent the week on light duties, training away from the main group."

Honda in doubt for Victory clash with Phoenix

No point in risking half-fit Honda unless it was the grand final with 20 min to go. I would be surprised if he was named on the day, unless fully fit.

Knowing Muscat he is likely to think his team with Troisi, Toivonen and Kosta is strong enough to smash us. Considering that it was only a month ago that we lost to Adelaide 0:2 at home we're not 100% out of the woods yet. However, I remember that in that game against Adelaide we had no Singh on the park at all while Kopa played (poorly) in midfield while Williams ran himself ragged without getting many chances.

So you are assuming that the Nix have a fitter squad than Victory? Don’t forget the Roar have oldest team in the A League, so not so surprising in some ways they were over run in the 2nd half.

I’d say in the last 20 mins it’s more likely the Nix, will be battening down the hatches, if they are up or the score is level at that stage. The Victory will have a big home crowd and the heat in their favour.

Yep. fair comment. especially about the heat factor. Be interesting to see how Rudan plays this one then. 

Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Ilievski
Assistant Referee 2: Tony Peart
Fourth Official: Shaun Evans
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones


Melbourne Victory squad: 1. Matt ACTON (GK), 2. Storm ROUX, 3. Corey BROWN, 4. Keisuke HONDA, 6. Leigh BROXHAM, 7. Kenny ATHIU, 8. Terry ANTONIS, 9. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10. James TROISI, 11. Ola TOIVONEN, 13. Birkan KIRDAR, 14. Tommy DENG, 15. Raul BAENA, 16. Josh HOPE, 19. Rahmat AKBARI, 20. Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 21. Carl VALERI (C), 22. Nick ANSELL. **two to be omitted**


Wellington Phoenix Squad: 1.Filip KURTO, 4.Mandi SOSA, 5.Ryan LOWRY, 6.Dylan FOX, 8.Mitch NICHOLS, 9.Nathan BURNS, 11.David WILLIAMS, 13.Liberato CACACE, 14.Alex RUFER, 15.Michal KOPZCYNSKI, 16.Louis FENTON, 18.Sarpreet SINGH, 19.Tom DOYLE, 20.Oliver SAIL (gk), 21.Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 23.Max BURGESS, 27.Steven TAYLOR. **two to be omitted**

Elder was the Ref we had in Rnd 1 vs the Jets (P5 W1 D2 D2)

As expected, Victory look strong in front half of field. But, there's little to fear at the back IMHO - looks entirely beatable to me.

So how would you force them on back foot and thwart their attack?  Mobility and fitness will only get us that far; this game will hinge on Rudan's ability to outsmart Muscat (he did a very good job against Perth few weeks ago).

Fortunately for us all, I'm not our coach!

But, since you asked, my guess is that Fenton/Cacace will need to play a crucial role (again). How much they're able to push up and form a genuine diamond with Singh, Mandi & Rufer going forward is key to effectively isolating Toivonen and enabling us to overload midfield. If we fail at that, Kosta, Troisi, Valeri etc will find too much space between our midfield and back 3. Also, as others have said, I reckon Kopa's composure on ball can be crucial for us in setting up for go-forward.

Thoughts from you/others?

Kopa has to come in for Doyle if fit, he's clearly a better player and better distributor. Doyle and Fenton were terrible in the first half last week, at least Fenton improved. 

Anyone know why we dont get build ups for phoenix away games? We need more Phoenix coverage not just games.

I'm overseas at the moment and skygo won't work; does anyone know if one can watch this game on YouTube, and if so, what the link is? Thanks in advance.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHyundaiALeague/featured

This works for me in Canada.It depends what country you are in.

COYN

Come oooon you Nixxxx

Working 9-5 today, but all I'll be thinking about is this match!

Another Kill. Goals to Roy, Singh, Burns, Williams, ‘English Messi, Fenton & Lia, lol ha.

fixed

If the Warriors were on a 3 game winning streak vs maybe the best side in the comp there'd be more hype for sure, maybe if vs Melbourne Storm.

For example, a guy in his 60s at the bowls club asked last night when the Phoenix were playing next. He's not a big football fan, but very up to date with NZ sports and does watch the Phoenix. If it was the Warriors I bet he would already know who they were playing and roughly when. 

mind you the warriors have been around for 25 years compared to our 11 and league is much more front of mind in the NZ psyche.

yeah, comparison to Wazzas pretty much ends where it starts. Names like Raiders, Sea Eagles, Todd, Freeman and Ridge were household names in NZ sport well before Warriors entered NRL (nee Winfield Cup). 

But there is hope:  on RNZ National the 5pm news and sport bulletin had tonight's game preview and even went as far as playing Kevin Muscat's comments on the Nix improvement over the last few games.  Hopefully not a one-off. 

Thanks, guys. I'm in Serbia at the moment and I doubt there is a deal, so let's hope it works.

Put a bet on the Phoenix to win. But I must admit, I was very, very drunk.

Lineups announced:

Kopa on the bench. Williams starting.

No Honda for Victory.

Williams is being rewarded for last week and maybe doyles hoof balls give a fair idea of the plan of attack tonight

3-1..whilst we have improved MV should be easy winners.  Good to see Kopy back albeit on bench. 

I can hardly contain my semi-erection.

For me Victory are comfortably the best side in the competition at the moment, on form I'd put us second best. (not saying we are second best necessarily, but on current form).

If we lose, I'm not going to be too heartbroken, losing to the best side doesn't mean we still can't have a great season or that we're on the wrong track. If we win though, it's looking really, really exciting. Draw would be decent.

Unchanged side for Victory. So no Honda, Baena or Niedermeier. Fire up.

Will be really interesting to see how we perform, I would be happy if we played well and got a draw

Sigh... let's go over this again, here is a reminder: 

What are you part way through building and is your Project Manager unreliable?

COYN

NZ teams (Phoenix/Knightz/Kingz) have a terrible history (based on my memory...) of Fri/Sat night away games in Victoria. Yet for some reason I feel good about this one... got some money on at 6.4. Odds have since dropped to 4.9 I assume due to team announcements and no Honda for Victory.

Stand By Me is a rubbish song.