R10 vs Brisbane Roar | Sat 12th Dec | 7:15pm | 4 Kings

Meh boo hiss cry

That was unlucky for Moss

We did this last season a couple of times, went ahead and then lost.

fuuuuarrk. I knew that would happen. bloody hell :(

another shark season from a team that flatters to deceive. same script as the last 5 years yawn

Ridenton played him onside there.

Roly and A-Rod have to answer for missed chances. Sarpong took wind out of our sails IMO. Rufer offered more.

excuses begin now.....

I blame the AC DC concert at Westpac!

We should have wrapped this one up,  a second goal earlier would have killed off Brisbane - 3 points lost here

Powell hasn't got involved much..

Very disappointed to lose this one,  we should have won that

we'll be all right when we are back in black

was thinking that about 60 minutes.

One great save by Young and two poor efforts by A-Rod and Roly

i thought it was a pretty even game. disappointing result, and a bit often we seemed to turn and play backwards, but mostly thought we were ok. perhaps should have wrapped it up with a couple of good chances after we were up 1-nil, but that said, Moss also kept us in it with a few excellent saves (he was unlikely on the last goal i thought).

Young, man of the match

So where were our two central defenders for the last goal?

Seems like a wee bit of an overreaction.

attempting to pick up their lead weight legs after pushing up a bit too high, would be my guess

In front of the man who scored, holding the line while the wing back played the striker on side.

This.

Knowing that 40 year old metal heads were ruining their pitch got in their heads.

All ACDC's fault....bloody Aussies.

while probably true, i thought all the signs were that riddenton had an empty tank, and the CBs might have played a bit deeper.

Even though Im a big fan of Merrick my feeling is his decisions cost us the game. Substituting a more defensive Rufer that early not only meant Bonevacia had to come back more but also reduced the impact his energy could have had later on. Also think those last two subs should have been used just after brisbanes subs to try and nullify their extra energy. Heck even though we were clearly knackered I don't even think Merrick used all three subs!    

Dura was 15 metres away from the ball when their striker slotted it in.

I think Ridenton was just too tired to move up with the centre backs and played him on. Prob should have subbed Ridenton with ten to go. Siggy middle, Manny left.

Good effort though from Ridenton, got better through most of the game. Manny, Riera and A Rod very good, Dura outstanding, Roy very good, Louis pretty good. Roly OK, Jeff a few good moments, could have won us the game but chose not to shoot.

or where were defensive subs when needed to shore it up at the back...chasing win with Sarpong and Powell is maybe fine but it was a lightweight defensive team yesterday even with Doyle's late withdrawal.

Roar were better in the heat, key reason for their win I thought. Game was pretty open, none of the three possible results would have surprised me. 

Good to see Fenton, Rufer and Ridenton all starting a game together, shows the fruits of the way our club is being run now with young NZ players emerging. They were three young rising stars a few years back and looks like they're slowly but surely working their way into the squad proper.

None of them had a stormer yesterday but all 3 looked comfortable at this level at least. Was particularly impressed with Rufer's composure on the ball.

I wonder if the Rufer/Sarpong substitution was pre-planned to combat the heat.

Seems a bit odd but I thought a lot of players had good games last night despite the result. 

Starting to think that Sigmund's head injury was pretty bad and he's being nursed back - either that or Manny's displays have seen him legitimately overtake him as first choice CB. That wouldn't be that controversial, Manny looks very comfortable and composed there.

I blame the heat and not have the best squad on the field. Roar where just freshercat the end.

Merrick said in the interview that last minute injuries and sickness meant that he only had two subs available to him. Not ideal in the conditions.

This Phoenix side are playing the most attractive football of any NZ club side I've seen over about 35 years of following football in NZ.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching them play last night even though they lost and you can't often say that of sides.

Strung so many passes together in an effective way and were unlucky to lose.

Reminded me in terms of outcome of the 1974 World Cup Final which I saw on TV when I was nine.

Holland and the Phoenix played the more attractive football but the better side lost.

Agree in part but if you look at the whole game, Brisbane had a lot more corners, more shots on goal, more possession, so not sure if we were the better side.

How many games this season have we been poorer in the 2nd half than the first? Conditions yesterday would have played their part but has happened in other games - are we less fit than other teams? Our quality does drop as the game goes on, more unforced errors. If not fitness is it tactics - do we exert too much implementing our tactics that we suffer later on?

I still think we lack width on attack and we struggle to create space in the middle as a result.We don't have wingers in our formation and of everyone who has played there this season  Fenton is our only fullback who really gets forward but he just cuts inside every time and then just clogs up the area outside the opposition box  even more. Its an issue we had near the end of last season, and in the off season Ernie played 3 at the back, apparently so we could have a DM drop into the back line and our fullbacks bomb forward but we just haven't been doing that at all. I think that maybe it could be why Sarpong looks so lost too  - he's a winger being forced to play centrally and isn't used to it, let alone used to having the shark kicked out of him with no protection from the refs.

I didn't see the Victory game (well, only a little bit) so I don't know if our shape was different then. There's no doubt the narrow approach can work sometimes but when it clearly isn't then I would like to see us adjust instead of continually trying to to play it through the congested middle of the park.

I have a little theory on that. Last year we were running over teams in the second half of matches in the early part of the season , but this did not occur as much in the latter part of the year. We probably peaked physically around December / January last year but were not able to continue this through to the business end of the season. Being a fit chiseled Adonis like figure myself, I know it is difficult to maintain my taught and trim figure at absolute peak levels. It is very difficult, even for an athlete like myself to maintain that right through an entire year. Our canny wee Ernie, is holding back, to have  the boys in peak shape for the last third of the season.

As for Saturday, anyone who has been to Cairns will know how the Humidity is mind numbing and throw in some heat, it is bloody terrible. We tend to think that Cairns is just a bit North of Brissie, but it is 1700km North, which is marginally further than Invercargill to Auckland. Whoever thought it was a good idea to play there at 4.15pm is a moron

I agree with Leggy on Brisbane being better towards the end (this is where their number of corners and shots on goal moved past ours).

I agree with BP65 on the 1974 WC Final, and double that with the 1978 WC Final where The Netherlands should have won it.

Having lived in Brisbane and travelled extensively up to Cairns on business, I can tell you that Wellington is a pretty big contrast to either place. The Brisbane guys would of been much more acclimatised to the Cairns heat and humidity purely because their home conditions are closer to Cairn's ones than ours. I remember breaking into a sweat through the heat in Brisbane at 8am while walking from the car park to the office building, bugger playing or training for football in that. Absolutely fudgeing stupid to schedule our game at that time of day.

Agree completely. 

However, I would rather play in 30 tha in October in Wellington at 8.

Football: NZF doctor calls for Phoenix to raise issue of heat exhaustion

just got to get that potassium.